Posts by Thrik

lol:

[Blocked Image: http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070921.jpg]

So true.

Crysis is coming out in just a couple of months NormySan and the demo is due within days, so we're pretty much at that point now. Unlike past DirectX 10 titles such as BioShock, Crysis will be inhibited when running on DirectX 9.

With drivers having reduced the XP/Vista fps divide to an almost negligible amount, there's really not much to lose. There's just not much to gain either until games like Crysis come out.

It basically works like that, yes. If a game is properly coded to use multiple cores, it simultaneously gives each core processing to do, which as long as it's written well can as much as double the performance. What it can't do is just add both cores together to give you 4.8GHz; games have to be specially coded to delegate the tasks to each core. A quad core is four cores, so a game that uses all four cores would run massively faster than one just using a single core.

Games are using multiple cores a lot more, though. Games on the newest Unreal engine such as BioShock use multiple cores, the upcoming CryEngine will as far as I'm aware, and most other engine developers are realising it's something they need to include.

Valve are actually implementing multi-core support within a month as Orange Box is also coming out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, both of which have multiple cores. By the time the game is released properly you should get your money's worth with those cores. About a year ago the state of multi-core gaming was pretty poor. It is rapidly getting better, though. I'm sure a lot of games will make use of your quad core and that it'll last a long time.

As for Vista, at this exact moment there's not much incentive to use it, but the drivers have gotten so good now that you're not really going to lose a significant amount of performance or image quality by using it instead of XP (when Vista first came out the drivers were terrible).

It's probably worth getting used to Vista though as eventually games will start to be very much impaired without DirectX 10 (Crysis is one game that has a lot of stuff missing from its DirectX 9 version, including a real-time day/night cycle).

At the moment where in a long changeover period where games support both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 pretty much equally; however, just like with past versions of DirectX, DirectX 9 will slowly be phased out and eventually become vastly inferior to the DirectX 10 mode in games, if it's even supported at all. Might as well get ready for that in advance instead of having to scramble when it does actually happen.

I think if he wants to avoid the hassle and pay more that's fair enough. I've been building them for years and it still takes me quite a while and a fair bit of stress to get a new one going, including the new one I built a few months ago.

I think that system looks more than adequate H2O. It's essentially the same as mine, and mine floors pretty much any game you throw at it. The only major difference is that it's a quad core at 2.4GHz, while mine is a dual core.

It's worth pointing out that at the moment, multiple cores still aren't used that widely in games; indeed, even Team Fortress 2 uses just one of them. This isn't much of an issue as a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 is still one serious beast, but worth noting.

I wouldn't really advise going for the other computers on that page though as they come with much less powerful graphics cards.

Another thing to consider is that new GeForce cards will almost certainly be coming out before Christmas, replacing the 8800 GTX as the most powerful card. It could be as early as November when they appear, so it's something worth considering.

Haha, yes the Spy's name stealing is an excellent feature of TFC that remained intact. Although it makes your disguise even more effective, you do need to constantly keep an eye out for anyone on the enemy team who's playing as the class you're disguised as. If they happen to have a good look at you, they'll invariably notice their own name immediately and fill you with lead.

Badlands?! Oh, hell yes. That was an awesome map.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_%28video_game%29

A superb game in almost every way.

Screenshots and even videos (unless HD) really don't do the graphics justice; there's so much fine detail and cartoony texture to everything that it's just a constant treat for the eyes.

The gameplay gives me that feeling I experienced while playing TFC, but different enough to feel like something fresh and that I can spend a lot of time with. What I've seen so far is great, although it's clear that a lot of TFC fans will have to rethink what class they like most and such since a lot has fundamentally changes. Medic as an all-purpose mega-class? More like not anymore.

If anyone's bothered (nobody who's got the beta will be interested), I recorded and YouTube'd my first moments of the game. I basically just try out every class, weapon and utility in sequential order, on a live server so there's plenty of gameplay to watch too. Could be interesting if you're stoked for the game but can't play until next month or something, or you want to show someone what it's all about.

If your card is overheating then I really advise getting that looked at while you still can. It'll only get worse as damage is caused to the hardware, and if you're getting display artefacts and corruptions then this is almost certainly the case.

Newer GeForce cards have temperature probes which something like nTune can read and display, which might be worth doing. Also ensure the card's fan is operating properly (it should definitely be spinning, and when under heavy load it should audibly spin faster much like you might hear your Xbox 360 doing ).

lol

Well, perhaps a million years too late, the UK Government responded to the petition against the BBFC decision:

Quote

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) considers all works - whether film, video or game - submitted to it against a set of guidelines (available on its website - http://www.bbfc.co.uk). The guidelines take into account the law and also public opinion. This means that the guidelines can and do change periodically, reflecting changing public opinion.The BBFC considered Manhunt 2 and concluded that, within the current guidelines, it could not be given a classification. The BBFC takes its responsibilities very seriously and it uses its powers to reject works extremely rarely. Details can be found on its website.

There is an appeals procedure which the game's producers are apparently pursuing.

The Government is satisfied with the BBFC's procedure and with the provisions for appeal, and will not be intervening in this process.

The Government has recently announced a review aimed at helping parents ensure that their children are protected from exposure to inappropriate material in games. This is not intended to restrict the choice of material available to adults.

Which can alternatively be read as 'Sod off'.

I guess it doesn't matter anymore though as Rockstar have changed stuff to get it released anyway, as seen in the newer thread.

I have to admit that the BioShock one shown above is pretty funny, but the vast majority of CAD comics I've seen haven't managed to amuse me in the slightest.

Kind of like how every fart in the world has a millisecond where it actually smells quite sweet. Or something.

Kind of weirds me out that some people are so opposed to stylised cartoon graphics in games (although I'd say this is more designed to resemble a CGI movie than a cartoon). I mean, there're a million games out there that do the grittier look and do it well.

I have to agree that the water looks weird there, though. I could have sworn it looked different in earlier promotional material. Maybe it looks less weird in motion.

Oh man, stuck here at work for the next eight hours.

Yeah, me neither.

Although I've never watched Colin McRae and never knew much about him, I do have fond memories of Colin McRae Rally as a young 11-year-old! Therefore his death is saddening.

Edit: Oh shit:

Quote

Police confirmed the next day that McRae, his five year old son Johnny, and two family friends, Graeme Duncan and Johnny's six year old friend Ben Porcelli, died in the crash.

That makes it significantly sadder.

[Blocked Image: http://serve.ryanjohnwilliams.com/images/shells.jpg]

lol!!!!!

Oh man, I remember these. A superb find!

It might not be massive, but hell, it's a step towards games getting the same kind of non-publisher funding that movies have enjoyed for ages. With the budgets of games getting so immense it's about time.

That's not from the original Manhunt; that's Manhunt 2.

I have to agree, it really is a shit-looking game. Being on the PS2 is no excuse because games like Metal Gear Solid 3 and God of War look fantastic, as well as many other games on the system.

It is like murdering someone in front of a policeman who murdered you a week before, and then expecting the policeman not to give you a slap on the wrist for it.