AMD releases Catalyst 11.12 WHQL, 12.1 preview drivers

AMD has graced Radeon owners with two driver updates today: one with Microsoft's blessings and another for the venturesome among us. The WHQL-certified Catalyst 11.12 drivers introduce a bevy of changes, including OpenGL 4.2 support, the ability to enable AMD HD3D when using a 3x1 Landscape Eyefinity configuration, and improved Dual Graphics controls in the Vision Engine Control Center.

Judging by the release notes, 11.12 doesn't contain the speed boosts found in the 11.11c preview driver. There are a ton of bug fixes, however. Graphical anomalies and other hiccups are resolved in Dirt 2, Dirt 3, Portal 2, Shogun 2: Total War, Lost Planet 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Doom 3, Crysis 2, Far Cry 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront, Metro 2033, BioShock 2 and more.

Download Catalyst 11.12
Desktop: Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows Vista/7 32-bit | Windows Vista/7 64-bit
Mobile: Windows Vista/7 32-bit | Windows Vista/7 64-bit

Download Catalyst 12.1 Preview
Desktop: Windows XP 32/64-bit | Windows Vista/7 32/64-bit

If you want all the performance optimizations, features and bug fixes in Catalyst 11.11c and 11.12, you'll need the 12.1 preview release. In fact, AMD specifically recommends this version for gamers, who would otherwise be missing out. Not only does it contain all of the desired changes, but it offers a few additional perks, including an additional 10-15% speed boost in Skyrim for certain HD 6900-series configurations. Version 12.1 also delivers:

• Support for 1080p@30Hz displays via HD3D over HDMI 1.4 (up from 24Hz)
• Improved UI for adjusting video quality and color settings in the control panel
• A new control panel feature that lets you create application-specific profiles

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Engine Focused on Gameplay

There are many new features that will make Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 a worthy upgrade after two years of Modern Warfare 2. For one thing, it'll have full integration with the comprehensive Call of Duty Elite service

For gamers who love the first two Modern Warfare games, this third entry will feature even more polish on every facet of the game. Infinity Ward has hired talent from unlikely places to improve upon single aspects of Modern Warfare 3.

To improve upon the animations, for example, the company recruited the help of a Hollywood CGI animator who worked on the models used in movies such as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the Animatrix and Beowulf. For online level progression, Infinity Ward looked to the MMO talent pool to find a specialist.

Infinity Ward's executive producer Mark Rubin told an audience at a roundtable discussion at Call of Duty XP that the developer's focus is on gameplay technology. The developers have been further fine-tuning the sensitivity and acceleration of the thumbsticks for the console versions of the game.

For PC gamers, the good news is that dedicated servers are back. What won't make some PC gamers as happy is that Modern Warfare 3 likely won't be a showcase for the latest and most powerful video cards.

We asked Rubin if Modern Warfare 3 featured any significant changes over the engine used to power Call of Duty: Black Ops.

"There have been significant changes," he replied. "But the types of changes that we do are more on gameplay than on technology. We are not focusing on changes that have fancy names such as 'full screen ambient occlusion'. The changes we do can't be easily labeled. All our tech is gameplay-oriented."

We pressed for more information, such as if Modern Warfare 3 would take advantage of new graphic technologies such as those afforded by DirectX 11.

"We are still looking at things like DX11," Rubin answered. "It's one of the things our team is looking at, but our focus is all about gameplay, not about technology. We want it to be more about fun than anything else."

PC gamers who play Modern Warfare 3, DX11 effects or not, will still get a better visual experience than those on console thanks to high resolution textures.

As for PC platform-specific support for things such as Eyefinity and 3D Vision, Rubin said that those features are still undecided, but is something it is working on with AMD and Nvidia.

Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer Reveal

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Tango Down