Bigfoot Networks announced today that it will be making an appearance during BlizzCon 2007 when it happens at the Anaheim Convention Center in California between August 3 and 4.

The good thing about this is that the company will be giving away Killer NIC network cards for fans who will be passing its booth. We guess you're quite familiar now what's the deal with Killer NIC.

If you're not, then we're pretty sure that you have two major problems - namely lag and latency. Bigfoot created Killer NIC with Blizzard's World of Warcraft in mind, implementing Lag and Latency Reduction Technology for a better gaming experience.

"World of Warcraft and the Killer NIC make a great combo. It is the huge demand for the Killer NIC by WoW gamers that brings us to BlizzCon. The fact Blizzard only allows ten companies to be sponsors of BlizzCon shows how much they believe in the power of the Killer NIC and what it delivers for games like World of Warcraft," commented Bigfoot Networks CEO Harlan Beverly.

The above mentioned companies include Intel, nVIDIA, AT&T, Dell, Logitech, Creative, and Cisco among others. Bigfoot's booth number at Blizzcon is S101.

This was probably the reason why the Killer NIC network card from Bigfoot Networks was included in those custom-built-for-WoW PCs. While numbers are scientifically accurate in depicting the performance of any given product, there's no substitute for real-world tests by real-world gamers, so [H]Enthusiast set out to see if this card lives up to its promise of improving frames-per-second and decreasing lag and latency.

[H]Enthusiast used CounterStrike, Quake 4, FEAR, and yes, World of Warcraft (and their related gamers) as their test subjects. The test involved the gamers playing their game on their preferred PC setup - but each setup had both the PC's built-in network card and the Killer NIC which [H]Enthusiast could switch between at any point in the game. The gamers were asked to observe any changes in frame rates and latency.

The verdict? For Quake and CS, the gamers didn't notice much of a difference between using the Killer NIC and the regular network interface card. In FEAR the gamer noticed that with the Killer NIC, his PC was "ahead of what was on the server," with less lags than the regular network card, or the NIC in his own PC at home.

It was in World of Warcraft where the Killer NIC really shone. Not only was the gamer's overall gameplay smoother, with less lags and latency, he also "felt like the Killer was keeping the server from 'spiking and lagging.'" Fluid animation, steady gameplay where he didn't have to worry about killer lags, the Killer NIC turned out to be the killer card for WoW.

So how much does it cost if you're a WoW player? A whopping US$ 280.00, a price point that generated enough industry buzz in itself. Now that's what you call a killer card. Excuse us while we take our budget to the emergency room.

One of the most prevalent problems plaguing online games is lag. Sometimes it gets so bad that we just have to stop playing, and when it gets even worse we can sometimes swear to ourselves that we won't ever play again (although more often than not we get right back on the MMO wagon).

This is the problem that Bigfoot Networks hopes to remedy with their new product, the Killer Network Interface Card which we already featured a few months back. To shed more light on what the Killer NIC can do, in an interview with MMORPG.com's Jon Wood, the guys from Bigfoot Networks revealed that their Killer NIC helps out in two ways: ping and frames per second. Pings get lower, while the latter gets higher.

The Killer NIC is also more versatile than the average network card. Users can actually write their own programs on the card. Programs like TeamSpeak, Ventrillo and even Bit Torrent that usually eat away at a game’s performance can be compiled to run through this new card. It even comes with an external USB 2.0 port so that you can plug in an external hard drive.

The card is especially useful when you're in a situation where there are lots of monsters and players on-screen at the same time, say during a raid. the guys from Bigfoot Networks say that this is where the Killer NIC shines most, reducing the lag that is common in these situations.

How does it perform when used in a high raid content MMO, say World of Warcraft? According to Bigfoot, as well as outside reviewers, the game sees about 9 milliseconds of improvement in latency and a 41% improvement in frames per second. Man, if this card really lives up to the hype, we're getting ours right away. We suggest you guys give it a try too.

If you have better ping times and more frames-per-second while playing games online, then you are probably using Bigfoot Networks' Killer NIC (Network Interface Card). The core component of Killer is LLR Technology which is a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) offload engine designed specifically to handle game network traffic. It offloads the network processing tasks of games away from the CPU and onto the NPU, resulting to a smoother gaming experience.

But, on your rare breaks from gaming haven't you ever wonder how it works? If you have, then satisfy your curiosity by checking out the Killer White Paper which explains specifically how LLRTM Technology works.

"Ever since Bigfoot announced LLR Technology, and now the Killer NIC, we have been swamped with questions from gamers and the media who want to know exactly how the Killer does what it does," says Harlan 'Tytus' Beverly, CEO of Bigfoot Networks. "With the introduction of the Killer and our newly published white paper, we are finally able to explain how our patent pending technology dramatically improves online gaming performance."

Download: [Killer White Paper PDF file]
                  [Killer White Paper PDF file (High Resolution)]

Bigfoot Networks Inc. has introduced its flagship gaming product - the Killer NIC (Network Interface Card). Powered by LLR Technology, the Killer NIC features a 400Mhz Network Processing Unit (NPU) and 64MB of dedicated DDR. These result in better ping times and more Frames Per Second (FPS) while playing games online.

Killer utilizes LLR Technology to offload the network processing tasks of games away from the CPU and onto the NPU, thus speeding up and improving the online gaming experience. Unlike other hardware products in the market today, Killer does not require game integration. It focuses on making the game run fast and smooth during the most intense action. To gamers, that can be the difference between winning and losing. The interface card is designed specifically for online video games. In addition, the LLR Technology offers developers the chance to write their own applications and utilities to run on the NPU.

The Killer NIC will go on sale starting August 16th.

LagMeter is a new software application that measures online PC game performance. Now, gamers can see exactly how much lag they are experiencing, as well as showing the where the lag is occurring – the gaming PC, the network, or the gaming server. With this release, game developers, and hardware manufacturers have a tool that enables them to measure lag and understand where the problems reside. The LagMeter technology was developed by Bigfoot Networks, a research and development company, focused on developing products that help reduce the effects of Lag in online game play.

“Hardcore gamers know that Lag can be caused by many different forces, and that Lag has no formal definition – it’s a term that gamers use to describe something bad that happens in an online game that is out of their control” said Harlan Beverly, CEO of Bigfoot Networks. “With LagMeter, gamers can quantify and narrow down the cause Lag in their favorite games.”

Bigfoot Networks invented LagMeter while studying the causes of Lag in online games. The company decided to release the tool to the public after reading all the forum posts at EndLagNow.org and across the Internet from gamers who want to know why they are Lagging. Gamers want to know if it is their system at fault, or if it is the Internet or the gaming server that is causing the problems.

“The toughest challenge is to quantify Lag in a meaningful metric that makes sense,” said Mr. Beverly. “LagMeter solves this by introducing a new metric, Lags per Minute (LPM), which is essentially the number of measurable Lag events in a minutes worth of game-play.”

In addition to displaying Lags per Minute, LagMeter also measures and displays more standard metrics that gamers are familiar with such as Frames-per-Second (FPS) and Ping. Also included in the software is an advanced configuration tab that allows the user to tailor exactly what is being measured based on which game they are playing or which network port or device is running the game.

Download: [LagMeter Beta]