With each generation of MMO games in development, some unfortunate issues with these games remain a consistent thorn in the side of many players. Among these issues one of the biggest is latency, which causes online games to slow down to the point a player can get up, grab a slice of pizza and watch a movie, before checking out the next screen frame in a choppy game experience (no, usually not quite that bad). Both hardware and software solutions have been attempted to improve the online game-playing experience for players over the years, with varying degrees of success.

One of the most recent solutions is Bigfoot Network’s Killer NIC anti-latency networking card. MPOGD interviewed Harlan Beverly, the Founder, CTO & VP of Engineering at Bigfoot Networks, to pick his brain about what he feels the Killer NIC card can do to smooth out virtual life for online gamers.

MPOGD: Harlan, thank you for taking time to discuss your work with Bigfoot Networks and the Killer NIC Gaming Network Card. Can you start us off by describing what the Killer NIC card is and how it works?

Harlan Beverly: The Killer NIC is a gaming Network Card designed to reduce lag associated with online gaming. Basically, Killer bypasses the slow and ancient Windows Network Stack by offloading Sockets into Killer’s own NPU. Bypassing Windows has myriad benefits - lower latencies, less CPU utilization, and even higher FPS rates.

MPOGD: In your opinion, is Killer NIC a product designed more for the tournament LAN gamer or hardcore MMO gamer than for the casual online gamer?

Beverly: Any player, hardcore or casual, who is effected by lag issues when playing, will definitely see the benefit of the Killer NIC.

MPOGD: Do certain online game types benefit more from Killer NIC than others? For example, has any of your internal research shown that MMORPGs might see more reduced latency and ping time than FPS games, or vice versa? If so, why?

Beverly: The Killer NIC helps while playing any game that sees a lot of players or characters on screen, with MMO and FPS games seeing the most benefit.

MPOGD: Do the latency-reducing advantages of the Killer NIC card extend beyond client-based games into other high-bandwidth Internet uses, such as heavier browser-based online games or streaming high-definition video?

Beverly: These are more dependent on the protocols and sensitivities in the applications being used. For example, most Internet video arrives via User Datagram Protocol (UDP), so while it isn’t the main function of the Killer NIC, many customers have noted faster load times for video.

MPOGD: Can you describe the lag reduction tools available through Bigfoot Networks, to help online game developers optimize their online games for operation with the Killer NIC card?

Beverly: Killer NICs have Lag-Reduction capabilities and:

1. Game Mode – A must have feature that is exclusive to the Killer brand is a feature in all Killer products that enables the Windows Stack Bypass -- Hardware Firewall – when enabled, it allows Killer owners to ‘shut off’ their Windows Firewall, and puts Killer into the DMZ of their router, greatly reducing Latency for the Killer system.
2. Hardware Bandwidth Control – when enabled, allows Killer owners to set Bandwidth priorities for their games over other applications, and can even prevent unwanted applications from hitting the Internet while they are gaming.

There are other tools and tricks that Killer owners use and share in our very active owners forums here: http://www.killernic.com/forums 

MPOGD: Can you share with us which online game developers are partnered with you, and if you have any new developers you’ll be working with on the horizon?

Beverly: Bigfoot Networks and Killer NIC works with many game developers in a variety of programs to ensure that ALL online games benefit from a Killer right out of the box. We currently work with Emergent Games Technologies to provide middleware solutions to developers that help them develop their game network stacks, as well as reduce lag on the servers that they might host for multiplayer games. We’re also working with game development studios directly to integrate our technology for multiplayer games, but none we can announce yet.

MPOGD: Do you feel online-enabled games on consoles such as the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 could benefit from Killer NIC-type latency reduction?

Beverly: Absolutely, and we offer technology through a middleware suite of tools that will reduce latency for developers if they’re using Windows or Linux-based servers to host their Xbox 360 or PS3 online activities.

MPOGD: Stories have surfaced recently warning how the demands of heavy video, online gaming and cloud computing bandwidth usage may eventually cause the Internet to slow to a halt. Do you think this potential for increased lag in online gaming can be compensated for by the Killer NIC card?

Beverly: The Killer NIC really focuses on lag created by the client, though our future technologies (see here: http://www.killernic.com/technology/futuretech.aspx) are targeted to reduce lag from the Server and from the Internet, but Killer alone can’t fix the Internet.

MPOGD: Lastly, what are your plans in the next one to two years for the Killer NIC brand from both the technology and software sides? What should online gamers be looking for from you and from your partners?

Beverly: In general, we continue to deliver more and more online game performance with regular updates to the Killer NIC driver suite. For example, we have in Beta right now a driver that greatly improves World of Warcraft performance through a series of TCP/IP tweaks & other enhancements. We also improve performance by continuously innovating and delivering apps like BitTorrent and VoIP all running inside the Killer NIC. You can expect that and a lot more from Bigfoot Networks and the Killer NIC in the future.