Acer today unveiled its new Predator 21 X gaming laptop, the world's first curved screen notebook, a series of monitors with the latest eye-tracking technology and GPU updates to the Predator 15/17 series notebooks. This announcement at IFA 2016 reinforces Acer's commitment to premium gaming with a focus on expanding the number of high-performance Predator devices available to discerning enthusiasts around the world.

The Predator 21 X takes the flagship spot in Acer's gaming notebook series and is advanced beyond anything on the market today. It's the world's first notebook to offer a curved 21-inch IPS display (2560 x 1080), and when combined with wide-angle viewing, it delivers a truly immersive gaming experience. To bring gameplay immersion to the next level, the notebook also integrates Tobii eye-tracking technology for a new method of control that's more intuitive and natural. Built-in eye-tracking hardware (infrared sensors and software) unlocks a completely new facet in gaming. By tracking a gamer's eye with software, the notebook introduces new interactions like aiming, identifying enemies and taking cover simply by gazing at objects on the screen. Eye tracking also enhances the experience by providing infinite views whilst navigating treacherous paths and roads in a game.

Earlier this week, it was reported that game modder Marty McFly Modding accused NVIDIA of stealing their post-processing code for Ansel, NVIDIA's in-game photography tool, which lets you freeze your gameplay to take 2D or VR stills, with added post-processing. Late Wednesday, the Marty McFly Modding posted an update on their Facebook page, clarifying that the discrepancy has been "sorted out."

Marty McFly Modding states that they had a word with NVIDIA, including the lead developer of Ansel, who explained that the MasterEffect ReShade.fx was part of some "leftover code" that NVIDIA was testing as part of Ansel's development, and vestiges of which made it to the production version of Ansel. NVIDIA assured Marty McFly Modding that with the next version of Ansel (likely shipped with a future version of the GeForce drivers), it will remove this leftover code, and add Marty McFly Modding to the roll of credits.

AMD is developing a new GPU-accelerated audio pipeline to rival NVIDIA VRWorks Audio, the TrueAudio Next. The company will take this technology to the developers through its GPUOpen initiative. TrueAudio Next will bolster AMD's VR technologies portfolio, with a hardware-accelerated real-time "audio ray-tracing" pipeline that adds realism to sound in a 3D scene by computing how sound waves interact with the various objects in it. This is essentially what NVIDIA's VRWorks Audio does.

At the silicon level, processing the interaction between sound and surfaces in a 3D scene takes significant amount of compute power. On AMD "Polaris" architecture GPUs, such as the Radeon RX 480, TrueAudio Next will take advantage of Compute Unit Reservation, a feature which allows apps to temporarily reserve a portion of the GPU's CUs. Real-time positional audio DSPs such as TrueAudio Next and VRWorks Audio are expected to gain prominence with VR games, as CPU-based procedural audio-pipelines can't keep up with the faster inputs of a VR HMD to changing the 3D scene, than conventional input devices. Accelerated audio pipelines are needed to ensure that the audio output is fluidly in-sync with the video output, to avoid affecting realism.

NVIDIA today shipped out the GeForce 368.81 WHQL drivers, which are optimized for a suite of VR-Ready games. To begin with, the drivers come with optimization for NVIDIA's VR Funhouse (a tech demonstrator that takes advantage of Simultaneous Multi-Projection); "Everest VR," "Raw Data," a hotly anticipated AAA VR title that made waves at E3, "Obduction," and "The Assembly."DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 368.81 WHQL for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit

As the world's most popular GAMING hardware vendor, MSI is proud to unleash the ultimate premium Pascal-powered graphics cards. The highly exclusive MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING Z 8G and MSI GeForce GTX 1070 GAMING Z 8G cards represent the absolute Zenith in custom GeForce GTX 10 Series graphics cards. As the last character of the alphabet, Z also represents the final form of MSI GAMING graphics cards.

Rocking the award-winning TWIN FROZR VI thermal design with supreme cooling power allows the GAMING Z cards to have extreme core and memory clock speeds out of the box. The renowned shapes of the eye-catching TWIN FROZR cooler are intensified by a fiery red GAMING glow piercing through the cover. A completely new custom 10-phase PCB design using Military Class 4 components with an 8+ 6-pin power connectors enables higher overclocking performance to push your graphics card to the max.

As the technology of CPU and GPU keeps evolving, it is no doubt that Virtual Reality has explored itself in mainstream lately. Games and apps applied to VR devices have already grabbed gamers' attention worldwide and everyone just can't wait to jump into the bandwagon of games. However, it actually takes more than VR device to experience the alternative reality. HyperX, a division of Kingston Technology, the independent world leader in memory products, provides a total solution for gamers to upgrade the system and make sure it keeps up with the suggested requirements.

To have nice and smooth VR gaming experience, it's recommended to have at least 8GB modules within the system, and 16 GB if you need to work on 3D rendering or video editing. For gamers who want to upgrade the RAMs, the upcoming Predator DDR4 at Kingston will end the wait. The aggressive design offers greater heat dissipation to optimize reliability while the black aluminum heat spreader and black PCB complements the look of the latest PC hardware. With fast frequencies up to 3333 MHz and total capacities up to 64GB, Predator DDR4 will make sure you feel no stutter in virtual reality.

NVIDIA today released a major update to its VRWorks SDK that enables game developers to implement new VR features features introduced by the GeForce "Pascal" graphics processors, taking advantage of the new Simultaneous Multi-projection Engine (SMP). The two major features introduced are Lens-Matched Shading and Single-Pass Stereo.

Lens-Matched Shading uses SMP to provide substantial performance improvements in pixel shading. The feature improves upon Multi-res Shading by rendering to a surface that more closely approximates the lens corrected image that is output to the headset display. This avoids the performance cost of rendering many pixels that are discarded during the VR lens warp post-process. Single-Pass Stereo, on the other hand, removes the need for a GPU to render the geometry and tessellation of a 3D scene twice (one for each eye/viewport), and lets both viewports share one pass of geometry and tessellation, thereby halving the the tessellation and vertex-shading workload.

Get this - a portable gaming PC that's battery-powered, to which you plug in your VR headset, strap around your arms like a backpack, and walk around in an open space. MSI is tinkering with that concept, with its new untitled backpack gaming PC. The PC will be powered by cutting-edge desktop-grade Core i7 processors and GeForce GTX 980 graphics (likely GTX 1080M when it comes out?). It lets you plug in your VR gear with minimal cable clutter, and walk around without being confined to a static gaming PC. The company will detail this product further at its 2016 Computex booth.

AMD posted its second Radeon Software Crimson Edition release for this month, version 16.5.2 Beta. The drivers add optimization for "DOOM" (2016), the season's hottest shooter and a revival of the epic FPS franchise. The drivers also add CrossFire profiles for "Battleborn," letting it take advantage of multiple GPUs, and dual-GPU graphics cards, such as the Radeon Pro Duo. The drivers also fix texture corruption issues in "Star Wars: Battlefront," and "League of Legends" in CrossFire mode. Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.5.2 for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

MSI Computer Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, today announced the availability of the WT72, the world's first professional NVIDIA VR Ready mobile workstation equipped with NVIDIA's newest mobile GPU, the Quadro M5500.

Designed for maximum performance, MSI's WT72 is powered by NVIDIA's Quadro M5500 GPU, Intel's 6th generation Core-i7 and Xeon processors, and up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory. The latest in professional graphics design technology, the Quadro M5500 is the world's fastest mobile GPU, delivering up to 35% performance increase over previous models, with 2,048 cores for optimum speed and power.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) today announced it is collaborating with NVIDIA to deliver workstations for 3D content creators, media professionals, game and application developers, and others to create visually engaging and immersive virtual reality experiences. New HP Z Workstation configurations are NVIDIA VR Ready systems, equipped with NVIDIA Quadro professional GPUs. The new configurations provide the performance necessary for content creators to deliver a seamless and accurate VR experience. Each configuration is tested with optional HTC Vive head mounted displays to ensure a smooth path to the creation of inspiring, immersive content. The companies announced the systems at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference, running April 4-7 at the San Jose Convention Center. The ultimate content creation configuration features dual NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24GB cards with availability planned this quarter.

"We are embarking on a new frontier that will change how content producers and artists develop the most immersive, visually stimulating content available," said Jeff Wood, vice president, Worldwide Product Management, Workstations and Thin Clients, HP Inc. "HP Z desktop workstations with NVIDIA graphics are the ideal combination for this new content creation era."

Dell today announced new Virtual Reality-ready solutions that feature refined criteria for optimal VR experience, whether consuming or creating VR content. Dell has defined VR-ready solutions by three criteria:

• Minimum CPU, memory, and graphics requirements to support optimal VR viewing experiences;
• Graphics drivers that are qualified to work reliably with these solutions; and,
• Passing performance tests conducted by Dell using test criteria based on HMD (head-mounted display) suppliers, ISVs or 3rd party benchmarks where available.

Working closely with its hardware and software partners, Dell is formalizing its commitment to the future of VR by delivering solutions that are optimized for VR consumption and creation alongside ISV applications for professional customers.

AMD announced today at the 2016 Game Developer Conference that the company will underscore its dominance of the global virtual reality systems market. It revealed new advances in hardware and software to further the reach of VR, and unveiled its new GPU certified program that simplifies adoption of VR technology for consumers and content creators.

"AMD continues to be a driving force in virtual reality," said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. "We're bringing the technology to more people around the world through our efforts to expand the VR ecosystem with VR i-Cafés in China, new Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, and a wide variety of content partners in gaming, entertainment, education, science, medicine, journalism and several other exciting fields."

AMD is also making VR more easily accessible to consumers and content creators with its GPU certified program featuring the new "Radeon VR Ready Premium" and "Radeon VR Ready Creator" tiers. Its forthcoming Polaris GPUs and award-winning AMD LiquidVR technology will simultaneously advance groundbreaking VR-optimized graphics.

AMD today announced it is helping colleges and universities create dedicated virtual reality (VR) labs as Crytek's exclusive technology partner in their VR First initiative. The VR First initiative provides colleges and universities a ready-made VR solution for developers, students and researchers. AMD will equip the labs with its new Radeon Pro Duo graphics cards featuring LiquidVR SDK, the world's fastest and most powerful VR creator platform, capable of both creating and consuming VR content. AMD will provide its LiquidVR Software Developer Kit (SDK) as part of the GPUOpen initiative.

Virtual reality has the potential to revolutionize how people experience the digital world with implications for gaming, entertainment, education, medicine, journalism and numerous other fields. The ultimate goal is to equip a new generation of developers who will create amazing and compelling experiences for users worldwide. AMD and Crytek share a commitment to seeding grassroots VR development.

"We're on the cusp of an immersive computing era enabled by GPUs and game engines," said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. "We need a new generation of developers whose educational foundation includes mastery of game engines and GPU programming. We're dedicated to nurturing that future, and see the collaboration with Crytek and the VR First initiative as a key step in realizing the goal of expanding immersive experiences outlined in our VR Ready Programs."

As the 2016 Game Developer Conference kicks off, virtual and augmented reality continues to be top of mind for today's developers and consumers. And it should be. It represents the future of communication and computing, and the promise virtual reality has held for so long finally seems within grasp of today's technologies. Today, Sulon Technologies gets one step closer to that promise, unveiling a neak peek of the Sulon Q, the world's first and only all-in-one, tether-free, "wear and play" headset for virtual reality, augmented reality, and spatial computing.

On stage in front of more than 650 press and developers at the inaugural AMD Radeon "Capsaicin" event, I took the stage to give the world a glimpse of what we've been working on, showing off the forthcoming Sulon Q headset, and the intuitive experiences you can expect, including seamlessly transitioning from the real world to virtual worlds.

HTC and Valve today announced their 2016 CES Best of Show winning VR system is available now for pre order with first shipments targeted to begin on Tuesday, April 5th. A complete VR solution, Vive includes two wireless VR controllers, room scale movement, a full 360° of tracking, and an HMD featuring a built-in camera to create what many critics are calling the most convincing VR experience launching this year.

In addition to the VR system, and for a limited time, those who pre order will also receive a free copy of three new VR titles: Tilt Brush from Google, Fantastic Contraption from Northway and Radial Games, and Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives from Owlchemy Labs. "We are delighted to help usher in the next generation of virtual reality," said Cher Wang of HTC. "Launching Vive with Valve has helped us ignite the creativity of thousands of content developers around the world." Vive is the first SteamVR system, giving it the backing of full integration with the leading online platform for PC games.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION has arrived. Accelerated by the groundbreaking NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, the GTX 980 Ti delivers an unbeatable 4K and virtual reality experience. With 2,816 NVIDIA CUDA Cores and 6GB of GDDR5 memory, it has the horsepower to drive whatever comes next. And with the VR EDITION, you get an included 5.25" drive bay with front HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0 giving you easy access to your VR device's input. The graphics card also has an internal HDMI connector, meaning no external cables will be visible.

At the Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) event, AMD along with a few gaming PC manufacturers demonstrated their desktop builds featuring the company's upcoming dual-GPU graphics card driven by a pair of "Fiji" GPUs. Among the desktops demoed include a prototype Falcon Northwest Tiki compact gaming desktop with a dual-Fiji graphics card, and HTC Vive HMD. Falcon Northwest commented that the dual-GPU "Fiji" graphics card is small enough to squeeze into its 4-inch thick Tiki, indicating that the card will be super-compact. AMD is expected to launch the dual-GPU "Fiji" graphics card some time in Q2 2016.

EVGA announced its first "VR Ready" graphics card that comes with preparation for HMD VR headsets out of the box. The GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR Edition includes a 5.25-inch/3.5-inch front-panel that gives you a front-facing HDMI 2.0 port (letting you easily plug in your HMD), and a second mini-HDMI 2.0 port on the card's rear panel that helps with certain kinds of headsets. The front panel also throws in a couple of USB 3.0/3.1 ports with a standard USB 3.0 header that plugs into your motherboard. EVGA is offering two kinds of cooling solutions, ACX 2.0+ and a blower-type custom-design cooler. The GTX 980 Ti sticks to reference clock speeds.

Oculus, makers of the popular Oculus Rift VR HMD, announced that it will open the gates for pre-orders for its upcoming Rift CV1 HMD on the 6th of January, 2016, at 08:00 Pacific Time. You'll be able to take it for a spin right out of the box, on the bundled games Lucky's Tale, and EVE: Valkyrie, two games built almost entirely around VR, by leveraging the Oculus SDK.

2016 is shaping up to be the year VR takes off in a big scale, with consumer electronics giants planning to launch their VR headsets; game developers building their games around major VR SDKs, and graphics hardware companies like AMD and NVIDIA making major moves in the VR industry. AMD is sitting on a treasure-chest of IP with its LiquidVR technology, while NVIDIA recently announced a VR-ready certification program.

NVIDIA today unveiled a VR-ready program to help gamers navigate their way to great virtual reality experiences. The company has partnered with PC and notebook makers and add-in card providers to deliver "GeForce GTX VR Ready" systems and graphics cards that deliver an immersive VR gaming experience. The program minimizes confusion regarding which equipment is necessary to play the range of VR games and applications increasingly coming to market.

Delivering a great VR experience demands seven times the graphics processing power of traditional 3D games and applications -- driving framerates above 90 frames per second (fps) for two simultaneous images (one for each eye). "For customers, navigating an emerging technology like VR can be daunting," said Jason Paul, general manager of emerging technologies at NVIDIA. "We're working with trusted partners worldwide to simplify the buying process with a GeForce GTX VR Ready badge that will let customers quickly identify PCs or add-in cards that are capable of handling the demands of VR." NVIDIA GPUs are at the heart of the VR ecosystem and are powered by the award-winning NVIDIA Maxwell graphics architecture, which was created with VR in mind.

AMD today released its completely reimagined graphics software suite, Radeon Software Crimson Edition, giving users an exceptional new user experience, 12 new or enhanced features, up to 20 percent more graphics performance, adjustability that can nearly double generational energy efficiency2, and rock-solid stability across the full spectrum of AMD graphics products. The release is the first from the Radeon Technologies Group, which recently announced a renewed focus on software placing it on par with hardware initiatives.

"As the primary way that people interact with our products, our software deserves to be viewed as a top priority, and going forward that's exactly what we're doing, delivering easy-to-use software that is packed with real user benefits, starting with Radeon Software Crimson Edition," said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group. "Radeon Technologies Group is laser-focused on the vertical integration of all things graphics, propelling the industry forward by driving performance per watt, creating innovative technologies and ensuring that the software supporting our GPUs is world class."DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

In this episode of TechPowerUp News, we talk about the spectacular Surface Book, one of the most talked about products launched at the unexpectedly awesome Surface launch event; plus get our take on the brand new Oculus VR-ready gaming desktops co-designed by AMD and Dell.

AMD today announced a collaboration with Oculus and Dell to equip Oculus Ready PCs with AMD Radeon GPUs, starting at $999 USD. The powerful PCs are designed to deliver stunning gaming performance and enable spectacular VR experiences for consumers around the world by leveraging AMD VR leadership with LiquidVR and Graphics Core Next architecture.

"It's an exciting time to be at the heart of all things Virtual Reality," said Roy Taylor, corporate vice president, Alliances and Content, AMD. "I'm confident that with Dell and Alienware, we can enable a wide audience of PC users with extraordinary VR capabilities powered by AMD Radeon GPUs."

Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, is working with Intel to deliver a consumer-ready desktop and VR-enabled camera based on Intel RealSense technology for a wide range of experiential applications.

With Intel RealSense technology incorporated into a new Razer product design, users can expect to enjoy significantly enhanced game broadcasting and VR gaming capabilities. Among the novel features of this technology is automatic background removal, which allows game streamers and video conferencing users to remove or replace backgrounds for a more entertaining and immersive experience.

Intel RealSense Cameras are also capable of 3D scanning, motion and gesture recognition, allowing product designers to bring real-world objects and bodies into virtual spaces easily. Many more features and related applications are anticipated for the Intel RealSense technology-enabled Razer device.