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General Tech

Microsoft Gives Xbox One Gamers What They Want... Sort Of

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | June 19, 2013 - 09:08 PM |
Tagged: xbox one, gaming, DRM, disc

Microsoft faced a major backlash from users following the unveiling of its latest Xbox One console. Users were rather unnerved at Microsoft’s reveal that the new console would be required to “phone home” at least once every 24 hours in order to authenticate games and allow sharing. Considering Sony carried forward the disc traditions of the PS3 combined with the user uproar, Microsoft has reconsidered and issued an update to users via a blog post titled (in part) “Your Feedback Matters.”

Amidst the uncertainty caused by various MS sources issuing statements about functionality and DRM that conflict with one another and an air of as-yet-un-announced secrecy pre-E3 where MS released just enough info about the DRM to get users scared (can you tell the way MS handled this irked me?), the company talked about the Xbox One moving forward and taking advantage of the ‘digital age.’ The new console would require online authentication (and daily check-ins), but would also allow sharing of your game library with up to 10 other people, re-downloadable games that can be installed on other consoles (and played) so long as you log into your Xbox Live account (the latter bit is similar in nature to Steam on the PC). Further, disc games could be resold or gifted if the publishers allow it.

That has changed now, however. Microsoft has reconsidered its position and is going back to the way things work(ed) on the existing Xbox 360. Instead of taking the logical approach of keeping with the plan but removing the daily authentication requirement for games if you keep the game disc in the tray, Microsoft has taken their ball Xbox One controller and completely backtracked.

Xbox One Logo.jpg

DRM on the Xbox One is now as follows, and these changes go in place of (not in addition to) the previously announced sharing and reselling functionalities.

For physical disc games:

According to Xbox Wire, after their initial setup and installation, disc-based games will not require an internet connection for offline functionality (though multiplayer components will, obviously, need an active connection). Even better, trading and reselling of disc-based games is no longer limited by publishers. Trading, selling, gifting, renting, et al of physical disc-based games "will work just as it does today on the Xbox 360." Microsoft is also not region locking physical games, which means that you will not have to worry about games purchased abroad working on your console at home.

In order to play disc-based games, you will need to keep the game disc in the tray, even if it is installed on the hard drive, however.

Changes to Downloaded games:

As far as downloadable games, Microsoft is restricting these titles such that they cannot be shared or resold. In the previous model, you would have been able to share the titles with your family, but not anymore. You will still be able to re-download the games.

There is no word on whether or not gamers will still lose access to all of the titles in their game library if their Xbox Live accounts are ever banned. It is likely that gamers will lose any downloadable games though as those are effectively tied to a single Xbox Live account.

While at first glance it may seem as though gamers won this round, in the end no one really won. Instead of Microsoft working around gamers concerns for physical media and moving forward together, it is as though Microsoft has thrown up its hands in frustration, and tossed out all of the innovative aspects for digital/downloadable titles along with the undesirable daily authentication and other invasive DRM measures that gamers clearly indicated they did not want.

I believe that Microsoft should have kept to the original game plan, but added an exception to the daily check-in rules so long as the console was able to authenticate the game offline by identifying a physical game disc in the tray. That way, gamers that are not comfortable with (or able to) keeping the Xbox One connected to the internet could continue to play games using discs while also allowing those with always-on Xbox One consoles the privileges of sharing their libraries. Doing so would have also helped ease the console gaming populance as a whole into Microsoft's ideal digital age once the next Xbox comes out. However, instead of simply toning down the changes, Microsoft has completely backtracked, and now no one wins. Sigh.

What are your thoughts on Microsoft's latest changes to the Xbox One? Was it the right move, or were you looking forward to increased freedom with your digitally-downloaded games?

Also read:

Source: Xbox Wire

Running at 8.0GHz on All Four Cylinders

Subject: General Tech, Processors | June 19, 2013 - 08:37 PM |
Tagged: overclock, amd

Thankfully, they were not "firing" on all four cylinders; while Ryan does prefer thermite, overclockers tend to prefer liquid nitrogen. There are some distinct advantages of ice over fire, the main one for computer users is the potential for massive bumps in frequency and voltage. Of course, you cannot really get any effective use out of a machine that relies on a steady stream of fluid cold enough that it takes less digits to write out its temperature in Kelvin, but a large bump makes good bragging rights.

AMD-Overclock-CPUz.png

How about an A10-6800K overclocked to just over 8.0 GHz, with all four cores enabled?

Finnish overclocker, "The Stilt", managed to push his four-core part to 8000.39 MHz just long enough to have CPU-Z validate his accomplishment. With a frequency multiplier of 63.0 atop a bus speed of 126.99, this gets within 800MHz of the AMD FX-8350 running on just one module (6 of 8 cores disabled) recorded by ASUS late last year.

But no, it will probably not run Crysis.

Source: Tom's Hardware

Steam Might Allow Shared Games?

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | June 19, 2013 - 06:33 PM |
Tagged: steam, DRM

You can learn a lot by scanning configuration, registry files, and so forth; many have made off with a successful bounty. Most recently, some Steam Beta users dug around in their user interface (UI) files to notice a few interesting lines, instructing the user that the title they are attempting to launch will kick off a friend it is currently being shared with.

Wait, what?!

Steam-UI.png

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicense_Title" "Shared game library"

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_OwnerText" "Just so you know, your games are currently in use by %borrower%. Playing now will send %borrower% a notice that it's time to quit."

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_BorrowerText" "This shared game is currently unavailable. Please try against later or buy this game for your own library."

Sure, this whole game DRM issue has been flipping some tables around the industry. Microsoft tried permitting users share games with their family, utilizing about the worst possible PR, and eventually needed to undo that decision. Users would like flexible licensing schemes, but the content industry (including the platform owners like Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, who receive license fees from game sales) are unwilling to cooperate unless they are assured that users are honest.

Of course, what usually happens is honest users get crapped on and pirates enjoy a better experience, after initial setup.

While there is not much difference, from a high level view, between Steam and the proposed Xbox One, there are a number of differences. The obvious difference is Steam's offline mode, but probably the larger reason is trust. Valve has demonstrated a lot of good faith to their customers; where Microsoft shuts down access to content people paid for, Valve has shown they have intentions for both long-term support and consideration for the user's experience.

Ultimately, I feel as if DRM is not a necessary evil, but while it exists at least there are companies such as Valve who earn trust and use DRM both for and against users. I expect that some day, the industry will turn against DRM either willingly, by legal intervention, or because companies like cdp.pl will use DRM-free as a promotional tool and nibble their way to dominance.

And yes, despite the fact that this will be confused with bias: if you prove that you are untrustworthy before, you will get away with less later regardless of your intentions.

Source: NeoGaf Forums

The Witcher 3's DRM Strategy: Still None on PC

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | June 19, 2013 - 06:16 PM |
Tagged: DRM, The Witcher 3, GOG

cdp.pl, formerly CD Projekt, has been one of the last holdouts against DRM. Founders of GoG.com and developer/publisher for The Witcher franchise, they offer a DRM-free platform for users to purchase games. Sure, they are usually good and old ones, aptly enough, but they are confident enough to include their most ambitious titles, The Witcher and The Witcher 2.

With The Witcher 3, we will see the title launch without DRM on GoG, trusting their users will purchase the title and be honest.

witcher-drm2.jpg

Apparently, the game will have a world slightly larger than Skyrim.

Hopefully, with very little empty space.

I have long been a proponent of DRM-free media, as you could probably tell. I believe that DRM-free titles end up netting more sales than the same title would have with encryption; even if that were not true, society is harmed more than enough to justify its non-existence. Sure, we all know unapologetic jerks and they are, indeed, jerks. Just because these jerks exist does not mean your company should, or successfully will, be the alpha a-hole on the a-hole food-chain. Chances are you will just upset your actual customers, now former customers. There are reasons why I never purchased (never pirated either, I just flat-out ignored the entire franchise's existence) another Crysis title after the first one's SecuROM debacle wrecked my camcorder's DVD-authoring software.

So, when The Witcher 3 comes out, back it up on your external hard drive and maybe even keep a copy on your home theater PC. Most importantly, buy it... sometime in 2014.

Source: PC Gamer

The Witcher 2 is a little more that just a pretty RPG

Subject: General Tech | June 19, 2013 - 03:23 PM |
Tagged: witcher 2, mod, gaming

The Witcher is a series which some gamers have completely missed, labeling it yet another 3rd person hack n' slash, Elder Scroll-ish game that hasn't got much going for it.  However this impression is inaccurate, at least in part.  While it is indeed a 3rd person game there is a much richer storyline behind the monsters, one which is a bit more adult themed than in similar games, with political manipulations and no real heroes to speak of, merely powerful characters doing what they think is best.  The Enhanced Edition came out recently with graphical improvements that will cripple even current generation GPUs and is compatible with the many mods that have already been made.  Later this month one of the developers will be finalizing and releasing a new Combat Rebalancing mod which will add even more improvements to the game, even though the Witcher 3 is due out soon and this version was originally released two years ago.  If you are unfamiliar with the series you should drop by Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN for details and consider picking up the game from Steam.

RPS_wrassle.jpg

"A small leaflet on the news stand informs us that Andrzej ‘Flash’ Kwiatkowski, an ex-modder and now ‘Gameplay Designer’ at CD Projekt, has returned to modding in an effort to rebalance the combat in Witcher 2. The file size is currently 8 gigabytes, which is too many floppy disks to consider, but should be smaller by release. Which should be very soon."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Gaming

Source: Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN

AMD's plans to keep their ARMs in the server room

Subject: General Tech | June 19, 2013 - 03:02 PM |
Tagged: amd, Kyoto, berlin, seattle, warsaw, arm

DigiTimes named the four new families of server chip that AMD will be using to keep their products in the server room.  Kyoto is known as the Opteron X-series and is available now, based on Jaguar and offering GPU compute enhancements as well as increased CPU performance.  The Seattle family will replace these CPUs in the near future and will represent a new era for AMD as these chips will be clusters of ARM Cortex-A57 on AMD's advanced Freedom Fabric.  Berlin will be a true x86 AMD chip with the new Steamroller architecture which will replace Piledriver and support HSA compliant optimizations.  Last is Warsaw, which will be the most powerful chip, uniting 12 or 16 Piledriver cores in a chip which is compatible with the current Socket G43 used by the Opteron 6300 family, offering a simple drop in upgrade solution.

roadmap.jpg

"AMD has publicly disclosed its strategy and roadmap to recapture market share in enterprise and data center servers by unveiling products that address key technologies and meet the requirements of the fastest-growing data center and cloud computing workloads."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: DigiTimes

Alienware 14 Core i7 "Haswell" Gaming Laptop @ $1200

Subject: General Tech | June 19, 2013 - 02:24 PM |
Tagged: deals

There is another Haswell based notebook on sale today, though this one packs significantly more graphical power.  The Alienware 14 on special sports a i7-4700MQ with a top speed of 3.4GHz, 8GB DDR3-1600 and a GT750M to power the 1366x768 screen with a 750GB HDD for storage.  It also has a Killer NIC to help you out during fast paced gaming online either wired or on WiFi.

Upgrades such as a 1080p screen, Bluray, SSD storage and upgraded components are available.

dellware14.jpg

Top Deals

Additional Deals

Source: LogicBUY

Dell UltraSharp U2713H 27" 2560 x 1440 IPS @ $765

Subject: General Tech | June 18, 2013 - 07:42 PM |
Tagged: deals

Whether you are looking for a professional level display with 99% Adobe colour gamut or a large 1440p display (sorry not quite 4k) to game on, at $765 the Dell UltraSharp U2713H 27" IPS display is a great deal.  The USB 3.0 connectors are a nice touch but they do add to the size of the bezel for those with enough lucre to consider running more than one of these displays.

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Source: LogicBUY

Second Opinion: Intel i7 4770K Desktop CPU (Haswell)

Subject: General Tech, Processors | June 17, 2013 - 08:11 PM |
Tagged: haswell, Intel, Second Opinion

Ryan reviewed the Core i7 4770K earlier in the month and found it an impressive product. He was not able to properly test the CPU paired with a discrete GPU because of time restraints; we value results measured from direct monitor output, which takes longer than FRAPS and other software results. Still, Ryan believes that the boost in raw CPU performance justifies its existence in desktops without a funky "-E" tagged along for good luck.

Intel-Haswell-01.jpg

For a second opinion, you could check NitroWare to see what a cynical Aussie thinks of Intel's latest offering. Of note, they compare software-measured frame rates between the on-chip GPU and those measured from a GTX 460 on Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Haswell. He is nothing if not thorough, collecting his findings over 20 pages.

Ultimately he finds that if you are running Ivy Bridge, you will not benefit too much from the upgrade; Sandy Bridge users and earlier, on the other hand, might want to consider this platform... unless they are wanting to jump into the enthusiast-slot offerings coming up late this year and Haswell-E late the following year.

Also be sure to check back when we have our frametime measurements complete!

Source: NitroWare

Clover Trail+ versus ARM, the results may surprise you

Subject: General Tech | June 17, 2013 - 02:37 PM |
Tagged: arm, clover trail, tegra 3

ARM might be in for more of a fight than we had thought if they want to keep their market share for the next generation of cellphones, assuming of course that they are sold in North America.  The Register posted about research recently done contrasting performance and power efficiency between several phone CPUs; the Lenovo K900 with a 2.0GHz Atom Z2580, a a Samsung Nexus 10 with a dual core 1.7GHz Cortex-A15, a Galaxy S4 phone running a "big.LITTLE" Exynos Octa with paired quad-core Cortex-A15 and Cortex A7 and even a Asus Nexus 7 with an Nvidia Tegra 3.  Those phones give a good representation of current generation technology and it seems that while the performance for the top phones was very similar, Intel's new ATOM did it with 2/3 the amperage, specifically an average of 0.85A  as opposed to the 1.38A of the second lowest competitor.  ATOM seems to have finally found a market segment it can do very well in as long as the price is right.

abi_results_large.jpg

"The industry analysts at ABI Research pitted a Lenovo smartphone based on Intel's Atom-based Clover Trail+ platform against a quartet of ARM-based systems, and Chipzilla's system not only kept pace with the best of them, but did so using less power."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: The Register

50" Sharp Aquos LC-50LE442U 1080p LED HDTV @ $548

Subject: General Tech | June 17, 2013 - 01:28 PM |
Tagged: deals

The prices of large format 1080p TVs have dropped sharply from their initial release, however with an additional $200 off the 50" Sharp Aquos is an exceptional deal.  For those with a room large enough this deal from LogicBuy and Dell is a great excuse to finally get that big TV you have dreamed about.  Those wanting 3D support or a higher resolution are going to have to wait, or spend a wee bit more money for their TV.

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Source: LogicBUY

E3 2013: Microsoft can ban your Xbox One library

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Systems, Shows and Expos | June 17, 2013 - 03:16 AM |
Tagged: xbox one, microsoft, ea, E3 13, E3

Update: Microsoft denies the statements from their support account... but this is still one of the major problems with DRM and closed platforms in general. It is stuff like this that you let them do.

xbox-one-head.jpg

Electronic Arts knows that they need to shake their terrible public image.

Welcome to Microsoft's PR strategy for the Xbox One.

Consumers, whether they acknowledge it or not, fear for the control that platform holders have over their content. It was hard for many to believe that having your EA account banned for whatever reason, even a dispute with a forum moderator, forfeited your license to games you play through that EA account. Sounds like another great idea for Microsoft to steal.

Not stopping there, later on in the thread they were asked what would happen in the event of a security breach. You know, recourse before destroying access to possibly thousands of dollars of content.

While not a "verified account", @xboxsupport is.

They acknowledge ownership of this account in the background image there.

Honestly, there shouldn't have been any doubt that these actually are Microsoft employees.

... Yikes.

At this point, we have definitely surpassed absurdity. Sure, you typically need to do something fairly bad to have Microsoft stop charging your for Xbox Live. Removing access to your entire library of games, to me, is an attempt to limit cheating and the hardware community.

Great, encourage spite from the soldering irons, that works out well.

Don't worry, enthusiasts, you know the PC loves you.

Gaming as a form of entertainment is fundamentally different than gaming as a form of art. When content is entertainment, its message touches you without any intrinsic value and can be replaced with similar content. Sometimes a certain piece of content, itself, has specific value to society. It is these times where we should encourage efforts by organizations such as GoG, Mozilla and W3C, Khronos, and many others. Without help, it could be extremely difficult or impossible for content to be preserved for future generations and future civilizations.

It does not even need to get in the way of the industry and its attempt to profit from the gaming medium; a careless industry, on the other hand, can certainly get in the way of our ability to have genuine art. After all, this is the main reason why I am a PC gamer: the platform allows entertainment to co-exist with communities who support themselves when the official channels do not.

Of course, unless Windows learns a little something from the Xbox. I guess do not get your Windows Store account banned in the future?

Source: Xbox Support Twitter

Intel is not slowing down, exclamation exclamation. Haswell-E for Holiday 2014 question mark.

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Processors | June 15, 2013 - 07:02 PM |
Tagged: Intel, Ivy Bridge-E, Haswell-E

In my analysis of the recent Intel Computex keynote, I noted that the displayed confidence came across more as repressing self-doubt. It did not seem, to me, like Intel wants to abandon the high-end enthusiast but rather catch up with their low performance and high efficiency competitors; they just know they are secure in that market. Of course, we could see mid-range choices dwindle and prices stagnate, but I cast doubt that Intel wants to exit the enthusiast market despite their silence about Ivy Bridge-E.

Haswell-E1.jpg

All Images, Credit: VR-Zone

And Intel, now, wants to return some confidence to their high-end consumers comma they are not slowing down exclamation point exclamation point.

VR-Zone, the site which published Ivy Bridge-E's lazy release roadmap, are also the ones to suggest Haswell-E will come before mainstream Broadwell offerings. Once again, all is right with the world. Slated for release around holiday 2014, just a year after Ivy Bridge-E, Haswell-E will come alongside the X99 chipset. Instead of Broadwell, the back to school window of 2014 will by filled by a refresh of 22nm Haswell products with a new 9-series chipset.

Seriously, it's like watching the face of Intel's Tick-Tock while a repairman is tweaking the gears.

Haswell-E2.jpg

In terms of specifications, Haswell-E will come in 8 and 6-core offerings with up to 20MB of cache. Apart from the inclusion of DDR4 support, the main advantage of Haswell-E over the upcoming Ivy Bridge-E is supposed to be raw performance; VR-Zone estimates up to 33-50% better computational strength. A depressingly novel area of improvement as of recent...

Lastly, with recent discussion of the awkwardly hobbled K-series parts, our readers might be happy to know that all Haswell-E parts will be unlocked to overclocking. This, again, leads me to believe that Intel is not hoping to suffocate the enthusiast market but rather sort their users: mid-range consumers will take what they are given and, if they object, send them on the bus to Funk-E town.

Haswell-E3.jpg

Note, while the headlining slide definitively says "All Processors Unlocked"...

... this slide says "For K and Extreme series products." I will assume the latter is out of date?

Which begs the question: what does our readers think about that potential strategy? It could lead to mainstream performance products being pushed down into BGA-territory, but cements the existence of an enthusiast platform.

Source: VR-Zone

Share your personal audio device with UE Boom from Logitech

Subject: General Tech | June 14, 2013 - 07:24 PM |
Tagged: audio, speakers, logitech, UE Boom

Ignoring the unfortunate PR image accompanying the product, a wireless speaker which can connect to your MP3 player allows a group of people to listen to music in a much more social way than earbuds.  Standing 7.25" tall with a 3" diameter the speaker is big enough that you won't lose it but small enough to be easily portable.  According to the review from TechGage it is also large enough to provide quality sound, even at high volume.  The next time you are out and want to share your music you won't need to blast your car stereo as it seems this device will handle the duty commendably; pity it will sell for $200.

TG_Ultimate-Ears-UE-BOOM-Speaker-03-500x333.jpg

"The UE Boom from Logitech boasts an impressively hip advertising campaign and a promise to make music more "social" again. But past all of the buzzwords and pretty packaging, is this cylindrical speaker worth all of the hype? We take a close look... and can't help but be blown away."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Audio Corner

Source: Techgage

A brief outline of what to expect from Apple in the near future

Subject: General Tech | June 14, 2013 - 03:55 PM |
Tagged: apple, wwdc

If you still want more news about Apple then The Tech Report is your place to be as they've just assembled an overview of the announcements which were made at WWDC.  From OS X 10.9, also know as Mavericks to the new 2D iOS7 they have a bit of coverage on everything.   While Airport Extreme Base Stations might not be overly interesting to the PC crowd, the new Mac Pro and Macbook Air models might be as you can easily re-purpose them into very expensive Windows machines.  They've even joined the Cloud crowd, though if you really want to learn about that you should have been there.

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"If there's one thing I learned from Monday's (June 10, 2013) keynote at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, it's that demonstrations of technology are soooo much better than talking about technology. I know this because one of the main presenters, VP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi, told me so at least 39 times during his unveiling of OS X 10.9 Sea Lion. I can't argue with the man or his hair. Well played."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: The Tech Report

17.3" Toshiba Qosmio X70-ABT2G22 Haswell laptop @ $1000

Subject: General Tech | June 14, 2013 - 02:14 PM |
Tagged: deals

With a true 1080p screen the 17.3" Qosmio X70-ABT2G22 is an impressive gaming laptop. with a i7-4700MQ, 4GB DDR3-1600 and a GTX 770M 3GB.  The 750GB HDD helps keep the price reasonable though the system would benefit from an SSD.  There is an HDMI out capable of supporting 4k video for those who would prefer to use this as a semi-mobile desktop since it's 7.6lbs weight might be inconvenient after a long day.  At $400 this is a great amount of savings if you move quickly.

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Source: LogicBUY

E3 2013: DICE rolls into E3

Subject: General Tech, Shows and Expos | June 14, 2013 - 04:06 AM |
Tagged: E3, E3 13, ea, dice

How could I resist?

I was surprised, the EA keynote -- usually an event which dances past, carefully not leaving anything like "an impression" on its way out -- stuck with me more than any other keynote. Sure, throughout the EA Sports segment I was cleaning my "office" and only modestly paying any level of attention, but I feel that DICE swept the show when they appeared. This, and the rest of the week brought good, bad, and awesome news for us PC gamers.

You have probably seen the Battlefield 4 multiplayer demo by this point. We linked to it, we discussed it. It seems like the destructibility found in the Battlefield 3 single player campaign was absent from the multiplayer not because of a technical reason but rather a design decision. Sure, we can see the radio tower collapse, but building destruction was quite simplified even when compared to Bad Company 2.

The Skyscraper collapse seems like it is a legitimate aspect of the game this time around and not just a baloney promotional piece. When the building collapses you can notice the control point disappear from the mini-map in the bottom left corner of the HUD. That gameplay element required quite a bit of design thought, even Bad Company 2 made buildings with Conquest flags indestructible. Maybe the harsh limitations on Battlefield 3 destructibility was more to keep unified game play between the PC and the 24 player-limited consoles?

Sadly, during E3 we have found that mod support will not be available for Battlefield 4. I must compliment GM of DICE, Karl-Magnus Troedsson, for his blunt honesty. It would be much simpler to kick your feet and say wait and see for something you know will never see the light of day; but, he gave us the straight answer. Sure, he said then engine is not ready for a public release but even then he admitted that it was not for our benefit. They do not have a good idea what boundaries they want to allow modders to access. While disappointing, at least it does not have a condescending tone like we experienced with Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 mod support requests.

Quoting from a PC Gamer interview:

Karl-Magnus Troedsson, DICE GM: We get that question a lot. I always answer the same thing, and then the community calls me bad names. We get the feedback, we understand it. We also would like to see more player-created content, but we would never do something like this if we feel we couldn’t do this 100 percent. That means we need to have the right tools available, we need to have the right security around this regarding what parts of the engine we let loose, so to say. So for BF4 we don’t have any planned mod support, I have to be blunt about saying that. We don’t.

Moving on, though. As we know, Disney decided that LucasArts properties would be best left to the hands at EA. The internet simultaneously joy-teared at the thought of a Star Wars Battlefront title developed by DICE. Sure enough, Star Wars: Battlefront 3 is a thing, and it will be developed using the Frostbite 3 engine.

Still no word on an Indiana Jones titled based on Mirror's Edge. Heh heh heh.

Oh by the way, the announcement I am, by far, most excited for is Mirror's Edge. I absolutely loved the first game, despite its terrible dialog, for how genuine and intrinsically valuable it felt. It gave the impression of a passion project, both in gameplay and in narrative theme. Thankfully, the game is being developed and it will come to the PC.

We also found out that Mirror's Edge is planned to be an "open world action adventure title". Normally that would scare me, but, that was what we were expecting of the first Mirror's Edge before their linear bait-and-switch.

Cannot tell if good or bad... but we will see at some point in the future.

Source: PC Gamer

More information on AMD's mysterious 5GHz chip

Subject: General Tech | June 13, 2013 - 04:45 PM |
Tagged: vishera, piledriver, FX-9590, FX-9370, Centurion, amd

The Tech Report managed to get some more information out of AMD about the new FX-9000 series that the net has been buzzing about.  We now have confirmation that the base clocks for the FX-9590 and FX-9370 are 4.7GHz and 4.4GHz.  They also confirmed that 220W TFP is relatively accurate which will make these the hottest chips on the market.  While you won't see these chips officially for sale outside of specially built systems, there is a chance a few might pop up on eBay and if you are curious how they might perform there is a link in The Tech Report's article to an overclocked Vishera which will give you a rough idea.

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"On Tuesday, AMD introduced its new FX-9000-series processors. The company quoted their peak Turbo speeds (5GHz for the FX-9590, 4.7GHz for the FX-9370) and a rough time frame for availability ("this summer"), but it revealed little else. We were left wondering about base clocks, power envelopes, and potential retail availability."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: The Tech Report

Dell UltraSharp U2413 1920x1200 24-inch IPS Monitor @ $449.99

Subject: General Tech | June 13, 2013 - 02:54 PM |
Tagged: deals

Dell's UltraSharp U2413 1920 x 1200 24" IPS claims a 6ms response time which makes it suitable for gaming, as well as offering superior colour support.  As it is a new model it supports HDMI, DisplayPort 1.2, DVI-D and mini DisplayPort inputs as well as acting as a 4-port USB 3.0 hub.

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Source: LogicBUY

Podcast #255 - AMD's 5 GHz Processor, 1080p Oculus Rift, and more news from Computex!

Subject: General Tech | June 13, 2013 - 02:33 PM |
Tagged: wwdc, video, titan, podcast, oculus rift, nvidia, FX, apple, amd, a10-6800k, 5ghz

PC Perspective Podcast #255 - 06/13/2013

Join us this week as we discuss AMD's 5 GHz Processor, 1080p Oculus Rift, and more news from Computex!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

  • iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
  • RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
  • MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath and Morry Teitelman

Try our Beta Roku Channel! (Live content only)

Program length: 57:27

  1. Week in Review:
    1. 0:01:30 AMD Releases First 5 GHz Processor for Consumers, FX-9590 and FX-9370
  2. News items of interest:
    1. 0:11:45 Win an AMD A10-6800K Richland APU + SimCity!!
    2. 0:13:00 Computex 2013: Intel Demos Baytrail Tablet, Haswell Ultrabook, Ivy Bridge Passive Tablet
    3. 0:15:00 Razer Blade Haswell Gaming Notebook is Damn Sexy, Powerful
    4. 0:17:15 Computex 2013: Gigabyte Preparing Custom GTX Titan With WindForce 450W Cooler... Some Assembly Required
    5. 0:22:30 AMD wants you to know there is a Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition for $419
    6. 0:25:10 Computex 2013: New Haswell-Ready PSUs From SeaSonic Pictured
      1. OCZ Releases Haswell PSU Compatibility List
    7. 0:29:30 Computex 2013: The Comedic Return of the Ultra GPUs
    8. 0:33:30 Oculus VR Rift HD 1080p Prototype Headset Impresses
    9. 0:34:15 E3 2013: Monoprice Shows New 27-in and 30-in High-Res, Low Cost Monitors
    10. 0:36:30 NVIDIA Reiterates Dedication to Gaming on PC, Working with Developers
    11. 0:40:40
    12. WWDC 13: Dissecting Apple's New Hardware Changes. MacBook Air and the new Mac Pro.
      1. Apple introduces PCI-Express based SSD in new MacBook Air
  3. 0:49:00 Hardware/Software Picks of the Week:
    1. Ryan: LA Traffic
    2. Jeremy: The mighty can of air
    3. Josh: The more I have used this, the better I like it
    4. Allyn: Cold Medication
    5. Morry: more pump for your pump - Swiftech MCP35X
    6. Scott: Now with 100% more compelling. Alienware X51
  4. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
  5. http://pcper.com/podcast
  6. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
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Source: PC Perspective

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