Month: July 2005

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard

If you’re currently in the market for a socket 939 motherboard, I’d like to suggest the K8N Neo4 Platinum. This nForce4 Ultra chipset based motherboard from MSI is a great example of a clean, well-built motherboard that’s available for a reasonable price.

The reviews from most hardware sites are very good for this motherboard, and it’s not hard to see why. MSI has put all of the nForce 2 Ultra chipset features in a clean, attractive board that has few layout problems. Even the packaging and documentation included with the product matches this level of quality, featuring a very thick user guide and tested hardware booklet, along with a large full-color poster pointing out each of the board’s ports and interfaces.

A solid performer at a reasonable price makes this an easy recommendation.

Battlefield 2 and Gamespy

Battlefield 2 is currently enjoying a 91% average rating, and with good reason. However, the excellent in-game experience is really being hampered by the Gamespy powered server browser.
Gamespy Makes My Head Hurt.

While I can understand the allure to the production management of using a pre-existing in-game server browser solution, rather than paying for the development in-house, it doesn’t stop me from being annoyed at the situation. Gamers have come to see “Powered by Gamespy” as a warning sign that the in-game server browser will be, at best, tolerable.

It’s not hard to see why third-party server browser software like All-Seeing Eye or Qtracker are still quite popular, despite the fact that nearly all modern online games ship with in-game browsers.

In the end, however, I feel sorry for Digital Illusions CE, as they’re the ones being blamed by less knowledgeable gamers for the travesty of the in-game browser, when the decision most likely came not from the developers, but from the producer, Electronic Arts.