SoftSailor

Nvidia GTX 480 vs. ATI Radeon 5870

Vlad Andrici — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:01:21 +0000

Even though Nvidia’s Fermi GPUs (GTX 470 and GTX 480) will have their official launch on March 26^th, our beloved Internet started being assaulted with unofficial board shots and performance benchmarks with almost a month prior to the Fermi’s release.

That “unofficiality” ended a few days ago when Nvidia released a demo benchmark that’s pitting a GeForce GTX 480 against an ATI Radeon 5870.

Nvidia Fermi

In the recording, Nvidia’s Tom Peterson is testing the video cards by running a DirectX 11 demo that relays heavily on hardware tessellation. From the recording we can see that, at the beginning of the demo, when the tessellation effect hasn’t really kicked in, both the Nvidia GTX 480 and the ATI Radeon 5870 are pretty much at the same performance level. However, not the same thing can be said when the tessellated object is viewed up close, this being the moment when the Nvidia GTX 480 really shines.

It remains to be seen how much time will pass until the game developers will implement such detailed tessellated objects into their creations. Until then, or until more detailed official tests and benchmarks will be made, it seems that the much hyped Nvidia Fermi is on par with its Radeon competition. A competition that managed to release almost the same GPU (leaving aside the hardware accelerated tessellation support) with over 6 months in advance.

Check the video below:

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Starcraft 2 Beta Patch 5 changelog (version 0.7.0.14356)

Silviu Serban — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:55:17 +0000

After weeks of testing, it took Blizzard 4 patches to do something major about the Zergs.

Now, with the Starcraft 2 Beta Patch 5 released, the full changelog is available and we have presented bellow some of the major balance changes.

The guys from Blizzard are really working around the clock to make this game better and, after the 4th patch, the one only available for Korean users, Blizzard had major balance issues fixed for the Zerg race, some essential things for Protoss, and another video bug fixed.

Starcraft 2 Beta Patch 5

Starcraft 2 Beta patch 5 has only bad changes for the Zerg race. Some researches will now cost double to purchase and double the time to complete. As for some of the units, the build time for the Nydus Worm has been doubled, the Hydralisk now attacks more slowly and the Neural Parasite has been totally redesigned. The infestor life has been decreased and his speed also, in borrowed form.

Besides balance changes, a video bug has been fixed. Also if you want to view the complete changelog of the Starcraft 2 Beta patch 5, check the pictures bellow.

Starcraft 2 Beta Patch 5 Changelog

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New Deus Ex 3 Trailer Released, a ‘Human Revolution’ on the way

Vlad Andrici — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:30:42 +0000

The 3^rd entry in the Deus Ex series will actually be a prequel to the first game. Deus Ex 3, now named Deus Ex: Human Revolution, is being developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix (who will also handle the CG sequences in the game).

Powered by Tomb Raider’s Crystal Engine, the game’s art direction is a meld of cyberpunk and renaissance motifs (as you can easily see in the newly released Deus Ex 3 trailer). The producers have emphasized that, from a visual point of view, the game will be more stylised than your average photo-realistic looking game, without having a cartoonish (aka Borderlands) style.

Adam Jensen?

Eidos Montreal is also promising a “powerful, multi-layered” plot for Human Revolution. You will play as Adam Jensen, a private security officer at a company that specializes in bio-mechanical augmentations. One day Jensen witnesses a Black Ops attack on his company’s headquarters and, seeing how he’s probably going to be blamed for this in one way or another, the conspiracy begins.

Even though the developer says it’s aware of the fans’ reaction to the highly controversial Invisible War and assures that those mistakes won’t be repeated, the game has some features that have already ignited sparks inside the Deus Ex community: regenerating health model, cover system and combat uninfluenced by stats.

No matter what, Deus Ex Human Revolution looks very promising and we already can’t wait to play it.

Check out the new Deus Ex 3 trailer, released at GDC 2010:

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New Medal of Honor Trailer Released, Both Singleplayer Experiences Showcased

Vlad Andrici — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:04:13 +0000

If you’ve seen the cover art for the upcoming entry in the Medal of Honor franchise then you couldn’t have missed that big, imposing, bearded guy that’s wielding an automated weapon. Well, you should know that he isn’t there just ‘cause it looks cool. At GDC 2010, executive producer Greg Goodrich said that this real life Tier 1 Operator is actually responsible for a lot of subtle changes that have been incorporated into the game, changes that make this Medal of Honor reboot one of the most authentic game experiences when it comes to how modern combat is portrayed.

Tier 1 Operator

After releasing a few Medal of Honor screenshots a couple of days ago, EA LA has released today a new Medal of Honor trailer. Even though it’s being promoted as a “Tier One Trailer” the clip actually showcases both experiences the singleplayer campaign will offer. The gamers will be able to play from different perspectives: as an Army Ranger and as a Tier 1 Operator.

At some point in the new Medal of Honor trailer, the narrator says something like: “War requires the Sledgehammer but will be decided with a scalpel”. I think this phrase kind of sums up how the gameplay will be affected by the two different perspectives. The Army Rangers will ‘bring the pain’, going in guns blazing but only after some key elements from the enemy’s camp have been weakened or downright eliminated by the Tier 1 Operators (there goes the Sledgehammer and the scalpel analogy).

From what we’ve seen and heard, this Medal of Honor reboot is trying to put an interesting spin on how the modern warfare (sic) is displayed in video games.

The game will be released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in Fall 2010.

Check out the new Medal of Honor trailer below:

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Winter Escape Walkthrough, Hints, Tips & Tricks

Alex Dumitru — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:17:18 +0000

Winter Escape is one of the most popular Flash games of the moment and thousands of people are searching for the walkthrough because they can’t manage ti finish the game. The Winter Escape is a point and click game developed by the MyEscapeGames and the player has to escape a showy decor and manage to return back home, though the challenges are tough and some things are hard to find.

Winter Escape features a frozen scenario with a lot of snow and the player is prisoner in the woods, unless he manages to find all the hidden objects and get back home. You have to search for clues in every corner and in the snow. Be sure there are a lot of objects there and the main objective of the Winter Escape is to light your way home, so you will need a flashlight.

Unfortunately our walkthrough is not ready yet, but we can offer you a few tips and tricks instead. Try to search every corner of the screen and click everywhere because there are lots of objects hidden that will help you further in finishing the game. If you don’t find all the objects, you won’t be able to finish it, so you will have to keep trying. Be sure to subscribe to our RSS or email subscription, because we will finnish our walkthrough and this way you will be one of the first to finish the Winter Escape game.

Winter Escape Walkthrough

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New Brink Trailer Released, a “Cinematic Experience”

Vlad Andrici — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:53:38 +0000

Brink is an upcoming futuristic first person shooter developed by Splash Damage (of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Quake Wars fame) and distributed by Bethesda Softworks.

It’s the year 2035. After Earth’s near total destruction the remnants of humanity found refuge in a floating city called The Ark. Here, two factions are fighting to achieve the Ark’s control: the Security and the Resistance. The Ark was designed as a prototype self sufficient city, meant to offer residence to around 5,000 people. The only problem is that the city’s population numbers a “little” more than that…with 45,000 more…and now the city finds itself on the “brink” of a civil war.

Apart from its “unique” visual style there is another feature that makes Brink stand out in the crowd. The players will be able to customize their character apparently to such a degree that no two avatars will look the same.

Based on the idTech4 engine the game will also feature a SMART (Smart Movement Across Random Terrain) Freerunning System, similar to the one used in Mirror’s Edge.

The game’s “massive” singleplayer campaign can be played solo or in a co-op mode that supports up to 8 players. Brink’s developers are aiming for a seamless experience that will blend single player, co-op and multiplayer modes, meaning that, at any time, players will be able to take their single player developed character in a multiplayer game with no constraints whatsoever.

Today the game’s publisher has released a Cinematic Brink Trailer to the masses, showing the game’s concepts in a very interesting and quite unique way.

The game will be released for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 towards the end of 2010. Have a look below… courtesy of VG247:

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The First Crysis 2 Ingame Video Released, More a Crysis 2 Tech Trailer than Anything Else

Vlad Andrici — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:56:47 +0000

Crytek, the german-turkish developer of Crysis, showed today at the Game Developer Conference 2010 the first Crysis 2 Ingame Video. The Crysis 2 Tech Trailer, like some people are calling it, is more of a collection of scenes taken from the three different versions of the game (PC, Xbox and PS3).

The trailer shows how different technologies and features of the now famous CryEngine 3 have been translated into the game itself.

From the technologies displayed in the Crysis 2 Tech Trailer, in our opinion, the ones that are going to affect the gameplay in the highest degree are grouped in three categories: Destructible Worlds (procedural destruction, procedural deformation, integrated physics), Advanced A.I. (dynamic cover system, hit reactions).

The procedural destruction feature looks like it’s going to allow the human or A.I. controlled characters to chip away at the environment, similar to what we’ve recently experimented in the Frostbite powered Battlefield Bad Company 2. The difference, from what we’ve seen, is that in Crysis 2 not only the environments can be destroyed piece by piece but also the vehicles and probably other elements from the game’s world.

Also from the Destructible Worlds category, the procedural deformation feature looks kind of cool. The Crysis 2 Ingame Video shows a car whose shape is deformed in real-time (as opposed to scripted deformation we’re accustomed to see/experiment in every other game on the market). CryEngine 3 also has an integrated physics engine. We’ll have to wait and play the game in order to compare the integrated physics with the ones offered by dedicated engines like Euphoria and Havok.

Other features that attracted out attention are the dynamic cover system and the hit reactions. No details were given about the cover system but seeing as the word “dynamic” is used, the characters will probably “adhere” to cover automatically. We hope that the guys at Crytek know what they’re doing because the best cover system we’ve seen implemented in a game is a “manual” one (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves). One the other hand an “automatic” cover system almost ruined a game…yeah we’re looking at you Kane…and at you Lynch.

With the hit reactions feature however, judging by what the Crysis 2 Tech Trailer is showing us, Crytek can’t go wrong. The enemies will react to bullets in a realistic and cool looking way, depending which part of the body is hit. This reminds us of the excellent dismemberment system that Dead Space had in place.

A feature that I, in particular, was eager to see was the facial animation one. After seeing what Naughty Dog accomplished in this department, in the last Uncharted title, I really think it will be hard for any developer to come up with something more impressive. Sadly the technology is displayed only for three or four seconds in this trailer and while we cannot say that Crytek has done it better than the “Dogs”, they’re certainly playing in the same league.

After seeing the graphics that Crisys 2 will sport many of us are wondering just how the hell will Crytek manage to optimize the game so that its system requirements will be lower than those of the original.

Even though both the console and the PC version were shown, a comparison is impossible to make because no scene was presented twice (once for each version). So the we’ll have to wait some more on the Crysis 2 PC vs. Crysis 2 PS3 match result.

Check the Crysis 2 Ingame Video below:

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Download DivX Mobile Media 1.1 Free

Dragos Pirvu — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:08:08 +0000

DivX Mobile Media is a mobile tool that gives artists the possibility to watch DivX videos on their cellphones. Not many of us can afford to buy a smartphone capable of playing DivX videos therefore we need a software that will provide such capability. Using DivX Mobile Media 1.1 users can also upload videos in Comedy, Entertainment, Girls, Music, and Sports. One of the most important things is that this mobile software is free and will probably always remain free.

DivX Mobile Media 1.1 works via both WiFi or 3G therefore if you’re using the former then you won’t have any problems, however, if you’re using the latter then you’d better have an unlimited data plan because you’re going to need it. DivX Mobile Media 1.1 is developed by DivX, Inc. and it works on cellphones running on Symbian and BlackBerry, or other mobile platforms which support Java.

Hit the download button below to get both files required to install the application!

DivX Mobile Media

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Download Azan 2.9 Free

Razvan Oprescu — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:03:09 +0000

Azan Times for worldwide Prayer Times for Mobile Phone (Cell Phones, Symbian, UIQ, Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Blackberry, Nokia, Sony Erricson, Motorolla, Samsung, HTC, Imate and many many more phone models) is a very useful and easy to use program that is used to listen Azan (Athan, Adhan) automatically on every prayer time (Nazam, Salat, Salaat) five times a day on the mobile phone. This is the most popular Prayer Times software with Azan for mobile photos and is absolutely free. Check out the useful features that this application has to offer:

Azan

Most Accurate Prayer Times for more than 25,000 Cities and villages in 252 countries and islands worldwide
Qiblah (Kabah) Direction
Automatic Azan (Athan, Adhan) on every prayer time
Islamic Hijri Date
Multiple Beautiful Azan Sounds
Fully customized to add any city
Minutes Adjustments to make it 100% accurate with your local Masjid prayer times
Automatic Launch feature on every prayer time
Minimize feature to run at the background
Full help of every feature in the software
Option to display currenet time according to mobile timezone or the city timezone.
Fastest application for every mobile phone
Hijri date Adjustment
Find the past and future date prayer times
Time Left for next Prayer
Gregorian to Hijri date converter
Compatible with all the Java enabled mobile phones (Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Samsung, LG, Imate, Windows Mobile and many more mobile models.)
Unlimited FREE support from www.SearchTruth.com website
Get Reward from Allah by spreading the FREE Azan (Athan, Adhan) software to your friends and family and submit in all the online forums and directories.
100% FREE with full features.
You may also download directly in your mobile by typing www.searchtruth.mobi in your mobile phone browser.

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Starcraft 2 Beta Key Wave 4 is a possibility, Dustin Browder interview

Vlad Andrici — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:30:43 +0000

Like we reported last week, the Starcraft 2 Beta Key Wave 3 was designed to increase the number of players in each region of the new Battle.net because the matchmaking system was having some problems when the number of players connected online was relatively small.

Dustin Browder, lead designer for Starcraft 2, told VG247 that the level of concurrency (number of players connected at the same time) they’re aiming for is 10,000. Currently the level of concurrency seems to be somewhere around 9,000. That means that the matchmaking problems have disappeared and that, at some point, Blizzard will release additional Starcraft 2 Beta Keys in order to reach the desired number of concurrent beta testers.

Starcraft 2 Beta Key Wave 4?

When asked how is the closed beta coming along, Dustin said that he’s quite happy with the feedback received so far. One thing that will sure be addressed until the game finally ships is the Terrans’ weakness in 1v1 matches versus Protoss and Zerg. Also the Terran-Terran teams are taking a beating in almost every game, largely because they lack the mobility to come and rescue their allies in the early stages of the match-up. The team at Blizzard is already at work trying to address this issue.

When asked about the single player campaign, Dustin said that this aspect of the game is mostly finished. What they are doing right now is polishing, fixing and balancing the difficulty levels. They are also in the process of bringing new players and having them play the game in order to see where they get stuck or which missions are being easier to complete that they should be.

Over at the battle.net forums, a Blizzard representative is giving hope to the players that haven’t got their Starcraft 2 Beta Key yet. Xordiah’s update sounds something like this:

1. If you didn’t get into the Starcraft 2 Beta yet make sure you opted in.

2. Blizzard cares about the Starcraft fans all over the world so, if you’ve opted for taking part in the Starcraft 2 Beta, you still have your chance no matter where you hail from.

Do we sense another Starcraft 2 Beta Key Wave coming?

If you don’t know the various methods through which you can get a Starcraft 2 Beta Key, SoftSailor is here to help.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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