AMD has supplied a list of forthcoming games that will support DirectX 11, the new graphics API that comes with Windows 7. Hopefully it doesn’t crash and burn like DirectX 10.

DirectX 11 Compatible Games:

• BattleForge
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
• DiRT 2
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Aliens Vs. Predator
• Lord of the Rings Online
• Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberon Unlimited
• Genghis Khan MMO
• Unigine Engine
• Frostbite 2 Engine
• Vision Engine

Source: TechReport

Netflix is spreading like the Swine Flu, infecting one platform after another as it charts global domination. Not that I mind, as I love Netflix streaming over my Xbox., My only complaint is the rather sparse offerings of content that are streamable, but hopefully this will expand as the popularity of streaming increases.

Netflix’s latest move is to integrate with Windows Media Center, which should be active by the time you read this or later today, available for anyone running Vista, or, I assume, Window 7 RC1.

Here’s a video Microsoft made on how to get everything working:
Getting Netflix in Windows Media Center

The good folks over at Tech Report have spent some time with the recently released first service pack for Windows Vista, and as you would expect, performance was the main topic of scrutiny. Armed with WorldBench and Team Fortress 2, they set out to determine if Vista SP1’s performance gains really live up to Microsoft’s claims. I’ll go ahead and spoil it for you right now though.

Somewhat fittingly, Service Pack 1 very much mirrors Windows Vista itself in the way it delivers (or fails to deliver) on users’ expectations. If you were looking for across-the-board system performance improvements or major new features, prepare to be disappointed. Our benchmarks suggest SP1 does significantly speed file manipulations, and we confirmed those results with our seat-of-the-pants tests while copying and deleting local files during everyday usage. However, like Vista, most of the service pack’s improvements are under the hood and probably won’t be immediately obvious to the average user.

Be sure to head over to the full article for all of the performance graphs and in-depth benchmarking details.

The long awaited first service pack for Windows Vista has arrived. By including security, performance, and usability improvements, Vista SP1 should help Microsoft convince more of the XP-holdouts to take the plunge. Though most of it has been caused by pureFUD, I know plenty of people who have stuck to their guns and said “I won’t get Vista until the first service pack is release.” What about yourself? Have you given Vista a shot or have you been content to wait? Will this change your mind?
SP1 hit Microsoft’s website earlier today, and has just arrived on Windows Update. Until now, service pack 1 has only been available to TechNet subscribers and OEM manufacturers. However, that hasn’t stopped many Vista enthusiasts from snagging the update through file-sharing networks and other P2P protocols like bittorrent.
Links to download service pack 1 can be found below, but it’s worth noting that the files are quite large because it includes all of the updates to Vista over the past year or so. If you want a much smaller download, just snag it through Windows Update, as the full installer should really only be used on new Vista machines or those without a net connection.