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Bigfoot Introduces Killer NIC Bandwidth Control

Rich Miller — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:02:45 +0000

Bigfoot Networks has announced a new feature for its popular Killer NIC high-performance gaming network card. Killer Bandwidth Control lets gamers fine-tune how their Killer network card dedicates bandwidth to their games and other applications. Through a simple GUI interface, users can set how Killer should allocate bandwidth usage from other applications to ensure that the game receives the bandwidth it needs for consistently smooth performance.

“Every Windows gaming PC has other non-gaming tasks running in the background vying for network resources,” said Harlan Beverly, co-founder and CEO of Bigfoot Networks. “Killer Bandwidth Control can for example, stop PunkBuster or annoying Windows updates from ruining the experience by limiting the bandwidth they can use.”

The Killer NIC gaming network card is designed to reduce the lag and latency associated with high action MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) and FPS (First Person Shooter) games. With a dedicated Network Processing Unit (NPU), Killer NIC offloads network processing from the CPU, bypasses the Windows Network Stack and prioritizes game packets to boost average frame-rates and smooth gameplay during intense game situations.

With Bandwidth Control gamers can manage the bandwidth across all applications to further maximize their game performance. Key features include: (1) Bandwidth Priority settings tell Killer NIC which applications should get preferential access when multiple applications are vying for the same bandwidth, (2) Bandwidth Limits set a minimum/maximum upload and download bandwidth speed for any game or application.

Bigfoot Networks specializes in technologies designed to fight Lag in online games. The company’s mission is to enhance Internet-based online game experiences in multiplayer action games. The company’s hardware and software solutions are targeted at gamer PCs and game hosting servers.

Bigfoot Networks Inc Killer K1 64 MB PCI Wired Online Gaming Network Accelerator NIC (B011-500-0045)

The KillerÃ¢Â„Â¢ K1 64 MB PCI Online Gaming Network Accelerator from Bigfoot NetworksÃ¢Â„Â¢ is a Network Card designed specifically for online gamers. Killer K1 accelerates gaming by bypassing the Windows Network Stack, getting to data to your game fast. It features 333 MHz Network Processing Unit with Lag and Latency Reduction Technology. Killer K1 can be upgraded to support the Flexible Network Architecture (FNA). This allows you to run applications such as firewalls and BitTorrent clients right on your Killer instead of your CPU.

World Series of Video Games Is Kaput

Rich Miller — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:50:19 +0000

The World Series of Video Games has announced that it is cancellling the remainder of its scheduled events. Series organizer Games Media Properties cited growing competition in the professional gaming circuit as a major factor. “We have been grateful for the generous support provided by Intel and other sponsors since our inception,” the company said in its announcement. “However, the continuing challenges of securing adequate revenues to sustain the production of the WSVG’s large scale events and television programming, in a very crowded field of competitive gaming leagues, has prompted us to re-evaluate our direction as an organization. Unfortunately, the decision is to cancel the remainder of the WSVG season, as we shift our focus solely to growing our online advertising network of websites.”

Games Media Properties said it would pay all previous prize winners and refund entry fees it has received for scheduledÂ events in Los Angeles, London and Sweden .

FPS Rantings Alive and Well

Rich Miller — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:24:58 +0000

A quick update: Back in February we reported that the FPS Rantings blog from blog network B5 Media was shutting down. In fact, it was just going on hiatus, and is now back and being regularly updated by Michael Leano.

Kidnapped Gamer Won’t Give Up Password

Rich Miller — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:16:22 +0000

A strange story from Gizmodo: A Brazilian gang kidnapped one of the leading players of GunBound, a turn-based RPG-style multiplayer online game, hoping to obtain his password and sell the account. One of the criminals’ girlfriends arranged a meeting with the gamer via Orkut, the Google-run social network that is huge in Brazil. When he showed up for his date, the gangsters snatched him:

After sequestering him in Sao Paulo, they held a gun against the victim’s head for five hours to get his password, which they wanted to sell for $8,000. And yes, the story gets even better. Surprisingly enough, after five hours the hostage wasn’t talking. The group leader had a gun against his head all that time but the guy didn’t say a word. At that point, the crooks gave up and decided to let him go. The Brazilian police then caught the four suspects, aged 19 to 27.

How many gamers would refuse to give up their passwords with a gun to their head? Hero or idiot?

FPS Rantings Blog Shuts Down

Rich Miller — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:17:51 +0000

The B5media blog network has decided to shut down FPS Rantings, its blog about first-person shooter games. Here’s the announcement from B5media’s Matt Scott:

Well folks. Due to a lack of traffic and readership, the powers that be have decided to close the pages of FPS Rantings. Itâ€™s been fun and I hope you all enjoyed reading my thoughts and sarcasm regarding the genre of FPS games.

Is there no audience for FPS blogs? Part of the issue may have been the focus of FPS Rantings, which covered a broad range of FPS titles but seemed geared to everyday FPS gamers than competitive gamers. eSports sites such as GotFrag seem to have plenty of readers, as does TwitchGuru (which has the advantage of being part of the Tom’s Hardware Guide network). See our directory of gaming news sites for more reading.

Secrets of Reducing Lag in Online Gaming

Rich Miller — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 05:04:40 +0000

The PC Gaming Blog over at 451 Press hasÂ an item on Reducing Lag in Online Gaming, with 10 tips on ways you can improve your gaminge xperience. Many will be well known to experienced gamers, but the list covers a range of variables that involve hardware (Upgrade Your Computer, Check Your Network Cable, Increase System Cooling), configuration (Close Background Tasks, Reduce the Screen Resolution) and connectivity (Seclect Low-Pinged Servers, Get Better Bandwidth/A Better ISP). Sam also shares a tip from the Filefront Forums that may be new to many players: renaming the .exe can route around game detection functions in popular graphics cards that can imapct the performance of some games.