TRIALS EVOLUTION: GOLD EDITION POPS WHEELIES ON PC TODAY [REVIEW]

Ubisoft has launched Trials Evolution: Gold Edition on PC today, exposing a whole new segment of sadists to annoying rap-rock intro songs. You can pick up Gold Edition through Steam or other major games retailers for $19.99.

Trials Evolution: Gold Edition is a collection of the XBLA success Trials Evolution and all of the levels from its predecessor, Trials HD. Rounding out the package is the in-game level editor, which was used to recreate the Trials HD levels found in this very package. Not included: A way to stop playing Trials once you start.

REVIEW:

 

I made a huge mistake. "So help me, Richard, if I don't review Trials Evolution," I said back in March, "I'll start walking to Oklahoma right now."

That was when I was younger, more foolish and willing to march to someone's house to get a downloadable game. The Ben of mid-April, however? He knows better. He knows that a sequel to 2009's Trials HD, expanding greatly on the finely tuned physics masterpiece of the first game, would be a dangerous game to review. Not because it isn't good – sweet lord, it's glorious – but because reviews are things that happen quickly after release. 

What I want to do with Trials Evolution is play it for another decade. Maybe then – maybe! – I could speak to all the content RedLynx added this time around. 

But here we are, and this is a review. So here it is: Trials Evolution is excellent.

Where to even begin? Let's start with what hasn't changed. The physics system from the first game remains largely untouched, if at all, making racing just as frenetic as the last entry. Riders are still angling their body and bike in order to snag more velocity on downhill runs, and tracks are still built with close attention paid to flow. You could just go as fast as possible, but you probably shouldn't if you want to consistently dominate leaderboards.

My love for the Trials series spawns from that simple formula: precision over speed, and intelligence over brute force. Trials Evolution riffs on that formula more than ever before, constantly reminding me to drive more carefully if I want to stay ahead of the bastard on-screen dots representing my Xbox Live "friends." Moreover, the huge selection of tracks ramp in difficulty more gradually than the last game. Yes, there are levels that are seemingly impossible on the first try, but this time they're not dropped in the middle of the "medium" difficulty level set.

A limited selection of motorbikes is once again available, each corresponding to varying levels of track difficulty, though locked away until various license tests have been passed. As an experienced player, I would've liked to jump right to the fastest bike possible, but RedLynx is apparently set on its license-locked meting out of said bikes. A variety of license tests require certain skills be displayed before faster bikes unlock, slowly introducing newcomers to each bike's power level. That's fine, but replaying older levels with newer, faster bikes loses some of its luster with such a huge amount of available tracks.

The first game's hokey faux-metal soundtrack is replaced with ... yet another hokey faux-metal soundtrack. I'm told it's meant as a joke, but to me it's still the game's only real fault. Thankfully, it's a fault easily remedied (I promptly switched the in-game music off).

Now, for additions. A full level creation suite is included in Trials Evolution, which takes the first game's editing tools and blows them out to LittleBigPlanet proportions. Which is to say that the editor can be applied to concepts beyond 2.5D racing, such as, say, first-person shooters. Yes, really. Said tools aren't given quite the same loving tutorial that they are in LBP2, but a variety of skill courses help to demonstrate what can be created. If you're willing to commit to the trial-and-error process required to learn it, good for you. 

There are also these seven tutorial videos, if that's your kind of thing. If, like me, you can't be bothered to create your own levels, the game counters with a robust level sharing functionality (also making a return from the first game), and RedLynx thankfully loaded the store with some concepts of its own to get folks started. Like LBP, the experimental levels are a bit rough, but impressive nonetheless. Given that Trials Evolution hasn't been out for very long (just over 24 hours as of this writing), the fruits of the community's labor have yet to be seen, unfortunately. In the meantime, however, there's the unending multiplayer mode. Isn't that terrifying? It's endless trials. For a series that relies on a "just one more try" mentality, multiplayer trials is a legitimately frightening concept. With the last Trials entry, I hit a point where I'd wrung the game's content for all it was worth. 

In Trials Evolution, that content is seemingly without end. This is quite worrying for my free time, not to mention any personal relationships I'm interested in continuing. As my girlfriend can attest, I've been doing a lot of swearing this week. More than usual, even. Between the crushing difficulty of certain levels, and the urge to perfect others, Evolution has its grip on me. That grip was only galvanized when I started in on multiplayer.

Despite the potentially confusing image above, rest assured that multiplayer doesn't mean you'll constantly bump into other racers. Whether you're racing against other people or against ghost data, the most interaction you'll have with other players will be seeing them race along in the fore or background. That can be a bit difficult to deal with if you're depth-perception challenged (I am, apparently), but not so irritating as to ruin the mode.

The same draw of outclassing my XBL friends in the campaign transfers easily to multiplayer, whether I'm playing total strangers or the aforementioned XBL buddies. If anything, seeing the ghosts of said players speeding ahead of me (or floating to the back of the pack) adds another level of panic to an already tense experience. What I'm saying, essentially, is that multiplayer Trials is probably bad for my heart.

But perhaps the addition of multiplayer doesn't do it for you, and you simply want more maps? There are many, many more maps in Trials Evolution. Compared with the DLC released following Trials HD, the $15 asking fee for Evolution is a pittance for the incredible amount of content on offer. Levels like the ominous sounding "Giga Track" extend well beyond the usual three-minute fare (around 10 minutes in my best run, sadly), and there are plenty oflower level tracks to keep the less hardcore sticking around.

In short, every addition RedLynx has made to Evolution serves to bolster the offerings of Trials HD, while continuing to highlight the game's base: a fantastic physics engine that drives a flow that is simultaneously simple, addictive and frantic. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another nine years of mastering Trials Evolution ahead of me.

PRESS RELEASE : 

COMPETITION BEGINS AGAIN WITH THE RELEASE OF TRIALS EVOLUTION: GOLD EDITION

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – March 20, 2013 – Trials has finally returned home with the release of Trials Evolution: Gold Edition exclusively on PC.

RedLynx's signature franchise, the Trials series first made its mark in gaming with the 2008 release of Trials 2 SE for the PC. That breakout indie hit led to further success on the Xbox, and ever since, PC gamers have been clamouring for more Trials.

That wait is now over, as the competition begins all over again in Trials Evolution: Gold Edition, the biggest Trials game ever released with 129 tracks and mini games from Trials Evolution and Trials HD.

The game also includes all of the features of its forerunners, from the in-game editor which brought more than 300,000 tracks to the Xbox LIVE version of Trials Evolution, to the global Leader Boards and four-player Multiplayer, in both local and online modes.

For more information about Trials Evolution: Gold Edition and the Trials franchise visit the brand new Trials portal at http://www.trialsgame.com

TOMB RAIDER TRESSFX SHAMPOO

How does Lara keep that silky smooth hair looking gorgeous all day long? The secret is TressFX Max Graphics Shampoo.

TRESSFX

BAD HAIR DAYS

Since the dawn of the 3D era, characters in your favorite games have largely featured totally unrealistic hair: blocky and jagged, often without animation that matches your character’s movements. Many games have attempted to disguise the problem with short haircuts, updos, or even unremovable helmets. But why? Simply: realistic hair is one of the most complex and challenging materials to accurately reproduce in real-time. Convincingly recreating a head of lively hair involves drawing tens of thousands of tiny and individual semi-transparent strands, each of which casts complex shadows and requires anti-aliasing. Even more challengingly, these calculations must be updated dozens of times per second to synchronize with the motion of a character.

A NEW FRONTIER OF REALISM

Lara Croft is an iconic character with an equally iconic ponytail. Re-imagining Lara (and her haircut) for the 2013 release of Tomb Raider wasn’t just an opportunity to modernize the character, it was an opportunity to substantially advance in-game realism by tackling the long-standing challenge of unrealistic hair. Through painstaking collaboration between software developers at AMD and Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider proudly features the world’s first real-time hair rendering technology in a playable game: TressFX Hair.

TRESSFX IN ACTION 

THE SCIENCE OF TRESSFX HAIR

TressFX Hair revolutionizes Lara Croft’s locks by using the DirectCompute programming language to unlock the massively-parallel processing capabilities of the Graphics Core Next architecture, enabling image quality previously restricted to pre-rendered images. Building on AMD’s previous work on Order Independent Transparency (OIT), this method makes use of Per-Pixel Linked-List (PPLL) data structures to manage rendering complexity and memory usage. 

DirectCompute is additionally utilized to perform the real-time physics simulations for TressFX Hair. This physics system treats each strand of hair as a chain with dozens of links, permitting for forces like gravity, wind and movement of the head to move and curl Lara’s hair in a realistic fashion. Further, collision detection is performed to ensure that strands do not pass through one another, or other solid surfaces such as Lara’s head, clothing and body. Finally, hair styles are simulated by gradually pulling the strands back towards their original shape after they have moved in response to an external force. Graphics cards featuring the Graphics Core Next architecture, like select AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series, are particularly well-equipped to handle these types of tasks, with their combination of fast on-chip shared memory and massive processing throughput on the order of trillions of operations per second.

WINDY ENVIRONMENTS 

Wind tears through a perilous chasm, whipping Lara’s ponytail to the side. With TressFX Hair, each one of her thousands of individualized strands of hair are constantly changing with the windspeed. 

RAINY ENVIRONMENTS

Stranded on a beach in driving rain, Lara’s hair hangs heavy and matted with TressFX Hair; the real-time physics calculation accounts for both moisture and wind.

DRY ENVIRONMENTS

Reading over the ruins of an old map, TressFX Hair allows every movement of Lara’s head to be reflected in thousands of strands of hair—all in real time.

 

 

 

'EA GOES NUTS' : THEY’LL GIVE A FREE PC GAME TO ANYONE WHO BOUGHT SIMCITY

Anyone who bought SimCity will get a free video game, publisher EA said tonight. Apologizing for the crippling server issues that have rendered the new simulation game near-unplayable for the past week, Maxis boss Lucy Bradshaw wrote in a blog post that anyone with a copy of SimCity activated before March 18 will get a free PC game from EA's catalog. 

Here's the full blog post:

Here's a quick update on the problems we were experiencing with SimCity – and a little something extra for people who bought the game.

The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we're working fast to address.

So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.

OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent. It's working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent.

So we're close to fixed, but not quite there. I'm hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.

Something Special for Your Trouble:

The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets. The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game. But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can't get a stable connection, you're NOT having a good experience. So we're not going to rest until we've fixed the remaining server issues.

And to get us back in your good graces, we're going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCity players who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.

I know that's a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We're hoping you won't stay mad and that we'll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.

SimCity is a GREAT game and the people who made it are incredibly proud. Hang in there – we'll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.

While we're not yet sure which games will be given away, you can view EA's PC catalog here.

AC4 DIRECTOR: ANOTHER LEADING LADY 'WOULDN'T BE SURPRISING' IN THE FUTURE

The Assassin's Creed team at Ubisoft never imagined placing a woman in the lead role during the era of the Kenways, which spans Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Flag, director Ashraf Ismail told IGN.

"Really early on, we decided to tell the story of the Kenways," Ismail said. "So we already had in place the idea to tell Edward, Haytham and Connor. This was actually years ago, we had this." He continued, "We actually never thought, 'Could this be a woman?'"

Historically, there weren't many famous female pirates, Ismail said, and he didn't want players to fixate on that detail. Still, there's a lot of history between pirates and now, and Assassin's Creed may explore a leading lady in another, main game. The lead character of Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation for Vita was a woman, and that story fed into directly the prime Assassin's Creed 3 narrative. Ubisoft may continue this trend with future games.

"I would say it wouldn't be surprising to see a female assassin coming up in a mainline Assassin's Creed," Ismail said. "But for us, for AC4, it was always Edward."

If choosing the gender of protagonists was a business decision, it would fall to Ubisoft's brand team, and Ismail said he didn't know what they were cooking up for the "next few games."

"But the concept of a female assassin, I can tell you it's not a no-no; it's not something we're trying to avoid at all."

Epic Games art director Chris Perna, recently sounded off about selling a female protagonist, saying "it's tough to justify something like that," at least from a business standpoint.

ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG 'PUSHING HARD' FOR MORE ASSASSINATIONS

It has become necessary to ask about the prevalence of assassination in a series called Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft's massive franchise has grown to encompass different developers, protagonists, historical contexts, and design ideals. The central thrust of the hidden blade has been obscured by an ever-growing stack of systems, plots and economies, some of which suit the business of killing – and some that allow you to manufacture and sell barrels.

"Yes, we are a pirate game, and we advertise ourselves as a pirate game. It's even in our title," says Ashraf Ismail, Game Director at Ubisoft Montreal for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. "But it's an Assassin's Creed game, and this is very important, because this is how we're able to build a pirate game. We have this really solid foundation that is the core and the heart of the experience. The story is about a guy who is an assassin and the conflict he goes through to become this guy. We actually have more assassinations than AC1 had."

Following a presentation at Ubi's offices in San Francisco, Ismail explains the "older philosophy" of Assassin's Creed as an important consideration for Black Flag, even if appearances suggest otherwise. "This is something we did learn, we do listen to our fans a lot," Ismail says. "We know that in AC3 there was a lot more handholding done, and we do want to go back to an older philosophy where we just present you with a simple objective and we let you choose the gameplay you want."

Ubisoft's intentions don't always come through: Assassin's Creed 3 was pitched as a fresh, focused sequel, but was criticized for its superfluous systems and obviously manufactured missions. There was a disconnect between the rich fiction and your presumed agency in the world, and it was clearly felt during the game's slow-burn opening. Assassin's Creed 4 addresses the issue of hand-holding in a few ways, Ismail says, starting with new anti-hero Edward Kenway – yes, the father of Haytham Kenway, the surly pre-protagonist in AC3's ambitious, barely elastic prologue.

"At some point, people were asking us – do pirates in Assassin's [Creed] make sense?" says Ismail. "They're very different fantasies. But, actually, the gameplay mechanics of being an assassin completely fit in line with being a pirate. For example, navigation: well, pirates were sailors, and they climbed masts, and they were actually really great climbers, so that makes sense. Fighting? Well, they were melee fighters and used guns, and this is why Edward has four pistols.

"And the stealth itself, they were outlaws, they needed to be hidden, even when they plundered certain ships."

Confident in a pirate's suitability as assassin, Ismail considers the entire context as the crux in making Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag a better, more dynamic action game. There are three major cities to infiltrate (Nassau, Havana and Kingston), augmented stealth mechanisms and stern encouragement to use them, and an emphasis on elevating Edward's abilities alongside his ship, the Jackdaw. And though naval combat is an important component (and more complex than it was in AC3), Ismail sees it as a scenario modifier. If it all works properly, the ocean, the storms, the ships and your ability to board them all will coalesce into the kind of player-controlled stories we've seen from the likes of Far Cry 3. Some Far Cry 3 folks at Ubisoft Montreal are in charge of how combat and optional tasks feed back into upgrading your ship, which sounds like bad news for sharks.

Though development of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag started in earnest during Summer 2011, Ubisoft Montreal claims there's been enough time to consider the critical and fan discussion around Assassin's Creed 3. "We don't tell you 'go here, touch this thing, interact with this thing, push this guy' to accomplish the goal. It's really just where you need to be, get there as you wish."

The process of eliminating major targets, Ismail says, will be more open to planning and improvisation; less reliant on scripted events and big battles. "This is a philosophy we're really pushing hard in the missions and the assassinations."

With that point made, look for more coverage of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag on Joystiq later today. 

ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG CONFIRMED FOR PS4

As the prior week's leaks suggested, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag will boast next-generation ports ... rendered by the PlayStation 4. (Here you go.)

Speaking to Joystiq in San Francisco last month, Assassin's Creed 4 game director Ashraf Ismail said the AnvilNext engine, which powers Ubisoft's pirate game and debuted with Assassin's Creed 3 in 2012, was built for platforms beyond the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U.

Ubisoft hasn't confirmed a launch date for the PS4 version yet, since the exact timing is entwined with Sony's guarded launch plans. All other versions of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag (that we know of) are due on October 29 in North America. 

ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG DEBUT TRAILER SETS SAIL

No need to worry about leaks anymore, shipmates. Blackbeard's here to introduce you to the newest hero in the Assassin's Creed lineage, one Edward Kenway, as well as the latest, piracy-stuffed entry in the series. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag docks on the shores of North America on October 29, and Europe on October 31 (UK November 1). The game is coming to PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, and next-gen consoles (at some point) including the PS4. 

 Edward Kenway, A Pirate Trained By Assassins

ASSASSIN'S CREED 4 DATED OCT. 29, CONFIRMED FOR NEXT-GEN CONSOLES

Ubisoft's official Asssassin's Creed site reveals a launch date for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag by use of some technical wizardry that involves replacing a letter in the URL.

As DarkZero discovered, heading to the official AC4 site for the world premiere trailer, which will launch in four days, and then simply adding a "v" to the end of the url reveals the above image.

The Ubisoft site notes an October 29 release date for AC4 and states it's "also coming to next-gen consoles." Sony announced the PlayStation 4 last week, Microsoft is expected to announce the next Xbox within a few months.

ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG SCREENS LEAK

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's reveal is leakier than a boat with no hull. This morning the screenshots that were likely to be associated with tomorrow's intended reveal have leaked on AllGamesBeta.

Not only that, but the site has the game's debut trailer up too, which leaked yesterday, but was quickly plugged up again.

Go check it all out before Ubisoft has its lawyers set sail again. Or, who knows, maybe by this point even they've given up.

[Thanks, Michael]

Update: NintendoEverything has its hands on another leaked trailer, this one introducing the character Edward Kenway. Head there to view the video before it's forced to walk the plank.

ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG [MORE UPDATES]

Assassin's creed 4 related news:

 

1. ASSASSIN'S CREED IV : BLACK FLAG, IS THE NEXT ASSASSIN'S CREED

The worst-kept secret in gaming is no longer "secret," as Ubisoft has revealed the cover art for the next Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The game stars a new pirate assassin and turns its focus to the Caribbean, mixing open-ended ship-based exploration and combat with land-based adventures on a number of Caribbean islands.

continue reading

2. ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG SCREENS LEAK

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's reveal is leakier than a boat with no hull. This morning the screenshots that were likely to be associated with tomorrow's intended reveal have leaked on AllGamesBeta.Not only that, but the site has the game's debut trailer up too, which leaked yesterday, but was quickly plugged up again.

continue reading

3. ASSASSIN'S CREED 4 DATED OCT. 29, CONFIRMED FOR NEXT-GEN CONSOLES

Ubisoft's official Asssassin's Creed site reveals a launch date for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag by use of some technical wizardry that involves replacing a letter in the URL..

continue reading

4. ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG DEBUT TRAILER SETS SAIL

No need to worry about leaks anymore, shipmates. Blackbeard's here to introduce you to the newest hero in the Assassin's Creed lineage, one Edward Kenway, as well as the latest, piracy-stuffed entry in the series.

continue reading

5. ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG CONFIRMED FOR PS4

Ubisoft hasn't confirmed a launch date for the PS4 version yet, since the exact timing is entwined with Sony's guarded launch plans. All other versions of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag (that we know of) are due on October 29 in North America. 

continue reading

 

6. ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG 'PUSHING HARD' FOR MORE ASSASSINATIONS

It has become necessary to ask about the prevalence of assassination in a series called Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft's massive franchise has grown to encompass different developers, protagonists, historical contexts, and design ideals.

continue reading

7. AC4 DIRECTOR: ANOTHER LEADING LADY 'WOULDN'T BE SURPRISING' IN THE FUTURE 

The Assassin's Creed team at Ubisoft never imagined placing a woman in the lead role during the era of the Kenways, which spans Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Flag, director Ashraf Ismail told IGN.

continue reading

Blizzard drops StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty to $20 until March 12

Blizzard is selling the first part of its three-pronged assault of a sequel, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, for half-off until March 12. You can get the game through Battle.net right now for $20.

Wings of Liberty focuses on the Terran faction (see: future humans) on the single-player campaign, saddled on the back of the series' popular multiplayer component. The second wave of the three-part RTS sequel is due on March 12, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. A recent multiplayer beta for Heart of the Swarm concluded on March 1, allowing those who pre-ordered and opted in a taste of the new multiplayer changes. 

ASSASSIN'S CREED IV : BLACK FLAG, IS THE NEXT ASSASSIN'S CREED, UBISOFT CONFIRMS

The worst-kept secret in gaming is no longer "secret," as Ubisoft has revealed the cover art for the next Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The game stars a new pirate assassin and turns its focus to the Caribbean, mixing open-ended ship-based exploration and combat with land-based adventures on a number of Caribbean islands. The fact that this year's AC would be Black Flag—and that it would be more of a nautical adventure—was becoming more and more clear on Tuesday, as a poster leaked to Kotaku, showing both the new character on its front and the game's map on the back. 

But let's drop the pretense of "breaking news" for a moment and let me level with you, folks. I was shown Black Flag this past Monday. I already knew this was the new game even prior to us running those two poster images. As is standard, I'd not informed my reporting team about most of the game's details, freeing them to react genuinely if anything came up.

On Monday, I had talked to two of the game's creators, saw a presentation on the game and some video footage. As is common with seeing games early, I signed an embargo agreeing not to talk about what I'd seen and been told—in this case for a full week, up until noon Eastern on March 4.

The advantage of an embargo is that it allows the people showing a game to present something in an unhurried manner and allows the reporter to take time to compose their thoughts. Some embargoes are signed documents; others are verbal agreements. They're not unique to corporate game publishers (plenty of indies request holding coverage until a certain date, though typically only verbally), and they're not unique to covering games. That said, the severe disadvantage of embargoes is that they put us in the position we found ourselves in on Tuesday, a day after I saw ACIV, of not being able to speak freely to you, the reader about material we're publishing.

By Tuesday, as anonymous tipsters began to send us the images of the front and back of a poster that none of us had seen in person—but that squared with the game I'd been shown—we faced a conundrum: 1) refrain from publishing what we knew were valid tips that would be of interest to our readers, thus failing to honor our commitment to informing our readers about compelling news, 2) play dumb and publish, while pretending we didn't know the images were probably real, thus intentionally misleading you, the reader, 3) potentially tick off Ubisoft to whom I gave my word we'd hold off on covering the details of my briefing until March 4—a date that began to seem like it was tied into a pre-order incentive.

In both instances on Tuesday involving those poster images, the instinct to inform you, the reader, won out. Cynics will say that the instinct to get pageviews is simply what won out, but that is inherently intertwined with a sense that it is anathema for a news outlet to ignore compelling news tips—for a week, no less.

It is reasonable for the creators of any video game to ask that their new baby be kept under wraps for a time and to ask for such an agreement from the reporters to whom they show it. But it is maddening to not be able to level with you guys and gals; it is unacceptable for us to sit on news tips sent to us independently; and it is nauseating to recognize that this situation was partially of our own making. Some may say that the simple solution is to refrain from signing future embargoes, but, as I wrote above, verbal agreements are common on this beat and often are simply a matter of courtesy—the price for seeing something rough-edged a bit early. In the future, we can be more clear with those who show us games that we will run tips that are clearly sent to us independently and that, if and when we do, we will have to be able to more clearly acknowledge their veracity.

We will never leak information ourselves, but we can't sit around and fail to report when information starts leaking. If that spites us some access, so be it. I don't want my readers waking up on any future March 4ths feeling they were misled by our site. We worked hard to not seem like we were playing dumb in our AC IV posts this week, but that doesn't feel like it was enough.

So, yes, look for more AC IV coverage from me on Monday. I still feel I should honor my agreement to not divulge the many, many things that were shown to me about the game that haven't leaked. But, rest assured, we'll do everything we can to make sure this kind of awkward situation doesn't happen again.

Assassin's Creed 4 dated Oct. 29, confirmed for next-gen consoles.

CRYSIS 3 PERFORMANCE TEST : GPUs AND GRAPHICS CARDS

Built with CryEngine2, the original Crysis raised the bar for PC gaming graphics in 2007 with stunningly detailed visuals that crippled even the fastest of rigs. Looking back at our first Crysis performance article, which was based on the game's demo, the fastest GPU available at the time (the GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB) struggled to average 30fps when running at 1920x1200 with high quality settings on DirectX 10.

 

Given how punishing the first game was, we were excited to explore 2011's CryEngine 3-based Crysis 2, but it was quickly apparent that the second installment wouldn't be a repeat performance. Not to say it didn't look better, but relative to Crytek's first title, the sequel didn't really set any new benchmarks. It was just another computer game that made great use of DX9, though DX11 was eventually patched in.

Fast-forward two years and Crytek has given us another opportunity to hammer some hardware with the arrival of Crysis 3 this month. Like the second title, the third installment has been built with CryEngine 3, though that doesn't mean you should expect lousy PC features, as the engine has been updated with improved dynamic cloth and vegetation, better lighting and shadows, and plenty more.

Plus, PC gamers won't have to wait for graphical extras. Crysis 3 launched with high-resolution textures, DX11 support and plenty of customization options that set it apart from the diluted consoles builds. The result looks incredible and we get the feeling this will prove to be the game that folks who are heavily invested in multi-GPU setups have been waiting for. Here's hoping we aren't woefully disappointed.

Testing Methodology

We'll be testing 18 DirectX 11 graphics card configurations from AMD and Nvidia, which is considerably less than the 29 we tested for Far Cry 3 because even with the medium quality preset activated, there are almost no low-end graphics cards that can play Crysis 3, even at 1680x1050.

The latest drivers will be used, and every card will be paired with an Intel Core i7-3960X to remove CPU bottlenecks that could influence high-end GPU scores.

We're using Fraps to measure frame rates during 90 seconds of gameplay footage from Crysis 3's first level, "Post Human." The test starts as soon as Michael "Psycho" Sykes hands you his backup weapon, we then simply follow the party leader until the time runs out.

We'll test Crysis 3 at three common desktop display resolutions: 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 2560x1600, using the DX11 mode. For the very high-quality test, we'll set the "overall quality" in the video quality menu to very high while also setting the SMAA level to 1 (low). The high and medium-quality tests will also be conducted with SMAAx1 enabled.

• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB)
• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB)
• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 Boost (3072MB)
• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB)
• AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB)
• AMD Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 7770 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (4096MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 (1536MB)
• Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz)
• x4 4GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 (CAS 8-8-8-20)
• Gigabyte G1.Assassin2 (Intel X79)
• OCZ ZX Series 1250w
• Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s)
• Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
• Nvidia Forceware 314.07
• AMD Catalyst 13.2 (Beta 6)

 High Quality Performance

Ramping up to high quality, the GTX 680 landed square on the 60fps mark when testing at 1680x1050, while the GTX 670 followed with 55fps and the HD 7970 GHz edition was forced into the 4xfps territory with the GTX 660 Ti. It seems like the non-Ti GTX 660 or the HD 7950 are about as low as you'll want to go, as both were near the 40fps mark with the Nvidia card on top by 3fps.

At 1920x1200, Crysis 3 kicked the GTX 680 10fps below our ideal and the GTX 670 joined AMD's flagship in the 40fps range — albeit with a 5fps lead. The HD 7970 GHz Edition averaged 41fps, narrowly beating the GTX 660 Ti by a single frame.

Crysis 3 is barely playable when running on high at 2560x1600, with the GTX 680 and HD 7970 GHz Edition barely offering 30fps. If you want play with these settings on a single-GPU card, you'll likely need Nvidia's new GTX Titan.

Very High Quality Performance

With the high quality preset being so taxing, we wondered if there was any point in testing on a more intensive setting. But we did, and things aren't pretty — or, well, they're too pretty. At 1680x1050, the GTX 680 managed 44fps and stood as the only card to exit the 30fps range, which is populated with the GTX 670, HD 7970, GTX 660 Ti and HD 7950 Boost, though anything below the HD 7970 GHz Edition is pushing it in our opinion.

Not much needs to be said here: the GTX 680 is your only hope of achieving playable performance, barring the Titan or a multi-GPU solution.

This is the resolution I typically game at with one GTX 680 and, naturally, I like to crank everything up. That's not an option here. We'd be interested in seeing how a pair of GTX Titans in SLI perform.

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Image Quality Comparison Medium Quality Performance CPU Performance Conclusion

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Steven Walton is a writer at TechSpot. TechSpot is a computer technology publication serving PC enthusiasts, gamers and IT pros since 1998.