Word is that NVIDIA has won a contract with Nintendo for an upcoming handheld game console. Some are describing it as the “successor of the DS/DSi”. Speculation is that the new device would be available around 2010. If true, would this be the current Tegra? Or the next-generation Tegra?

The DSi isn’t that old, so I’m wondering if we are really talking about the next Wii here. Even if it is for a handheld, this would certainly give a nVidia a foot in the door for the next Wii. It’s just rumor for now, but interesting.

NVIDIA GPUs have been at the center of some notable issues with laptops. The GPU was a weak link in some Apple notebooks when the new Mac models with NVIDIA GPUs debuted. Sony is also having a problem with the GPUs in some of its notebooks.

Sony is warning owners of its Vaio laptops that the GPUs from NVIDIA inside the machines may be faulty. The fault could cause the GPUs to overheat and ultimately fail. Sony says that it is offering free repairs and an extended warranty on certain Vaio models that feature NVIDIA graphics made with faulty die and weak packaging.

It’s official. Zune HD will be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, making it the first PMP in the world that can claim that honor. NVIDIA confirmed it themselves. The all-in-one processor offers hardware acceleration of video and can consume just 150mW of power at full speed, giving it a battery life like a regular media player in spite of the demands of 720p video playback.

The new Zune is likely using an APX 2500 or 2600 processor, which combines an ARM11 processor with a GeForce-based graphics core and controllers for memory and output. It has just enough performance to display 720p at full resolution when using HDMI and also supports 3D rendering performance much faster than most handheld devices.

One thing that most gaming PCs have in common is that they pack the highest performance parts they can get their hands on into a rig that sucks down power like a Hummer slurps fuel. With more people looking to go green, I guess it was inevitable that a green gaming rig was launched.

Maingear has announced the Pulse gaming PC, which it claims to be the world’s greenest gaming PC. The rig is based on the NVIDIA Ion platform and it is also the world’s first upgradable Ion PC. The small form factor machine can be upgraded from Ion graphics to an NVIDIA 9800 ECO video card that needs 40% less power than a typical 9800 GT requires.

The Mobinnova élan netbook, a NVIDIA Tegra-powered machine, weighs just two pounds, but can deliver 720p video on its 8.9-inch screen. We aren’t sure what OS it’s running, but we do know that it has an “innovative 3D graphical user interface,” supports hardware-accelerated Flash video, has both WiFi and 3G, and can play video for five to ten hours on a single charge.

NVIDIA claims that its Tegra platform can play an audio file continuously for 600 hours (thats 25 days!) assuming that the display is turned off. Take a deep breath. We don’t know what the pricing looks like after all. Mobinnova’s Tegra announcements also include the T8 tablet, which repackages the élan in a 10.1-inch tablet form factor with GPS and HDMI out.

NVIDIA and icar have teamed up and are working on a 3D gauge cluster for cars. The pic above is a concept, but if the final product is that awesome, they will really be onto something. The proof of concept shows how adaptable a 3D gauge cluster could be and it is capable of displaying a whole lot of info.

The images show the standard speedometer and fuel gauge, along with radio and navigation information. Relocating this information to the gauge cluster could reduce the need for a second screen in a car’s center stack.

The global computer market is down thanks to the poor economy around the world. When the computer market goes down the market for other tech that goes along with the computers drops as well. That means companies providing software and hardware needed for PCs are having a tough time.

NVIDIA is traditionally a very profitable company, but with the global recession, the GPU maker is struggling to get back to profitability. The firm has announced the financial numbers for Q1 fiscal 2010. The GPU maker reports revenue for the quarter was $664.2 million compared to $1.2 billion for the same quarter a year ago.

Like so many things, the 3D phenomenon hits in 30 year cycles. It was big in the 1950s, had a brief and crappy resurgence in the 1980s and thirty years later here it is again. It’s not just movies. It’s our games as well.

Thanks to NVIDIA and Resident Evil 5, we may actually have something 3D to genuinely look forward to. It has been confirmed that when Resident Evil 5 hits PCs this July it will feature support for NVIDIA’s GeForce 3D Vision Technology.

Apparently nVidia’s next-generation GT300 will be different than the GT200. How different? Very, very different. They are calling it the “first truly new architecture since SIMD (Single-Instruction Multiple Data) units first appeared in graphical processors.”

Here’s the gist of a whole bunch of techno-jargon: NVIDIA could be close, very close, to a single chip that can handle tasks that have been separately handled by the CPU and GPU. And that is seriously big. Life changing stuff. Now all we can do is wait for nVidia to actually give us some details.

The netbook will soon get a graphics boost, with a number of companies preparing to announce Nvidia ION powered models. Word is, there should be some big announcements from “key” players at Computex, the annual PC trade show in Taipei at the beginning of June. This thanks to Pocket-Lint’s man inside.

The computer uses an Intel Atom chip as standard netbooks, but uses the new graphics chip from Nvidia called ION to allow users to use more demanding applications. Users will be able to view 1080p content and play games like Spore and Portal.

There are tons of video cards on the market today from various manufacturers and for the most part the only thing to set one brand apart from the other is brand and if a video game is bundled with them. Lots of manufacturers overclock the cads to get more performance right out of the box.

MSI has announced a pair of new video cards called the MSI N260GTX Lightening and Lightening Black Edition. The two cards are the same but the Black Edition offers a front case panel called the Air Force panel that allows overclocking directly from the panel.

When it comes to video cards for gamers there are two brands to chose from — ATI and NVIDIA. The two companies routinely fight for the title of most power video card and make a slew of parts for gamers shopping in the mid-range where prices aren’t too high.

NVIDIA has announced a new mid-range video card called the GTX 275 that will sell in the $229 to $249 price range. You can count on the factory-overclocked versions of the card form XFX, BFG, and EVGA to sell for more than that though.

NVIDIA is making the best of its purchase of Ageia several years ago and is aggressively rolling out its PhysX platform for computers and game consoles. The first physics effects added to early video games were not that cool, but more recent games like Mirrors Edge were fantastic when PhysX enabled.

NVIDIA has announced that it has been approved by Nintendo, as a third party solutions provider for the Wii console and the PhysX SDK is now available to registered Wii developers. NVIDIA says that the SDK includes a full-featured set of APIs along with a robust physics engine that gives game designers control over the character and its physical interactions.

It wasn’t long ago that some NVIDIA notebook GPUs began failing that were used in many notebook computers from Dell and Apple among others. The GPU failures ultimately led to a lawsuit being filed against NVIDIA by some affected notebook owners.

A number of threads on the Apple support site are reporting new graphics errors on new 17-inch MacBook Pro notebooks that feature NVIDIA 9400M and 9600M GPUs. According to reports, the notebook graphics are fine as long as only the 9400m is used.

Today your average notebook has integrated graphics that are built into the notebook and many desktop systems have the same sort of graphics. Some of the higher-end gaming and multimedia notebook and desktop computers have discrete graphics, which are graphics cards that fit into motherboard expansion slots.

Today the bulk of the notebook market has integrated graphics. However, JPR says that by 2012 integrated graphics will be all but gone. The research shows that in 2008 67% of graphics processors shipped were integrated.