By
Garrett Fuller, Industry Relations
In today’s gaming market players are always looking to go
faster. In MMOs, the time you have to make quick decisions when
fighting against players could mean life or death to your character.
With time in mind, gamers and developers alike are looking into the
hardware side of things to make games play better. With the constant
PvP battles in
target="_blank">WoW and the violent RvR scenarios
of
target="_blank">WAR, players are
looking for any edge they can get. That is where Bigfoot Networks comes
in with their Killer NIC card for PC gamers.
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The Killer
K1 card is an option in the latest Dell Gaming PCs.
We had a chance to talk with Harlan Beverly, the founder of Bigfoot
Networks, who looks at online games from a hardware point of view.
Recently Bigfoot formed a partnership with Dell Computers to have the
Killer NIC card put into their PCs as an option. Dell is now working on
an Online Gaming PC specifically for MMO players; expect to see the
Killer NIC card in there as an upgrade.
So what does the Killer NIC card do exactly? That was my first question
for Harlan as we spoke about the hardware side of MMOs. According to
Harlan, the Killer NIC card is designed to reduce lag and latency on
your PC while playing online. Every MMO player hates lag; I honestly
cannot think of anyone who might like it. Harlan explained that the
Killer NIC card is a plug and play technology which helps to reduce
ping and boost frame rates. I asked Harlan for numbers which he quickly
gave saying that a Killer NIC card can give a 10-20 millisecond
advantage when a player is in an intense fight online. It also can
improve frame rates by 15-20 frames per second.
However, if you measure your game play by number of kills, or simply by
the game itself, how does the Killer NIC help you? Harlan was also quick
to answer this question by giving game play experiences where the card
makes a difference. Harlan is a big
style="font-style: italic;">Call of Duty player
and knows the value of split second decision making while fighting it
out online. He gave us the grenade scenario as an example. Basically in
an intense fight when a grenade is thrown you have only a second to
react and possibly throw it back. Lag can play a factor in this instant
and you may end up dead. Harlan explains that with the Killer NIC card
cutting down lag and boosting frame per second you will have the
critical time to potentially grab the grenade and lob it back at your
enemies. From a game play perspective, this is a clear advantage.
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The Killer
M1 card is available to all consumers.
Bigfoot Networks is also working on “phase two” of
this lag reduction philosophy called Lag and Latency Reduction or LLR
Technology. While the Killer NIC will work on your computer’s
side of the game, LLR Technology will work on the server side of the
game. A great example that Harlan gave of this is in
style="font-style: italic;"> Warhammer Online.
Bigfoot Networks is working with Emergent Technologies who created the
game engine that runs WAR. LLR Technology is part of
style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer Online
right now and the game is optimized for the Killer NIC card in your PC.
So not only are you getting the cut down in lag from the servers, with
the Killer NIC card your PC is now also working to cut down the lag as
well. Harlan explained that Phase 3 of this entire process is bringing
the two together and making game play as smooth as possible for
everyone.
After hearing all of this from Harlan, the integration of a Killer NIC
card into my computer sounded like a great idea, but does it really
work? Bigfoot Networks points out that if you are currently playing an
MMO regularly and want better performance then give the Killer NIC a
try. Apparently, the difference will be obvious. Harlan believes very
strongly in the card and also said that the company was founded on the
basis to fight lag in games. There does not seem to be any gamers out
there who do not want to fight lag, and the Killer NIC is their first
weapon in this war.
In closing I asked Harlan what he would like to see in the online game
market as we move forward. Harlan hopes that games will be more
immersive and richer, that we will see MMOs in a twitch game style like
Call of Duty. He hopes to see voice chat in games, player’s
faces on characters, the works. We would like to thank Harlan for
taking time to chat with us, look for our review of the Killer NIC card
in the next few weeks.
