Assassin's Creed PC Patch to Remove DX 10.1 Support

Ubisoft has announced that the next patch for the PC version of Assassin's Creed (also available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) will remove Direct X 10.1 support.

The company has chosen to do so in light of many reported glitches. Ubisoft is currently trying to re-implement a glitch free DX10.1 version of the game in the upcoming patch.

No expected release date has been given regarding the launch of the patch but the developers have said that they should have further updates for the community soon. We'll be keeping a close eye on this so keep checking back here for more updates.

Assassin's Creed Game Details

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	Published by: Ubisoft Developed by: Ubisoft Montreal Genre: Action Release Date: US: April 8, 2008 Europe: March 2008 Australia: TBA Also Available On: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

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Sins of a Solar Empire patch 1.04

According to Voodoo Extreme, Patch 1.04 for Sins of a Solar Empire is out. The much anticipated update to the popular space strategy game is also a substantial one.

For this build, tons of improvements were added to gameplay and balance as well as artificial intelligence, networking, multiplayer support, user interface and modding. It's also important to note that saved games and replays from version 1.03 will not work with patch 1.04.

Here is the official change log (courtesy of the game's official site):

Gameplay / Balance:
-Market value changes:
-Ratio of buy/sell is now 2:1 instead of 3:1.
-Min price now 200 instead of 80.
-Boom/crashes now last ~twice as long.
-Multiple instances of the Embargo planet debuff from the same player no longer stack.
-Capital ships
-All non-Colony capital ship top speeds increased from 500 to 525.
-All Colony capital ship top speeds increased from 400 to 475.
-Siege Frigates:
-Build costs decreased by ~15%.
-Javelis, Illuminator, Assailant:
-Linear acceleration decreased from 200 to 150.
-Top speed decreased from 800 to 500.
-Range decreased from 130% to 115% of 1.02 ranges.
-Illuminator:
-Hull points increased from 520 to 620.
-Shield points increased from 450 to 550.
-Attack type changed from CAPITALSHIP to ANTIMEDIUM.
-Front bank damage increased from 33.8 to 58.5.
-Side banks damage decreased from 33.8 to 30.3.
-Defense Vessel:
-Reduced cooldown by 45%, damage reduced proportionally to maintain DPS.
-Fleet supply increased from 3 to 4.
-Now properly benefits from Advent laser research topics.
-Attack types
-AntiVeryLight chance to hit bombers decreased from 85% to 75%.
-AntiVeryLight damage vs Light armor decreased from 100% to 75%.
-Carriers
-Slight cost reductions for all carrier cruisers
-Returning Armada and General Fleet Spawning
-No longer possible to spawn ships past fleet point limit.
-Ship slot count updated after each spawn to prevent RA exploit (clicking multiple abilities at same time).
-Increased level 1 RA cooldown by 120 secs and level 2 RA cooldown by 60 secs
-Map Balance of Power fixed to have less Heavies and populated desert worlds.
-Stilakus Subverter's Distortion Field ability will no longer cause it to micro phase jump towards targets travelling to other planets.
-Fix for problem where after playing Sins for 100000 seconds (27.7 hours) damage and various other systems wouldn't update correctly.
-Fix for strike craft squads being able to launch when they should be grounded.
-Phasic Barrier now toggles off more consistently when it's 'autocast off' conditions are satisfied.

AI:
-Fixed minor bug in Unfair AI not behaving quite correctly.
-Fix bug where AI would retreat from his homeworld or last planet.
-AI is less likely to gang up on the leading player in Easy or Normal.
-Autocast logic for hull point restoring abilities no longer consider structures under construction as damaged.
-Fix for ships not auto-attacking after breaking alliances.
-Fix for AI difficulty settings not behaving correctly.
-Misc tweaks.

Networking / Multiplayer:
-Fixed minor bug in ico-join game screen where fleet size display was incorrect.
-Improved in-game chat text entry:
-Escape no longer clears the chat buffer when closing the window.
-Sending whispers is remembered (don't have to retype the whisper when sending again).
-Sending to allies is remembered (don't have to retype /a when sending again).
-Chat string and colors changed.
-Fixed bug where joining a multiplayer game in a slot that was previously held by an AI player would have the AI still be enabled when you started the game.
-When a human player drops and an AI replaces him, the AI now has his happiness set to the required amount for existing alliances so he doesn't drop them all instantly.

UserInterface / HUD:
-Fix map names for Backstab and Balance of power.
-Fixed bug where fleet pip clouds would not show up when loading a saved game.
-Fixed string label for IDS_COHESIONRANGE_FAR_NAME and IDS_COHESIONRANGE_FAR_DESCRIPTION.
-Changed artifacts researched stat to be "artifact discoveries"
-Tweaked some ability descriptions to improve their clarity.
-'Unit under attack' events are now suppressed for trade and refinery ships.

Modding:
-Entity name lookup is now case insensitve.
-New options to enable error messages. This can be turned on by modders in the user.setting file to simplify tracking down errors instead of mysteriously crashing.
-Fix num particles in the user.setting file not actually increasing and added user control over the number of particle simulations since this is another main limiter for those with uber computers who want to push things.

Misc:
-Fix for saved games not respecting custom game options.

Fans are being warned that update 1.04 will not work with previous saved games, so tread lightly. Gamers can sign into the official website and download the update at the via link below. Impulse Beta gamers will be prompted to a different set of instructions. For more information on the space epic, check out IGN review of Sins of a Solar Empire.

[Via Sins of a Solar Empire Forums]

Sins of a Solar Empire Game Details

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	Published by: Stardock Developed by: Ironclad Games Genre: Real-Time Strategy Release Date: US: February 4, 2008 MSRP: $39.99

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Sins of a Solar Empire Expansion

According to Wired, Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock, has confirmed an expansion to the popular space strategy game Sins of a Solar Empire, while he wasn't ready to give out any specifics, he did mention that some much-requested features will be granted.

Those, Wardell continued, would include a "full on campaign" mode as well as new playable factions. Regarding the new patches, Wardell also said that version 1.04 should be coming out soon and that will be closely followed with the release of version 1.1.

In addition, Wardell also revealed that patch 1.1 is looming behind the scenes. Patch 1.1 sets out to revamp networking systems and allows high performance gaming laptops to have a whole new maximum graphics setting.

Sins of a Solar Empire Game Details

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	Published by: Stardock Developed by: Ironclad Games Genre: Real-Time Strategy Release Date: US: February 4, 2008 MSRP: $39.99

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Crysis Patch 1.3 Underway

Far greater things are now under way for Crytek's Crysis. Just a few weeks ago we posted about Hotfix Patch 1.21 being released for the pc game. Now, news has it that the devs behind the FPS game are now developing Patch 1.3

The multiplayer development team is setting out to fix bugs, balance game play issues, and add new features. Details so far are sketchy and there is no official release date for the patch, but the company intends to release more info on the patch next Wednesday.

Crysis Game Details

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	Published by: Electronic Arts Developed by: Crytek Studios / Electronic Arts Genre: First-Person Shooter Number of Players: 1-32 Release Date: US: November 16, 2007 Europe: November 16, 2007 Australia: November 16, 2007 MSRP: $49.99

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Crysis Hotfix Patch 1.21

If you've been eagerly waiting for the release of the Hotfix Patch 1.21 that Crytek promised for Crysis, then wait no more your reward has finally arrived. The wait you guys have been enduring is surely worth it.

As Community Manager Cry-Alex said in the forums, the Hotfix has been official approved and is now ready to be acquired by those who want it bad. The Patch is approximately 37 MB. It will be fixing the recognized security holes in the game code which unfortunately causes client and server crashes when playing online.

But before you download and install the Hotfix, Cry-Alex advised that Patch 1.2 must be installed already for everything to work perfectly. Other than this, everything is pretty much smooth sailing.

There is also the Crysis Mod SDK v1.2 that's up for realese. As you guys know, this version is the second release and includes the much anticipated game source code of the pc game.

What's great about this is that the source code let you guys customize the game by implementing your very own functionalities and features to the game itself, which you can definitely share with the rest of the gaming community.We'll keep you guys posted for more news and updates on the game. You can check them both out if you visit the source link below.

[Via Crymod]

Crysis Game Details

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	Published by: Electronic Arts Developed by: Crytek Studios / Electronic Arts Genre: First-Person Shooter Number of Players: 1-32 Release Date: US: November 16, 2007 Europe: November 16, 2007 Australia: November 16, 2007 MSRP: $49.99

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Unreal Tournament 3 patch 1.2

It's patch time over on the Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 3 forums, and they've got a smorgasboard of changes lined up for the pc game. Changes include gameplay, interface, AI and map changes, fixes and updates. New Linux dedicated server files are available as well, as is a webadmin package.

Here's part of the changelog so you get an idea of what your are downloading:


Gameplay:

• Increased UTGame MaxPlayersAllowed to 64
• Fixed leviathan turret instant refire exploit
• Fixed errant lock on warnings when no longer in vehicle
• Fixed the Scavenger exploit
• Fixed shaped charge node exploit
• Implemented viewobjective spectating system for Warfare

User Interface:

• Clicking on the settings tab goes to directly to the full settings menu
• Fixed leviathan deploy icon positioning
• Joystick key bindings in UI display properly
• Added support for commandline log in login=xxx password=xxx. This also allows Gamespy comrade and other external applications to be used to launch network clients
• Improved language support for French, Spanish, Italian, and German
• Fixed favorites Tab Page server details not updating

Networking:

• Added support for autodownloading packages while in gameplay or while travelling
• Fixed dedicated server memory leaks
• ConnectionTimeout and InitialConnectTimeOut now both 60.0. Addresses both clients failing connection because they take too long to load a level, and initial connections staying open too long
• Fixed HTTP download compression
• Fixed client crash if the user disconnects while downloading a file during a seamless travel
• Fixed bots not replicating their view pitch, so their animation looks better in net games.
  Strip OwningPlayerName= from the URL, as this is determined elsewhere and was breaking dedicated internet servers launched from the UI

Mod support:

• Added ScriptedTexture, a type of render to texture that gives Canvas access to script/C++ for rendering custom overlays
• Added a version of DrawTile() to Canvas that takes a Texture instead of Texture2D so render to texture stuff like ScriptedTextures can more easily be used
• Weapons now take roll from player viewrotation
• Added a ModFamilies array to UTCustomChar_Data to allow mod authors to add families to the list
• Fixed Change Node Status Kismet action not working on fully constructed powernodes
• Added Timestamp function to UObject, returns a string in the format YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS

Folks who want to download the patch can follow the source link below for mirror links to the patch. It's 234.33 MB though, so you're going to have to wait a while for the download to finish.

[Via Epic Games UT3 Forums]

Unreal Tournament III Game Details

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	Published by: Midway Games Developed by: Epic Games Genre: First-Person Shooter Release Date: US: November 19, 2007 Europe: November 30, 2007 Australia: November 30, 2007 MSRP: $49.99 Also Available On:PS3, Xbox 360

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Sins of a Solar Empire version 1.02 Patch

Game developer Ironclad Games has finally released the latest patch of Sins of the Solar Empire. Published by Stardock Entertainment, this is a real-time strategy game for Windows XP and Vista which incorporates elements from 4X strategy games.

This is part of the official changelog that's just been released. Check them out below:

Graphics

• Fix bug where skybox is always the same
• New Advent bomber icons to better differentiate them from fighters.
• Shield projection's bubble less opaque
• Various new ICO art

Networking / Multiplayer

• ICO server now ignores case when searching for channel names
• Games in progress causing "Rejected by Host" error fixed
• Multiplayer lobby screens now have Map Designer tab
• Whisper functionality for ICO
• Refactored join game screen
• Fix for not seeing friend's games

UserInterface / HUD

• Fix rare bug in group selection.
• Hooked up proper double clicking to text lists so clickng on something already selected doesn't try to join a game when it shouldn't.
• Hooked up ico-player name lists (both selecting player and chat lobby player names) to double clicking.
• Added infocard keybindings for quick-select buttons
• Added counter descriptions for all frigates and fighters
• Game menu now mapped to F10 by default instead of Esc so people can repeatedly press Esc to close any submenu they may-Fix rare bug in group selection

According to Frogboy from the Sins of the Solar Empire forums, they're planning to provide regular free updates to the strategy game to thank those who've purchased SoSE and who continue to support the game. Sins of the Solar Empire version 1.02 can be downloaded either by using Stardock Central (link is in the forum post you'll find by hitting the Via link below) or by clicking on the update button within the game.

[Via Sins of a Solar Empire forums]

Sins of a Solar Empire Game Details

Buy Sins of a Solar Empire
	Published by: Stardock Developed by: Ironclad Games Genre: Real-Time Strategy Release Date: US: February 4, 2008 MSRP: $39.99

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