World of Warcraft on twenty seven 67" monitors

Imagine getting ganked in Stranglethorn on that baby. Our friends at BigDownload (home of all things PC gaming) have discovered a ginormous computer screen, supposedly installed at a government office, used to play -- what else? -- the best PC game around, our own World of Warcraft. The monstrosity consists of twenty seven different 67" monitors all tied up into one PC. Unfortunately, as you can see (click the pic above for the whole thing), it's a little warped, considering that the display has a resolution of 12600 x 3150 -- not exactly a standard even for the very compatible Blizzard.
But it is pretty awesome to see -- we only "wish" they'd taken some gameplay footage or other pictures so we could see this thing in action. And just what kind of rig is powering all of that? It'd be hilarious if the government splurged on the monitors but skimped on the RAM, leaving a gigantic display skipping along at a low frame rate.
Update: Our crack WoW Insider Photoshop judges (one of whom has "government" experience) are calling this 'shopped. Not that you'll ever have a monitor like this, so it probably makes no difference to you, but take the pic with the usual grain of salt.
But it is pretty awesome to see -- we only "wish" they'd taken some gameplay footage or other pictures so we could see this thing in action. And just what kind of rig is powering all of that? It'd be hilarious if the government splurged on the monitors but skimped on the RAM, leaving a gigantic display skipping along at a low frame rate.
Update: Our crack WoW Insider Photoshop judges (one of whom has "government" experience) are calling this 'shopped. Not that you'll ever have a monitor like this, so it probably makes no difference to you, but take the pic with the usual grain of salt.
Filed under: Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Hardware






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Me Aug 7th 2008 2:07AM
Better question: What graphics card would they use? Were it not a fake. The nVidia 90019001 in deca-SLI?
Tole Aug 7th 2008 3:03AM
I guess only linux can support that much screens.
http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/items/free_games/Images/quake_24_screens.jpg
I think windows only allows three screens or something.
Janaa Aug 7th 2008 4:39AM
Then you think wrong. XP supports up to 10 monitors, and Vista up to 32.
Zaeter Aug 7th 2008 6:47PM
That's crazy, I hooked up WoW to my 42 plasma tv a couple weeks ago and all I did was fly around Nagrand looking at the scenery =P.
Aggrajag Aug 7th 2008 4:15AM
Who says Windows has to drive the screens? There could be intermediate hardware between the PC and the screen it thinks it has.
I'm not convinced it's fake.
Kodge Aug 7th 2008 5:53AM
It says " you wish " in the login bit. It was the first thing I noticed!
Badger Aug 7th 2008 10:26AM
Yep, me too. That was the first place my eyes went.
Username: YOU WISH
It's also the original version of WOW. That's the login screen for "Vanilla," not "Burning Crusade." So that makes it a little more questionable.
parody Aug 7th 2008 11:43AM
i don't think its a shop.. its a screenshot projected.. look in the lower screen theres a pc with the screenshot on it, notice the login name says "you wish".
Andy Aug 7th 2008 5:58AM
So I can't just plug this in to my laptop? :D
www.iwanttoflyinazeroth.com
bitstring Aug 7th 2008 6:59AM
http://kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/08/bigwow.jpg
look at the big screen at the right side of the picture... it's obviously THE ONE powering the screens... but is it only a picture or really the game... we'll never know...
Bezulba Aug 7th 2008 7:26AM
it can always be shopped, but the slight difference in color and brightness of every screen makes me believe it's real. Unless they calibrate their screens everyday there are always going to be color differences between each panel.
Oh and the videooutput is probaby done by specialistic hardware, not by any standard grafics card.
Fedwinmorr Aug 7th 2008 8:41AM
I am unsure as to the limit, I read someone say vista is at 32, but I know of a recent release of an adapter that allows you to daisy chain monitors.
Akussa Aug 7th 2008 9:07AM
I'm so glad my tax dollars are going to something so useful as this! Screw those military men and women out in the field begging for body armor! They probably play hunters.
Fizzed Aug 7th 2008 9:37AM
You beat me to it. While I think this is pretty cool looking, I seriously hope someone's tax dollars didn't go to pay for this.
jbodar Aug 7th 2008 9:24PM
You guys realize that, even if it's true, the monitors would be used for thing that aren't WoW, right? It's not like they built the WoW Room adjacent to the Ready Room. I'm sure that this type of this would get people in a buttload of trouble, if true.
Lianne Aug 7th 2008 9:32AM
This is shopped. I can tell by some of the pixels and seeing quite a few shops in my day.
;)
Painhealer Aug 7th 2008 10:44AM
This picture looks like many control/data centers with a video wall to display key information to the entire room.
Blackhorn Aug 7th 2008 10:58AM
Step 1: Take a screenshot of WoW's login screen.
Step 2: Put said screenshot up on a multiple-display system.
Step 3: OMGWOWON27SCREEENZ!
Photoshop or not, most of you haven't even considered that this is most likely just a still put on the displays.
vlad Aug 7th 2008 11:53AM
terrible resolution. 1/2" pixels ftl
lehtinen Aug 7th 2008 12:07PM
Also if you look at the size of the "screens" they are not 67". I have a 55" at the house and it looks to be abut 4 of the "screens" in the picture. If they said 30" monitors I might buy it but not 67"ers.