GT reviews Alpha Protocol

It ain't pretty:

Video Games | Alpha Protocol | Review HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 4GB Toxic Review

Review on Bit-Tech.net.  The specs:

• Graphics processor 2 x ATI Radeon HD 5970, 900MHz
• Pipeline 2 x 1,600 stream processors (900MHz), 2 x 32 ROPs
• Memory 2 x 2GB GDDR5, 4.8GHz effective
• Bandwidth 2 x 153.6GB/sec, 256-bit interface
• Compatibility DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.1
• Outputs/Inputs 2 x DVI, 1 x mini-DisplayPort, 1 x CrossFire
• Power Connections 2 x 8-pin, side-mounted
• Size 310mm long, triple-slot
• Warranty two-year

More badness

From Kalms on the Steam Bad Company 2 forums (today):

Client R8 / Server R12 are in QA

-----------------------------------------
The next release of the game client is currently in QA.

We will perform another synchronized client/server update. It is expected to take place early next week.

The client update will be roughly 500MB in size.

Changelog:

Server - Some potential sources for lag/rubberbanding have been eliminated
Server - The old reserved slots has been replaced by a kick-on-demand system like in BF2
Server - Log file for server admins: all remote admin interface commands/events are logged
Server - Log file for server admins: major server events + all chat messages are logged
Server - Idle kick is controllable
Server - Profanity filter can be disabled
Server - Teamkill-kick system is controllable
Server - Ticket counts and bleed rate are controllable per-level
Server - Infantry only mode available per-level
Server - Initial spawn delay and respawn delay are adjustable
Server - Server description can be up to 400 characters, and use "|" for line breaks
Server - Banlist can contain up to 10.000 entries
Server - reduced latency in packet handling

Admin Interface - fixed the player.onKill spam that occasionally happened
Admin Interface - ensured that player.onJoin events always report the player name
Admin Interface - events triggered when people spawn
Admin Interface - much more info on kills
Admin Interface - detailed stats are reported at end-of-round

Gameplay - Various minor level bugfixes
Gameplay - Helicopter handling has been tweaked
Gameplay - Weapon tweaks have been implemented based on PC public feedback
Gameplay - Fixed technical hang when a crate was armed outside of the combat area
Gameplay - "Victory is near" message was shown for the wrong team on Valparaíso, this has been fixed
Gameplay - Countermeasures can be fired when driving a helicopter
Gameplay - The brightness of the pilot view in the Russian helicopter has been reduced
Gameplay - Advanced Spotting scope works better
Gameplay - Knifing people in the back works again (we backed out the change that we had done for Server R11)

Server Browser - Servers are sorted into 3 categories: Normal, Modified, Hardcore depending on their settings
Server Browser – Added support for retrieving update progress
Server Browser - Now refreshes information
Server Browser - Join queue system when attempting to join a full server
Server Browser - all settings are automatically saved between sessions
Server Browser - Pings are sent via an alternate mechanism, which should work for non-Administrator users as well

Client - Fixed DX9 issue, which likely caused graphics glitches and perhaps crashes
Client - Fixed some crashes
Client - Toggle/hold crouch is user controllable
Client - Toggle/hold zoom is user controllable
Client - Vsync bugfixed for DX10/DX11
Client - Rewritten how settings are written to disk; this should reduce/eliminate the spawn lag
Client - Fixed bug where a player could join a server before the stats has been downloaded causing faulty stats in "EOR- unlock progression"-screen
Client - New chat system allows chatting when dead (but not during end of round) and keeps a 100 lines log
Client - Improved Play Now functionality
Client - Removed K/D ratio and Skill Level filters in the leaderboards
Client - Any points you get while being dead will be added to your score
Client - Reduced negative mouse acceleration
Client - More informative disconnection/kick reasons

Manual, for server administrators: http://static.cdn.ea.com/dice/u/f/bf...inistrator.zip

Through infinity, and beyond

The Infinity Ward saga, by the numbers [UPDATED]:

500,000,000 – the total sales, in USD, that Modern Warfare 2 made the day it went on sale.

1 – the number of video games that have outsold Modern Warfare 2, all-time (that's Wii Sports).

6 – the number of years that have passed between the release of the original Call of Duty and Modern Warfare 2.

112 – the number of days that passed between the launch of Modern Warfare 2, and the firings of Jason West and Vince Zampella.

2 – the number of days that passed between the firing of West and Zampella, and their announcement that they were suing Activision.

36 – the number of days it took for Activision to countersue West and Zampella.

41 – the number of days that passed between the firing of Jason West and Vince Zampella, and the announcement of the formation of "Respawn Entertainment."

34 – the number of employees that have left Infinity Ward since March 2, 2010.

25 – the  number of ex-IW employees that have officially joined Respawn Entertainment.

28,000,000 – in dollars, the total amount that Activision has paid in bonuses to Infinity Ward employees to-date.

54,000,000 – in dollars, the total amount of bonuses that Activision is withholding, pending litigation.

38 – the number of current and former IW employees (not West and Zampella) that are suing Activision for their bonus money.

10 – the number of years that Activision will have exclusive publishing rights to Bungie's next franchise (not Halo), as part of a recently-announced deal

Two more leave IW

Programmer John Shiring resigned from Infinity Ward on Monday, and MW2 Lead Designer Mackey McCandlish apparently went with him.  No word yet on whether the pair will join Jason West and Vince Zampella at the newly-formed development house, Respawn Entertainment, whose games will be published exclusively by EA.

Six down.  More to come.

I'm back

Sorry about the lack of posts for the last few days.  I moved, and my internet connection was just hooked up again today.

F.E.A.R. 3 "announcement trailer"

Mostly live-action, with a few pre-rendered sequences thrown in:

You might have noticed that Monolith isn't developing this one.  They've handed the reins to Day 1 Studios, the developer that produced the console ports of the original F.E.A.R. A press release on Day 1's website might explain where the trailer came from:

To further ensure extreme terror in F.E.A.R. 3, legendary horror director John Carpenter (Halloween, Village of the Damned) and critically acclaimed horror comic and script writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) have provided consultation to enhance several of the game's frightening aspects. Steve Niles co-wrote the game script with the development team and John Carpenter provided his expertise in crafting the in-game cinematics.

The press release also mentions that three members of the Fiendish First Family (Alma Wade, Paxton Fettel, and the Point Man) will return, with the latter two being playable characters in both single-player and "divergent co-op." (I'm guessing they're calling it "divergent" because you'll rarely see your co-op partner on your screen.)

The information we have thus far suggests that the protagonist(s) is/are working with Alma this time around. That would, at least, improve the internal logic of the original's narrative. By the end of F.E.A.R. 1, I had been so thoroughly beaten over the head by the "Armacham are the real monsters" plot device that I had no desire to kill either Alma or Fettel; i.e.:  my mother and my brother.

I guess that means I'm F.U.B.A.R. in the head, but with all the super-psycho-apocalyptic domestic violence, that's to be expected.

Two-by-two

Gamasutra reports that lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco Gigliotti have left Infinity Ward, following the highly-publicized departures of Jason West (CTO, COO) and Vince Zampella (CEO, CFO).  No word yet on whether Alderman and Gigliotti will also sign with a talent agency, sue Activision, or get a dog together.

(Pictured:  Todd Alderman)

HD 5870 vs. GTX 480. Who rules?

The PC Report provides a nice range of performance comparisons between the two cards, with the 480 holding a slight edge in terms of raw FPS.  But the story ends this way:

The ATI Radeon HD 5870, while not the faster of the two cards, is more worthy of your cash. Despite it being the lower performer, it still performs fantastically in most games – especially at higher resolutions. It also has a lower power consumption by a mile, it is a cooler card to run and is quieter (with the stock cooler). ATI’s Eyefinty technology is also a great selling point and not needing two graphics cards like Nvidia Vision Surround is certainly a bonus.

I will note though that the GTX 480 will probably end up performing slightly better after drivers are fully optimized for games; the HD 5870 has already had time for drivers to optimize the card. However no drivers will fix that crazy power consumption.

Some of you may not agree of course, but I would say that ATI certainly won the DirectX 11 graphics card race with a truly outstanding card in more ways that just performance.

TF 2 far

But it's damned impressive nonetheless: