You could wait for the Microsoft Xbox One or the Sony PlayStation 4 to arrive this fall, or you could play PC games with better graphics now. Nvidia is launching its GeForce GTX 780 graphics chip today that will be able to run outstanding visuals in the latest generation of computer games.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia, the world’s biggest maker of stand-alone graphics chips, says that its new chip is primed to run this year’s batch of high-end PC games — such as Call of Duty: Ghosts, Watch Dogs, and Battlefield 4. Numerous gamer-PC makers are launching new computers today based on the new 250-watt chip, which can execute 4.0 teraflops in single-precision mode.

It’s worth noting that game consoles always lag behind the PC in performance. That’s because console makers have to lock in on a design a couple of years ahead of the launch and then give that specification to game developers so they make launch titles. The custom chip takes a while to design, and it can be engineered better than a general-purpose PC to run games.

But PC makers have the advantage of just taking the fastest off-the-shelf graphics chip and marrying it with other state-of-the-art components. They can build a more modern machine that isn’t based on last year’s technology. So it’s no surprise that a new Nvidia graphics chip with expensive PC trappings will be able to run circles around game consoles that haven’t launched yet.

The Nvidia chip has a Kepler-based graphics processing unit (GPU) with 2,304 cores and 3GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory. Those specs are 50 percent more than its predecessor, the GeForce GTX 680. Rival Advanced Micro Devices says it has a faster graphics card, but it achieves that by putting two graphics chips in a single card.

The new cards based on Nvidia’s new chip will come with Nvidia GeForce Experience software, gaming drivers, and other advanced features. The card taps PhysX, which creates more realistic physics and motion in games. Players who really want a fast experience can gang multiple cards together using Nvidia’s SLI technology.

“The GeForce GTX 780 delivers the fastest framerate and smoothest animation at a value never before seen in PC gaming,” said Scott Herkelman, the general manager of the GeForce business unit at Nvidia. “This level of performance allows gamers to become fully immersed into a game the way the developers originally intended.”

Nvidia’s GPU Boost 2.0 technology will automatically increase the GPU speed for enhanced performance while maintaining temperature range and fan controls. The 780 GPU is available today from add-in card suppliers including Asus, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, and Zotac. The chip is selling for $649. PC makers that will use the chip in gamer systems include AVADirect, Cyberpower, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Geekbox, iBuyPower, Maingear, Origin PC, Puget Systems, V3 Gaming, and Velocity Micro.

So yeah, you can run your games faster than the consoles. But you’re going to pay extra in order to do it.

Check out the Nvidia video about the new graphics card.

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Nvidia is investing heavily in its operations now because it has some “once in a lifetime opportunities” in mobile computing these days, said Jen-Hsun Huang, the chief executive of the world’s biggest standalone graphics chip maker, Thursday in a talk at the company’s investor day.

Huang said that those investments are timely because the “PC business declined more in the last quarter than in the last 20 years. Obviously, the computer industry is changing.”

Nvidia has made PC graphics chips since 1993. It is the only standalone survivor in that business, and it competes against processor giants such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (ADM), ARM, and Imagination Technologies (including MIPS).

He said that Nvidia’s Tegra business is at break-even, even as the company ratchets up the investment to more than $300 million a year. Overall, Nvidia research and development has reached $1.2 billion annually. About $880 million of that is core investment in chip design, while $10 million each is focused on new opportunities including Grid systems and the Project Shield handheld gaming system.

“We increased our operating expenses to invest in once in a lifetime opportunities,” Huang said. “These investments are so timely and they must happen now. So our first half is rather muted. We’ll have growth in the second half. The disruption of the traditional market literally happened overnight. That’s why it’s so important for us to keep our foot on the gas.”

This year, Nvidia is investing heavily in the first half in the hopes of achieving growth in the second half, Huang said. He pulled in investments in Tegra 4i, a mobile graphics processor with built-in LTE modem. That investment, he said, “was a good decision by all measures.” That pushed out the debut of Tegra 4 by a quarter, from the first to the second quarter. As a result, Tegra sales will be flat for the year, he said.

Overall, “the exciting thing is the market opportunity ahead of us,” Huang said. The total available market for Tegra chips (with $300 million investment) is $10 billion. The opportunity for Grid computing is $10 billion, and the traditional graphics processing unit (GPU) market opportunity is $6 billion, Huang said. Huang said he thinks the computing business, if not PCs, will continue to grow.

Huang said that GPUs are Nvidia’s “crown jewels,” generating billions of dollars in revenues on the PC thanks to PC gamers and other enthusiasts. Nvidia is in the process of “mobilizing” those crown jewels in products such as Tegra. About three billion devices with graphics chips will be shipping by 2015, at a 12 percent compound annual growth rate. Nvidia is gunning for a sizable share of that.

Huang mentioned that Nvidia has more than 5,000 patents, mostly related to computer graphics. Nvidia is investing in games, enterprise, and computing devices.

With Grid computing, Nvidia is taking that business into the cloud, enabling remote graphics processing and it will lead to multiple users on a single graphics chip.  But Huang said the competition was fierce.

“The opportunities are enormous, but so are the threats,” he said. “Some day, every single processor we make will be a Tegra. But this is not about us growing into mobile devices only. This is about inventing the future of computing.”

At the close of the talk, Huang said that Nvidia will return $1 billion this fiscal year to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and dividend payments, including $100 million in stock being repurchased this quarter. This will bring to $1.2 billion the total capital returned to shareholders since the company announced its quarterly dividend program in November.

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It was Top Indie Game of PAX 2012 from VentureBeat. It took six years to build by a solo indie developer. And a game with half of the attention to detail and imagination Antichamber has would be a smash hit — this bare-bones first-person puzzler is one of the most thought-provoking, engaging, and challenging video games ever developed.

The entire journey focuses on player discovery through exploration and sandbox experimentation. Players learn new skills on each new level and earn an upgradeable tool for gathering and placing blocks, adding complexity to puzzles. And like a good book that leaves readers in a daze, Antichamber is about deep puzzles that are almost always solved by subtle solutions. Creator Alexander Bruce has built a masterpiece of a game that intentionally dismisses foundations of development like plot, characters, and linear gameplay. Antichamber is a modern-day labyrinth, and Bruce has taken a step beyond Daedalus’ creation. Not even a literal trail of breadcrumbs can save you in this digital wonderland/prison.

I highly recommended that you don’t look up any hints or walkthroughs unless absolutely necessary as you explore Antichamber.

What you’ll like

A real challenge

Antichamber begins in the “start menu” with an ever-updating map of the world that fills in as players visit more areas; basic controls and settings adjustment; and a wall of all collected hints. Oh, and a glass wall that dangles a door to Antichamber’s end on the other side. All the while a timer ticks down from an hour and a half, providing you a time to beat.

I’ll envy anyone who can finish this in 90 minutes. At 15-plus hours of playtime for me, Antichamber regularly tested my wits and patience, and it induced a rage as I pried and prodded every in-game object — animate or otherwise — in search of the one clue I’m missing. I’m not ashamed to say that I haven’t completed it just yet. Antichamber demands a consistent imagination and an open mind. Levels are designed to force out-of-the-box thinking and simultaneously provide essential practice of certain skills for future puzzles.

Playing Antichamber and solving puzzles is a reminder of the old days of gaming, when success was its own reward. In today’s world of achievements, trophies, hints, and tutorials, Antichamber feels fresh; the pure unbridled difficulty of the puzzles (which are too often oh-so-simple … once you solve them) gives you a real sense of accomplishment when solved. The last game that made me feel proud for actually achieving something was in Jonathan Blow’s 2008 indie hit Braid. Some of the puzzles in Antichamber will crush your ego. That makes completing them all the more satisfying.

Simplicity defined

Bruce took Leonardo da Vinci’s “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” quote to heart. Players start with nothing: no tools and no tutorial, just a flashing icon on the map indicating where to click. Instructions are at most one word long and often carry double or triple meanings. The first message reads “jump” over a chasm, and if you do leap, you plummet to the bottom — where you find a cheeky message. That fall is the first step to learning how to play.

This method of teaching players — through practice instead of the spoken or written word — is elegant, and the information is easier to retain. Written text comes in the form of digital screens on walls that offer subtle hints to puzzles, like a note about persistence just before what looks like an infinitely spiraling walkway. Just like the puzzles, all of the text is subtle and requires a little work and imagination to understand.

Antichamber is one of the leanest games in recent history. Every little bit is intensely focused on teaching players through gameplay and affording the space to experiment. The level structure, colors, and graphics are minimalist by design and offer only enough to progress. Thie is about solving puzzles, and nothing stands in the way of that.

Complete interconnectedness with nonlinear gameplay

One of the most beautiful aspects of Antichamber is how all puzzles and levels are, in some way, connected. Players can spend hours solving one puzzle after another, or they can completely circumvent whole sections of the world by taking another path. Because of this interconnectedness and the non-linear level design, there is no right or wrong way to play. And like a “choose your own adventure” book playing the game straight through is not necessarily the best way.

No matter how you play, it’s the same game every time, even if each new session feels completely different.

Antichamber is an intricate web, one where players have access to all sorts of puzzles at any time but may lack the skill or insight to complete them all. Many levels contain multiple puzzles and different exit points for each one but require advanced tactics to solve. These puzzles seem impossible early on, and while a few are, most are not. This intrinsic level design means that the game is beatable in less than an hour and a half, and that completing every puzzle isn’t necessary.

What you won’t like

The incredible difficulty

If Antichamber’s greatest strength is brilliant and mesmerizing puzzles, its greatest weakness is when players have trouble solving them. Antichamber is not what you want to play to unwind after a hard day’s work unless you really enjoy a good challenge. It’s hard, and it’s merciless. With no tutorials or direct hints, Antichamber demands your full attention.

Only the cleverest of you will finish this in a single sitting. Some puzzles have left me stumped for hours — and at least one for days. As positive as that may sound, not all players are patient enough to accommodate Antichamber.

Automatically reset levels

Because the world of Antichamber is really one massive level, you could go make a single run through and see your work on any previously completed chamber. Unlocked doors stay open, blocks stay affixed to surfaces, and lasers remain blocked. This is a great way to speed through completed areas without mindlessly spending time resolving puzzles. That is, unless players press the escape button (ESC) to return to the main menu. This resets everything in the world and erases any trace of your actions. Every “escape” creates a clean slate.

This design makes sense, but it is awfully painful, especially for time-consuming puzzles. It can feel like punishment for viewing the map or seeing your progress. If you’ve lost your place or need to get to a specific location, too bad. Players either must memorize the map and puzzle locations, many of which are nearly identical to one another, or resign themselves to play through the same puzzles again. This also means exiting the game or turning off your computer is a forced reset. Starting fresh does train players to be more efficient through practice, but for anyone stuck and rapidly losing their patience, constant resets are unpalatable.

Conclusion

Antichamber is the film Cube sans horror, the threat of death, and poor acting. It’s insanely hard and painfully simple, just like any expertly crafted puzzle. Bruce has created one of the finest and most challenging puzzle games I have ever experienced. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a game to finish.

Score: 92/100

Antichamber is now available for PC. The publisher provided GamesBeat with a Steam download code for the purpose of this review.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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If 2012 has shown us one thing, it’s that video game development is truly in the “crossover era.” GamesBeat’s 2012 Game of the Year, The Walking Dead, was first available as a downloadable title, not a retail release. Other downloadables, such as indie-developed darlings Journey and Faster Than Light, garnered plenty of votes as well. And in our staff’s and contributor’s top games of the year lists, we even see mobile releases — like Fieldrunners 2.

Gaming has changed, and it’s nice to see that it’s more than just big-budget console and PC titles that have earned Game of the Year attention. Here are the top games as chosen by GamesBeat staffers and contributors. Let us know what you think about our picks in the comments — especially if you feel we’ve left something off our lists!

Editor-in-chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Firaxis Games

Little green men — yesteryear’s poster boys for mysterious invaders from outer space — are about as menacing as Oompa Loompas armed with toy guns. XCOM’s little gray men, however, are scary as hell. It’s not the ashen skin, bulbous eyes, or creepy-crawly walk. It’s what these Sectoids represent: a greater threat that we are simply not equipped to handle.

In the strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown, we mere humans bring dull knives to plasma gunfights. And just when we start to catch up in weapon technology, the bug-eyed bastards bring bigger guns and meaner friends. These jerks even cheat with mysterious mind-control powers. Meanwhile, we’re barely keeping the checkbook balanced between research, manufacturing, facility construction, aircraft, and an ever-decreasing budget due to world nations pulling out of the program if you can’t keep them safe (and you can never keep them all safe).

It all adds up to an incredibly exciting and stressful experience. Each decision — whether it’s which tree to hide your assault trooper behind or which whiny country gets your last airspace-monitoring satellite — feels monumental and permanent. Humanity’s existence is at stake, and we just want to make it to the next month, when a few more pennies come rolling in and a few more traumatized soldiers get out of sick bay.

It’s a desperate fight. And boy will we celebrate when those little gray men are dead.

Shoe’s other picks for best games of 2012: Fieldrunners 2, Dishonored, Journey, Fez

Lead writer Dean Takahasi

The Unfinished Swan
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Giant Sparrow

The Unfinished Swan is one of the most creative titles yet for the PlayStation Network. It’s an interactive fairy tale where you lob blobs of black paint at a white screen. As you do so, you uncover part of a 3D space hidden within the white scene. Uncovering each scene is a mind-bending task, as you have to navigate perplexing puzzles. You explore the unknown, and as you do so, you uncover a new segment in a fairy tale about a boy who loses his mother. It is a touching story that will remind of you of the zany Alice in Wonderland. Ian Dallas, the game creator, feels that a child who is abandoned is like an unfinished work of art. But just when you think that the game has become predictable, it changes. In some ways, the story seems unfinished. But the title is a wonderful first effort for Giant Sparrow, a new studio bankrolled by Sony.

Dean’s other picks for the best games of 2012: Halo 4, Far Cry 3, Journey, Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Culture editor Sebastian Haley

Hotline Miami
Platform: PC
Publisher: Developer Digital
Developer: Dennaton Games

Indie sensation Hotline Miami is best described as the film Drive, but in a retro, pixelated and somehow even more violent form, with subtle hints of Rockstar’s Manhunt sprinkled on top. The short-but-sickeningly sweet levels allow you to carefully orchestrate your symphony of murder and mayhem, filling the floors with maimed corpses and spraying the walls with crimson, all while its surreal, Miami Vice-inspired soundtrack beats in the back of your mind. Basically, if you own a Wii or like looking at livestreams of kittens, this is not your kind of game.

Sebastian’s other picks for best games of 2012: Trials Evolution, Far Cry 3, The Darkness II, Final Fantasy XIII-2

Staff writer Jeff Grubb

Mark of the Ninja
Platform: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), PC
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Developer: Klei Entertainment

For these Game of the Year summaries, we’re supposed to look above and beyond the individual parts of a game. We’re supposed to write about why it is important, but in the case of Mark of the Ninja, it’s those parts that make it so special. Developer Klei’s 2D stealth action game for Xbox Live Arcade and PC is a master class in well-executed gameplay mechanics. Whether it’s a soundwave that ripples off your ninja’s feet to indicate how much noise he’s making or a vision cone that indicates where an enemy is looking, Mark of the Ninja is constantly communicating with the player. It then provides the player with a great controlling character to poke and prod the world with.

It’s not rare that a game makes you feel like a badass, but with Klei’s game it’s not about how powerful you are — it’s about how in tune with the environment your character is. You have so much visual and aural information that every moment is an opportunity for experimentation. You can spend 10 minutes laying out a detailed plan that involves deadly traps, or you can play the entire game without a sword.

In video games, we don’t usually get a lot of new ideas, we just get different takes on old ideas. Stealth is an old idea at this point, but Mark of the Ninja distinguishes itself by executing the concept better than any other game before it.

Jeff’s other picks for best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Trials Evolution, FTL: Faster Than Light

Copy editor Jason Wilson

FTL: Faster Than Light
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux
Publisher: Subset Games
Developer: Subset Games

I’m low on fuel. My crew raced around my starship like a colony of ants, hastily putting out fires as doors opened to the cold vacuum of space. The Rebels are closing in on me. Do I take a chance and see if I can gain more fuel in the next nebular cloud, or do I make a mad dash for the next sector and hope to find friendly forces instead of angry adversaries? These are just some of the choices the player faces in FTL: Faster Than Light, the indie roguelike that’s swept upon a number of Game of the Year lists in 2012 (including ours!). What makes FTL so compelling to players is that a take on Civilization’s “one more turn” addictive nature — but instead of furthering your game, you’re driven to see if your next attempt takes you closer to escaping the pursuing Rebel forces. And it’s this that makes FTL one of the most interesting, fascinating, and, yes, best games of 2012.

Jason’s other picks for best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Crusader Kings II, Torchlight II, Dragon’s Dogma

Contributor Rus McLaughlin

Far Cry 3
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Something visceral. Something primal. Most shooters don’t have these. They settle you into a safe, comfortable role. Veteran soldier. Seasoned cop. Career criminal. A hero … or an antihero. But Far Cry 3 makes you run blind through the jungle while murderous pirates hunt you like a piece of prey. You’re just a terrified kid. Never held a gun before. Never seen anyone die before. Now you’re covered in your own brother’s blood and getting high off the giddy thrill of mere survival. Then you’re turned lose to roam two amazingly rich, open-world islands where you can really start enjoying yourself, slowly and cautiously picking your tormentors apart. Before you know it, the elation you get from destroying a criminal empire hardens into a different kind of drug: revenge.

That’s when Far Cry 3 surpasses the standard shooter fare. An aimless twentysomething becomes a killer of killers, as feared as the insane warlords he wants dead. Between coolly tense stealth play and straight-up gunfights, you become the predator, stalking intruders in your jungle and murdering them at will. It all culminates in a moment where you must decide just how much you enjoy that particular power fantasy. Enough to abandon your humanity? Maybe.

Far Cry 3 goes there. Solid gameplay — minus a weak-tea multiplayer — and incredibly detailed environments lift it far enough, but its secret weapon lies in how it takes you into that dark, primal place. And then it dares you to ignore your basic animal instincts.

Rus’s other picks for best games of 2012: The Walking Dead, Fez, Halo 4, Journey

Contributing editor Rob Savillo

Contributor Rob LeFebvre

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Maingear keeps tempting gamers with new kinds of gaming gear. Today, the Kenilworth, N.J.-based PC builder is launching its Nomad 15 gaming laptop.

The launch comes after Maingear debuted its Nomad 17 gaming laptop in September. The new laptop has Intel’s Core i7 mobile processors and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 670MX, 675MX, and 680M graphics.

In its press release, Maingear says you’ll “dominate with mobile destruction” with this laptop. Gamers can overclock it with the touch of a button, gaining an 8 percent boost in performance. The Intel chips are quad-core processors that run up to 3.8 gigahertz. The machine supports up to 32 gigabytes of DDR3 main memory. It also has flash memory storage (up to 512 gigabytes) for faster boot time.

The system works with Killer Networks’ DoubleShot technology for boosting web performance. The machine also has a single omnidirectional blower fan and dual heat pipe and heat sink system. It has a backlit keyboard, a high-definition 1080p 15-inch matte display, and all sorts of ports. The company offers hand-done, premium automotive paint jobs.

“Hot new colors, sleek design, top-of-the-line mobile parts — the Nomad 15 is one of the best 15-inch mobile gaming units we have launched to date,” said Wallace Santos, the chief executive and founder of Maingear. “Those points, along with a great entry-level price, will make this gaming system a no-brainer choice for anyone looking to hop from console gaming to PC gaming.”

Maingear says pricing starts at $1,549.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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(Transcription courtesy of TranscribeMe!)

Planetary Annihilation has been in concept for about three years

While Total Annihilation released back in 1997, Mavor has been playing with the concept of an interplanetary RTS for a few years. Sure, he worked on 2007′s Supreme Commander, but Mavor has toyed with ideas like hurling asteroids at planets since the development of Super Monday Night Combat. “Visualization started about three months ago,” Mavor told VentureBeat in an exclusive interview. “We’ve been working on the engine tech and thinking about the game for literally a couple of years. I’ve had the idea rolling around in my head for [at least] that long.” The technology behind the game has been in production for several years now, though, specifically on the server end thanks to UberNet.

UberNet is Uber Entertainment’s back-end server network, which the developer has been creating and refining for both its own games and third-party titles. With UberNet, Planetary Annihilation will be completely server-based.

Planetary Annihilation lets you run your own servers

Jon Mavor, the creative director on Planetary Annihilation

Mavor is adamant about making Planetary Annihilation as friendly to players as possible. Matches are persistent — one competitor can leave and not disrupt everyone else — and playable via Uber’s official servers, or users can meet up on their own servers. Through UberNet, players can access a matchmaking service where they can challenge anyone around the world, or they could choose to just start a quirky game with friends.

“This is something … that the community asked for. You can play on [Windows, Linux, and Mac]. You can set up a Linux server and then play on your PC if you want or any combination thereof. They said, ‘We want DRM-free [digital-rights management], and we want to be able to run LAN servers,’” said Mavor. And while UberNet doesn’t currently support clans or tournaments (something that the company is actively working on) users can create their own. “The difference between our official servers and end-user servers is how we set them up. [For] end-user servers, you’ll see individuals who just want to run their own games with friends, you’ll see clans, you’ll see mod servers and different kinds of gameplay,” said Mavor.

Even if you don’t have access to your own personal server, you can still play private matches on Uber’s hardware; although, you will be restricted to Uber’s rules and current game limitations.

Why Planetary Annihilation won’t receive a standard single-player campaign

While my interview with Mavor took place before the fourth stretch goal, when the developer revealed a computer-generated single-player campaign called the “Galactic War,” Mavor was very clear that Planetary Annihilation won’t feature a traditional campaign. “The emphasis [of Planetary Annihilation] is on having a good skirmish mode for the single-player. We’ve seen that a lot of people play through the campaign once or twice and then never play it for a decade. But skirmish they play all the time.”

My own experience with Total Annihilation mirrors Mavor’s sentiment, but the beauty of having a campaign is not only to share a story (a narrative background for the game), but also to teach players how to play at a professionally set pace. Mavor thinks that’s unnecessary. “Our approach on Total Annihilation was the model — kind of like the Command and Conquer model. The game hadn’t been made before. We really didn’t have any notion of what we could change and get rid of, and nowadays, we do. There’s a built-in community already that’s going to teach you bottom play. There [are] built-in community players already.” With so many fans of games like Total Annihilation or Supreme Commander, the install base for Planetary Annihilation is already set. The people putting money in the Kickstarter, according to Mavor, are the people who already know how to play or will know how to learn from the community.

Minimum specifications: currently Sandy Bridge for 2-4 players

Planetary Annihilation is being built to run on everyday computers. The minimum specs? “Anything past Sandy Bridge as far as embedded graphics go,” Mavor stated, going further to discuss how computer hardware is stabilizing around major platforms like Intel’s latest chipsets. “[Sandy Bridge is] what I’m aiming for, but we haven’t announced final specs. To some extent, it’s too early to say because maybe we will get halfway through the game and go, ‘You know what, if we just amp the specs up a little bit …’ we’re going to have a much better game. I don’t necessarily anticipate that.”

The minimum specifications for Planetary Annihilation aren’t set in stone, but last year’s Intel processors aren’t exactly a high standard for gaming. Nearly all laptops and ultrabooks made within the past year and a half use the Sandy Bridge platform or the newer Ivy Bridge processors from Intel. However, PA will support more than four players at a time, which will require more computing power. Playing on a more powerful machine will be critical.

Planetary Annihilation will support games of up to 40 players, spanning an entire solar system

“To me, that’s a whole unexplored area of gameplay that could be really cool … but we don’t know how it’s gonna work out.” Forty-player games, which Mavor spoke with PC Gamer about, is something that Uber is still actively investigating but is wholly interested in pursuing. “The 40-player game is to see what the community goes with …. I see it as being really extra super hardcore. Like, how many people want to play a game that lasts for 40 hours, or something like that?”

I was skeptical about such a massive game because as anyone who can’t sit in front of a computer to play a game for five hours at a time — let alone 40 — it doesn’t seem realistic. But because games are persistent and played through servers, players can jump in and out anytime to do things like go to work, maintain a relationship, eat, sleep, etc. And the game will continue. Players have the option to have AI take over when they leave, or the units simply carry on in the player’s absence in autopilot. Units will defend themselves when attacked and continue performing any tasks previously assigned, but they won’t play on their own.

But how would a game like that work? Mavor sees such a massive game more playable in teams — in a solar system with several planets with four or five players per world. As individuals get knocked out, the limited resources open up to the rest of the players until only a few factions remain and wage a full-scale planetary war. “But how the hell all that’s going to work out is totally speculative. I think it’s going to be really cool, but it’s never been done before.”

An interesting sidenote regarding 40-player matches: While the game is still in very early stages of development, Uber hasn’t actually played a 40-player game yet. This shouldn’t come as a surprise; the game isn’t even close to release, something Mavor is eager to remind Kickstarter funders.

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CCP, the studio behind the massively multiplayer online intergalactic trade simulator Eve Online, has released a number of screenshots for Dust 514, their upcoming free-to-play  first-person shooter spinoff for the PlayStation 3.

The screens show off the game’s bleak, futuristic aesthetic while also hinting at the role vehicles play in combat, with various tanks and aircraft blowing up/being blown up by groups of robot-looking soldiers.

But the most interesting thing about Dust 514 is most likely too difficult (if not impossible) to convey in simple screenshots: The direct connection between the actions of players in it and its big brother, Eve Online. What the ground troops do in one game has certain political and economical ramifications for the space captains, fleet commanders, and intergalactic businessmen of the other.

The Dust 514 closed beta is currently open to all PlayStation Plus subscribers and those who have purchased the game’s Mercenary Pack

Also, Eve Online players will be able to take advantage of special “orbital bombardments” which will allow them to fire upon enemies in the PlayStation 3 game from space (from their PC).

Check out the gallery below.

While Microsoft is hard at work trying to sell the idea of Windows 8 as a great gaming platform, some developers are still not convinced.

Just last month at the Casual Connect conference, Valve cofounder Gabe Newell called the operating system a “catastrophe for everybody in the PC space.” Newell wasn’t referring only to Windows for gaming. He was talking about the operating system as a whole. Much of his worry stems from concerns of Windows losing its openness. “I think there’s a strong temptation to close the platform,” Newell said, though his comments could be clouded by Valve’s announcement today that its digital distribution service Steam will begin selling nongame software in September.

Shortly after Newell called Windows 8 a catastrophe, Blizzard executive vice president of game design Rob Pardo tweeted the quote, adding, “not awesome for Blizzard either.“

Despite the criticism from developers, Microsoft is going to make a strong push for gaming with Windows 8. For starters, it’s already chosen to brand their built-in software, such as Minesweeper and Solitaire, as Xbox Windows, tying these to their popular console gaming platform. Its mobile Windows Phone 8 OS is getting a boost in the gaming department as well.

A Microsoft spokesperson for Windows told GamesBeat why the company believes the operating system is ideal for gaming. “With Xbox on Windows 8, we created easy entry points into the types of entertainment that you’ll enjoy, including games. The Games app prominently features your avatar, profile, friends and Gamerscore and allows you to explore your friends’ avatars.”

But Brad Wardell, the CEO of Stardock, a company that specializes in Windows software and games such as Sins of a Solar Empire and Elemental: War of Magic, used words like “schizophrenic,” “obnoxious,” and “nightmare” to describe the OS in a piece he wrote back in March, “Three Killer Problems That Threaten Windows 8.” To Wardell, Microsoft doesn’t seem to know if Windows 8 is a tablet OS or a desktop OS. He feels it tries to do both, but neither very well. However, Microsoft seems to argue the benefits of Windows 8 offering multiple methods for input, such as touch and accelerometer support, and that both vital for tablet and mobile gaming.

GamesBeat reached out to Wardell for an update in light of Newell’s comments, and he e-mailed us the following statement: “I concur with Gabe. Windows 8 is trying to be all things to all people, and thus failing to be good at anything in particular. We hope to release software that will make Windows 8 more usable for desktop users, but I’d prefer if Microsoft had a more coherent strategy in the first place.”

Indie developers also fear Windows 8. Minecraft creator and founder of Mojang, Markus “Notch” Persson, had his own things to say in a recent open exchange with the Reddit community. His concern mirrors Newell’s. “If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8, it would be very, very bad for indie games and competition in general,” Persson said. He added that if platforms remain open, it will keep game development interesting not only for indies but for triple-A developers as well.

Many developers argue against a closed platform in which content makers would have to sell their software in the Windows 8 Store, which is essentially the App Store approach. It’s a strategy that’s worked for Apple. With this store content makers would pull in a 70 percent share of revenue while Microsoft gets the other 30. Software that pulls in a certain amount (not yet specified by Microsoft) will be upgraded to an 80 percent cut. This likely seems like a fair deal for Microsoft as they offer the means of distribution, and a storefront for developers’ products to be seen.

Speaking at QuakeCon 2012, id Software boss and cofounder John Carmack said that Windows 8 added nothing of interest and gave him no reason to consider the platform.

During this years’ annual video game tradeshow, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, GamesBeat spoke with Windows 8 project director Christopher Flores, who said, “Windows 8 is able to serve both hardcore and casual gamers, with the power you’ve come to expect from a PC.”

Microsoft also plans to offer backward compatibility for older Windows games in order to ensure that users don’t lose access to previous purchases. It was also announced during E3 that Unity Technologies will be supporting Windows 8 with their tools and game engine. According to Microsoft, it “will support specific Windows 8 features and functionality,” such as touch, accelerometer, gyroscope and Xbox Live titles. The pre-beta version is already in the hands of a limited number of developers.

The operating system will also allow users to make purchases for their Xbox 360 and queue them up for download on the console. In other words, Microsoft hopes to unify the operating system across their various platforms.

Microsoft also told us that 2K Play is already “looking forward to seeing what their games can do on Windows 8 when it ships, and one of the first titles they will be delivering for Windows 8 is GridBlock.”

We were also directed to the Windows Dev Center’s “Why develop a game for Windows” page, which argues that developers can reach a large audience, create content that works with a variety of input devices and a range of hardware, and use technologies such as HTML5 to make things people will play.

Until now, software developers enjoyed the openness of the Windows platform. How it will affect them in the long run is still hard to gauge, but many of them don’t seem thrilled.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Sometimes petitions can seem a little pointless. Lots of names on a list, but no-one listening to the message. This week though, a petition by gamers, to convert the critically acclaimed action RPG Dark Souls for the PC, may actually have hit its mark.

Over 68,000 names are now on the ‘Dark Souls for PC’ petition, which was started in response to a forum comment by Namco Bandai Community Manager Tony Shoupirou:

“There is (sic) always possibilities to have games adapted on PC and the good news is that Dark Souls is not a 100% typical Console game, so the adaptation is possible. Now to make things happen, let’s say the demand has to be properly done. someone to make a successful petition?”

In a subsequent comment Shoupirou added:

Honestly, I think this is an interesting request and that it deserves to be pushed. Namco have no position for now on this topic: PC versions are considered for many games but as PC is rarely the lead platform for the games released by the company, making PC version very often depends on signs that could come from users or from market globally.

Not long after those messages appeared, a petition had been started, and the number of names on the list grew rapidly. With the petition numbering over 60k, some members of the Namco Bandai forums were concerned that they had received no further response from Shoupirou. To their delight though, he appeared again yesterday, to express his amazement at the success of the petition:

Damn you are amazing! I honestly wasn’t expecting such a massive support. My boss(es) even came to talk to me about this, after it explodes all around the world. If you wanted to have the attention of Namco Bandai Games, now you have it. The future is in your hands, and I hope you will keep supporting this. I make a personal objective to make sure every relevant people in Namco Bandai Games is in touch with this formidable effort. Great Thanks!

So it seems that the petition has been seen by all the right people, but will this influence Namco Bandai’s decision? Shoupirou tried to keep a lid on expectations, saying, “I can’t say it’s going to happen (I wish I had this power ^^), but I can assure [you] management of the company will know about it, and I think that [is] already a good achievement and a good step forward.”

We contacted Namco Bandai, but a spokesman said there is no official comment on Dark Souls PC or the petition at the moment. It will be interesting to see where this story leads, and whether player power will be enough to persuade Namco Bandai to bring Dark Souls to the PC arena.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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The survey, conducted on over 15,000 people last month, found that more are drawn to the mobile platform than in previous years. Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they played on their mobile more in 2011 than in the previous year, while 26 percent said they’d played more on their consoles, and 23 percent said they’d played more on their PCs.

The study says women over 30 consistently showed more interest in mobile gaming than others. Twenty-seven percent of women over 30 said they spend more than three hours playing games on their mobile phones every day, which is double the percentage of men on average, as well as that of women ages 12-29.

The survey also found that mobile gamers are as devoted to game play as console gamers. Twenty-one percent say they spend at least an hour playing every day on their mobile phone, compared to the 24 percent who say they spend at least an hour a day on their console, on average. MocoSpace says the high engagement levels on mobile indicate the device carries as much allure as consoles. Despite the portability of a smart phone, 47 percent of mobile gaming is actually done at home, according to data from the NPD Group. MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel says the fact that people are gaming on their smart phones while sitting a few feet away from their controller shows that mobile is capable of grabbing and holding their interest.

“This data makes it clear that mobile is a viable alternative to console and PC gaming,” he said.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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