This is pretty silly... I mean, it just looks like they cut the top and bottom off a normal image.

Which is what I always thought about widescreen anyway. I mean, I accept it nowadays, and I think it even makes sense because it sort of mimics the viewing "screen" area you get from your own two eyes... but this up above, it's just silly :P

This seems to be for those who want to use multiple monitors...

O_O;

Overdoing it much...?

I gues that to run at that high res, you need a triple sli of 8800, or a ati crossfire 3870 x4...

Neat. I guess people with those double wide monitors will get some real good use out of them.

@solar_tf: You, sir, are a fool.

Seriously though, I don't think you know what you're talking about. This is great.

@solar_tf:

I expected it to look like that, but really, it didn't seem to look like that to me. The vertical height was the same as a regular resolution, it was just really wide. Looked fantastic to me. Like, really fantastic. I'm not quite sure why either O_o

That "high" of a res is really a misconception with 3840x1200. Double-wide 16:10 doesn't take much more processing power to pull off, more so just the monitor to display it (if not just pairing two 1920x1200s).

Holy fast!

I just saw SpeedRacer, which was a fast movie; but after watching that clip I think my eyeballs just melted.

oops! Enter too early :D

Don't get me wrong though, looks great. Have had the game from Gamefly for almost two months now, and should probably just buy it already.

"Holy Dolphin Fin Batman!"

wait... what?

Jesus. THAT is excessive. BUT TOTALLY NECESSARY.

Might as well add ultra tallscreen as well.

its extreme... and even cool due to it almost being a novelty in its extremeness. but I could see this bugging me after awhile... I feel like I'm missing the rest of the screen or something...

it looks small but you are getting the entire picture. Stuff like this make me want to change my computer desk to support double monitors with thin sides. Only problem with two or more screens is the sides though.

But with 2 x 1920 screens wont the bezel right in the middle destracting?

Seeing the middle of the screen in a Burnout game is pretty important so having them separated might create some visual perception issues.

Pointless, totally pointless.

I'm using two 24" monitors right now. I don't know if I could handle having the car split down the middle.

@RaepGoblin:I doubt you would be saying that if you had this setup.

This is pure awesomeness. I hope those ultra wide LCD's come out soon. The one from NEC looks very cool. I think Asus showed one off as well.

@Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!: well thats one way to see if they're the exact same speed lol

I actually thought this was cool.

Nick (Hogan) Bollea this game is for you!

In other news, did they happen to announce an expected timeframe for release?

Wow, the game looks [i]damn gorgeous[/i]. I'm glad I waited! Was gonna pick up the 360 version in another week or two. Now I don't have to, yay!

HECK YES!! BRING ON THE PC VERSION, MAN! WOOT

Console Gaming = Toyota's. They're efficient, affordable, and produced for the mass market.

PC Gaming = Ferrari. They're beautiful, expensive, over-the-top, and the best experience possible on the market. They're just aren't enough people out there who can afford it to realize it.

@mva5580: QFT. This is quite simply state of the art. Look at the phone wires. No jaggies at all. Fucking fantastic.

@mva5580:
Well, that's if you buy pre-built computers. You can save hundreds of dollars by building your own PC and cannibalizing memory, HDDs, monitors, etc. I mean, I could build a good gaming computer for less than $1000.

Intel Q9450: ~$370
Random motherboard: ~$100-$150
4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM: $120
OC'd NVidia 9600: $200 (And that's only because it includes Call of Duty 4)
XP Home or Vista Home Pre.: $100-$170
Total: $890-$1010

That seems pretty affordable to me, especially since that Quad-core CPU will probably last quite a while before going obsolete.

@Maltose: Yup, you pretty much just designed my computer exactly :). Except there are a few extra expenses:

430 Watt Antec PS - $60
320GB HD, SATA - Free from my old PC :)
and my random mobo is an ASUS P5K.

Also, you could drop the memory to 3GB to save some coin, because that's the max XP will recognize anyway.

@Maltose:Well for the most part you are right as rain, and I agree with you . I will say that if your an enthusiast(build your own), the parts you named are not going to be quite enough.

My next rig is going to be SLI again, and I am moving up to DDR3. The cheapest mainboard on the market is priced at $327.00 online. DDR3 is much more expensive.

Of course I am talking about this two moniter hyper high-def type of setup when I talk of state of the art. I can't afford another moniter @ $600, and the ulta widescreens have not been released yet.

For PC gaming on a functional level without breaking the bank, what you have listed is accurate to a T. I get so sick of people confusing how much you can spend on a cutting edge PC and what you need.

I kind of blame Alienware and Voodoo for their $10,000 PC's. I don't know if they still make models at that price range, but they did for quite awhile, and many people noticed this and ran away from the PC.

@Maltose: Truth. I, for instance, am running a 2.5 year old system with a 7 month old vid card in it, and I can run Crysis at max settings (not including DX10 stuff).

Specs (that matter):

AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.2GHZ
4 GIGS DDR RAM
8800 GT 512.

When I bought the system 2 and a half years ago I put a 7800 GTX 256 card in there and could still run Crysis beautifully at medium settings. With the recently purchased 8800 I have no problem running the game mat max settings, and I doubt I'll need to upgrade any further within the next couple of years.

It is absolutely not necessary to build a super awesome "god-in-a-box" computer to run today's latest PC games.

@Atheist Jew:That's funny. When I first purchased Crysis, I had two 7800GTX's that I bought the first week they became available on Newegg. Ran Crysis unexpectedly well in DX9. Couldn't believe it.

My first real test for those cards though, was Bioshock. A DirectX 10 title that was written up as being hardware intensive. To my suprise, the game rocked, and I finished the game before I upgraded to two 8800GTS's (G92).

@Maltose:

Well, some places (Tiger Direct AFAIK, maybe other places) bundle processors, memory, and a motherboard together.

I just found a motherboard (SLI-capable, although I don't know if that's a motherboard-based thing or not) that comes with 2 GB of dual-channel 800 Mhz DDR2 RAM and a Q6600 processor for $390. You're downgrading the processor (the one you chose was top-of-the-line, so that's not saying much :P) from 2.66GHz, with a 12MB cache, and 1333MHz FSB to a 2.4 Ghz, 8 MB cache, and 1066MHz FSB, which is still more than enough to handle most games out there, plus you get your motherboard and your RAM (though you should probably get more than 2 GB)

So yeah, PC gaming is far cheaper than people think, you just have to know where to look.

That motherboard, a GeForce 7600 GT (512, factory OC'd), and a decent power supply, and the rest of your parts (as well as OS and case) you can just cannibalize from your pre-existing computer.

That's basically $550 for a rig that can (to use the universal benchmark) run Crysis, and probably pretty well at that.

@mva5580:

You also have to phone the car dealership once a week to get permission to drive your Ferrari.

Many Ferrari's won't be able to use every type of fuel without having some work done to the engine.

And fewer and fewer gas stations will stock the only type of fuel you can use in a Ferrari, because people keep driving off without paying.

@V1L3: Cute, but grossly inaccurate.

Uh, if I follow your meaning.

@V1L3:I know what your trying to say. Just say it next time! Your analogy is confusing to say the least. Also, it seems your misguided, and naive at best.

If I may suggest something: Turn off, tune out, and drop in.

@Roflcopter_Down: Wants you to follow HIM!:
that's why you're supposed to get a third monitor.

@Yuki: Your wish, granted!
[ve3d.ign.com]

Best racing game arrives on PC!

Looks speedy, large FOV always enhances that effect. You can see nicely into the effects and environments by looking though the video frame by frame. The city geometry detail is about Quake 1 level, but the speed, shaders and textures hide that nicely. And you can see how the glass "shatters" at impact. Frame 1, it's there, frame 2, it disappears and glass piece particles appear, frame 3 smoke particles appear.

@0479: Most entertaining crash simulator maybe.

@willyolio: The given resolution is for two 24" 16:9 screens, not three.

@ara: @ the willyolio comment, it was a joke, lol. You seriously need to keep up with the comments :)

@ara: the "given" resolution is 2x 1920x1200...which could be any 22"(Lenovo's new 22" 1920x1200) through 28", not necessarily only 24"

no, really. I remember when TV guys were first trying to promote widescreen TV and they sat down on a chair, opened their arms and went:

"Look, in widescreen, you can see my hands when my arms are open".

and I went

"sure, genius, if you told your cameraman to zoom out just a bit in standard ratio I'd be able to see your hands, too."

Plus, you could go and say:

"Look, in standard screen ratio, you can still see my head when I stand up!"

nice.. though being two crts i have.. thers a wedge of plastic splitting the car in half....

Can't wait to see how ugly those textures look at that resolution!

@Laser_iCE: Sadly no time for that these days. -_- Just caught my eye.

@bobbytomorow: True, true, just went with the most common setup. And managed to mistype the aspect ration...

Or you could just play this on one big 40+ inch TV with ridiculously thick letterboxing. That resolution is just a waste of performance anyways, you'll be hard pressed to notice any big difference on anything smaller than a 80" TV, especially if it's anti-aliased :P

People are too hung up in numbers these days. You can fool any CS gamer for example to think they run the game at 100fps by telling them to turn off vsync. They just like SEEING the NUMBER 100 when in fact it's a lot lower.

@mva5580: PC gaming is not the best experience available on the market. Theres many ways to approach this question.

Many people prefer sitting/laying on their couch wathcing a big screen tv rather than sitting at a desk and staring at a monitor.

Many people prefer popping in a disc and just playing, rather than installing, patching, resolving conflicts and other errors.

Many people prefer value for money.

Many people prefer the quantity and quality of console titles that never get on the PC. It's also true vice versa, but if you don't play world of warcraft or the sims or rts, isnt console almost always better?

Also, piracy really hurts the PC. When devs have to decide where they are going to put their resources, it's almost always a better business choice to make a game for a console.

Also, how can you call PC the best gaming experience possible when you can't even play GTA4 on it?

@baccardi84: You actually believe that?
As an owner of 7 consoles, 3 handhelds and 3 gaming pc`s i can confidently say you are wrong.
"Many people prefer sitting/laying on their couch watching a big screen tv"...I can and do play both on my large screen tv (with my pc) and on my 22" monitor.The tv sits level with my desk side by side with my pc monitor, its on a wall mount and ive a nice comfy lounge chair nearby thanks! Snes,nes and ,megadrive games are very nice like this with improved rendering and smoothing of graphics that my pc implements. all at the click of a wireless 360 controller button.Mame is nice too plus quite a few others.
"Many people prefer popping in a disc and just playing, rather than installing, patching, resolving conflicts and other errors"...Ive news for you, you install only once and i dont even need to pop a disk in at all 99% of the time.Resolving conflicts and other errors? hmm i honestly cant remember the last error or confilct i had on my pc because i actually know what the fuck im doing.GTA IV on my console however? :P
"Many people prefer value for money"... Indeed, and this is why i like pc gaming.Games at 50%or less than the price of their console counterparts that look and play faster ,smoother and at higher res with far better textures and draw distance, FREE mods and downloadable content that extend a games life many fold,making my own mods for fun and to improve gameplay or realism,free online play that lets ME choose which server i play on.
"Many people prefer the quantity and quality of console titles that never get on the PC"...Name these fabled games you speak of.The only one i can think of is crackdown.That would be nice but hey i gotta make some sacrifices eh? I think i`ll live.
"also, piracy really hurts the PC" Yes and many console games are freely available too if i wanted them.Hurts them too?
Your last point of GTA4 not being available on pc YET? Well i have GTA4 thanks on my ps3 and i`ll buy it again if/when it comes out on pc because i know it will be better.Also see the crackdown comment above.

Pc gaming make consoles look like a bad compromise and thats all they are.If you dont believe that then your kidding yourself.Sure i own some consoles but they are left by the wayside 90% of the time just gathering dust and some consoles out there arent even fit for those duties.

@UFO:
It's pretty ridiculous to compare a system that takes all that setup, to a simple plug and play console. How many PC gamers actually have a rig like yours? Note also, you are using a controller developed for the console.

Piracy on PC >>>>>>> piracy on consoles, worldwide, anytime. This is fact. Don't bother contesting this one.

I've been a PC gamer most of my life but have recently admitted that consoles are a much more elegant gaming solution.

There are many console exclusives that many ppl consider significant milestones in gaming that will never make it to PC. There are entire genres of games that are best experienced on the console too. One of the reasons I switched to consoles is that I couldnt get those games on PC. Consider Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy, Grand Turismo, Metal Gear Solid. Consider that entire genres are better on the console like sports games, other racing games, action adventure, 3rd person games. Hell, CoD4 is better on console because you cant cheat online. Try it on PC, its almost totally ruined by cheaters..

The simple fact that there are people that prefer console over PC means that PC isn't the ultimate experience. To use mva's analogy, who would turn down a ferrari over a toyota? No one. But I know many people, myself included, who would turn down PC gaming over consoles.