Valve has unexpectedly launched a user interface update for the Steam client, giving the service an updated look and feel. Currently in beta, the new and improved Steam features several enhancements and, as one might expect from an update like this, many users are having issues with the service.
Let's take a look at what has been changed, and what issues have been introduced.
So what's new?
In addition to the new, streamlined look, the new Steam has updated the way you view friend information, letting you see what games your friends have purchased or played recently while you browse the Steam store. You can also see which of your friends plays a particular game, both in-store or while in your library. The new UI also puts an increased focus on achievements, letting you view any you've earned in your game library as well as on the in-game overlay.
The game library has also received an update, which gives you more ways to keep it organized. You can create custom categories and can (finally!) search by simply typing the name of the game you're looking for. The client also features a customizable news feed, which provides up-to-date gaming news, but it can also be changed to only cover games in your library.
One enterprising forum-goer also noted that the new update may eventually include Mac OS X support. Of course, if this does become a reality, it still means that Mac users will be limited to the few games that work on both platforms.
The new-look Steam features a fully-customizable news feed
But while the new client looks great, it's also causing some problems for a number of users. A number of complaints have popped up on the Steam forums that users are being forced to redownload games after opting into the beta, though it only appears to be affecting some users and only for some games. Issues with friends lists have also been reported.
The new interface may cause some performance issues, as a number of users have complained that Steam now feels very sluggish, and often runs at poor frame rates. This only seems to be affecting the Steam client though, and not actual gameplay. However, on my rather modest laptop, the new-look Steam is running perfectly smoothly.
One of the great things about Steam is that, while it didn't have to most attractive interface, it was able to run on a wide range of hardware. Hopefully the new UI won't change this. But it's still in beta, and Steam is an ever-evolving service with Valve constantly listening to user feedback, so chances are the wrinkles will be ironed out eventually. And hopefully later updates will include fixes to some of the other problems the service has as well.
You currently have to opt-in if you want to give the beta a whirl.
The Bad Company 2 beta on the PC has been one of the larger time sinks for shooter fans in recent years. While the code is slightly rough, the mechanics and gameplay are polished and tight if played with a good group of players. If you hide inside a building, mortar rounds can take it down. If you see an enemy creeping towards an objective, call him out to your squad mates and have your friends hunt him down.
The question on the lips of PC gamers: is this going to be better than Modern Warfare 2? What's the server situation? We tracked down Anders Gyllenberg, who is the the producer of the PC version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, to get our questions answered.
The Modern Warfare question
We asked Gyllenberg if Bad Company 2 would be defined by its differences from Modern Warfare 2, and he seemed confident of the strength the Battlefield name has with gamers. "For us it wasn't any discussions regarding if one studio does this then we have to do that. What we offer with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is the same base experience as we have offered all the way back since Battlefield 1942," he said. He sees the mix of sandbox design as well as land, air, and sea vehicles as the key to the franchise.
"Combined with the focus on squad play, we believe we have our recipe for our own success. The server structure, which I assume you are thinking of, is only one of the components in what we feel is needed to offer a good PC experience."
The server issue is key here, as Modern Warfare 2's closed match-making system rubbed many PC gamers the wrong way. Gyllenberg laid out the details. "All servers are dedicated, hosted by some of our partners. If you have a clan or if you are a bunch of friends who want a safe haven where you can meet up, our server partners offer the possibility of controlling your own server," he told Ars. "Reserved slots is one of the features. As an admin you will also have the option of enabling several features such as friendly fire ratio, Minimap on/off, 3D spotting on/off, etc. You can also password-protect your server if you want to do some serious practice prior to an important game." Almost all the options you have after renting a server will allow it to continue to be a ranked server, but password-protected servers will be unranked to cut down on cheating and padding stats.
Frostbite engine comes to the PC
The beta was important for a number of reasons, but chief among them was the fact that the first Bad Company title was limited to consoles; this is the first time the Frostbite engine was brought to the PC. "The code itself is from late December, which is why we see some oddities with the server browser and stabilities," Gyllenberg told Ars. "Only through this type of massive testing can we can find the more rare issues that the beauty of PC gaming can create." Gyllenberg points out that both the client and server have been patched multiple times since the beta's beginning, and they've learned a lot about what hardware players are using to play the game.
If you want the game in 3D, or you have multiple monitors, you'll really see something special. Bad Company 2 supports flagship technology from both ATI and NVIDIA. "In BC2 we support the NVIDIA 3D-vision technology. It is an awesome feeling to actually play the game in true 3D. We have had several incidents when someone who has tried it for the first time actually hits the screen when they want to point at something," Gyllenberg said. "We do also support the Eyefinity tech where you can experience the game on several monitors. Besides that, we also have a support for the new keyboards from Logitech where you will get all the multiplayer stats you need displayed on the small monitor on the actual keyboard."
The PC has some love coming its way
After playing the PC beta with a mouse and keyboard, it's hard to imagine playing this game on consoles... but that's just us. So far the game is slick and fun, and it's only getting better; the fact the beta code is already so out of date gives us a lot of hope for the final product.
It's good to see a game from a developer that's embracing what the PC has to offer, not running from it.
Remember the Cerberus Network from Mass Effect 2? It's baaaa-aaaack! When you pick up your brand new copy of Bad Company 2 it will come with a one-time-use code that will give you access to new content, free of charge. If you buy the game used, you'll be able to unlock the content for $15.
Here's a video preview of the maps in question.
The code will, in fact, give you some day-one content. "This map pack features the Laguna Alta map playable in Conquest mode and Nelson Bay map playable in Rush mode, bringing the total number of multiplayer maps up to 10," EA announced. "Later in March, DICE will release yet another map pack at no extra charge, giving players a chance to experience the Africa Harbor map in Conquest mode and Laguna Presa map in Rush mode. Available in the box, the content packs are unlocked by simply inputting a VIP code."
Did you catch that last bit? The content comes in the box. You're not getting new content, you're simply unlocking maps that shipped with the game. While DICE and EA promise more content coming to the game, most likely to be both free and for-pay depending on the content, the very first map pack seems to exist mostly to give the middle finger to used game retailers.
Botnets—large networks of malware-infected PCs remotely controlled by criminals—are a serious problem on the Internet. The spam, phishing attacks, and malware that these networks send accounts for a massive proportion, in excess of 80 percent, of e-mail traffic. One such network, known as Waledac, has been stopped in its tracks after Microsoft got a court to issue a secret temporary restraining order. The restraining order took 277 domain names used by the criminals to communicate with the botnet offline. Without these domain names, it is hoped that the controllers of the botnet will permanently lose access to the machines running their malware.
The Waledac botnet is presumed to be run by Eastern Europeans and to be made up of hundreds of thousands of compromised machines. It sends hundreds of millions, if not billions, of e-mails each day, as well as distributes malware to help recruit new machines to the network. Microsoft's complaint describes in detail how the botnet is organized, with a complex hierarchical control system. At the root of the system is the command-and-control servers. The botnet uses the 277 domain names to connect to the command and control servers to download new commands. These commands are then distributed through the different tiers of the network using peer-to-peer transmission.
By obtaining the restraining order, this command-and-control system was disrupted; with the domain names offline, the machines in the botnet were no longer able to locate their control servers, rendering them mostly harmless. The court action had to be taken in secret to avoid warning the botnet's operators; with sufficient warning, they might have been able to set up new domain names and new control systems, thereby circumventing Microsoft's efforts. The names have now been offline for three days, presumably sufficient to cause permanent disruption, and the injunction is now public.
Similar action against past botnets has been attempted by security researchers before, but the results were only temporary as new command and control servers were set up. Microsoft's intent is for this action to be more permanent. "Operation b49," as Redmond has called it internally, still has further work to do to ensure that the peer-to-peer communication between computers in the botnet is disrupted.
This is critical if the mission is to be successful; the company notes that the operation is not a "silver bullet," as it does not remove the malware from the infected PCs. Though the operation has taken them out of the hands of the hackers, they are still infected, and are still trying to contact the control system. The ultimate solution is for those with infected PCs to ensure that they are patched and have the malware removed as soon as possible.
Even if Operation b49 is ultimately successful and the Waledac network is taken offline, it unfortunately generates only a small fraction of the spam sent each day. Microsoft insists that this will not be the last such action, and that we should "stay tuned" for more. The botnets have had the upper hand for many years now; if this action has lasting success, it could be the first real step in the fight against spam.
The FCC's long-awaited, Congressionally mandated, already-castigated, Big-Content-anticipated National Broadband Plan will arrive in all of its glory on March 16, missing the ill-omened Ides of March by a day. The FCC's release strategy for the report has borrowed heavily from Hollywood—create "previews" of your blockbuster and use them to both whet audience interest and to gauge audience reaction. The latest trailer for the Plan rolled today as FCC Chair Julius Genachowski previewed the bits of the plan focused on public safety (PDF), which is about to get as much money for broadband and wireless as Verizon spent on FiOS.
In the eight years since the World Trade Center was destroyed, talk about "interoperable public safety" systems has been cheap; implementation has been hard. The FCC's contribution to the issue was 20MHz of spectrum set aside in the massive 700MHz auction of a few years back, when the "D Block" of spectrum was auctioned to private firms who wanted to pay a bazillion dollars for the spectrum and then build a completely new national wireless network to support both the public and public safety users (and to high public safety specs).
Sound like a pipe dream? It was; despite huge amounts of work, the bids never materialized. The D Block still sits unused and unauctioned.
The National Broadband Plan will return to the D Block, but with a different plan. "The private sector is simply not going to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art, interoperable broadband network for public safety on its own dime," said Genachowski today. So where's the cash going to come from? The federal government—and the request is not a small one.
"The Plan will recommend that Congress consider significant public funding—$16 billion-18 billion over 10 years—for the creation of a federal grant program to help support network construction, operation and evolution of the pubic [sic] safety broadband network."
$18 billion is about what Verizon has spent rolling out its FiOS fiber-to-the-home network, which should give you some idea of the scale of the task being considered here. It's not fully clear where the money will go yet, but Genachowski said that another D Block auction will take place, so some form of public/private partnership still seems in view. The FCC will also launch its own Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) to handle the technical details of coordinating public safety radios and networked systems.
Genachowski does have experience in this area. In college, he served as an Emergency Medical Technician. "In addition," he said, "when the planes hit the World Trade Center on 9/11, I was not far away, and my wife was closer. My brother, who worked very near the World Trade Center, had traveled in the subway under the Towers shortly before they fell."
Though he recognizes the money represents a "significant funding commitment," Genachowski and his team simply believe that the earlier vision of a "free" public safety network, as good as it sounded, simply wasn't practical. "We have gone too long with little progress to show for it," he noted.
Update: The FCC lets us know that it has "updated and corrected" its cost figures for the project. $6 billion is set aside for grants to actually build the wireless network; another $6-$10 billion are set aside for grant to fund the ongoing operation of the network.
D.I.C.E. Conference 2010!
Really amazing videos. Very intelligent and creative people talking about everything to do with the gaming industry, a LOT of awesome videos.
SERVER REGULATIONS: ADMINS RESERVE THE RIGHT TO KICK ANYONE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT WARNING (ALL RULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE) (Before kicking, attempt to warn and resolve the situation.) Grounds for being Punished:
I. AFK _a) Going afk will result in a kick
II. ANNOYANCE _a) Mic Spam..
_b) Being loud and/or obnoxious.
_c) Simply just being annoying.
III. GAMEPLAY (This constitutes anything that may disrupt the game/server and the players within.)
_a) Excessive Team Killing.
_b) Team Killing without apologizing.
_c) Intentionally walking in front of other players.
_d) Dealing some form of damage to your teammates. Shooting/Grenades/Etc
_e) Anything else that would ruin the game for someone or change the way the game is meant to be played.
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