Alienware is synonymous with gaming hardware, and for good reason. The updated Alienware 15 R3 is a brilliant, if unwieldy, testament to that expertise.
The post Alienware 15 R3 (2017) review appeared first on Digital Trends.
Dell Unveils Inspiron 15 Gaming Notebook And Premium Alienware Hardware For VR
CES is a time for announcements and new technology for consumers of all types. Fans of smart home devices and accessories will be excited to learn about their trashcans can level up, while gamers will be excited to learn of new desktop and notebook options, such as the latest mid-range offering in Dell’s Inspiron 15 Gaming notebook.
The long-time computer manufacturer has been vocal about their support of VR for some time, even hinting at the future of second generation headsets the last time we spoke with company representatives.
Somehow, Dell managed to cram an entire GTX 1050 into their latest notebook along with a 7th generation Intel quad-core processor. On the dedicated rig front with an eye towards VR, new premium Alienware rigs were detailed as well. The upcoming lineup will include not just 4k or 8k, but even 12k-capable rigs and enhanced VR support, as well as new VR-ready notebooks to take your virtual worlds on the go. There will also be new options for Alienware 13, 15, and 17 laptops to increase performance and battery life further.
“The popularity of PC gaming is at an all-time high, with hardware alone forecasted to exceed $35 billion by the end of 2018, thanks to the introduction of VR and excitement created by Esports and gaming tournaments,” said Bryan deZayas, Director of Dell Gaming in a prepared statement. “We are very proud to continue investing in gamers around the world by introducing a new Inspiron gaming line and partnering with ELEAGUE to power and support the Esports community, which is projected to reach 145 million fans in 2017.”
The Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming notebook will be available exclusively at Best Buy and Dell.com beginning Jan. 5 in the U.S., starting at $799 USD. Updated Alienware 13, 15, and 17 notebooks will be available as of Jan. 5 with an entry price of $999. Alienware 15 and 17 will feature new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics beginning Jan. 12 starting at $1199 and $1299 USD respectively. The updated Alienware Aurora will be available Jan. 12 in the U.S. and Europe, starting at $799 USD, with China and Japan availability in February.
We’ll keep an eye on CES and let you know about any new announcements from Dell, Alienware, and other manufacturers announcing new options for gamers in the desktop and notebook scene alike.
Tagged with: alienware, CES, dell, desktop, inspiron, laptop
Alienware boosts laptops with 7th-gen Intel Core; Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming gets an upgrade
Just ahead of CES 2017, Dell has refreshed lines of Alienware and Inspiron 7000 Gaming laptops with seventh-generation Intel CPUs. They also include Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti graphics chips, among other options.
The post Alienware boosts laptops with 7th-gen Intel Core; Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming gets an upgrade appeared first on Digital Trends.
Dizzying ‘Assassin’s Creed’ VR experience drops you into the Spanish Inquisition
20th Century Fox is bringing the Assassin’s Creed experience full circle. With the new Michael Fassbender film debuting Dec. 21, Practical Magic has created an original story for Oculus Rift users that borrows from many of the elements that made the franchise a global hit.
The post Dizzying ‘Assassin’s Creed’ VR experience drops you into the Spanish Inquisition appeared first on Digital Trends.
Leap Of Faith: Behind The Making Of The ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Movie VR Experience
In mid-October we learned about an upcoming VR experience was in development to accompany the theatrical release of the Assassin’s Creed feature film starring Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Inglourious Basterds). As it turns out, the project is a large-scale collaboration between AMD, Alienware, Practical Magic, 20th Century Fox, New Regency, and Ubisoft. Here’s how they made it happen.
The 360-degree experience was filmed by Practical Magic in cooperation with 20th Century Fox and New Regency. The theatrical activation will feature kiosks with Oculus Rift headsets powered by Alienware Aurora PCs using AMD Radeon RX 480 graphics cards.
The five-minute experience promotes the upcoming Ubisoft Films and 20th Century Fox movie starring Michael Fassbender, which opens Dec. 21. Matthew Lewis, CEO and founder of Practical Magic, told UploadVR from the outset the goal was raising the visual quality bar for VR videos.
Michael Fassbender as Aguilar de Nerha in the Assassin’s Creed film.
“The film Justin Kurzel and Adam Arkapaw shot is beautiful, and we wanted to make sure the VR experience kept up,” Lewis said. “This meant we were going to be building a lot of new production and post-production technology, which is what ended up happening at Practical Magic.”
While the Spanish Inquisition scene in the big budget film was shot on location in Malta, the VR experience was shot in Los Angeles. Lewis said his team went out with drones and scanning equipment to painstakingly scan the set, props, and other elements from the film production in Malta and London.
“Over the course of a few days, we scanned the world of the movie, and took it back with us to Los Angeles,” Lewis said. “We were then able to recreate the set both physically in the art department, and in the computer at extremely high resolution.”
A cast of 50 to 60 people assembled in Los Angeles to bring the Spanish Inquisition to life. Because of the 360-degree nature of the experience, Lewis said a lot of the background talent ended up featured very prominently in the sequence.
The Animus from the original Assassin’s Creed video game.
“There’s action happening all around you,” Lewis said. “If you watch it more than once, you definitely see things you missed the first time that add to the experience. Right at the very beginning, you get a full true 360 view of the Animus — every last inch of it — so you can study it in great detail and see things you might have missed in the movie. It’s a gorgeous set full of props and eye candy, and it’s the same exact set you see in the film.”
Practical Magic produced the show in segments over the course of 2016 in London, Malta, and Practical Magic’s VR studio in Burbank, and it took a laundry list of new technology to pull it off.
“We weren’t happy with any 360 camera rig at all, so almost all of the action was captured using motion control rigs, including some of our own invention,” Lewis said. “We used mostly RED Dragon cameras and shot multiple passes of everything, with a baseline resolution of 6K. The hallway fight scene is actually 26 passes of 6K images composited together covering different angles of the scene. When you see it at full resolution, it feels cinematic — it’s rich, sharp and detailed. The dynamic range is there — it doesn’t feel muddy or overly-compressed. That was hugely important to us. We also really need to call out Litegear, our lighting supplier, who provided literally hundreds of individually controllable LED light fixtures that allowed us to perfectly manage the world light during motion control. We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Post-production was done in-house at Practical Magic, using Nuke and CaraVR for compositing, Maya for 3D and Vray for rendering, and After Effects for a few key tasks, along with some custom software, plugins, and tools of their own. Lewis said his studio has a pretty solid on-premises render farm that is built specifically to deal with VR, so every frame seen on screen was generated there specifically.
Michael Fassbender fighting as Aguilar de Nerha in the Assassin’s Creed film.
“Editing itself was only a fraction of the post-production work,” Lewis said. “The visual effects component was very complex, and took months of work. The post-production pipeline for VR industry-wide is very immature and the software is alpha quality at best. We were also pushing our hardware to the absolute limit — imagine trying to work with 26 video streams of 6K footage at the same time in the same shot. We needed the best hardware you can get your hands on, and that’s what it took to get the job done. Otherwise, we’d still be sitting here watching progress bars.”
Fassbender plays Aguilar de Nerha in the film, an original character that’s part of a new story that ties into the universe of Ubisoft’s bestselling video game franchise. While filming last year at Pinewood Studios, Practical Magic shot Fassbender for this exclusive VR experience.
“We shot him on stage in London and he was a great sport,” Lewis said.
While Fassbender is the central character in the big screen adventure, the VR experience allows users to step into the boots of an original character.
A screenshot from the Assassin’s Creed VR Experience trailer embedded above.
“The viewer is not playing Aguilar — that’s a job best left to Michael Fassbender’s talents,” Lewis said. “I don’t want to give too much away, but yes the viewer is an Assassin.”
Gamers will also recognize Easter Eggs in the VR piece, according to Lewis. These occur mostly in the first scene, which was shot in the Animus set from the movie. There are other elements inspired by the video game franchise, as well.
“We move the camera a lot, which means there are a number of major parkour-type moves the viewer will experience,” Lewis said. “There are plenty of classic, tried-and-true Assassin’s Creed moves. There’s one part that always makes people scream a bit, which is exciting to watch.”
Lewis said the team knew the games and immediately everyone went to,“We have to do the Leap of Faith in VR!” So naturally, Lewis jokes, “I don’t want to give it away by saying we did a Leap of Faith in VR, but I mean, we did a Leap of Faith in VR, obviously.”
Lewis said the last few years of experience working on complex cinematic projects like Capture for The CW have been invaluable.
“We like to move VR cameras while we’re shooting, which is traditionally considered very difficult — so moving VR cameras has kind of become our thing at Practical Magic,” Lewis said. “A couple of years ago we built a cinematic VR camera rig for Google that Justin Lin used to produce Help!, which won the Gold Lion for VR at Cannes this year. We’ve continued to build all manner of cinematic VR rigs since. If we didn’t have engineering and rapid prototyping in-house to build our own VR gear, and a lot of really experienced technical people, we couldn’t have pulled any of this off.”
Gamers will get a first look at the Assassin’s Creed VR Experience today for free through the Oculus Video app on both Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR, as well as a 360-degree video on Facebook. Additionally, moviegoers will see a national theatrical roll-out of the experience at AMC theaters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and New York City between Dec. 2 and Jan. 1.
Tagged with: 20th century fox, alienware, amd, assassin's creed, new regency, practical magic, ubisoft
Save $500 on VR Ready Alienware Laptop in Cyber Monday Sale
As part of the continued sales on virtual reality (VR) products this weekend, Alienware are today promoting a discount on high-end ‘VR Ready’ laptops. Up for grabs is a New Alienware 17, a 17” laptop featuring an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card.
Alienware’s most powerful 17″ gaming laptop has been designed for the most immersive VR experiences, and now also includes Tobii eye-tracking technology as standard. Of course, the eye-tracking hardware is mounted upon the laptop and so can’t be used within a VR head-mounted display (HMD), but it remains an interesting additions to many traditional 2D videogames.
The full technical specifications of the New Alienware 17 are as follows:
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ (Quad-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 3.5GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64bit English
Memory: 16GB DDR4 at 2400MHz (2x8GB)
Display: 17.3 inch QHD (2560×1440) 120Hz TN Anti-Glare 400-nits NVIDIA G-SYNC Enabled w/Tobii Eye-tracking
Chipset: Mobile Intel® CM236 Chipset
Primary Battery: Lithium Ion (99 Wh) Battery
Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5
Audio and Speakers: Alienware Sound Center and Audio Recon software2.1 Speaker configuration includes subwoofer7.1 Digital Audio out using HDMI out connection
Hard Drive: 512GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
Wireless: Killer 1435 802.11ac 2×2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1Microsoft
The specifications of the device far exceed the minimum requirements for both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive HMDs. Beginning at 9am EST today, 28th November 2016, the New Alienware 17 laptop will be available for $1999.99 USD, a saving of $500 from the original price tag of $2499.99. VRFocus will keep you updated with any further discounting on both hardware and software in the VR industry over the holiday period.
Alienware: Erstes 13 Zoll Notebook für Virtual Reality
Während vor zwei Jahren noch nicht vorstellbar war, dass Virtual Reality eine Technologie für Notebooks seien kann, hat sich der Markt in der Zwischenzeit rasant verändert. Aktuell bieten diverse Händler Notebooks an, die der Aufgabe gewachsen sind, ein Virtual Reality Headset zu betreiben. Kürzlich hatte Razer ein besonders schlankes 14 Zoll Notebook vorgestellt, welches VR Ready ist, doch dies möchte Alienware noch toppen.
Erstes 13 Zoll Notebook für Virtual Reality
Nicht jeder benötigt natürlich ein so kleines Notebook für Virtual Reality. Für Menschen die viel unterwegs sind, zählt aber jeder Zentimeter und jedes Gramm Gewicht. Das neue Alienware 13 Notebook kann mit verschiedenen Spezifikationen gekauft werden. Das günstigste Modell kostet nur knapp 1200 US-Dollar und beinhaltet eine GTX 1060 und einen Intel® Core™ i5-6300HQ. Außerdem sind 8GB DDR4 mit 2133MHz und eine 180 GB SSD Festplatte verbaut. Mit diesen Spezifikationen kann das Notebook für Virtual Reality genutzt werden und der Preis ist deutlich günstiger, als der Preis des Razer Blade Notebooks. Das günstigste Modell des Razer Blade Notebooks startet bei 2000 Euro.
Wer aber doch lieber auf einen Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ und ein OLED Display mit einer Auflösung von 2560 x 1440 Pixel setzen will, der kann mit einem Preis von knapp 1800 US-Dollar beim Alienware 13 Notebook einsteigen.
Doch von dem 13 Zoll Display sollte man sich nicht täuschen lassen. Das Notebook ist etwas größer als das neue Razer Blade Notebook, welches ein 14 Zoll Display beherbergt und es wiegt ca. 100 Gramm mehr als der Konkurrent mit dem größeren Display. Weitere Spezifikationen könnt ihr der folgenden Seite entnehmen.
Aktuell konnten wir die Neuauflage des Alienware 13 nur im US-Shop finden. Im Store in Deutschland wird das Gerät noch nicht gelistet. Das Notebook soll aber in ausgewählten Ländern Europas ab dem 21. November angeboten werden. Wir gehen davon aus, dass Deutschland eines dieser Länder seien wird.
Der Beitrag Alienware: Erstes 13 Zoll Notebook für Virtual Reality zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!
Alienware 15 & 17 VR-Ready Notebooks Now on Sale
Alienware has been producing gaming specced laptops since 2002 and with the resurgence of consumer virtual reality (VR) over the past few years its no surprise that the company would produce VR capable laptops. Earlier this month VRFocus reported on Alienware announcing two new products, the Alienware 15 and Alienware 17 VR-ready laptops, and today prices and availability have been revealed.
The Alienware 15 comes in four configurations, starting from $1,349.99 USD going up to $2,099.99. As with all the company’s laptops these base prices can increase depending on the configurable options customers choose. They all come with NVIDIA’s latest 10-series graphics cards which were launched a couple of months ago, with the entry level model featuring the Geforce GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 RAM and a 6th Generation Intel Core i5 processor.
The top-of-the-range Alienware 17 starts from $1,499.99 with an i7 processor, GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 and 8GB memory, going up to $2,649.99 which includes the same i7 processor, a GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5 and 16GB memory. If all that wasn’t enough power then you can add an Alienware Graphic Amplifier into the mix. This will accept NIVDIA’s Geforce GTX 1080 card so you’ll have no problem running the latest titles.
“Gaming is in a time of renaissance right now; awesome games and development, amazing resolutions and technology, plus the pure excitement around VR experiences – it’s an incredible driving force and it feels similar to the energy that started Alienware 20 years ago,” said Frank Azor, general manager of Alienware and XPS, Dell. “These new notebooks are a product of that history and approach, but also of the demands and expectations of gamers today. Being true to both is what Alienware is about and we’re proud to bring these notebooks to gamers.”
While all the laptops are available to purchase from Dell’s website, any orders received won’t being shipping until 30th, September 2016.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Alienware and its VR-ready products, reporting back with the latest announcements.
Alienware Showcases Its First VR-Ready Laptops, and Wants to Dedicate Efforts to Create More
Alienware is getting serious about virtual reality (VR) – just as serious as they are about gaming – which is why they are announcing their first VR-ready notebooks that will be coming out this month, featuring all of the top specifications that are needed for them to handle what most PCs can’t, let alone laptops.
They will feature capable graphics cards such as NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 10-Series graphics cards, as well as AMD RX 480, there will also be the more powerful of Intel’s processors featured in the laptops with its i7 and i7K, and there will be more structural magnesium to make sure it is as rigid as possible. As well as this, in the press briefing it was said that Alienware had been working with both HTC and Oculus to make sure their future releases will all be VR-ready.
It was also said that not only do the laptops handle VR and gaming technically, but also physically, as they are built to take the physical abuse of the more emotional gamers – something that isn’t necessarily associated with VR gaming, but gives that added value to the notebooks.
Back in 2002, Alienware was the first company to make a gaming laptop, and so it really only makes sense for them to have created some high-tech VR gaming laptops. When talking about the history and progression of the company, it was said that “we want VR to be our next 20 years like what gaming has been the past 20 years”, which gives great gravity to how much the company wants to give to creating the best hardware for VR.
These laptops have been officially showcased at the Seattle-based event PAX West, and there at the event they will be running VR on the laptops. Pricing for the laptops will be announced as they become available.
For more on the latest news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.
Alienware zeigt erste VR-Ready Notebooks
Während XMG schon seit einiger Zeit VR-Ready Notebooks anbietet, möchte jetzt auch Alienware ein Stück vom Kuchen abhaben. Daher hat das Unternehmen nun zwei Notebooks vorgestellt, die perfekt mit der HTC Vive und der Oculus Rift zusammenarbeiten sollen.
Alienware zeigt erste VR-Ready Notebooks und gibt Hinweis auf künftige VR-Headsets
Neben der Vorstellung der beiden Notebooks, gibt Joe Olmsted, Leiter der Produktplanung, auch bekannt, dass das Unternehmen mit Oculus und HTC bereits an der nächsten Generation an VR-Headsets arbeite und auf den Start der nächsten Generation vorbereitet sei. Dennoch sollte jedem klar sein, dass die nächste Generation noch in weiter Ferne ist und wir keine Hoffnungen haben sollten, dass im nächsten Jahr eine Rift mit doppelter Auflösung erscheint.
Doch zurück zur Gegenwart:
Die vorgestellten Notebooks von Alienware tragen die Bezeichnung Alienware 15 und 17. Wie aus dem Namen schon hervorgeht, wird eine Version mit einem 15 Zoll Display und eine Version mit einem 17,3 Zoll großem Display ausgestattet. Beide Version können mit einer GTX 10-Serien Karte oder einer AMD Radeon RX 470 ausgestattet werden und besitzen einen I7 Prozessor. Außerdem können die Notebooks optional mit einem Eye-Tracking System von Tobii ausgestattet werden, was für VR aber wenig Sinn macht, denn so kann das System eure Augen nicht sehen.
Die neuen Modelle sollen aber nicht nur mehr Leistung bieten und VR-Ready sein, sondern sie sind auch deutlich schmaler als ihre Vorgänger.
Die Auslieferung der ersten Geräte soll bereits in diesem Monat starten.
[Quelle: Upload VR]Der Beitrag Alienware zeigt erste VR-Ready Notebooks zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!