As if two wasn’t enough, Asus decided to produce a video card with, count ‘em, three GPUs. Note that this is one one board, not at all like the GX2 deals from NVIDIA that are basically two regular boards with only one connector. The card houses the RV670 core, ATI’s fastest chip.
More pictures and details after the break…
Its new segment time! Previously, I’ve been issuing news updates that consist of several stubs of stories that aren’t post-worthy individually. Well, Miscellanea isn’t exactly news, it is more like a collection of unrelated, cool stories that I want to bring to a larger audience. OK then, lets jump right into it.
First of all, Acer’s Vice President, James Wong, had said that they plan to release an open platform gaming console. To quote Gizmodo, “WTF?” Wong allegedly takes issue with the current proprietary, closed consoles that dominate the market. The console should use PC technology. I think the decision to make it entirely open platform closes off some potential money, but since it is good for the consumer, I’m fine with it. My German isn’t good enough to fully comprehend the original source, but if someone is better than Google Translator, feel free to repost it in the comments.
After months of tediously waiting for the newest installations of Red Alert, gamers everywhere can rejoice at the opportunity to play the new game. In this version of Red Alert, the Soviets had gone back in time to prevent Einstein from assisting the Allies. However, after going back in time, the Soviets allowed a new fraction to enter the fray. This mysterious new faction is the Empire of Rising Sun, the Japanese. After this change in time, the Allies have lost some of their laser technologies, but still kept the mirage technology. Now, a new technology has allowed buildings to be built on water as well as land. Another change was the fact that most of the units are now able to move on land and water, although some weapons might be a little weakened when it’s on a different terrain. The Japanese units are supposedly mysterious: An insider saw some kind of tsunami tank and ninjas. Here is the official press release, a way to get the beta version of the RA3, and the cover of PC Gamer. Screens after the break… Read the rest of this entry »
With the usual spin, Microsoft released figures the other day that claim 42% market share for the Xbox 360. This figure factors in hardware, software, and accessories. Assuming that 360 owners, who usually tend to be more active gamers, buy more games than Wii owners for instance then the figure could be skewed. Also factored in is the Xbox Live subscription fee, and as Kotaku puts it, this figure is good for revenue showboating, but not so much for apples-to-apples dick waving contests. The reported install base of the 360 is about 17.7 million, but we don’t know if that factors in the extra 16% that have failed.
Over 18 million Xbox 360s have sold through since the console’s launch in November 2005, but just how many of those are still working? Squaretrade, a company that specializes in providing warranty support to purchasers of electronic goods from various manufacturers, claims 16% of Xbox 360s experience a hardware failure within six to ten months after a warranty purchase. Three out of every five failures were for the infamous “Red Ring of Death” general hardware failure error, a problem often linked to overheating.The Xbox’s figures compare poorly to competing consoles, which have a failure rate of around 3% — and if anything, the Squaretrade figure underestimates the scale of the Xbox 360’s reliability issues. It’s a good bet that some buyers of Squaretrade warranties went straight to Microsoft after experiencing hardware issues and don’t factor into the 16% number. On its company blog, Squaretrade pointed out that failure rates are “certain to go up” as the machines in their study group grow older.
This movie is basically just a fan fiction video based on Half-Life 2. It was written by a 9-year old child with a transparent understanding of the English language. It’s a hilarious movie, even if you have no idea what Half-Life 2 is.
Although some of the hype for TF2 has died down a little since last year, Valve is still working wholeheartedly on the project. They just released a very spontaneous patch, and although anyone who has launched Steam recently already has it, they may not know about all of the new matchmaking features and adjustments that have been made.
Highlights:
Full release notes after the break…
Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, has announced that he will resign on February 29. Harrison has been working with Sony since 1992 and many are sorry to see him gone.
The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far. I am grateful to all the PlayStation family for their incredible support, guidance and friendship. It has been a privilege to serve as part of the team and be inspired by them on a daily basis. I am so proud of everything PlayStation has achieved and will continue to support its future in every way I can.
Valve’s acclaimed puzzle-action hybrid Portal will be given a sequel, according to the game’s lead designer Kimberly Swift.
“Well, I believe Doug Lombardi who is our lead marketing director at Valve, has announced Portal 2,” said Swift in this interview with G4TV.
Lombardi had previously stated that more Portal was on the way, but Swift’s comment is the first mention of a true sequel to be made thus far.
No further details on the project were provided.
Portal won the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year last night in San Francisco. It also took home the awards for Innovation and Best Game Design.
In addition, Still Alive, the acclaimed Portal credits song and an internet meme, is confirmed for Rock Band.
In their keynote at the Game Developer’s Conference earlier today, Microsoft brought Epic Games on to announce Gears of War slated for this November. It has also been announced that there will be a limited edition Gears of War 2 with extra concept art and the like, expect that at an extra $10 or so.
Apparently they made quite a show out of the big announcement. Immediately after talking about Fable, the screen turned red and the following teaser trailer started to play. It doesn’t have much information about gameplay, so don’t get too excited.
This blog isn’t dead, the Wordpress admin was corrupted and it took months to pinpoint the problem. No joke.
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