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After a long and winding road to release, it seems as though we have a SOLID release date and launch info pertaining to Remedy’s Alan Wake. Launching May 18 in North America and May 21 in Europe, the Xbox 360 exclusive that seeks to establish a new gaming genre (that of the gripping psychological action thriller) is built like a “chilling episodic TV series, where your wits and light are your only allies”. Good thing then that you can pre-order your copy and reserve your Bright Falls Bonus Pack, which includes exclusive content such as avatar gear, an Xbox LIVE theme, and a “making of” video.

Via Gametrailers

The PC version of Assassin’s Creed 2 is finally going to hit the markets in early March.

But it will only support DirectX 9. some question from the interview taken by PC Games Hardware with 3D Lead Programmer of the game(David Champagne) about the technical background.

PCGH: Do you have to reprogram/alter/add parts of the Anvil/Scimitar engine for Assassin’s Creed 2? If so, can you please describe what technical modification you have made and why they have been necessary?

David Champagne: Several new features have been added to the engine. A lot of them came from the AI and level design but still a lot came from the graphics side. We also had to develop new tools and plug-ins to help artists and designers integrate those new features.

PCGH: Regarding the different release dates for the Console and PC version we assume, that you develop the console and PC version separately to fully take advantage of the technical possibility the PC as a platform has to offer? Is that correct?

David Champagne: Even though it is not obvious at first glance, a lot of small things need to be addressed in order to successfully port a console game to PC. Enough to keep a team working for a couple of months. We worked a lot on improving the PC version to support all the possible hardware and to take advantage of multi-core processors.

PCGH: What are the main differences between the console and the PC version as far as general technical aspects as well as the visuals is concerned? What technical features can only be realized with the PC as platform?

David Champagne: As mentioned, we spent quite some time improving the performances of the PC version by taking advantage of multi-core processors. The PC version also supports much higher resolutions than the console version and multi-sampling modes up to 8X (as opposed to the console version which only supports 2X).

PCGH: Is it correct that Assassin’s Creed 2 will offer improved shadow rendering and lighting as well as a day and night cycle? Do you integrate other new visuals into the game? If yes, what rendering techniques do you apply?

David Champagne: Efforts have particularly been put on improving our lighting system to support day and night cycle. New techniques such as support for spot lights and reflections have also been implemented into the engine.

PCGH: Can you explain why you removed support for DX10.1 in Assassin’s Creed with the patch 1.02 although DX10.1 improved the quality of FSAA as well as the performance on Radeon cards? Is it really true that DX10.1 caused errors when calculating post processing? Will the renderer of Assassin’s Creed 2 support DX10.1 or once again just DX10?

David Champagne: I personally didn’t work on the first Assassin’s Creed PC so it would be hard for me to answer this question. For Assassin’s Creed II, we decided to stick to DX9. This allowed us to focus on a single version of the renderer and helped us to achieve the best possible performances.

Full Interview

The shortage of IPv4 addresses has reached a critical stage, according to the registries that allocate Internet numbers around the world.

The Number Resource Organization (NRO), which represents the registries, said Tuesday that less than 10 percent of all IPv4 addresses remain available, threatening the future network operations of all businesses and organizations unless ISPs and businesses step up their migration to IPv6.

“The limited IPv4 addresses will not allow us enough resources to achieve the ambitions we all hold for global Internet access,” NRO Chairman Axel Pawlik said in a statement Tuesday. “The deployment of IPv6 is a key infrastructure development that will enable the network to support the billions of people and devices that will connect in the coming years.”

Source CNET

The computer maker unveiled two new notebooks on Friday that have already received kudos from the international environmental group. The Acer Aspire 3811TZ and Aspire 3811TZG are designed to be energy efficient, recyclable, and biodegradable, thereby winning high marks from Greenpeace, which rates PCs and other electronics for their environmental friendliness.

As part of its green initiatives, Acer said it built the two new Aspires to be free of PVCs (polyvinyl chloride) and BFRs (brominated flame retardants).

PVC is a cheap but durable plastic that has been criticized by Greenpeace for not being biodegradable and for emitting toxic substances into the environment. BFRs are chemicals added to plastics to make them more flame resistance, but these have also been accused of leeching into the environment. Their use in products for babies and children has especially concerned many groups. With the exception of the power cables, all components for both Aspires are free of these toxins.

“The chemical characteristics of PVC and BFRs may generate toxic substances like dioxins and furans at products’ end-of-life, therefore, the reduction of PVC and BFRs in Acer products will help protect our environment from being poisoned by electronics goods,” Acer said in a statement.

The new Aspires are also designed to cut energy use–both models can save up to 40 percent of the energy consumption of traditional notebooks, providing more than 8 hours of battery life, said Acer. Further, the company designed the units to be easily recycled. With more modular parts than in traditional notebooks, users can also extend the life of the Apires by replacing certain components.

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Previous Apple engineer, Andy Rubin went on to co-found mobile computing outfits Danger and Android. He sold the former to Microsoft and the latter to Google, where he is now vice president of engineering. He’s also the guy quarterbacking development of Google’s Android mobile operating system and the Nexus One–the Smartphone with which Google hopes to fundamentally change the way people buy cell phones.

In conversation with All Things Digital’s Walt Mossberg Friday, Rubin talked about the mobile space, Google’s plan for an enterprise version of the Nexus One, and its vision for the way phones should be bought and sold. Walt starts off by asking Rubin about just how involved Google was in the development of the Nexus One.

Rubin replies, “We threw out crazy ideas to our partners at HTC, and they were pretty good about plucking the good ones out of the air and building them into the device.”

Walt asks about the new business model Google’s launched in concert with Nexus One. Was this something the company planned all along?

“This is the next phase of Android–taking the newest versions of the product, placing them online, and allowing consumers to purchase them directly,” says Rubin. “What we’ve learned is that there are more efficient ways of connecting consumers with the phones they’d like to purchase…easier ways.” Purchasing a Nexus One through Google, says Rubin, is a casual process. “No one’s breathing down your neck,” he says. “No one’s trying to upsell you.”

Full Report