Free games for ATi Radeon owners
By Jonathan Schlaffer
I don’t know how this happened but it is likely a publicity stunt by ATi to get more users on board with their cards. ATi has been outdone by nVidia on more than one occasion and right now and it was second on the market (behind nVidia) with DirectX 10 capable video cards.
It may not be enough to lure users away from nVidia, especially those that have already bought any of its DirectX 10 offerings. Whatever the case, if you have an ATi card you can head right over here and get some free games.
Of course, you can’t get just any old game but up for free downloads are Half Life 2: Lost Cost and Half Life 2: Death Match. You still need to create a free Steam Account (something that I regret) and let it scan your system for a supported ATi card.
Once done you will be able to download the games. Big deal, it’s not like you can get the original Half Life 2 for free or Episode 1 for free.
Those that are in need of a new graphics card might consider this offer but if you’ve already bought a nVidia card then don’t worry about it, it’s not worth the trouble. Normally I’d say that nVidia has superior drivers but their recent versions of Forceware have much to be desired and ATi drivers were always bad.
I can’t give you a recommendation but I still consider nVidia to be superior. I wonder how long it will be before it can offer up a similar deal?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejLtDJ5V-9g[/youtube]
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on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 6:14 am
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July 9th, 2007
Thats amazing. I’ve never bought an ati card and never will. For them to give away free games as an excuse for sucking so bad is an excellent idea.
August 5th, 2007
That’s great that you can give your uneducated opinion about ATI. Maybe your stupid, maybe just drunk and had a bad day. But if you can remember not too long ago there was I think it was called directx 9.
That’s right you guessed it. ATI made Hardware compatable Directx 9 cards. Blew nVidia out of the water. Oh and AMD. I remember them doing something too. Putting intel to shame with better more powerful chips for less money. I know their not too busy advertising like nVidia and Intel. They wont have to be advertising soon. Mark my words. You have to have a little bit of knowledge before you get a respected opinion Nathan.
September 4th, 2007
That’s not much of a stunt seeing as neither of those two “games” are really games in their own right.
Lost coast is just a tech demo of HDR, and deathmatch is just the multiplayer portion of halflife 2 (and it’s pretty poor)
As for Nvidia vs ATI, I’ve owned 3 ATI cards and never had any problems. My parents have had 3 Nvidia cards: the original and two replacements for faulty hardware. I’ve also noticed that they run games slower, and they didn’t even offer AA and HDR at the same time.
As for the current generation of nvidia cards being better than ATI…well, I’ve only seen benchmarks on DX9, and these are DX10 cards we’re talking about. Plus they were comparisons of the top of the range Nvidia card against the second to top ATI (I’m expecting a 2950 from ATI)
Basically I agree with fenous…ATI and AMD produce better hardware, and better value for money too!
September 13th, 2008
To the comment of Nathan, you may laugh about ATi giving away but if you haven’t Nvidia have taken up the same promotion.
Don’t suck so bad now do they?
I have had three graphics card over this year. the Geforce 8500 Gt, which was a waste of space and money. it had the overclocking of an old granny.
The Geforce 7900 GS, this card ran like a dream and had of lot of overclocking potential. For the price it was a great.
And now the HD3450 (sold my last computer otherwise would have stuck with the 7900 GS). For the price it has a lot of performance compared to the geforce 8500 GT. its ok for my current computer as I don’t plan to game as much with this
November 26th, 2008
So you are a Nvidia fan boy Nathan? Great, another loser to broadcast his uneducated view to the world. Both companies are good, and they will remain good, no matter how much you state you opinion as ‘fact.’ Johnathan at least stated his view as his opinion, which he is entitled to.
Anyway, on topic, I recently took up that offer with ATI, and I found lost coast rather boring, becasue you are impervious to enemy bullets, and its stuck on easy mode. Death match is rather interesting, expecially the custom content out there. Its just there are alot of annoing pre-pubestent monkeys shouting profanity into their headsets. My advice, take the offer, it free!