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Thread ID: 19823	2002-05-23 10:48:00	news again.......	Guest (0)	Press F1

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50373	2002-05-23 10:48:00	It's Doom III Thursday with the new game from id kicking off E3 in Los Angeles. Gamespot <gamespot.com> has posted an article here <http: and here <gamespot.com giving their impressions of the game from the demonstration presented to show goers. They are quoted as saying 'we're guessing that id Software's area of the show floor is only going to get more crowded over the course of the show--because word of mouth about how utterly incredible Doom III looks is going to spread, and fast.' The article itself describes the intro, weapons, physics, enemies, environmental interactivity, combat, and more from the real-time demo. Here is but a snip from the review: The demo opened with a cutscene showing a planetoid of some sort--perhaps one of the moons of Mars--in the year 2145. The scene changed to show a high-tech cityscape on the surface of the planetoid, and it then panned over to a formidable-looking military installation: the Union Aerospace Corporation. Heavily armed and armored guards stood chatting in front of the facility. One took his helmet off. The camera moved in to reveal the incredible detail found in Doom III's characters. The characters' facial expressions were quite lifelike as they exchanged dialogue. But what was even more impressive was the subtle detail that could be seen in their individual skin tones and complexions. It's no exaggeration to say that these are easily some of the most realistic-looking 3D real-time-rendered characters ever seen in a game. The quality of the character models--and actually, even the visual design of their high-tech armor--is comparable to what can be seen in last year's computer-animated sci-fi feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Still with Doom III, and the Legacy Movie showing at E3 has been made available for download. The movie is in Low (8.4MB) and Hi-res (92.1MB) Quicktime formats and offers a 7-minute long history of id Software's DOOM series, complete with interviews of the team and exclusive footage from DOOM III. You can download the movie from the following links: - Low-res Fileplanet <www.fileplanet.com High-res Fileplanet <www.fileplanet.com 3D Gamers <www.3dgamers.com GIGA Games <www1.giga.de Gamesweb <gamesweb.com Fragland.net <www.fragland.net AusGamers <files.ausgamers.com With yet more Doom III, GameSpy has posted some screenshots <www.gamespy.com up for your viewing. Warner Bros, Monolith Productions and EON Entertainment have announced plans to develop a huge multiplayer online role playing game based on the Matrix <www.bluesnews.com The game will resemble the movie in that all players will join the game in much the same way as Neo and Morpheus join the matrix in the movie. The game is likely to be a pay affair where you have a subscription to play. Here's a bit from the release: Able to accommodate tens of thousands of players in a single shared environment, the game will be a re-creation of the virtual world of 'The Matrix,' employing cutting-edge 3-D graphics, networking and server technology. The game will combine the best elements of the action-adventure genre and character building/role playing games with the social interaction/community of an ongoing online game. Under the direction of Warner Bros., Monolith Productions and EON Entertainment will design the game using LithTech's Discovery System, a completely new set of tools and technology, including a new 3-D renderer and high-capacity server system, built to accommodate the unique challenges presented in the creation of this type of product. Take-two Interactive has announced the development of Max Payne 2 <biz.yahoo.com There isn't much detail at the moment but the game is projected for a release in 2003. Netscape < has released Preview Release 1 of Netscape 7.0. The new version looks very similar to the current version 6, but the browser is now mostly powered by Mozilla, which means it that it now has greatly improved performance, with loading pages as fast as Internet Explorer. Version 7 uses the best features of Mozilla, including the browser and the e-mail client, and adds tools such as an integrated, full-featured version of AOL Instant Messenger. Go grab the preview release here <http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2354-10113906.html?tag=lst-0-1>," target="_blank">www.netscape.com> has released Preview Release 1 of Netscape 7.0. The new version looks very similar to the current version 6, but the browser is now mostly powered by Mozilla, which means it that it now has greatly improved performance, with loading pages as fast as Internet Explorer. Version 7 uses the best features of Mozilla, including the browser and the e-mail client, and adds tools such as an integrated, full-featured version of AOL Instant Messenger. Go grab the preview release here <http: if you want to give it a go. PCStats have fired up a Firewire vs USB comparo to see which is the fastest most versatile interface for devices. Here's a clip from the shoot-out: FireWire. Like so many innovative Apple technologies, even this product code name exuded a cachet signifying The Next Big Thing. But something happened a few years ago that suppressed the widespread support for FireWire in favour of the much lesser Universal Serial Bus (USB). FireWire has since found its niche in digital video cameras, but with the recent introduction of the new high-speed USB 2.0, many are now wondering aloud if FireWire will survive. Check it out here <www.pcstats.com KaZaA has released version 1.7.0 of their download program with only a couple of new features which are below: Twice the reach Double your search results with a single click. KMD will repeat your search on a whole new set of peers, providing you with up to twice the results for each search. New in 1.7 Visualise It Media Player enhancements include visualisation in Theatre View, improved codec handling and more file formats supported. New in 1.7 Get it here <www.kazaa.com WHATCH FOR THE SPYWARE PEOLE ;-/ For those looking to or have purchased Grand Theft Auto 3, beware there is a problem affecting Windows XP and nVidia based video cards. There is a readme file that comes with the game that lists the problem as such and tells you how to fix it. read more for the solution: Windows XP + nVIDIA based cards (possibly other brands): We have found a possible problem with Windows XP that manifests itself as graphical problems both in the game menu and also during game play. We have traced this problem to be a Windows XP problem. Technically this problem is solved by the use of a newer version of d3d8.dll than is shipped on CD with Windows XP. (The version on the Windows XP CD that has problems is 5.1.26000.0 ? versions tested without error include 5.1.2600.15 and 5.1.2600.29) Currently the only way we know to update this dll file is to install the Windows XP Patch: ?The Computer Cannot Enter Standby or Hibernate if a Direct3D-Based Screen Saver Is Running (Q306676)? downloadable from the following Web Site: Microsoft Q306676 download <download.microsoft.com This update may in the future be available as part of an official Windows XP Service Pack, a Windows XP Compatibility Update, or possibly a DirectX 8.1 update. Grand Theft Auto 3 WinXP FixThe guys over at www.g256.com <www.g256.com> found a Microsoft Patch for issues with GTA III. 'We have found a possible problem with Windows XP that manifests itself as graphical problems both in the game menu and also during game play. We have traced this problem to be a Windows XP problem.' Technically this problem is solved by the use of a newer version of d3d8.dll than is shipped on CD with Windows XP. (The version on the Windows XP CD that has problems is 5.1.26000.0 ? versions tested without error include 5.1.2600.15 and 5.1.2600.29) Currently the only way we know to update this dll file is to install the Windows XP Patch <support.microsoft.com ?The Computer Cannot Enter Standby or Hibernate If a Direct3D-Based Screen Saver Is Running (Q306676)? downloadable from the following Web Site: <download.microsoft.com Here's some handy news on how to repair those scratched CD's. Leaumont.com <www.leaumont> has written up a guide <http: on how you can repair half scratched CDs. Here's a bit: know- you spent $15 to $20 of your hard earned cash on a CD only to scratch it, leaving you with major skip problems. Well, before you go out and blow more dough, I have a relatively easy, safe and inexpensive way that you can repair most CDs, DVDs, CD-Rs and game console disks Intel announced three new chipsets, the i845E, i845G and i845GL. The first chipset one continues on from the i845 B-Step chipset and differs only by the implemented support of the new 533MHz Quad Pumped Bus and a new ICH4 South Bridge supporting USB 2.0 and featuring enhanced AC?97 sound codec. Two other chipsets are totally new and and come with a new integrated graphics core. The i845G does not support external AGP whereas the i845GL does both )(similar to the nForce). You can read more here <www.xbitlabs.com Drive Health version 1.0.5a Beta has been released for download. Drive Help performs the following tasks: Drive Health helps you to estimate your hard disks Life Resource. This tool allows you to predict possible HDD failure and prevent losing the critical data. To estimate hard disk life our program uses special S.M.A.R.T. technology that is supported by the most of hard disk manufacturers. It provides access to the hard disk drives reliability monitoring, and keeps you informed about any potentially dangerous degradations of performance or reliability of your HDDs. The monitoring program uses minimum CPU and memory resources and can be run as a NT service. The beta features the following changes: BUGFIX: Incorrect C2h (Temperature) attribute interpretation in the Meaning column BUGFIX: Frequent flickering of the attributes view window was fixed FEATURE: Added keyboard shortcuts for quick switching between disk drives by using Shift+F1 .. Shift+F12 and for calling the drive's popup menu by pressing Ctrl+F1..Ctrl+F12 CHANGE: After the Reporting Tool is launched the focus now automatically moves to Attributes view window You can download the program here <www.helexis.com A new little addon for IE has been developed called IE Performance Addon 0.0.1 Beta. This addon for IE is used to provide Internet Explorer with a new bar or windows at the bottom of the main explorer window. This second window has a special navigation handling logic where you can load your current Web page into it and and any navigation in this window will be forwarded into main window. You can read more here <www.windowsmax.nl and download the addon Here <mirror1.dotexe.mastak.com Tom's Hardware <www.tomshardware.com> has done up an 11 card GeForce 4 Ti 4400 and 4600 Card comparo <http: to clear the water on the differences in the cards. Here is a cut from the comparo: Probably the single most fast-paced sector within the computer industry is the graphics cards market, especially where high-end products are concerned. It was only just last fall that ATi was able to catch up with NVIDIA's GeForce 3 Ti series thanks to its new RADEON 8500 line, even besting it in some cases. ATi didn't get to enjoy this situation for very long, though. Upon its introduction in the first quarter of this year, the GeForce 4 Ti was able to retake the speed crown for NVIDIA, uncontested. The only card a GeForce 4 Ti needs fear is the home-made competition. At this point it's time for the obligatory warning about the GeForce 4 MX version, which, aside from the name and the misleading '4', has nothing in common with the Ti boards. From a technical viewpoint, these cards are still built on pre-GeForce 3 technology, and it shows in their performance. They lack both pixel and vertex shaders. All in all, it's fair to say that the GeForce 4 MX is nothing more than a modernized GeForce 2 chip with a new memory interface, hardware support for anti aliasing, and a second RAMDAC. Have a read to help get all your facts in order. WinDVD 4 has been updated by Intervideo. The update provides the following changes: Audio Plugin 4.0.5.20 to Audio Plugin 4.0.5.39 Video Plugin 4.0.5.20 to Video Plugin 4.0.5.39 Navigation Filter 4.0.5.20 to Navigation Filter 4.0.5.39 Grab the update here <www.intervideo.com Guru3d have released a new version of the nVidia tweak tool called nVHardPage. the new version is 0.90.1b and it has the following changes: This program serves on enabling/disabling hidden features in nVidia control panel and tweaking nVidia Direct3D & OpenGL settings. Supported OS: WinXP, Win2k, Win9x/Me - only CoolBits & Display orientation at the moment. Supported Drivers: Detonators 21.81 and higher. What's New? Added display adapter info Added vertical sync (D3D) Added full list of Direct3D and OpenGL settings Improved support for Win9x with 22.80 and lower detonators (not tested and without detection) Updated D3D anisotropic level Updated D3D AA settings Fixed ogl_renderqualityflags bug Fixed bug with detection settings under Win9x Fixed W-buffer, 24b-zbuffer, D3D LOD, Fog table and user mipmap settings under Win9x Fixed bug with detection card name under Win9x with onboard graphic card and nVidia card in one PC Some other small fixes Get the new version here <www.guru3d.com Microsoft has posted a guide on How To Change the Windows Logon Screen Saver in XP <support.microsoft.com This step-by-step article describes how to change the default logon screen saver in Microsoft Windows XP. Specifically, the article discusses the following: How to change the type of screen saver that starts, the timeout before the screen saver starts, and whether a screen saver is turned on before the logon process and when you start Windows, you may be presented with the Windows XP welcome screen, which prompts you click your user name to begin, or you may be presented with a Welcome to Windows dialog box that prompts you to press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log on. By default, if you do not press a key for 10 minutes, the Windows logon screen saver (Logon.scr) starts. Read the guide at the link above. Active Network Monitor 1.0 RC1 has been released. Active Network Monitor is a free tool for the day-to-day monitoring of computers on a network. ANM runs under Windows NT/2000/XP. It lets Systems Administrators gather information from every computer on the network. ANM has a flexible, plug-in based architecture that lets you add new modules on demand. Each plug-in performs a task and displays its information in its own window. ANM ships with a predefined, constantly growing list of plug-ins, including plug-ins for monitoring services, devices, installed applications, disks, shared resources, hardware resources (IRQs, I/O, DMA and Memory), users, local groups, global groups and so on. Changes in this version are: Added detailed user manual in the PDF format Added context sensitive help Added 'Tip of the Day' New plug-in - 'Display Information' Fixed bug in the 'View' menu Interface improvements Several bugs in the interface are fixed You can download it here <www.ntutility.com and read more at their homepage here <www.ntutility.com thx to www.ozquake.com	Guest (0)
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