The last 12 months have seen new game engines coming out left right and centre. While most casual gamers wont know they are there, some of these engines look and feel great to use and really change how we play.

Last year it was Call Of Duty with it’s new proprietary engine which featured HDR lighting and depth of field, not forgetting bullet penetration - the engine taking factors such as the type of surface and the thickness into account thoughout each map. This year saw GTA with a new game engine RAGE. Whilst this is impressive, the Euphoria engine devolved by Natural Motion was a leap in a new direction for everyone. It can be worked into any game engine bringing life into the ageing ragdolls formula. Then, ahead of us we have Far Cry 2’s Dunia which looks untouchable in technical terms with things such as real-world weather, dynamic fire propagation and non-scripted enemy A.I.

But the one I want to talk about is one that has been made for one of my favourite games series, Battlefield. It’s called Frostbite (hence the article title, it’s there for a reason!). Currently only being used by the latest Battlefield game, Bad Company, the engine’s main and most visual effects are the real-time destruction - meaning you can blow a hole in just about anything. 90% of the gaming world can be destroyed with frames of buildings and other stuff remaining indestructible, to prevent the landscape from becoming completely flat. Remember, shooting a wall in any of the other BF games creates a big cloud of smoke and rubble but still the wall is intact. Well now the walls can be destroyed in some way - more so if its a more powerful weapon. To go along with this is one of the best sounding systems I’ve heard, with the HDR audio system, making the world feel like a battlefield with louder bangs and real-time sounds for weapons. Where games would use a sounds loop or sample for a firing gun, the Frostbite engine plays each sound as it is so a firing gun has sounds for every bullet. I don’t know the technical stuff behind it but it works a treat. I do know the game can play the more important sounds over the top of not so important sounds in real time, making the battlefield sound great with distant battles sounding like they are just that, distant. The engine also has new lighting to go with the dynamic battlefield with shadows changing with missing trees and walls.

Whilst I love DICE and their Battlefield series including the new Battlefield Bad Company on my Xbox, I am at heart a PC gamer. And to know that at the moment there are 5 BF titles in the wings (one being Heroes and a second for Korean gamers) I am feeling good this engine is making its way over to the PC. My problems with this engine is the fact you can blow a hole in the wall but can’t shoot through it like the CoD4 engine. I believe the features of the Frostbite engine and the CoD4 engine, if combined, would go hand-in-hand to make a great playing experience. Clipping is also a big problem for Frostbite with trees staying in shape for online play and branches resting through the ground. While it’s not a big deal, it’s still noticeable.

All in all I can’t wait to see the engine on future titles, with tweaks worked out and with the better processing power of PC’s should (I hope) see an improvement. Well done DICE you’ve made a great engine and I know you’re going to continue to make some great games.

On my morning stroll though the news pages of the online gaming world I wandered into an old friend, “IL-2″. As it’s been so long since I’ve heard that name, I was drawn into what I was hoping to be some Storm Of War: Battle of Britain news. Unfortunately I was to taken to an Xbox360 news area. What I was to read and what I was to view was enough to make me want to put on my goggles and scarf and fire up the old boy.

The game I’m going to tell you about is IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Now it’s only a short piece but it does come along with a video and some screens. The game is the first console game from the makers of the hardcore PC flight sim. With arcade style controls and chase view HUD for the console world, it also has options for hardcore flying. With large scale combat and a new damage and physics engine the game looks impressive, with a large 3D landscape that tops the PC counter-part. Until any more news of Storm of War comes to light and if you own a 360 or PS3 this may just have to do until then!

As the ad-campaign goes - PC World. Or maybe not for much longer by the look of things.

The writing is on the wall for the UK computer chain PC World this morning, after the group DSGi, who look after PC World amongst other stores, announced massive losses. Struggling to keep up with the changing market and customer needs, dividends have been slashed and a re-structuring is on the cards. As well as PC World getting a facelift, which will cost £110 million in investment, DSGi will be closing almost half of it’s Dixons stores nationwide - as the leases for the buildings expire. There is no mention of closing PC World stores, although I’m sure if they are running at a loss without an easy turnaround the easiest thing will be to just close them or to relocate. Watch this space!

Dice have updated their Battlefield Heroes site with a FAQ section containing some helpful hints such as how to play and what PC specification you need. There are also updates to their screenshots and wallpapers plus a video showing off the character customization system.

Below are the requirements for the game taken from the FAQ section:

Q: What kind of computer do I need to run Heroes?

A: We’re currently aiming for a minimum requirement of…

• Operating System: Windows XP or Windows Vista
• CPU: 1.0 GHz
• RAM: 512 Mb (1Gb on Windows Vista)
• Video Card: 64Mb DirectX compliant video card with at least pixel shader 2.0 support
• Hard Drive space: 1Gb of space is required to install the game
• Internet connection: 256kbit Cable/DSL connection

The game is down for a summer 08 release. Head over to the Battlefield Heroes website to have a look.

Or is it?? After inspecting Amazon.co.uk, Assassin’s Creed is available in November and not tomorrow as the rest of the world has been led to believe. But when you look a little closer, it appears as though Amazon.co.uk are having problems with the dates supplied by their sources on the other side of the pond - or is it just co-incidence that the date is the 4th of November (4/11) instead of 11th of April? (11/4)

Fallout3 is looking awesome and with some leaked screen shots, you can see for yourself. The Fallout name is classic for those who played it (myself included) but strangely enough I still know people who don’t know anything about the game. The game is currently in production by Bethesda, the team behind Oblivion, all of which are fans of the original. The game is down for a fall 2008 release (or Autumn for the UK readers) and should be a killer hit for the PC gaming world - a world that seems to be a little hit or miss lately.

Still here, just not a lot going on in the world of PC gaming, but try this for now: The publisher that I believe is killing PC gaming with ports from Xbox and PS3 have taken the good road to PC goodness by adding it’s titles to the already expanding and all PC conquering Steam. At the moment the games are only available in the US and Canada, but with Steam, in all its greatness, expect to see this on UK and European Steam’s soon (I hope). If you’re lucky to already be in the US or Canada you can now pre-order Assassin’s Creed in the working format of pre-purchase to play it first on the 9th April you lucky lucky few.

Manhunt 2 will hit UK shelves. Being only the second game to be refused classification in the UK, Manhunt 2 can now be sold. The V.A.C. (Video Appeals Committee) have stuck by their decision for the game to go on sale in the UK, which meant the B.B.F.C (British Board of Film Classification) had no choice but to give it an 18 certificate.

Carmageddon was the first game to be refused classification in 1997. This was later changed when the humans were replaced with zombies. Despite Rockstar making changes to Manhunt 2 the B.B.F.C refused it twice until the V.A.C stepped in. So after the 9 month battle the baby will finally be born. [SHOW ME]

Yeap, you heard me right, it is official - The XBox 360 will be getting a Blu-ray add-on drive. Even though Microsoft won’t admit to it, it makes a good PR exercise for Sony, so why would they keep quiet? They’re the only HD drive manufacturer now so Microsoft aren’t going to back out of the deal because Sony let the cat out of the bag first are they? [SHOW ME]

Who in the world can publish your game? PC World! That’s right folks DCGi (Dixon’s Stores Group International) the company behind the UK store PC World and Currys plan to unveil a gaming label to release its own brand of PC, mobile Xbox Live and PlayStation Network games for retail and download. Wow this is weird, DCGi are just a bunch of box pushers so to start their own brand is very odd. [SHOW ME]