Rage angers PC gamers with problems on AMD and Nvidia boards

LEGENDARY GAMES DEVELOPER ID Software's upcoming title Rage is causing both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards some problems.

ID Software is using Rage to showcase the new ID Tech 5 engine and is one of the most widely anticipated titles this year. However many are reporting major problems when running the PC version of the game. The chaps at HardOCP found that there was significant graphics 'popping' on both AMD Radeon HD6970 and Nvidia GTX580 boards and significant artefacting on AMD's graphics boards.

HardOCP's editor, Kyle Bennett wrote in a post, "With AMD cards, NPCs flicker in and out, even in the midst of combat. With NVIDIA cards, that doesn't happen in our testing. We went ahead and checked out older AMD 'non-Rage' drivers also, but the problems persisted. It is bad enough in places that the game becomes virtually unplayable." The web site also posted a FRAPS video recording of two runs with AMD and Nvidia boards where the issues are clearly visible.

Reception of Rage has been at best mixed, with many saying the title is nothing more than a way for ID Software to show off its new game engine to potential developers while asking gamers to fork over cash for the privilege. However Rage graphical problems will not provide the launch iconic games developer John Carmack would have wanted.

At this point it is not clear whether AMD or Nvidia's drivers are at fault or whether it is a game issue, but some are pinning the problems on the Tech 5 engine's ability to set graphics levels for particular hardware configurations. Whatever it is, given that AMD has a specific driver for Rage, it is pretty embarrassing for both AMD and ID Software.

Then again ID Software and John Carmack might not care. After all Rage doesn't seem to exhibit these problems on the Xbox 360. Even one of PC gaming's most famous developers seems to have moved on and optimised for consoles. µ