Gaming and Technology

Dolby Axon Will Change the Way We Yell at Gamers Online

2010-06-21T18:46:00.001-07:00

Xbox Live may have brought in–game voice communication to the masses but voice chatting with your friends and opponents during a deathmatch or raid isn't anything new for PC Gamers. Some of the most popular VOIP solutions for PC gamers are Ventrilo and Teamspeak, programs you've undoubtedly heard of if you've ever needed to speak with a fellow gamer online while using a computer. Other lesser known options are Skype, which is popular for smaller and more personal discussions, and Mumble, which uses a more up-to-date codec and minimizes latency. Both of which have been steadily gaining headway in the VOIP scene. However, a few people are catching on to this new kid on the block known as Dolby Axon, which promises to revolutionize the way we talk to and interact with each other in-game.

With this new technology your voice is intended to be integrated into the game itself rather than being simply played over the top of it like with most contemporary voice communication software. For example, as your teammates move around you so will the direction their voices come from. If there is a teammate directly to your right calling out enemy fire ahead, you will hear your teammates voice to your right without any distortion to the in-game gunfire coming directly in front of you. In addition, in-game obstacles like walls and buildings will muffle and drown out the voices of your teammates. Dolby also has some innovative ideas with the technology including spy microphones, the ability to hear through walls, throwing your voice, and more.

Right now the technology is confirmed to ship with Jumpgate Evolution, an online space combat simulator, and Mission Against Terror, an online FPS title. Dolby is also hoping that console game developers will embrace the technology, which would allow console gamers to have their voices mapped to the game environment in the same ways its currently being used on the PC. The ability to keenly flow through conversation in a group and knowing where people are by the sound of their voice, coupled with direct sound to game interactions should add much to the game experience. In addition Dolby assures us that any headset and microphone combination will work perfectly with the technology and lower level system owners can breathe a sigh of relief, Dolby has considered you as well.

Read all about Dolby Axon on their site.

If Google told you to walk into traffic, would you do it?

2010-06-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder why absolutely everything has warning labels and liability clauses attached to them? Warnings like "Do not use while sleeping" on hair dryers are absolutely needed because many people today exhibit an exuberant lack of common sense.

Take Lauren Rosenberg for example, who innocently enough used Google Maps on her Blackberry to get walking directions from one part of her Utah town to another. Google provided these, telling her as part of the route to walk for about 2 miles along the serenely-named “Deer Valley Drive.” However, that is simply an alternate name for the short section of road which is actually Utah State Route 224, which as you can imagine, isn't a place for people to be taking a daytime stroll. Instead of finding an alternate route or walking safely back to her home, Rosenberg decided that Google knows best and meandered onto the highway which had no sidewalk or pedestrian paths.

Surprise! She was hit by a vehicle and is now suing Google for her medical expenses ($100,000), as well as punitive damages. She is also suing the driver who struck her, Patrick Harwood of Park City, Utah. Here's an excerpt from Rosenburg's complaint filing.

"As a direct and proximate cause of Defendant Google’s careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions, Plaintiff Lauren Rosenberg was led onto a dangerous highway, and was thereby stricken by a motor vehicle, causing her to suffer sever permanent physical, emotional, and mental injuries, including pain and suffering."

If you do a walking directions search from a laptop or computer on Google, you get one of those hair dryer warnings:

"Walking directions are in beta. Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."

Even Microsoft's Bing has a similar warning when using their walking directions:

"Caution, this route may be missing sidewalks or other pedestrian paths."

The problem with Rosenburg was that she was using a blackberry screen which only has a limited amount of space. If Google were to put any kind of warning on her screen, where would there be room for a map and directions? It seems Google has learned its lesson not to put faith in the common sense of the people. Not walking out into a busy street was a skill I learned in Pre-School.

Video Gamers aka Dream Controlling Masters

2010-06-01T03:24:00.001-07:00

A study suggests that playing video games before bedtime may give gamers a higher level of awareness and control in their dreams giving them a better chance to have a lucid dream. Lucid dreaming is simply being aware you are dreaming, while dreaming, and being able to influence that dream in one way or another. Lucid dreams usually occur while a person is in the middle of a regular dream and suddenly realizes that he or she is asleep and must be dreaming. The person is then said to become "lucid", and may enter one of many different levels of lucidity. At the lowest level, the dreamer may be dimly aware that he or she is dreaming, but not rationally enough so as to realize that all events, people, or actions in the dream are not real. At the highest level, the dreamer is fully aware that she or he is asleep, and can have complete control over all aspects of the dream.

Gamers and Dreams

While gaming at night might not give you the ability to alternate the reality of your dream worlds in the same fashion as "The Matrix", it could however give your mind an edge when facing nightmares and other mental trauma in the every day world. According to Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada, dreams and video games both represent alternate realities which are commonly used by the mind to mimic threatening situations in a safe environment. In fact, several intriguing parallels between lucid dreamers and video gamers have emerged since Gackenbach began her research on video games and how they affect dreams.

The two groups are both capable of demonstrating high levels of focus and concentration, whether that be through lucid-training activities such as meditation and reality checks, or through hours spent mastering virtual worlds and combating countless enemies. In addition both lucid dreamers and gamers seemed to have better spatial skills and were less prone to motion sickness. These findings encouraged Gackenbach to survey the dreams of both non-gamers and hardcore gamers, beginning with two separate studies published in 2006.

The first study suggested that people who frequently played video games were more likely to report lucid dreams and dream control, or the ability to directly influence their dream environment. A second study attempted to narrow down several uncertainties of the first experiment by examining dreams that participants experienced from the night before and by focusing more intently on the dreams of gamers.

This study found that lucid dreams were common among gamers, but that they never had dream control over anything beyond their dream selves. In other words gamers are greatly capable of controlling their own actions in dreams, but are not very capable of altering their dream environments. The gamers also frequently flipped between a first person view from within their body and a third person view of themselves from the outside. This third person perspective was very rarely described as a calm detachment of somebody simply watching. These are very peculiar qualities in dreams which may stem from constantly watching and controlling the actions of a video-game character.

Viewing the Nightmare World in the Eyes of a Gamer

As mentioned before, dreams mimic threatening situations from real life in the safe environment of the dream world. Such nightmares would help organisms hone their survival skills in a protective environment. To test this theory, Gackenbach conducted a 2008 study with 35 males and 63 females, and assessed the threat levels experienced by the dreamers in their sleeping world. She found that gamers experienced less or even a reversed threat simulation in which the dreamer themselves had become the threatening presence. She also noted less aggression overall towards the dreamer, yet aggression in the gamer towards the dream often culminated in violence not unlike that seen in mature rated video games. In other words, a scary nightmare scenario turned into something fun for a gamer.

"What happens with gamers is something inexplicable," Gackenbach explained. "They don't run away, they turn and fight back. They're more aggressive than the norms. If you look at the actual overall amount of aggression, gamers have less aggression in dreams, but when they are aggressive, oh boy, they go off the top."

It appears indeed that video gamers are the undisputed masters of their dreams.

Palm webOS Design Director Jumps Ship to Google

2010-05-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

This news doesn't bode well for Palm and their new owner HP, which recently declared their plan to double down on webOS and take the smartphone market by storm. The now former senior director of human interface and user experience for Palm, Matias Duarte, who was the genius behind webOS's user interface, has confirmed that he will be joining Google and the Android team as their User Experience Director.

While its a shame Duarte isn't sticking around to see things through with Palm, this is a major blow for HP and paints a brighter future for Android. Duarte has worked in the past with members of the current Android team when he was the director of design for the phone maker Danger, which like webOS provided a slick user interface for their phone called the Sidekick. In an odd turn of events, Danger was co-founded by Andy Rubin, who coincidentally left Danger to start Android Inc. in 2003. Since then Android was sold to Google, Rubin became Vice President of engineering, and Duarte rejoined his former colleagues at Android.

Currently Android phones are known for sacrificing aesthetic design and a pretty UI for more functionality and improved customization features. Gingerbread, the next version of Android, is already in the works and expected to release at the end of the year. While Duarte may not have much of an influence in steering Gingerbread, expect to see his full visual influence come into play on the following versions of Android.

5 Ways to Stay Safe Online

2010-05-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

The web is a fountain of information, a busy marketplace, and thriving social scene for those of who choose it to be so. While online criminals are nothing new, their methods and tendencies to undertake stealthy attacks on ordinary Web users are evolving in ways that can be hard to stop without the correct knowledge. In today's online world, hackers are lacing Web sites, sometimes even legitimate ones, with malware designed to secretly and silently infiltrate our PCs to steal sensitive personal information and also turn our the computers into tools that can be used to send more spam and malware onto the Internet. So without further ado, here are some basic tips for protecting yourself online from these faceless criminals.

1. Protect Your Web Browser

The most direct line of attack between the internet and your computer is the browser installed on the PC. Flaws found in browsers are one of the oldest techniques that online criminals have been using. These browser vulnerabilities download malware onto computers using hidden download methods that users will never notice and can't possibly know exist. Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are the most targeted browsers due to the fact that they have been the most widely available and consequently are the most popular among users. Be sure to download updates for your browser regularly and you can be relatively sure that you are surfing safely.

However, your computer can still be exposed to malware in the time between a discovered vulnerability and the implemented security fix. In cases such as these, it is recommended that you use security software in conjunction with regular browser updates, especially if you are a Windows XP user. It would also help to use a more obscure browser such as opera or chrome, both of which are newer browsers on the market and don't have the same popularity as Firefox and IE.

2. Get Adobe Updates

Most consumers are familiar with Adobe Reader, which opens and reads PDF files, and Adobe’s Flash Player for its prominence in online web games. In recent years, a virtual epidemic of attacks has flooded Adobe attempting to exploit their security flaws. Nearly half of these attacks today come hidden in PDF files which will infect a computer as soon as its opened. The beauty of this kind of infection method is that no matter what kind of browser you might be using, its almost a sure thing that you're using Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player. The good news is that the majority of people getting infected via Adobe are running old, non-updated versions of their software, much of which has glaring security holes. Nowadays Adobe attempts to update automatically and it is as simple as following a few simple steps. If you would like to make sure your software is up to date, all you have to do is manually update Adobe.

To update Reader, open the application and then select the “Help” tab and click “Check for Updates” from the menu bar. After a few moments Adobe will determine if your software is up to date and if not it will prompt you to download the latest version. Since April 2010, Windows users have been able to choose to get future updates automatically without additional prompts by clicking “Edit”, then “Preferences”, then selecting “Updater” from the list and checking “Automatically install updates.” Mac users have a similar option available to them but Apple will require that they enter their password each time an update is installed. Adobe has elected not to allow silent and automatic updates due to many people being adverse to them.

3. Beware Malicious Ads

An increasingly popular way to get attacks onto trusted websites is to slip them directly into advertisements, usually by tricking smaller advertising networks. This practice has come to be known as Malvertising, which typically exploits software vulnerabilities or sends deceptive and harmful pop-up messages to the user. The most well known version of Malvertising, and one you've probably personally encountered, involves an alert that a malicious virus has been found on the computer, followed by urgent messages to buy the necessary software to remove it. Of course, there really is no harmful virus and the security software, called scareware, is nothing more than fake. This method is simply a ploy to get credit card numbers and a few quick bucks at the expense of a gullible person who believes the message they are seeing is a genuine notification from their system. Currently scareware accounts for half of all malware delivered in advertisements which has increased five times since last year.

Closing the pop-up or killing the browser will usually end the episode, but if you encounter this scam, be sure to check your PC with trusted security software or with Microsoft’s Security Essentials. If you are unlucky enough to have picked up a nasty virus, don't sweat it. Microsoft cleaned scareware from 7.8 million PCs in the second half of 2009, up 47 percent from the 5.3 million in the first half, the company said. My personal favorite for eliminating threats garnered from the web is called Malware Bytes.

4. Poisoned Search Results

There is an online phenomenon on the web called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which is a technique that raises websites to the top of search engines based on keywords alone. Online criminals are also using this technique to manipulate search engines results into placing malicious sites toward the top of results pages for popular keywords. Typically these malicious sites embed popular keyword to try to distribute scareware to those unlucky enough to visit. Luckily search engines like Google and Microsoft’s Bing are doing their best to detect malicious sites and remove them entirely from their indexes. There are free tools available online such as McAfee’s SiteAdvisor and the Firefox add-on called Web of Trust which can warn you about potentially dangerous links.

5. Antisocial Media

Attackers also use e-mail, instant messaging, blog comments and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to trick people into visiting their websites or downloading malware. It's always better to be safe rather than sorry when dealing with suspicious messages or friend requests, especially in today's day and age. Phishers are trying to steal your login information so they can infiltrate other accounts, impersonate you to try to scam others out of money, and of course gather personal information about you and your friends.

One of the most rampant variants of these AntiSocial Media attacks have come from the Koobface worm and its cousins which have been taking aim at users of Facebook and other social sites for more than a year. The attack usually begins with the promise of a hilarious and never before seen video which prompts you to download a fake multimedia-player codec which is required to view the video. If you do happen to download this codec, your PC will become infected with malware and assuredly become part of a botnet which spews spam and malware across the four corners of the Internet.

Despite all these great tips for keeping you safe on the net, the most important aspect involved in keeping your computer safe from malware is to have a healthy dose of suspicion when browsing. Online criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to prey on the unsuspecting and your best defense on the web may just be your gut instinct.

Improve Your Day by Darkening Your Screen at Night

2010-05-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

If you're like me and find yourself staring into the burning chasm of your monitor during the day as well as nighttime, have I got a program for you. Its called F.lux and it automatically adjusts your computer’s monitor brightness according to the time of day and lighting conditions in the room. Best of all, its completely free.

Most screens look fine during the morning hours and day because they’re made to be BRIGHT like the outside sun. However, during the evenings at 10PM, or even 4AM for that matter, you definitely shouldn't be looking at anything that resembles the sun. Ever notice that when you come back to your monitor after dark, or even just as dusk is falling, they tend to blind your eyes and make you reach for the brightness controls? F.lux fixes all this by adjusting your computer's display to adapt to the time of day. It will become warm colored at night and during the day take on the color of sunlight. As someone who has battled with insomnia on more than one occasion, it's definitely nice to know I won't turn on my monitor only to have my retinas seared.

The basic principles behind the F.lux program involve adjusting your monitor based on color temperatures. The term color temperature is a way to numerically describe how much red or blue light is illuminating a room. Color temperature is measured in Kelvins and is used to describe every kind of light you use and buy. Warm colored light sources are described in lower degrees kelving while cool light is higher up the spectrum. A candle which gives off a red-orange light has a color temperature of approximately 1800K while a bright sunny day may be around 6000K. A cloudy day will cause the sunlight that penetrates to have a more blue color and may have a color temperature around 7000K. If you're wondering what the color temperature of your monitor is, consider that most LCD's are defaulted to 6500K while CRT's may have an even higher color temperature.

Keep in mind that this program is not designed for use during advanced color work such as graphical design but it will be perfectly fine for regular use. I personally don't have a problem at all with the color when I play video games at night. If you have a problem with your screen looking much too yellow at night, try adjusting the color temperature sliders under the settings tab. I personally have the Daytime setting cranked all the way up with my night temperature sitting at 4200K near the Flourescent setting. What I like best about F.lux is that once you set it up you will never have to think about it again. Its all automatic.

For more information about display technology visit A Monitor Blog

How to Calibrate your High Definition TV

2010-05-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

You may have just spent thousands of dollars on that brand new 52" HD TV but unless you calibrate it you may never even know what you're missing. Shopping for an HD TV right now is like stepping into a swirling miasma of contrast levels, back lighting, processing power, widgets, gray scale, ambient lighting, resolution, output format, I could go on. The point is that everything is advertised as HD ready which deludes you into thinking your TV has already been optimized when that couldn't be further from the truth. The problem lies with the manufacturers' default settings which usually pump up the color settings and contrast to make them stand out better under the thousands of watts of light shining down on you in the middle of Best Buy. Put simply your HD TV is almost guaranteed to be nowhere near the home viewing experience you could be getting.

A properly calibrated television could end up looking better than a factory defaulted TV of nearly twice the price. Blu-ray content especially is sensitive to calibration and you will be absolutely surprised at the differences. My friend had just bought a High Definition LCD TV Monitor and we decided to test out the waters by watching Pan's Labyrinth on Blu Ray. I thought the picture quality was superb and was congratulating him on purchasing such a sweet TV. That's when he decided to open up all the settings on his TV and he actually sat down to calibrate the TV while I watched. He asked my opinion on a few setting since he is partially colorblind but it was easy enough to get through. We tossed in The Dark Night on Blu Ray immediately after and my jaw dropped at how much better the picture looked. I was truly stunned at the image quality. I could count the hairs on Christian Bales five o clock shadow and was almost blinded when the picture would switch from dark scenes to brighter ones. I felt for the first time that I had seen what the Blu Ray technology could actually do and it sent chills down my spine.

So how exactly do you go about calibrating a High Definition TV? The process is quite simple and is often ignored in the manufacturers instruction manual. The first and most important step you should take when calibrating your TV is to mimic the ambient lighting in the room that you normally watch your movies in. For example, if you find yourself watching your TV mostly in the middle of the day open the curtains and let in some light. Otherwise, if you watch a lot of movies in the late evenings, try dimming the lights and closing the curtains.

Brightness or black level is one of the most important settings on your TV. Your goal when calibrating this setting is to try and lower the brightness right down until blacks look deep on all levels of darkness. If there is a loss in detail when viewing varying levels of dark you don't have your setting correct. When tweaking this setting its a good idea to find an image or movie with a great dynamic range. Something that displays both dark shadows with clean and bright scenes such as The Dark Night.

Once you are done with your black levels the next setting you will be moving onto will be your television's contrast settings which may also be called white level. Basically you want to raise the contrast until whites get as bright as possible while still being crisp and not blurred in any way. A poor contrast ratio will have a negative effect on the color quality which may cause your picture to look washed out or like there's a transparent black sheet draped over the TV. Adjusting contrast ratios can prove difficult as any changes you make will affect the brightness levels previously mentioned.

Next up is sharpness. Sharpness could more accurately be called "artificial edge enhancement" and generally only improves the aesthetics of lower-quality signals like standard cable and satellite programs. Increasing the sharpness may give you the illusion that you're getting more detail, but the end result is definitely not a more accurate picture. Too high of a sharpness setting will often creates halos around the edges of objects onscreen and create hard looking edges. Take into consideration that most movies already have this edge-enhancement filter applied during mastering so as a general rule you can leave sharpness very low or even at zero as sharpness is not needed for HD sources.

Color levels are perhaps the most difficult and subjective setting you will need to tweak on your TV as these color changes will affect your previously tweaked settings. The best thing to do with colour levels is essentially do it by eye. Fortunately, factory settings for color are usually close to where they should be. You want to avoid a picture where it looks like everyone is sunburned or some of the colors have been amplified to an extreme. Some of these color level settings are called tint, hue, and color temperature. Remember, you simply want to try and balance out the colors as best as you can without negatively affecting your previous adjustments. If you're used to watching TV with a high contrast and brightness setting you may find that your picture seems a bit dull. If so, try living with the new settings for a few days before changing them back. Your eyes may not have gotten used to a more naturally balanced picture and we as humans typically avoid change.

If you want to take much of the guesswork out of manually adjusting your TV's settings and get great results at the same time, you may consider purchasing a calibration DVD. These discs include test patterns and specifically created videos and scenes that make it easy to match your TV's settings to broadcasting standards. If you want to be 100% sure you're getting the best possible picture your TV can deliver, consider hiring a certified professional to calibrate your HDTV. These experts will be armed with specialized test equipment and an extended knowledge of the inside of your TV and more advanced settings which should definitely be left up to the experts.

Verizon and Google Team Up for Android Tablet

2010-05-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

In a bid to catch up with rival AT&T Mobility and compete on the tablet front against the iPad, Verizon Wireless has announced plans to launch a tablet based on Google's Android platform as well as a host of other connected devices. While neither Verizon nor Google would confirm the hardware partnership, Verizon CEO McAdam mentioned Google in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

"What do we think the next big wave of opportunities are?" Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said in the interview. "We're working on tablets together, for example. We're looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience."

The move certainly strengthens the relationship between Verizon and Google which was forged last fall when the two announced a multi-year collaboration on devices and services. However, it remains to be seen how Apple will respond to the news of a new tablet powered by Google, which already competes with Apple in wireless software and mobile advertising. Odds are Apple is a little less than pleased and it will be interesting to see how they respond to Verizon's request to carry the iPhone on their network. Perhaps this announcement is merely a ploy to give Verizon more leverage in negotiations with Apple or perhaps Apple has already denied Verizon access to their iPhone.

Regardless, an Android tablet on Verizon's network is not entirely surprising. At the Consumer Electronics Show last January Motorola demonstrated a prototype Android tablet running on Verizon's upcoming LTE network. It was also noted in the demonstration that if the tablet was commercialized and produced, the device could be released for sale as early as fall of this year. Verizon has already admitted to being “handicapped” by its CDMA network but McAdam promised that the new devices would be available on the company’s new LTE 4G network, which arrives early next year.

As of right now, Verizon and Google are in it together for the long haul and it looks like Apple will be facing much stiffer competition with the tablet than it ever saw in the iPhone and iPod markets. Now that Android tablets have been confirmed and an HP/Palm tablet all but unannounced, there will undoubtedly be an all-out tablet war. Right now Apple has the very distinct advantage seeing as they have already released a matured iPad and analysts estimate that it will take one to two years for competitors to reach the same functionality. Lets just hope that we as consumers see some benefit from this tablet war.

Dude, You're Gettin' a Palm

2010-05-03T06:10:00.001-07:00

In case you're not up to date with the latest tech happenings, HP has acquired Palm for $1.2 billion. If you're saying to yourself "Big Whoopty Doo", there's really not much needed to know. The biggest factors involving this merger is the future of webOS, the evolution of the smartphone, and of course the fact that this is HP's big attempt to jump into the smartphone market.

If you examine the evolution of the smartphone—particularly after the release of the first iPhone which paved the way for the smartphone industry—it becomes clear that the devices are really just small PCs. They require processors, ram, and other hardware just like a PC and at the same time they require operating system to bring all that hardware together for a smooth platform. Dell was perhaps one of the first to notice this PC "trend" and now the company is coming out with Dell-branded smartphones.

HP, on the other hand, allowed its Windows Mobile-powered iPaq line to stagnate while they waited for Microsoft to roll out a new version of its mobile OS. As HP continued to wait for Microsoft and the iPaq line further deteriorated, Apple, Google, RIM, and many others have bulked up their rosters of smartphones leaving HP trailing in the dust still waiting on Microsoft. It's important to note that Apple and Google (Android) aren't just offering great smartphones, but rather an all-in-one phone solution including hardware, software, and services.

Clearly HP was missing something despite their ability to produce great hardware and provided great services. So far HP has been forced to use currently available operating systems which has effectively tied HP's future to whoevers' operation system they used. Whether it was Windows Phone 7 or Android, Microsoft or Google would have controlled their destiny.

With the Palm acquisition, HP is finally in a position to control its own mobile destiny. With webOS, HP gets an operating system that fully spans mobile communication and the Web while no longer having to rely on Microsoft or Google to provide the OS. This merger successfully puts HP's foot in the door for smartphones, tablets, and netbooks. HP currently plans to invest well over $200 million into Palm R&D while also investing heavily in third-party software development for the webOS platform. Palm's OS gives HP the ability to unite Web apps with mobile apps in real-time on mobile platforms just like the iPhone.

However there is a chance that HP's plan will be nothing more than a huge flop. Simply put, HP wants what Apple has. A single operating system, which it completely controls, at the heart of all of its consumer electronics -- phones, tablets, netbooks, lightweight PCs, digital cameras, televisions, etc. The problem lies with the fact that WebOS is already considered a failed platform. Despite its nice user interface and a few technical qualities, consumers haven't found any justification to buy Palm devices instead of Apple, Android, or even Microsoft devices. And, more importantly, developers haven't found any incentive to develop applications for WebOS.

Without any unique apps there would be absolutely no reason to have a unique platform. All the while, Android and Apple continue to fade away into the distance with crowds of people behind them while HP is still trying to get their game straight.
Hopefully this merger will become a success with HP becoming a mobile powerhouse over the next few years but only time will tell.

If You Get This E-Mail Delete It Immediately

2010-04-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

The latest attempt to steal your credit card number and personal information comes from a new technique that security experts are labeling "vishing", shorthand for "voice phishing". These con artists are using a combination of telephone and e-mail tricks which are designed to mimic the well known e-commerce business PayPal, and of course, relieve you of your hard earned money.

These e-mails utilize a slick come-on warning you that there is a problem with your PayPal account. However, there is no mysterious link to click which usually raises all kinds of warning flags for regular internet users. Instead, you will be asked to call a phone number where an automated answering machine will ask you for specific account information. This method truly mimics the legitimate way that customers interact with PayPal today. I myself have activated a PayPal credit card through their voice service and never had to talk to a real live person.

Other times the vishing will begin with the scammer calling you. Many people have fallen victim to this type of vishing which can be quite believable. The caller already knows your credit card number which gives the illusion they are a legitimate vendor. The only thing you are asked to provide is the three-digit security code found on the back of the card to confirm whatever it is their clever minds can come up with. "It is becoming more difficult to distinguish phishing attempts from actual attempts to contact customers," Ron O'Brien, a security analyst with Sophos PLC.

Your best bet, should you ever get one of these telephone calls, is to immediately hang up and call your financial institution with the number on the back of your card. If there is a real issue, they will know how to handle it. Remember, in this day and age you can never be to careful with your financial information. Never give anyone your credit card number or even the three-digit security code on the back of the card unless you have initiated the call. However, if you're calling in response to an e-mail that definitely doesn't count as initiating the call!

IBM Creates Nanoscale Replica of World Map

2010-04-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

IBM researchers in Switzerland have developed a patterning technique that lets them create structures as small as 15 nanometers. Using this nano patterning technique, the IBM researchers have created a three-dimensional replica of the Matterhorn, a famous mountain in the Swiss Alps, that's a little more than 25 nanometers high and a scale of 1 to 5 billion. For reference, a single nanometer is one millionth the length of a millimeter and a single human hair is on average 40,000 times wider than that of a nanometer. These researchers have also created a 3-D replica of the world that measures 22 by 11 micrometers which works out to a scale of about 1:11 billion. At this size, 1000 world maps could fit on a grain of salt.

How it Works

Atomic force microscopy is an extremely high-resolution type of scanning microscopy that is used to image, measure, and manipulate matter at nanoscale sizes. This scanning uses a physical probe to make master scans of specimens line by line. The nanopatterning technique used by IBM borrows the nanoscale tip from atomic force microscopy which is 500 nanometers in length and only a few nanometers wide at the tip. The surface of the material is scanned to a precision of a single nanometer and the nanoscale tip is superheated and will chisel out a predefined pattern. The map of the world created by the IBM researchers was carved out in 2 minutes and 23 seconds flat.

IBM hopes that one day nanopatterning will be used in the electronics, opto-electronics, medicine and life sciences industries. As a proof of concept the IBM researchers created a nanoscale pattern in silicone, which is the material used to make chips today. Carl Howe, director of anywhere research at the Yankee Group, sees the many possibilities of using nanopatterning technology in this industry.

"The size of chips is defined by how finely we can make structures on them, and IBM's showing that they can make these structures very fine and in 3-D at very small scales. We're building up more and more layers on a chip to make more and more transistors, so it's not only how wide and tall you can go but how thick you can make a chip,"

Opera Becomes #1 Mobile App Download

2010-04-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day that Opera Mini became available for download on the iTunes store and has since received astonishing attention from consumers and has been downloaded over a million times. Earlier this morning Opera Mini reigned king by holding the number one iPhone app spot in the 22 featured Apple App Stores and continues to do so on many of the charts.

Opera Mini is one of the world’s most popular browsers and is capable of bringing the web to nearly any mobile phone. Opera submitted its browser to Apple on March 23 and much to the shock of everyone Apple decided to allow their competition into their app store and be free to download. Many initial reviews of the browser rave about the speed, ease of use, and multitouch features with the consensus being "it kicks Safari out of the water". While some users have small complaints, most are looking forward to the future updates Opera has planned for the app.

“Today iPhone users have a choice, and, as the numbers show, they are eager to explore new and faster ways to surf the Web on the iPhone - especially during heavy Web traffic,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “With any widely available and frequently downloaded Opera product, we are appreciative of all the feedback we are getting, as it helps us to continually improve our product and better meet the needs of our users.”

Live Action Video Game Trailers are Awesome

2010-03-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I witnessed what I thought was an amazing preview for a futuristic war movie destined for the big screen. I called my brother over to check the trailer out and he immediately quipped "What movie is this and when is it coming out?". My thoughts exactly until my jaw dropped at the end of the trailer when its revealed that its actually for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier. A video game.

As an exercise in game promotion the only comparable trailer is from Halo ODST which utilizes the same live action filming techniques. I was definitely impressed by Halo's promotional movie but the Future Soldier trailer may just be the single best video game trailer I've ever seen. It does a fantastic job of creating a tense atmosphere in a war-torn city and pulls you right in with an explosive firefight. The trailer also hints at what kind of weapons and tech to expect on the battlefield and it even gives a reassuring nudge that the game mechanics will be grounded in reality despite being a futuristic shooter.

I realize that some people believe trailers like these are simply the result of slick corporate marketing designed to hype up a game while deftly concealing actual gameplay mechanics, and I believe its good to be skeptical. However, remember that Halo ODST aired their advertisement over Monday Night Football and its a safe bet that the Future Soldier trailer will also see time on prime-time television. These trailers aren't created to put one over on the consumer. Rather, they are made to appeal to a more mainstream audience and they even signal a more wide-spread acceptance of "hardcore" gamers. Judging from the success of Halo ODST and the recent movement of creating short films to accompany video games, expect this particular marketing trend to only get bigger.

Live Action Video Game Trailers

FBI's Most Dangerous Internet Scams

2010-03-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

Online scams continue to be a disparaging bane of the Internet and there seems to be no end in sight. As part of its annual wide-ranging look at Internet crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken a look at the top Internet scams of 2009 and the numbers aren't pretty. Online crime is indeed paying off for criminals to the tune of $559.7 million, up from $265 million in 2008. Furthermore, the agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a total of 336,655 complaints about online problems and scams, a 22.3% increase over 2008.

“The figures contained in [the FBI's] report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn’t have imagined just five years ago,” said National White Collar Crime Center Director Donald Brackman in the report. Annual crime complaints reported to Internet Crime Complaint Center have increased 667.8% between 2001 and 2009.

From the report, here’s a look at the top Internet scams of 2009:

Fake Pop-up Ads for Anti-Virus Software

One truly notorious technique for getting people to download malicious files is through the use of fake pop-ups which entice users to click them and follow through with the instructions. One nasty version of this scam involves pop-up ads for rogue anti-virus software. Victims receive pop-ups warning them of the existence of threatening viruses and harmful programs that have been found activated on the victim’s computer. When victims click these fake pop-ups they are directed to purchase anti-virus software in order to repair their computers. However, often times this simply results in downloading actual malicious code such as viruses, Trojans, or key loggers directly onto their computers. Any attempts to contact these "anti-virus" software companies have proven unsuccessful. The IC3 advises users who see these unexpected antivirus pop-up warnings to shut down their browsers or their computers immediately and then run an antivirus scan as soon as possible. The FBI said that scammers have made more than $150 million in the past year alone using this method.

Hitman

The online “hitman” scam is also a tried and true favorite for the dredge of the internet. These scammers threaten to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender. There are many indications that thousands of internet users are continuing to receive these emails. According to the FBI, two new versions of this scheme began appearing in Summer 2008. One version instructs the recipient to contact a telephone number contained in the e-mail and the second claims that the recipient or a loved one will be kidnapped unless a specified ransom is paid. Many recipients of the kidnapping threat were told to respond via e-mail within 48 hours and the scammer was to provide the location of the wire transfer five minutes before the deadline. If payment was not received within a 30 minute time frame bodily harm was threatened. What makes this scam truly believable is that often times the recipients personally identifiable information will be included in these hitman e-mails. Names, titles, addresses, and telephone numbers and are all used to make this scam appear more authentic giving the illusion that the sender has prior knowledge about the recipients location and personal life. Victims of these e-mails are typically instructed to send the money via Western Union or Money Gram to a receiver in the United Kingdom.

Economic Stimulus

A down economy creates the perfect opportunity for fraud and criminals waste no time in exploiting unknowing persons. This particular scam involves unsolicited calls regarding fraudulent “government stimulus money” for citizens who qualify. IC3 received numerous complaints from victims receiving unsolicited telephone calls with a recorded message about government stimulus money. The recorded voice message sounds akin to President Barrack Obama discussing government funds available for those who apply. Victims are warned that the offer is only available for a limited time and are instructed to visit the web sites www.nevergiveitback.com or www.myfedmoney.com to receive their money. These sites require victims to enter personal information, after which they are directed to a second page to receive notification of eligibility. Upon completion of an online application and the payment of a $28 fee, victims are guaranteed to receive a large sum of stimulus money, but of course they never do.

Job Site

Going hand-in-hand with the economic scams are the at-home and survey scams related to online job sites. Regarding work-at-home scams, victims fall prey to fraudulent postings for a variety of positions ranging from personnel managers to government positions and even secret shoppers. Victims are lured into providing the fraudster with personal information with promises of above average hourly wages or several hundred dollars per week. Victims are promised the hardware and/or software equipment needed to perform the job and sometimes even go as far as purchasing the needed equipment from their "job prospects". These sites can be so convincing that victims are even scammed into cashing checks or money orders that they receive. In survey scams, fraudsters post ads for participation in a survey regarding employee/employer relationships during the current economic crisis. Those who apply are required to send a copy of their payroll check as proof of employment. After sending the copy, the victim never hears from the fraudster again. However, the employer’s account is drained of thousands of dollars by way of fraudulent checks.

Astrological Reading

A tried and true favorite. This familiar scam, which involves the victim receiving spam e-mails or pop-up message offering free astrological readings, has seen a recent resurgence due to the down economy and typically goes as follows. The victim is enticed into receiving a free astrological reading for simply providing their birth date and birth location. After receiving the reading, which is always incomplete, the victim is advised to purchase a full reading with the promise that something favorable is on the verge of happening. The victim pays for the full reading but never receives it, and all subsequent attempts to contact the astrologer turns up empty.

Possible Console Killer Arriving Mid June

2010-03-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

Traditional console manufacturers like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo could be endangered by an up and coming online videogame service called OnLive, which promises to shake up the contemporary business model. OnLive, which was started by WebTV founder Steve Perlman and former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey, aims to launch a system over eight years in the works that will digitally distribute AAA games from publishers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Atari, at virtually the same time as those titles are released into retail. The system is designed to allow players to stream on-demand games at high frame rates and experience zero lag while on any Mac or PC regardless of how powerful, as long as they have the needed internet connection speed.

Rather than having consumers download the games directly, OnLive will host them all and stream them from a series of the high-end servers across the United States. Users will only need to download a 1 MB plug-in to have access. "The really hard problem," said Perlman "is how to get this to work reliably over consumer connections. [There are] packet drops, packets reordered, and other people using the connection." So, he explained, OnLive solves this issue by building error correction and error concealment directly into the data compression. "We don't have time to ask for a new packet, if the packet is lost or corrupted...We have to deal with what's coming in right then."

However, many have already criticized whether such a system can successfully operate under real-life conditions. The most obvious issue at hand is what if users are too far away from OnLive's servers? There would be no possible way that the performance would be as good as advertised. Perlman countered stating that the service is intended to work at full capacity as long as the customer is no more than 1,000 miles from a data center. And with data centers located in the San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Dallas, OnLive hopes to alleviate that particular problem. In addition the company will need to have a significant budget for infrastructure upgrades if OnLive hopes to keep its servers up to the task of handling an increasing amount of subscribers as well next generation games.

Of course, if performance degrades due to distance, incoming traffic, or hardware, OnLive's potential user base will be much smaller than what is needed to seriously challenge the console maker giants, or any other company that looks to deliver quality games over the internet. The upside of this infrastructure model, Perlman said, is that OnLive is somewhat future-proof, meaning that players won't have to upgrade anything. Instead, the upgrades will happen on their end, with the company regularly boosting the performance of their servers it uses to host and stream these games. This means that users will be able keep on playing games on their system years into the future.

OnLive is expected to launch June 17, 2010 with partners like EA, Ubisoft, and 2K Games but is quite tentative about which games ill be available. OnLive said that they will officially announce the list of launch titles before E3, but also let leak that "anticipated" games include Borderlands, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed II, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and Metro 2033. The company also said that for their $14.95 a month fee, users will get a constantly expanding library of games and, in addition, the first 25,000 "qualified" gamers to sign up for the service will have this fee waived for the first three months. Right now, eyes are on OnLive to see if they will revolutionize the game industry.

Driver Cleaner Professional

2010-03-11T00:44:00.001-08:00

As the name indicates, this simple and easy-to-use program allows you to eliminate all traces of previously installed and no longer needed drivers from your computer. An important fact to remember is as time passes by, your operating system will get cluttered with more and more garbage. Some of this garbage includes files remaining somewhere in your System folder which belong to drivers that are no longer used. In most cases these files will also have traces into your system's registry and initialization files and can affect stability and performance. I happened to come across this program when trying to solve a driver problem of my own.

I had just reformatted my computer after several years which called for the installation of brand new drivers the likes of which my system had not seen before. The problem arose while playing Call of Duty for the first time on my just-formatted-and-updated PC. Not 5 minutes into playing my frames per second dropped from a constant 125 to sub 20 causing horrendous and completely unplayable video lag. After 20 seconds of watching my screen stutter the problem would abruptly stop and return to normal, only to begin lagging again a few minutes later. This video lag would only occur while running graphically intensive programs (read video games) and needless to say, I had to fix this problem.

My first instinct was to re-install the same brand-new video driver again in case of an original bad install. This time I decided to test things out by playing Counter Strike 1.6, a very old game that my system should have no problems with. Unfortunately the exact same problem and symptoms returned. I then decided to download older drivers that I knew were compatible with my system. No luck, the problem returned. While searching for a solution I came across Driver Cleaner Professional and decided to give it a shot and try to save myself some formatting time. I removed all traces of my video drivers from my computer using DCP and proceeded to install my previously proven drivers. Success! I didn't even have to buy another video card!

Like I mentioned before, the interface of this program is extremely easy to use especially when you consider the one main task associated with this program: cleaning drivers. Driver Cleaner Pro is intended to deal with drivers revolving around sound cards, motherboards, and graphics cards from manufacturers such as ATI, Creative, Realtek, Nvidia, Logitech, SIS, 3Dfx, S3, as well as many others. The program is also compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Where all the magic happens is in the Cleaning Selection of the program which is mostly a drop down menu for the user to select the proper cleaning filter. After the selection has been made you can simply click the Start button to begin cleaning. If you would like to clean more than one item you can check the "Select multiple cleaning filters" button and then continue to add from the drop down menu for a one time go. The cleaning process takes around 30 seconds to 1 minute and depending on the complexity of the driver being cleaned, your computer may require a reboot in safe-mode. If this is the case, on-screen instructions are provided to help you along the way.

Remember, when working with programs like this backup should always be on your mind. Computer repair that goes wrong can certainly give new meaning to the words "better safe than sorry" and you'll be thanking yourself for taking those few minutes out of your time should the worst arise.

A Bleak Future for Competitive COD

2009-12-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

After Infinity Ward effectively blind-sided the Call of Duty 4 competitive community with its No Dedicated Servers bombshell, we as a community were left in utter shock and turmoil. Call of Duty 4 was by far the most successful game of the series in terms of drawing in a large amount of players, sponsors, teams, tournaments, and LANs, and much of the community expected the same results with Modern Warfare 2 but on a much grander scale. We knew Modern Warfare 2 was going to be huge but it soon became abundantly clear that Modern Warfare 2 would meet no such expectations. Instead the community was left in limbo with an unplayable game directly in front of us, a stale 2 year old game behind us, and World at War in a far away corner where many of us didn't even want to look. Thus the question was raised. "What now?"

Many players advocated Modern Warfare 2 regardless stating that IWnet was indeed playable and all we had to do was simply wait for a patch to allow for the recording of demos, which is an absolute must for any competitive game. Others put forth World at War as a solution offering small positives such as a fresh game and how Treyarch had fixed many of the bugs and grievances we initially had with the game. Even more absurd was the movement to return to the "glory days" of Call of Duty 2. In short, the community was a madhouse until the CEVO|Tannehill announced the NZXT Holiday Tournament for Call of Duty 4 with a prize pot of $1500.

However this is nothing more than a small band-aid on a big wound. The NZXT Tournament only received 48 teams which pales in comparison to the previous season of CEVO which saw more than a hundred teams and a combined prize pot of $5000 between the amateur and professional division. Even right now community figureheads are attempting to keep the game alive by hosting another LAN in February 2010 for CoD4 called NERV 3 yet the team turnout is expected to be no more than 16.

Thus the future of the Call of Duty Competitive community is bleak at best. As teams become eliminated from the NZXT tournament what reason will they have to continue to play? There is an extremely small number of teams committed to NERV 3 but what comes after early February? There are other highly anticipated games which WILL offer dedicated servers and fresh gameplay which will definitely draw players towards it. One such game is Bad Company 2 which is slated for release in March of 2010. It is my belief that the Call of Duty 4 community will continue to be whittled away until there is simply nothing left. Players will continue to disappear in obscurity until there is nobody left to proclaim themselves as part of the Call of Duty community.

BenQ W500 Projector Information and Review

2009-11-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased a BenQ W500 Home Theater Projector and decided to do a little write-up about it. The following is some general information regarding the projector as well as my own thoughts regarding the W500 projector.

Information:

The BenQ W500 projector is Home Theater projector operating at a native 1280x720 resolution, which is typically referred to as WXGA for computer resolutions or 720P for Home Theater purposes. The W500 is set to a native 16:9 aspect ratio, although 5 aspect ratios are user selectable. The W500 is rated as outputting 1100 ANSI Lumens of light at its maximum setting, although this is adjustable through the numerous settings in the user options. This projector has a 5000:1 contrast ratio, which measures the difference between the strongest whites and deepest blacks the projector can display. The lamp in the projector is rated at 140W and is estimated to last 2000 hours on default settings and 3000 hours in Economy Mode, which dials down the intensity to lengthen the life of the lamp bulb.

The technology behind the display is called 3LCD, which uses three LCD panels to show the image instead of the traditional LCD, which only features one. Some of the advantages touted by front and rear projector manufacturers are that 3LCD technology results in brighter pictures than LCD technology, even during high ambient lighting conditions, which may or may not be a factor depending on your home theater setup. 3LCD is also said to reproduce more natural colors than LCD technology.

The W500 supports a variety of resolutions and inputs. This projector can accept standard SD and HD input resolutions, all of which are processed through the Silicon Optix HQV processor in the projector. This processor is considered one of the best, especially at this projector's price point.

The W500's inputs include:

1 D-sub input (for use as a computer display)
1 HDMI input with HDCP support (required for playback of some High Definition content)
1 composite video input
1 S-video input
2 Component Video inputs

The W500 has a throw ratio of 100" at 10.8' at the default zoom setting, meaning the image size projected on a screen would be 100 inches at 10.8 feet. The manual zoom can be used to adjust the screen size in collaboration with proper projector placement. The W500 features a lens shift knob to horizontally and vertically adjust the lens, which allows users adjust the image placement in all directions.

BenQ's site even features a Projection Calculator to assist users with proper projector placement.

The W500 weighs 8.6lbs and its dimensions are 13.7" wide by 4.7" tall by 10.9" deep. The W500 features universal mounting holes on the bottom for use with a ceiling or wall mount. The W500 also includes an air filter and BenQ also included a timer to remind users to clean the air filter periodically.

Review:

First and foremost, I was slightly hesitant to get the W500 mainly because I have never previously owned a projector, nor did I know what to expect from it, especially compared to HDTV's. I didn't want to set up the projector and end up feeling underwhelmed due to a lack of brightness or clarity in the picture. However, all my initial fears were dispelled as soon as I turned it on.

Literally my entire wall became my TV and I threw in the Dark Knight to test it out. The picture was extremely crisp and smooth with no stuttering or bad picture quality at any point in the movie. Some of the bright scenes in that movie actually made me squint which showed how well the projector was able to contrast. The projector fan itself was really quite and at no point during the movie did I notice it.

Probably my favorite thing about this projector is the gigantic screen when I'm playing games. Normally when you play with other people on a split screen you both sacrifice your in-game view for the sake of being able to play with your buddies. With this projector that thought doesn't even come across my mind. The screen is big enough that we each have our own side of the wall to play on which provides a great experience.

I currently have the W500 set up approximately 15 feet from the wall I project on with my couch approximately 10 feet from the wall. The screen itself is about 96 inches across. The only downside to the projector that I've encountered so far is the picture is hard to see if there is ambient light in the room say from a light fixture or a window. This probably wouldn't be as big of an issue but I have the projector set on Economy Mode so the bulb isn't as bright. All in all I would recommend this projector to somebody that has never owned one before, but I'm sure any projector enthusiast would find many flaws in this model that aren't as apparent to me.

Rumor: Google to launch Chrome OS Next Week?

2009-11-14T00:18:00.000-08:00

According to recent rumors, Google's much anticipated operating system, Chrome OS, will be available for download next week. Although this is the second rumor hinting at Chrome's eminent release, this time it comes from TechCrunch who cites that the information comes from a "reliable source". This of course coincides with previous statements from Google saying that early builds will be available "later this year". However Google has also said that netbooks running Chrome OS will not be available for consumers until the second half of 2010.

So what can we expect? It's likely that Google will make good on its word to release the source code to developers, but if you're expecting a fully operation build you shouldn't hold your breath. Driver support will likely be a weak point and expect only a few devices to be green lit for installation. Google has previously said they are working with Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba on the Chrome OS project. In short, don’t expect to be able to install it on whatever laptop or desktop machine you have until later in 2010.

Pure Gaming Attending Cod4 European Lans in Summer 2009

2009-06-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

Pure Gaming will be representing North America this summer as the only team to cross the Atlantic for the 2009 European Lan season. Pure will be attending two events, Outpost On Fire and The-eXperience for a total of 16,000 € and additional hardware on the line. The first event, Outpost On Fire, is located in Antwerp, Belgium and will take place on July 24-26 against some of Europes finest. Currently there are 28 teams pre-payed as of now and a cash purse of 6,000 €, but if the number of teams reaches 32 then the cash pot will be raised to 8,000 €.

The next event, known as The-eXperience, is the bigger of the two and is possibly one of the most anticipated European events of the summer. On the 29th of July "the eXperience" will start the cod4 tournament in Roskilde, Denmark. So far, over 28 teams from all over the world have signed up and paid for the event. On the site www.the-experience.dk you can see all the teams planning to attend with only pureEsports coming from the USA. With over 10,000 € and hardware riding on this event alone, you will be sure to see some of the best cod4 teams from around the world attending this event and giving it their all.

The current pureEsports roster is as follows:

Josh “Glad” Adams
Eric "Snatch" Brinkley
Alexander "Malex" Solis
Taylor "Taylor" Sheridan
Alex "flak" Lasselle

Starcraft 2 Death Animations

2009-05-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Starcraft II will be featuring multiple death animations for each unit in the game. In an effort to make the game become more alive the animation team at Blizzard has put in some time to animate some of the finer aspects of the game. In this Starcraft 2 Death Animations Video, which demonstrates some of the death animations, features a protoss carrier being shot out of the sky, several zerg units dying, and even what a skirmish might look like.

Duke Nukem Forever Developer 3D Realms Shuts Down

2009-05-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

Many people have been anticipating the next installment of Duke Nukem 3D since its original release in 1996. Now it seems that these people may never see that wish come true. 3D Realms, the creator of several popular games such as Wolfenstien 3D and most notably Duke Nukem, has finally closed its doors after due to lack of funding. The fate of Duke Nukem Forever, which has been in development for over 12 years, is still uncertain but many believe the closing of 3D Realms may be the final nail in the coffin.

Read the full story of 3D Realms and Duke Nukem Forever here at the PC Game Tech blog.

Final Fantasy XIII Videos

2009-04-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

With Final Fantasy XIII being one of the most anticipated games for the PS3 in 2009, there has been tons of buzz and speculation on the game. Just last week there have been several gameplay movies released to give fans a little taste of what to expect including a boss fight.

Heres a link to the Final Fantasy XIII Gameplay Videos and let me just say this game looks amazing.

Tritton AX Pro Gaming Headphones - 5.1 Surround Sound

2009-01-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

So I'm currently in the market for some new gaming headphones and particularly those that employ surround sound as well as have a great sound quality. I've noticed many popular gaming headphones currently on the market claim surround sound but only use two speakers. After some looking around I've come across the Tritton AX Pro Gaming Headphones which employ Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound through the use of 8 different speakers, 4 in each earpiece.

From the look of the Tritton AX Pro Headphones Package Contents, they don't seem very travel friendly but I have no qualms with that seeing as a LAN environment are always extremely noisy and my current headphones will suffice. The fact that each earpiece needs its own power adapter and connects to a audio decoder box seems to indicate the quality of sound that I should expect from these headphones. I've also read that each audio channel is customizable so I can custom set the volume of my game as well as my ventrilo as well as set which speakers they come out of. I'll probably be ordering these within the few coming weeks and Ill post back again with my review of these headphones.

Matt Cutts Plays Portal

2009-01-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Matt Cutts is the Head of the webspam team at Google and is extremely well known within the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) community. Since I myself work as an SEO technician in a web department, he is very related to what I do at work.

While reading an article on his blog about Google Chrome Privacy Options, I happened to come across his twitter in which the latest post was " I'm stalled on level 18 of Portal and need to spend some time on my todo list. :)". It gave me a little laugh that somebody as important as him seemed to be regretting not being able to play a video game but instead had to finish his work. It sounded a little bit like myself when I have an organic chemistry lab due the next morning.

How to Build a Great Gaming PC For Under $800

2008-12-19T09:45:00.001-08:00

Here is a great article I wanted to bring attention to titled How to Build a Kick-ass $800 Gaming PC which I found on MaximumPC. Generally if you are going to be buying a PC of any sort, you are going to want to order all the parts and build it yourself to get the most bang for your buck. Buying pre-built and configured PC's may be easier often times you will find that the computer doesn't do things quite how you would like. Building your own rig ensures that your computer is built just how you need it.

In any case, here's how Maximum PC's $800 rig stacks up in terms of gaming performance.

We went into our gaming benchmark with low expectations from our budget card, the Radeon HD 4850. Obviously, it is no match against the dual GeForce 8800 GTX setup in the Zero Point system. With settings cranked up to the max, our card was barely able to spit out 16 FPS in Crysis. While playing Crysis at the highest settings possible and a resolution of 1920x1200 simply isn’t an option, turning down the graphic settings to medium resulted in 43 FPS made the game much more playable. Unreal Tournament 3 managed to give us a stellar 78 FPS. If you’re running at typical 22-inch LCD resolutions, this machine should kick ass.

Holiday Gaming Gifts - 15 Great Games from Fall 2008

2008-12-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

While trying to come up with ideas for a Christmas gift for my younger brother and sister, I came across an article titled The 15 Coolest Games of Fall 2008. I was already thinking of purchasing them some type of game as they own a Nintendo Wii and an Xbox 360, but couldn't think of something they would want that was recently released.

This is a great article for those like me who are looking for a new game to get as a gift but aren't sure where to look. The article gives a short synopsis of each game and gives a short opinion from two people who have played the game. Personally I think Mirrors Edge looks pretty cool and I'm sure the new Guitar Hero game would keep both of my younger siblings happy and occupied.

Call of Duty: World at War - Pleasantly Surprised

2008-11-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

If you have read any of my previous posts concerning CoD5, you would know that I was not looking forward to CoD5 at all, and that I absolutely despised the way the beta played and felt. However, despite all the negative rep I had been giving the game, yesterday I decided to go out and pick it up anyway. Even if the multiplayer gameplay didn't change, I had always enjoyed the singleplayer missions in the CoD franchise and I had a few online friends who would be picking up the game as well.

To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised. No I didn't play the actual online versus multiplayer (and I doubt my opinion will change on that), but I did play the Co-op campaign mode and the zombie mode. I feel like my $60 was justified simply from playing these two modes with a few of my online buddies. The zombie mode was a blast with trying different strategies for surviving longer and there were some intense moments when we were getting swarmed. The Co-op singleplayer was also fun and none of the three other people I played with had yet tried the co-op. As expected from a Call of Duty series, there were some awesome cutscenes, insane fights, and lots of "wow" moments. The experience was even better when you're on vent talking with some of your buddies and it adds an element of team work not yet experienced in any of the previous Call of Duty series.

All in all, I'm glad I decided to purchase the game and it was the most fun I had in awhile. Games where meant to be played with other people and hope to see more of the co-op style campaign mode in future games.

Call of Duty 5 - World at War PC Beta Review

2008-10-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I've been playing the Call of Duty 5 Multiplayer Beta for the PC. As some of you know, I have not had high hopes for the game and have written a few articles on how I believe that CoD5 would simply be a rehashed version of CoD4 with ww2 skins. This is basically the impression I got while playing Call of Duty 5 and am not too sure if I want to purchase the game.

First of all, I am a PC Gamer and like to take pride in the frags I've made due to utilizing my mouse and movement better than the other players. While playing Call of Duty 5 I felt no such enjoyment. The game revolves around open sighted, running spraying with the Thompson as opposed to iron-sighting and attempting to aim at other players. Attempting to iron sight with any gun resulted in far less kills for me as opposed to simply spraying in their general direction. After awhile I gave up attempting to aim when I saw someone and instead just held down mouse1 until they were dead. Even watching the kill cams of how I died, every player seemed to reciprocate this style of play and I found it extremely annoying to have been killed like this.

Attempting to take the bolt and pick people only made me more frustrated with the game. The weapon is extremely underpowered and pales in comparison to any type of automatic gun. Players rarely died when hitting them with a bolt and afterwards I would have to shoot them 2-3 more time with a pistol to finish them off. The bolt action rifles were one of the things I was looking forward to in this game and was very underwhelmed after actually getting to use them. I was also upset with the way the tanks where made in the game. It seems to take 10 explosives before any visible damage is even done to that tank and by that time its already killed half your team. I suppose its another way to allow players easy kills and to have fun "dominating" in a tank.

When considering that Treyarch developed this game I guess I must say I'm not surprised. Call of Duty 5 was made for Xbox360 and PS3 players and easily identified as a port when you play the PC version of the game. Games for console are developed in easy mode to compensate for having to use a controller. This is why SMGs are very overpowered and the perk system lends itself to allow players to get easy kills in claymore, martyrdom, and grenades X 3.

Getting Rid of Unnecessary System Processes

2008-10-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

When you press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and select the processes tab,you will noticed that there are a lot of processes running in the background of your computer. Its very hard to tell which ones are safe to close just by looking at the list, and often times ending the wrong process will crash your system and you will lose any unsaved data.

In my personal computer at home, after the system boots up there are over 60 processes running in my task manager, many which have accumulated from various program installs over the course of two years. While none of these processes are necessarily causing my computer any harm, they are definitely eating up CPU resources while idling in the background. If you are interested in learning what exactly are all the processes running in the background, check ProcessLibrary.com which is a great site for searching up unknown processes.

The solution I use to getting rid of all these unwanted processes is a program called KillProcess which can terminate any process on a Windows machine in a matter of seconds. The program is able to use a "Kill List" in order to determine which processes are needed by windows and those which are unnecessary.

The program will execute the kill list in a matter of seconds and terminate all those bloat processes. I personally use a modified version "Clean XP.lst" kill list from Orange Lamp in which I have added a few processes I would like to keep to the list. All in all after using the KillProcess program I have about 19 processes running in the background, a huge difference from the 62 I have at boot up.

Call of Duty: World at War - A CoD4 Mod

2008-09-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

With many people waiting in anticipation for the newest addition to the Call of Duty franchise known as Call of Duty: World at War, I keep hearing of just how great it will be with people talking it up like its going to be the greatest installment since Call of Duty 1.

The question I have to ask is WHY?

I recently wrote an article explaining that Call of Duty: World at War will be a CoD4 Mod and how you are going to be paying $50 for Call of Duty 4 with WW2 models. This new game will be using the Call of Duty 4 Engine (confirmed) and the majority of the perks are coming straight from its predecessor with only a few new additions. Sure they are adding vehicle warfare but one of the things I loved about the Call of Duty series was the intense, up-close and personal firefights that came with the relatively small maps. It just seems to me this game is trying to capitalize on us with anyway they can.

Another big complaint I have with this game is how its mimicking Call of Duty 4, and anyone who has ever played the game knows how noob-friendly it is. From the super-fast weapon firing rates, perks like martyrdom and sonic boom, regen, lack of recoil, helicopters, and m203's, the game caters to the player in every possible way that my grandmother could consistently frag me. Call of Duty: WaW will be exactly like this but with more bushes and grass for idiots to hide in and now they can also drive tanks.

Who knows, maybe I'm just putting down the game because I was disappointed with how Call of Duty 4 turned out. I mean, the singleplayer was amazing, and sure I had a blast playing multiplayer when it first came out, but the more you play it the more you realize that CoD4 was only made for the masses of ps3 and xbox players, and can easily be identified as such when you look at how the game actually plays. How any joe-nobody can kill you regardless of whether you are a veteran of the series or he just picked up the game yesterday. That's just how the game was made and its also what makes me disappointed about it.

How to Save PC Gaming

2008-09-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

With all the negative press revolving around the PC Gaming scene, combined with the fact that many game developers are simply creating console games and porting them over to PC (see Call of Duty 4 and the upcoming CoD5:WW ), its no wonder that we are seen as a dying breed of gamers. According to GamesRadar, in order to save ourselves we should be looking to bring more casual console gamers to the PC Scene. Heres how:

1. Be a platform champion. Microsoft obviously isn’t doing it, so it’s up to us. Get educated about how your PC works, at least insomuch as it affects your upgrading schemes. As Dan Stapleton said recently, “If PC gaming is costing you ‘thousands’ per year, you’re doing it wrong.” Today, $700 will get you a new PC that’ll handle just about anything for the next two to three years, with maybe $500 a year spent on upgrades—but not everyone needs to drop that kind of money, which is why you should also…

2. Be a goodwill ambassador, especially to “casual” gamers. After all, they’re just hardcore PC gamers who don’t know it yet. If we want to grow our ranks, we need to make it easier for people to join them. Help new and casual players out when it comes to hardware questions—they can make the PC barrier to entry seem very high. Make people feel OK about learning to game on “easy.” Don’t grief away our future community—we want to bring people into the fold, not run them off.

3. Be honest—don’t contribute to the piracy problem. If you’re stealing games, then you cannot complain, ever, about the demise of PC gaming, because you are directly causing it. Besides, stealing is bad karma, and I don’t want to see you come back as a cockroach or a politician or a reality television contestant.

Source: GamesRadar

One Third of New PC Buyers Downgrade to XP

2008-08-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

When Microsoft stopped selling licenses to Windows XP on June 30, they gave users an option to "downgrade" their operating system to XP, even though they had to buy a Vista license first. According to a study conducted by the exo.performance.network, 35 Percent of Vista PC's Downgraded to windows XP. "That's way out of proportion for even the dramatically unpopular Windows Vista," says Randall C. Kennedy, an InfoWorld contributing editor.

The vast majority of PC's that have been downgraded to Windows XP are typically sold to small businesses and gamers. Although the operating system is 7 years old, it continues to upstage its successor at nearly every turn

Projectors For Gaming Enthusiasts

2008-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Many Gamers who are looking to optimize their playing experience are beginning to purchase projectors for their gaming systems. This makes perfect sense for gamers because projectors provide a high definition, high resolution, and eye catching display. With the ability of both PC's and consoles to play high definition content such as DVD's and Blu Ray's, a projector designed for gaming would be excellent for doubling as a home theater system and serving your gaming needs. Surprisingly, projector response times are great and video delay is commonly not a problem with users reporting little to no negative effects in their gameplay.

See here for more information about Gaming Projectors.

Every Nvidia GeForce 8800, 9600, and 9800 is Defective

2008-08-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Just last month the Inquirer claimed that every Nvidia graphics card with a G84 and G86 chipset is bad (which basically entails every 8 series graphic card below the 8800). Here is what Inquirer had to say about the 8 series chipset currently in use for those under the 8800.

"The short story is that all the G84 and G86 parts are bad. Period. No exceptions. All of them, mobile and desktop, use the exact same ASIC, so expect them to go south in inordinate numbers as well.

While this may already sound bad enough as is, but now the Inquirer is reporting that "four board partners are seeing G92 and G94 chips going bad in the field at high rates.". This accusation would mean that every single GeForce 8800 GT, GTS, GS, all mobile 8800s, and nearly all of the 9600 and 9800 series cards are defective. The Inquirer has also gone on to claim that Nvidia is covering this entire fiasco up because of the costs associated with admitting the defect would be devastating for the company.

If Nvidia doesn't acknowledge a problem with the cards then the only thing to do is to watch what happens to the majority of the cards currently in use. Hopefully Inquirer is wrong, because thats a big bag of video cards.

Read Full Story at The Inquirer

What is Mojave.. Wait. Windows Vista?

2008-08-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has used a trick up their sleeve in order to get people to try out Windows Vista, and has created a series of we-told-you-so videos revolving around the "Mojave Experiment".

A Microsoft Crew has disguised Windows Vista in a brand new box, called it Windows Mojave, and claimed it to be the latest Windows OS in development. In the Mojave Experiment volunteers were asked about their opinions and notions about Windows Vista, many of which said they hated it although personally never using the system. These volunteers, after viewing and using some of the features of Vista, became quite impressed with the Mojave features. One volunteer even said that it was "everything that they would need".

Spinning off the Mojave Experiment Windows has begun using the slogan see for yourself in order to convince people to give it a try. While Vista may look pretty and incredibly accessible and easy to use, I would like to see videos about these people actually installing the OS on their computers or notebooks and asking them about what they thought after a few weeks of use.

Windows Gaming Performance: Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3

2008-07-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

Since Vista's first release in the winter of 2006, many a gamer have sworn not to upgrade to the latest OS because of its poor application compatibility and driver errors. Since Windows Vista received its first and highly anticipated service pack in April, many of its obvious flaws have been smoothed out making Vista a viable OS for many users. XP has also recently received its third (and final) service pack update which has resolved many security issues and bug fixes. With both of these operating systems getting a very recent upgrade through a service pack, one glaring question remains that begs to be answered by all PC gamers.

Just how well do these operating systems stack up against each other in the gaming performance department?

While Vista has a distinct advantage over XP, mainly due to DirectX10 compatibility, PC gamers have largely ignored this unique feature and have refused to switch to vista in favor of XP's more reliable system features. In order to test XP Service Pack 3 vs Upgraded Vista SP1 gaming performance, an average PC was built in order to test what most users would be likely to experience. The specs are as follows:

The testing was conducted through the use of two identical hard drives, one with each operating system, and physically interchanging the hard drive cable after each reboot. Two benchmark tests were used, PCMark05 and 3DMark06, as well as three games, Crysis, World in Conflict, and Supreme Commander. While testing each game DX9 was used as well as two presets. A low details preset at 1024x768 resolution, and a high details preset plus 4X anti-aliasing at 19200x1200 resolution. The results are as follows:

If you were expecting a huge performance drop between Windows XP and Windows Vista, sorry for the disappointment. As you can plainly see through the test results, Vista's gaming problems have largely been solved and the performance gap between XP and Vista has finally been closed.

Source: ExtremeTech

Can E3 Pick Itself Up for Next Years Event

2008-07-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

To recap, E3 drew more than 80,000 attendees in 2006, but big companies complained their costs were skyrocketing. The Entertainment Software Association, which sponsors the show, shifted the 2007 E3 event to Santa Monica and carved back attendance to 5,000, mostly journalists, in order to cover up some of the costs. This year, the show was held in the cavernous Los Angeles Convention Center, but the attendance did not resemble the 2006 showing at all. Instead only a mere 5,000 showed up to what had hoped to be the biggest gaming convention of 2008.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter comments on how E3 is "headed for extinction, unless the publishers and console manufacturers wake up to the fact that nobody cares about the show anymore."

"The show was small in scope, and the spectacle of E3 is dead. The Los Angeles Convention Center concourse was as quiet as a college library during summer, with little to attract media attention. The main game display area was similar in size to a school cafeteria (as compared to filling the entire convention center), and the "fireworks effect" of past shows was reserved for the evening parties."

"The lack of a spectacle will likely keep media away in the future, the lack of surprises will keep retailers away, and the lack of interaction with management will likely keep investors away. Without these three constituencies, the show will likely lose its relevance. We strongly believe that E3 should be held no later than early June (when companies can meet with investors and when some “secrets” have yet to be revealed), and believe that the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space."

Sony Cable Embraces Wireless Technology

2008-07-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

Sony Electronics has become the next company to embrace the Tru2Way, behind LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Samsung. Tru2Way is a wireless technology that enables televisions and other devices to receive encrypted wireless signals without the need to install a box. Apart from simply eliminating the need for a cable box, this technology will allow cable companies to offer products that can unlock encrypted channels and decrypt and record cable programming.

With Sony being one of the largest television manufacturers in the world, the adoption of Tru2Way will encourage many other companies to embrace the technology. Currently technologies such as TiVo use cablecards to decode the video and thus the, Tru2Way technology is currently incompatible with the TiVo technology. However, TiVo has expressed its interest into looking into the Tru2Way technology.

NVISION 2008 and GeForce LAN

2008-06-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest and most anticipated events this summer is the NVISION 2008 event which will feature not only just games but will be a first-ever visual computing mega-event. This even is gathering top visual computing professionals and specialist, professional gamers, product artists and designers, and cutting edge technological developers and researchers. Thousands of engineers, designers, developers, researchers, artists, enthusiasts, gamers, film makers, business professionals, and consumers from around the world are expected to attend and this is a 3 day event that any computer enthusiast doesn't want to miss.

I will personally be in attendance at this event for the GeForce LAN and the 5v5 Call of Duty 4 tournament that will be held. The turnout for this LAN is already looking to be larger than the previous NERV LAN in Pennsylvania which had 26 teams attend. There are already 16 teams confirmed for this event with many more interested in signing up.

Where: San Jose McEnery Convention Center
150 West San Carlos St., San Jose, CA 95113

When: Monday, August 25–Wednesday, August 27, 2008

How much: $50.00 on or Before June 1 (Early Bird Ticket)
$65.00 June 2 through August 27 (Standard Ticket)

Call of Duty 5: World at War

2008-06-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

The next installment to the Call of Duty franchise has decided to return to the World War II theme and is taking place in the Pacific theater. Based off of the Call of Duty 4 Engine, World at War looks to keep things fresh by completely redesigning the AI to simulate the Japanese style of warfare as compared to our familiar European style.

"We figured out early that the Imperial Japanese fought in a different way that was full of suspense," creative lead Rich Farrelly tells OXM. "From that point we started to skew the game in that direction."

To boot, Treyarch has had a full extra year in development compared to their last title of COD3, which from many viewpoints felt rushed despite the good reviews it got. Expect a very successful game that will live up to all the previous installments in the franchise.

Frag Dominant Back with New Roster

2008-06-05T09:50:00.001-07:00

Due to Alec "s1refrosty" Zurek's return from Australia to the North American CoD4 competitive scene, Frag Dominant has decided to return to Call of Duty 4 to sponsor his newly assembled roster. This roster is comprised of two previous Frag Dominant players, myself and jestlolk, a few players from the old guardians roster and some new faces to the CoD4 scene. We hope to build a solid and stable roster that will be able to compete with the best and are in it for the long run. Check Gotfrag for the full story on this latest roster development.

Current Frag Dominant CoD4 Roster:

Brett "brett" Crick
Alexander "MasterAlex" Solis
Chad "jestlolk" Hansen
Alec "s1refrosty" Zurek
Zach "Holt" Holt
Mark "Benn1tt" Bennitt
Ray "rayZer" Sheehan

Valve: PC Gaming Not Dying

2008-05-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Look anywhere on the net, like here, and you will undoubtedly find people ranting about how PC gaming is dead and that consoles are the future. While it is unfortunate that many developers are making games for console, and then simply porting the game to the PC to make some of the worst PC games possible, there is still hope in PC Gaming with developers like Valve who see value in the community rather than an easy dollar in consoles.

If you look properly you'll find that PC game sales are even, if not bigger, than all of the next-gen consoles. "We sort of laugh at it," says Valve's Doug Lombardi. "Because we've been wildly successful--we're very fortunate, you know. Our games have all done really, really well, Steam has taken off and become this whole other business for us, Valve has never been in better shape--and yet everybody is talking about how in the PC world, the sky is falling."

For me, console gaming will be nothing more than clumsy joystick controls, toned down graphics at 25 frames per second, and 13 year old kids playing Call of Duty 4 on their xbox live screaming at the top of their lungs. These reasons are why I will always stick to PC gaming, and I will consider the console a red headed step child.

PC Gamers Hate Vista

2008-05-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Possibly Vista's biggest selling point to the PC Gaming market is the fact that Vista is the only way for users to get DirectX 10, and to play games in their beautiful DX10 glory. Its abundantly clear that games such as Crysis and many Next-Gen games coming out will benefit from the DX 10 upgrade. However, current statistics show that this graphical upgrade hasn't been enough to shift the PC Gamers towards Vista.

Currently there is no way to play DirectX 10 on Windows XP, and the only way to get the best possible gaming experience would be to upgrade to Vista If you are unfamiliar with the differences between DX9 and DX10, see here for a video comparing the two. However, this difference hasn't been a big enough to push many gamers into upgrading to Vista. The statistics from Valve show that less than 15% of users are using Windows Vista, with over 80% of users running Windows XP.

Another poll shows the exact same information, that many users don't see the need to upgrade to Vista right now. Perhaps once a truly great game comes out that is compatible with DX10, we will see the market shift towards Vista.

CTF Incursion Stream

2008-04-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who never saw, The CTF Incursion has finally been uploaded by Max Reiger and is now streaming. Both Myself and Max edited and directed this Call of Duty 2 frag movie and made it for the CAL CTF community in hopes that it would draw more attention to the gametype. Unfortunately, CTF was not included in Activisions Latest addition to the Franchise, but instead, made a new gametype called Sabatoge which has about as big of a following as CTF did for CoD2.

For those of you who would like to watch, here is the stream for the CTF Incursion. Hope you enjoy.

Frag Dominant CoD4 Division

2008-04-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

The most recent team I have joined for Call of Duty 4 series to finish out the current Cevo-P season and to compete in future LANs is called Frag Dominant. We are currently the #3 seed in the Cevo-P Season 1 playoffs with a recent loss to MoB Gaming placing us in the lower bracket. Our next match is scheduled for April 24th and from the looks of it we will most likely play the winners of EG vs. MoB. This is a relatively new roster and we hope to finish the Cevo-P season strong as well as have a good showing at NERV 2.

Current Roster:

Charly "BUNz" Bun
Ryan "twmbly" Twombley
Casey "CaseMan" Garber
Alex "MasterAlex" Solis
Chad "jestlolk" Hansen

Buy a Better Graphics Card, Not CPU

2008-04-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

In a study conducted by nVidia comparing speed boosts from an upgrade in a processor and an upgraded graphics card, nVidia says an upgrade in graphics card is a better option. In short, nVidia states that in most cases you can get better performance for the same amount of money if you spend more on the graphics processing unit (GPU) and less on the central processing unit (CPU).

nVidia has created a PC balancing website to help users calculate just how much they should spend on upgrading their computers. With intensive graphics beginning to play a larger part in everyday applications such as Google Earth, a stronger graphics card may make a bigger difference than a stronger processor.

GeForce 9800 GX2 Released

2008-03-20T07:38:00.001-07:00

The long awaited 9800 series has finally arrived and it looks to be the fastest card available on the market, but at a price. Right now you can own the card for $599.99 + S&H, but what does price matter when your system will be able to play the latest games at maxed out settings on 1900 * 1200 resolution without skipping a beat.

This card excels at high resolutions and it is a big improvement from the 8800 series. But for those of you who run 20 inches or less, you may be somewhat disappointed as the improvements aren't as noticeable. All in all this card will have your rig easily set for the next year or so without the need for an upgrade, and as new drivers come out the card can do nothing but get better.

Here is some consolidated information about the GeForce 9800 GX2 for those that wish to learn more.

New Xponex Project

2008-02-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

I've personally been working on a new project from Xponex Web and Media that has to deal with a new convention vendor page. The site is coming along nicely and aims to provide all the latest in technology rental equipment to companies who attend trade shows and conventions.

As always the site will also have the latest information on popular convention centers. The site should be coming along over the next few months and we expect big things out of it.

How To Make Vista Bearable Pt.1

2007-12-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Its been a year since the release of vista and still this OS seems just as buggy as ever. Most users have resigned themselves to be contempt with the shortcomings of Vista and have given up hope of it improving. After listening to several different tech's about Vista, I have come up with several things which can improve your OS and make Vista liveable.

First off the bat you will want to throttle user account control. Nothing is more annoying in Vista than to get overloaded with Vista's security pop-up system. This is a quick and easy fix that will help keep you from pulling your hair out when dealing with this system. It's easy to do, just visit the User Accounts control panel and click "Turn User Account Control on or off," then uncheck the box in the following screen related to UAC.

Another relatively simple thing that will give your PC a little boost is the refine the Registry with TweakVI. TweakVI is a downloadable application designed to fine-tune your Windows Registry and give your PC a speed boost. To tweak your registry, simply download this free version of the application here and install. When running this application focus your time and energy on the System Information and Tweaks section, then lastly run the CPU Tweaks. While this will in no means turn a core 2 duo into a quad core, expect to see a small increase in overall speed and performance. Don't waste your time and money buying the $50 yearly subscription as the free version should give you everything you need.

This ends my first installment of how to improve your Vista system, there are many more things you can do to increase your overall experience with Vista and make this OS much more enjoyable. These updates should be coming soon.

Call of Duty 4 - First Strike Xfire Event

2007-11-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

Xfire is hosting the first officially sponsored Call of Duty 4 Tournament Called First Strike. This is a free tournament opened to all North American players and is scheduled for November 15-21.
I will personally be competing in this tournament with Team 50 Calibre and hope to go far in the tournament.

The prizes include a Voodoo Omen Gaming PC (priced at $7,400) for 1st place and a XFX NVIDIA Video Cards (specs TBA) for 2nd place. A Professional Series Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty will be rewarded to 3rd place and Fatal1ty Gaming Headset will be rewarded to 4th place respectively.

This is good news for the Call of Duty 4 competitive scene as it shows a bright future for the game seeing as it has been sponsored by Xfire within the first week of release.

Soldier of Fortune 3

2007-10-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Recently announced is the game Soldier of Fortune: Payback, which is supposed to be the third game in the Soldier of Fortune series. However the game isn't being designed by Raven Software, who made the Soldier of Fortune and Soldier of Fortune 2: Double Helix. Rather picking up where they left off is Cauldron, who is designing and producing Solder of Fortune: Payback.

For me this leaves some speculation, I loved the first two games made by RavenSoft and hope that Cauldron can make this third game as enjoyable as the first and second. I will be buying the game and I hope to see great things from it. For me what will make or break the game will be the multiplayer, coming from SoF2, which i feel had the greatest multiplayer in any FPS genre so far, I hope to see some of the things that made the Double Helix so great.

A Trailer for Soldier of Fortune: Payback can be seen HERE

Bioshock

2007-09-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have just finished playing the newly released game Bioshock. While i enjoyed the game i cant help but feel disappointed. I remember System Shock 2 being such a great game and was looking forward to the same feel from Bioshock. Unfortunately it didn't happen. The game felt to easy and at times the story line didn't make sense to me. The cartoonish looks of the game also did not appeal to me. It also got a little old for me killing the same monsters over and over again. I didn't even use some of the weapons like the grenade launcher because i kept saving it for something harder to kill. The boss at the end was a joke and both endings were awful. While the game was fun to play it didnt' live up to my expectations.

The CTF Incursion

2007-08-24T12:12:00.001-07:00

After the end of season 5 CAL CTF I have decided to partner with Max Reiger and Curtis Laboiteaux to help design and produce a Call of Duty 2 frag video. The movie will be called The CTF Incursion: It Stops Here. The directing and editing will be done by myself and Max Reiger, with graphics by Curtis. We have decided to make this movie to try and promote the CTF community, which is largely ignored and frowned upon. We are hoping that with the production of a high end movie, it will attract more players to the gametype.

Call of Duty 2 Competitive Gaming Dead?

2007-08-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

I have been playing call of duty 2 competitively since the game was released. With season 5 of CAL about to be finished, it seems that there is no longer the same hype about teams and matches as there was during seasons 1, 2, and 3. I used to join irc scorebots, watch shoutcasts, look forward to reading predictions about the teams. Now however it seems that all this has been lost or diluted. With the coming of Call of Duty 4 being released in November, there is just 1 season left of cal before the game dies and the community splits. What will this last season hold in store, will there be new surprises in the form of new teams or will this community continue to be dominated by the same 3-4 teams. I don't see it changing much but hopefully with cod4 coming out all this will change.

New X-FI Soundcard

2007-08-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

Lately i have been frustrated with my on-board sound from my motherboard. I play alot of multi-player first person shooters, and nothing frustrates me more than when i hear somebody, and then i cant tell which direction the noise came from. So many times have i died because of this, that i decided to order an X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card. It is arriving within the next couple of days and i expect great things from it.

Edit: I love it! I can hear everything crystal clear and even some things i never even knew existed. A feature that comes with this that i also like is that you can change the sound modes. There are three modes that are "Gaming Mode", "Entertainment Mode", and "Sound Creation Mode". Each with its own specialties that change the sound to optimize your experience. This is a great sound card and it was worth every penny.

Dual Booting XP and Vista

2007-07-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

If you want to give vista a shot but at the same time you dont want to give up on XP, then Dual Booting XP and Vista might be a solution for you. The process is simple and gives you all the benefits of both operating systems. This can allow you to use the next generation of software such as DirectX 10 and then go back to the simplicity and reliability of windows XP in a matter of minutes.

MiddleTown OH Review

2007-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is a fun site which pertains to where i live, which is Middletown Ohio. Basically you get to comment on local businesses on whether or not they suck. This can be fun at times when you want to vent some anger because the local McDonalds serves horrible hamburgers. You also get to chat with people you know and have a fun time.

Samsung 3D Television

2007-07-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

With Samsung's new three dimensional technology they are sure to blow away the high definition market. I personally am looking forward to playing call of duty 4 and blowing away some bad guys away in 3d, or even just watch some of my favorite tv shows in a new perspective.

Windows Vista and Call of Duty 2

2007-07-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for a chance to see the new windows vista for myself ever since it was first released. I had heard all the bad things about it and just dismissed them as lies concocted by nay-sayers. When i moved to Ohio i finally got to see windows vista first hand on my Mom's computer. But to my avail it was not everything i had wished for. There was so many security issues that it was hard to get anything done at all. Every time i opened a program it wanted to confirm that i indeed had meant to do that. When i went to install call of duty 2 i had to click yes about 5 times before it even began. Coming from windows xp where everything is simpler, i had not anticipated this. When the game finished installing windows vista had alot of compatability errors and i was unable to play. When i contacted windows about this problem they said there was nothing they could do. I agree with one person's view about vista.