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November 2006



Power of Together - Free Vista or Office 2007

30 November 2006


If you want to obtain a free legal copy of Windows Vista Business or Office Professional 2007 you can do so by registering and participating in three webcasts on the Power of Together Microsoft promotional site. Neowin confirms that Microsoft have contacted them to reassure them that this is indeed a legitimate offer backed by MS. Note that this offer is only open to US residents who are aged 18 and over.



Site Update

30 November 2006


I've almost completed the Neverwinter Nights 2 Tweak Guide, and it should be out within the next few days. I apologize to those who were anticipating a Gothic 3 Tweak Guide as promised earlier, however the game is somewhat buggy and not to my taste, so there will be no guide. Just like anyone else, I'm motivated to write my best guides on topics I personally find interesting. Preparing each guide is a tedious process usually involving 1-2 weeks of solid testing and research, so it's incredibly hard to stay focused if I don't find the subject matter interesting. The time factor is also why I couldn't pump out guides on all the games which have recently come out. I may do one more game guide before the year is out, but I really have to turn my primary focus to starting a Vista guide as soon as possible. While you're waiting, I encourage you to read the Gamer's Graphics & Display Settings Guide as it's one of those guides I'm particularly proud of, and should be of help to all gamers, yet seems to have flown under the radar for a lot of people.



3DMark06 Build 1.1.0 & PCMark05 Build 1.2.0 Released

30 November 2006


A new Build 1.1.0 of the popular graphics benchmarking utility 3DMark06 has been released. You can either download the full version (580MB), or a patch which upgrades previous versions to 1.1.0 (7MB). The new build adds Windows Vista support, fixes several bugs, and upgrades the System Info component. Note also that a new Build 1.2.0 of PCMark05 has also been released, again adding Vista support, fixing a range of issues and upgrading System Info.



Call of Juarez 1.1.0.0 Patch Released

29 November 2006


Techland have released a 1.1.0.0 Patch for Call of Juarez. The patch weighs in at 94MB and contains several important multiplayer-related fixes and features, but no single player fixes. There are no significant changes to the Call of Juarez Tweak Guide.



GRAW Patch 1.35 Released

29 November 2006


Ubisoft have released Patch 1.35 for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. This patch is 273MB, and contains several fixes for multiplayer. There are no significant changes to the GRAW Tweak Guide.



Official Beta 93.81 Forceware Released

29 November 2006


Nvidia have released an Official Beta 93.81 Forceware graphics driver set. The actual changes in these drivers is not clear, and it does not officially add support for GeForce 8800 cards over the existing official 93.71 driver set. I suspect it is a bug fix release, so if you're having problems with 93.71 you may want to try these.



RivaTuner 2.0 RC 16.2 Released

28 November 2006


For those of you with GeForce 8800 graphics cards, you should note that a new version of RivaTuner has been released which now provides support for 8800 series cards. Of course all other RivaTuner users should also upgrade to this version, and both ATI and Nvidia users who've never tried it should give it a go as it's an excellent tweaking/overclocking utility.



Windows Vista Feature Comparisons

26 November 2006


As we get closer to the January 30 release date for Windows Vista, for those of you considering the move to Vista now would be a good time to start getting across what the differences are between the various editions. Two comparison charts may help you do that: Microsoft's Editions Comparison and this VIAArena Comparison Article are both very useful in determining which edition you'll need. Even if you don't use them now, bookmark them for future use. In general the average home user would do well with Vista Home Premium, while power users and those wanting advanced networking, data protection and backup features will want Vista Ultimate.



Battlefield 2142 1.06 Patch Released

25 November 2006


In an effort to address the crash to desktop issue in Titan mode introduced in the 1.05 Patch, EA Games have released Patch 1.06 for Battlefield 2142. The only change in this patch is to address the Titan mode crash, and the patch weighs in at 22MB. It can be installed over any version of BF2142.



Emailing Large Files

24 November 2006


For those of you who want to email large files to others, but can't due to the relatively low size limits of most email providers, the free Pando utility will allow you to do just that. Using this software you can email a file as large as 1GB via any email provider, since all you're effectively sending is a small .pando file which links to the larger file stored on Pando's network for 14 days.



Windows Updates Released

24 November 2006


I notice Microsoft has released several minor updates for various versions of Windows and hardware configurations in the past few days. The updates include a daylight savings fix, an iSCSI Software Initiator update, a CardSpace fix, and a USB 2.0 Laptop battery fix update among others. You can get these through Windows Update, or by going through the list of downloads here. None of them is critical.



Neverwinter Nights 2 Beta 1.03 Patch & Guide Update

23 November 2006


Obisidian have released a Beta 1.03 Patch (58MB) for Neverwinter Nights 2, prior to its general release to the public as a final patch, containing a range of fixes and new features. If you're struggling with issues in NWN2, you should try the patch, particularly since there's a special beta patch uninstaller available as well, allowing you to safely revert back to Version 1.02 if need be.


I have started working on the Neverwinter Nights 2 Tweak Guide, and I hope to complete it soon. I ask for your patience, as this has been a particularly busy period for me. Aside from the general running of this site I've had to prepare or revise several major guides in the last month, and I still have the major Windows Vista Guide to undertake. The NWN2 guide should be out within a week or so.



Firefox & Internet Explorer Vulnerability

23 November 2006


A new vulnerability is being exploited in both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2. The exploit uses a trusted web page to hide code which creates a fake login page, stealing a user's password and login details. The greatest risk is to users who frequent blogs, forums and sites like MySpace with content from a variety of people. Firefox is most at risk, and Mozilla is working on a fix for this issue. Note that the TweakGuides Forums are not susceptible to this vulnerability since HTML and attachment use by members is disabled.



Nero 7 is Vista Ready

23 November 2006


For those of you using or soon to be using Windows Vista, you should note that the latest released version of the popular burning program Nero 7 is Vista Ready.



Battlefield 2142 1.05 Patch Released

22 November 2006


EA Games have released a new patch for Battlefield 2142, bringing the game up to Version 1.05. The patch weighs in at 22MB, contains several important gameplay and bug fixes as detailed in the link above, and is a must-install for all BF2142 players.


Update: This patch introduces a crash to desktop issue at the end of Titan mode rounds. To fix this, you must completely uninstall and delete your BF2142, then reinstall it again and only install the 1.05 Patch - see page 3 of the BF2142 Tweak Guide.


Update 2: The solution above may not work for everyone, so you may simply have to wait for EA to issue a new patch/hotfix.



Office 2007 Test Drive

22 November 2006


If you're interested in giving the upcoming Office 2007 a hands-on trial run, then you can use this Online Test Drive facility. Note that it only runs on Internet Explorer, and you will need to undertake a few steps, but it's relatively quick and easy. If you don't have the patience for that, then check out this Office 2007 Image Gallery instead.



TweakGuides Tweaking Companion 3.3 Released

20 November 2006


I've updated the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion to Version 3.3 to ensure that it remains completely up to date. The changes are not major, and are listed towards the bottom of the TGTC download page - for the most part they involve fixing a range of dead links and updating references and advice for new versions of various applications. I recommend users of the TGTC update to the latest version, and I encourage new users to download and use the guide as it covers every major tip, tweak or troubleshooting advice you could ever ask for.



Sandra XI Released

20 November 2006


SiSoftware have released a new version of the free system information and benchmarking tool Sandra XI. The changes are primarily to improve the user interface, allow users to export and share results, and also provide unofficial Vista support. I recommend all Sandra users upgrade to this version.



Game Testing & Bugs

20 November 2006


Weekends are generally slow for real news, so I thought I'd reflect on something most of us often wonder about during moments of frustration: how do major games come out with such blatant bugs? Don't companies test their games before releasing them? I won't pretend I've found a definitive answer, but I'll point out some interesting facts I ran across which can help shed light on this issue. To start with, the game testing process (formally known as Quality Assurance) is a very tedious and underpaid job, involving playing the same portions of a game over and over again, typically for around $9 - $12 an hour. The testing phase usually starts close to the end of the game development process, at which point major changes are not possible, and testers are often not involved in earlier phases of the project. Furthemore testers are under a great deal of pressure at this point, working very long hours, sometimes around the clock. In some cases a late change in game code may require an entire set of tests to be rerun from scratch - known as regression testing - which is mind-numbingly tedious.


Add to this the fact that a game can still be released to manufacturing with some uncertainty over its quality to meet release deadlines, since the worst that can happen is that early purchasers of the game become defacto unpaid game testers themselves, indeed paying for the privilege of finding and reporting bugs for free. A patch can then be developed and distributed at far lower cost than if the game were to be held back, only to lose potential sales and also cost more in terms of paying actual testers. Given such facts and incentives, and as games become increasingly more complex, is it little wonder then that we're getting games with so many bugs and issues?



PlayStation 3 Released

18 November 2006


Sony has released the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console amidst much hype, as part of the next-gen console wars which began with the XBox 360 and will continue with the Nintendo Wii. The PS3 has several new features of significance, including its multi-core Cell processor, HDMI and built-in Blu-Ray support. These new consoles are worthy machines in their own right, and each generation of consoles is bringing with it revolutionary advancements in technology. Consoles now resemble high-end PCs in graphics capability, and can serve not only as gaming machines, but also as a decent multimedia entertainment center. There is no reason why PCs and consoles should be mutually exclusive; many PC gamers also own consoles, and many console gamers recognize that certain games are not suitable for the console format, and further that a PC is still an indispensable device for undertaking a range of tasks not possible or not easy to do on a console. If I have one concern about console gaming, it is that unfortunately the more closely consoles come to resemble PCs, the more games developers are willing to use the undesirable technique of 'Release, Wait and Patch'.


Update: The Nintendo Wii has now also been released.



CS:S & Source Engine Update

17 November 2006


Valve have released another Steam Update which provides a crash fix for CS:S and also updates the Source Engine to add a new cl_restrict_server_commands variable as well as network startup time and responsiveness improvements. Restart Steam while online to get the updates.



Windows Vista Final on MSDN & Connect

17 November 2006


The final version of Windows Vista is now available to MSDN and Connect subscribers. Microsoft is also providing a free copy of Vista Business or Ultimate to any official Select testers who submitted at least one bug report. This seems a worthwhile reward to those who spent time properly beta testing Vista.



Battlefield 2 1.41 Patch Released

17 November 2006


EA Games have released the 1.41 Patch for Battlefield 2, weighing in at 536MB for the full version, and no sign of an incremental version. The patch contains only one listed change: "Fixed an extremely intermittent server crash bug". I suppose this makes sense as the patch is only a .01 release over the previous 1.4 patch, but is a rather lacklustre effort if that is indeed the only change. Accordingly there are no significant changes to the Battlefield 2 Tweak Guide.



Intel Matrix Storage Manager 6.2.0.2002 Released

16 November 2006


Intel has released Version 6.2.0.2002 of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers. These drivers are recommended for people running RAID hard drive configurations on recent Intel-based motherboards.



Steam Client Update & Hardware Survey

16 November 2006


Valve have released a small Steam Client Update which improves Steam's startup time, so it's worth restarting your Steam client while online to get this update. There is also a new hardware survey which I encourage you to undertake, as it literally only requires 30 seconds of your time since most of it is automated. The survey is useful in allowing Valve and other developers to get a better idea of what the most common PC configurations are, and hence how to better tailor their games to meet our needs.



ATI Catalyst 6.11 Released

16 November 2006


ATI have released the 6.11 Catalysts. The main change in these drivers is the introduction of software CrossFire support for any combination of X1900 and X1950 cards under Windows XP. These drivers also improve performance in Call of Duty 2 as well as a range of bug fixes. I will update my ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide shortly for the changes.



WinZip 11.0 Released

16 November 2006


The popular compression/decompression utility WinZip has been upgraded to WinZip 11.0. While there don't appear to be any dramatic improvements, WinZip 11 now offers thumbnail views of images, automatic compression level selection, improved compression for .WAV files and the ability to open .BZ2 and .RAR files.



Flash Player 9.0.28.0 Released

16 November 2006


Adobe have released an updated Version 9.0.28.0 of Flash Player which resolves a vulnerability present in earlier versions. All users with Flash should upgrade to this version.



Microsoft Patches Released

15 November 2006


Microsoft have released the latest batch of their monthly security patches for Windows. You can get these through Windows Update, or see more details and download them individually from here.



Windows PowerShell

15 November 2006


For advanced users among you who want the ability to do everything in Windows from a command line interface, Microsoft has released the free Windows PowerShell. More details of what it is and what it does are here, but as noted this is mainly for advanced users.



Battlefield Series Accuracy Tweak

13 November 2006


If there's one major complaint I and many others have about Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142, it's the feeling of inaccuracy inherent to most weapons in the game. It seems as though you could literally pump 30 bullets into someone at point-blank range and still miss. While some of this is due to technique, or even simple packet loss, there are a couple of 'new' settings which BF fans have been debating that may help improve accuracy. These are the GSDefaultLatencyCompensation and GSInterpolationTime settings, and having had several requests for me to experiment with, clarify and add these to my guides, I've done just that: see more details under Usersettings.con on Page 7 of my Battlefield 2 Tweak Guide and Battlefield 2142 Tweak Guide.


The bottom line is that they may actually help with accuracy, but you need to understand what they do first because as usual there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Note also that by posting this on the front page, I want every player to be aware of these settings, so that no small group of BF players can have the potential advantage all to themselves.



Battlefield 2 'Hidden Music'

13 November 2006


Yet another little tune some of you may not have heard - Battlefield 2 has a loading theme which is never played during normal gameplay, and I believe was actually intended for the Armored Fury expansion pack. To hear it, go to your \Program Files\EA Games\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2\ directory, open the file Common_client.zip with a utility like WinZip, and find and extract the file load_US_music.ogg. You can now play this music file with a free player which supports the ogg format like WinAmp. It's actually a catchy tune, thanks to Eric Bourduas for pointing this out to me.



Half Life 2: Episode 2 Delayed

12 November 2006


Along with Crysis, Half Life 2: Episode 2 is another much-anticipated game with next-generation (Portal) technology. However just like Crysis, HL2: Episode 2 has now been delayed until April 2007 at the earliest. As with the delay for Crysis, I believe it's a good thing if it means Valve invest more time in tightening up the game before releasing it.



Windows Bluescreen Screensaver

10 November 2006


Indulging in a bit of self-parody, Microsoft have released the Bluescreen Screensaver. Download and copy the .scr file to your \Windows\System32 directory, and then select 'Sysinternals Bluescreen' under Display Properties>Screensaver. You can now generate totally authentic Bluescreens of Death... although some would argue that a screensaver is not really required to accomplish this feat on a regular basis.



Procedural Textures

10 November 2006


Here is an interesting article on Procedural Textures, a technology which may well be the future of how textures are generated and used in games. Essentially textures can look just as good if not better than they do now, but take up a fraction of the size and also become more dynamic throughout a game. To see some examples, check out this screenshot gallery. Furthermore it turns out that the game RoboBlitz we discussed earlier uses procedural textures to reduce the full game to 350MB for PC, and only 50MB for XBox 360. This shows that there are companies out there working on innovative software-based solutions to improve gaming, not just hardware-based solutions which require us spending more money.



Nvidia NTune 5.05.18.00 Released

9 November 2006


Nvidia have released Version 5.05.18.00 of the NTune system information, monitoring and overclocking utility for NForce-based motherboards.



Windows Vista Released to Manufacturing

9 November 2006


Windows Vista has been released to manufacturing which means it is essentially finalized and ready to go out to Microsoft's business partners for fine-tuning device drivers among other things. This also means that Vista's retail release date of 30 January 2007 is pretty much rock solid, so expect to see it on store shelves early next year.



Nvidia Forceware 97.02 for GeForce 8800 Released

9 November 2006


Nvidia have released a new official 97.02 Forceware driver for the GeForce 8800 series. If you have a newly-released GeForce 8800 make sure to install these drivers; other Nvidia graphics card users should not use these as they will not work on non-8800 cards.



Dark Messiah of Might & Magic 1.01 Patch Released

9 November 2006


A Version 1.01 (21.6MB) patch for Dark Messiah of Might & Magic has been released with a large range of fixes. This patch should also be available through Steam shortly. Obviously it is strongly recommended that you apply this patch, however note that some issues remain outstanding and will be fixed in another upcoming patch. I will update the Dark Messiah Tweak Guide shortly.



Microsoft SysInternals Utilities Suite

9 November 2006


Since buying out SysInternals several months ago, there were concerns that the various handy free SysInternals utilities would not remain free. Well fortunately it seems that not only are they each still available for free, Microsoft has also bundled them all together into a single 8MB download (complete with help files) called the SysInternals Suite. This suite includes utilities such as Autoruns and Pagedefrag which I highly recommend and provide further usage details for in the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion.



First Unreal 3.0 Game Released

8 November 2006


The first game to be released on the next-generation Unreal 3.0 Engine is actually a quaint game by the name of RoboBlitz. By itself the game is not necessarily exceptional, rather its significance is that it gives a good glimpse as to the types of system requirements Unreal 3.0 games will need. For example the recommended specifications for the game - the best indication of the hardware needed for the game to be genuinely playable - are a P4 3.2EE or X2 3800+ combined with a GeForce 7800 or ATI X1800 graphics card. There's a 350MB demo of the game available via Steam for you to try and see if your system can handle the basics of Unreal 3.0. No doubt the much-anticipated Unreal Tournament 2007 will harness Unreal 3.0's features in a more impressive (and perhaps more strenuous) fashion than RoboBlitz, but at least for those looking to upgrade and future-proof for upcoming next-gen titles, RoboBlitz serves a valuable purpose.


Update: My thoughts, screenshots and movies of the game are here.



VirtualDub 1.7.0 Released

8 November 2006


VirtualDub, the excellent free video capture/processing utility has had a new 'experimental' Version 1.7.0 released. It adds several new features including smart rendering and smooth filtering, and now also works properly under Windows Vista. VirtualDub can be tricky to use for first-timers, so make sure to check out its documentation.



.NET Framework 3.0 Released

8 November 2006


Microsoft has released the final version of .NET Framework 3.0. It is already part of Windows Vista by default, so this version is for Windows XP and 2003 users. It should be backward compatible with all applications created for previous .NET versions, and as such is worth installing, but is not a vital update yet as most .NET apps still work with .NET 2.0. Note that .NET 3.0 adds a new background Service/feature called Windows CardSpace. This service can be safely disabled unless you require its specific functionality - most people won't.



Office 2007 Trial Download

7 November 2006


Microsoft has put up a special Office 2007 Trial Products page which will allow people to try out various Office 2007 versions for up to 60 days. More details are in the Trial FAQ. The trial is not yet live, but looks to be activated shortly.


Update: It appears the trial will actually start at the beginning of December.



Site Update

7 November 2006


Having knocked off two new guides and a major guide revision in the last few weeks, I'm ready to do one more game tweak guide in the next couple of weeks. While people have been emailing me regularly asking for guides for a range of games, you need to bear in mind that I can't work miracles if the game's engine isn't designed for tweaking. I'll choose the next game carefully based on a combination of its popularity and tweakability. After that I still have to do a routine revision of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion to bring it fully up to date with recent developments. Of course one of the more daunting challenges facing me right now is to try to really get to know Windows Vista as quickly as possible. It sounds easy in some ways, but because I still have to keep well across Windows XP developments, and for the purposes of testing and tweaking games, I can't use Vista as my daily OS. This has put me at a bit of a disadvantage - I'm someone who deals with software on an intuitive level; I have to use it frequently to really get a feel for how it works, to sus out all the nuances and efficiencies. I'll try to do just that after these latest guides are completed.


On a general note, TweakGuides continues to experience an increase in its readership and popularity. To those who are relatively new to the site, I welcome you. If you're wondering how such a humble-looking site gets so much traffic, I dare say it's because we try very hard to be an island of reality in a sea of hype and bias.



Critical Windows Vulnerability

5 November 2006


A new critical Windows vulnerability has been discovered which affects all versions of Windows except Windows 2003. Some websites are already taking advantage of this vulnerability, so until it is patched, the best advice is for people to avoid visiting untrusted websites and regularly scan their PCs for malware.



Crysis Delayed

4 November 2006


The much-anticipated next-generation DirectX 10 game Crysis has been delayed until at least April 2007. The reason for the delay is not clear, however in my opinion this is actually a good thing. Firstly it allows consumers some more time to see how the competing ATI & Nvidia DirectX 10 graphics cards will pan out; and more importantly, it is definitely far better for us that Crytek finishes this game properly before releasing it, rather than rushing it to the stores only to put out patch after patch to fix its flaws. From what we've seen so far, this game will definitely be worth the wait.



Wikipedia Used to Spread Malware

4 November 2006


It appears hackers have used the ability for anyone to edit a Wikipedia article, along with its archival features to spread malware. Wikipedia have addressed the issue now, but if you visited Wikipedia recently specifically to download a falsely-touted patch for the Lovesan/W32.Blaster worm, you may have picked up malware so scan your machine thoroughly; Wikipedia does not host or distribute any patches. This development shows both the pitfalls of openly editable Wikis, and also demonstrates the ever-increasing cunningness of malware distributors.



ATI Catalysts for Vista RC2 Released

4 November 2006


ATI have released new Catalysts for Vista RC2 graphics drivers. The drivers work only on Vista RC2 or RTM, and support all graphics cards from the Radeon 9500 upwards.



Microsoft Releases Zune Theme for XP

3 November 2006


Microsoft has released a free modified version of a Vista-like XP theme in honor of their new Zune media player. To get the theme click the link at the bottom of the Zune Site. It requires no modifications to your system to use since it's an official XP theme, just download it and run the installer. A screenshot of it is here.


Update: Go here if you want the original version of this theme without the orange Start button.



Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Tweak Guide

3 November 2006


I've prepared the Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Tweak Guide to help people resolve their issues with this game and to get it to a playable state as quickly as possible. There are several differences between the way the Source engine works in Dark Messiah and other Source games, so I've retested all the commands originally found in my Half Life 2 Tweak Guide, added several important new ones unique to Dark Messiah, refined descriptions to be clearer, and grouped together at least a dozen commands which can help reduce stutter. Also included are a range of specific troubleshooting tips for known bugs, and of course details of all the in-game settings and what they actually do in terms of performance and visual quality. Give the guide a go and see if it can help you.



Official Nvidia 93.71 Forceware Drivers Released

3 November 2006


Nvidia have released the official 93.71 Forceware graphics drivers. This release resolves a range of issues and is recommended for all Nvidia users. There are no significant changes to the Nvidia Forceware Tweak Guide.



Windows Vista Licensing Conditions Changed

3 November 2006


In a very satisfying turn of events, Microsoft has explicitly changed the Vista License to cater to PC enthusiasts' concerns. In regards to the transfer of Vista it now simply says "You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices." This should now mean that as long as you keep Vista on one machine at any time, you can upgrade your machine as often as you like and/or transfer Vista to a new machine without having to purchase a new license. Kudos to Microsoft for listening to the enthusiast community!



Microsoft Partnership with Novell to Boost Linux

3 November 2006


Microsoft is entering into a partnership with Novell to support their Suse Linux product. The motivation behind this unusual partnership - given Microsoft's long-time battle with Linux - could be to squeeze out Red Hat Inc., a major provider of Linux. In any case it indicates that MS is not ignoring Linux users, and the move should benefit users of Linux.



Valve Adding Multi-threading to Source Engine

3 November 2006


This article details Valve's plans to incorporate multi-threading into the Source engine, used in games such as Half Life 2, CounterStrike: Source and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic to name a few. It's anticipated that the Source multi-threading update will be available prior to the release of Half Life 2: Episode 2 early next year.



Google Earth 4 Beta Released

3 November 2006


Google have released a new Google Earth 4 Beta, with new features as detailed here, including a new user interface, faster 3D performance and icon changes.



Windows Vista Official Release Date

2 November 2006


Microsoft has set the official release date for Windows Vista (and Office 2007): November 30 2006 for business customers, and January 30 2007 for general consumers.



Outlook Junk Mail Reporting Tool

2 November 2006


Microsoft has released a new Junk Email Reporting Tool for Outlook 2003/2007 users. By reporting junk email to Microsoft it will help refine the effectiveness of their junk email filtering technology.



Realtek AC97 Driver Version 3.94 Released

2 November 2006


Realtek have released a new Version 3.94 of the AC97 audio driver used for most onboard audio chipsets.


Update: At the moment only the executable version has been updated, the .zip version is still downloading as 3.93, so use the download links at the top of the page linked above.



The Ship - Free This Weekend

1 November 2006


The quirky and interesting online game 'The Ship' will be available to download and play for free this weekend via Steam. If you're tired of the usual gaming genres, this is worth checking out first hand as it has received some very good reviews.



ATI Catalyst 6.10 Drivers Released

1 November 2006


ATI have released the 6.10 Catalyst graphics drivers. These drivers now support X1650, X1950XTX and X1300XT cards, and importantly they now incorporate the 'Chuck Patch' functionality without the need for a separate driver - that is they natively support HDR + Antialiasing in games like Oblivion on X1000 series cards. These drivers are recommended for all ATI 9500 series graphics card owners and above; those with older cards should stick with the 6.5 Catalysts as recommended by ATI. I will update my ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide shortly.



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