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

Buy Crysis
	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

Buy Unreal Tournament III
	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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ASUS Launches OC Version for EN9600GT Series

According to HardwareZone, in order to cater to users who require excellent graphical performance boosts and exceptional cooling from their graphic cards, ASUS introduces the world's first overclocking version of the latest NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT GPU - the ASUS EN9600GT TOP graphics card.


Users will enjoy 10% engine clock improvements for gaming experiences with the EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M; and both the ASUS EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M and EN9600GT/HTDI/512M models will be soon upgraded with the newest thermal solution – the Glaciator Fansink. Furthermore, the integrated SmartDoctor feature will provide users with the option to overclock the Shader Clock for even better graphical performances.

10% Engine Clock Boosts
With the EN9600GT TOP, gamers can expect core, shader, and memory clock performance boosts from 650MHz up to 720MHz, 1625MHz up to 1800MHz, and from 1.8GHz up to 2GHz respectively. This produces an astonishing 10% improvement in terms of core performance when compared to any other reference designed board*. Gamers can now experience the rush of superb gaming performances only with the ASUS EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M.

Extreme Cooling with Exclusive Glaciator Fansink
The upcoming version of the ASUS EN9600GT Series will incorporate the Glaciator Fansink – a specially designed fansink that is able to effectively dissipate heat away from the GPU to help lower temperatures – much like real-life glacial storms. Besides this extreme cooling capacity, it is also ultra quiet with operating levels of only 25dB – almost imperceptible in a quiet room; and caters to users who require maximum cooling without excessive fan rotation noise.

Official “HDMI Certified” Graphic Cards
The HDMI format is defined, specified and governed by HDMI Licensing, LLC in the USA. Being "HDMI Certified" refers to any product that meets all of the strict criteria as set out by HDMI Licensing; and utilizing any HDMI product that is not approved may result in poor performance, and can even void the warranty on users’ other HDMI enabled hardware. Therefore, the “HDMI Certified” ASUS EN9600GT series are the most trusted graphics cards for home theater enthusiasts to choose from.

Unprecedented Rock Solid Quality from ASUS
Keeping in line with ASUS’ Rock Solid promise for quality, the EN9600GT Series’ second version will come with several solutions to provide the best laptop graphics processor for gaming. With the EMI shield, 66% EMI Interference can be reduced for more stable signals. The DIP Spring Chokes can also lower temperatures by 5~10oC in comparison with traditional Toroidal Coil Chokes. Additionally, the LF PAK MOS guarantees more efficient power and less heat. On top of all this, the Japan made polymer capacitors can lower power loss for more stable operations. Therefore, users will be able to take their high performance gaming laptops to a new level and have peace of mind only with ASUS EN9600GT Series.

Overclock the Shader Clock with New SmartDoctor
ASUS garners a world’s first by providing an overclocking utility that is able to tweak the Shader Clock on GPUs with the new SmartDoctor. With this handy application, users will be able to overclock the Shader Clock and Engine Clock independently for astonishing performance boosts without the hassles of rebooting or re-flashing their BIOS.

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Xbox 360 Elite Gaming Laptop

The Mod God as he is known to many is at it again. For those of you not familiar with this mod genius, his name is Benjamin Heckendorn (aka Ben Heck)and his latest accomplishment, squeezing an Xbox 360 Elite into a laptop, is his best revision yet. This is one of the laptops built for gaming that blows your mind away.

While he's made 360 laptops before, this is his first based upon the newer 65nm chipset. This high performance gaming laptop has some new features compared to past units:120 gig Elite hard drive, HDMI-to-DVI video connection for digitial picture on the LCD (versus VGA on past mods), a lot more surface detail, and the 17" screen uses a 1280×720 resolution (as opposed to 1280X768) for true 720p picture.

Needless to say this one extreme mod. On his website Ben has included a graphic breakdown of just about every step he went through to produce this custom gaming laptop he also includes pictures so you can check it out here.

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Dual 8800 GTX Cards Comes to Dell's XPS M1730

Yesturday Dell officially announced the availability of dual nVidia GeForce 8800M GTX video cards (2 x 512MB) with nVidia SLI for the XPS M1730 and XPS M1730 World of Warcraft edition notebooks. Being capable of producing a 3DMark06 score of up to a 13,500 3DMarks( a 49 percent improvement over dual nVidia Geforce 8700M GT SLI technology) Dell's XPS M1730 laptop will be able to deliver stunning performance even for demanding games like Crysis and BioShock.

While this news may bitter sweet for you gamers who already purchased the XPS M1730, Dell has another trick up their sleave. Dell will offer a "graphics upgrade program" for customers with existing XPS M1730 and XPS M1730 World of Warcraft edition laptops. So don't get bent out of shape Dell has got you covered.

New customers can configure the XPS M1730 gaming laptop with dual 512MB GeForce 8800M GTX cards for an additional $700 bucks. Details on the upgrade program were not known at this time.

Of course, Dell is not the first notebook manufacturer to break ground on the dual 8800M GTX video cards. Sager was first to the market with the release of the NP9262 with dual 8800M GTX cards last year.

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The Alienware Area-51 m15x Has Landed

It's the first 15.4-inch notebook in the U.S. market with the Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX video card,and It's available today, with it's out of this world LED glow. The Area-51 m15x gaming laptop is based on the Intel PM956 chipset and comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme mobile processor.The incorporated Nvidia’s top of the line GeForce 8800M GTX mobile graphics card has 512MB of dedicated video memory. The “world’s fastest notebook GPU” is compatible with DirectX 10 games and manages the notebook’s 15.4″ 1920-by-1200 or 1440-by-900 widescreen display.


The high performance gaming laptop also sports Alienware’s BinaryGFX technology. The dedicated graphics card operates in conjunction with an integrated graphics processor. The onboard GPU reduces power consumption during low intensity tasks, while switching to the GeForce 8800M GTX unleashes full graphics capabilities.The m15x supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory. It comes with up to 320GB hard drive, or with an optional 64GB solid state drive. The system provides the Smart Bay Swappable Drive, which can be filled with a DVD burner, Blu-Ray reader, Bly-Ray writer, secondary hard drive, or a backup battery.This gaming laptop, which runs Windows Vista OS, has the Intel Wireless 4965 a/b/g/draft-N connection, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN, and a Bluetooth, as well as three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, a 7-in-1 media card reader, and a Firewire port. For HDTV connectivity there is an HDMI output. The Alienware Area-51 m15x weighs 7 pounds with a standard 6-cell battery which gives you about 4 hours of battery life.

Two of the m15x models are available to order immediately, with the third promised soon. Unfortunately for those looking for a bargain, the two available now are the higher end models, coming in at $2,099 and $2,699, with the "low-end" $1,499 model only listed as "coming soon."

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