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Alienware Showing Off AMD PC, Only $1699
Posted by James Pikover 3 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes ago.
Remember yesterday we mentioned that Dell is getting rid of their XPS PC's and giving everything over to Alienware? Good. This is their first step towards a lighter, cheaper gaming station.
And a good one it is. Sporting a 2.2GHz quad core Phenom X4, two 3870 X2's and 4GB 800MHz ram, we're deftly surprised that it hits the given price, knowing Alienware's unfortunate history of being described mainly as "cool, but overpriced".
It's a great addition to their lineup, we think, though we're not sure that using the AMD processor will help much. It could easily be replaced with the faster Q6600 (at 2.4GHz), but I suppose there are always hardcore fanboys looking for their AMD processors no matter what.
Comments ()Dell Making Alienware It's Only Gaming PC
Posted by James Pikover 4 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes ago.
For those who don't remember, Dell acquired Alienware in 2006 and hasn't done a thing with them since. Well, nothing as drastic as the HP acquisition of VoodooPC, which effectively had HP tell Voodoo to make them a good PC, and then go back to their toys. Dell simply gathered up parts to buy so Alienware wouldn't have to spend as much on components.
This, of course, didn't help too much because it just took too long, and Dell's own gaming PC's have been cutting into Alienware's revenue. Dell's XPS desktops haven't received the highest ratings, but they have proven to be powerful machines and come from a much larger company who isn't known to be exceptionally expensive, even though the XPS desktops were.
That's why today, Dell announced that it will no longer market or produce their XPS line of desktop PC's, and will focus its attention solely on Alienware's production of the high-end gaming platform. The laptop XPS line has sold well, and Dell will continue its production.
Good news or bad? Good, because while Dell and Alienware were (and are) essentially the same company, their self-destructive competition didn't do any benefit for anyone. It may be bad for Alienware, who has for so long prided itself in making custom computers for clients with hand-written and signed notes of inspection, etc, and now Dell comes in saying that they'll have to make gaming PC's for everyone. But then again, business is business. They'll do what they think is right, and we'll all laugh about it later on.
Apple Loves Portable Gaming Consoles...err, Phones
Posted by James Pikover 4 days, 7 hours, 46 minutes ago.
Apple is one of those companies that is just so respected by so many people that they get truckloads of mail daily with suggestions about products that they should make. I myself had a vision for an Apple TV (not Apple TV, but an actual TV) which I still think would work, but hey, when you all send in enough money for me to own a relatively large portion of the company, I'll push for it.
Until then, one thing many gamers and phone hobbyists alike have been questioning is why hasn't Apple gotten into the games market. Boing Boing Gadgets goes into it, explaning how relatively simple-minded such a thing would be to do when they have a very easy road to achieve fame in portable gaming.
For a quick summary, Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch are quite capable of playing games, and indeed the previous iPod iterations have had downloadable games (albeit the control scheme was terrible for gaming and the games were just as bad). The touch-sensitive screens obviously open up quite a bit, but the lack of dedicated buttons is what throws people off.
Except that Apple isn't a portable gaming console publisher, they are a hardware company selling phones! Which means that if someone wants to put games on their phone, then they'd better figure out how to do it. There's a market for games on iPhones (since there are people with them), so it's just a matter of time before games find their way into the phones as it is.
So quit yer whining!
Xbox 360 Shifting to 65nm ASAP, Slimmed Down by next year
Posted by James Pikover 5 days, 7 hours, 9 minutes ago.
If there's anything Microsoft learned after having earned a negative amount from the original Xbox, it's that hardware matters a ton. The type of hardware put into a console has to be easily upgradeable, something that the original was not. Sure, the parts got cheaper over time, but no single Xbox console made any money for Microsoft.
That's changed for the Xbox 360. Last year, Microsoft announced that they turned the tide and officially were on the positive end of the total revenue for their hardware. Slight changes have been made since it's '05 release, mostly with the heatsinks, but now they've announced that 65nm CPU's is the standard to be.
Well, they didn't announce it. As usual, we get our news about Microsoft hardware from the actual hardware manufacturers, then wait for Microsoft to deny the whole ordeal. No matter, everyone can be happy about the CPU size change, since it will increase the CPU's productivity (smaller CPU means less space for information to travel, meaning it goes faster) and thus won't heat up so terribly.
TG Daily has also brought down news that some cooling fan companies have come forward and said that Microsoft is looking for a more efficient cooling system, which could hint at a possible second-generation 360. Something smaller, lighter, cheaper and sexier than the original, we hope.
JDome to Surround You, Immerse You, Cost You Moolah
Posted by James Pikover 5 days, 7 hours, 26 minutes ago.
Playing games is fun. But one of the biggest problems I've had with games is that sometimes they aren't very immersive. Sometimes, the controls are overwhelming to do with a simple joystick. Sometimes the PC or console I play on is simply too weak to play at the level I'd like. And sometimes I'm restricted by my monitor resolution or number of monitors.
These problems suck, because for gamers like myself, it can make or break a gaming experience. One such example was Metal Gear Solid. For me, it was just incredibly difficult to get into because the control scheme was just too difficult to manage. That, and the fact that every game had a crappy camera until the second installment and I'm not one to pay for the same game twice (it's called firmware updates and proper QA people!).
Screen resolution and the number of monitors is undoubtedly one of the bigger issues, both because it's too stressful to play using more than one monitor at high res on a single machine, but because the human eye doesn't function looking at monitors.
Call it millions of years of evolution or thousands of years of watching for flying rocks, people have peripheral vision that is untapped by gaming. It can be expressed like playing with 2.1 speakers instead of surround. There's a huge spectrum of sound unavailable...it isn't necessary, but it would sure as hell improve the gameplay for people with good hearing, or good peripheral vision in this case.
That's somewhat the idea behind JDome. Use a projector to display an image on a dome-shaped...cloth, and happily use the high resolution and peripheral vision as it was meant to be used. It's currently huge and bulky, and there's only one in existence since they need funding (hint hint), but I honestly can't imagine things like this catching on. I wouldn't mind using it myself, but if it worked, I'd never be able to go back to playing on a monitor again. Some things just aren't worth it.
Super Big NES Controller, For Real Gamers
Posted by James Pikover 6 days, 7 hours, 18 minutes ago.
What would you give to have this as a coffee table? Retro, cool, everyone knows what it is (well, maybe not the kids), and your girlfriend/wife may even let you keep it. I mean, hey, it's a coffee table.
Not to fast there buddy boy. Not only is this a table, it's a full blown NES controller. Everything matches. Like that geometry project we all had to recreate a small object 10x its original size, Kyle Downes created not only a coffee table (which is just a piece of glass sitting on top of the controller), but a large, working NES controller that makes it so much cooler.
The video shows how it was built, somewhat. They aren't steps, but they are proof that he didn't just find it in Nintendo's dumpster. Just don't do what he did and play Mario with your girlfriend on one controller. It's a relationship killer.
Ultra Awesome
Ben Heck, Saving the One Handed Guitar Heroes
Posted by James Pikover 6 days, 7 hours, 38 minutes ago.
Master and Creator of all things that nobody would have thought of without enormous amounts of free time, Ben Heck, blesses us with his media presence once again. This time, he gives us, and behold! the guitar strum pedal.
OK, so maybe some of us who wanted a more authentic guitar gaming experience considered a pedal, especially since companies like Nyko already made similar products (albeit for different purposes). So what? Though I must admit, this "boot" would be an awesome replacement for a whammy bar.
Which, of course, it is. It's made specifically for anyone playing one handed, with that one hand on the frets and their foot strumming. Which, if you've played Rock Band drums lately, you can imagine how difficult it would be because feet are just not used that way. It works, there are two, and for anyone interested, it works as a whammy bar too. There are only two right now, so you'd better get in touch with him if you want one ASAP.
Oh, and RedOctane actually sent him some guitar's to help him make it. How's that for generous? Good job guys.
What Videocard(s) to Buy for Price/Performance Ratio
Posted by James Pikover 7 days, 14 hours, 16 minutes ago.
The graph is pretty easy to understand. This videocard gets this framerate for this price, that one's a little better, these two together get this much, so on and so forth.
While the chart is good in the way that it is simple and tells which card is worth how much, the framerate is really a guestimation. How can four 9800 GX2's, in quad SLI, not run Crysis at 40FPS on high?! I run Crysis on high at 1920x1200 with an 8800GTX, and it gets 25FPS.
But if you take the chart with a grain of salt in terms of the framerate, which obviously will vary based on other factors than your videocard, it's a very useful bit of information.
Why Nintendo Is Full of Crap and We Will Have A New DS
Posted by James Pikover 7 days, 15 hours, 22 minutes ago.
The Nintendo DS hasn't been in the news lately. Early last month, there was some hubub about whether there was going to be a new version, which was trounced by Nintendo and taken back by original rumor-monger and Famitsu guy Hirakazu Hamamura.
Now stirring the boiling pot a bit more is GamesRadar, who gives us seven reasons why either a new DS model is in the works, or a new handheld entirely. But we're more inclined to believe a new DS model...the next handheld consoles will undoubtedly work as phones, and while Nintendo would certainly benefit from getting a head start over Sony, who by the way has Ericsson, it's probably still at least a year out.
The erasons are worth noting, such as Nintendo's need to get rid of piracy which has been plaguing the DS, the saturated marketplace, and a few others. Hit the jump to see the rest of the list.
Microsoft to Reveal Their Wiimote Next Week?
Posted by James Pikover 8 days, 4 hours, 31 minutes ago.
We've talked about Microsoft's supposed plan to rip off the Wii remote that Nintendo basically put all their research and development for their "next gen" console. We've discussed Sony's "innovation" with the SIXAXIS using accelerometers after Nintendo announced their gaming design. It's the same stuff happening over and over again.
Of course, everyone thought that Sony was the lame cat in the bag on this ordeal back in the day, and we should point fingers and scoff at them. Yet if the recent rumors are correct, maybe we've been wrong all this time. Maybe it's time to apologize and make amends.
Because now, we have someone else to laugh at. Microsoft looks as though they're going to reveal their newest controller, similar to the Wii remote, sometime next week. Not only reveal it, but reveal how it works with the title it's been "specifically" made for, Banjo Kazooie 3.
And to think, I cheered Microsoft for sticking with the typical controller layout. For shame.
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