SEATTLE - A Vancouver, B.C. man killed in a Whidbey Island crash that also killed two others was a well-known designer of computer games.
Brian R. Wood, 33, was lead designer of Company of Heroes, a World War II strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment.
Wood was killed Friday when an SUV driven by a 21-year-old woman crossed the center line and crashed into his car. His wife, who is six months pregnant, survived the crash.
Two people in the SUV were also killed.
Troopers said the crash occurred after the Blazer's driver began removing a sweater and her 22-year-old passenger began steering. The vehicle eventually veered into the oncoming traffic and crashed into the Subaru driven by Wood. Both women were injured and are being investigated on vehicular homicide and assault charges.
It's a sad day for PC nerds, as AMD has confirmed that it's taking the venerable ATI brand out behind the woodshed and sending it off to hardware heaven.
Founded in 1985, ATI was regarded for years as a true Canadian success story. It achieved early success with the Wonder and Rage series of video cards and broke new ground in the mid-90s with the All-in-Wonder lineup, the first video cards to feature integrated TV tuners. The debut of the Radeon series in 2000 was another big success and while its fortunes fluctuated over the years as it grappled for supremacy with rival GPU maker nVidia, it remained an Industry Playa throughout. But in 2006 the company was acquired by AMD in a deal worth more than $5 billion and while the name has been maintained in the years since, those days are now over.
AMD has confirmed with the Tech Report that it intends to eliminate the brand from future product lines. A "major motivator" for the decision is the upcoming release of the Fusion line, which will combine CPU and GPU technology on a single chip. AMD also said that it is "on a roll" and making significant headway against nVidia, shipping more discrete graphics units than its competitor in the past quarter and also coming out ahead with some "high-profile design wins."
The company's own internal research also indicated that consumers who know something about graphics cards, which is to say the people most likely to buy them, are aware of the Radeon brand name and that their preference for AMD triples when they know about the AMD/ATI merger. This, according to the company, "indicates 'permission' to consolidate under the AMD brand." Current Radeon hardware will continue to carry the ATI name to help avoid confusion but beginning later this year, new products will be released sporting an AMD Radeon badge.
ATI may have been considered a terrible idea at various points throughout its history but there were at least as many moments of shining brilliance and if you've been a PC gamer for any length of time, you've almost certainly used at least one of its products somewhere along the line. I've had several, most recently the Radeon 9700, seriously outdated by current standards but a fantastic card in its day, and even well past it. In all honesty, the end of ATI is probably long overdue, but with all that water under the bridge it's still a little bit sad to see it go.
HONOLULU – A federal judge has ruled that a man who says he's psychologically dependent and addicted to an online video game can proceed with some of his lawsuit against the game's South Korean manufacturer.
Craig Smallwood says "Lineage II" left him unable to function independently in daily activities, such as getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.
Smallwood says he's spent more than 20,000 hours playing the multiplayer online role-playing game since 2004. The 51-year-old says NCSoft Corp. never warned him about the danger of game addiction.
A Honolulu law firm that represents the company had urged that the case be dismissed, but U.S. District Judge Alan Kay in his Aug. 4 ruling allowed half of the eight counts to continue.
Battlefield 1943: PC Release Date Delay – Refunds Given
Still waiting for your PC version of Battlefield 1943? EA is apparently issuing refunds for pre-orders of the title to people that have pre booked the PC release. One customer recently contacted EA’s customer service and was told this, “All pre-orders can be canceled with refund at any time and we do not have any further information at this time about a release date.
Battlefield 1943 was released well over a year ago for the consoles but got delayed for the PC. Officially the delays were for the developer to make changes to the game that were specific to the PC such as 32 player support. You may remember that the last time Big Download asked EA about the status of Battlefield 1943 for the PC we were told there would be news about its release “shortly.” That was in March of this year.
The news of pre-order refunds does not bode well for PC users who’ve been itching to play the game on their systems for ages, let’s hope it arrives sometime soon.
Giving your product away for free may not seem the most promising of business plans, but it’s an option that’s proving increasingly attractive to publishers of massively multiplayer online games. The latest online world to ditch fees, once-proud Everquest II, bears one of the most famous names in the genre, but it’s far from the only game to go free in the last year.
It’s easy to see why. Monthly fees (typically around $12-15) add up: a World of Warcraft fan who’s been playing the game since its 2004 launch will likely have sunk around a thousand dollars into their habit. While that’s probably good value in sheer bucks-per-hour terms, some players are seeking lower-cost alternatives as their wallets feel the squeeze, and the market is answering.
9 Great Free Online Worlds
In Pictures: 9 Free Online Worlds
Everquest II joins a slate of recent MMOs to cast off its subscription fees. Lord of the Rings Online, a resounding hit with critics, plans to go free later in the year. Dungeons & Dragons: Online, after a disappointing debut, switched to a free model last September. And a growing number of recent and upcoming MMOs -- like Sony’s kid-friendly Free Realms -- are free from day one.
It’s also a trail that’s been amply blazed in the past: take Guild Wars, the first “major” online world to be released without subscription fees, and a massive success with critics and players. But even here, its publisher NCSoft had a plan to keep money rolling in: a series of regular expansion packs, priced around $30, added much new content to the game. Fans bought over six million copies of Guild Wars and its various expansions, and a sequel is expected sometime before the end of next year. Even rudimentary-looking, indie-developed Runescape hauled in enough cash to propel its creators onto the London Times Rich List.
Everquest II
Everquest II is one of the latest major online games to go free-to-play.
But just how free are free MMOs? In Everquest 2’s case -- as with most MMOs that adopt a free model -- there’s a not inconsiderable list of ifs and buts. Free players won’t get access to newer game areas, for example, and they’ll only have access to a subset of the game’s races and classes. There’s a complex set of limitations that will likely leave committed players with no real option but to keep on paying.
Others do better, like D&D: Online, which charges small, optional “microtransactions” to let players buy premium items or unlock quests early. Players can never pay a dime and still get access to the same content: it’ll just take them longer. But even D&D Online still offers a subscription plan, and paying customers can expect priority logins, better customer service, and a host of other bundled fringe benefits. It’s still the same story: if you want the best out of the game, you’re going to end up paying for it.
Which, of course, isn’t much of a shock. The expensive server farms that are the throbbing heart of online worlds don’t run on sunshine and rainbows, and customer support reps don’t work for free. (Just ask Electronic Arts, which was sued in 2000 over its use of unpaid support staff in its pioneering MMO Ultima Online.)
Go in with appropriate expectations, though, and you’ll likely find good deals. Use free versions of MMOs to get your feet wet in the game’s world (and get to know its players) before you decide to lay down money on a subscription plan. Or use pre-paid cards (available at everywhere from game stores to gas stations) to manage your microtransaction spending. And if you’re really looking for World of Warcraft levels of polish and finesse, expect to wind up paying World of Warcraft-level prices.
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