NVIDIA Fixes 8800 SLI in Vista 07:54 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: NVIDIA
(10 comments)
Whoa, imagine that -- SLI working in Vista! Thanks to Beyond 3D for the poop that NVIDIA released another set of drivers for its 8800 series of cards for Vista (the second set in two days) which fixes SLI support in Microsoft's latest OS, at least for the 8800 series.
One Hundred & Eleven S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Screenshots 07:00 pm
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: Action
(9 comments)
Some are old, some are new, and all are super hi-res, but I sure as hell ain't spending three hours thumbnailing them for the front page, so keep clicking 'next' above the last of these five most-certainly-new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. images.
(Click to Enlarge!)
More Developers Jump on Board Vista 06:18 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(11 comments)
Computer & Video Games has a number of quotes from popular PC developers who are singing the praises of Windows Vista and Direct X 10. It's encouraging to note that Vista's capabilities are also raising the pulse of many of the world's leading games developers. "We're excited about the accessibility and usability options for gaming that Vista promises," says Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software. "We're also very encouraged by Microsoft's intent to redouble their attention to the PC as a gaming platform. At Gearbox, we're more excited than ever about PC gaming. Microsoft's attention to PC gaming with Vista allows us to put even more attention towards it than we have in the past."
And with a raft of games in production set to harness both Vista and DirectX 10's awesome powers - including Crytek's dazzling Crysis, plus Hellgate: London, Age Of Conan, Company Of Heroes and Microsoft Flight Simulator X, with many more to follow - it seems that Gearbox aren't the only major developer getting excited by the potential of the new operating system. Meanwhile, PC gamers could perhaps neatly sidestep caring about Shadowrun or the ancient Halo 2 being exclusively tied to Vista - but the very thought of missing out on Remedy's Vista-only Alan Wake makes the blood run cold.
Left 4 Dead Hands-on Preview 06:03 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(2 comments)
PC.IGN is sportin' a hands-on preview of Left 4 Dead, the forthcoming co-op themed FPS from Counter-Strike: Source developers, Turtle Rock Studios. Left 4 Dead's gameplay centers on cooperative mechanics, though mostly on the Survivor side. The four Survivor characters that'll be plunging through ranks of the undead on each of the game's four campaigns will look different, but all have the same abilities. To distinguish themselves, they can pick up different weapons as they move across each map, including auto-shotguns, M16s, hunting rifles, dual pistols, pump shotguns, and SMGs. In addition to dropping large amounts of hurt on Infected mobs, the weaponry can be used to unleash a vicious melee attack. Clicking RMB whips around the butt of the gun into an Infected, making them stumble back, and creating an opening for an unimpeded shotgun blast or bullet burst. For the more explosively inclined, Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs can be snagged to break and burn undead faces.
GalCiv II: Dark Avatar Goes Gold 06:01 pm
- Andrew Burnes
- Games: Space Strategy
(0 comments)
Stardock's mega-expansion to their best-selling space strategy game has gone gold:
Stardock Entertainment announced today that Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, the ambitious expansion to the company's hit strategy game, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, has gone gold. Would-be cosmic overlords will be able to get their hands on the expansion on February 14 via Stardock's TotalGaming.net digital-distribution system for $29.95, as well as at retail stores across North America as part of the value-packed Galactic Civilizations II: Gold Edition bundle, which includes the core game for just $39.95.
Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar adds countless new features and improvements to the award-winning Galactic Civilizations II experience, greatly increasing the game's strategic depth and longevity for even the most experienced players. Stardock's goal of the expansion pack is to elevate the core game experience in hopes of transforming the strategies employed by players.
Stranglehold Interview 05:58 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(0 comments)
Shacknews smacked up an interview with Midway Producer Brian Eddy about Stranglehold, the upcoming Unreal 3 engined third-person-shooter from Hong Kong action movie legend, John Woo. Shack: In the realm of martial arts, a name like John Woo is synonymous with a name in gaming such as Sid Meier. Tell us about how John became interested in the Stranglehold project.
Brian Eddy: John Woo has been amazing to work with! He has contributed a lot of animation and cinema direction, and has been extremely involved in the writing of the story. We are trying to recreate his cinematic vision in the game, so we regularly meet with him to review the latest version of Stranglehold and get his feedback, which is always very insightful.
Even when it comes to areas that he is not very involved in, like game-play design, he still often has a comment that adds to that aspect of the game, like how an animation could be done that would make a special move in the game more dramatic. It's really a pleasure and an honor to work with such an influential action film director.
Crysis Developer Pimps Vista 01:45 pm
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(17 comments)
Firing Squad shot up an interview with Crytek's Cevat Yerli where the subject is of course, Crysis. FiringSquad: We saw the DirectX10 version at CES. How does the DirectX10 version compare to the DirectX9 version in terms of features and improvements?
Cevat Yerli: DX10 simply allows us to increase the visual quality of the shaders and particle effects, to the degree that some features are DX10 only. The hardware performance is a generation above DX9 so that there is a major gain in frames per second. Both versions of the game play are exactly the same though, while in Multiplayer we are evaluating technologies that may benefit gameplay in DX10 to finally enrich that PvP experience to a new level. Given the host of improvements Windows Vista offers for gamers though, we would recommend upgrading as soon as possible.
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Demo On Live! 03:28 am
- Andrew Burnes
- Consoles: Xbox 360
(43 comments)
It's time to get your Advanced Battleperson hat on again as Ubisoft's gearing up to the launch of the sequel with the release of a single-player demo that's now available to download on Live!
Today Ubisoft, one of the world's
largest video game publishers, announced the release of the long awaited single player demo for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2), the follow up to the massively popular squad-based action franchise, and next gen smash hit of 2006. The new playable demo gives gamers just a taste of the explosive action, new features and amazing new graphics in GRAW 2's single player campaign, well in advance of the game's full release.
The single player demo is available now for free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Along with this exciting demo, Ubisoft is also pleased to release the full "Gimme Danger" trailer with the famous Iggy Pop and the Stooges song, now revisited by Frank Black and 3volution Productions, exclusively for GRAW 2. This trailer will rock you with the power of the song while showing the amazing variety of new environments and rich gameplay.
Single-Player Demo content:
In the GRAW 2 single-player demo, which is set during the second mission of the game, Scott Mitchell must lead the Ghost team in Mexico to clean a rebel camp on the outskirts of the city of Juarez with the goal of destroying a number of objectives to open a breach for the allied loyalist Mexican army.
The player starts as a lone wolf, and then progresses through different levels, acquiring a number of new tools, weapons and abilities, such as commanding the Ghost squad and both the UAV Cypher and M.U.L.E support drones. All of these tools fall under direct player control, thanks to the new Cross Com 2.0, which allows precise control of these latest marvels of military technology.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is scheduled for
release on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from
Microsoft, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and Games 4 Windows
in March 2007, with the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system
version scheduled to release in June 2007.
If 'Games For Windows' wasn't a hip enough title for you, we now have 'Games 4 Windows,' which presumably will be shortened to 'Gms 4 Wnds.'
BioShock Screenshots 02:25 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Action
(13 comments)
Irrational released some new screenshots of BioShock on the Cult of the Rapture website:
(Click to Enlarge!)
       
As you can see, the shots are part of a little action sequence. It's explained in greater detail at TCoR.
Supreme Commander Interview 02:00 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Real-Time Strategy
(7 comments)
RTSCommunity wrangled up an interview with Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor to get the skinny on its soon-to-be released RTS, Supreme Commander:
How are the missions setup in Singleplayer? Will we always have to build a base, establish an economy then finally build all our units? Or will there be missions where when we join the mission everything is pretty much setup for you?
We designed and developed a very different mission structure. Instead of the traditional model where each mission has the player either building a new base or using a pre-built one, we start the player with a base that matches the scope and scale of the operation. The key thing that we do differently is that an operation is made up of many smaller "missions", and at the end of each mission, the game session doesn't end, but rather the map expands to show more territory and the next mission is given. We are very excited about this kind of design as it really changes the way the game feels in single player.
Update - Here's another one at Strategy Informer.
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:45 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- hardware: General News
(0 comments)
A 32% performance decrease in Vista for UT 2004? What's up with that, Mark? :)
Assorted Downloads 01:33 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(0 comments)
RPG Vault Goodness 01:31 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: Role-Playing
(0 comments)
EA Mythic Media Event Report
We learn what's happening with Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online right from the teams
EverQuest: The Buried Sea Media #2
A visit to Solteris - The Throne of Ro, a new zone in Sony's next add-on which will launch in a couple of weeks - Five exclusive 1600x1200 screenshots
Game Reviews 01:18 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- Games: General News
(7 comments)
In Other News... 12:32 am
- Robert 'Apache' Howarth
- In-House: In Other News...
(17 comments)
Vista launched faily smooth I suppose. It was more a whimper than a bang though. I guess people will start caring when there's actually some DirectX 10 games to play.
Today's question:
How long do you think it will take Vista to become mainstream?
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