How many ATI engineers...

WE WERE down at English gaming event ECTS yesterday, and had to endure the nail-biting sight of a poor hardware hack battling valiantly against the multi-headed beast of ATI's Hydravision software.

The show this year is half the size of last year. The rival Gamestars show, across the other side of London, appears to have taken a fair chunk out of it.

Armed with only a mouse and my seemingly mediocre technical knowledge, I fought for no less than an hour and a half to preserve the honour of my new acquaintance, Jonathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendell. Jonathan is playing the Fatal1ty Shootout tomorrow, and needed a multi-monitor computing setup - one monitor for him to game on, and another monitor to mirror his display for spectators to view.

While I mused last week that Jonathan might not be as much of an inspiration to kids as, say, David Beckham, now I've met him, I find him a thoroughly personable chap.

Despite reviewing graphics cards for a living, I was unable to find the option that enabled mirror-mode for the two monitors, rather than extended desktop mode. Even the awesome gaming powers of Wendell weren't enough to clinch a definitive defeat of the Hydravision monster, due to his utter confoundment at the claws of the bizarre user interface of the ATI software. In the end, I was forced to call for backup - in the form of ATI PR - who phoned no less than three ATI engineers, and managed to locate the monster's weak spot.

While the Hydravision software is pitched by ATI as the rival to Nvidia's Nview software, its make up is a lot less sophisticated [Kohl? Ed.]. Indeed, contrary to all rational logic, the setting for multi-monitor cloning is in the Overlay Controls tab of the main control panel, rather than anywhere within their multi-display management application. Where is the sense in that? Nvidia and S3 representatives, on hand to witness the battle commented that the arrangement appeared entirely bizarre, and that Jonathan would inevitably be better off gaming on one of their cards.

Hardware PR types are noted for their guerilla tactics, and will very rarely miss an opportunity to lob a grenade into the camp of a rival.

Having finally delivered the fatal blow to the Hydravision beastie, giving the man Fatal1ty no less than three (count 'em!) mirrored monitors, the lacklustre hack retired to lick his wounds and do some real work. We suspect he may be lobbying ATI for some decent multi-monitor software in the future. µ