WARP or Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform enables your system, with proper hardware support, to boot even without a graphics card sitting on your AGP or PCIe slot.  The new software tecnology also enables you to run games that require DirectX 9, 10, 10.1 and 11 to run fully accelerated on an aging GPU as WARP will utilize your CPU to render the required features in software mode.

Microsoft demonstrated the capabilities of WARP by running Crysis in 800×600 screen resolution with the lowest quality settings.

WARP will definitely require you to run on multi-core CPUs especially the newest Nehalem Core i7 CPU released by Intel.

Integrated graphics cards may still be 4 to 5 times faster than WARP and so is not a total replacement.

According to Microsoft’s WARP documentation:

When WARP10 is running on the CPU, we are limited compared to a graphics card in a number of ways. The front side bus speed of a CPU is typically around or under 10 GB/s whereas a graphics card often has dedicated memory that is able to take advantage of 20-100 GB/s or more of graphics bandwidth. Graphics hardware also has fixed function units that can perform complex and expensive tasks like texture filtering, format decompression or conversions asynchronously with very little overhead or power cost. Performing these operations on a typical CPU is expensive in terms of both power consumption and performance cost in cycles.

WARP Capabilities:

• Fully supports all Direct3D 10 and 10.1 feature
  • Fully supports all the precision requirements of the Direct3D 10 and 10.1 specification
  • Supports Direct3D 11 when used with FeatureLevel 9_1, 9_2, 9_3, 10_0 and 10_1
  • Supports all optional texture formats, such as multi-sample render targets and sampling from float surfaces.
  • Supports anti-aliased, high quality rendering up to 8x MSAA.
  • Supports anisotropic filtering
  • Supports 32 and 64 bit applications as well as large address aware 32 bit applications.
• The minimum specification for WARP10 is the same as Windows Vista, specifically:
  • Minimum 800MHz CPU.
  • MMX, SSE or SSE2 is *not* required
  • Minimum 512MB of RAM.

Well of course this is not an ideal replacement for your current GPU as WARP might only be good as an emergency replacement for your toasted GPU chip or busted GPU bios due to failed flash. You may, in the mean, time use WARP while waiting for your replacement GPU.

GTA IV was released for the xBox360 and the PS3 only. Now that we’re getting a PC version, SecuROM and a whole load of requirements will come with it. To play the game you will need to install Games For Windows, Adobe Flash, Internet Explorer, SecuROM and Rockstar Games Social Club application.

“We invest a considerable amount of time and effort to release each title, and employ a large number of people in the process. Having copy protection allow us to protect the integrity or our titles and future investments,” Rockstar (GTA IV’s developer) told IGN.

It is a sad day indeed for Original purchasing gamers. They will have to wade through all of these to play a game while pirates will barely be detered.

Eidos has already offended a lot of games media outlets with the Kane and Lynch stunt now they’re trying to manipulate game reviews to sell more copies of the new Tomb Raider game.

We here at Pinoygaming.net find this move from Eidos insulting if not unethical. Pinoygaming.net stands by its integrity. Watch out for our review of Tomb Raider Underworld in a couple of weeks, you may rely on us to be fair in our assessment.

[Manila, 27 August 2008]  – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world’s leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, and I-Play Online Games Incorporated (X-Play) a joint venture of online gaming publisher IP E-Game Ventures Inc. (IP E-Games), and GMA New Media Inc. (GMA-NMI), announce today that X-Play has secured an exclusive license in the Philippines for the operation of the highly anticipated EA SPORTS™ title - NBA STREET Online.

NBA STREET Online is a real-time online mid-session game (MSG) of EA’s phenomenally popular NBA franchise games series, featuring fast-paced street basketball action with today’s biggest NBA superstars, all in true-to-life detail.

Under the licence from EA, X-Play will provide marketing, community management, customer and technical support, and other valuable services as the operator of NBA STREET Online in the Philippines.

“This is a collaboration amongst giants to bring a monumental title to the Philippines. EA, as the top game developer worldwide, and X-Play, the joint venture between IPVG and GMA7, will launch the one of the biggest mid-session gaming titles to ever hit the country. With our large gaming base and mass media vehicles, this killer content will transform the industry,” said Enrique Y. Gonzalez, CEO of IPVG Corp.

“NBA STREET Online brings to the market the online version of a very popular sport enjoyed by millions of Filipino basketball enthusiasts. “Who wouldn’t want to be a Kobe, Lebron, or Melo?  And who wouldn’t want to pit his basketball skills against the next guy—never mind that it’s virtual.  It’s exciting enough that it is EA SPORTS, more so that it’s NBA.  Having already the top casual games in the dance and music genre under its belt, I have no doubt that X-Play will take gaming on to the next level with NBA STREET Online,” remarked Judd Gallares, President and COO of GMA-NMI.

“We are very thrilled and excited to have Philippines on our roadmap for NBA STREET Online. Strategic partnership is the key to success for EA and we are happy to work with one of the best players in the industry to bring this successful franchise to all our Pinoy gamers and basketball fans,” said Jon Niermann, President of EA Asia Pacific.

“NBA STREET Online will allow Filipinos to immerse themselves in the phenomenal basketball franchise and experience what millions of other game players worldwide are enjoying,” Mark Fischer, SVP for NBA-North Asia said.

NBA STREET Online larger-than-life gameplay to the playground and allows up to six gamers to simultaneously compete in an over-the-top 3-on-3 online experience. A star-studded line-up of 120 NBA players perform hyper-real tricks and gravity defying dunks that make basketball fun for everyone. NBA STREET Online blends customization, convenience, and community in a fun to play mid-session game. It features unique online elements that are designed specifically for the multiplayer experience these include matchmaking and individual player customization.

NBA STREET Online is co-developed by EA Canada and Seoul-based Neowiz Games Corporation.

For further information on NBA STREET Online, visit http://info.ea.com

Zhu Xian Online is the next big MMORPG to be published by IP E-Games.  The new online game was developed by Perfect World, the same company that developed Perfect World published by Level Up! Games.

Gamers who still wish to join the CBT may register and go to http://cbt.zxonline.com.ph.  You may download the game at http://www.e-games.com.ph/Content/Downloads/dwl_Downloads.aspx

The Phenom II X4 is a quad-core part initially released for the Socket-AM2+ platform, but eventually it will be a Socket-AM3 part with DDR3 support. The Deneb core is a Phenom II X4 with 8MB of L3 cache and the Propos version has a 2MB cache. Both of these cores have integrated DDR2 memory controllers, with a transition to DDR3 sometime in 2010.

Intel’s Core i7 desktop processor codenamed Nehalem is already released this week with integrated DDR3 memory making it almost twice as fast as the current Phenom processors.  This will be a great challenge for AMD who is now struggling financially due to lower demand for its processors.  Nevertheless AMD has also made available the new Opteron line of processors codenamed Shanghai for server to compete against Intel Xeon.

“We will release one more public update of IE8 in the first quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release,” Dean Hachamovitch, the general manager overseeing IE8, said.

Currently, IE8 is on the 2nd beta since last August and can be downloaded at Microsoft’s website.

Internet Explorer is still holding the majority of browser martket share with 71.27% last october while Mozilla’s Firefox ranks 2nd with 19.8%.

Exciting New Features:

• Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX. Learn more here.
• Enables NVIDIA SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode. Now you can easily switch between multi-monitor desktop mode and full screen 3D gaming mode. Learn more here.
• Enables NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. (Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory. This driver package automatically installs PhysX System Software version 8.10.13).

Blazing Fast Performance:

• Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 180 WHQL drivers vs. Release 178 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
  • Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
  • Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin’s Creed
  • Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
  • Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
  • Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
  • Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
  • Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
  • Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
  • Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
  • Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

And More:

• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology.
• Supports CUDA.
• Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015.
• Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
• Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.
• Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

Download the driver at NVIDIA website

Code-named “Morro,” this streamlined solution will provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Windows first offered free firewall on Windows 95 OSR2 then later bundled Defender on Vista. With Morro, Microsoft expect that its current operating system Windows XP and Vista will be more secured. Microsoft is also planning to bundle Morro with Internet Explorer 8.

Microsoft will discontinue the OneCare subscription service June 30, 2009, but customers will still be able to download updates until their subscriptions end.

If you happen to download one copy of Windows 7 then try the collection of activation keys below to help you extend your use of the new operating system beyond the 30-day trial period.

J7PYM-6X6FJ-QRKYT-TW4KF-BY7H9
D67PP-QBKVV-6FWDJ-4K2XB-D4684
HQDKC-F3P6D-C9YYM-HRB89-QDBB7
76DX2-7YMCQ-K2WCP-672K2-BK44W
2RG93-6XVFJ-RKHQ7-D2RTT-3FMQT
TT63R-8JGWP-WWT97-R6WQC-4CVWY
YQJX6-D6TRM-VWBM7-PHDJK-YPXJH
Q7J7F-GQHBT-Q42RQ-2F8XV-2WKKM
KH4X7-JY8G7-RCD7G-BYDJW-YTPXH
WYBJ8-8QVP3-24R82-VV2VP-72Q9W
9DP2R-W78GJ-GJBKW-CKR46-H3WYT
CXB7F-WWCM4-BP9V3-2YH43-RK8Y6
W9BYV-K2TB8-4YDJT-QBQWP-KFDHB
WGDJW-B8DYC-WVKX4-6MKF4-B8PK8
2PHXF-9PBDW-D3WWY-CPDKD-XG87V

You can also use the old Windows Vista Beta and RC product keys for activating your Windows 7 M3 copy.

Yahoo tried to court Google but critics say that the partnership will result in advertisement monopoly.  Google later left the deal after pressures mounted up.  This left Jerry Yang to call Balmer’s, CEO of Microsoft, attention to convince him once more to buy Yahoo. Unfortunately Microsoft’s decision to drop their bid is final.

What will Yahoo’s future be especially now that the US is in the midst of a financial crisis?  We won’t know for now but one thing must remain - all our yahoo mail of course.

There’s no need to join the Close Beta Test or wait for the official launch of the game as NosTale is already running! All you have to do is download the game, create your account and immerse yourself into the wonderful world that awaits you.

“I’m really excited to introduce Nostale to Philippine players through the partnership with IP e-Games, the biggest gaming company in the country. What pleases me the most is that we can now give Philippine players a chance to meet up with players all over the world in our casual RPG game,” said Kevin Song, CEO of Servex Co., Ltd., publishers of the game’s Global service.

“Our PH gamers can expect great in-game and live events for Nostale. Rest assured that e-Games will take good care and give its full support to the Nostale PH community,” said Sonny Carlos, e-Games Product Manager for Nostale Philippines.

Unlike other games that IP e-Games is offering, NosTale is actually hosted in South Korea and has been running for quite some time now so don’t be surprised to see high level characters in the game. What IP e-Games is giving us is the opportunity to use E-points to buy at NosMall. NosMall is the virtual item mall of Nostale wherein you can purchase premium items such consumables, costumes, and other enhancements.

NosTale is a free-to-play Fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) developed and published by the Korean company, Entwell Co., Ltd. and IP e-Games brought the game here in the Philippines. It was first released in Korea in 2006.

NosTale means “The Tale of Nomads of Silver Spirit”. The game features typical MMORPG elements, such as chatting, questing, training, partying, setting up player shops and contains most of the elements that other MMORPGs have. Some of the features of the game include Manhwa-style art, ability to select occupations after reaching a certain level, and ability to transform into “Specialist” form using cards and points. The tale speaks of the adventurers of the continent of Eastmile.

Characters

NosTale has 3 different characters to play with: Swordsman, Archers and Sorcerers. You will have to start as Adventure first until you gain enough levels to switch to any of the 3 main class.

Swordman
Swordsmen have the highest Health Points (HP) and the lowest MP usage. They are the masters of the sword and strongest in close combat. The advantage for warriors are strong attacks and critical strikes.

Archers
Archers have a balance of HP and MP. Their specialty is using the bow and arrow. Archers’ strength lies in ranged-attacks and tactics such as hit-and-run, but arrows can run out, leaving them to rely on close-combat skills that are inferior to those of the Swordsman. Archers’ have the highest critical hit ratio among all the other classes.

Sorcerers
Sorcerers use magic and avoid physical combat. They have low HP, but a high MP. Their specialty is using a staff and excels in magic. The advantage of this class is that they have the ability to heal themselves using the skill Aura of Healing, but if they run out of MP they are more vulnerable than other classes.

Mini Land

Probably the biggest attraction for NosTale is the Mini Land where you can aquire your own land and decorate it.  You may build your own house, put lamp posts on the sides, plant trees and more that you can imagine. Its like your mini friendster for you to design and invite friends to visit.  Not only that you can design your own land, you can also place mini games for your friends to play and give rewards to the winners. Now this is something that is unique and first in Philippine MMORPG.  Hello Kitty Online to be released by Level Up! Games has the same feature but for now, NosTale wins here.

System Requirement

NosTale is a PC-friendly game meaning you can play the game and not worrying by high system requirements.  If you can play RAN smoothly then you can play NosTale as well.

Recommended System Requirements

• CPU: Pentium or AMD class with 800MHz or higher
• RAM: 512MB of system memory is required.
• Graphics: An old Geforce MX2 with 32MB of memory is enough to play the game
• HDD: A minimum of 1.2GB disk space is required to install the full client.
• OS: Windows 2000, XP and Vista.  Im not sure if you can run the game on Windows 98 but maybe it could still.  No luck for Linux users but you may try your luck at Wine though.

You may visit NosTale’s official website at http://nostale.e-games.com.ph/

ATI CrossFireX™ Enhancements
This release of ATI Catalyst™ enables users to verify whether an application is running in ATI CrossFireX™ mode. The new option found in the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center system tray, will allow users to verify whether a Direct3D or OpenGL application is running in ATI CrossFireX™ mode. (The “ATI Cross-FireX” logo will be shown on screen when the application is running).

HydraVision Support for Windows XP
This release of ATI Catalyst™ introduces HydraVision support for the ATI Catalyst ™ Control Center under Windows XP. HydraVision enables users to more efficiently organize multiple applications across single or multiple displays. Highlights include:

• HydraGrid – A new feature found in HydraVision that divides the Windows desktop into user definable areas. This helps users to more easily move and organize multiple applications.
• HydraVision Hotkeys – The ATI Catalyst™ Control Center Hotkey Manager can assist users to quickly setup and define their HydraVision specific hotkey commands.
• HydraVision Virtual Desktops – Users can configure up to 9 different virtual desktops. This enables users to manage and group multiple applications across each user defined desktop. Application positions, desktop associations and display settings can be saved for every virtual desktop.
• HydraVision Wizard – Using the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center Wizard, users can configure their HyrdaVision settings with ease.

New Display Enhancements
This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for display scaling to resize the display devices that support TV timings (480i/p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p) through either digital (DVI or HDMI) or analog (component) interfaces. Performance Improvements

The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst

• FarCry 2 – performance gains of 3 to 10% for Single card mode and 8 to 14% in Crossfire mode, with some specific configurations showing even greater improvements. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx and Radeon HD3xxx products.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky – performance gains of 6 to 18% in single card settings and 10 to 30% in CrossfireX mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD04xx and Radeon HD3xxx products. Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

• During game play for “Age of Conan”, DirectX 10 may cause the screen to blank Resizing video during playback may intermittently cause desktop video corruption
• Video playback tearing may occur under Windows Vista 32 or XP
• Hardware acceleration is not enabled when playing HD content using Cyberlink
• Catalyst Control Center, Overdrive options missing under Graphics settings
• Some OpenGL content may not align to the Hydravision preset grid
• Catalyst Control Center ‘ShowGrid’ does not display the correct grid settings for the attached displays
• “Gratitude{EF25BC…..}” or HydraGrid.exe executables will be shown under process tab after launching Hydragrid

Download ATI Catalyst 8.11 Video Driver at ATI’s driver downoad page

ALWIL introduces Avast Home Free Edition for users who want to protect their PC but have a limited budget to purchase a full-package antivirus. Avast offers a limited but not crippling set of features to protect your computer, may it be Microsoft Windows or Linux, against almost all known types of malicious codes that’s in the wild today. What’s more exciting is the fact that ALWIL is offering their home edition free of charge for non-commercial use so if your a parents refuse to give you an extra budget for a antivirus then AVAST Antivirus is for you.

Avast antivirus includs limited anti-spyware and anti-rootkit in the free edition making it a winner among other free antivirus solutions.

Spyware is software installed on a computer that is designed to collect information about the computer user, often without their knowledge or consent. This can result in so called identity theft, or theft of valuable information (e.g. bank or credit card details) or proprietary business data. Spyware is often developed by organized crime rings rather than lone individuals and may be installed by a virus.

Of course other standard features include the following:

• Anti-spyware built-in. You will have to avail ofthe professional edition to get the full protection though but if you have Vista then Windows Defender is already sufficient enough.
• Anti-rootkit built-in. Protection against hidden threats
• Strong self-protection. Some viruses may attempt to switch off a computer’s antvirus software. To help keep your protection working, even against the latest threats that may try to disable your security protection, avast! has best-in-class strong self-protection built in, to make sure, no matter what you face, avast! carries on protecting your valuable data and programs
• Antivirus kernel. The latest version of avast! antivirus kernel features outstanding detection abilities, together with high performance. You can expect 100% detection of In-the-Wild viruses (viruses already spreading between users) and excellent detection of Trojan horses.
• Simple User Interface. The appearance of the Simple User Interface is very flexible. It supports so-called skins, allowing users to change the appearance of the application interface.
• Resident protection. avast! Home Edition contains resident protection of the computer file system and a resident module for e-mails and news.
• P2P and IM Shields. Avast features a module for the protection of IM (Instant Messaging, “chat”) programs, and a module for the protection of P2P (peer-to-peer) programs. The list of supported IM and P2P programs is extensive with more than 30 programs currently supported.
• Network Shield.  A good feature if your computer is connected on a network. Best of course if you are maintaining an internet cafe as it blocks viruses that travel through your network.
• Web Shield. Web Shield is a unique feature of avast! that enables it to monitor and filter all HTTP traffic coming from the Web sites on the Internet.
• Automatic updates. The frequency of updating the virus definition determines the amount of protection it could offer. Both the virus database and the program itself can be updated automatically. The updates are incremental, with only new or missing data downloaded: thus reducing the transfer heavily. The typical size of a virus database update are tens of KB; program updates are typically in the hundreds of KB range.
• Virus Chest. The Virus Chest can be thought of as a folder on your disk drive, having special properties that make it a safe, isolated place suitable for storing certain files. You can work with the files in the Chest, though with some security restrictions.
• System integration. Avast can be started directly from windows explorer, screen saver and on boot-time scan..
• Integrated Virus Cleaner. A tool designed for a complete removal of most common infections from already-infected computers. Avast is capable even to reliably heal (not only detect) the most common malware.
• Support for 64-bit Windows. Avast! Home and Professional edition now fully supports the 64-bit Windows platform.
• Internationalization. You may not expect our language to be included here but if you have friend who is a chinese or living outside the Philippines then Avast has a language built-in for them to use.

Download FREE antivirus software - avast! Home Edition

avast! antivirus Home Edition is available free of charge for non-commercial home use ONLY.

Red Alert 3 begins with a not so unique storyline. The Soviets are losing the war with the Allies and in desperation, decide to use their experimental time machine. They go back in time and kill Einstein, when they return, the world is changed. Problem is, without Einstein, there will be no nukes. Without nukes, Japan lives! Yes, The Empire of the Rising sun is a playable faction in RA3.

RA3 plays like any other RTS out there. In fact, it doesnt offer much innovation. What makes it unique is the complete exageration, (parang cartoony na nga minsan eh) of everything from weapons, storyline, graphics and even the acting! On a side note, RA3 doesn’t even need a supercomputer to run. A mid-range PC will do.

RA3 offers a new look apart from the other two Red Alert titles that came before it. It’s bright, has no visible attempt at scaling, and yes, over-the-top. Our verdict, fresh, unique and awesome. It feels like playing a Saturday Night Matine film (Parang B movie yokyokyok - kulang nalang si Lito Lapid nagpapasabog ng kotseng bulok). You know what, that’s what makes it awesome. If that’s not enough, RA3 offers another unique part of the gameplay, the cutscenes. The cast, composed of Holywood types such as Tim Curry and George Tekai (Yes, star trek Mr. Zulu - all your base are belong to us! woot~!), bring color to the game. And the women, oh boy. If anything, you will watch ALL the cutscenes for the ladies. (Drool on pics below)

As cartoony the graphics are, sound is right up there with it. The exageratted screams of horror make you laugh more than scare you. I especially like the electricity sound effect. The music follows RA3 tradition, heavy, compelling, exciting and makes you want to headbang while you play it, oldschool.

RA3 offers nothing new as said. However it improves on what’s already there, no holds barred. Units now have several other tweaks that make them more versatile in combat. Some launch troops, others transform into land from air units and others are just plain GIANT ROBOTS (man I love Japan). It is also interesting to note the enhanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) in this game. Brutal difficulty is, yes you guessed it, exceptionally brutal. If you want a challenge, this is for you.

RA3 does have some balance issues. Some superweapons are more powerful than others. And, there are units, that if mass produced, can become your entire army and no other unit is required. What RA3 lacks in innovation it makes up for with fun on multiplayer. You can go on cooperative mode and have a buddy help you in the campaign, or go head to head on LAN or over the internet. The versatility of the units makes for unexpected and outrageous gameplay. So, there is plenty of replay value.

Graphcis - 8

Sound - 8

Gameplay - 7

Replayability - 9

The live webcast will stream to your browsers starting Nov. 10 until Nov. 14. (Check schedule here:Click po!) The event will feature replays of the most important and exciting events during Level Up! Live 2008 (the country’s biggest game event). They will also have guests to interview including Pinoygaming’s Sir David and Master Diwa.

Zhu Xian Online is a game based on the famous internet novel of the same title. Set in Old China in a time when men could easily weave magic with their will, players can choose to join one of the five clans in Zhu Xian: Heaven Sound Temple, Azure Cloud School, Bonding Bliss School, Ghost King Sect, and Ghost Witchery.

Zhu Xian starts the close beta registration today and they inviting pinoy gamers to test the game and wean out bugs before releasing the game to the public.

You may register a CBT account at http://cbt.zxonline.com.ph