About 2 years ago i was criticizing the game industri for their use of really bad copy protection.

But maybe I was looking at it the wrong way - although I'm still against crappy 'protection software' like Starforce, which renders a few games (notably Ubisoft titles) almost unusable on my 64-bit OS, unless I use the very cracks I'm against.

Because the problem is, that way too many people still download illegal copies of games. I remember the early days, when I played a few 'copied' games for fun and because I didn't knew better, but piracy has become a big threat for the whole gaming industry, forcing developers to either drop the PC platform or go multiplatform (which usually means less-than-optimal PC ports). Crytek being one of the very pro-pc developers to drop the games exclusively for the PC.

And I don't want to hear any excuses - there are none. If people can't afford to play videogames, then they shouldn't (and probably spent more time on their career). Alternatively they can save money for the games they really want.

If people have the money, they really have no excuses whatsoever, and can be compared to leeches sucking the creativity out of the developers.

Typically I hear comments like:

"I really like the game, and will buy it later"

- but they probably won't, because they already 'have' the game, and already saved the money

"Software companies make crappy games, and I will only pay for the really good ones"

- But they have no problem playing the 'bad' ones for free? Chances are, when they finally find a 'good' PC game, they'll make a snap judgement call in order to save the money. Furthermore, the money they saved by downloading the illegal game will be taken from the development of new games, generally lowering the quality.

"I don't care about the business, I just wanna play"

- Yeah, but playing any game at any time, and finding just a little value in that, they do care. They just don't wan't to pay, because they're cheap and have no respect for other peoples work. Taking the easy road in this case hurts the business = the games.

"PC games are way too buggy"

- And by not buying the game, you make sure that the Quality Assurance period of a game is cut short, effectively slipping more bugs into the final release.

And I don't want to explain all the disadvantages of illegal copies. But in short - patches, online play and support are all affected negatively when playing the illegal copies.

Crysis, though not the best PC game of all time, is still a great game and a milestone in PC graphics, only sold about 1 mill. copies. Compared to the amount of PCs on the market, even only counting the game specc'ed ones, and the amount of gamers who has already played the game, I'll say 1 mill. is an incredibly low number. Crytek will of course get their investment back, but only barely. No wonder they are planning to go multiplatform, which means the number of custom PC games will be even lower.

Thank the pirates. They really help destroying the PC games industry, and forces the developers to run to the greener fields (= consoles).

Ok. Let me start off by saying, that the recent disappointment in AMD has recided somewhat. I still stand by my initial impressions of the Phenom CPU, but AMD/ATI has made one of the best deals in GPU history since then - the HD3870x2.

The HD3870x2 is basically two HD3870 in one card, which most of you probably know. The resulting product is a FPS king, considering the relatively low price, and in the best case scenarios, the card actually doubles the FPS - as someone might expect. It is nowhere as fast a card as the 9800GX2 card from Nvidia (under most circumstances, anyway), but its also about half the price of Nvidias latest flagship SLI-on-a-card offering.

Naturally there are titles out there which shows less than spectacular results, like Crysis and Dirt. Other titles like Serious Sam II, FEAR, Oblivion (etc.) does have the expected performance, though, and given ATIs driver track record we'll probably see more performance increases in the coming months.

There seems to be very different experiences with drivers from ATI and Nvidia, when you look at the different discussions on the net. Most seem to agree that Nvidia has the best drivers. Thats not my experience, though. ATI seems to have more stable drivers, and a better driver program, which basically means you have new and updated WHQL drivers each month. Though Nvidia claims thay have a similar program, they seem to fail to deliver. And yes, I've recently had a Geforce 8800 Ultra. Of course, others might have a different experience, but my overall decision is to stick with AMD/ATI for awhile and see what happens.

Heres a few benchmark results to get started

System:

• ASUS P5N-E SLI
• C2D 6420@3.2 Ghz
• 4 GB RAM (PC6400@stock speed)
• Various GPUs
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Serious Sam II (Max settings, High AA, 16xAF, HDR on)

• Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB SLI: SG: 99,7/GD: 103,8/BC: 139, fps
• HD3870x2: SG: 146,9/GD: 113,3/BC: 162,7 fps

3Dmark03

• Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB SLI: 51210 3dmarks
• HD3870x2: 58820 3dmarks

3Dmark06

• Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB SLI: 12920 3dmarks
• HD3870x2: 13258 3dmarks

More testing later.

So. This seems to be the season of broken promises, failures and high expectations.

First, whatever happened to DX10?

All games using "DX10 features" (mind you, DX10 was mainly about streamlining and futureproof the DX API) seem to run painfully slow, and/or have insignificant visual improvements compared to the DX9 graphics.

What happened? Developers seem to rally against the new DX API, as it is exclusively for windows Vista (and gamers are generally holding on to the aging XP) - furthermore, the few developers utilizing the new DX seem to do it wrong. Instead of using the streamlined API to make DX9 run faster, they try to use DX10 'features', as improved smoke and lighting effects, on a generation of GPUs not capable of running these effects (which only give almost insignificant improvements visually) - the results are games, that runs somewhere between 10%-60% slower in DX10 compared to DX9.

I somehow feel that the driver development for DX10 by Nvidia and ATI has been a half-hearted attempt as well. Combined these factors result in a mediocre API. The good news is, that the DX9 performance in Vista has been improved significantly lately, which gives Vista owners almost XP-like performance.

Still, DX10 is almost broken.I play games like Hellgate: London and CoH in DX9 and forego the DX10 features for now. Maybe in a year or two, things will change.

Phenom - AMD hype nothing but a dud

I was half expecting to drop everything I had in my hands and order a Phenom upon its release. As it turns out, I'm glad I waited for the reviews - and sad that AMD not only failed to design a C2D killer - but also failed to live up to their own hype.

All their 'real quad-core', '40% faster than the competition' marketing BS seems to blow up in their own face as the first reviews fails to see anything but a mid-end quadcore CPU struggling to fend of the aging Yorkfield and Conroe CPUs.

Considering the time it took AMD to get here, the R&D investments and the recent failures with ATIs HD 2900 XT (fortunately the new HD 38xx series seem to be a better price/performance part than the original HD 2xxx series) one begins to seriously doubt AMDs future. I've always been a huge fan of the AMD CPUs - had AMD been honest about the Phenom CPUs, and the performance we could expect from them, I might not be as dissapointed. As it is, though, AMDs credibility is at a all-time low. If AMD can survive a year more, we might see better CPUs (and a motherboard without the lackluster SB600) - because Phenom actually has a lot of great ideas, if we look at it as a platform (Spider) - but a promising platform with an unimpressive CPU is still nothing more than a sub-par offer, 'till AMD has higher performing CPUs. It seems like the days of the Athlon 64 design marvels is definitely over, and the old CPU developer has fallen back to its old niche.

Which is dissapointing considering the potential AMD had a few years back. And for us, as the consumers, this might a blow, as Intel will soon be able to either raise the prices for their enthusiast CPUs, or lower them to crush AMD economically.

Whatever path they choose, we will lose. The competition between AMD and Intel has always been great for the consumers, but I have a hard time seeing AMD gaining significant income with their new CPU line, and AMDs wallets has been empty for some time, so maybe this is the end of the line? Or has AMD something hidden in their sleeves? I doubt it, as the release seem somewhat desperate, (2.2 and 2.3 Ghz launch CPUs? A mighty Ghz below expectations if you ask me) - and AMD has to deliver. It will not get the benefit of the doubt this time. They've driven the expectations to a high level on beforehand, and as it is, AMD have no enthusiast CPU to show. Only buggy mid-end CPUs.

So here I sit. The E6420 Intel system I bought a few months ago seem to be a better buy for each day that passes. The 2.1 Ghz CPU runs daily @ 3.2 Ghz, no performance or stability issues whatsoever. A great gaming system.

Still, I wish that I could get a high performing AMD system again, as back in the golden Athlon 64 days. When you could almost smell the sweat of Intels CPU designers working hard to fight off the AMD 'whelps'. But alas, I guess these days are over.

Just for fun, I want to share with you a list over the games, I've enjoyed - starting with some of the classic games.

1. The Bard's Tale I (C64, PC DOS)

In the beginning, there were pixels. There were quite few of them, but somehow they knew how to stack. This particular formation of colorless pixels is called the Bards Tale - and back in '86 - it was one of those games that made me reconsider my life, and become a CRPG junkie.

For its time, it had a fairly complex character creation system, and the combat was thrilling. Any oldschool CRPG gamer should agree - this is a masterpiece. My primary memories from this game includes handwritten maps, notes for spell shortcuts and save game problems, making me start over again and again.

And if you want to try the game again, and have the original DOS game, then you can use the great DOSbox program - which even works in 64-bit OS's as well.

2. Elite (C64)

Anyone remember were the rank of 'Mostly Harmless' originally came from? This game. David Braben's masterpiece for the old C64 was one of the first 3D vector games I've tried. Combine that with the thrilling task of saving games on the old tapedeck, and you've got one revolution right there.. Save games.

It had a vast universe - somewhere around 5000 systems, as far as I recall, and a trade system ahead of its time. Travelling was never too easy, considering the amount of pirates around, so upgrading your ship was essential. Upgrading things was quite rare at the time as well... In short, this game is the basic inspiration for a wealth of space 'simulators', like the X series, Privateer and EVE Online, to mention a few

UFO: Enemy Unknown (PC DOS)

Also known as UFO; Defense in America. This game is perhaps the mother of all turnbased squad strategy games. Not only did the game have a thrilling, turnbased, strategy element, it also had base building, ufo interception and research as some of the key elements. In 1993, this was a revolution.

Of course no roses are without thorns, and this game had some very specific thorns. As the Alien AI - sometimes the last remaining alien would hide himself somewhere deep in the operation area. You could spend half or whole hours just looking for the last one ('Gotta Catch 'em All!) - the mission didn't end untill every last Alien was unconscious or killed, so basically you had to brace yourself with patience before playing the missions. But hey - this was 1993, and we were impressed anyway.

The game has inspired a wealth of turnbased and RTS games, but Cenega made some updated games based on the series 2003-2006, Afterlight arguably being the best of them. If you come across a game called UFO: Extraterrestials, I would advice you continue walking, unless you really want to play a game that feels like 1993.

Diablo I & II (PC)

Its 1996. The game world was set afire, as the first Diablo game entered the arena. This was one of the first action roleplaying games, and definately the most succesfull series. This was long before WOW, and only a year after the highly appraised Warcraft II.

Diablo featured 'paperdoll' inventory, RPG stats and repetive, addiciting, combat. The constant search for better equipment and more experience was the main reason to make a successor, Diablo II, which in turn became the, to date, best action RPG available. Anyone familiar with Diablo II knows, that this game never becomes too old. It may lay dormant for a while on the shelf - but it will return to your Harddisk.

This was the first 4 games. Follow this blog to see more exciting old and new games from within my collection, or just from my memory's recollection

Here's a quick blog post:

Get rid of the 32 bit OS.

If you buy Vista, buy the 64 bit version. I don't want to hear you complain about the lack of decent drivers. 32-bit OS'es restricts the user from using more than 2GB to a single program, and the OS can't handle more than 3 GB ram. It's a chicken and egg scenario, the more people that upgrades their OS'es to 64 bit, the better the drivers will get.

With the future RAM requirements (and the evolvingforces of development in the IT business) in mind, its time us hardware and gaming freaks spreads the word, and make sure that new computers we buy to our friends and family are 64-bit proof, so we won't be limited to the restricted world of 32-bit software

Starting on Bioshock has made me aware of a few problems with the games industri in general.

The aesthetic beauty of Rapture reminds me of where the 'art' in art direction comes from, as well as the fluid game mechanics. I wouldn't call the gameplay revolutionary, as it builds on well-establishedFPS genre mechanics,as well as the game mechanics of its spiritual predecessors. But the combination is truly awe-inspiring.

But to me Bioshock is more than a game - its a very big arrowhead for the direction in which more gamesshould be heading. To make a great game, more than financial analysis is needed; in fact, to make a great game financial analysis should be avoided in the development process.

Heart, vision and ideas - thats the cornerstones of a great game - and looking at EA, these cornerstones are blatantly missing in their franchise. Recently I bought Tiger Woods PGA 07 edition, and to be frank, no real differences from the 05 version could be found. Even the graphics were the same, with the exception of some really badly implemented depth-of-field and blur filters. Not even normal mapping - a rather common feature in most recent games - could be seen. The gameplay was roughly the same, except from a long(er) career mode. Even the NFS series has become a far cry from the roadblasting former self, hopefully this will change in its next iteration, but then again - thats just it... EA lacks the will and courage to make new, groundbreaking, riscy, intellectual property. No, financial analysis and market research rules in that software house.

But with thesucces of Bioshock, hopefully some developers will aim just a little higher - we have seen tons of WWII RTS, FPS and turnbased games. Modern tactical shooters like GRAW,SWAT and others are fairly common as well. Weare almost flooded with MMORP games at the moment - all based onnearly the same principles. It would benice ifsomeone stopped once in a while, and said "I had this far out dream last night, but it was strangely compelling. I wonder if...."Those kind of sentencescan turn intogreat ideas- while others like "Last game was a great success.Lets tweak a few game mechanicsand upgrade the graphicsengine, and throw in some more maps..." turns out to be games likeGRAW2, NFS: Carbon and Serious Sam II.. to name a few.

Lets not forget that we, as customers, are partly to blame. We still buy the same **** as we did yesteryear. A lot of positive things can be said about the joy of recognition, but sometimes we are just supporting a gaming industri thats more industri than gaming. Let us help friends, nephews, daughters, family, dogs etc. and stop them before they buy mediocre movie licensed games like Cars, Pirates of the caribbean or shrek. Every time they buy these games, they support the light-headed development of fun-for-10 minutes types of games, no real gamer would ever appreciate - or even the potential buyers, if they knew more about some of the other games on the market.

Lastly, I will congratulate Irrational Games (now 2K Boston) for their effort. Bioshock may not be a perfect game, but it has a lot of those qualities, I sometimes feel are lost in games. There are definitely other great games that spring to mind (Oblivion, The Movies, Mafia to name a few), but looking at the shelves at the local games shops, isn't really encouraging. There are still too many genre 'copycats', andinsignificant brush-ups tothe 8-12 month long development cycle games.