People who try to download security patches will have to let Microsoft run a checking procedure on their computer or give an identification number. Microsofts regular patches, which it releases for security flaws, are important because they stop viruses from penetrating PCs.
More here:
Microsoft Anti-Piracy Move
Provided by: E Commerce Times
It is being reported that a few execs from EA mentioned BF2 was going to be delayed until First Quarter of their Fiscal Year 06. Before you completely panic, that is April-June 2005. We can only speculate why this delay is happening. Here are a few things to consider.
– EA has officially made public they are purchasing DICE.
– A recent bug has been exposed that affects BF42 and maybe BFV. We have no info if this same bug affects BF2, but it would be wise to fix it before releasing the game.
– EA is a stock driven company and may be looking for a boost to their First Quarter earnings and feel BF2 will do that.
We will keep an eye out for more info, but in the meantime, enjoy our upcoming Custom Map Blowouts next month and lets hope BF2 comes out in early April (just in time for my B-day).
Ever go prone or jump behind some sandbags in BF42/BFV and still get killed even though you were sure you were out of sight? Well, while perusing the Forgotten Hope forums this evening I found an interesting post that lead me to the Silent Heroes BF42 Mod site and a news item that they had written that might shed some light on why that happens. Here is the lead in from the article:
“For some 2 years we have had a feeling that we were shoot when we shouldnt, when we hid by throwing ourselfs behind sandbags – even though we should have been in safety behind the cover. Lagg, net-code, (bad) luck was all blamed and the behavior dubbed by some as the sandbag-bug. And it pretty much continued like this for 2 years. Today Rainbearer showed his discovery that he could shoot anyone, even though he aimed in the air above them, while they where going prone. This made it clear for me that the faulty behavior was connected to animations, not netcode or client delays.” (emphasis added)
“After some initial research it became clear that the problem was a global one. It was NOT limited to players going prone, but actually for every animation-transition performed by the player-character.”
They even created a short video exposing the bug and calling for DICE/EA to correct it. Here is a link to the compressed video and accompanying readme file: The Proof!
Click read more to view the readme text explanation from the Silent Heroes guys. Continue reading BF42/BFV Bug Exposed!
This MOBO is for those of you that will make the slower transition from AGP and DDR to PCI X16 and DDR2. This is something that is right up my alley. Hopefully we get more manufacturers to follow up with some thing similar supporting AMD and a better AGP slot.
Heres a great review provided by www.cluboc.net
And Gigabyte MB
The Forgotten Hope mod for BF42 has posted an update showcasing some recent developments.
First, they announced the winner of their mapping contest. The winning map was Nuenen-1944 by Mars. For his work, The mod team will create a new static model and vehicle for Mars to use on a new map.
Second, they are working on some small changes to Fan Map-pack #2 and will be releasing it in the near future. In the meantime they will be posting screen shots of the maps.
This will all serve to fill our FH needs until the 0.67 update which is promised “soon”. This update promises new weapons and vehicles as well as a revised “Foy” map.
Mainboard maker ABIT Computer, who was among the first mainboard manufacturers to acknowledge there were problems with capacitors on certain of its products and implement more robust components, faced a class-action lawsuit from one or a group of its clients seeking for repair of mainboards acquired as long as up to six years ago.
Read more and find out if you are a part of the lawsuit
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20050121031017.html
provided by www.xbitlabs.com
It never occured to me that you could revoke a game of the year award. Thats what makes the guys at Penny Arcade so humorous. They think of things that no one else would. From their news post:
In other news, we hereby revoke 2004 Game of the Year status for Blizzards “World of Warcraft,” effective immediately.
It seems they are pretty ticked off at the constant emergency maintanence required by the more popular servers. If you want to read an interesting tirade, drop by Penny Arcade and read the full scoop.
5.1 released yesterday!
List of Fixes:
http://www.ati.com/support/includes/titles/fixed.html
Release notes:
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_51_release_notes.html
Download:
http://www.ati.com
This release fixed my cad program finally! Previous to this I had to disable Direct X to get performance. Not game tested by me yet, look to the forums in a day or 2 for any possible problems if your hesitant on trying this one out.
It seems EA has set their sites on creating an European Development group. First, they announced they were buying 90% of DICE, but that didnt work out. Then they started purchasing shares of Ubisoft, in what some have termed as an unwanted partnership. Now, they have waived all requirements for the percentage of stock they must buy in DICE and are simply focusing on purchasing as many shares as possible.
I had really hoped the little guy would hold out, but it seems EA is too big and powerful and will stop at nothing to get what they want. I can only hope it doesnt ruin our beloved Battlefield series.
Read More for the full Press Release regarding this situation. Continue reading EA Not Giving Up On Acquisition of DICE
Well, at least everything they have told us so far.
Fizban30 w/ help from king0rism have assembled all publicly known information regarding BF2 in a single location. This includes basic information, map info, weapon and vehicle details, videos and screenshots. Here is a portion of the information under “Basic Info”
Basic Info
* Release Date: 03/24/2005
* Demo possible in Feb., not confirmed
* 64 players max, 30 vehicles, 11 maps, 7 classes
* U.S. vs Chinese, vs Middle East Coalition
* New gameplay engine, realistic physics and dynamic lighting, Material penetration feature, destructible environments
* Maps scales to number of players (16, 32 or 64 players) and provides ideal vehicle-to-player ratio
* Native PunkBuster support
* CTF undecided
* SP is beefed up
* Requirements will be around – 1.4GHz, 512MB RAM, shadermodel 1.4 supporting gfx card
* Ingame Squads –
o Squad leader can use T key to issue commands
o Squad leader in a vehicle becomes a mobile spawn point for squad members
o Can be password protected
o Max of 6 players and leader
o Squad leader can set waypoints
o Temporary spawn points can be made
The site can be found here and is “under construction”, but is pretty cool.
Filefront has posted a “F! True Game Story” relating to the development of Guildwars and the people and ideas behind that MMORPG. Basically they are intending to build a MMORGP that isnt just fun for people who play it for every waking hour of the day. Very interesting read even for those of us who arent playing World of Warcrack, uh… I mean Warcraft. 🙂