RGN - Raiders Game Net

Bad News Verizon's Fangs of GREED

Mike Nomad — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:53:02 GMT

Verizon to kill unlimited data plans for existing subscribers

(Credit: Roger Cheng/CNET)

by Marguerite Reardon May 16, 2012 11:00 AM PDT

At an investor conference, an exec says the carrier is killing the plan for "grandfathered" customers and will force existing and new customers to sign up for a tiered "data share" plan on its 4G LTE network.

Verizon Wireless subscribers who have held onto their $30-a-month unlimited data plans will soon be forced to upgrade to a new tiered offering the company plans to launch this summer, according to the Web site Fierce Wireless.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology Media and Telecom conference today, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo told investors that the company's 3G unlimited data plans that customers were allowed to hang onto last year when Verizon switched to a tiered offering will soon go away entirely. Instead, the company will migrate its existing and new 4G LTE customers to a new "data share plan."

The company has yet to announce the details of this new plan, but it has said previously that the data share plan will be introduced in midsummer. The plan will allow people on the same family plan to share buckets of data each month, much like they share voice minutes and text messaging. It will also allow individuals to share data across different 4G LTE devices.

Verizon eliminated its unlimited data plan for smartphone users last July, about a year after AT&T had done the same thing. Like AT&T had done previously, Verizon told its existing unlimited data plan customers that they could keep their unlimited data plans even after their contracts expired. And Verizon has allowed its 3G wireless subscribers to upgrade to 4G LTE devices, while keeping their unlimited data plans.

But the company was always careful to say that it could change this policy in the future. And now it looks like that day has finally come. The way it will likely work is that as 3G unlimited contracts expire, Verizon will push subscribers to upgrade their devices to smartphones on company's 4G LTE network. These customers will then have to sign up for the data share plans.

"Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said, according to Fierce Wireless. "When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us."

Verizon hasn't yet announced pricing details of the new share plans. Shammo said that he believes this new plan will make it easier for families and small businesses to connect multiple devices, Fierce reported. This new plan is meant to encourage people to buy multiple connected devices and to use them on the 4G LTE network, without signing up for an additional data plan.

As this change happens and people connect additional devices to their accounts, Shammo said that the industry will have to change how they account for the revenue. Instead of looking at average revenue per user, he said that the industry should look at average revenue per account.

News of the end of the unlimited data plan is sure to upset some consumers who have held onto their existing accounts specifically for the unlimited benefit.

AT&T also offers this benefit to longtime smartphone customers. But the company has struggled to keep up with the demands of some of these users. In an effort to ensure that "grandfathered" unlimited users don't hog the network, the company began slowing down a proportion of these heavy users. The move outraged many customers. One man sued AT&T in small-claims court and won. AT&T has since changed its policy and now only slows down or throttles users if they exceed 3GB of data per month.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel still offer unlimited data plans. T-Mobile also slows down users if they consume too much data each month. But Sprint claims that it is the only major wireless carrier in the U.S. to still offer unfettered unlimited data. Some people question how long the carrier will be able to offer such a plan given the steep rise in data usage.

A Verizon spokeswoman declined to comment on the news.

SOURCE

Good News PC Zombie MOD Causes Sales Explosion

Mike Nomad — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:45:04 GMT

PC Zombie Darling Causes Sale Explosion
ArmA Devs Happy to Help

By Luke Plunkett - May 15, 2012 1:00 AM

Diablo III may have all the marketing and hype as far as the PC market is concerned, but I'll be damned if anything, Blizzard-developed or not, is going to keep me from playing more DayZ this week.

The zombie survival mod for Bohemia Interactive's military sim ArmA II has come out of nowhere to be one of the most interesting things to happen to PC gaming in 2012. What's most interesting, to me at least, is what it's done to the sales and profile of ArmA II, a very serious game and one that, while successful and prominent within a niche of PC gaming, is hardly what you'd call a mainstream smash.

Yet in the past few weeks more newcomers have been exposed to ArmA II in a short span of time than ever before, all because the game's ruthless approach to realism and survival now includes zombies. To find out how the mod has impacted the game, and how they're handling the overnight renaissance in awareness, I spoke with Bohemia Interactive's Marek Španěl.

"There's no doubt that the thrilling Day Z mod currently drives Arma 2 Combined Operations sales on Steam", he says with a touch of understatement. "Sales have increased almost fivefold from how they were before Day Z's Alpha release!"

"That said, we have always been proud to provide a PC exclusive type of game like Arma 2, with a strong emphasis on modding and the user community."

Asked whether the mod's success could lead to Bohemia Interactive actually lending a helping hand (the mod's creator is currently a little overwhelmed by the response), Španěl says that the developer is actually accommodating DayZ in ArmA II's next update.

"Bohemia Interactive has always tried to help community mod makers in many different ways and Day Z mod is no different", he says. "We're more than happy to assist DayZ in any suitable way and considering the mod's popularity we are committed to do some related work in the next Arma 2 update (1.61)."

"We are actively communicating about how we could best support the Arma 2 user community especially in multiplayer and Day Z players are right now a significant portion of people actively playing the game, so of course it's high on our priority list to support it the best we can. It's important to understand that DayZ was released just a few weeks ago as a tech demo/proof of concept and it's still at Alpha status so until we know where the project intends to go it's hard to commit to anything specifically."

And the future? "I personally find the combination of realistic Arma style gameplay and settings with survival zombie apocalypse so addictive that I believe it can stand as a gaming experience on its own."

"At the moment Rocket [note: the mod's creator] from DayZ is completely overwhelmed by the demand and we're also trying to support users as much as we can alongside our other projects, so it's impossible to think too much about what the future holds for us."

That said, I ask what this could all mean for ArmA III, the studio's upcoming sequel, one which looks to vastly improve on ArmA II's sometimes rickety engine. How hard would it be to get something like DayZ up and running on the company's new platform?

"There are many aspects involved, for example the environment and different assets in Arma 3, new engine features etc. It's important to understand that there is still a long way to go even after Arma 3 is out until mods are properly configured, ported and matured onto the new platform.

"So realistically we may be looking at one year or more from now until we can see something like Day Z based on Arma 3 technology."

SOURCE

Info Tips for Better Gameplay

Mike Nomad — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:42:02 GMT

Destructible fences can be blown up using grenades to create wider fields of fire, especially for a machine gunner. This is particularly helpful when defending the First Housing Block on Spartanovka, as once the Germans push up, they will have even less concealment. If you happen to have spare grenades, destroying the fences on the far left side of the map will prevent Germans from crawling unseen along the edge of the capzone. There is also a corner on the left side of the Town Hall that, when destroyed, allows you to enfilade Germans pushing up on the right side of the main street through the town.

Incremental throttle. Use it. Your arsenal of tank tactics suddenly becomes far broader. A press of the spacebar will stop your tank completely. You can set the throttle to full speed and type to teammates as you race to the battle. After you get used to using incremental throttle, you can maneuver far more effectively, and you will see a difference in your tanking as a whole.

Certain Garage doors and most wooden-framed windows can be destroyed with AT grenades and satchel charges. While they may not be labeled as satchel objectives, they can be just as effective for giving your team wider fields of fire or more entrances into a capzone. It may seem pointless to blow up tank hedgehogs at times, but especially on Fallen Fighters, Commissar's House, and Pavlov's House, blowing them up can be crucial for allowing your side's tanks to have greater mobility. Use common sense to determine whether destroying a given obstacle will help your own side more than it will help the enemy.

Partial reloads can be interrupted by pressing melee or sprint, and with the bolt-action rifles, the number of rounds loaded will be 'remembered' by the weapon. So, if you are caught off guard while reloading with loose ammunition, you can always hit melee and return fire with the rounds you have loaded so far.

Corrugated Metal Sheets can be shot through cleanly with any projectile weapon. So, if that German MG is hosing you down from behind those metal sheets on Pavlov's House, feel free to shoot back--your bullets will punch straight through the sheet metal. Same goes for shooting Russians in the trenches of the 9th Jan Square.

The DP-28's remaining ammunition can be estimated at a glance by tracking the progress of the metal clip mounted on the pan magazine as it rotates clockwise. Most people know about this, but when the clip crosses over to the right side of your view, you are down to less than half of your ammunition.

Pressing the iron sights key when playing as the T-34's gunner/commander will allow you to use the periscope, which can turn a full 360 degrees as fast as you can move the mouse. No more need to swivel the turret in all directions or unhatch in a dangerous situation! (Many people know about this, but some don't)

Trying to toss a grenade through a bunker slit embrasure on Mamayev? Aim at the bottom of the embrasure and it will bounce straight through the firing slit.

The PTRS is a beast. Not only can it shred people and the poor T-34--it can shoot straight through brick, trees, people, and light obstacles. No joke--a few hits from this weapon can destroy fences, like the light metal fences in front of the "A" cap of Red October. A single hit often blows a tree apart. In addition, most--but not all--brick textures are penetrated by the PTRS, only some of which are also penetrable by rifles.

News Diablo 3 Goes Live & Fails

Mike Nomad — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:59:35 GMT

Diablo III servers go live across US, AU; immediately fall over

by Brenna Hillier - Tue, May 15, 2012 | 08:59 BST

Blizzard is scrambling to bring Diablo III’s servers online after launch-hour demand proved just as rabid as anticipated.

“Please note that due to a high volume of traffic, login and character creation may be slower than normal. If you’re unable to login to the game or create characters, please wait and try again,” the game’s Facebook page advises.

“We’ve temporarily taken our Battle.net websites offline and launched more servers to accomodate for the traffic. We hope to resolve these issues as soon as possible and appreciate your patience.”

Impatient users are flooding the game’s social media presences, as well as those of Blizzard and Activision, with mass complaints of errors and log outs. Many users who had been playing prior to launch have found themselves unable to get back online. See the fun for yourself on hashtag #Error37, for example.

The issues have highlighted complaints about online activation – which left those with retail copies from Australia sitting on their hands for eight hours – as well as the game’s always-on Internet requirement.

European and Asian servers went live overnight, and despite problems with the game’s installer, seem to have experiences a much smoother launch; some Korean players have already finished the game.

SOURCE

News BO 2 Lamia defends lack of 'new engine'

Mike Nomad — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:50:00 GMT

Black Ops 2 studio head defends lack of 'new engine'

by Andrew Yoon, May 14, 2012 3:00pm PDT

Electronic Arts has been trying hard to wrangle the title of "best-selling FPS" away from Activision. Games like Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 introduced new engines that leaps well ahead of what Call of Duty has to offer visually. However, Black Ops 2 developer Treyarch doesn't believe the annualized franchise needs a "new engine." Mark Lamia, studio head at Treyarch, argues that "engines" are simply a "buzzword," and talks up the "significant" work that went into creating Black Ops 2's visuals.

Lamia describes an engine as the foundation of a house. "I liken it to people who live in an older house that has been remodeled. Just because you�re remodeling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don't tear out the foundation," he told One of Swords. "There's a lot of good still in that foundation that you wouldn't get rid of, and we don't."

Treyarch's games have been using modified versions of the same engine used in 2007's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. While gamers have accused the franchise for resting on its laurels instead of pushing technology, Lamia argues that the fixation on new "engines" is simply marketing. "I think the whole thing about a new engine... sometimes that's a great buzzword," he said. Because so much of the engine has been altered, he questions the validity of labeling something a new engine. "Where does it start and stop? Elements of the code, you can trace back for a very very long time... but whole parts of the code are entirely new." He points to lighting as a feature that received a "significant amount of work."

Once again, Lamia reiterates that Call of Duty must run at 60 frames per second, and won't sacrifice that for new graphical features. "We're not willing to do that if we can't keep it running at 60 frames per second."

SOURCE

News 2012 warmth confined to N. America, western Europe

Mike Nomad — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:06:03 GMT

Record-setting 2012 warmth largely confined to North America, western Europe

by John Timmer - May 14 2012, 3:53pm EDT

Most of the rest of the world has seen little change from 2011.

In March, high temperatures over two-thirds of the continental US set numerous records and made it the nation's warmest March on record. April has been no slouch either, as high temperature records have continued to fall. But at the time of our last report, the services that track global temperatures hadn't analyzed the global extent of the warmth. Now that the numbers for March and April are available, it's clear that the rest of the globe generally hasn't shared the US's record heat.

Globally, the current period of warming began back in the 1970s. NASA's GISTEMP tracks the current global temperature against a baseline established by the 1951-1980 average, and it hasn't seen a calendar year below that average since 1976, or a month below it since 1994. The US climate has generally reflected that, with high temperature extremes dominating over the last several decades, as shown below.

Trends in temperature extremes in the continental US show that 2012 has been exceptionally warm. NOAA

That said, the US is a relatively small portion of the global land mass, and an even smaller portion of the planet's total surface area. It's entirely possible to have the US experiencing extreme temperatures without the planet as a whole really noticing. And that's what has seemed to have happened this spring. Even as the US has experienced record-breaking extremes, the GISSTEMP index has seen global temperatures that were roughly equivalent to the ones we experienced last year, and well below those of 2010, the warmest year on record.

GISS also offers a mapping tool that lets you identify regional differences in temperature. You can select the time you want to examine and set the baseline to which you're comparing it. By default, the baseline uses the 1951-1980 time period used by the GISSTEMP data. That's not especially useful for comparing recent trends, though; as we noted above, compared to that baseline, the planet as a whole has been consistently warmer in recent years. If you choose this baseline, then the entire globe will look a bit hot.

To give a more relevant view of recent temperatures, we set the baseline to 1990-2005, during which time the current warming trend was in full swing. With that as a baseline, we asked the GISS system to show us how temperatures from this March stacked up around the globe. The results, shown at top, are pretty striking.

Climate models have consistently predicted that greenhouse warming would be disproportionately felt in polar regions, and those predictions have generally been borne out. So, if you ignore the poles, the remaining warming in March falls heavily in two regions: North America and Western Europe. In fact, the majority of the continent is buried under a color that indicates it is at least 8�C above the baseline average—GISS didn't offer any colors for larger anomalies, or it might even look more dramatic. At the same time, however, the plot makes it clear that nothing especially out of the ordinary was going on for the rest of the planet.

Advance the time by a month, and you can see that North America has remained warm, although not quite to the same extreme. Meanwhile, the far west of Europe had cooled off, and the focus of heat had shifted well into Russia. But again, the rest of the globe was a mottled collection of temperatures much closer to the baseline average.

In April, the US cooled down as Russia got hot. Note the maximum temperatures are
lower than in the top graphic. NASA GISS

One of the ironies here is that, even though the global temperatures are fairly typical of the last decade, the unusual spring warmth might have an outsized effect on public opinion. People in the US seem to rely on their personal experience (along with the economy) when they formulate their opinion on climate change. In this case, the citizens of the US and Europe personally experienced unusual warmth, and were more likely to have been exposed to anecdotal reports in the mainstream media. So, even though nothing special happened globally, the year so far may be perceived as an indication of a warming planet.

This is almost the exact converse of what happened in 2010, the warmest year on record. In that year, high temperatures were focused in northern Canada, North Africa, and the Middle East. The US experienced decidedly average temperatures, while Europe was slightly cooler.

SOURCE

News May 12 Update

Mike Nomad — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:37:44 GMT

From Yoshiro;

Testing out Steam's new byte patching system.

General

Increased spawn protection timer by 5 seconds
Tweaks to vehicle damage mode settings
Revised enemy spotted system. When enemies are spotted now the icons appear at the top of the screen to indicate the direction the enemy is at with an arrow pointing up or down if they are above or below your view. This system is much less exploitable, but also more clear to the player that someone else has spotted an enemy and generally the direction the enemy is at.
Tuned the enemy spotted systems enemy detection to be less exploitable for finding enemies that you can't see at long ranges.
Improved character animation performance

Added display for damaged turret ring icon if your turret rotation is damaged (but not destroyed)
In tanks hit indicators no longer display on the opposite side of the incoming hit. This happened when the shot penetrated and hit the tank on the other side.
Ping is now displayed on the scoreboard when in tanks
Tweaks to HUD fonts and positioning

Last updates known issues

Fixed getting a kill cam for suicides
Fixed melee hit detection problems in RO Classic
Fixed a client crash on map change
Fixed invisible map names on the map voting menu
Fixed weapons sometimes getting stuck in a broken state where ironsight and focus would not zoom properly.

Bugs

Fixed enemy spotted icons appearing randomly in weird places

News Sniper Elite V2 Free MP Maps on PC

Mike Nomad — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:09:27 GMT

Patching Things Up: Sniper Elite V2 Hands Out Free Multiplayer Maps on PC

By Katie Williams | May 13, 2012

Developers promise PC players ongoing support and free content.

Shoddy ports, tardy release dates, dumbed-down mechanics -- gosh, we sure put up with a lot for being PC gamers. It's not time to get too cynical just yet. Not two weeks after Sniper Elite V2's release and the devs have already released a patch. Alongside it is what sounds like a sincere pledge to provide ongoing support and free stuff to PC players.

You'll find the patch notes at the official forums. Puzzlingly, there's no word on whether it fixes the audio issues noted in GameSpy's review, but there's a slew of other fixes, most of them based around multiplayer aspects.

SEv2 Update 1.03: 11th May 2012

Fixed failure to progress beyond the lobby in peer games after playing a dedicated server game.

Player names in lobby chat are no longer coloured according to the player's current team.

Player HUD now hidden on death.

Dedicated server - max players can now be set before adding any maps to the rotation.

Kill notifications should no longer occasionally show the wrong victim or killer.

Wind now correctly disabled when set to None in the server settings.

A new best shot score or best shot distance in an individual session will no longer overwrite the best for all sessions (unless it is the best overall).

When dead in multiplayer, input in the game menu will no longer be used to respawn the player.

Multiplayer server list now populates while searching, instead of only when the search completes.

Multiplayer game time now only starts when the warmup time has elapsed.

Fixed player getting stuck in the carrying pose if a body is dropped while falling.

Fixed corruption of player stats after multiple leaderboard updates.

Attempting to join a passworded server through the Steam overlay or friend invites will now bring up the password entry box.

Player connection and disconnection notices now shown in the chatbox.

Various optimisations for people experiencing lower framerates in the full game than in the demo.

Distance King kill notifications now show the correct score for the game mode instead of the single player score.

Fire in the Church map will no longer cause instant death on one-hit-kill servers.

Improved performance/FPS across "Church" multiplayer map.

Added "-60Hz" command line option to force a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, for users who find the game always boots into an unsupported resolution in fullscreen mode.

All unlocked levels are now available in the co-op lobby screen, to resolve progression blocker after Flak Tower.

If you encounter problems, please contact us on: Sev2_support@rebellion.co.uk

"We've had limited time to finish the PC version and, although we're really proud of what we've achieved, we're keen to improve and develop the game over the coming months," Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley says via Steam. "Our current plan is to concentrate on multiplayer and, because we want to build and support the community, additional multiplayer maps will be the focus."

These maps will be free of charge to us and Kingsley also teases at some "experimental" content that's in the pipeline, but it remains yet to be seen whether Sniper Elite V2 will begin staying out late and trying funny-smelling cigarettes. Have you been playing? What's your experience been of this shooter so far? Does its future look as promising as the devs are, uh, promising?

SOURCE

Info May 10 UPDATE

Mike Nomad — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:13:37 GMT

From Yoshiro;

General

First pass client side hit detection system. Client side hit detection works for all standard small arms bullet firing weapons and for melee. Client side hit detection can be turned on/off by server admins through the webadmin tool.
New control options added for Crouch (Hold), Prone (Hold), Iron sights (Hold), and exclusive Focus / Breathing.
Added a new system which scales down the damage of bullets as they lose velocity, and as they penetrate objects (based on the density of the type of object they penetrate). In particular SMGs and pistols will be less effective at longer ranges while rifles and MGs will still be effective at long range. Additionally, players will take reduced damage from bullets that penetrate objects before hitting the player.
The distance the player can fall before being damaged/killed has been increased. Falling damage now hurts the players legs and in Realism & Classic mode makes the player walk slowly for a short time.
Added suppression for melee
The F1 grenade damage has been increased to match it's axis counterpart
Smoke from smoke grenades now disappears between rounds
The map boundary effect has been brightened
Overtime timelimit has been increased to 3 minutes. Stalling an objective capture no longer ends overtime (the objective must be completely captured or lost)
Improvements to prone physics in tight spaces (e.g. trenches)

Gameplay - Vehicle Functionality & AI

Completely new AI configurability system with robust configurability including webadmin options. The system includes all new tank AI functionality with "player ordered AI gunnery only" as the default setup. With this new system, Tank AI will do nothing if the human player is in a tank, unless the human player orders the AI to do something. For example, if the human player orders the AI to attack an enemy, the AI will use the hull MG and the main cannon to attack the enemy for a short time. Then after a short time the AI will stop firing. In addition to this new default functionality the server admin can also run in several different configurations including turning off all vehicle AI gunnery, selecting full autonomous AI gunner, selecting player ordered gunnery only (the default), or individually turn off/on AI gunner for the hull mg and tank cannon. We highly recommend all admins try out the new player ordered AI gunnery system as it is a vast improvement over the original system.
Fixed bugs that were causing the vehicle AI to be 100% accurate with their aimed shots when a human player was in the tank. This was the root of most of the problems with tank AI being way too hardcore and good.
Completely revised AI gunnery model. This system has been tuned to be very forgiving and to not quite play as well as a human player would. With that said it will also be useful enough for players to want to use the system, but without completely destroying human players unrealistically like it was before. This system includes functionality that makes the AI less accurate based on many factors such as distance from the tank, movement state of the enemy (walking, sprinting, etc), as well as making the tank AI much less accurate if the tank is moving. Some elements of this system were already in the codebase, but not functioning due to a bug.
Added some tank AI configuration elements based off of Ducky's Tank AI mutator
You can now rotate the turret of the Panzer IV from the commander cuppola position by looking in a direction and pressing the fire button (you could already do it from the interior gunner position of the Panzer IV and the gunner/commander position of the T34)

Gameplay - Action Mode

The crosshair size now scales with the base accuracy of the weapon. More accurate weapons have tighter crosshairs, less accurate weapons have looser crosshairs.
The crosshair now expands with the recoil of the gun to represent the shooting being less accurate for longer bursts.
Increased weapon spread when not aiming down sights.
Set up weapons to fire at the crosshair location for Action mode (including fixed MGs) when not using sights.
Removed "instant death" zones in Action mode. Damage to those zones is now just scaled up rather than instantly killing theplayer. Those zones are head, neck, heart, and acorns.
Added a system to scale the damage on a per weapon basis. Weapon damage is now more balanced for Action mode. In particular, rifles are much more effective, and the balance between weapons is much better.
Added a new system to scale the weapon spread of weapons when not aiming down sights. It is now considerably harder to hit players when hip shooting in Action mode, which puts more of an emphasis on using sights while still allow hip shooting to be a viable tactic.
Added a system to tweak weapon recoil for Action mode. Adjusted the recoil of the PPSH and AVT40 to be more controllable for action mode.

Gameplay - Fixes

In Countdown, the commander is no longer able to waste a reinforcement wave if nobody is dead
Fixed an instance of getting stuck in suppression
Fixed a bug preventing players from deploying MGs in some areas
Fixed tank physics from 'popping' around online at close range - Still working on longer range
Fixed disappearing players when using or viewing someone on a tripod MGs
Fixed a rare situation where Countdown sudden death would not end
Fixed a bug where you could get suppressed multiple times from the same penetrating shot
Fixed a bug with melee that was causing it to not hit the body part you were aiming at
Fixed a bug where damage scaling was breaking being able to damage tank crew members
Fixed a bug where weapon rotation could get messed up when blind firing from cover in action mode
Fixed a bug where the AI would take over control of the tank's turret/hull MG even if you had ordered it not to fire.
Fixed a bug where the tank cannon would point off in random directions after the AI fired it round from it or moved it.
Fixed a bug where the AI would just fire at anything they saw when ordered to suppress infantry rather than actually firing at the infantry the commander ordered them to fire at.
Spectator/DemoRec no longer get stuck on the round end menu
Servers no longer crash when misspelling a map name using servertravel

On the loading screen the game mode setting is now always correct
Fixed incorrect server details icons in the server browser
Added popup dialog boxes to the server browser the first time you connect to action or realism servers
The territory spawn menu no longer displays if your team is out of reinforcements
Fixed the kill message icon for the allied AT grenade
Tweaks to the squad member list in tactical view
Added notification message for team kills that tell both players involved
Added notification message for MG barrel overheating
In Realism Mode the minimap is now displayed in tactical view
Refinements to role/kick voting menus
Added a tip dialog box to the weapon select menu the first time a weapon upgrade is available
Corrected battlefield commission text (Always said Axis team)
Adjustments to some HUD font, size, and positioning.
Players lists are now once again available in the server browser

Graphics & Performance

Added a DOF graphics setting to the video options menu
Fixed a texture size constraint that was causing some 32bit machines to crash

Audio

Added new audio for the native voices option
Refined and improved vehicle MG sounds
Panzer IV now uses a looped MG shooting sound
Tank AI Crew members will now respond verbally to the tank commander�s orders

WebAdmin

Mutators now show up in the change map screen
Added more flexibility to a number server settings including: team death icons, allow killcam, kill message mode/delay, friendly player name mode.
Cleaned up some unused webadmin settings
Fixed killcam settings not working properly in webadmin

Known Issues

There is currently a known crash when a server changes maps
Currently the map voting screen will not list maps, but the functionality still works (names are just invisible)
Server Browser may display incorrect information
Count Down ready up menus have some fake player placeholder names
Rare case of muzzle flash not showing
Weapon focus may get "funky" - We are trying to find a good reproduction.

SOURCE

Clip/Trailer Game of Thrones

Mike Nomad — Sun, 13 May 2012 10:40:57 GMT

Humor On the Menu

Mike Nomad — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:28:47 GMT

Info About Toorum

Mike Nomad — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:08:15 GMT

So, you think you've found every single secret in Legend of Grimrock, plundered all its treasures, and reached the lowest depths of the dungeon? Well, you're probably still missing something.

There is one more mystery to share, and it's a good one - a special bonus mode that can be accessed after you've gained the "Buddies with Toorum" Achievement. Throughout the game, you'll follow Toorum's Notes to his eventual demise. With a little craftiness, you'll be able to bring Toorum's skeleton back to a Crystal of Life, and release his spirit to gain the Achievement.

What you likely didn't know is that this also opens up an optional special game mode, where you'll be able to play through the entire game as Toorum! That's right, not only do you get a brand new character with a never-before-seen portrait, but Toorum gets to take advantage of an all-new set of skills and a special trait that should change up gameplay quite a bit.

To access "Toorum Mode", once you've unlocked the "Buddies with Toorum" Achievement (see our Level 10 walkthrough for more details on how to do so), you'll need to select New Game from the main menu. Create a single character, and type in the name "Toorum", then press the Enter key on your keyboard. If you've done this correctly, you'll hear a chime and the game's introduction will begin.

Starting the game as Toorum will reveal you now have only a single character in your party, as well as the following new statistics and skills:

Toorum

Health: 95
Energy: 55

Strength: 18
Dexterity: 15
Vitality: 16
Willpower: 12

Traits: Tough, Skilled, Thunderstruck

Skills: Armors, Axes, Swords, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Spellcraft

In addition to a very diverse set of skills, Toorum is also equipped with the exclusive Thunderstruck trait, which grants him 2x normal movement speed. All of these bonuses should add up to make your future play-throughs a great deal more interesting. Note that unlike a standard Mage, Toorum requires a staff or orb of some sort to use magic.

Suffice it to say, this is one of the more outlandish and exciting bonuses we've stumbled across before, particularly since we thought we had already unraveled all of the game's mysteries. Hats off to the development team at Almost Human for surprising us with yet another secret!

SOURCE

Clip/Trailer Soviet Storm

Mike Nomad — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:09:29 GMT

All of Europe has worked on Hitler in 1938 po1945 year. Also, on the eastern front, Germany's allies - Is Austria, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Spain, Finland... and so on. Also, there were legions: French, Danish, Dutch, and others, as well as the former Soviet. Hitler gathered millions of soldiers from all over Europe ... for a hike to the East. (This is the story of the Second World War in Russia's Stalingrad)

Clip/Trailer MW 3 Content Collection #2

Mike Nomad — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:10:21 GMT

Activision Announces Call of Duty: MW3 Content Collection 2

By Taylor Cocke | May 9, 2012

And the long countdown until it comes to PC begins... now.

Activision isn't particularly great about getting its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 content to PC players in a timely manner, as evidenced by how long it took us to get Content Collection 1. Now, on the heels of that release, here comes Content Collection 2. It comes out for Xbox 360 on May 22nd, but that dastardly release date for the PC remains TBA. Well, at least you can see what you'll be waiting for below.

When Collection 2 finally does hit your hard drives, it will bring a solid amount of new content. The biggest of which is the addition of Face Off mode, accompanied by four maps specifically put together for it. Focusing on 1v1 or 2v2 games, the mode features tiny maps designed to keep combatants close and constantly firing. Sounds like fun.

Also included are two new Spec Ops missions. Iron Clad, the first of the two, involves one player clearing the way with C4 for another to drive through in a tank, blowing away enemies. This is the first time in Spec Ops that a player will be driving a tank, so that's pretty neat. The other, Kill Switch, has a player on the ground looking to detonate an EMP bomb on the other side of a large map, while their teammate snipes enemies from above.

Finally, there's three new traditional multiplayer maps. The one I'm most interested in is Sanctuary, which takes place around a bunch of monasteries in Greece. It's very pretty. And it would be prettier if we knew when the beefiness of high-end PCs could take advantage of it. Zing!

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Bad News MS BANS Firefox on ARM-based Windows

Mike Nomad — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:54:09 GMT

Microsoft bans Firefox on ARM-based Windows, Mozilla says

IE10: the only browser allowed on Windows for ARM-based devices?
(Credit: Microsoft)

by Stephen Shankland - May 9, 2012 6:00 PM PDT

Raising the specter of last-generation browser battles, Mozilla launches a publicity campaign to seek a place for browsers besides IE on Windows devices using ARM chips.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Microsoft muscles aside other browsers and cements the dominance of Internet Explorer. The browser market, deprived of competition, stagnates.

That, of course, is what happened during the first browser war of the 1990s and beyond, on personal computers. Today, Mozilla's top lawyer warned that Microsoft's behavior threatens a repeat of history, because it's telling Mozilla that it's barring Firefox from forthcoming Windows 8 machines that use ARM processors.

"They're trying to make a new version of their operating system which denies their users choice, competition, and innovation," said Harvey Anderson, Mozilla's general counsel. "Making IE the only browser on that platform is a complete return to the digital dark ages when there was only one browser on the Windows platform."

Anderson has been discussing the matter with his counterparts at Microsoft, but the company hasn't budged, he said. Anderson also detailed concerns in a blog post.

Microsoft declined to comment for this story.

Microsoft's position raises the prospect not only of refighting the browser wars of more than a decade ago, but also of reviving the grindingly slow antitrust litigation from the U.S. Justice Department, 20 U.S. states, and the European Commission. The U.S. case is closer to today's situation: the accusation that Microsoft abused its monopoly power in Windows to crush browser pioneer Netscape.

"Microsoft used its monopoly power to develop a chokehold on the browser software needed to access the Internet," then-U.S. attorney general Janet Reno said upon suing Microsoft.

Although Microsoft didn't prevail in those cases, its, uh, competitive spirit appears to be unquenched.
Mozilla isn't considering legal action at this time, and Anderson said going to court would be "a solution of last resort." But it's an option if nothing changes.

"First I want to really see if Microsoft is intent on pursuing this path. They could have subsequent release that allows third-party browsers," Anderson said. "Sometimes they need some pressure. If it turns out to be legal pressure, that could be the thing."

Technically, Mozilla could release a version of Firefox for Windows 8's new Metro interface -- it's indeed building one for more traditional Windows 8 PCs that use x86 chips. But that browser would be crippled on Windows RT, said Asa Dotzler, a Mozilla spokesman.

"First, Microsoft has a browser that runs in Classic mode on Windows ARM. They are not allowing us that same access to run our browser on Classic. Second, Microsoft has a browser that runs in Metro mode on Windows ARM that has access to rich APIs that they are denying to third-party Metro browsers on Windows ARM," Dotzler told CNET. "So, we are denied the ability to deliver any browser on Classic, and we are denied the ability to build a competitive browser on Metro." Dotzler also elaborated on the issue in a first and second blog post.

In terms of worldwide personal computer browser usage, Microsoft's IE is on the rebound after years of declines.
(Credit: Net Applications)

Why bar Firefox?

Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Heiner told Mozilla it won't permit other browsers for two reasons, Anderson said:

ARM processors, which power virtually all iOS, Android, and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets today, are different from the x86 chips that power PCs. The chips have new requirements for security and power management, and Microsoft is the only one who can meet those needs.
Windows RT -- the version of Windows 8 geared for ARM devices -- "isn't Windows anymore."

Anderson scoffs at the arguments. "I'm not aware that Microsoft is the exclusive and sole proprietor of technology capable of working in the ARM environment.... It's a different architecture, but it's not the first time we've had an OS that works on a different architecture," he said of the first point.

Of the second, he says Windows RT uses the same user experience, programming interfaces and Windows Update system. "The idea that it's not Windows it doesn't make sense."

Browsers, of course, aren't just any old software. They're essentially becoming miniature operating systems unto themselves able not just to show Web pages but to run Web applications. Browsers nowadays have multitasking, hardware-accelerated graphics, pop-up notifications, and built-in videoconferencing. It's no coincidence that IE10 will provide the display engine for some native apps, not just Web apps, running on Windows 8.

Not coincidentally, given their steadily more sophisticated processing capabilities, browsers are also a prime vector for attack. So Microsoft could perhaps be forgiven thinking that running multiple browsers on Windows would mean a bigger attack surface for those trying to compromise computers.

Pshaw, Anderson said. "I trust Firefox before I trust IE. That's one of the key reasons Firefox took off."

Overall, it looks like Microsoft is taking pages from the Apple playbook. On iOS, Apple permits only its WebKit browser engine to be used for Web apps and Web pages. That can simplify life for Web developers racing to adapt to mobile browsing -- but other browsers suffer.

And like iOS, Windows RT also only will be available preinstalled -- something that simplifies hardware combinations that can become a support nightmare. Windows RT also only will run software delivered through Windows Update or the Windows Store.

Clearly, Microsoft is concerned about keeping the best possible experience, and it's willing to clamp down on old-style Windows programming methods from the x86 era to do so. In a blog post about programming for Windows 8 on ARM, Microsoft's Windows chief Steven Sinofsky has this to say about moving Windows apps written for x86 chips to the ARM world:

If we enabled the broad porting of existing code we would fail to deliver on our commitment to longer battery life, predictable performance, and especially a reliable experience over time. The conventions used by today's Windows apps do not necessarily provide this, whether it is background processes, polling loops, timers, system hooks, startup programs, registry changes, kernel mode code, admin rights, unsigned drivers, add-ins, or a host of other common techniques.

Broken promises?

Mozilla also suggests Microsoft has gone back on 12 principles for promoting choice and competition on Windows that General Counsel Brad Smith announced in 2006.

The Web page about the principles is no longer obviously available on Microsoft's site, but a press release and Smith speech about it remain.

In that speech, Smith extolled the virtues of openness to others' applications.

We recognize that for users, an operating system is important solely because of what it allows other people to do on top of it. People don't buy a PC simply to run an operating system. They buy a PC to use all the applications and Internet services that they can access on top of that operating system.

The first principle comes directly out of the U.S. antitrust ruling and ensures that Microsoft will design Windows in ways that make it easy for computer manufacturers and users to install non-Microsoft applications and to configure Windows-based PCs to use non-Microsoft programs instead of or in addition to Windows features.

Smith cited iTunes as one example of software that Microsoft graciously accommodated even though it competed directly with its own Media Player product.

However, Smith indicated that not all decisions are final:

We'll review these principles from time to time, and at least once every three years, we'll sit down in a more formal way and we'll determine whether we should adopt additional principles to take account of new technologies or legal trends or business practices, and whether we should modify any of the existing principles to take account of these factors as well.

Reliving history

Internet Explorer's dominance, traces of which remain today especially in China, was indeed a grim period for Web developers in many ways.

The browser's dominance did simplify programming by letting many code for that single browser, which bucked some Web standards. But then Microsoft left IE6 largely untouched for years. A lot of online application innovation took place instead with Flash Player from Macromedia, later acquired by Adobe Systems.

Mozilla's release of Firefox in 2004 rallied allies who wanted something better. Mozilla and Opera, another browser rival, also began a project called the Web Hypertext Applications Technology Working Group to advance HTML standards when the World Wide Web Consortium decided it didn't want to. Apple later joined, too, and eventually the W3C picked up the baton again.

By the time Google arrived with Chrome in 2008, Microsoft was well on its way to re-engaging with Web standards work and to producing the vastly more competitive IE9. Now its competitive juices in the browser market are clearly flowing again.

But this is the kind of challenge that could rally Mozilla, too. The non-profit organization rose from the ashes of Netscape, and for years, much of its identity was defined in opposition to Microsoft. Mozilla embraced open-source software and touted the Web standards Microsoft ignored.

Now Anderson generally considers Mozilla's relationship with Microsoft as healthy.

There's one huge difference from the last-generation browser battles: Apple.

Apple's Safari dominates mobile browsing.
(Credit: Net Applications)

Safari is the dominant mobile browser by far, and on phones and tablets, Microsoft is very much the underdog. On ARM devices today, IE isn't even close to second-place Android.
So a complacent IE team seems improbable at this stage.

Anderson is still dissatisfied. Sure, people can switch to another mobile operating system by switching devices, but that's not easy.

"If that's your version of choice, I think that's a sad world, and it doesn't have to be that way," he said.

He remains optimistic that an amicable solution can be found. Microsoft altered course to let other browsers run in Windows 8's Metro interface on x86 machines, and Firefox and Chrome are headed for Windows 8 now. So the company can budge.

And for practical reasons, Mozilla hopes it will.

"I'm not inclined to look to judicial solutions as the No. 1 way to protect users," Anderson said. "I was at Netscape in the 1996 era. I watched the slow wheels of justice turn."

By that time it was over, Netscape was long gone as an independent company.

Updated 12:02 a.m. PT May 10 with further comment from Mozilla and a link to Anderson's blog post.

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