[H] is Further EnRaged
Our very own Mark Warner, GPU Guru Extraordinaire, has been hard at work beating on Rage with the GTX 580 and Radeon 6970 and wanted to reach out to you guys this morning and share some of what he is finding.
This video demonstrates RAGE when played on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 with driver version 285.38 BETA, and on an AMD Radeon HD 6970 with the RAGE specific driver found on AMD's support site, which is version 8.892.3-110908a-126296E-ATI.
NVIDIA driver is here. AMD driver is here.
We noticed some big graphical problems as soon as we started the game. Texture pop-in is a problem on all video cards we've tested so far, but to a more significant degree on AMD's cards than NVIDIA's. There is also significant graphical artifacting on AMD cards that is absent from the experience when using an NVIDIA GPU. With AMD cards, NPCs flicker in and out, even in the midst of combat. With NVIDIA cards, that doesn't happen in our testing. We went ahead and checked out older AMD "non-Rage" drivers also, but the problems persisted. It is bad enough in places that the game becomes virtually unplayable.
FRAPS recording exaggerates the texture pop-in problem on both video cards. It also reduces performance significantly, so any graphical lag you see is a product of the video recording system. Without FRAPS recording, both video cards ran at a solid 60 frames per second.
Worth mentioning as well is that Mark checked the AMD artifact issue on two different PC stations, with two different 6970 cards, and double checked with a 5870 as well and identified the same issues.
Ongoing Rage threads on Drivers, and pages and pages of Rage Sucks.
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Microsoft Finally Kills The Zune
Microsoft has officially killed the Zune. Those of you that own the devices will still be able to get service and support but the company will no longer make the devices.
We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.
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Patent Troll Is Suing Hotels For Offering Wi-Fi
If this isn't the biggest shakedown ever, I don't know what is. I also like how they are offering settlements for less than it costs to hire an attorney, so most small business owners will settle out of court.
Delaware company Innovatio IP Ventures, LLC is scaling up its patent litigation assault against businesses that offer wireless Internet to customers, filing six infringement lawsuits this month against individual branches of some of the country's largest hotel chains. It's a new tack for the company, which began filing patent claims in March against coffee shops and restaurant chains, including Caribou Coffee, Cosí and Panera Bread Co., and department stores.
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Apple's 'Let's Talk iPhone' Keynote Liveblog
Engadget plans to liveblog the iPhone 5 event today for those of you interested. The best thing about today's announcement is that this is the end of the non-stop 24/7 iPhone 5 prediction articles! Yay!
And, we're on campus! We're setting up now for a live broadcast outside of 4 Infinite Loop! Stay tuned for a post on that. Hey! You made it! But it's a little early. Not to worry, though -- bookmark this page (yes, this one!) and return at the time listed below for our blow-by-blow coverage live from Cupertino!
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Folks are Enraged!
Well, Joystiq gives Rage and id Software a thrashing. At $60, maybe Bethesda is charging $3 per gigabyte?
And that's the thing. The aspects of RAGE that seem interesting and different at first never grow or expand. The enemy reactions, the clutching, the begging for their lives, it's repeated identically so often over the course of the game that it loses any impact or meaning. The town that initially holds the promise of a big, wide, asteroid-murdered world is a facade for a few fetch quests down some of the most guided, narrow shooter levels this side of a Call of Duty title. RAGE is pretty at times, but it's not enough to paint over the truth - that Id's labor feels like a scaffolding for a game of bolder ideas, ideas which, for whatever reason, aren't realized. And the game that is there just isn't enough to compete with other, better shooters we've seen this year.
Does not look like this will hit the bargain bin as fast as DNF, but you might wait a bit.
Here is a what one of our 8 year+ HardForum goers had to say.
OMFG.I am so pissed. I spent $60 on this hunk of dog sh*t when money is tight. NEVER again. Gaming on this very night, the 4th of October, has died. Gaming is dead, long live the king. The game has no direction, no compelling storyline, visuals that reek, terrible mouse controls, no console, no tweakablity.
I think id Software should have a long time ago fired all the creative employees and gone into the middleware business. I think the PC gaming industry would have been better for this overall. God knows Epic left much to be desired with its engines on the PC side.
Just search on "Rage" in the HardForum before you plunk down your [H]ard earned cash.
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HTC Issues Statement On Security Flaw
HTC has issued a statement on that recently discovered security flaw. The company says a fix is on the way and is urging customers to use caution when dealing with "untrusted sources."
HTC is working very diligently to quickly release a security update that will resolve the issue on affected devices. Following a short testing period by our carrier partners, the patch will be sent over-the-air to customers, who will be notified to download and install it. We urge all users to install the update promptly. During this time, as always, we strongly urge customers to use caution when downloading, using, installing and updating applications from untrusted sources.
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Cooler Master Hyper 612 PWM CPU Cooler
ThinkComputers has posted a review today of the Cooler Master Hyper 612 PWM heatpipe HSF. Aside from a minor gripe here and there, the review is actually very positive.
Today we'll be looking at a new Cooler Master CPU cooler, the Hyper 612 PWM. This cooler, which is yet to be available for purchase, offers a large heatsink, 6 copper heatpipes and a 120mm PWM fan for both silence and cooling. While its support for an additional fan may give you extra cooling, the cooler might not fit in all cases.
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Apple May Face Suit Over Search for Unreleased iPhone
The guy that had his house searched by Apple employees pretending to be cops may file suit against company. May? May? Holy crap man, you don't get a better case than this if you want to sue.
David Monroe, an attorney in San Francisco, told CNET this evening that he is considering filing a lawsuit against Apple, but, for now, is still investigating what happened. Based on what he's learned so far, Monroe said, the actions of Apple security personnel and San Francisco police are "outrageous." Apple declined to comment for this article.
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Corsair Announces 8GB DDR3 Memory Modules
Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the addition of 8GB DDR3 memory modules to its Vengeance and Value Select product lines. Corsair Vengeance: High Performance and Overclockability. The new 8GB Vengeance DDR3 memory operates at 1.5V for compatibility with the new 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family and is guaranteed to operate at 1600MHz. Providing 8GB of rigorously-screened DRAM on a single module allows gamers and performance enthusiasts to build systems with 32GB of high-performance memory.
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Microsoft CEO Bonus Lags on Phone, Tablet Results
I like how people complain about excessive executive bonuses, some in the tens of millions, then turn around and clown CEOs if they get smaller bonuses. Hell, I'll gladly take one of those "bad" $700k bonuses.
Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer failed to clinch his maximum bonus for the second year running due to the company's slow progress in mobile phones and adapting to the tablet computer revolution. Ballmer, 55, got a bonus of $682,500 for the latest fiscal year, matching his annual salary, according to a filing with securities regulators on Monday. Under his bonus scheme, he was eligible to receive between zero and double his salary.
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A Chance to Ask Apple About Police-Aided iPhone Search
Normally I wouldn't be caught dead at an Apple convention but, if someone was going to ask this question, I'd be there with bells on.
Presuming there's a question-and-answer opportunity at tomorrow's big iPhone announcement, here's one that somebody should ask Apple CEO Tim Cook (right): Do you approve of the way two Apple security employees, accompanied by four police officers, searched a San Francisco man's home for a missing iPhone prototype back in July?
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Sounds of a Meteor Shower
Doesn't this sound like something from a 1950s science fiction movie?
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Turning Pee Into Rocket Fuel
You can turn urine into rocket fuel? Well ain't that a pisser?
Scientists on Sunday said they had gained insights into a remarkable bacterium that lives without oxygen and transforms ammonium, the ingredient of urine, into hydrazine, a rocket fuel.
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Private Anti-Piracy Investigator Spills The Beans
I've always liked reading "insider stories" like this. Obviously this is just one side of the story but it is interesting reading none the less.
All around the world Hollywood is influencing politics and law enforcement, mainly through local anti-piracy groups. Aside from lobbying, they also employ private investigators to track down and bust copyright infringers. Today, one of them spills the beans. Gavin "Tex" Warren reveals how he was instructed to boost statistics, link piracy to drug trafficking, and manipulate the police in order to secure more interest for the war on piracy.
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Battlefield 3 Open Beta Performance and Image Quality
The limited time open beta for Battlefield 3 started last week, and we've spent some time with it. Performance is quite a wild ride in this beta, and it doesn't even have the full graphics the retail version will, but we'll examine it closely to show you how your video cards might stack up when Battlefield 3 finally launches in a few weeks.
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