There is another alternative to downloading drivers from Nvidia or ATI. A guy calling himself ” Angel “Omegadrive” Trinidad” claims to have produced better image quality and framerates from both Nvidia and ATI drivers for the Radeon and equivalent cards.

I know a few of our members use these drivers and swear by them. I am pretty sceptical at downloading software for hardware that is not from the official makers of the hardware, but i may just try these out as Nvidia have not been exactly regular in recent times as far as improvements in drivers are concerned. Their last official release was November last year.

If anyone has anything to say about them (good or bad) please do let us know.

The purpose of the Omega Drivers is to provide gamers with an alternate set of drivers, ones that have more options and features than the original sets. The drivers contain optimizations, extra features (like OC capabilities), more resolutions and internal tweaks that can give them the edge in a gaming environment over the normal drivers, which are often tailored for synthetic benchmarks. All Omega driver sets are tested (unless noted) by myself in my own PC or in an alternate PC (in the case of the Nvidia drivers) to ensure maximum compatibility and reliability.

Check out the drivers yourself over at omagedrivers

Discussion >>

In Doom: The Boardgame, demonic invaders have broken through from another dimension into the Union Aerospace Corporation’s Mars base. Marines have been deployed to the base to protect UAC personnel and destroy the invaders. Up to three players will take the roles of heavily armed and highly trained marines, while one player will control the legion of demonic invaders.In the game, the marine players explore the claustrophobic rooms and corridors of the Mars base, attacking monsters, picking up new weapons and equipment, and working together to complete specific mission objectives.

FantasyFlightGames.com

Via Slashdot

Discussion >>

This patch apparently addresses an unspecified multiplayer exploit, but further
details are not available.

Download it from 3dgamers (8.9 Mb)
Far Cry Review by Dave Dalley

Discussion >>

TheBlacksmith alerted us to a widespread problem users were having with their Steam accounts:

I can’t log in, period. It says can’t connect to the steam service when I try to log in with the account I’ve been using for months.

The Steampowered.com forums were swamped with complaints from gamers, but Valve have posted an announcement that the problem should be solved now:

Yes as is pretty clear from what you’ve read or from the fact you couldn’t get Steam started, something was not quite right today. Some accounts were able to log in right, and some could not.

Please be assured that if you had problems, it was only temporary and your accounts have not been lost or damaged or otherwise compromised.
Link

More info:
Slashdot | Steam Users Steamed
Discussion >>

This competition is closed, thanks to everyone who entered.
MtS_Alien has kindly donated a RYL voucher to give away in a competition; the voucher will give three six months of playtime when the game is fully released and becomes subscription-based.

Send the answers to these simple questions in an email, with “RYL Voucher Contest” in the subject line for a chance to win!

· What is the name of the demon race in Risk Your Life?
· Who are the publishers/developers of the North American Risk Your Life?

Don’t miss Alien’s exclusive review of the RYL closed beta here & TheBlacksmith’s first impressions post here.

Discussion >>

Lots more information has been released about the massive multiplayer Star Trek game in the form of a lengthy F.A.Q.:

When is the Beta date?
2006

Will there be a monthly fee?
Yes, it will be competitive with other products of our genre.

What are the races available?
At launch we plan on allowing players to be Human, Vulcan or Klingon. These races were chosen for their relationship with Starfleet, the fact that their racial differences are significant (and therefore give real reasons to select one over another), and their popularity with the fans. We plan for expansions and updates to eventually expand these race choices.

Will I be on the Enterprise? Can I be a famous character from the TV show?
You may encounter the Enterprise and characters from the Star Trek series, but you will be your own hero discovering your own story.

Read on

Link via MMHELL.com

More info:
Official website
IGNIQ: Star Trek Online Game Planned (7 Sept 2004)
Discussion >>

A woman in Japan was arrested for logging into her boyfriends Lineage account and deleting his weapons and other items he had collected:

Police reported the woman, of Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, to the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office accusing her of violating a law banning illegal access. She has apparently admitted to the allegations against her.

“I did it as revenge for breaking up with me,” police quoted her as saying.

The man, who is in his 20s, did not suffer financially because of the woman’s actions, but she deleted items such as weapons and clothes that he had spent time collecting in the game.

Read on

Via Techdirt.com
Discussion >>

A demo has been released for Darwinia, an unusual looking real time strategy:

Nearly three years after taking the underground gaming scene by storm with Uplink, Introversion Software is poised to release its follow-up title, Darwinia. Combining fast paced action with strategic battle planning, the game features a novel and intuitive control mechanism, a graphical style ripped from 80′s retro classics, and a story concerning a tribe of video game sprites trapped in a modern 3d game world.

Download the demo here

Via waxy.org

More info:
Introversion Software
Uplink “High tech computer crime and industrial espionage on the Internet of 2010″
Discussion >>

Slightly in-credible story – according to a news segment on a Chinese Central Television broadcast, the Chinese military is using bootlegged copies of Counter-Strike to train their soldiers.

Boingboing, via kotaku
Discussion >>

kotaku links to the official Take2 Games page for GTA: San Andreas, the PC & XBox versions are due for June.

Also check the recent IGNIQ review of the Playstation 2 version.
Discussion >>

Take 2 announced today they’ve acquired “certain rights” to the Civilization franchise, as well as entering a multi-title partnership with Firaxis Games.

The press release mentions the fourth installment of Civilization is due for release late this year, and has some more details about the game:

The fourth game in the PC strategy series that has sold over five million copies, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV is a bold step forward for the franchise, with spectacular new 3D graphics and all-new single and multiplayer content. Civilization IV will also set a new standard for user-modification, allowing gamers to create their own add-ons using the standard Python and XML scripting languages.
Press release

More info:
Take 2 Interactive
Firaxis Games
Civilization Fanatics – dedicated fansite
Steve Ogden blog – Firaxis lead artist
Discussion >>

Nvidia have made available Forceware beta drivers 67.03 over at nzone. The previous release being 67.02.

Release Highlights:

The issues that some users have reported seeing when using the GeForce 6600 GT AGP are due to a driver bug which causes 3D corruption when this GPU is used with certain motherboards, most notably SIS motherboards. The fix is included in this release.

Enables PureVideo technology on GeForce 6 Series GPUs.

Remeber (of course) that these are beta drivers and come with no support from Nvidia. Only use them if you are experiencing problems with your current drivers (or if you’re like me and just want to see if there is any performance gains) :)

Download them here (13.3 Mb)

Discussion >>

Nintendo have announced a European launch date of 11 March for the Nintendo DS:

Nintendo said that the DS will launch in Europe the 11th of March at the price of £99 for UK gamers, and 149 €uros for the rest of Europe. Nintendo also announced that the price of DS’s games will be £19 – £29

Gamer-Network.co.uk

More info:
Official website for Nintendo DS
BBC News: Nintendo handheld given Euro date
Discussion >>

ATI have released new Catalyst drivers for its Radeon line of graphics cards, named Catalyst 5.1. You can view the release notes here and read the list of bug-related fixes here.

CATALYST Windows XP 5.1 – Driver Download – High Speed Cable
Low Speed Dial-Up Download

Discussion >>

We linked to Penny Arcade’s revocation of their Game of the Year Award for World of Warcraft a few days ago. They had sent off a “terse” set of questions to be answered by Blizzard, who have since replied with some straight answers:

Copies of the game were being purchased at a much faster rate than anticipated, so we had to abandon our slower-paced plan and go into rapid deployment to accommodate these additional customers. This meant we also had to advance our timetable for additional server purchases.

With such a rapid growth of the network, we started to see several bottlenecks in the infrastructure that exposed themselves very quickly when the expanded hardware immediately took on massive load. These bottlenecks were solvable, but they required additional upgrades to the backend systems to accommodate the load—which, again, we hadn’t planned to see, even with the extreme estimates, until later in the year.
Read on

Discussion >>

As was previously expected, Counter Strike: Source has been updated to include bots and a bomb defusal map; de_tides. Simply restart Steam and it will automatically update itself.

* Added Counter-Strike bots. For a more detailed description, click here
* Added new bomb defusal map de_tides
* Updated version of de_cbble to allow bots to navigate ladders
* Updated version of cs_office. Fixes minor issue with projector
* Updated version of de_dust2 to allow 40 players
* Optimization to the way that dynamic props are checked. On higher end CPUs, this can result in more than a 5% total frame rate increase
* Fixed bug where players would get twice the normal money at the start of a round
* Weapon models are now checked at startup to make sure they are within limits for size
* Fixed a bug that would allow a player to throw two flashbangs at once
* Added “motdfile” cvar, which sets the filename for the message of the day on the server
* Fixed logic that will automatically kick players for killing hostage or being idle for a long time

Steam Announcment

Discussion >>

Just when you thought you had the one greatest graphics card to rule them all, ATI, in keeping up with it’s rival Nvidia will be unveiling its new R520 graphics processors this May.

We already said that the R520 taped out and our sources confirm that the chip is in good shape, but then again it’s still the first working silicon that it got out of the fab. It takes at least six weeks to get the next revision of silicon. This means that ATI is still on track and will possibly make one more revision before it goes to final production.

You can check out a really cool, real-time rendering demo from ATI, showcasing their current X850 card and the latest demo from the people that brought you Far Cry. You will need one kick ass card to be able to play it. Atleast a 9800 Pro or higher i would suggest. :) Check it out here

Full R520 article here

Discussion >>

Digital Daily have posted an in-depth review of Nvidia’s mid-range graphics card option, which comes to us in the form of the 6600 GT. Reviews range from the Gigabyte, Gainward, XFX, Leadtek and Asus version of the Nvidia GPU. Tests examine how the cards (which are in pci flavour) favour in synthetic benchmarks, gaming applications and over-clocking capabilites.

So for those people thinking of upgrading their current graphics card and replacing them with the new Nvidia gpu, it might be worth taking a look at how the mid-range cards fair out.

6600GT takes a lead over the competitor solution Х700PRO (around 220$ +/- depending on the manufacturer and the sales place) as we have found out through all the synthetic benchmarks that we ran. However, synthetic benchmarking is far not all, many have lost interest to 3DMark and don’t take the results as the truth in the last resort. Therefore, gaming applications proved to be the most indicative in terms of real performance comparisons.

Check out the full review over at Digital Daily
NVIDIA’s SLI Shortchanges Gamers?
SLI Velocity Raptor Gaming PC Wins Kick Ass Product Award
SLI Technology
Gainward makes dual SLI water cooled 6800 Ultras

Discussion >>

Nvidia have made available new beta Forceware drivers over at nzone in the form of 67.66 (the last build being 67.03 )

Release Highlights:

* Updated SLI support for all GeForce 6800 GPUs
* Enables PureVideo technology on GeForce 6 Series GPUs.*

Try out the new betas if you like here (13.3 Mb)

Discussion >>

The problems besetting World of Warcraft has cost them an influential award – the PennyArcade.com 2004 Game of The Year Award. This comes at the same time as news that Blizzard are now limiting the amount of new copies of World of Warcraft being sold due to server problems.

The sheer success of the title (more than 600,000 sales in the weeks after release, with over 200,000 concurrent players) appears to have been ill-prepared for, and the game servers have been regularly suffering problems:

Every week, there is some new calamity that necessitates some huge response on their part, servers are coming down, but if you think that the servers coming back up again will represent an improvement in the basic functionality of the game you’re mistaken. They took them down most of the day Thursday (and again for “emergency service” on Sunday), and when they came back up it should have been something supernatural but it was actually utterly imperceptible. It should have been like when the Genesis device hit and a lifeless rock became a fucking paradise. That didn’t happen. So, if I say, as I’m about to, that their emergency service amounts to parlor tricks, what evidence can they give to the contrary? Because near as I can tell they’ve been doing “emergency service” since release, only they used to credit people’s accounts for it.

PennyArcade.com

More info:
Wired: Dealing with Great Expectations
Blizzard denies shelf pull, software slowed. (20 Jan)
No More Players for World of Warcraft – For Now (19 Jan)
World of Warcraft “oversold”, pulled from shelves. (13 Jan)
A Blizzard of Unhappy Customers
A Comic Strip Takes Video Games Seriously (Almost) (N.Y Times on Penny Arcade)
Discussion >>

According to Vivendi Universal, nearly 1.7 million copies of Half Life 2 (the successor to Valve’s 1998 first person shooter, Half Life) have been sold in less than two months, pitting Half Life 2 to be one of the biggest success stories of 2005.

I guess this means success for Valve, and what would seem, a goal achieved in implementing their controversial Steam software and “Authentication” process that has dogged (and continues to dog) its customers.

Locked out of HL2,.. GG Steam!
Does Valve Really Care About Its Customers ?

Discussion >>

404 Gaming have posted up more details about their upcoming Hip-Hop based multiplayer online game. Recently recruited for the project was D.J. Pooh, the writer for GTA: San Andreas.

According to 404 the game will include “many features that currently do not exist, our first title will allow subscribers to become integral parts of not just the storyline, but the actual game itself, taking the otherwise stale MMO community and hurtling it forward beyond all competitors.”

Listed as collaborating artists & staff for the game are some very impressive names, including Public Enemy’s Chuck D & Flavor Flav, Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys and D.M.C. of Run D.M.C. among others.

Read more on the official site

Previous post:
Hip-Hop MMOG In The Works, GTA Writer Recruited
Discussion >>

We got our hands on a slot for the closed beta of the new version of Risk Your Life, over a week ago.

IGNIQ members TheBlacksmith, Dave and MtS_Alien have been busy playing all week, getting a feel for the game and writing down their thoughts.
We have an in-depth review courtesy of MtS_Alien posted up here.

TheBlacksmith also critiqued the game and gave his first impressions here.
Dave is putting the finishing touches to his review and it will be posted over the next couple of days.

Thanks to Planetwide Games for letting us into the beta for our review.]]>

The BBC have an article speculating on what the next generation of games consoles will be like, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have new products lined up for release in the next 18 months.

While no details of the PlayStation 3, XBox 2 and Nintendo’s “Revolution” have been finalised, developers have begun work on games for them anyway:

Although the details may not be nailed down, Mr Armes said EA was beginning to get a sense of the capabilities of the new machines.

“The rumours are that PlayStation 3 will have a little more under the hood [than Xbox 2],” he said.

[...]

“PS3 will provide graphics indistinguishable from movies,” said Mr Florin [EA Europe].

He said the distribution method for games would also change radically in the next round of consoles.

“A gamer could buy a starter disc for 10 euros. When he goes home he goes online and he could buy AI and levels as you go.
Read on

Link via Slashdot
Discussion >>

Garry’s Half Life 2 mod was created to enable players of Valve’s Half Life 2 to mess around with the physics engine side of the game. Garry developed the mod for such funny endeavours as:

position ragdolls so they look like they’ve had a baby?
fire a load of melons at a wall?
attach balloons to stuff?
spawn items from a menu?
homebrew a car crash?
play with depth of field blur?
make little jet cars?
make little motorized cars?
conserve fuel?
string a combine soldier up and fire dead babies at him?

Features

* Ragdoll Poser (First for a mod ever?)
* Spawn almost any item from Half-Life 2 using a menu
* Hacked in Depth of Field
* Rope objects and people together
* Weld objects and people together
* Add motorized wheels and control their speed
* Draw on the walls with the paint gun
* Balloon gun – they all float down here!
* Add gas cannisters and switch them on and off
* Place a camera and watch it on your HUD
* Shoot 100′s of props out of your RPG
* Attach manhacks and scanners to objects and corpses

Version 6 of this popular mod is in the works, though Garry is remaining quite about its new features.

Download the current version 5 (2.8 Mb) here
Garry’s mod – Half Life 2 Pics
Visit Garry’s website here

Discussion >>

A new website for fans of Half Life 2 has just sprang up in the form of City Seventeen. The site admin “Sloanbone” is hosting a new beta hl2 deathmatch map of his known as “dissipated”.

There is a new version coming out soon.. It has more spawn points and stuff. I also added some things to the map to make it actually worth considering a release..

Download the map here (2.21 Mb)
City Seventeen Website

Discussion >>

Wired have an interesting article that peeks into the elaborate system of underground operators that release bootleg games and movies to the Internet:

Anathema is a so-called topsite, one of 30 or so underground, highly secretive servers where nearly all of the unlicensed music, movies, and videogames available on the Internet originate. Outside of a pirate elite and the Feds who track them, few know that topsites exist. Even fewer can log in.

Within minutes of appearing on Anathema, Half-Life 2 spread. One file became 30 files became 3,000 files became 300,000 files as Valve stood helplessly by watching its big Christmas blockbuster turn into a lump of coal. The damage was irreversible – the horse was out of the barn, the county, and the state.

Read on

Discussion >>

“This special version of Softimage|XSI allows you to create custom content for Half-Life 2 (characters, level props, etc). Detailed info can be found at the Softimage website. Be sure to grab the add-on as well.”

Download here

Discussion >>

Half-Life 2, Source Engine and Source Dedicated Server updates are available and will be applied automatically when Steam is restarted. The changes include:

Source Engine

* Improved the performance of writing out save games. This will reduce the pause when you pass over an autosave trigger in Half-Life 2, or when you press the quicksave button
* Improved the performance of writing out the thumbnail image for save games. This will also reduce the pause when passing over an autosave trigger or pressing the quicksave button
* Increased cache memory usage for machines that have greater than 512MB of physical memory. This will reduce hitching due to cache thrashing.
* Optimized the sound cache manager, which will reduce hitching as a result of sound cache thrashing
* Minor optimization to the world renderer and world collision
* Minor optimization to the way that asynchronous sound files are loaded
* Optimized the way that sounds were loaded that are trigged by acting sequences
* Optimization to reduced the number of times model sequences are iterated on per frame
* Fixed rcon packet bug that was accepting negative packet lengths
* Fixed rcon server failing on server restart

Half-Life 2

* Weapon script files are preloaded at startup, instead of when they are accessed. This will reduce some hitches while playing Half-Life 2

Linux Server

* Added “-pidfile” command line argument to output a pid file on startup

Condition Zero

* Fixed “Your server is out of date Please update and restart” error

Discussion >>

IGNIQ members have been posting their sightings of Half-Life 2′s G-Man in the forum, along with screenshots.

There are 13 confirmed locations so far, but more may yet be found; if you’ve noticed any not featured on this list, post a screenshot in the thread.

*Note – contains spoilers if you haven’t completed the game.
Discussion >>