The diabolical entity known as Windows has finally finished installing and now you’re faced with the daunting task of getting your system ready for gaming. This process obviously involves installing the latest drivers for your devices and your favorite games, but why stop there? A proper gaming system can really benefit from a few simple tweaks to really push the performance as high as it can go. And as an added bonus the system will be more stable and secure for it.

I’ve actually just reinstalled Windows 7 myself and have been going about the fresh installation trying to optimize it any way I can for the better part of the day. This left me with a few interesting techniques to get a much better performing system than on a plain fresh Windows installation and I’ll be sharing those with you in this guide.

Take a peak below and uncover six methods you might not have tried yet to improve your (non-)gaming performance!

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Beat Hazard is an excellent new indie game that offers arcade space shooter gameplay based around your music tracks. Similar to Audiosurf it builds a background and enemy waves based on the beat of the music, but this beat also determines your rate of fire and the power of your weapons. Add in a wealth of unlockable achievements, leaderboards, sweet score multiplier mechanics and interesting pickups and you have an excellent new space shooter that’s well worth having.

Needless to say, I’ve been playing Beat Hazard in between other games a lot as of late and it has definitely left an impression. Blasting through waves of space ships and asteroids to the beat of your favorite tracks is awesome, but that’s not the only reason why it’s got me hooked. Beat Hazard also happens to have a very stylish and intense visual presentation that adapts well to the pace of the track you’ve selected and paints some very pretty pictures.

So this time screenshot galore will feature the best shots I’ve been able to grab in this seizure-inducing indie game. Definitely worth a look.

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BioWare always intended for Dragon Age: Origins to be but the first game in a brand new fantasy franchise, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when they announced Dragon Age 2 a few days ago. This reveal was accompanied by the launch of an official website and followed by the first bits of information on this upcoming fantasy RPG. And this information paints a picture that is quite different from that of the original game.

It seems that BioWare had decided to shake things up on nearly every front, despite having a very short development cycle. Dragon Age 2 is already scheduled for launch in March 2011, which is less than one and a half year after the release of the original game. Interestingly they’ve also announced several major changes such as greatly improved graphics and an entirely new visual style. Hopefully this includes high quality textures for the PC version this time around, which would greatly improve the graphics all on their own.

Those aren’t the most shocking revelations however, as BioWare is looking to change a lot on the gameplay front as well. Not only will the protagonist be a fixed character whose background and race cannot be altered, but (s)he’ll also be fully voiced. Dragon Age 2 will also include a nondescript dialogue wheel similar to Mass Effect’s instead of Dragon Age: Origin’s full text dialogue.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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A few days ago Blizzard announced that their RealID system would be implemented on their gaming forums in the near future, but just a few days later it seems that this plan has been rescinded. So the horror story of users being forced to post under their real first and last name seems like it will not come to pass. Instead users will post with their StarCraft 2 character name and code on the new StarCraft 2 forum and comparable systems will be in place for other Blizzard game forums.

In a new topic on the StarCraft 2 forums, Mike Morhaim, Blizzard’s CEO, announced that there will still be a forum upgrade, but this will not include the RealID system at this time. That leaves open the possibility of it being implemented at a later stage, but given the massive public outcry against this move, and the harrassment an unfortunate Blizzard employee had to endure after testing the waters, that would seem unlikely. I had thought this RealID implementation was already a done deal, but I’m glad that Blizzard proved me wrong.

Fortunately, it seems that the other forum improvements will still be implemented. This includes rating posts up or down, improved search functionality and displaying posts based on their rating. These do seem like assets that would greatly improve the Blizzard forum experience and hopefully Blizzard will continue to listen to user feedback as they continue to improve their online services like Battle.net and the Blizzard forums.

Only yesterday we were introduced to combat, death and healing in Guild Wars 2, which carried a few hefty shockers to say the least. Now ArenaNet follows up by having two of its designers, John Stumme and Ben Miller, answer several community questions on the topics of activities, maps and travel in Guild Wars 2. It may not be quite so surprising as yesterday’s article, but these two designers do share a few interesting new tidbits such as the thematic division of cities into sections and the size of the game world which apparently surpasses Guild Wars.

Should you have missed out on the wealth of Guild Wars 2 information that’s been made public already, then you may wish to read up on the design manifesto, combat system and elementalist profession, dynamic events system #1 & #2, the personal story system, the warrior profession and traits system #1 & #2 and the recent pieces on non-combat activities #1 and #2.

Skip on to the overview below for a concise overview of all the new information revealed today. You may also want to keep an eye on the ArenaNet blog and the official Guild Wars 2 website for any new information that comes out. It’s also possible to subscribe to GameDrone to be informed of the latest new Guild Wars 2 information in the same concise format.

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An observant gamer can save a lot of money by frequently visiting digital download sites to check for new special offers. You can sometimes save as much as 80% on games with these deals, or even gain a free game for pre-ordering an upcoming title, which can quickly lead to a very healthy gaming collection at surprisingly little cost.

But it can be tiresome to constantly browse through enormous lists of sales for the best deals, so that’s what I’ll be doing for you in this weekly feature! I’ll cover the most interesting titles on sale and provide short descriptions and recommendations for each game. Should the currency used on the service not be in euro (GamersGate, Good Old Games), then I’ll also convert the pricing at the current exchange rate.

This week we have a very interesting free weekend over at Steam for Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter, which is also reduced in price by 50%. The massive summer sale on Steam may have ended, but there still seem to be plenty of interesting deals this week. So be sure to check those out below and subscribe to GameDrone for weekly coverage of the best digital download discounts!

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The stream of information coming out of ArenaNet continues unabated as game designer Jon Peters delves into healing, death and player roles in Guild Wars 2 today. He actually reveals a few surprising bits of information such as the lack of harsh death penalties and dedicated healing professions. Also covered are player roles in Guild Wars 2 and how it differs from the rigid holy trinity class structure of most MMORPGs today.

It’s a very interesting article and builds onto the extensive information that ArenaNet has previously revealed such as the design manifesto, combat system and elementalist profession, dynamic events system #1 & #2, the personal story system, the warrior profession and traits system #1 & #2 and the recent pieces on non-combat activities #1 and #2. The new reveals seem shocking at first, but ArenaNet seems to have good reasoning for them and I think it might actually work out well if they don’t skimp on combat difficulty and Realm vs Realm combat.

Anyhow, either read on below for a quick overview of all the new bits of information, or head on to the official Guild Wars 2 website for the full story and new game media. Also keep an eye on the ArenaNet company blog for their regular Guild Wars 2 related updates and subscribe to GameDrone if you’re interested in staying up-to-date with the latest Guild Wars 2 information in a concise format!

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Anyone who has ever visited the Battle.net forums can tell you that it’s a site of constant flame wars, spamming and trolling. It’s like that dark alley everyone passes by even in broad daylight: not a place where you’d like to hang out. So, Blizzard has taken notice and intends for the new RealID system to carry over to the Battle.net forums. This means everyone will have to post with their real first and last names and should tone down the intensity of the discussions on those forums.

It’s hard to believe that Blizzard can be so very naive after a popular webseries (The Guild) started with the premise of a female MMORPG player being harrassed by a guildmember. It’s a believable setting precisely because this thing already happens in real life, without gamers knowing each other’s real names. Yet it appears that Blizzard was either unaware of the major privacy risk they’re introducing to forums users with this change, or they simply do not care.

There has already been a heavy backlash against this upcoming change, which will affect the forums of all RealID Blizzard games (Diablo 3, StarCraft 2 and World of WarCraft). It’s fortunate that it’s not a retroactive change, but Blizzard’s responses to the massive public outcry leave no doubt that this change will go through.

I’ll elaborate on why exactly this change is a really bad idea.

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