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Shattered Horizon box art

Futuremark Games Studio has released the dedicated server for their zero-gravity multiplayer FPS Shattered Horizon on December 4th. This allows gamers to select how they wish to play Shattered Horizon and with whom, and gives them additional protection from cheaters, hacks and buzz-kills, as well as greater control over the game’s settings.

Futuremark released the innovative PC-based title on November 4th, 2009, and has since announced a new content pack called “Moonrise”, which will be free to all players, but has not given a release date as of yet.

The dedicated server features are:

• A GUI for creating custom game settings, player limits and level rotations
• Custom server name, graphic and info URL
• Optional password protection (for private matches).
• Remote admin console accessible from within the Shattered Horizon game client.
• Configurable auto-team balancing.
• Configurable auto-kick / ban for team-killers and high-ping connections.
• Built-in anti-cheat detection with configurable auto-kick / ban.
• Admin manual kick / ban.
• Support for Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC).
• Registered servers can submit player stats and achievements to the official leaderboards (registration is optional and free).
• Local Area Network (LAN) game support.
• Supported operating systems include: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. Note, DirectX 10 is not required for running a Shattered Horizon server.

Alongside the dedicated server’s release, a small update was introduced, and a new bundle package has been made available at the Futuremark store, including Shattered Horizon and Futuremark’s DirectX 10 gaming benchmark, 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition, for $29.95.

Shattered Horizon’s update includes:

• HUD changes: Ammo count is no longer displayed in scoped mode when running silent.
• HUD: When a player tries to capture a control point that is blocked by an enemy player the word “Blocked” will appear on the HUD.
• HUD: Chat is now enabled during silent running, or while EMPed.
• Network protocol has been updated to support new server features.
• Added console for remote server control.
• Added “rules” section to the in-game server browser. For example, allowing players to choose servers with or without friendly fire, or team auto-balancing.
• Server disconnect messages now include more information about the reason for disconnection for example, kicked for cheating, team-killing or high ping.
• Bug fix: Improved error handling during start-up logo videos.

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