Nvidia gets Id as trophy partner

In the latest example of willy waving in the graphics card market, Nvidia has signed Id's Doom III to help promote its FX range of Geforce graphics cards.

Anyone purusing Nvidia's latest range of cards will notice a big sticker slapped on the froant proudly proclaiming "Recommended by Id Software for Doom III," which more accurately translates as Nvidia's latest attempt to woo gamers, with ATI having reportedly spent millions of dollars to have Valve as its partner in marketin

Sorry, I came over all cynical there for a moment - here’s the official line "NVIDIA is pleased to announce that id Software recommends the GeForce FX family of graphics processing units for DOOM 3. The rich feature set and programmability of GeForce FX GPUs enable the gripping world of DOOM 3 to come to life with real-time dynamic lighting and shadow, while raw horsepower delivers non-stop multi-player action at lightning-fast frame rates. Look for this sticker on video cards equipped with a GeForce FX GPU, and witness the mind-blowing detail of the DOOM 3 experience - the way it's meant to be played."

Now, that last bit is especially amusing, seeing as I recently attended a press trip where an Nvidia representative stalked us all trip, clinked our glasses at every opportunity, and generally schmoozed us hacks the best he could. The presentation was as slick as hot Brylcreem, the way it’s meant to be played, yadda yadda. But which cards were in the PCs when it was time to playtest the game? Radeons. Ooops.

So will you really need a GeforceFX to see Doom III "The way it's meant to be played"? The chances are, folks, it'll look just as good with a Radeon under the hood, and we await both Half-Life 2 and Doom III to find out either way.