PC Gamers

Dice announces Bad Company 2

Ian K — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:15:27 +0000

Dice has announced the sequel to the first hit Bad Company. Bad company was originally a console based version of the game with no port to pc. Bad Company 2 will be cross platform compatible which is awesome for us pc gamers. Only thing im concerned about as well as BF 1943, is that Directx 10 is required, as it will be with Battlefield 3 eventually.

Go over to the site and read up on it, not to much info yet but its a taste of whats to come.

Battlefield 1943

Ian K — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:03:34 +0000

Source: Battlefield.com

From the guys that brought us Battlefield 2 and all other titles have now put together what seems like a downloadable verison of Battlefield 1943. Note the original of this was the Battlefield 1942 which was a huge success.

Watching the demo, i have to say im excited for this and cant wait to try it out. Its gonna be incorporating the Frostbite DX engine which is used in the Bad Company series. This title will also be available not only for PC but for xbox live and Playstation.

There will be 3 maps and 2 factions (US and Chinese). Play as either an infantry member crawling through mayhem to unlease carnage on the ground, or as a hard assed tank commander, and the final choice of a pilot which catches my eye every time The maps will be Gaudalcanal, Iwo Jima, and the classic Wake Island. Each map will have a max of 24 players.

The Frostbite engine will allow for better physics and realism. Map objects are now way more destroyable than any other title. The weapons are obviously all based on the era and they look fun indeed.

Keep posted for the download availability..

Google to develop ISP throttling detector

Ian K — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:59:00 +0000

Source: Hothardware

“Google has been very vocal on its stance for net neutrality. Now, Richard Whitt–Senior Policy Director for Google–announces that Google will take an even more active role in the debate by arming consumers with the tools to determine first-hand if their broadband connections are being monkeyed with by their ISPs:

“We’re trying to develop tools, software tools…that allow people to detect what’s happening with their broadband connections, so they can let [ISPs] know that they’re not happy with what they’re getting — that they think certain services are being tampered with,” Google senior policy director Richard Whitt said this morning during a panel discussion at Santa Clara University, an hour south of San Francisco.

In an article written by Cade Metz, a reporter for The Register, Metz explains that when the net neutrally debate first popped up at Google, Google actually considered playing along with the network-throttling ISPs:

“We were pretty well known on the internet. We were pretty popular. We had some funds available. We could essentially buy prioritization that would ensure we would be the search engine used by everybody. We would come out fine – a non-neutral world would be a good world for us.”

But more idealist minds prevailed at Google, and the company has advocated network neutrality ever since–”or as Whitt likes to call it ‘broadband neutrality’.” Whitt didn’t mention when the network analysis tools would become available.

Other participants of the panel discussion had very different opinions on network neutrality, such as “George Ou and Richard Bennett, two networking-obsessed pals who have vehemently defended Comcast’s right to throttle peer-to-peer traffic.” The one thing that everyone on the panel appeared to agree on, however, was that ISPs need to be transparent with how they manage their network traffic. Google’s stance is that if the ISPs won’t disclose that information to the public, then consumers should have the tools at hand to determine for themselves what their ISPs are doing.”

I think this is brilliant, and commend Google on their insight into this matter. ISPs i believe should not have the ability to throttle, but they do have it and use it. Bad move. If any of an ISP’s clients find out they being throttled away from their supposed speed, then they will dump the isp faster than a big turd after xmas. Good going google.

Windows 7 on low end machine

Ian K — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:44:19 +0000

WOW!!! this is just amazing. Found this forum post on my digital life. This guy installed windows 7 on a low end celeron 1.1ghz, 256 mb ram machine. It almost runs better than XP its crazy.. check out the screenshots he provided:

So there you have it, minimal cpu usage and memory usage… I love it and cant wait to get my hands on a copy…

Black Mesa Official Trailer

Ian K — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:56:25 +0000

For all the Half Life fans out there. Looks like a Half Life 3 (I have been corrected, its a recreation of HL using the Source engine, tx guys :-). Now ive played every title, every expansion to the end and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Open source development is in play to bring this game back to life.

Affordable Gaming notebook? MSI GX630

Ian K — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:53:20 +0000

A gaming notebook that costs $800 (+- R8000)? To me this is very suprising as one would know gaming notebooks usually go for above 20 grand. If you are not one of those wealthy geeks, then purchasing a gaming notebook wouldnt be something you would consider, but with this you can. You wont have to deprive yourself of food for a few months or sell your car to afford this. That being said, this lappy can definitely hold its own in a frag off.

Obviously this is not match for an Alienware 17″ $3500 machine, but it aint not rip off either. MSI included a 2.3-GHz AMD X2 and 4 GB of RAM to give it a respectable 100.4 frames per second in Quake 4, and its business performance score put it in league with a Sony FZ or Apple 15-incher.

There are a few niglies about this though that the avid gamer may not enjoy. Such as no Blu Ray, there are only two USB ports, the fan apparently blows directly onto your mouse and the key placements are slightly off, especially the left control key which has been moved one key right, and in its place goes an FN key. This would be very annoying. They have added a numpad though.

The battery life only lasts about 1.5hrs, but given that its a gaming laptop, well let that one pass.

So if you are on the road, like to do some gaming every now and then, this could be for you, it doubles quite well as a business lappy as well, so you the best of both worlds.

Source: Wired

Nvidia 3D Vision

Ian K — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:19:41 +0000

So Nvidia is taking GFX experience to a new level. With a pair of their 3D glasses and software that aligns with certain Geforce GPU’s. Ultimately turning otherwise 2D games, into 3D games without any other special equipment. A decent monitor will work in your favour. The view below can be found on the Nvidia website here.

Upgrade your PC to a fully immersive stereoscopic 3D experience with NVIDIA® GeForce® 3D Vision™. A combination of high-tech wireless glasses and advanced software, GeForce 3D Vision automatically transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D. Just slip on the stylish glasses and pair them with an NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU and a “GeForce 3D Vision-Ready” display to experience characters and environments come to life on the screen. In addition, you can watch 3D movies and 3D digital photographs in eye popping, crystal-clear quality. Give your eyes something to talk about with GeForce 3D Vision.

Prices:

3D vision kit + Samsung Monitor = $598

3D Vision kit = $199

You can also find a list of compatible games here

DBZ Memories

Ian K — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:00:10 +0000

Heres a music dubbed DBZ clip I came across. Brings back memories especially if your a fan. I think ive seen every episode, Dragonball, DBZ, Dragonball GT. Hope you enjoy…

Chronicles of Riddick - Assault on Dark Athena HD trailer

Ian K — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:50:29 +0000

I was forwarded this trailer, looks pretty sick indeed. Remember playing the first game, was pretty detailed and technical for its time if I remember correctly. This preview shows that the next release could be as fun.

Sapphire HD 4850 X2 - Dual GPU Graphics Card

Ian K — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:26:28 +0000

Now ive been toying with the idea of an upgrade, and after testing out GTA4 on my rig, ive come to the conclusion that I DO need an upgrade. Ive been looking at different gfx cards and came across this one. Price is reasonable compared to the 4870 x 2 card, and the performance is between the 4870 and 4870 x 2. So sounds good to me. Heres a review I found:

Released last November as one of ATI’s intermediary graphic cards between the HD 4870 and HD 4870 X2, the HD 4850 X2 is a product designed as a great mid-ranged card. Boasting two GPU’s with 800 stream process units, 256-bit memory each, and a combined total of 2GB on-board memory the HD 4850 X2 is not a card to be taken lightly. If you think the HD 4870 is a bit slow while the HD 4870 X2 is overkill, then this may be the exact card you are looking for.

In a series of benchmark tests conducted by Maximum PC, the HD 4850 X2 consistently beat one of its major competitors, the GTX 280 which is also a dual-gpu card. Among other cards tested for comparison were the BFG GTX 295, Palit HD4870X2, VisionTek HD 4870, VisionTek HD3870X2 OC, VisionTek HD 4850, and the HD 4850+ HD 3870. Along with the benchmark tests, several games were run in order to compare frame rates and performance including Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Furmark, World in Conflict, Far Cry 2, X3: Terran Conflict, Devil May Cry 4, Bioshock, and Unreal Tournament 3.

The Sapphire HD 4850 X2 is currently being sold for $299 at many major online retailers and has dropped by $100 since its November release and has become a very affordable card. If you are in the market for a high-end card capable of supporting high resolutions but are looking to save some money, consider the 4850 X2. It is a very capable card as seen by the test results from Maximum PC.