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All Articles for N4G Feed: PC News
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The market share of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer dropped under the 70% mark last month for the first time since Web metrics vendor Net Applications Inc. started keeping tabs on browsers, the company said today.
IE slipped to a 69.8% share, down from October's 71.3% and off 7.6 percentage points in the past year.
Rival browsers from Mozilla Corp., Apple Inc. and Google Inc., meanwhile, cashed in on IE's slide and posted gains for the month, according to Net Applications' data, which is culled from visitors to the thousands of Web sites the company monitors for clients.
In action movies, when the hero has only minutes before the readout on the bomb counts down to zero, with many miles to drive through a congested city in order to get there in time, he'll just ignore traffic lights and floor it. Wouldn't it be great if you could do the same thing on the Internet if your torrents don't download fast enough? Now you can. Maybe.
In a new alpha version of the popular BitTorrent client µTorrent, uTP has been made the default instead of TCP. uTP sends the actual downloads over the UDP protocol rather than TCP. The existing version 1.8.1 also supports uTP, but it's not enabled by default. This simple swapping of the transport protocol that sits between the IP layer and the application has gotten our friends over at The Register all worked up: "By most estimates, P2P accounts for close to half of internet traffic today. When this traffic is immune to congestion control, the remaining half will stumble along at roughly a quarter of the bandwidth it has available today: half the raw bandwidth, used with half efficiency, by 95% of internet users. Oops."
The half of the internet traffic figure is already highly debatable, as services like Hulu and iTunes deliver non-P2P video to ever more users. But the quarter of the bandwidth number is entirely speculation. If µTorrent is indeed eschewing congestion control, however, and this catches on, it could be pretty bad.
Grundy the Man writes, "As much as I appreciate my own Mac, it is awesome to see someone poke so many holes in the stigma that is Apple. Sundays episode of the Simpsons did just that, taking Apple to task using the fake name Mapple. There is even a special appearance from Steve Mobs (yes, that is not a misspelling.) So sit back and relax, while The Simpsons tear Apple a new one! Check out the hilarious clip here..."
PCGH reveals the advantages and disadvantages of the PC version of GTA4. Poor shadows and textures contra good particle effects and big range of visibility.
From War Herald:
"The update you've all been waiting for, 1.0.6, is almost here! We wanted to thank everyone who tested and provided feedback on this update's content.
On Tuesday, 12/2/08 all servers will be brought offline to begin the update. North American servers will be brought down at 6:30AM EST with Oceanic servers to follow at 9:00AM EST.
This is our biggest update yet! It's chock-full of exciting career changes and heralds the debut of the highly anticipated Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun careers. If you've finished the Heavy Metal event and have opened your Heavy Metal Chest, then you will be able to play a Black Guard and Knight of the Blazing Sun when this patch goes live (before anyone else!). For those of you who did not complete the Heavy Metal event, don't fret! You, too, will be able to play these two new careers starting next week.
This update is so massive that we needed to split the notes into two sections. So, without further ado, on with the notes! WAAAGH!!!"
Work continues on Battlefield Heroes despite the recent closure of the game's beta, and producer Aleksander Grondal recently talked it up with Gamasutra. Grondal isn't a Battlefield developer veteran, instead having previously worked on Anarchy Online and Dreamfall at Funcom. As such, he brings a different mentality to the team working on Heroes, which he claims is a mixture of half newcomers to the series and half previous Battlefield developers.
LucasArts has been around for over a quarter-century now and in that time they've managed to create some pretty great and some pretty not-so-great games. Curious how that happened? The new book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts provides a detailed history of the company - along with a lot of pictures for you word-haters out there.
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at a recent press event in London, Wheelman creative director Simon Woodroffe revealed that Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV has changed what gamers expect from an open world action title.
"Our game was already quite different, but GTA 4 moved the bar in terms of what people expected from an open-world driving game," said Woodroffe. "Before GTA 4, open-world driving games generally had more accessible, more arcade-like, handling. Even the previous GTAs were like that. But GTA IV moved the bar towards realism - even super-realism, you know?
Eurogamer writes: "DICE hopes to start an open beta for Battlefield 2 patch 1.5 before Santa stuffs himself down chimneys.
"The beta would be for everyone that wants to install it, the more people that do the better feedback we get and we don't have an update 1.30 again," said a spokesperson for the developer on the official forum (spotted by Blue's News).
"The plan is to get it out before Christmas yes."
There's no specific word on what will be in patch 1.5, although DICE has hinted at server stability and performance tweaks, plus plenty of fresh content."
Rockstar Games is no stranger to Australia's strict videogame classification regime. Even before the company's highly anticipated title Grand Theft Auto IV hit shelves worldwide in April this year, rumours of edits to the Australian Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions began to circulate. Rockstar confirmed the rumours, saying that they had made voluntary content cuts that were "not significant" to the overall product in order to satisfy the guidelines enforced by the local ratings body--the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC)--which is now called the Classification Board.
Internet Explorer, MSN, Windows, Office. Four of Microsoft's biggest products are under attack. What does this mean for Microsoft and the Xbox 360?
Engadget writes: "Hey you, hot-shot movie cutter! Now that we've got your attention, have a look at this. Adobe's research laboratory has been toiling away with a sophisticated interactive video-object manipulation system, which gives video editors all sorts of creative windows with next to no rendering lag. An After Effects demonstration shows an editor selecting the outside of a cab and typing "taxi" -- once the text is imprinted on the vehicle, it stays on the car as it moves up and down the street. We know, you're totally scratching your head trying to envision what we just said, so why not just head past the break and give it a look?"
Kit Blanke writes:
"PC gamers know, if you wanna game on a PC, you have to do it on Windows OS. Yes, there are notable exceptions. The different Linux flavors have a number of games that really aren't half bad, and Apple is starting to come around to some serious games. But there are always exceptions to the rule. Because of the iPhone, Apple is rewriting those rules."
SlapStic contributor Eclipse expresses his disdain for the modern MMO with this list. Addiction, possible girlfriend loss, and bank-account drainage are mentioned, among others.
GameXtract writes "Recently Kotaku's writer Mike Fahey received a creepy letter in his mailbox contained a message, and a DVD. The DVD featured an amateur yet mysterious overweight man talking through a digital voice changer about the case above. The instruction were along the lines of to go fetch the case seen above from a storage unit, and to await for the next clue on the December the 5th that will unlock the three digit combination that currently keeps the case shut.
Until now Mike Fahey is reported to have been the only one with the case. The ended today when Youtube celebrity PhillyD more commonly known as SxePhil released a video titled F.E.A.R. 2 Case! ¡?? puno? ???? (SECRET). The video reveals that he too has received the viral marketing bait from the creepy overweight guy, along with the case. In the end we will still have to wait till December 5th to see what's hidden in the case. Dum Dum Dummm…"
Video after the jump!
Eurogamer writes:
"But seriously: a genuinely ground-breaking blockbuster in videogame history. There were moments playing GTA IV that I thought back to my initial experiences with games, and realised exactly how far we've come. There's never been anything quite like GTA IV in the world. That there makes me genuinely happy to be a gamer.
Also, beating up people and taking their money and stuff."
Green Pixels gives 7 suggestions for how to save your loved ones from their destructive, potentially life threatening, addiction to World of Warcraft. Even if you can't help, this list has some crazy stuff that you've probably always wanted to do to frustrate someone.
The talented team behind Black Mesa published the official trailer from the complete re-creation of the game Half-Life. Enjoy.
Microsoft have announced that fans of the smash hit blockbuster Gears of War can further immerse themselves in the Gears of War 2 experience by enjoying the alternate soundtrack this Christmas.
Following on from the Mad World TV advert that accompanied the first game, Microsoft have again delivered an emotive, cutting edge TV ad for Gears of War 2 with Last Day. Invoking the emotion and desperation of humanity's last stand against overwhelming odds, the ad uses the track How It Ends, by Colorado-based band Devotchka...
Someone decides to prank call "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory" by describing a dream that sounds very much like Fallout 3.
Maybe you missed it last weekend, but on November 23, 2008, Guns N' Roses released their 6th album, "Chinese Democracy", after a 15 year wait! Many had given up all hope of ever seeing the album and had moved on, but apparently good things come to those who wait, as the record is getting good reviews.
So, what does this have to do with gaming? Well, here in the gaming world we have our own version "Chinese Democracy" - it's called Duke Nukem Forever. At this point, we've been waiting for this game for 11 years. It was announced in 1997, and slated to be released mid-1998, and has gone through innumerable engines and iterations, still with no release in sight; last anyone heard it was slated for a late-2008 release, but we're not holding our breath. No one ever expected to see Guns N' Roses release "Chinese Democracy" and seeing it be released ignites a little hope that one day, soon(?), we might get out hands on Duke Nukem Forever.
"We're still reporting on Second Life, but only as part of our usual tech and media coverage," a Reuters spokeswoman confirmed to The Register (via Game Politics). After only two years of activity, one of the world's leading news services decided to end its virtual branch in the world of Second Life, and it may have taken a month-and-a-half for anyone to notice. The last entry on their site is dated September 30.
A fifteen year old boy in Sweden has had a seizure from playing too much World of Warcraft.
X Motor Racing trailer 5 has been released, showing the telemetric side of the game's performance. It gives us an idea as to how many different factors are taken into consideration to bring reality to the driving experience.
We probably shouldn't be surprised at this, but it's hard not to ask why a Dubai company has made a version of an online game tailored specially for Muslims.
1 MARIO KART (Wii)
2 WII FIT (Wii)
3 CALL OF DUTY/WORLD AT WAR (PS3)
4 NEED FOR SPEED/UNDERCOVER (PS3)
5 CALL OF DUTY/WORLD AT WAR (XBOX 360)
6 WORLD OF WARCRAFT/WRATH OF THE LICH KING (PC)
7 CALL OF DUTY/WORLD AT WAR (PC)
8 LIPS (XBOX 360)
9 PROFESSOR LAYTON (Nintendo DS)
10 NEED FOR SPEED/UNDERCOVER (XBOX 360)
Video interview about 'The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf' for PS3 and Xbox360.
Metroid Prime, Kingdom Hearts and Super Mario Sunshine led the charge in 2002, the year that saw The Sims become the highest selling PC title of all time, Rare switch hands from Microsoft to Nintendo, and the launch of the first video game television network, G4.
Counting down the top games from 1990 straight up through 2008, Binge Gamer's James Walker takes a look at the best (and worst) games from the year of the GameCube, 2002.
WoW Insider writes:
"One of our secret correspondents inside an EB Games store forwarded us this picture of an internal email sent out to the videogame retail company, saying that not only was the week of WotLK's launch the biggest sales week of the year, but it was the biggest week ever outside of last year's Christmas sales, and the biggest launch the chain has ever had. Additionally, at EB Games, Wrath was the highest presale ever, the highest single-format (which means PC/Mac only) week one sales (in just two days), and the highest day one sales of any game ever, multiformat or otherwise."
A dead or stuck pixel on an LCD screen or TFT can be incredibly annoying. You'll be staring at it for days on end, wondering for how long you'll be without your screen or maybe your entire laptop if you decided to turn it in for repair or replacement. All that grieve over something as unimportant, yet highly irritating as a malfunctioning pixel.
"The PC used to be the platform of choice for players interested in experiencing the latest and most advanced role-playing games, first-person shooters, and real-time strategy games. However, the last decade has seen a steady stream of talented PC game development studios redistributing their talents and energies to the world of console gaming. While companies like BioWare (Neverwinter Nights), Epic Games (Unreal), and DICE (Battlefield) continue to make PC titles, their focus has undeniably shifted toward the more lucrative Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 markets.
But it isn't all doom and gloom for hardcore PC gamers. There are several developers that remain quite dedicated to the Windows platform. Ten of them are listed below, along with the means by which they will contribute to the PC gaming industry in the near future..."
The list is updated for Saturday deals... many price drops and additions...
Gamerdeals.net writes:
"Highlights this week include Prince of Persia (Xbox 360/PS3), Destroy All Humans 3: Path of Furon (Xbox 360), King of Fighters Orochi Saga (Nintendo Wii), Grand Theft Auto IV (PC), Singstar ABBA (PS3/PS2), plus much more!
Check out the full list of new video game releases (USA) for the week of November 30, 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC!"
Yes, the PC is hugely upgradeable - and a bloody good job, too, otherwise you'd never get to play all those games built with cutting edge technology by crazy Scandinavian ex-demo hackers. And anyway, a console is upgradeable: when the next Xbox or PlayStation comes out, we sell the old one and buy a new one. Easy.
And 11 more reasons the PC is an inferior choice for games...
Rockstar Games published a new Grand Theft Auto IV trailer. Enjoy.
With the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, many people have returned to the game. For someone who hasn't played in a few months, there are many changes to face when logging back on and WorldofWar.Net has highlighted a some of the major changes to look out for in an easy to digest list.
Split-Screen writes: "Blasting through zombie shooter Left4Dead is…well, a blast. More than anything though, now that Valve Software has pushed its multi-player opus out the door to positive reviews, could an announcement on Half-Life 2: Episode 3 be far behind?"
The freshly-launched Spore video game that lets people play God has been hit with a lawsuit accusing its publisher of slipping devilish anti-piracy software onto players' machines.
The lawsuit filed this week in a federal court in Northern California contends that players weren't warned about tenacious digital rights management (DRM) software that stays in computers even if game programs are removed.
Spore publisher Electronic Arts told buyers that there are anti-piracy safeguards but didn't advise people the SecuROM program it used "is essentially a virus that installs itself without warning," the lawsuit alleges.
The DRM software attaches itself to the "command and control centers" of computers and can track activities, block certain operations and even disrupt hardware, according to the suit filed this week.
A US woman was named as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which is seeking class action status to represent all Spore buyers.
The filing demands a jury trial and wants Electronic Arts forced to pay unspecified damages as well as turn over money it has made from Spore, which went on sale in Europe, Asia, Australia and the US this month.
Electronic Arts said it does not discuss pending litigation.
This mod alters the visual effects and textures of NfS Undercover to make the game look better. Differences can be seen on comparative screenshots. The game becomes darker and more realistic.
The substantial boons aside, however, Bethesda treads water in most other areas of obvious improvement, and Fallout 3 is disappointing in its lack of finesse. But then submersion in this world means that you quickly look past the many frustrations – the uncanny NPCs, the occasional broken quest, the ill-conceived interface, the dozy voice-acting. It's a game that rewards the long-haul with deep, inventive missions which eschew the usual fetch and kill structure, ensuring that the many hours spent in Fallout 3's wasteland aren't wasted.
