L4D2 Beta Coming to Steam For Linux This Week

Subject: General Tech | April 29, 2013 - 07:25 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: valve, steam for linux, steam, pc gaming, linux, l4d2, beta

Users of Valve’s Steam for Linux client will be getting access to the beta version of Left 4 Dead 2 later this week. The L4D2 beta will come with the new Enhanced Mutation System (EMS), which adds advanced scripting options to the multiplayer zombie survival game.

In fact, all Left 4 Dead owners will get access to the new beta release via the Steam client (not just the Linux platform) for free. The beta will appear in the all games list as a separate download from the main Left 4 Dead 2 game. It will allow beta players to connect to beta servers and other L4D2 beta users.

The EMS system is the biggest addition to the beta currently. It gives developers access to custom script logic as well as custom spawn points and control entities. New maps, characters, and weapons are beyond the scope of the EMS, however.

Interested gamers should keep an eye on their Steam games list as well as the Left 4 Dead blog.

Additional Google Glass Specifications Discovered By Developer

Subject: General Tech | April 27, 2013 - 08:42 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: wearable computing, ti omap, omap 4430, google glasses, android 4.0.4, Android

Earlier this month, Google announced some of the key specifications of its Google Glass project. However, the company left out just how much RAM the device would have or what the exact System on a Chip (SoC) would power the Android device.

Now that the Google Glass glasses are making their way to developers, those as-yet-unknown details are fairly-certain. Google Glass developer Jay Lee managed to access the device using ADB and discovered that the device offered up 682MB of RAM (accessible to developers) and a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 SoC. Google Glass likely has 1GB of total RAM, but the operating system and other necessary device-level processes are likely responsible for reserving the remaining 342MB chunk of RAM. The TI OMAP 4430 is the same SoC that is powering the Amazon Kindle Fire and a number of other mobile devices released last year. Because of battery life constraints, Google is most likely not running the chip at its maximum 1GHz clock speed. In the Google+ discussion, developer Kevin Fitch speculated that it is likely clocked at 600MHz due to the cores’ BogoMIPS scores.

The remaining Google Glass specifications include Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream sandwich), 16GB of internal storage, a 5MP camera, and support for both 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It is essentially a mid-range smartphone hidden away inside a pair of glasses. At $1500, the first round of Google Glass was solely for developers, but once Google rolls it into production next year, judging by the internals, it should be much cheaper.

Are you excited for Google Glass? If you are curious about the software or hardware, Jay Lee is taking questions on his Google + thread.

Deal for Apr 25th - Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS @ $405

Subject: General Tech | April 26, 2013 - 01:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

If you are shopping around for a 24" IPS LCD then today's deal might be custom made for you. The Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS is currently discounted by 26% and comes with free shipping. It is a full 1920x1200 display with HDMI, DVI-D and DisplayPort inputs and even better it has a ghosting time of 11 ms and an input lag so low as to be undetectable which makes it perfect for gaming.

Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS-panel LCD Monitor with HDMI & DisplayPort
Dell is offering UltraSharp U2410 24-inch LCD Monitor for $404.99 with FREE shipping. Use $99.01 instant savings and extra 10% coupon code: 0Q0C74SWNZC42$ to get final price.

Only 346 days to go ... where will you be when WinXP dies?

Subject: General Tech | April 26, 2013 - 01:23 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: winxp, microsoft

In just under a year the venerable Windows XP OS will hit end of life and will no longer be supported by Microsoft.  This could be a rather unpleasant experience for many businesses that still rely on WinXP to provide compatibility for legacy applications.  Windows 7 is becoming more difficult to acquire, with Microsoft pushing Win8 as their preferred product to sell with systems and introducing Win7 to executives is daunting enough without trying to explain why their Win8 computer now looks more like a cell phone.  That is bad enough, but explaining to them why a custom built peice of software will no longer function due to incompatibility will be even worse and pointing out that the issue could have been prevented if they had only approved your budget requests to upgrade the software will be less than helpful.  Your younger users will never notice, they are far more concerned with convincing someone that they should be allowed to work on whatever device is their current favourite but you can be guaranteed you will be spending time with upper management explaining why Microsoft doesn't care that they don't want to switch OSes and that due to security agreements with clients those managers have no choice but to upgrade.  The Register put together some numbers showing how unprepared the UK market is; the situation in North America will be similar.

"The lack of a business case was cited as the key barrier to Windows XP application migration in 79 per cent of these organisations. This is why large volumes of unsupported applications post-Windows XP are a concern for 80 per cent of CIOs and IT leaders."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Mutant hybrid upstart joins pushback against storage giants @ The Register
• Intel presents its Future Showcase for KitGuru
• Tenda W300M Wireless N300 Portable AP/Router @ Kitguru
• HWBOT TeamCup 2013 Stage 4 @ Madshrimps
• Win One of Five Antec Mobile Product Bundles @ eTeknix
• Win 'The Showdown Effect' Game Codes @ eTeknix

Razer takes a moment to Vent, announces Razer Comms

Subject: General Tech | April 26, 2013 - 02:46 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: razer, Comms, Teamspeak, Ventrillo

The Steam overlay makes text communication easy between any combination of friends in game and out. Despite the popularity, just about every team has a voice over IP (VoIP) solution to coordinate within a match. Talking is simply superior to typing while simultaneously attempting to not get yourself killed, crashed, or otherwise not-winning. Teamspeak and Ventrillo are the two most popular solutions for clan voice communication; while both are free applications for clients, some uses require server license fees over and above the actual server cost itself.

Razer found a niche it wanted to fill.

Razer Comms is a free service, currently in beta, for text and audio chat. Using the overlay metaphor, the application tries to be very unobtrusive to the game it rests upon. The service apparently uses good-quality codecs, according to the little hear-say I overheard the last couple of days. They also advertise that the service, since it is not owned by the clans which use it, will hide each user's IP address. While there is very little you can do to someone by knowing their IP address, and most of that could be circumvented by powercycling your modem, it does have some limited advantages.

In terms of a business model, unless the service develops some way of gaining revenue, the only way I can rationalize Razer funding this project is boosting their brand power. Razer already has some level of infrastructure from their Synapse projects and it is possible that the company is willing to eat the loss with the expectation of increased hardware sales. If this service will continue to be both free and ad-free, I cannot see any other reason for Razer to bother besides: eat the loss, make gamers happy, and wait for them to want a new mouse or tablet.

I can also see a slim chance, a very very slim chance, that Razer hopes to contiuously expand this service into a full gaming platform as Valve did with Steam. A fun thought, but nothing I would actually expect at this point.

Razer Comms is currently only available for English Windows users, although other languages will arrive soon.

Can 3,000,000 Surface buyers be wrong?

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 02:43 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: winRT, win8, surface, microsoft, sales, Surface Pro

Believe it or not, according to The Inquirer's sources Microsoft managed to sell three million Surface and Surface Pro tablets, accounting for 7.5% of sales in the first quarter of 2013.  In comparison Apple accounts for a hair under 50% of branded tablet sales, with Android tablets making up the rest of the market.  For a company not generally associated with hardware, apart from the Zune, Microsoft has made a definite impact on tablet sales with their new OS and hybrid machines.  They do not define the split between Surface and Surface Pro, nor mention how many buyers did not realize the limitations of WinRT, regardless this is good news for Microsoft if not for some of their traditional partners such as ASUS and Acer.

"TABLET UPSTART Microsoft managed to capture 7.5 percent of the global 'branded' tablet market in the first three months of the year."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Fusion-io buys NexGen @ The Register
• Microsoft to unveil new Xbox console on May 21 @ The Register
• Western Digital profits down despite revenue rise @ The Register
• MySQL Founders Reunite To Form SkySQL @ Slashdot
• Another blow for Flash as Unity gaming engine kills support @ The Register
• SECTOR Pilot Master R3273679025 Review @ NikKTech
• Sony NEX-VG30 @ Hardware.info
• Ninjalane Podcast - The Tech of Concerts

Podcast #248 - AMD HD 7990, CrossFire Frame Rating improvements, 4K TVs and more!

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 02:13 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: video, Xe, seiki, raidr, podcast, nvidia, Never Serttle, hd 7990, GA-Z77N-WiFi, frame rating, crossfire, amd, 4k

PC Perspective Podcast #248 - 04/25/2013

Join us this week as we discuss AMD HD 7990, CrossFire Frame Rating improvements, 4K TVs and more!

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: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Allyn Malventano

Program length: 1:16:34

1. 0:01:20 Update on Indiegogo: You guys rock!
2. Week in Review:
   1. 0:06:30 AMD Radeon HD 7990 6GB Review
   2. 0:15:30 Frame Rating: AMD previews prototype driver
   3. 0:27:30 Gigabyte Z77N-WiFi Mini ITX Motherboard
   4. 0:29:30 AMD Releases Latest Generation of G-series Embedded Products
3. News items of interest:
   1. 0:37:40 Seiki 50-in 4K 3840x2160 TV Preview
   2. 0:48:45 ASUS RAIDR Teases keep happening
   3. 0:52:00 Western Digital Xe HDDs SAS
      1. WD mobile Blue Series 5mm thin
   4. 0:57:15 Hook Retina display up to your PC
   5. 0:59:00 Raja Koduri returns to AMD
   6. 1:01:30 More Never Settle games??
   7. 1:02:45 Sound Blaster still a thing?
4. Hardware/Software Picks of the Week:
   1. Ryan: Seiki 4K TV - more support from enthusiasts! and wet puppies
   2. Jeremy: This is not news people, NFC is a feature but if you are paranoid you can check with this app
   3. Josh: The hoarder in me wants one!
   4. Allyn: Put your bits on an ioSafe. Put your 'papers' here.
   5. Tim: BT Sync, it's in public alpha now so go grab it!
5. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
6. http://pcper.com/podcast
7. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
8. Closing/outro

Deal for April 25th - Dell UltraSharp U2913WM 29" 2560 x 1080 @ $495

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 02:11 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

Today only you can get your hands on the Dell UltraSharp U2913WM we featured back on the 19th at an even lower price.  For a total of $495, shipping is free, you can upgrade your display significantly.  Before you sneer at the 2560 x 1080 resolution, realize that you would be able to run multiples of this monitor without needing a triple TITAN SLI rig.  For those of us who's eyes have been around the sun many dozens of times, the slightly larger resolution is also welcome.

Dell UltraSharp U2913WM panoramic 29" 2560 x 1080 LED-backlit LCD Monitor
Dell Works is offering 29-inch UltraSharp U2913WM 2560 x 1080 LED-backlit LCD Monitor for $494.99 with FREE shipping. Use $150 instant savings and extra 10% coupon code: 0Q0C74SWNZC42$ to get final price. Backed by 3-year Advanced Exchange Warranty and Premium Panel Guarantee.

Insync Extending Support for 0.9.x Versions As it Improves The Upgrade Process To Its New 1.0 Client

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 10:00 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: insync, google drive, file sync, cloud storage

Insync -- a service that extends the functionality of Google Drive and (among other things) allows users to sync Google Drive files (and documents) with their local computer for offline access -- has announced that it is extending support for version 0.9.x clients due to users expressing concerns over upgrade issues. The company released a new version 1.0 desktop client last month that added a number of new features, and the older clients were scheduled for end-of-life support.

Unfortunately, in order to upgrade to the new Insync 1.0, users needed to re-download all of their files stored on Google Drive. In an email to users, Insync sympathized with users' concerns over needing to re-download all files (especially those with extensive libraries of files and/or low data caps) of their files simply to upgrade the client-side application.

Insync has announced that it is working on a solution that will allow users to upgrade to the new (and improved) client without needing to re-download files from Google Drive, which is currently necessary to bring the client in sync with the cloud storage service. There is no ETA on the new client, but the company is reportedly hard at work on fixing the issue.

In the meantime, users can continue using their current desktop clients without worrying about file sync and tech support ending.

ARM Details First Quarter 2013 Finances, Company Revenue Up 26% YoY

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 01:14 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: SoC, mobile, ARMv8, arm

British chip design company ARM recently released an unaudited financial report with details on its Q1 2013 performance. The mobile SoC giant announced that it saw 2.6 million ARM chips in the first quarter of this year, a 35% improvement over last year and further evidence that ARM still dominates the low-power mobile market.

In fact, the chip designer made $94.9 million in licensing all those ARM chips, which was a big chunk of the company’s total Q1 2013 revenue of $263.9 million. Revenue was up by 26% versus the first quarter of the previous year (Q1 2012), which was only $209.4 million. Further, ARM’s profit (pre-tax) is 89.4 million pounds or approximately $137 million USD.

ARM saw revenue from both licensing and royalties increase year over year (YoY) by 24% and 33% which indicates that more companies are jumping into the mobile and embedded markets with ARM chips or licenses to make custom designs of their own. According to the report, the company sold five-times more Mali GPUs, saw a 50% increase in ARM-powered embedded devices, and noticed a 25% increase in ARM mobile devices year over year respectively. ARM has also started moving ARMv8 (64-bit ARM) licenses. Of the total 22 licenses in Q1 2013, 7 of the licenses were for ARM’s Cortex-A50 series processors along with a single ARMv8 license (a total of 9 to date). In Q1 2013, ARM also sold three Mali GPU licenses, and one of those was for the company’s high-end Skymir GPU.

In all, ARM had a good first quarter and is showing signs of increased growth. With ARMv8 on the horizon, I am interested to see the company’s numbers next year and how they compare year over year as ARM attempts to take over the server room in particular. The profits and revenue are modest in comparison to X86 giant Intel's Q1 2013 results, but are not bad at all for a company that doesn’t produce chips itself!

You can find ARM's Q1 2013 report here.

AMD Catalyst 13.4 (WHQL) and AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 05:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: catalyst, graphics drivers, catalyst 13.4, Catalyst 13.5 beta

AMD Catalyst 13.4 includes all of the latest performance optimizations and fixes available in AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3, and is Microsoft logo certified.

AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta includes additional performance improvements and fixes not found in AMD Catalyst 13.4

Feature Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 13.4
Includes support for the for the AMD Radeon HD 7990 Series and AMD Radeon HD 7790 Series

AMD Catalyst 13.4 includes support for the following OpenGL 4.3 features:

• GL_ARB_compute_shader o GL_ARB_multi_draw_indirect
• GL_ARB_shader_storage_buffer_object o GL_ARB_arrays_of_arrays
• GL_ARB_clear_buffer_object o GL_ARB_ES3_compatibility
• GL_ARB_explicit_uniform_location o GL_ARB_fragment_layer_viewport
• GL_ARB_invalidate_subdata o GL_ARB_program_interface_query
• GL_ARB_shader_image_size o GL_ARB_stencil_texturing
• GL_ARB_texture_buffer_range o GL_ARB_texture_query_levels
• GL_ARB_texture_storage_multisample

Performance Highlights of AMD Catalyst 13.4 (vs. AMD Catalyst 13.1): Includes all of the performance improvements found in AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3 on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series

• Resolved issue highlights of AMD Catalyst 13.4 (vs. AMD Catalyst 13.1) AMD Catalyst 13.4 includes all of the fixes found in AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3
• Significantly improves latency performance in Skyrim, Boderlands 2, Guild Wars 2,Tomb Raider and Hitman Absolution
• Resolves Texture flickering seen in DirectX9.0c applications.
• Resolves slight corruption seen in Tomb Raider with TressFX enabled for CrossFire and single GPU configurations
• Fixes graphical corruption on objects and textures in Call of Duty - Black Ops 2

AMD’s latest Catalyst Application Profile:

AMD Catalyst 13.4 CAP1 (Can be used with AMD Catalyst 13.4 and AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta – note, the CrossFire profiles are already included in AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta )

AMD Catalyst Application Profiles include support for AMD single GPU, AMD CrossFire, AMD Dual Graphics, and AMD Enduro Technology configurations

• The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct: Fixes image quality issues when enabling Anti-Aliasing through the AMD Catalyst Control Center
• Crysis 3: Improves CrossFire performance in 3 and 4 GPU configurations
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Improves CrossFire performance
• Unigine Heaven: Improves CrossFire performance in 3 and 4 GPU configurations ·
• Hitman Absolution: Resolves application issues when running application at 1680x100 with 8xAA enabled

AMD Enduro Technology profile updates:

• Alien Colonial Marines – acm.exe
• BioShock Infinite – BioShockInfinite.exe
• Crysis 3 – Crysis3.exe
• GodMode – GodMode.exe
• Grid 2 – grid2.exe
• Hawken – HawkenLauncher.exe
• Neverwinter – gameclient.exe
• SimCity – SimCity.exe
• Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army – NZA.exe
• The Walking Dead Survival Instinct – WalkingDead.exe
• Tomb Raider – TombRaider.exe
• Kapersky Anti-virus - avt.exe

The latest available AMD Catalyst CAP can always be found here:

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

Feature Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 13.4 Linux Driver:

This release of AMD Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for the following new features: RHEL 6.4 production support OpenCL console mode support Kernel 3.7 and 3.8 support

AMD Catalyst™ 13.5 Beta high-lights (vs. AMD Catalyst 13.4/AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta) on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series.

Download the driver here: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst13-5WINBetaDriver.aspx

· AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta Includes support for the for the AMD Radeon HD 7990 Series and AMD Radeon HD 7790 Series

Resolved Issues: · Tomb Raider: Corruption is no longer seen on the AMD Radeon HD 7790 when Tress FX is enabled

BitTorrent Releases First Public Alpha of Its Sync P2P Storage Service

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 05:17 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: torrent, sync, p2p, folder sync, file sync, cloud storage, bittorrent

BitTorrent took the wraps off of its Sync application yesterday. The new Sync service uses the BitTorrent P2P protocol to sync encrypted files across all of your devices. It is a service that I have been wanting to see for a long time now, in fact, which was why I was ecstatic when I found out about the BitTorrent Labs program. I managed to get into the private alpha a couple of weeks ago, and have been testing it ever since. Being in an alpha state, it is still a bit rough around the edges but it shows promise and while I encourage everyone to read the full review for more details, I think it is something I can at least recommend that you should try out!

BitTorrent Sync creates a folder in your home/user folder called SyncApp, and any files or folders that you place in that folder are synced across your devices. Additionally, you can choose existing folders to sync outside of the default SyncApp folder, which is really nice.

The encryption is a bit complicated, but you are given a secret code (decryption key) when you choose to sync a folder, and you need to enter this code on any devices you want to sync. One cool feature of this setup is that you can also generate secret codes that allow temporary and/or permanent read-only access. The master code will allow read and write access, and temporary codes can also be given write access, which would be good to share files for a limited time when collaborating on a project. Even better, the Sync application will allow you to use a custom (base64 encoded) key that is longer than 40 characters if you feel the default keys are not long/secure enough.

The BitTorrent Sync app for Windows--The SyncApp folder is the folder it syncs by default.

The application will sync over WAN or LAN, with a preferrence towards syncing with computers on the same local network. Changes and file syncs are initiated almost instantly, though the actual transfer speed will depend on your network connections.

It is a free app that allows you to sync as many files and folders as you want securely, and it's worh a look in my opinion. Combined with a VPS that allows P2P applications (Backupsy is one that will make an exception for Sync users), you can create your own Dropbox-like sync solution without those pesky file size limits. (Though, currently, you would be missing out on Dropbox's versioning functionality. I hope to see that remedied in future releases.)

You can find more information as well as download links for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux versions of Sync on the BitTorrent Labs website.

Yes, you may be able to tell from this post that I'm excited about Sync--I am. I'm glad someone that can actually code (as in, not me) has finally put together a program that I've been wanting for a long time, and that it generally works well from what I've been able to test so far. It's just my opinion though, if you do try it out let me know what you think of Sync!

Forget the ARES II, here's a reference 7990

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 03:51 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ARES II, amd, radeon, hd 7990, malta, tahiti

We've seen tests of dual 7970s in CrossFire simulating a 7990 and ASUS released the ARES II which was the closest we had until today with the release of the reference HD 7990.  There are many reviews to chose from when looking at this new flagship card, such as from a pure performance perspective such as [H]ard|OCP's which did not come out well for AMD's new card.  If you are more interested in our new Frame Rating process then there are two reviews to read, one that deals with the 7990 on the publicly available driver and perhaps more interesting is a prototype driver provided to Ryan that is intended to fix Crossfire stuttering on single displays but not for EyeFinity

"Today marks the launch of AMD's Radeon HD 7990. The Radeon HD 7990 is a dual-GPU video card that has its two GPUs down on a single PCB that uses CrossFire to operate the two Radeon HD 7970 GPUs. We will test this video card in the latest games, comparing it to GeForce GTX 680 SLI and Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition CrossFire. "

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

• AMD Radeon HD 7990 Review: 7990 Gets Official @ AnandTech
• AMD Radeon HD 7990 6GB Dual GPU @ Tweaktown
• AMD Radeon HD 7990 @ Hardware.info
• AMD Radeon HD 7990 6 GB @ techPowerUp
• AMD Radeon HD 7990 6GB Malta Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
• AMD HD 7990 Review; Malta Arrives @ Hardware Canucks
• AMD Radeon HD 7990 @ Legion Hardware
• AMD Radeon HD 7990 @ TechSpot
• AMD HD7990 Malta @ Kitguru
• XFX R7790 Black Edition OC 2 GB @ techPowerUp
• Diamond HD 7790 1GB @ LanOC Reviews
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 2GB OC Edition Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
• Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC @ LanOC Reviews
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 2GB OC Review @ OCC
• XFX R7790 Black Edition Overclocked Review @ OCC
• Nouveau vs. NVIDIA Linux Comparison Shows Shortcomings @ Phoronix
• MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB Boost Twin Frozr @ Tweaktown
• EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN 6GB SuperClocked @ Tweaktown
• GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost & SLI Performance @ Techspot
• EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN 6GB SuperClocked @ Tweaktown
• EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN 6GB SuperClocked Video Cards in SLI @ Tweaktown
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN 3-Way SLI @ [H]ard|OCP

Dark Souls 2 will be coming to PC, not just ported as an afterthought

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 02:32 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gaming, Dark Souls II, consolitis, masochism

Dark Souls made a name for its self as one of the toughest and most unforgiving games going and built a huge following because of that.  The sequel will be coming to PC as well but the one major negative comment many gamers had about the original will no longer be applicable, according to the developers this version will not suffer from consolitis.  Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN has about as much information as is available on this game but to truly understand what this game will be like you should check out the YouTube preview below.

"A word of warning: I have never played Dark Souls, and this information is coming from French website GameKult’s interview with a Yui Tanimura, the Japanese game director of Dark Souls II. I am merely an information conduit. A nexus from them to you, with news that the complaints of the horrible, nasty port job of the previous game was noticed and taken into account. Dark Souls II is being developed as a PC game. Hooray!"

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Gaming

• Jagged Alliance: Flashback @ KickStarter
• Homeworld space RTS rights bought by Gearbox for $1.35m @ Hexus
• That Much-Delayed 2k Marin Shooter Is Not An EXCOM @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Post-Modern – ‘Call Of Duty: Ghosts’ Busted @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Totally Teutoburgic: Tons Of Rome II In-Game Footage @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Injustice: Gods Among Us @ The Inquirer
• Gears of War: Judgement Xbox 360 @ Tweaktown

NVIDIA's plans for Tegra and Tesla

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 01:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Steve Scott, nvidia, HPC, tesla, logan, tegra

The Register had a chance to sit down with Steve Scott, once CTO of Cray and now CTO of NVIDIA's Tesla projects to discuss the future of their add-in cards as well as that of x86 in the server room.  They discussed Tegra and why it is not receiving the same amount of attention at NVIDIA as Tegra is, as well as some of the fundamental differences in the chips both currently and going forward.  NVIDIA plans to unite GPU and CPU onto both families of chips, likely with a custom interface as opposed to placing them on the same die, though both will continue to be designed for very different functions.  A lot of the article focuses on Tegra, its memory bandwidth and most importantly its networking capabilities as it seems NVIDIA is focused on the server room and providing hundreds or thousands of interconnected Tegra processors to compete directly with x86 offerings.  Read on for the full interview.

"Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia has been perfectly honest about the fact that the graphics chip maker didn't intend to get into the supercomputing business. Rather, it was founded by a bunch of gamers who wanted better graphics cards to play 3D games. Fast forward two decades, though, and the Nvidia Tesla GPU coprocessor and the CUDA programming environment have taken the supercomputer world by storm."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• AMD pins future growth to embedded marketplace @ The Register
• AMD announces new embedded G-series SoC @ DigiTimes
• TSMC captures almost 50 percent of foundry market thanks to 28nm demand @ The Inquirer
• $45 BeagleBone Black Keeps Eyes on the Pi's @ Linux.com
• BlackBerry OS 10.1 leaks its secret goo over all the web @ The Register
• Samsung MV900F Wi-Fi 16.3MP Digital Camera Review @ ModSynergy
• i’m Watch: A Smartwatch Review @ TechwareLabs

Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition 15.6" Core i7 1080p Laptop with 2GB HD 7730M

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 01:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

For $790 which is $450 off of the retail price you can get your hands on an impressive gaming laptop from Dell, the Inspiron 15R Special Edition.  This 15.6" 1080p laptop is powered by an Intel i7-3632QM @ 2.2GHz, 8GB DDR3-1600, a 32GB SSD cache drive partnered with a 1TB HDD and a 2GB Radeon 7730M.  With Waves MaxxAudio 4 and Skullcandy speakers, HDMI out and 4 USB 3.0 ports this machine will also function as a desktop replacement in case you need to make some sort of justification for spending your money on a gaming laptop.

To get our recommended Inspiron 15R Special Edition configuration, follow these steps:

1. Start here at Dell Home direct store
2. Configure as per needs (optional), click Review & Add to cart button at the top
3. Add to cart
4. Apply coupon code: BXV1FC3ZFJ95DG in shopping cart and proceed to final checkout/payment

Sound Blaster, eh? That name sort of rings a bell.

Subject: General Tech | April 23, 2013 - 06:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: audio, Creative, Sound Blaster ZxR

Ah the good old days of soundcards and assigning specific IRQs to specific PCI slots; don't you miss them?  Onboard chipsets have come a long way from their roots, with full Dolby 5.1 sound and a minimal impact on CPU load available on almost every motherboard but there is still a market for soundcards, albeit a much reduced market.  Creative have not been releasing a lot of new Sound Blaster models recently, at least until very recently.  The Creative Sound Blaster ZxR is more than just a single card, you have a PCIe card as well as an optional daughterboard to provide optical out and a line in as well as a Audio Control Module which contains an array mic, volume control and both 3.5mm to 1/4″ inputs for a headset with microphone.  Is it $250 better than onboard audio?  Custom PC Review has the answers here.

"That being said, today we’ll be reviewing the Creative Sound Blaster ZxR, which is the flagship soundcard in the Sound Blaster Z series of soundcards. Now a couple months ago, we reviewed the Sound Blaster Z, which is a fantastic soundcard that offered a good balance between sound quality and price, but it’s merely the entry level soundcard in the Sound Blaster Z..."

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Audio Corner

• RHA MA450i Earphones Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• AZiO Levetron GH808 USB Gaming Headset @ Benchmark Reviews
• TteSports Shock & Shock One PC Gaming Headset @ eTeknix
• Steelseries Siberia V2 PC Headset Frost Blue Special Edition @ eTeknix
• AIAIAI TMA-1 Studio Headphones With Mic Review @ NikKTech
• Oblanc NC2-3 U.F.O Bluetooth Stereo Headphones Review @ NikKTech
• Plantronics Voyager Legend UC Bluetooth Headset Review @ NikKTech
• RHA SA950i On-ear Headphones @ techPowerUp
• Corsair Obsidian 900D review: taking it to the next level @ Hardware.info
• AZiO Levetron GH808 USB Gaming Headset @ Tweaktown
• How To Set Your Bluetooth Headset As The Default Audio Device @ TechARP
• HMDX Jam Portable Bluetooth Speaker @ Funky Kit

Where have all the PC sales gone? Samsung's got them.

Subject: General Tech | April 23, 2013 - 04:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: slight exaggeration, Samsung, dram market

We have been reporting on the declining global sales of the traditional desktop PC; with one of the major culprits being the increase in sale of smart or super phones which can do just about everything some mainstream consumers want.  Samsung's Galaxy series certainly contribute to this decline and also the decline of Apple's iPhone sales as according to DigiTimes almost 1 of every 3 phones sold globally was made by Samsung.  Apple claims a mere 17.3% of the global market for those who are curious.  The increase is not only from stealing customers from providers such as Lenovo, the market its self is growing and will likely continue to do so as new phones and promotions are launched throughout the year.

"In the first quarter of 2013, smartphone shipments increased steadily worldwide, with total shipments reaching 216.4 million units for a 9.4% on growth. Since the beginning of 2012, smartphone shipment figures have been up every quarter despite seasonality, indication the electronic device is here to stay, according to DRAMeXchange."

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• Weekly Giveaway - LG 42-inch CINEMA 3D 1080p LED HDTV thanks to Deals2Buy @ Tweaktown
• Win a Thecus N2200EVO NAS Server @ eTeknix