Maximum PC reviews the ATI Radeon HD 5970

And calls it "the undisputed performance champ."

AMD’s Radeon HD 5970 takes the performance crown, and now offers DirectX 11 GPUs top to bottom.

IGN reviews Mass Effect 2

This makes sense

Some good news for Versus in the next L4D2 update. From the L4D blog:

• The infected team, when it has less than four human players, will get bots. No word yet on how that will affect the respawn timer.

• Auto-spawning during finales is done, over, kaput.

On the auto-spawning issue, Valve waxes sarcastic:

Even though it's pretty obvious from the L4D forums that EVERYONE LOVES auto-spawning in finales, we figured, what the hell-we'd just go ahead and remove auto-spawning anyway.

Simple but substantial improvements. It's what Valve does, even when they should have done it a long time ago.

Lots of info on Nvidia's Fermi

From hardwarecanucks.com, an (almost) exhaustive preview of the specs and capabilities of the GeForce GF100. I'll throw up a few random bits to get the juices flowing:

Framerate comparison in Far Cry 2 (DX10)

Tessellation Performance

For those of you wondering what the tests above represent, the first three on the left show tessellation performance with an increasingly higher level of geometric complexity. The next two focus on situations that use a combination of geometry processing and DirectCompute operations to render a high-resolution scene and finally the last test is run on a direct draw call from Unigine’s tessellation engine.

We know from experience that while ATI’s 5000 series was the first on the market with DX11 compliance, it has some serious issues rendering scenes with more advanced DX11 features. NVIDIA meanwhile made an investment towards geometry performance which should vastly improve DX11 performance.

Prospectus

The increased rendering efficiency does seem to go a long way in making the GF100 a viable solution for the future but let’s put this into context for a minute. This is one complicated GPU and as such has proven to be extremely hard to produce in sufficient quantities as is evidenced from it being MIA in the current marketplace. Meanwhile, the overall complexity and integrated cache contribute to that massive 3 billion transistor count which leads to a cause for concern on the power consumption front as well. So, while we do know more than we did last month about the GF100, there will still be some fine tuning needed on NVIDIA’s part before its ready for primetime. What we can say is that we are confident the 512 core GF100 should consume under 300W under load.

On the plus side, the GF100’s architecture really does seem to be a departure from the GT200 in terms of scalability. As was discussed in the Modular Architecture section, NVIDIA is aiming to have a chip that can efficiently scale down for appropriate markets. This will eventually lead to a long line of GF100 derivatives and finally replace the endlessly renamed G92-based cards of yesteryear. To make matters even better, this new class of cards will fall under the umbrella of NVIDIA’s Unified Driver Architecture program so they will be able to continue releasing one driver for all of their products.

Still no official word yet on price, final clock speeds, memory sizes, and availability, but you'll still go blind reading all of it.

BioShock2: clarification on activations

From a community manager on the 2K forums:

Hey guys,

As many of you are aware, yesterday Steam's pre- purchase program began and the specs for BioShock 2 were posted along with that announcement.

These specs were taken from the retail packaging of BioShock 2. And since bullet points on the back of the box don't always explain the full story, here is a little more detail about what that means.

BioShock 2 is using a standard Games for Windows Live activation system, much like other games you have played in the past. That doesn't mean you always have to be online to play or save the game - you can create an offline profile for the Single Player portion of the game (you just won't earn achievements and you can't play Multiplayer, of course.)

We are using SecuROM only as a disc check method for the retail copy of BioShock 2. That is it's only use.

I am now checking the final plans for BioShock 2's specifications for Steam - and I'll get you a more complete answer by the end of the week. I have also been compiling a feature that will help answer a host of questions about BioShock 2 on the PC, including a podcast and screenshots of the PC version, and that should be out within a few days as well.

I'm sorry for the confusion, and I hope to clear it up entirely for you soon.

-Elizabeth

AvP "killmoves" trailer

I have to say it: the visuals look a bit dated to me.

Games.on.net has a decent multiplayer preview here.  Take note:

Luckily for the Predator, who finds himself relatively un-armed at the start of each round, melee combat is particularly important to all three races. There are three moves representing a scissor-paper-rock configuration – block beats light attack, heavy attack beats block, and light attack interrupts a heavy attack. The marine, however, doesn’t have a heavy attack… but then again, you can’t block his bullets.

'I think there was an expectation that the marine was the underdog but actually he’s not. He has two thirds of the melee system – he can block and he can counter and he also has a really impressive arsenal,' Paul [Mackman, the game's producer] explained.

'And if you nail (the melee system), you’ll have made a big step in mastering the game. You can then build on that by mastering the maps and so on and so forth – but melee is definitely the key.'

3 minutes, 24 seconds ... 56 and 1

Game over.

This would be tolerable if it happened once in a blue moon. But that is not the case.

He died once in the whole round, and only because he nuked himself. That's what $60 buys you these days.

Mass Effect 2 launch trailer

A darker game, to be sure:

Word is, ME2 will offer between 20 and 30 hours of playtime.

The five biggest earners in competitive gaming

You're not pro. These guys are pro.

Fun fact: four out of the five are primarily or exclusively PC gamers.

Never heard of 'em

Monday Thursday Music: "This Too Shall Pass" by OK Go.

I only found this video because one of the band members wrote a rather fascinating open letter explaining why the option to embed their YouTube offerings is disabled. Definitely worth a read.

BioShock 2 - caveat emptor

Early adopters, beware. Along with the standard system requirements, the Steam BS2 page offers this little gem:

Initial installation requires one-time internet connection; Ability to save game, earn achievements, receive title updates and online play requires log-in to Games for Windows LIVE; software installations required including Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries, Games for Windows LIVE client, Games for Windows LIVE Client Patch, Sony DADC SecuROM, Microsoft DirectX.

It's not clear at this point whether you'll have to have Steam installed to play the game if you buy it someplace else, but let's just assume you get it on Steam.  That's three separate layers of authentication (Steam, GFWL, and SecurROM) just to make it past the first save, or to earn the first achievement.  It's possible that all three systems will work together seamlessly, with nothing more than an extra account to create (though it's actually two accounts, an online and an offline, in the case of GFWL). It's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.

GFWL has a decidedly poor reputation among gamers. (See here, here and here for testimonials, though the evidence of pervasive frustration is all anecdotal). As a potential purchaser, your best option is to wait to see if the official forums light up with tales of installation/activation/saving problems in the days after release. You might save yourself some aggravation.

Crysis 2: out of the bush

 This is the cover of the March 2010 PlayStation magazine:

Alas, it seems there will be no option to throw turtles at Koreans this time around.

Nvidia Forceware 196.21

Nvidia's Forceware 196.21 drivers for Windows XP, Vista and 7 are now available. For the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200 and ION series cards, these drivers add SLI and multi-GPU support for a number of games, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, GREED: Black Border, Mass Effect 2, Mortal Online, Ninja Blade, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (the demo), Planet 51, RUSE, Serious Sam HD, and Wings of Prey.

The package also includes the 9.09.1112 PhysX drivers, and various bug fixes.

Brink "Character Customization" preview

Know what? Don't care. I hope they've invested this much effort in the gameplay, or I won't care even more than I already don't.

BC2 "Squad Rush" game mode trailer

Please, please tell me that the server admin system will be adequate.

Just adequate ... that's all I ask.

The dog days of DLC

From Blue's News:

BIOWARE UNVEILS ‘THE CERBERUS NETWORK’ – AN IN-GAME PIPELINE FOR DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT IN MASS EFFECT 2

On January 26 Mass Effect 2 Players Can Download Exciting Bonus Content

Edmonton, Alberta (January 19, 2010) – BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today revealed ‘The Cerberus Network’, an in-game portal in Mass Effect 2 that will keep fans engaged with the rich and dynamic Mass Effect universe through downloadable content (DLC) and news. ‘The Cerberus Network’ is activated exclusively by original purchasers of Mass Effect 2 through a single-use unlock code that comes included in retail and digital versions of the game worldwide. ‘The Cerberus Network’ is a conduit for players to receive bonus content as well as daily messages and news on upcoming releases for Mass Effect 2 for no extra charge. For players who do not buy the game new, ‘The Cerberus Network’ can be unlocked through a one-time, in-game purchase of a new activation code*.

* Activation is tied to a specific EA Online account and is non-transferable.

IIRC, Cerberus is a mythological three-headed dog monster that guards the gates of Hell, ensuring that none of the damned escape.

So it's not the best mascot BioWare could have chosen. But it is a great way for the developer to cash-in on used game sales, which obviously benefits the fans. So that must be what it's about, or they wouldn't have said it. Right?

Those in need of an immediate distraction can check out a class-by-class "walkthrough" of ME2 on Video Games Blogger.

GDC award nominees announced

The organizers' press release is here.  And the nominees for the Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year are:

Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)

Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)

Demon's Souls (From Software)

Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)

I haven't played any of them, so I'm submitting a write-in vote for Pole Dance Hero.