Gratuitous Windows gaming comin' to ya, Mac users! Latest news in the virtualization field has word that the VMware, creators of VMWare Fusion, has kick-started the first stage of the beta program for Fusion 2.0. And with Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 comes a slew of performance improvements - so much that it'll be able to support up to 10 monitors all at once and even play Windows-only games with hefty shader requirements. More at the full story.

After helping out in ports of PC games to other platforms with its products, TransGaming Technologies rolls up its sleeves once more with the release of SwiftShader 2.0. Video game developers in need of a 3D rendering system based entirely in software for their projects on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X may want to consider licensing this engine. Find the details at the full article.

Recently, VMWare has released Fusion Beta 2 which has the "Experimental 3D Acceleration" feature. The feature basically allows you to play certain games that require DirectX 8.1 in Windows XP Service Pack 2 virtual machines(VM). However, Mac users shouldn't rejoice just yet as the game selection is rather limited, and the games that it supports are pretty old.

VMWare has a list of games that are compatible with this current "experimental" feature:

• Aliens vs. Predator Demo
• Breath of Fire IV
• Grand Theft Auto III (NOTE: Set the Display Setup option Trails to OFF.)
• Hitman 2
• Lord of the Realms III
• Max Payne 1
• Max Payne 2
• Need for Speed Porsche Demo
• RalliSport Challenge
• Tony Hawk 3
• X-2 Rolling Demo

Additional features and fixes of note for this release:

• Snapshot feature which enables rollbacks if something goes wrong.
• Experimental support for Mac OS X Leopard (Note: There WILL be support for Mac OS X Leopard in the full release).
• Improved keyboard and mouse support Â? Third-party graphics tablets, keyboards, and mice no longer interfere with keyboard and mouse input.

So far, Fusion Beta 2 seems stable and the added features well thought out. However, it still is in the Beta stage, so you can expect certain bugs or problems to pop up aside from those that are mentioned in the release notes. You can learn more via the Read link below.

Microsoft isn't just yet ready to unveil Windows Vista but they want us to be hyped about it, hence, the Get Ready campaign. The said drive rides on the wheels of Upgrade Advisor - a downloadable tool used to help people determine just how Vista-ready an existing PC is.

The "Vista-capable" program allows machines that meet a minimum set of requirements to tout themselves as able to run the new Windows. That means your machine should have at least 800MHz processor, 512MB of memory and a DirectX 9-capable graphics card to fit into that category.

While "Premium Ready" are able to take advantage of higher-end features, such as Vista's Aero graphics, it must come equipped with a 1GHz processor, 128MB of graphics memory, 1GB of system memory, a 40GB hard drive and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive.

Ironically, the ultra-compact Mac desktop computer, Mac Mini, is the most suitable to run Window's Vista. According to the Upgrade Advisor, with its 1GB of memory, it is already Aero-ready so long as modest hard drive space is devoted over to the Windows partition.

So are you ready for Vista? Mac Mini sure is.