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Big Toys for Little Boys [and Girls!]
Today's games are a far cry from the simple shoot 'em-ups of yesteryear--they demand high-performance systems with top-notch graphics and sound. To test our games to the fullest, we asked several vendors for hardware that would enhance our playing experience. Three vendors came through with special hardware add-ons that significantly enhanced our gaming adventures. Our favorite was Diamond's Monster 3D; Microsoft's ForceFeedback Pro Joystick got our nod as runner-up.

3-D Video Accelerators
In today's world of computer gaming, it's almost a necessity to have a 3-D video accelerator, so if you plan to dabble in computer gaming, a 3-D accelerator is the single best investment you can make--you'd be hard-pressed to find any other piece of hardware that will yield fourfold performance gains for $99 to $199. 3-D accelerators are a boon to games in a n etworking environment, mostly because they reduce the duty cycles of the client or server. For our gaming review, we had the opportunity to sample Diamond Multimedia Systems' Monster 3D and Matrox Graphics' m3D.

The year-old Monster 3D add-on card helped revolutionize the gaming industry. Retailing at $199, the Monster 3D is based on 3Dfx's Voodoo chip, whose stellar performance has become the benchmark for today's 3-D chips. In every game we played that utilized Direct 3D (D3D) or OpenGL (Open Graphics Language), the Monster performed flawlessly.

Monster 3D works in conjunction with any 2-D video card via a VGA pass-through cable. The card consists of 4 MB of EDO (Extended Data-Out) RAM--2 MB for frame buffering and 2 MB for texture mapping. Monster 3D is essentially CPU-independent since it runs at its own internal clock speed. This is an importa nt consideration if you're planning to use your accelerator on a Pentium 120 or less.

Matrox's entry-level m3D ($99) is no performance slouch, either. It's based on NEC's PowerVR PCX2 chip, which incorporates bilinear filtering and multiple independent texture mapping abilities not found in PCX1. Like Monster 3D, m3D is an add-on card containing 4 MB SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM). But instead of VGA pass-through, it uses the PCI bus, which makes it system-dependent, and also means it requires at least a Pentium 133. In our review, the m3D produced crisp output at a good pace while utilizing D3D in games, but seemed to bog down in OpenGL games like Hexen II. Some noteworthy benefits of m3D include its excellent driver support and its ability to run 3-D in a window and at higher resolutions with little performance loss.

The Ultimate Joystick
Microsoft Corp.'s Force Feedback Pro Joystick, priced at $149.99, puts you in the driver's seat of action games like Descent II and MechWarrior. The contour grip fits most hands well, letting you fly, or steer, your death machine without the usual cramping that lesser joysticks produce.

Microsoft' s joystick adds to the gaming experience by providing force-feedback while you're in the cockpit. Push the stick to turn and it pushes back against you--not enough to hinder your movements, but enough to indicate how tightly you're turning. You can adjust the amount of force the joystick applies to get just the right feel.

The buttons on the Force Feedback Pro are well-placed. Commonly used movements that typically require keyboard combinations, such as alt-left arrow to slide left in Descent II, are replaced by the joystick's single High-Hat switch, which is controlled by your thumb. With games designed to work with the Force Feedback Pro, you get the added sensory experience of rattling your hand when you pull the trigger of your Gatling gun to let fly some leaded hell. This feature is disconcerting the first few times you feel it, but it soon either fades i nto the background or becomes annoying, depending on your personal bent. For gamers who love to fly or steer with aplomb, the Force Feedback Pro jo ystick is a "must have" in your arsenal.

3-D Sound
Diamond MultiMedia's Monster Sound card adds realistic 3-D sound to your 3-D games. Designed to work with your existing sound card, the Monster Sound card works specifically as a 3-D sound enhancer. Employing the A3D interactive technology from Aureal Semiconductor, Monster Sound accelerates and improves the quality of DirectSound in Windows95. Additional features include dual line-outs for two sets of speakers. Using an extra set of speakers or head phones increases the overall 3-D effect. Priced at $149.95, the Monster Sound card may be a little pricey for a 3-D-only sound card, but serious gamers are always willing to pay. Or is that play?

David Fetters, Mike ("Deth") Fratto and Gregory Yerxa contributed to this minihardware review.