Video cards have come a long way in a short time, and when looking back I must laugh at the sad attempt of S3 when they first released the so called 3D Video card, not only was it not 3D, it was not even a very good 2D card either. The S3 Verge was really the first card to have 3D capabilities, but it was still a sad excuse of a card. 3DFX really put the 3D into action and the Glide driver was the first true 3D gaming driver that made your games take on a whole new reality of visualization. To me that was the heyday of the industry, and when I really enjoyed gaming the most as the titles just seemed to have better game play and the whole 3D and FPS thing was still fresh. I will always remember the waterfall in Unreal on my 3DFX card that is a remarkable day in gaming history that many gamers still remember to this day.

NVIDIA had always been in the grind trying to make a name for themselves, but 3DFX had the better solution, so being better businessmen, NVIDIA just bought them outright, acquired their technology and moved forward. I believe they showed up at the 3DFX offices and like the Borg assimilated the entire company using the pet phrase, resistance is futile. NVIDIA plays one game, and that game is Hardball, and if you want to compete with them, I suggest gathering a rather large Army and just attacking them as they have grown to be one serious player in the game and standard business practices are out the door. They have however done their share of good things for the gaming industry and most game have the better played with NVIDIA logo popping up on your screen. The new GTS 250 is geared toward the lower end of the market and is more of an entry level gaming card that still can pump out some pixels at a moderate price point. XFX is a solid partner of NVIDIA and usually markets a solid product; let's see if the new XFX GTS 250 meets that same standard.