64-Bit Gaming? Dead or Alive?

[Super XP]

I think it is alive, but slow moving. I am hoping that we see a lot more Vista DX10 x64 games. Not this 64-Bit patch stuff, but the real thing from scratch

Following this brief introduction, please see the current list of genuine (native) 64-bit games running under 64-bit Windows XP:

Half-Life 2
Lost Coast
Bet On Soldier: Blood Sport
Codename: Panzers (Phase one)
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Far Cry
Fahrenheit
Shadow Ops: Red Mercury
Unreal Tournament 2004
World of Warcraft
WWII Tank Commander
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Dreadnought

64-bit game programs on the site of AMD64, comparison with the 32-bit versions, demos and screen videos, and system requirements:

HL2 and Lost Coast 64-bit
Torc Interactive and the Power of Gaming on AMD64
Unreal® Tournament 2004 64-bit
AMD64 version of Far Cry
AMD64 and WWII Tank Commander
AMD64 Technology and Shadow Ops: Red Mercury

http://www.start64.com/index.php?opt...=190&Itemid=60
---------------
These are already available games:

Bet On Soldier: Blood Sport
Game website: http://www.betonsoldier.com/
64-bit support: built-in in the retail game


Codename: Panzers (Phase one)
Game website: http://www.panzers.de/
64-bit support: Additional patch required, it is not necessary for the DVD version of the game
Download the patch: http://www.panzers.de/index.php?page...oad.en.panzers


Colin McRae Rally 2005
Game website: http://www.codemasters.com/colinmcrae2005/
64-bit support: Additional patch required
Download the patch: http://www.3dgamers.com/games/colinmcrae5/downloads/


Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Game website: http://www.riddickgame.com/
64-bit support: built-in in the retail game


Far Cry
Game website: http://www.farcry-thegame.com/
64-bit support: Additional patch required, the patch also adds new content
Download the patch (requires free registration): http://amd64andfarcry.gamedaemons.net/


Fahrenheit (a.k.a. Indigo Prophecy)
Game website: http://www.fahrenheitgame.com/
64-bit support: Additional patch required
Download the patch: http://www.3dgamers.com/games/fahrenheit/downloads/


Shadow Ops: Red Mercury
Game website: http://www.atari.com/shadowops/
64-bit support: built-in in the retail game


Unreal Tournament 2004
Game website: http://www.unrealtournament.com/
64-bit support: Additional patch required
Download the latest patch ver. 3369: http://www.3dgamers.com/games/unrealtourn2k4/downloads/


World of Warcraft
Game website: http://worldofwarcraft.com/
64-bit support: Additional patch required prior v1.8.0, the newest retail games come with built-in support
Download the latest patch: http://www.3dgamers.com/games/worldo...aft/downloads/


WWII Tank Commander
Game website: http://www.wwiitankcommander.com/
64-bit support: built-in in the retail game



And here are some upcoming titles:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Game website: http://www.stalker-game.com/
Developer: GSC Game World

There is still no information on when to expect the game to be finished and available.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is expected to leverage the strengths of AMD64 technology to provide an immersive gaming experience with a larger playable world, more detailed surroundings, better AI, and more people per map.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl brings the foreboding post-nuclear disaster zone to life in the year 2012. As a mercenary, the player will venture into the exclusion zone in order to acquire information, technology and artefacts to sell on the black market, but ultimately will have to uncover the what secrets are hidden by the Shadow Of Chernobyl.


Dreadnought
Game website: http://www.torcinteractive.com/Studio.htm
Developer: Torc Interactive

The Instinct Engine (powering the game) is set for market release at GDC 2006 in San Jose, there is still no date announced for the game release!

A tech Demo is aviable for download here (requires free registration): http://amd64downloads.filecloud.com/dreadnought.asp

The AMD64 64-bit enhanced mode of the Dreadnought demo takes advantage of the performance benefits of 64-bit by greatly extending the richness of the game content and effects, including:
- uncompressed normal maps allowing for higher texture quality and greater detail
- significantly higher number of particle effects (e.g. more flames, more steam, more smoke, etc.)
- persistent decals (e.g. bullet holes stay on walls and don't fade away over time as in 32-bit)
- post-processing effects (e.g. screen glows)
- more pixel shader instructions (the adrenaline vision mode is built upon and replaces the base lighting shader to produce the effect)


!!! Note that the 64-bit patches for Codename: Panzers (Phase one) and Fahrenheit (a.k.a. Indigo Prophecy) seem to be released to slove issues of the games running under Windows x64 Edition, not to make the game use the additional features of the 64-bit OS/CPU combination.

[ExceededGoku]

I really want 64 bit to pull together since it is in general better... but I can't see it happening.. Support is still shakey after more than a year now and performance is generally worst.

[altitude2k]

I wont be taking advantage of 64-bit until Vista comes out, methinks. I tried the 30-day trial version of xp 64 and while a lot of stuff was supported (drivers etc) I had real problems getting a lot of programs I use to work with it (diskeeper, AVG and others) which made me uninstall it. I also use a lot of CAD and analysis software, which actually just got slowed down considerably in having to have 32-bit emulated.

I think it was HL2's support of 64-bit that made me give it a go. It's a shame that I had problems with the other things, otherwise I may have kept it for a bit longer. Roll on Vista 64-bit and 64-bit gaming, I say.

[Smokey21]

Dead, there is no point at the moment.

[chuckskull]

Theres only one reason it hasn't taken off so far. Theres no real advantage for gaming(unless you want more than 3gig of RAM) and half f th software currently available just gives up at even the sight of 64bit.

Currently it's a lot of hassle(money) for little gain. I'm guessing it will become more commonplace with vista. Unless of course Vista x64, carries a big premium over the 32bit version, then once again people just wont bother.

[kwongnewman]

It will take some time to get rolling, but I believe it's still alive.

[directhex]

ut2004 has 64-bit out of the box on linux

[snedger]

game and hardware manufacturers have all been waiting for Vista.
I've had to rely on enthusiasts for things like a 64 bit driver for my printer and hacks for games, like the expansion for Act of War. (N.B. not a pie-rat hack, but just to make the bought game load)
Thing is, can game makers cut code that can take advantage of 64 bit in Vista and still work well enough on XP ordinaire ?
Could be a while before we see the full benefits.
And if processing keeps getting offloaded onto perhipheral processors like physics processor cards and even on to the video card, then perhaps 64 bit won't ever really matter.

[mondogenerator]

I recently installed XP64 and to my surprise, everything works perfectly.

About a year ago I tried and had problems finding RAID drivers, games didn't work, peripherals had problems too so was dubious this time round.

But I bought a copy last month with a 4600 dual core and installed it, no problems at all on a RAID 0 array.

Installation took 30 minutes and about a hour after that most of the software and drivers I wanted I had been installed (the AMD CPU drivers made a large difference), after leaving it on overnight to download all the steam games and updates I tried a bunch of games, they ALL worked perfectly:
FEAR, CoD2, IL2:FB v.4.05 (Hyperlobby and FBView plus also worked), the entire Total War series and the new Demo, Call of Juarez, HL2, HL2 E1, Red Orchestra, BF1942, BF2+all expansions, BF2142 demo, Hitman Bloodmoney, Lomac Flaming Cliffs, M$FS2004, EVE, City of Heroes/Villains, Lineage II, Auto Assault, Guild Wars and expansions....they all worked perfect. Only Rome totar war seemed not to perform as well under XP64.

I had to switch from O&Q defrag to Perfect Disk 8 and Avast antivirus from Norton but Adaware works. My 3Dmark 06 was also up by a few hundred points as well.

I really want 64 bit to pull together since it is in general better... but I can't see it happening.. Support is still shakey after more than a year now and performance is generally worst.

A year back I would agree but after my 2nd experiance a year after release WinXP 64bit is actually pretty good with plenty of support, its as stable as XP32 too.