been a gamer for nigh-on 30 years now. Glad to make your acquiantance. Cheers!

Currently playing: Assassin's Creed, Battle Realms, BioShock, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Command & Conquer: Generals, Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour, Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Crysis, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, DEFCON, Diablo 2: Lord Of Destruction, F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, Far Cry Instincts, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus, Guild Wars, Halo: Combat Evolved, Medal of Honor Frontline, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Medal of Honor: European Assault, Medieval 2: Total War, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War, Rush for Berlin, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific, Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific - U-boat Missions, Sins of a Solar Empire, Space Hulk, Starcraft, Stranglehold, Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, The Orange Box, TimeShift, Timeshift, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Unreal Tournament III, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War - Soulstorm, World in Conflict
My GamesCollectionsWish listThe Best Games
1848
1944: Battle of the Bulge
Act of War: Direct Action Game name: Platform: Genre: Our score:
1848 PC Strategy
1944: Battle of the Bulge PC Strategy
Act of War: Direct Action PC Strategy 8.5
Advanced Strategic Command PC Strategy
Aliens vs Predator: Requiem PSP Shooter 3.8
Alone in the Dark PC Shooter
American Civil War: Gettysburg PC Strategy
Angels Online PC RPG
Assassin's Creed PC Shooter
Atomic Tanks PC Strategy
Battle of Britain 2: Wings of Victory PC Simulator
Battle Realms PC Strategy
Battlefield 2 PC Shooter 9.3
Battlefield 2142 PC Shooter 9.0
Battlefield 2: Special Forces PC Shooter 8.7
Battlestar Galactica PC Shooter
Beyond Divinity PC RPG
BioShock PC Shooter
Blitzkrieg II PC Strategy 8.2
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood PC Shooter
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway PC Shooter
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 PC Shooter 8.7
Call of Duty 2 PC Shooter 9.3
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One Xbox Shooter
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare PC Shooter
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare DS Shooter
Call of Duty 5 PC Shooter
Celtic Kings: Rage of War PC Strategy
Chrome Specforce PC Shooter 6.3
Civilization IV PC Strategy 9.0
Clive Barker's Jericho PC Adventure
Close Combat: First to Fight PC Shooter
Codename Panzers: Cold War PC Strategy
Cold Fear Xbox Shooter
Colin McRae: DIRT PC Driving
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath PC Strategy 8.0
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars PC Strategy 8.8
Command & Conquer: Generals PC Strategy 7.5
Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour PC Strategy 7.8
Company of Heroes PC Strategy 9.2
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts PC Strategy
Counter-Strike: Source PC Shooter
Crysis PC Shooter 9.7
Dangerous Waters PC Simulator 9.3
Dark Sector PC Shooter
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade PC Strategy
Day of Defeat: Source PC Shooter 8.6
Dead or Alive 3 Xbox Shooter
DEFCON PC Strategy 8.3
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down PC Shooter
Diablo 2: Lord Of Destruction PC RPG
Dungeon Siege II PC RPG
Empire: Total War PC Strategy
Enemy Engaged 2 PC Shooter 5.3
Europa Universalis III PC Strategy 9.2
Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul PC RPG
F.E.A.R. PC Shooter 9.0
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point PC Shooter
Faces of War PC Strategy
Fallout 3 PC RPG
Far Cry 2 PC Shooter
Far Cry Instincts Xbox Shooter
Flight Simulator X PC Simulator
Frontlines: Fuel of War PC Shooter 8.7
Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers PC Shooter 8.2
Fury PC RPG
Gears of War PC Shooter
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter PC Shooter
Glest PC Strategy
Grand Theft Auto IV PS3 Shooter 9.3
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PC Shooter
Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus PC Strategy
Ground Control II: Operation Exodus PC Shooter
Guild Wars PC RPG 9.0
Guild Wars Factions PC RPG 7.7
Halo: Combat Evolved Xbox Shooter
Hearts of Iron 2 PC Strategy 8.7
Hearts of Iron II - DOOMSDAY PC Strategy
Hellgate: London PC Shooter 7.0
HistWar: Les Grognards PC Strategy
Homeworld 2 PC Strategy 9.2
Icewind Dale PC RPG
Icewind Dale II PC RPG
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 PC Simulator
IL-2 Sturmovik: The Forgotten Battles PC Simulator 7.8
Iron Grip: Warlord PC Shooter
Joint Task Force PC Strategy 8.0
King's Quest III PC Adventure
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition PC Shooter
Mass Effect PC RPG 9.2
Medal of Honor Frontline GameCube Shooter
Medal of Honor Rising Sun Xbox Shooter
Medal of Honor: Airborne PC Shooter 7.2
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault PC Shooter
Medal of Honor: European Assault GameCube Shooter
Medieval 2: Total War PC Strategy 9.3
Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms PC Strategy
MiG-15 PC Simulator
Napoleon in Italy PC Strategy
NBA Live 07 PC Sport
Need for Speed Underground 2 PC Driving 7.7
Neverwinter Nights 2 PC RPG
Nexus: the Jupiter Incident PC Strategy
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising PC Simulator
Operation Flashpoint: Game of the Year Edition PC Shooter
Pacific Fighters PC Simulator
Pacific Storm PC Shooter
Pacific Storm: Allies PC Strategy 7.3
Painkiller PC Shooter 8.2
Panzer Command: Kharkov PC Shooter
Panzer Elite Action PC Simulator
Panzer Killer PC Simulator
Pirates of the Burning Sea PC RPG 7.8
Prey PC Shooter
Quake 4 PC Shooter 8.3
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War Xbox Shooter
Rome: Total War PC Strategy 8.5
Rush for Berlin PC Strategy 8.2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky PC Shooter
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl PC Shooter 7.7
Shadowbane PC RPG
Shadowgrounds Survivor PC Shooter
Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific PC Simulator
Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific - U-boat Missions PC Simulator
Silent Hunter III PC Simulator
Sins of a Solar Empire PC Strategy
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Xbox Shooter
Soldier of Fortune: Payback PC Shooter
Space Hulk PC Strategy
Spaceforce Captains PC Strategy
SpellForce PC Strategy
SpellForce - Shadow of the Phoenix PC Strategy
SpellForce 2 - Dragon Storm PC Strategy
SpellForce II - Shadow Wars PC Strategy
Star Trek: Legacy PC Strategy 6.3
Star Wars Battlefront II PC Shooter 8.0
Star Wars: Battlefront Xbox Shooter
Star Wars: Empire at War PC Strategy 8.7
Star Wraith IV: Reviction PC Simulator
Starcraft PC Strategy
StarCraft 2 PC Strategy
Starship Troopers PC Shooter 3.2
Storm of War: Battle of Britain PC Simulator
Stranglehold PC Shooter 8.7
Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory PC Strategy
Supreme Commander PC Strategy 9.3
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance PC Strategy
The Battle for Wesnoth PC Strategy
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion PC RPG 9.2
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth PC Strategy 8.7
The Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle-Earth II PC Strategy 8.2
The Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle-Earth II Xbox360 Strategy
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Xbox Shooter
The Mark PC Shooter
The Orange Box PC Shooter
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire PC Strategy
The Witcher PC RPG 7.7
Theatre of War PC Strategy
Timeshift PC Shooter
TimeShift PC Shooter
Titan Quest PC RPG 7.7
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne PC RPG 8.0
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter PC Shooter
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 PC Shooter
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Xbox360 Shooter 8.5
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas PC Shooter
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 PC Shooter
Tom Clancy’s EndWar Xbox360 Strategy
Tom Clancy’s EndWar PC Strategy
Universal Combat PC Shooter 6.3
Universe at War: Earth Assault PC Strategy 8.2
Unreal Tournament III PC Shooter
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines PC RPG 8.3
War on Terror PC Strategy 7.7
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne PC Strategy
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War PC Strategy 7.5
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War - Soulstorm PC Strategy
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II PC Strategy
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Battle March Xbox360 Strategy
Warsow PC Shooter
Warzone 2100 Resurrection Project PC Strategy
Wings Over Israel PC Simulator
World in Conflict PC Strategy
Xpand Rally Xtreme PC Driving


Shhhhh! "UT3" on XBox 360 has a secret...

posted on 06/15/2008 22:07

Just a small note, and many may already know it. It's just recently been revealed that the upcoming release of "Unreal Tournament 3" on the XB360, besides having new user content (old if you've already got it from DL the stuff), and split-screen MP play there is a little Easter Egg. The game disc will include exclusive video content of "Gears of War 2". There you have it, simple and brief. Epic and Microsoft obviously see it as a big news item, but how quickly will that "exclusive" material be made available for all? Pretty damn quick I'd say. Microsoft never could keep a secret for long...it doesn't pay well enough.

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Microsoft losing ground in console wars.

posted on 06/08/2008 18:33
1 thumbs up
The Nordic Panel 2008 in Sweden has announced a rather dire future for the XBox 360, focused as it is on FPS's. The console still leads the PS3 in sales by several million units, however remains a distant second to Nintendo's staggering lead of 20 million units. The following statements were released recently through Eurogamer:

"The trouble with Xbox 360 is it hasn't managed to shake off this urban, irreverent adult male feel; so it hasn't gained traction in the more casual gaming markets of mainland Europe such as France, Spain and Italy, where it's stalled," said Nick Parker, boss of Parker Consulting and a former employee of Sony. "And there are already rumours of Xbox 360 being delisted from certain retailers. I think they started off badly with the Xbox itself: blood and breasts. This alienated it immediately to a lot of consumers around Europe, and they never got over that. The brand image never went away. And although Halo 3 is a big game, it just emphasises again what the Xbox is all about."
David Cole of DFC Intelligence had some equally harsh words to say, predicting a last place finish in the console wars.
"When you look at an installed base basis, the Xbox 360's going to come in third place when all's said and done. The concern I would have with a company like Microsoft is, one of these days they're going to have to make a profit on this business otherwise why are they in it?
"If you're doing a first-person shooter title, you're clearly going to want to be on Xbox 360, and that's for years to come. [But] their efforts at marketing outside of the first-person shooter crowd have been disastrous.
"They (Microsoft) will have to assess their position after this round, and clearly they were very committed to saying they were going to stick with this business through another console system. They haven't really talked much beyond that and I know that really at some point they are going to have to figure out how they're going to make money out of this business."

The initial statement that the "Box" is too mature-male oriented is a rather flamboyant and ill-conceived notion, I find. The release of "Conan" the MMMOG, a mature male oriented game is on the Top Seller lists and shows no sign of waning. However, with the failure of GTAIV to have the significant impact on console sales that both Sony and Microsoft relied upon, the big companies are searching far and wide for an answer. Microsoft, along with the imminent release of the 360 version of "Supreme Commander" has gone so far as to secure further XBox 360-ONLY title releases such as "Tom Clancy's Endwar" and "Halo Wars". Three big RTS titles that just may be the change in gaming direction they need for the platform. However it has been demonstrated already that this genre of gaming has thus far failed to have the significant impact that it had hoped ("C&C3 Tiberium Wars" for example), so they are staking a lot on the successes of these releases. The FPS is still the main staple of the console, which while having a large audience still limits the platform with regard to the other big genres of Strategy, RPG and increasingly Adventure.
No wonder Microsoft is begining to pour more resources into supporting PC game development. Yet you can only fight a war on two fronts for so long, before one must fold.



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Devs start making the critical decisions for their futures.

posted on 06/03/2008 16:09
3 thumbs up
Microsoft, Sony, Sega, Crytek and Ubisoft have all recently made decisive (and in some cases divisive) choices with regard to how they are going to proceed with future releases. Even the much coveted PC-only RTS is alive and well on the Xbox 360, with "Supreme Commander" also about to make it's debut on that platform. Now Atari who acquired that mega-company Microprose and SSI (through their association with Toy Company Mattel), in the late '90's have come forward with their plans. According to Phil Harrison, President of Infogrames (parent company of Atari), "Alone in the Dark" is said to be one of Atari's efforts in "high-budget single-player games" with the company said to be moving away from publishing and developing these type of games.
Instead, Harrison, has suggested that Atari might take an active leadership role in making the transition towards online social games.
"I think Atari is part of an industry in some transition from pure packaged media to an online business model and social communication and community model," he explained. "If we are part of that transition, perhaps we are going to take a slightly aggressive, leading-edge role in that transition." Mattel however continues to publish the older games for Download, including those once owned by Atari. So there is still a palatable income being provided to Atari through Direct DL of older titles from now extinct companies.
In further news that belies the instability that gamers may being seeing the PC market, Activision have finally announced the imminent release of the CoD4 map-pack for the PC (the one that's been available on XBox for a while now). While the Pack was $10 USD for the console, it will come to the PC via a NVIDIA-sponsored deal that will be freely downloadable. The Variety Map Pack features four levels: Broadcast, Chinatown, Killhouse and Creek. In addition to these new maps, patch 1.6 is also coming. The patch will fix various bugs and will add additional features. Little is known about these added features or the upcoming update, but expect patch notes next week. NVIDIA is now firmly fixed on PC gaming market and with its' financial strength and gaming influence it will be very interesting (cautiously interesting I should say) to see where they are headed.
It was also noted in the SI news that "Gears of War" was going to be released in June with a special 2 disc edition for the XBox 360. The second disc is loaded with all the content that has already been made available for DL so it will be interesting to see who buys it. The big news connected with this is the pricing for 360 and PC: $39.95 and $29.95 respectively. If you haven't played it yet, then these prices should draw you in (though I personally can't stand Windows Live for MP). Ironlad have also announced that an Expansion Pack for "Sins of a Solar Empire" is under development, based on requests from players...can't wait.
For Battlestar Galactica fans, the latest version (3.9) of the "BSG Fleet Commander" Mod for "Homeworld 2" is alive and running smoothly. There is a SP Campaign and skirmish/multiplayer modes with all ships available from the Old Series (from the '70's) and the new one, including all ships prior to the Cylon attack. If you're a fan and own "HW2", I highly recommend it as its' a ripper.
So, the state of things to come. To say that the Industry is in flux is an understatement. But I believe when the dust settles, things are going to be a whole lot better for Devs and gamers alike...fingers crossed.




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NVIDIA is on a recruitment drive for gamers. They want YOU!

posted on 05/30/2008 02:35
1 thumbs up
NVIDIA has released their answer to STEAM and XFIRE with their Gaming Website "nZone". According to NVIDIA:
"NVIDIA has launched its "The Way It's Meant to be Played" Game Browser exclusively on nZone.com!
It's now easier than ever before to browse, research, and buy games that are designed and optimized to provide a great experience on NVIDIA GeForce graphics and nForce® platforms. You can easily browse by genre, release date, pricing, and even age ratings; find more information or demos and trailers; then easily purchase; and download immediately for instant gameplay gratification."
For anyone who qwants to check it out here is the link:

http://www.nzone.com/content/GameBrowser/index.asp

I've yet to check it out properly but will give a run-down as soon as I get all the ins and outs.

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Tweaking the light fantastic.

posted on 05/24/2008 13:29
4 thumbs up
I came across a post by a gamer in a Forum the other day who asked the question "What is tweaking?". Fair enough, but it surprised me. It's so synonymous with most gamer's and their PC's that I'd forgotten there is a whole new generation who've never built a PC or learnt how to twist, prod and poke the OS and other software to obtain max performance from your rig. I learnt the old way by crashing my system a million times then restoring it another million, on many, many rigs. There are a host of websites that offer good advice (the best being TweakGuides.com, IMHO) but I thought I'd list a few small (okay, a long list, but simple)things that any PC gamer can do to get a better performing "beastie" at their fingertips.
Installing new video drivers, as I have just done with NVIDIA's latest 8800 GTS driver (which comes with a bonus...more later) is a little more involved than just updating the driver and pushing on. Here are the steps I follow:
1/ Click on "Add/Remove" in My Computer and remove NVIDIA drivers (not nTune which you will need for use with the nVidia Control Panel).
2/ Re-boot as prompted.
3/ Manually delete the NIDIA folder in the root directory of C drive (or whatever letter corresponds to the Hard Drive where the drivers are installed).
4/ Run a registry cleaner (like RegCleaner or CCleaner which are both free to DL and use). I use RegCleaner as I found the popular CCleaner can be very severe in it's file deleting and remove files that you do actually need to run your PC. It's important that all trace of the previous drivers are removed as games can sometimes pick up on a single old .dll file and cause a CTD (crash to desktop).
5/ Install the new drivers and re-boot as prompted.
6/ Set up your display settings and GPU settings as desired (I wouldn't tweak the video card settings manually unless you really know what you are doing), so leave them at default at this stage (refer to TweakGuides for a thorough understanding of tweaking your card).
7/ Run a good disc defragmenter, not the Windows one it's rubbish. I use the FREE Auslogics Disc Defrag.
8/ Now you'll want to optimize your PC settings. These pragrams are often free to DL and try but to get the full use of, and benefit from them you'll need to buy them. But they are very cheap. Pay no more than around $20. Ashampoo have a cheap one, but it's not that good and is not user-friendly. I use Auslogics BoostSpeed which really has an enormous array of tools available, most of them necessary in keeping a PC humming along in peak software condition.
9/ Assuming you use say BoostSpeed, then run Disk Cleaner (the Windows one is again just fluff), ensuring you delete old Restore points as these can take up a lot of HD space.
10/ Run Registry Cleaner. It fixes registry problems on top of deleting obsolete entries that you mostly will have removed with your RegCleaner or CCleaner. Be sure to create a new Restore Point before you do, and this program will offer that first.
11/ Run Registry Defrag, ensuring all programs including BoostSpeed are closed down for it to perform properly.
12/ Re-boot and the process is complete
Other tweaks are also to be recommended:
1/ Keep to a minimum what is launched on Start-Up (they appear as Icons on your system tray) as they just chew up memory.
2/ Keep your system optimized as above once a week or after any installation or removal of programs (you'd be surprised at what's left behind after removing a game). It all eats up memory and slows down performance.
3/ Don't fill you HD more than 70%, it really does slow down a game's performance when you have a full HD, and to have a second one (internal or external) is a cheap prospect today.
4/ Keep Patches, Photos, Music etc on USB or Flash Drives to save on HD space
5/ Avoid installing Demos unless you really need to. It's really quite surprising at how much junk they leave beind in the Registry and Hidden Folders after deletion, all which of course slows down your Beastie.
6/ Remember to always give your PC a rest. It used to be the case where leaving your PC on was much better than turning it on and off (less wear and tear on the components). However with the powerful CPU's, GPU's and PSU's today (and we're talking HEAT here) it's beter to turn off the system and let it cool down when you aren't using it.
7/ Try and keep up to date with latest drivers on all of your hardware, and visit Tech Forums or ask questions here if you run into gaming issues.
8/ Don't be tempted to change the Pagefile setting or to leave it at default. This is the tool that Windows XP uses to allow the OS to access your HD and use physical drives space as virtual RAM, therfore increasing your available memory quite a lot.
Bets result if you have 2GB of RAM (and you should these days)is to manually set the minimum and maximum PageFile sizes to 2560 MB. The setting will be Windows default, so you must first turn off PageFile, re-boot and than apply the change. Your rig now has 2.5 GB of HD space to access as virtual memory. Many think this is irreleveant and turn it off, but you'd be surprised at just how many programs and games use it.
I can't stress TweakGuides.com strongly enough for tweaking your PC completly as well as many popular games (at least DL the TweakGuide's Tweaking Companion...it's invaluable). You'd be surprised at what you find yourself able to achieve and what improvements you can make to running your PC and games, sometimes on settings higher than you thought possible.
Finally, I hope that that might be of some use to members here at SI, and if you have difficlties just ask. If members don't know the answer, odds are we know where to find them.
Oh BTW, the extra bit with the new NVIDIA drivers. Seems they've struck a deal with STEAM as you find after installing your new drivers (not updating them remember) you'll find an icon labelled "Play Portal Now" on your desktop. Clicking on it will allow you to DL STEAM if you don't have it already (some folk aren't happy having STEAM on their systems and I want to read more on it before I install it myself). You can then DL for free the Official "Portal" Demo called "Portal:Free Slice".
The Demo includes 11 levels of the game, plus "Half-Life 2:Deathmatch" the official HL2 MP, "Half-Life 2:Lost Coast" and "Peggle Extreme". A hefty free package and perhaps a sign of things to come...we can only hope.