Official Total PC Gaming News

Warhammer Online Open Beta Date Announced

Ben Biggs — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:55:48 +0000

GOA, EA and Mythic Studios have announced that the open beta for Warhammer Online: Age OF Reckoning will begin on 7 September. Fans of the highly anticipated MMO will be able to enter the European open beta by pre-ordering WAR and going to the GOA account centre or visiting the EA Store to sign up for a limited number of spots. GOA also announced on the official forum that they have lifted the NDA for all players in the current closed beta phase of Warhammer Online. The game will be released nearly two weeks after the open beta commences, on 18 September.

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Nvidia and ATI price fixing, discovered during class certification hearing

James Pikover — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:21:39 +0000

In a normal class certification hearing, the plaintiffs revealed an email between Nvidia senior VP of marketing, Dan Vivoli, and ATI’s president and COO, Dave Orton, which points to inflated prices and collusion. It reads: “I really think we should work harder together on the marketing front. As you and I have talked about, even though we are competitors, we have the common goal of making our category a well positioned, respected playing field. $5 and $8 stocks are a result of no respect.”
While Nvidia’s supremacy has been clear over the last year, this email-gone-public is a huge blow to both videocard companies. Presiding judge Aslup stated the class certification will be further investigated.
Learn more here

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VoodooPC merging with HP’s consumer PC development team

James Pikover — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:15:33 +0000

VoodooPC, longtime hardcore gaming company renowned for high-end desktops and laptops was recently shifted by parent company HP into a more refined role. The Envy 133 laptop is thinner than the Apple Airbook at its thickest point and is meant to be elegant yet powerful, and has a wide range of features to support it. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Omen is a powerful to the point of absurdity.
The radical change from simply a gaming PC manufacturer to a mixture of super-hardcore desktops and expensively capable laptops was remarkable at the time, but understandable. Compared to its competition, VoodooPC was not performing well enough. Yet merging it with HP’s current consumer PC unit seems to be the end of VoodooPC as it were, and a reintroduction to HP’s gaming PC besides the Blackbird 002.
Read the whole story here

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GTA IV PC confirmed release date

Ben Biggs — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:59:59 +0000

The PC version of GTA IV will hit the retailers’ shelves on 18 November in the US and 21 November in the UK: That’s official, it’s surprising and the date is around six months sooner than we expected. According to Rockstar founder Sam Houser, ‘The game looks and plays beautifully on the PC.’ We’re also promised a newly expanded multiplayer mode exclusive to the PC, but Rockstar hasn’t elaborated on that.

As if we weren’t banking on cramming enough into that particular issue of Total PC Gaming - yay!

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Gateway ends online PC customization

James Pikover — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:55:29 +0000

One of the later adopters to gaming PC’s, Gateway has ended its brief run of customisable PC’s, gaming and otherwise. One of the first PC manufacturer’s to use online customisation, Gateway’s recent purchase by Acer, who relies heavily on selling products through resellers, will now only offer their designed platforms and will not allow for customisation.
While most users will not have a problem with this, gaming aficionados interested in Gateway’s machines may be unsatisfied with the parts given. Even the higher-end FX541XT uses the 8800GT in SLI, and there is no option to upgrade to a 9000 series card.

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More New Diablo 3 Art

Ben Biggs — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:36:30 +0000

Blizzard has released another new batch of concept art for Diablo III. We’ve been treated to a relatively large number of screens and art for its long-awaited action RPG already, so we feel it’s safe to assume this will be the trend leading up to the release next year. You won’t find us complaining. Check out the website here.

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Tom Clancy’s HAWX now due in 2009

Russell Barnes — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:04:38 +0000

Ubisoft has revised the release date of their forthcoming arcade flight sim - it’s now set to arrive at the beginning of next year. With ‘real’ planes including the F-22, Eurofighter, MIG-29, Su-37 and F-16 we’re keen to see quite how this dog-fighting combat game is going to stack up. Do you really want it or should arcade-style shooters stay in the console domain? Get on our forum at www.totalpcgaming.com/forum and let us know!
“The setting is 2012. As the era of the nation-state draws quickly to a close, the rules of warfare evolve even more rapidly. More and more nations become increasingly dependent on Private Military Companies (PMCs) – elite mercenaries with a lax view of the law. The Reykjavik Accords further legitimize their existence by authorizing their right to serve in every aspect of military operations. There goes the neighbourhood”

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The Witcher Enhanced Edition coming soon

Ben Biggs — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:36:06 +0000

Publisher Atari has announced plans to re-release last years rather good RPG The Witcher with all sorts of enhancements. Whilst this probably won’t do much to attract those who have already bought and completed the game, it might attract some who were put off by a few of the game’s flaws last time around.
“The Witcher: Enhanced Edition brings the game even closer to perfection with a number of technical and visual improvements jammed into the value-packed retail box. The enhancements introduced in this version include more than 5000 lines of re-written and re-recorded dialogue, more than 200 new dialogue animations, a new character differentiation system for NPCs, an enhanced inventory with improved alchemy, reduced loading times, improved combat responsiveness and much more.” Read more on the official website.

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GTX 280 and 260 prices being reduced

Ian Jackson — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:33:21 +0000

  NVIDIA’s new video cards are set to receive a much-needed price drop in order to compete more effectively with AMD’s 4800 series. As we reported last week, the G200 cards were not selling as quickly as anticipated for a new GeForce release. Whilst this might attract new buyers, we can’t help but feel sorry for those who just shelled out up to £400 for their 280 only to see its price plummet by as much as £100!

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Intel Montevina turns into Centrino 2

Ian Jackson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:25:49 +0000

Intel has now officially launched its Montevina platform which is set to make up the Centrino 2 architecture for high spec notebooks. Centrino branding has been a real hit for Intel, though with the new graphics subset scoring a ‘rip roaring’ 3DMark score of just 429, you will still want to make sure the words GeForce or Radeon are in your gaming notebook’s spec.
“In San Francisco on July 14, the Intel Montevina project morphed into the Intel® Centrino® 2 platform. Beyond jacking up performance and improving battery life, this beauty spread its wireless wings with the latest in Wireless-N (Draft-N) technology.”
Read more here

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