NVIDIA acaba de liberar la versión oficial y con certificación WHQL de sus drivers gráficos GeForce 181.22, los cuales traen contadas mejoras y arreglos, especialmente en juegos como Mirror's Edge, FallOut 3 en modo SLI y un arreglo para la GeForce GTX 295, en donde un problema ocasional hacia que se reconociera sólo una GPU para efectos de Físicas (PhysX) y CUDA. Esta actualización también incluye los drivers para físicas "PhysX 9.09.0010 system software"

Download: www.nvidia.com

NVIDIA acaba de lanzar sus últimos drivers gráficos oficiales, los GeForce 181.20 WHQL, se liberan en virtud del inminente lanzamiento de las nuevas tarjetas graficas GeForce GTX 295 y GeForce GTX 285, además de otras funcionalidades como el soporte SLI en placas X58 certificadas, mejoras de rendimiento en algunos juegos, como así también soporte para físicas (PhysX) mediante una tarjeta dedicada entre otras novedades.

Descarga de controladores para: Win XP 32-bit, Win XP 64-bit, Win Vista 32-bit, Win Vista 64-bit.

NVIDIA ha lanzado una nueva versión oficial de sus drivers para tarjetas gráficas GeForce (anteriormente conocidos como Forceware), los nuevos GeForce 178.13 WHQL son la última edición y cuentan con certificación Windows Hardware Quality Labs, con lo que se garantiza un correcto funcionamiento bajo Windows. Estos drivers cuentan con el soporte para tarjetas GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9 y GTX 200 series e incluyen además los drivers para físicas PhysX v8.09.04, además de numerosas mejoras en soporte y rendimiento que puedes revisar en las notas de lanzamiento:

Descarga desde estos enlaces:

GeForce 178.13 WHQL (Windows XP 32bit)

GeForce 178.13 WHQL (Windows XP 64bit)

GeForce 178.13 WHQL (Windows Vista 32bit)

GeForce 178.13 WHQL (Windows Vista 64bit)

ATI CrossFireX: Nueva versión de CrossFire que permite ahora combinar 3 o 4 tarjetas graficas que pueden ser: Radeon HD 3850, 3870 y HD 3870 X2.

Soporte Hybrid Graphics: También conocido como Crossfire Híbrido (Hybrid Crossfire) característica que se puede activar mediante el chipset AMD 780G y tarjetas discretas Radeon HD 3400 series.

Soporte DirectX 10.1: Esta versión de Catalyst incluye soporte para esta ultima actualización de la API grafica de Microsoft DX 10.1 y que se encuentra disponible con Windows Vista Service Pack 1, como ya se debe saber AMD introdujo este soporte en toda su familia de tarjetas ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series.

Mejoras Anti-Aliansing: Uno de los problemas que nos encontramos al hacer un reviews de una tarjeta Radeon con juegos basados en el Unreal Engine 3.0 (Gears of War y Unreal Tournament 3) es que no se podían activar los modos Anti-Aliasing, ahora es posible activarla a través del ATI Catalyst Control Center.

Soporte Hidravisión: Para Windows Vista, que permite administrar múltiples pantallas y distribuir aplicaciones en cada una de ellas.

Soporte para Tessellation: Tessellation es una técnica que tiene el potencial de simplificar los esfuerzos de desarrollo y mejorar el rendimiento, creando modelos de altos niveles de polígonos a partir de modelos de bajos polígonos.

Advanced Video Quality Controls: Solo para Windows Vista esta versión de los catalyst introduce dos controles para calidad avanzada de video, estos son: Edge enhancement y De-noise, esto para la reproducción de video. Más detalles y mejoras en las notas de lanzamiento.

Download: ATi Drivers 8.3

"Performance improvements with this release of Catalyst™ includes Company of Heroes DX10 frame rates increasing as much as 20% across all of the ATI Radeon™ HD 2x00 series of products and on all ATI Radeon™ HD 3x00 series

of products. These performance improvements are even larger (up to 30%) for CrossFire™ configurations."

ATI Catalyst 8.2

Notas de Lanzamiento

• OpenGL CrossFire™ Support Under Windows Vista: Catalyst™ 7.3 introduces OpenGL CrossFire™ support for the entire ATI Radeon™ X1000 product series under Microsoft Vista. Users will see significant performance gains in a number of applications when running in CrossFire™ mode under Windows Vista.
• CrossFire™ Enhancements for Windows Vista: Catalyst™ 7.3 includes CrossFire™ enhancements for Windows Vista that enable the Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) CrossFire™ rendering mode by default, enabling performance benefits for all AFR compatible applications immediately (including newly released applications that have not been officially profiled for CrossFire™). Future Catalyst™ releases will add further CrossFire™ performance gains once new applications have been profiled specifically for CrossFire™.
• Performance Improvements
  Dark Messiah Might and Magic performance improves 12.5% or greater on all Radeon™ X1000 series configurations when running in CrossFire™ mode under both the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. Larger gains of 60% or more can be seen on high end products.
  

Ver: Driver Page
Download: Vista 32bit | Vista 64bit | Radeon XP 32bit | Radeon XP 64bit | Radeon MCE

• Improved: [gen_ml] unicode tree item title support
• Improved: [NDE] speed optimizations
  
• Improved: [ml_history] localized dates
  
• Improved: [ml_local] Unicode media library support
  
• Improved: [ml_playlists] now uses m3u8 to retain unicode file info
  
• Improved: [ml_playlists] playlists in send-to submenu
  
• Improved: [ml_pmp] playback-from-device of unicode filenames
  
• Improved: [ml_wire] moved discover page to main page
  
• Improved: [pmp_p4s] auto-detection of supported file formats
  
• Fixed: playlist directory loading fix (again)
  
• Fixed: recursive playlist loading
  
• Fixed: video lockup when switching video display settings
  
• Fixed: HTML playlist generation
  
• Fixed: temp file cleanup after burning
  
• Fixed: Alt+L from video window
  
• Fixed: fullscreen video display drawing glitch
  
• Fixed: recursive shortcut loading
  
• Fixed ASX Loader not reading local relative paths correctly
  
• Fixed: [gen_ml] & needs expanding to && for any menu entries showing filenames
  
• Fixed: [in_flac] not saving genres.txt in multiuser directory
  
• Fixed: [in_mp3] create id3v2 tag when writing album artist
  
• Fixed: [in_mp3] workaround for id3v2.4 tags with badly formatted frame sizes
  
• Fixed: [in_vorbis] writing blank metadata instead of erasing
  
• Fixed: [in_wave] sometimes not remembering custom extensions
  
• Fixed: [in_wm] stack overflow on hi-def multichannel audio with replaygain enabled
  
• Fixed: [in_wm] File Info editor album artist not saving
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] Modern skin pledit winshade 'Manage Playlist' button bug
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] ignoring files with ellipsis (...)
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] editing disc via 'edit selected items'
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] sorting fix
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] ratings menu
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] crash when sorting by replaygain
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] deadlock when retrieving title to guess metadata
  
• Fixed: [ml_local] no longer causes unicode files in playlist to display ?????
  
• Fixed: [ml_playlists] time column and 'status' in statusbar
  
• Fixed: [ml_pmp]
  
• Fixed: [ml_rg] multi-channel files being calculated incorrectly
  
• Fixed: [ml_transcode] bad/missing metadata on transcoded files
  
• Fixed: [ml_transcode] error on overly long filenames (can't open destination file)
  
• Fixed: [ml_wire] podcasts that change titles not updating properly
  
• Updated: Coding Technologies aacPlus encoder 8.0.3
  

Download: Radeon Vista 32bit | Radeon Vista 64bit

Ver: ATI Drivers

• Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy including Platinum and Platinum eX series
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 including Platinum, Platinum eX, and Value series
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS including Platinum and Platinum Pro series
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro and Sound Blaster Audigy 4
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook PCMCIA
  

• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Windows XP Service Pack 2
• Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
  

Notes

• This download will uninstall the drivers for your existing audio device before proceeding with the installation.
• For Audigy 2 and Audigy 4 series only: After updating your driver, download and install Creative MediaSource™ DVD-Audio Player DVDA_PCApp_LB_2_00_75.exe.
  vCreative MediaSource DVD-Audio Player is unavailable for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
• Do not install this driver for the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy LS or Sound Blaster Audigy SE audio device.
  

Download: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Driver 2K/XP ~39MBs

• Visual Refresh: Firefox 2's theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability without altering the familiarity of the browsing experience. For instance, toolbar buttons now glow when you hover over them. We will continue to improve the look and feel throughout the release candidate process.
• Built-in phishing protection: Phishing Protection warns users when they encounter suspected Web forgeries, and offers to return the user to their home page. Phishing Protection is turned on by default, and works by checking sites against either a local or online list of known phishing sites. This list is automatically downloaded and regularly updated when the Phishing Protection feature is enabled.
• Enhanced search capabilities: Search term suggestions will now appear as users type in the integrated search box when using the Google, Yahoo! or Answers.com search engines. A new search engine manager makes it easier to add, remove and re-order search engines, and users will be alerted when Firefox encounters a website that offers new search engines that the user may wish to install.
• Improved tabbed browsing: By default, Firefox will open links in new tabs instead of new windows, and each tab will now have a close tab button. Power users who open more tabs than can fit in a single window will see arrows on the left and right side of the tab strip that let them scroll back and forth between their tabs. The History menu will keep a list of recently closed tabs, and a shortcut lets users quickly re-open an accidentally closed tab.
• Resuming your browsing session: The Session Restore feature restores windows, tabs, text typed in forms, and in-progress downloads from the last user session. It will be activated automatically when installing an application update or extension, and users will be asked if they want to resume their previous session after a system crash.
• Previewing and subscribing to Web feeds: Users can decide how to handle Web feeds (like this one), either subscribing to them via a Web service or in a standalone RSS reader, or adding them as Live Bookmarks. My Yahoo!, Bloglines and Google Reader come pre-loaded as Web service options, but users can add any Web service that handles RSS feeds.
• Inline spell checking: A new built-in spell checker enables users to quickly check the spelling of text entered into Web forms (like this one) without having to use a separate application.
• Live Titles: When a website offers a microsummary (a regularly updated summary of the most important information on a Web page), users can create a bookmark with a "Live Title". Compact enough to fit in the space available to a bookmark label, they provide more useful information about pages than static page titles, and are regularly updated with the latest information. There are several websites that can be bookmarked with Live Titles, and even more add-ons to generate Live Titles for other popular websites.
• Improved Add-ons manager: The new Add-ons manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes, combining them both in a single tool.
• JavaScript 1.7: JavaScript 1.7 is a language update introducing several new features such as generators, iterators, array comprehensions, let expressions, and destructuring assignments. It also includes all the features of JavaScript 1.6.
• Extended search plugin format: The Firefox search engine format now supports search engine plugins written in Sherlock and OpenSearch formats and allows search engines to provide search term suggestions.
• Updates to the extension system: The extension system has been updated to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions.
• Client-side session and persistent storage: New support for storing structured data on the client side, to enable better handling of online transactions and improved performance when dealing with large amounts of data, such as documents and mailboxes. This is based on the WHATWG specification for client-side session and persistent storage.
• SVG text: Support for the svg:textpath specification enables SVG text to follow a curve or shape.
• New Windows installer: Based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, the new Windows installer resolves many long-standing issues.
  

Download: Firefox 2 RC 2

Download: Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 @ Microsoft

What's new in Winamp 5.3.
* New: Unicode filename and title support
* New: M3U8 (Unicode) playlist support
* New: optional 24bit playback for many codecs (turn it on in Preferences->Playback)
* New: Replaygain support for MP3, AAC, Vorbis, M4A and WMA
* New: added ml views & playlists to Play-> submenu of right click popup menu
* New: added interface/x-winamp3-skin mimetype for WAL skins
* New: [ml_dash] Personalized content portal
* New: [ml_disc] optional replaygain scanning after rip (turn it on in cd ripping prefs)
* New: [ml_pmp] Transcoding. Converts incompatible files on-the-fly for your portable device.
* New: [ml_pmp] Playback now works for playsForSure and Creative NJB devices
* New: [ml_pmp] "Copy to Library" - transfer songs from any device to your local library (uses CD rip settings)
* New: [ml_pmp] Video sync support for portables
* New: [ml_rg] replaygain scanner (access via Send To menu)
* New: [pmp_ipod] gapless playback support on newer models
* New: [pmp_usb] USB drive support. Now all those thumbdrive MP3 players can work with Winamp.
* Improved: fullscreen video seekbar
* Improved: ATF updates
* Improved: DC filter on spectral visualization, to remove bass bias
* Improved: preference cleanups
* Improved: faster PLS writing
* Improved: 24bit EQ support
* Improved: "Close Winamp" option after installation (after clicking 'Send'
* Improved: [enc_aacplus] Improved AAC and aacPlus encoding!
* Improved: [enc_aacplus] saves itunes/ipod-compatible gapless information
* Improved: [enc_lame] added preset medium and fast medium
* Improved: [enc_wma] VBR and lossless modes
* Improved: [gen_ff] better sample rate display
* Improved: [in_cdda] faster ripping speeds through improved buffering and multithreading
* Improved: [in_dshow] AVI metadata reading
* Improved: [in_dshow] better WAV support
* Improved: [in_mp3] 24bit MP3 playback, 64bit internal precision
* Improved: [in_mp3] streaming id3v2 support
* Improved: [in_mp3] replaygain support for MP3 playback
* Improved: [in_mp3/in_mp4] 24bit AAC playback
* Improved: [in_mp3/in_mp4] itunes-compatible gapless playback
* Improved: [in_mp3/in_mp4] mp3-in-mp4 container support
* Improved: [in_mp4] FAAC-compatible (mostly) gapless playback
* Improved: [in_wave] better outputs bits-per-sample choosing
* Improved: [ml_playlists] added missing entries from pledit context menus
* Improved: [ml_playlists] option to not show playlists in send-to menu
* Improved: [ml_pmp] Only relevant columns shown in song views
* Improved: [ml_pmp] "Getting Metadata" now much faster
* Improved: [ml_pmp] devices can now be renamed
* Improved: [ml_pmp] added progress to portables tree item (no more switching views)
* Improved: [ml_pmp] metadata guessing based on filename
* Improved: [ml_pmp] improved GUI performance
* Improved: [pmp_ipod] support for iTunesLock
* Fixed: Burning files that require resampling
* Fixed: multiple copies of Winamp when opening too many files/folders from explorer
* Fixed: freeze when exiting Winamp while minimized
* Fixed: Delay/hang when loading dead stream url's
* Fixed: crash when directdraw fails to create primary surface
* Fixed: 4x burn speed limit with Pro
* Fixed: registry handling when disassociating filetypes
* Fixed: better detection of video input plugins
* Fixed: [dsp_sps] 24 bit fix
* Fixed: [enc_aacplus] more compatible HE AAC MP4 file creation
* Fixed: [enc_lame] broken vbr presets
* Fixed: [enc_lame] 24bit input support
* Fixed: [enc_lame] bitrate lower bound on alt-presets
* Fixed: [in_cdda] CDDB lookups clearing the ENTIRE playlist cache
* Fixed: [gen_ff] layerfx not being redrawn on colortheme change
* Fixed: [gen_ff] gradient drawing glitch and crash
* Fixed: [gen_ff] custom color themes bug
* Fixed: [gen_jumpex] hang when suspending or hibernating
* Fixed: [gen_ml] tree icon fixup (divide by zero crash in ICM32.dll)
* Fixed: [in_cdda] cutoff of last few sectors
* Fixed: [in_dshow] crash when using DSP/EQ on anything bigger than 16bit stereo
* Fixed: [in_dshow] seek to key frame
* Fixed: [in_midi] truncated playback of some MIDI files
* Fixed: [in_mod] title display bug for module streams with no title
* Fixed: [in_mp3] crash when editing ID3 tags
* Fixed: [in_mp3] ID3v2 and ID3v1 Comment & Genre tags shared
* Fixed: [in_mp3] Inaccurate Time Remaining display for AAC files
* Fixed: [in_mp3] do Viz after DSP
* Fixed: [in_mp3] Icecast stream title UTF-8 support
* Fixed: [in_mp4] detection of HE AAC in file info box (Alt+3)
* Fixed: [in_wm] DRM Video playback on certain hardware
* Fixed: [in_wm] freezeup when seeking a paused wma
* Fixed: [in_wm] Hang with dead WMV link in pledit in Repeat mode
* Fixed: [in_wm] freeze when stopping streams that have rebuffered
* Fixed: [in_wm] small memory leak on each track play
* Fixed: [in_wm] Windows Media Screen Codec not playing properly
* Fixed: [ml_disc] CD ripping / playlist generation bug
* Fixed: [ml_disc] CD Ripping view showing up when clicking on other ml views
* Fixed: [ml_history] Ctrl+H shortcut
* Fixed: [ml_local] fixed crash when trying to create a new view before mldb has loaded
* Fixed: [ml_local] background scan crash when media library DB isn't loaded
* Fixed: [ml_local] scheduled background scan always starting at startup
* Fixed: [ml_online] Online Media bugfix (don't try to play NULL streams)
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] losing stream titles
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] sort by title
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] Send To from local media to ml playlist replaces instead of enqueues
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] Enqueue as default broken in left pane
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] Playlist title > rt-click > New Playlist = broken
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] tracklength bug
* Fixed: [ml_playlists] playlist paths issue
* Fixed: [ml_pmp] Transfers stalling after encountering a dupe
* Fixed: [out_ds] volume not hitting 0dB when using log or hybrid volume control
* Fixed: [pmp_ipod] Artist list on iPod not sorting "The" correctly
* Updated: Coding Technology aacPlus Decoder 8.0.0
* Updated: [gen_ff] Freetype 2.2.1
* Updated: [gen_ff] libpng 1.2.12
* Updated: [gen_jumpex] Jump-to-File 0.97.7
* Updated: [in_wave] libsndfile 1.0.16
* Updated: [libmp4v2] MPEG4IP mp4v2 1.5
* Updated: [enc_lame] LAME 3.97b3
* Updated: Sonic Engine 3.2.40.500

Download: Winamp Full | Lite | Pro | Standard

Download: Firefox 2.0 Beta 2

Release Highlights:
* WHQL Certified.
* Adds support for NVIDIA Quad SLI, GeForce 7600 GS AGP and GeForce 7100 GS.
* Includes the new NVIDIA Control Panel. Please visit the NVIDIA Control Panel website for more information.
* New NVIDIA PureVideo features and enhancements. Please visit the NVIDIA PureVideo website for more information on PureVideo technology and system requirements.
* Adds noise reduction post processing
* Adds image sharpening post processing
* Improved Inverse telecine algorithm
* Improved de-interlacing algorithm
* Improved compatibility with third party MPEG-2 decoders
* Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0c and OpenGL® 2.0 support
* For a full list of fixes issues, please view the release notes.

Download: NVIDIA ForceWare 91.47 ~40.3MB

Download: Microsoft IE7 RC1

Sierra Entertainment ha anunciado hoy que la sección multijugador del juego para PC ganador de varios premios F.E.A.R.™ (First Encounter Assault Recon), ha sido renombrada F.E.A.R. Combat, y será liberada de forma gratuita para el público el Jueves 17 de Agosto, 2006.

F.E.A.R. Combat es la sección multijugador completa de F.E.A.R. e incluye todas las actualizaciones, mapas oficiales adicionales y modos de juego en un solo paquete.

F.E.A.R. Combat permitirá jugar contra personas que posean la versión completa de F.E.A.R. así como usuarios de F.E.A.R. Combat.

F.E.A.R. Combat incluye:

- 10 Modos Multijugador.

- 19 Mapas.

- 12 armas diferentes.

- Punkbuster para anti-cheat.

- La capacidad de bajar contenido generado por la comunidad.

Para jugar F.E.A.R. Combat, los interesados deben registrarse en www.joinfear.com y así obtener un Combat keycode.

Cuando sea liberado, los jugadores simplemente lo tienen que instalar, poner el keycode asignado a su cuenta, y estarán listos para iniciar con F.E.A.R. Combat!

F.E.A.R. Combat será liberado el 17 de Agosto, 2006.

Fuente: F.E.A.R. fans

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter version 1.21

CHANGENOTES 19/07/2006

Updates

- Game mode Hamburger Hill added.

- Game mode Team Deathmatch added.

Two new gametypes, Hamburger Hill(HH) and Team Deathmatch(TDM) have been added to the game, along with two brand new maps. Some maps have also been added to multiple gamemodes. In addition the editor has been updated to output maps to these modes.

- Added "Server Info" button in the multiplayer interface, and a "lock" icon to show servers with passwords.

- More sound, grunts and a dying sound has been added when you're getting shot.

- A new "Skip Insertion" option exists for Coop missions.

This option will spawn the players at the last stage of the insertion, just before the mission starts.

- "Death cameras" have been added.

Two new options exists when creating a server, "Members" and "Overview". Overview includes the "Members" option. If deathcams are enabled and a player runs out of lives on a limited spawn server, the player can access the deathcam. It will toggle with mouse1 and mouse2 by default, and you can return to the status screen with "tab".

- A new SLI checkbox exists in the graphics settings to alert the player that SLI is enabled for the game.

Fixes

- Sound settings can now properly be saved.

- Anticheat will now be checked on player spawn to prevent any false positives during map load.

- Fixed a crash issue with inventory kits in multiplayer.

Download: GR: AW v1.2 Patch ~231MB

• Certificación WHQL
  
• Soporte para GeForce 7950 GX2.
  
• Incluye el nuevo Panel de control NVIDIA. Encontrará más información en las páginas web del Panel de control.
  
• Nuevas funciones y mejoras de NVIDIA PureVideo. Visitar el sitio web de NVIDIA PureVideo para obtener más información sobre esta tecnología y los requisitos del sistema.
  • Añade posprocesamiento para la reducción de ruido.
    
  • Añade posprocesamiento para mejorar la nitidez de imagen.
    
  • Mejora el algoritmo de telecine inverso.
    
  • Mejora el algoritmo de desentrelazado.
    
  • Mejora la compatibilidad con descodificadores de MPEG-2 de terceros.
    

  [*]Soporte de Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0c y OpenGL® 2.0

Download: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

F.E.A.R. retail patch, servers & SDK v1.06

F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault and Reconnaissance

English (North America) version 1.06

Readme File

June 26, 2006

VI. VERSION HISTORY

====================

Version 1.06

------------

This latest update corrects the loading issue with games saved before the 1.05 patch and several other various fixes.

Download: F.E.A.R. V1.05 TO V1.06 ~10.31MB l F.E.A.R. SDK V1.06 ~598MB l F.E.A.R. Servidor Dedicado Windows ~146MB

This release of Catalyst® introduces the following new features:

• Avivo™ Video Converter Extension for Windows Media Center Edition
  
• Theater 650 Pro TV Tuner Support
  

Los fix forman una lista larga.

Ver: Release Notes

Download: ATI Catalyst 6.6