To get things started I will be benchmarking my latest purchase, the EVGA GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked 4GB. In future parts I will add benchmark results including the popular GeForce GTX 560ti as well as some more mid to lower range hardware, and possibly even some mobile computing results. At any rate, let’s get it started with the Battlefield 3 EVGA GTX 670 Superclocked 4GB performance benchmark.

Test Case
Measure the minimum, average, and maximum frames-per-second during 10 consecutive minutes of 64-Player Azadi Palace Conquest with various in-game video presets.

Benchmarking Tools
Fraps (Single User Paid License Version v3.5.6)

And there you have it. Note that each test was performed using the preset video configurations provided in-game under the video settings. IE., Ultra, High, Medium, etc. with a FOV of 90. I have also included a screenshot of my Battlefield 3 settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel. Basically, the only things modified are maximum pre-rendered frames to 1, single monitor performance (I only use one) and power management mode is set to prefer maximum performance. I’ve found that these settings work best across the board for my machine when it comes to Battlefield 3.

So that’s it for the EVGA GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked 4GB Battlefield 3 performance benchmark. I’ll be back later to post my benchmark results for the GTX 560ti and more. You can find more information on the GTX 670 by visiting EVGA’s official product page here.

What hardware do you play Battlefield 3 with?

Character Creation
The GW2 character creation options are just plain good. Now, some may say that it’s too limited in comparison to other MMO’s like City of Heroes or even Age of Conan. But I think ArenaNet did a great job for one simple reason; the options are vast enough to make your character look unique, but simple enough that you don’t get lost in a barrage of sliders. There’s tons of options here, especially if you look through all of the features available within each appearance attribute. Skin color, accessory color, chin and eye shape and size, etc. – it’s all there. I even managed to create a virtual Cullen Bohannon from AMC’s Hell on Wheels television show in a matter of minutes.

Graphics
This is one area where ArenaNet did a fantastic job in the original Guild Wars and has really hit a homerun in Guild Wars 2. Environments are lush, the color palette is vibrant, and this game boasts the best looking water I’ve seen in any MMO to date. Character models and objects are very detailed and with the stylized art style the game is able to look beautiful while running on a variety of hardware. Like it’s predecessor, some folks may not prefer the eastern influenced art style, but for me, ArenaNet mixed just enough western style into the pot to create the perfect stew. Plus, the game runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second in PVE zones, and only begins to slow down in extremely populated scenarios like WvW sieges. But even in those extreme scenarios I was still able to pull 30+ frames per second on maximum graphics settings (less ubersampling – using native instead). Though, I do realize my experience isn’t typical as my machine is well above the recommended specifications. That said, I do believe this is a very good sign of good things to come. If players like me are able to pull of this kind of performance at launch, it’s only going to get better in time as ArenaNet optimizes their server infrastructure and new graphics drivers are released.

PVE
In the 30 odd levels I’ve played so far I’ve yet to tire of the PVE system. Differentiated by a main story line that you are always following (not completely unlike GW1), combined with “help the world” quests you run into as you go, the fundamentals of the GW2 PVE system are familiar, but the execution is something completely different. In most MMO’s, both new and old, you look for the giant question mark (or exclamation point) wearing NPC’s, talk to them, and get a new quest in your little black quest book. Then, maybe that day or maybe two weeks later, you go out into the world to kill those 10 boars that had been digging up mister question mark’s pumpkin patch and at some point you will return to him to collect your 30 pieces of silver. The difference here is that you are no longer collecting quests to fill up your quest log only to complete them a week, or sometimes even months later. In GW2, most quests are obtained and completed within minutes. And most appear and are executed like world events or, dare I say, public quests from WAR. You basically happen upon some kind of situation and swoop in to save the day, right then and there. This quests blend very well with the dynamic world events in GW2 – and you’ll usually find several world events popping up wherever you’re doing PVE. From killing centaur warlords to thwarting inquest technicians, GW2 has evolved traditional MMO questing systems into something more fluid. By completing these quests you will gain Karma which can be used to purchase gear, weapons, accessories, and other goods from the NPC that is leading that quest.

The main story quests are very similar to the questing system in the original Guild Wars. I do prefer the cut scenes from GW1 over GW2, however. Regardless, the main story still gives your character the same sense of direction as it’s predecessor and in my experience, I feel more connected to the story due to having a main storyline I’m always following. This is something I really enjoyed in the original, and I’m pleased to see that ArenaNet has once again expanded on a great feature from the original.

PVP
For those of you that never played the original Guild Wars – PVP is something the Guild Wars team just does right. From Guild vs Guild to arena matches, ArenaNet just knows how to create a balanced player versus player system. And yet again, this is a feature they have expanded and transformed into something that could potentially turn out to be even better. I’ve participated in more World vs World than I have structured PvP, so I can’t say a whole lot about sPvP at this point. But what I can say, is that the WvW battles kicked major ass. The maps are huge, the battles are intense, and with world events, skill point challenges, and exploration achievements tossed into the mix, WvW may just be my new in game home.

Technically, it’s World vs World vs World. Three worlds, are pitted against each other in a perpetual battle over land. IE., towers, keeps, castles, etc. Again, the maps are incredibly large in size. The keep sieges remind me of all the things WAR did right in that regard, but much better. You have siege weapons to beat down castle walls, doors, and defenders, but you also have to manage supplies coming in and out of these strategic locations. Just this morning I spent two hours escorting supply caravans around Tarnished Coast Borderlands – ensuring safe arrival to their destination. Aside from fending off any enemy attackers, I also completed two skill challenges and unlocked 100% of the waypoints, points of interest, and Vistas in the map. There’s a lot to be said about the scale of WvWvW, so for now I’ll leave it at that and touch on it again at a later date.

Structured PvP is similar to the 5v5 arenas of the original Guild Wars. Players are put on equal playing ground by having their level maxed out and a separate hero build where all skills are unlocked and you have access to some solid level 80 PvP gear. This is traditional Guild Wars player versus player action. No one gets beat because of an armor gap. You are beaten when you are outplayed. Unfortunately, there’s some issues with the sPvP servers so I haven’t gotten to spend much time in it.

Engineer Class
So far I’m really enjoying the engineer. I was hesitant to stick with it for the first few levels but now I think I’m really beginning to see what the class has to offer. The engineer is capable of dealing lots of damage, tossing out healing turrets and kits, as well as elixirs that can give some great buffs to your allies. However, I think I may be better at focusing on the jack of all trades route. I can easily equip dual pistols and rock out some major DPS, but so far, I’ve had the most fun with a pistol, a shield, healing turret, and some elixirs for my allies. I’m definitely anxious to see how I handle myself in sPvP once the server issues are resolved.

I’ll be posting up a more in depth look at the engineer class in the near future.

Closing
Overall, I’m really enjoying Guild Wars 2. Truth be told, I’ve already gotten my money’s worth out of my purchase with the countless hours I’ve played over the last week. Like plenty of others, I’ve been waiting on this game for a few years now and plan on getting everything I can out of it. ArenaNet does have some problems to resolve, such as the Trading Post, sPvP, and some other server issues before players can experience the game the way it was intended. However, a lot of these problems where brought on by the astronomical amount of players that have surged into this game. I’m not sure ArenaNet, or any company, could have anticipated numbers like this. I would imagine that 400,000 concurrent players during a headstart is unprecedented, isn’t it? At any rate, it is sort of a take what we can get scenario at this point, but it’s really been a lot of fun.

If you’re interested in keeping up with what I’m doing in Guild Wars 2 I’ll be opening up my livestream very soon. In the meantime you can check out the GW2 livestream test run from earlier today.

Those of you with a Samsung WP7 device that is not developer unlocked have the most developer unlock options available to you if you are looking to developer unlock your device to allow side loading apps.. There’s the Windows Break Project (which worked great for me in the past, though I’m sure results can vary) and Jaxbot and Heathcliff have some great options posted over at XDA, and you can always get an official developer account over as MSDN for $99 per year.

If you already have a developer unlocked device, you should be able to download the .xap, plug your phone up to your PC via the USB cable, open Zune, then open the Application Deployment tool, click browse and locate the .xap location, then click the deploy button. After a few seconds the app should be successfully deployed to your phone and ready to try out.

Currently testing in DayZ Wayfinder v.03 (Alpha):

• Chernarus Map
• Official DayZ Forum reader

Currently working on:

• More maps!
• Official DayZ news reader
• Optimizing the .xap file size
• General bug fixes, performance optimization, and just some plain ole polish

Known issues:

• Sometimes the forums can be slow to load, though I’m inclined to believe this is due more to the official DayZ forum server than this app. Basically the official DayZ forum loads slow for me on any device, whether it be my desktop, laptop, mobile phone, etc. so has nothing to do with the app.
• I did have had an instance where the app crashed, taking me back to the WP7 homescreen. I believe this was due to some inefficient coding and am hoping that the issue is resolved, but could happen.

I do want to mention one last time that this is a very early alpha build – there will be bugs. So far I’ve ran the app on a Samsung Focus (1st gen), the WP7 Emulator (of course), and will be loading it on my Lumia 900 in the next day or so. The good news is that there’s tons of room for growth here and I already have lots of plans for the next version as well as moving forward toward the beta. You can send your feedback to me at ziss@lagwar.com and I will definitely get back to you. You can also submit feedback, potential feature ideas, or any interest you may have in contributing to the app’s development.

Download the DayZ Wayfinder v.03 (Alpha) xap

(Alpha build is available as is. We are not responsible for any issues you may experience with unlocking your device or side loading apps)

UPDATE: Alpha build available here!

This is definitely an alpha build and therefore it will have bugs. However, I want to get it out to get a feel for how many players might actually find something like this useful and also get user feedback on bugs and find out what potential features users would like. There’s so much more I want to do with this app, especially in regards to maps. It will get there, but it will take time. At any rate, I’ll be posting the .xap file for download on Wednesday and see what happens.

In the meantime you can see what the alpha build of the DayZ Wayfinder for Windows Phone 7 is all about by checking out the latest debug screenshots below. Feel free to email me with any questions or feedback @ ziss@lagwar.com.

Less than 24 hours to go…

As far as official tournaments go, this year’s official tournament lineup basically consists of various Quake Live events, which is a really fun FPS, especially considering it’s a browser based game. Oh yeah, and there’s also thousands of dollars in prizes for the tourney winners. I was kind of puzzled to see the lack of an official Brink tournament this year, or lack of overall support for the game for that matter, especially considering the game was only released around this time last year. However, watching some of the best Quake Live players in the world go head-to-head is never a disappointment and I’m anxious to see how it turns out this year. You can find more details on the official tournament lineup at http://tournaments.quakecon.org/?page=tournaments.

The team that beat the team that beat us...and won the 2011 Brink Open!

There’s also a great panel lineup for this year’s event, which are always eye opening and potentially educational experiences. Especially when it’s id Software’s own rocket scientist himself, Mr. John Carmack.

If you’re in the Dallas area and would like to attend the largest LAN party in the world, stop by the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX between August 2nd and 5th or visit Quakecon.org for more details. It’s even right down the street from Medieval Times for all you Cable Guy fans.

If you’ll be attending Quakecon 2012 shoot me an email at ziss@lagwar.com and let’s meet up!

I received a fair amount of feedback regarding the Day Z pocket map app I’m currently developing for WP7, and you can rest assured it is still under development and will be posted up here for download very soon…I really mean it! Taking on the LAGWAR News app in the middle of developing the Day Z pocket map app was mostly for learning purposes, as there were some key features I wanted to implement in the Day Z pocket map app that I needed to learn how to code, so I figured what better way than working up a quick little news app for the site.

At any rate, the LAGWAR News app is pretty cut and dry at the moment. It is definitely what I would call an alpha version as it was created in one sitting of about 60 minutes (graphic work included). I will certainly continue to update the LAGWAR News app while finishing off the Day Z pocket map. Beta versions for both apps should be posted up on the site in the month of August, and will be submitted to the WP7 Marketplace for approval after what’s hopefully a short debugging period. If you are interested in helping out with any of these development projects shoot me an email at ziss@lagwar.com.

Below are some images taken from the Windows Phone Emulator…

For anyone that is interested in learning more about WP7 app development there’s some fantastic resources out there. Microsoft has done an excellent job at providing several learning and tutorial resources for would-be developers over at www.msdn.com. You can find some very helpful source code and other useful materials. If you’re a noob to mobile app development, like I am, those MSDN videos are definitely worth a look.

Quakecon 2011 Main Floor

Quakecon 2011 was a blast and I’m definitely looking forward to this year’s event. Although last year, I was invited by a team to compete in the Brink Open 2011 tournament, this year I have no intention of competing in any of the tournaments and will instead put my press hat on and do some blogging. You can read a blurb I made about Quakecon 2011 in my Steelseries 7H headset review.

Jonathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel @ Quakecon 2011

Quakecon 2012 runs August 2nd through August 5th at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX. The event is free to attend unless you want to purchase one of premium packages. If you’re interested in Quakecon 2012 you can visit www.quakecon.org for more information or to pre-register. I haven’t seen an official tournament list yet, but it should be released very soon. Also, like years past, you can expect to see a panel lineup from the likes of John Carmack and other gaming industry geniuses.

If you’ll be at Quakecon 2012 give me a shout at ziss@lagwar.com or in the comments section below!

Included are 3 themes to choose from: Vendetta Red, eGO Blue, and Poison Green. Once downloaded, see the Read Me file for installation and other skin/theme information.

Personally, I really like the look of the Vendetta Red theme, but the eGO blue is much easier on my eyes

Again, the download link is http://lagwar.com/home/wp-content/uploads/LAGWAR_Army_v2.zip.

Oh, the things boredom can produce…

The great thing about Day Z is the true feeling of exploration and survival by organic learning. There is no in game map or compass, until you find one anyway. This makes learning landmarks and learning to orientate direction by landmarks within the 225km2 world of Chernarus extremely critical. When you create your character and enter the game world of Chernarus for the first time, your location is displayed for approximately three seconds in the lower right hand corner of the screen, only to never be seen again. This is your one chance to make a note of your current location and hit a wiki to view the world map and figure out your travel destination and route. I would never want any of that to change. There’s something special and unique about digging through maps and researching sources outside of the in game interface to obtain information. It’s not for every game, but Day Z isn’t every game. If anything, it’s the “anti-game”.

Day Z itself is currently in alpha, but my mobile toolbox app is currently pre-alpha. I plan on rectifying that very soon by having the alpha build available for download for those that wish to participate in testing and debugging.

Why WP7? I’m a huge advocate of Windows Phone 7, especially my Nokia Lumia 900. It is a wonderful platform that is doing some really great things, plus there’s an incredible homebrew development scene surrounding WP7.

Here are some features I’m tossing around for the alpha release of the Day Z mobile toolbox for WP7:

• Interactive map of Chernarus, the Day Z game world.
• Pivot and multitouch functionality.
• Basic destination information.  IE., popular towns, destinations, hotspots, etc.

Below are some screenshots of the Day Z mobile toolbox proof of concept. Alpha and beta releases will be posted here for download for those that wish to participate in the testing and debugging of the app when its ready.

Looking ahead to the beta build, I really want to include other information such as guides, fan sites and forums, Day Z development notes, etc. Basically, a well rounded resource for intel.

If you have any suggestions or feedback you wish to provide, or would like to contribute to the project in any way, post in the comments section below or shoot an email to ziss@lagwar.com.

UPDATE: Added two new photos taken of the pre-alpha app running on a developer/interop unlocked SGH-i917 Samsung Focus running OS version 7.10.7720.68.

My apologies for the poor picture quality. Just couldn’t get rid of the glare!

My first impressions with the open beta client were pretty sour. I experienced a pretty nasty bug that left me downloading the ~3GB client multiple times, validating/repairing my install more than five times, and once the game was successfully installed, repeatedly crashing when entering the game from the launcher. Needless to say, so far, I’ve spent more time just trying to get into the game than I have actually playing. Granted I did my first client download three days ago, but I can assure you I’ve spent several hours dealing with the technical issues alone.

Technical issues aside, I entered the game and was taken to a MMO-esque main menu screen. I’m still unsure as to why Hi-Rez ditched the old UI for this particular layout. In my opinion, the new UI looks antiquated and the previous UI seemed more robust. Please take into account that my practical experience with the previous UI was limited to my time at Quakecon – I’m speaking mostly in terms of aesthetics. The new UI seems to follow a traditional MMO style character selection menu (vertical list of characters on the left side of the screen), with a Call of Duty design flavor for weapons, perks, etc. versus the use of skill trees as previously seen.

At this point I was ready to jump into the action. Surprisingly, while looking for a match I noticed some training options – something fairly uncommon in online multiplayer shooters. The main training mode offered a tutorial on how to ski, which is the pinnacle of gameplay in the Tribes franchise. There were other training modes for things like target practice and skiing challenges, but I spent the majority of my classroom time in the skiing tutorial. I had very little experience with Tribes: Ascend, but I’m familiar enough with the Tribes franchise to know that skiing is the heart of the game. And while it can be easy to learn, it’s difficult to master.

After a little bit of training I moved on to some rounds of team deathmatch. Only a few moments into my first real match I knew Hi-Rez had a good thing going with Tribes: Ascend. The gameplay is fast, fluid, and can be as tactical or skillful as you want it to be. In my opinion, this could allow casual folks to enjoy the pub games, but also allow the game to host a strong competitive scene, with longevity, if Hi-Rez sticks behind the competitive community. Honestly, T:A already has several competitive features that plenty of other competitively played games don’t have. I was very surprised to see a spectator mode with a robust set of controls. A spectator mode like this would have done wonders for Brink‘s competitive scene (which no longer exists simply because competitive features like this were omitted). From what I’ve seen so far, there’s a variety of classes, weapons, and perks that should accommodate most desired play styles. Most of the maps I’ve played were fun and if Hi-Rez will release a map editor into the hands of the community, I’m sure the community will fill any remaining gaps.

Tribes: Ascend isn’t perfect by any means. The game is definitely fun in open beta, but it’s hard to say what the launch will bring. I’m sure there are weapons, perks, and skins that will be released at launch that were not included in beta, and it will be interesting to see just how balanced they are out the door, since they’re not being used by the open beta testers. The game still has to overcome some technical issues too, soon. Graphically, the game isn’t bad, but it would be nice to see some DirectX 11 support. The INI files do call out both DX10 and DX11, though as of open beta T:A is a DX9 only game. I tried using the Nvidia FXAA Injector to help pretty up the game a bit, and while it did work to an extent, it also caused the game to crash repeatedly after today’s Cloak & Dagger Infiltrator update. In all honesty, T:A really needs coat of polish across the board to tighten things up a bit. On one hand I hope that Hi-Rez is just holding some things back for the launch like additional skins, weapons, perks, maps, DirectX 11, etc. But on the other hand, I fear the hell that could be the launch if they are holding some things back and those features have not been properly tested and/or optimized.

We’ll find out soon enough. Tribes: Ascend officially launches on April 12th and is free-to-play. If you’re like me and you normally keep your distance from F2P games, don’t be afraid to check this one out. As it stands today, Tribes: Ascend is not a pay-to-win game. Most weapon unlocks simply provide alternatives versus providing actual upgrades that would give a competitive edge (in most cases anyway). Some of the weapons you start with are arguably some of the best weapons in the game.

Hopefully, Hi-Rez will get behind the competitive community and offer the custom servers, custom maps, and push the esport side of this game just as much as the casual pub side. If done right, they could potentially have the same level of success and longevity as League of Legends. I’ll keep my fingers crossed until April 12th in hopes that Hi-Rez is watching companies like Valve and Riot very closely. If Hi-Rez follows a similar format of something like League of Legends – which they’ve said on multiple occasions it is one of the biggest influences in the T:A model – and back the competitive community, I could absolutely see myself shifting the majority of my game time from Battlefield 3 to this game. I won’t get in to the competitive woes of BF3, but Tribes: Ascend will at least have some solid groundwork at launch to build upon that many games never get at all.

Overall, it’s certainly exciting to see a new twist on a classic franchise. Between Tribes: Ascend and Planetside 2, it appears 2012 is the year of the classic, and he wants his crown back.

Soon after its console release, eager would-be PC players created a petition and are asking for signatures from others interested in seeing the game ported to PC. Namco Bandai has not responded with any official verdict, but stated that if enough interest is shown they would potentially consider it. As of now the petition has more than 86,000 signatures and counting. If you’re like me and really want to see this game come to PC then click here and place your John Hancock on the petition. If you couldn’t care less either way, sign it anyway. You’ve got nothing to lose, except a few seconds of your time.

The game looks awesome and every player I’ve talked to raves about the strategy and tactics involved in the combat. Dark Souls also has this pseudo cult following, proclaiming the game as one of the most difficult games ever made – and you can find a ton of YouTube videos showing exactly why they believe it. I’m eagerly awaiting an official verdict from the developer, though I’m sure I will break down and purchase it for Xbox 360 in the near future if nothing is announced. And if it did come to PC , well that’s just an added bonus and incentive to replay it!

Check out IGN’s Dark Souls review below and then head on over and sign the petition here.