General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Job Postings Point to 'Next Generation' Microsoft Surface

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 07:57 PM PDT

Whether or not Microsoft's upcoming Surface tablets go on to disrupt the tablet market, one thing's for sure: their release will change the company's relationship with PC manufacturers forever. PC vendors have already starting voicing their discomfort with Microsoft's decision of entering the tablet market with its own devices, which it says are "built to be the ultimate stage for Windows." This is despite the fact that at this point nobody really knows whether Surface is simply meant to jumpstart the whole Windows 8 tablet category or if it's an ambitious pilot project that could lead to more devices in the future. Going by a dozen or so job postings that were recently posted on the Microsoft Careers site, it looks unlikely that the Redmond-based company will stop making tablets anytime soon.

Discovered by our sister site TechRadar, these postings point to more devices joining the Surface family over time. That this recruitment drive is for the next generation of Surface tablets is amply clear from this brief by the Surface team:

"Are you passionate about building cool devices and technologies? The Surface Team focuses on building devices that fully express the Windows vision. A fundamental part of our strategy is having desirable and powerful devices that enable the experiences people want, and elicit their excitement. Creating these devices involves a close partnership between hardware and software engineers, designers, and manufacturing. We are currently building the next generation and Surface needs you!"

With Microsoft looking for a wide variety of engineering talent to work on everything from "new materials" to "alternative power sources", you can expect the next Surface to be more than just an incremental upgrade. We're wondering what Microsoft's OEM partners will have to say about all this?

Outspoken Acer Chief Tells Microsoft to Tread Carefully on Surface

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:27 PM PDT

On the Surface, Microsoft is hoping its tablet strategy will ignite Windows 8 in the mobile space and steal a slice of Apple's market share pie, but at what cost? It's not an insignificant question. Microsoft relies on its hardware partners to drive its Windows platforms, and by taking the reigns and racing alongside them, the Redmond company is essentially biting the hands that feed it. Lest anyone think Microsoft's OEM partners are taking this lightly, Acer chairman J.T. Wang issued some words of warning to Microsoft.

Acer's message to Microsoft is to "think it over," the Financial Times reports. Wang tells FT.com his company spoke with Microsoft and told the software giant that its plans to launch Surface into the market place "will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction. It is not something you are good at so please think twice."

Reading between the lines, that's about as thinly veiled as a threat can get. Acer's basically telling Microsoft that if it insists on playing with fire by directly competing against its hardware partners, the company's going to get burned. Whether or not Acer and others would actually abandon Windows, out of spite or as part of what they feel would be a business savvy move, remains to be seen.

Surface is a calculated risk for Microsoft. The company doesn't have a presence in the tablet market, which is dominated by the iPad, followed by a spattering of popular Android devices. Surface solves that problem, or at least will attempt to, but will also anger OEM partners who have stuck with Microsoft through the years.

Acer's president, Campbell Kan, echoed Wang's remarks by asking the million dollar question: "If Microsoft is going to do hardware business, what should we do? Should we still rely on Microsoft, or should be find other alternatives?"

In a couple of months, Acer and every other OEM partner invested in the tablet market will have to come up with an answer.

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Samsung, Hynix May Ease Back Flash Production to Drive Prices Up

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 09:45 AM PDT

Samsung and Hynix, two of the world's largest NAND flash memory producers, are reportedly planning to scale back production in order to deal with an oversupply situation that is forcing prices down. Toshiba is said to have already slowed down its operations at one of its Japan plants for the very same reason, and now that the first domino has fallen, others are expected to follow suit.

Citing "industry sources," DigiTimes reports Samsung and Hynix may cut production by as much as 10 percent, while Toshiba is aiming to slow things down by about 30 percent.

The problem chip suppliers face is that USB and memory card device sales haven't been as strong as anticipated, so now companies like Samsung are stuck holding bags of excess NAND flash memory chips. Also at play, according to DigiTimes, are late roll outs of new model smartphones, tablets, and Ultrabooks.

News of the production cuts come at a time with solid state drive (SSD) pricing is finally coming into mainstream territory. It's not that difficult these days to find high end SSDs selling for less than a buck per gigabyte amid a flurry of recent price cuts.

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Apple, Google Lowball Kodak in Patent Auction

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:56 AM PDT

Apple and Google are both reportedly interested in Kodak's digital patents, but the amount each one is willing to pay is far below what the cash strapped company thinks they could be worth. By Kodak's estimation, the patents up for auction could bring in as much as $2.6 billion, which would go a long way towards settling the company's financial woes and bankruptcy proceedings. Early bids, however, haven't even topped $250 million.

Two investor groups representing Apple and Google placed initial bids ranging from $150 million to $250 million, The Wall Street Journal reports. That's the very definition of lowball, but depending on how badly Apple and Google want to keep the patents out of each other's hands, the bids could quickly balloon.

That's what Kodak is hoping for so that it can pay off its debts and emerge from Chapter 11, with enough money left to restructure its organization. In a bankruptcy hearing earlier this year, Kodak informed the court its patents were worth anywhere from $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion.

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Plextor Promises Advanced Data Protection with New M5 Pro Series Solid State Drives

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:05 AM PDT

One thing the storage market doesn't lack is a healthy selection of solid state drives (SSDs), and you can be up to your eyeballs in options when shopping a new drive. How does a company separate itself from the pack? If you're Plextor, you tap Marvell to provide the controller chipset and then boast about "unique enterprise-grade double-data protection technology" baked into each SSD.

Plextor's new M5 Pro Series uses Mavell's 88SS9187 Monet controller rather than anything from SandForce, the latter of which is the popular man on the SSD campus these days. According to Plextor, the multi-core controller is capable of handling extreme work loads and suitable for use in workstations, servers, and even RAID 0 configurations.

The M5 Pro Series offers a 128-bit error correction system complemented by a second layer of protection baked into Plextor's firmware. Marvell's Monet controller is also AES-validated by the U.S. government and provides 256-bit full drive encryption.

From a performance standpoint, Plextor rates the M5 Pro Series at up to 540MB/s read and 450MB/s write speeds, while delivering up to 94,000/86,000 random read/write IOPS.

Plextor says the drives will ship later this month in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB capacities, each backed by a 5-year warranty. Unfortunately, the company didn't say how much they'll cost.

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Only Windows Phone 8 Will Receive In-app Purchase Support, Microsoft Says

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 06:58 AM PDT

The good news for Windows Phone developers is that support for in-app purchases is being added to your platform of choice, helping to level the playing field with Android and iOS. Unfortunately, the same courtesy isn't being extended to Windows Phone 7.8, a move that will leave existing WP users and developers in the cold, provided they're interested in the whole upsell business to begin with.

Microsoft confirmed the in-app roll out on its Windows Phone Dev Center page, noting that "you can only add in-app products to Windows Phone 8 apps." Developers who choose to implement in-app purchases to their apps are asked to provide the "fundamentals of your in-app product -- alias, price, type, and language(s)."

Why not invite Windows Phone 7.8 users and developers to the in-app purchase party? The Verge points out Microsoft is introducing its Wallet Hub feature in Windows Phone 8, which will be the one and only way Redmond supports in-app purchases, among other features.

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AMD Announces New FirePro GPUs, Lays Claim to Planet's Most Power Workstation Cards

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 06:25 AM PDT

The spunky chip designers at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) just launched the company's latest line of GPU work horses, claiming the new FirePro parts are the fastest workstation graphics cards the world has ever seen. Leading the pack is AMD's FirePro W9000, a $3,999 graphics solution that offers 4 TFLOPS of single precision floating point performance, 1 TFLOP double precision, and a GPU that's capable of pumping out 1.95 billion triangles per second.

AMD's FirePro W9000 is equipped with 6GB of GDDR5 memory with ECC support on a 384-bit bus. It has six mini DisplayPort connectors and can drive resolutions up to 4096x2160, AMD says. Target markets for this one include high performance CAD engineers, media designers, and digital signage professionals.

Three other FirePro cards round out the latest additions, including the W8000 ($1,599), W7000 ($899), and the W5000 ($599). The least expensive of the bunch has 2GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus (but without ECC support) and can deliver 1.3 TFLOPS of single precision and 79.2 GFLOPS of double precision floating point performance.

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Lian Li Unveils PC-V650 Mini Tower Case with Side Mounted Power Supply

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 06:04 AM PDT

Whether or not you're a fan of Lian Li's products, one thing everyone can agree on is that the company isn't afraid to take design risks. Sometimes they're visual, like the snail shaped PC-777 Memorial Edition that you either loved (we gave it a 9/Kick Ass) or hated. Other times, it's about what's inside. The latter is the case with Lian Li's new PC-V650 mini tower chassis, a square shaped enclosure that mounts the power supply on one of the sides rather than the traditional bottom or top placement.

Lian Li's intent is to offer more vertical space to worth with. The case measures just 9 inches long by 14.1 inches tall by 9.8 inches wide, yet it can accommodate up to seven 3.5-inch hard drives (two of which are hot swappable), four 2.5-inch solid state drives, and a single 5.25-inch optical drive. Alternately, you can remove the bottom 3.5-inch HDD and fit expansion cards up to 14.5 inches in length, at the expense of four HDD mounts, Lian Li says.

Two removable 140mm fans sit behind the front panel and draw cool air into the chassis and over the drive cages (or expansion cards). Hot air is expelled via a 140mm fan up top and a 120mm fan in the rear. Lian Li claims you can "comfortably" fit CPU coolers up to 4.7 inches high, or go the water cooling route with two rubber grommet holes in the rear.

Finally, the front I/O panel offers access to a single USB 3.0 port, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, HD audio connections, and a card reader.

The PC-V650 is available now in black or silver for $199.

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MMO and SEO News from Gameforumer.com

MMO and SEO News from Gameforumer.com


Winning the Video Thumbnail in Google Universal Search

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:42 AM PDT

Posted by mybinding1 Have you noticed that more and more video results are showing up in Google search results? Everywhere I turn, it seems that Google is providing me with options of videos to watch on the first page of their search results. As a user, I appreciate the video content and will often click [...]

Generate Great Ideas by Connecting with Customers

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:41 AM PDT

Posted by Kate Morris The simplest ideas can be the best link building ideas. If you spend a few hours really thinking like your customers, stop thinking about competitors, and stop being yourself (executive, SEO, etc.), there are a number of ideas out there that can turn into multichannel success stories for your marketing program. [...]

About Author

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:22 AM PDT

Name: Amit Teli Age: 24 Sex: Male Qualification: Matriculation, 12th Grade, Graduate in BA [English, History, Sociology], Currently pursuing MBA [Post Graduation] Work: Blogging, Self Employed ??? Likes: Blogging, Creative Writing ???, Spiritual Activities, Reading HDG Srila Prabhupada’s Books, Academics. I like to read  lot about self realizing stuffs as it provides more knowledge about [...]

Review: Persona 4 Arena

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

Never in a million years would I have dreamed that I’d be playing a fighter based on a dungeon crawling role-playing game. Yet here I am, button mashing to call forth my Persona every few seconds, then plowing through countless dialogue boxes to follow the healthy storyline after another narrow victory. It’s the weirdest thing [...]

SEO NEWS: Are Social Ranking Sites Worth Anything?

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

In SEO news. there has been much debate regarding tools that measure the effectiveness of SEO and SMM campaigns by measuring real or perceived authority online. Klout, Kred and Empire Avenue have all been tossed around as broader based platforms that allow someone to get an more oblective view of online presence, but the underlying [...]

SEO NEWS: Yet Another Yahoo Goof?

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

In recent SEO news, much of the talk surrounding the new era of Yahoo has been centered around their incoming CEO, but little attention has been paid to the products outside of the industry directly affected by what Yahoo will or won’t do nest to get the flailing platform back on the right track. While [...]

SEO NEWS: Corporate Blogging on the Rise

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

Close to 40 percent of U.S. companies will have public-facing corporate blogs this year. Maintaining a blog isn't easy. Experienced bloggers go through periods when they can't seem to come up with anything fresh and entertaining. Under the worst of circumstances it leads to a blog becoming stale and nearly abandoned. When you wonder if [...]

SEO NEWS: Social Safety

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

Is SMM encouraging people to forget about sound security practices? Anyone that makes a living via social media or who just uses it a few hours every day can tell you that there is almost nothing that is more frustrating than getting locked out of your account. The answer to this on Facebook is the [...]

SEO NEWS: Is Social Search Smarter?

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

Google, and to a lesser extent Bing, still rule the world of traditional search engines, but a number of SEOs and SMMs are paying attention to search platforms that are delivering results tailored to a different type of user. Platforms like Digg and StumbleUpon have not gone away. If anything, they have grown. They offer [...]

SEO NEWS: Facebook – A Privacy Free Zone?

Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:01 AM PDT

A hot debate among SEOs and SMMs has been what type of impact Facebook's seamless sharing actually has had on the use and perceive social networking and media. What Facebook uses is the wave of the future according to some, but there are still pockets of resistance that are inclined to say that even if [...]

MMO News

MMO News


Perfect World International Announces Reflections Release Date

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:57 PM PDT

Perfect World Entertainment has announced Perfect World International’s newest update, “Reflections,” will launch on August 8.

The update will introduce a new Realm of Reflection zone and seasonal quests in each city. New advancement paths, mid-level quests, improvements to the low-level experience, better rewards for Nine Trials, and weekly PvP events hope to improve the playing experience for all players and classes.

Perfect World also publishes RaiderZ and Rusty Hearts.

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Perfect World International Gameplay Screenshot

Source:

The PWI team is excited to announce the release date for PWI: Reflections, the latest content update for Perfect World Entertainment’s free-to-play fantasy MMO. Starting August 8, 2012, players can dive headlong into the new Realm of Reflection zone, seasonal quests in each major city, and much more.

PWI: Reflections is an update that should please new PWI players and veterans alike,” said Product Manager Tony Liu. “By adding in a new method for gaining EXP, augmenting our mid-level quest roster, and streamlining the low-level range experience, we feel that PWI has reached a new degree of flexibility. Players now have more options than ever when deciding their path to end-game content. And for those who have already reached high-level, we’ve upped the rewards for completing each of the Nine Trials, added a weekly PVP event within the high-level zone of Morai, and made a host of gameplay improvements that should be noticeable right away.”

Events Celebrate Soul Of Guardian Server Merge

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:28 PM PDT

WSGame has announced the merging of Soul of Guardian servers 1-3.

The server will merge on Wednesday, August 8, and will reset all rankings (guild information will remain intact). The merge is designed to provide a more balanced and exciting PvP experience. In celebration of the merger, WSGame will give players free rewards for staying logged in, including Flying Shoes, Legend Training Order, Flawless and Divine Magic Runes, and more. Players will also get gold for ranking top in the arena, or get bonus rewards for topping up their currency in the cash shop.

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Soul of Guardian Gameplay Screenshot

Source:

WSGame Announces Merger of Servers 1-3 for their MMORPG Soul of Guardian
Shenzhen, China – August 7, 2012 – Soul of Guardian, one of the most popular role playing games of 2012, will be merging three of its servers (S1-S3) on August 8th from 00:00 to 03:0 PDT. After the merger, all rankings will be reset, but Guild information (including members, Guild level, assets, and research level) as well as the top-up entrance will remain intact.

The server merger is to promote a more competitive and balanced environment where PvP is more exciting. There will be more players available for dungeons and events after the merger, making the game even livelier and those who think they are unbeatable may meet real rivals.

In celebration of the server merger, WSGame the Host of Soul of Guardian, is launching three special events which can be seen detailed below:

Be Active, Be Online!
Players will obtain rewards for being online. The longer you are logged in, the better rewards you will receive. The rewards include Flying Shoes, Legend Training Order, Flawless Magic Rune, Divine Magic Rune and level 60 Legend Equipment. How long can you stay online?

Top-up Bonus
Players will get rewards for topping up. The more you top up, the better rewards you will get. Divine Lucky Gift pack, Polished Attack Gem, Random level 4 skill tome, Divine Magic Rune and level 60 Legend Weapon are among the fabulous rewards you can receive. Top-up and reap your rewards, see what other gifts await you.

Arena Masters
Players will receive Gold for ranking top in the Arena. Those ranking first, second and third place will be awarded 1500, 1000, and 800 Gold respectively, while those ranking 4-10 and 11-20 will receive 600 and 400 Gold, respectively. Prepare for battle and fight your way to number 1! Good luck!

Have fun in SOG – the latest, most played RPG of 2012!

DayZ – The end of the beginning

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:10 PM PDT

DayZ Stand Alone?

That's right, this is actually happening – DayZ will be developed as a standalone game, with Rocket (Dean Hall) as project lead, by Bohemia Interactive. This is the fairy-tale outcome for a mod that many would have said impossible four months ago.

Development and updates of the mod will continue in parallel with the development of the game, so anyone who is playing the mod now will be able to continue to do so. The project will follow the Minecraft development model; fast iterations with the community alpha available for a heavily discounted price.

dayz game 300x187Of course people will have many, many questions – but we wanted to let everyone know the announcement now. Over the coming weeks, these questions will be answered. The game will have it's own site, www.dayzgame.com and the mod will continue at it's present link.

Concept art by Ivan Buchko

original source: http://dayzdev.tumblr.com/post/28904791570/the-end-of-the-beginning

New Command Center Episode Released For PlanetSide 2

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:04 PM PDT

Sony Online Entertainment has released the latest episode of the PlanetSide 2 Command Center video series.

This second episode features Creative Director Matt Higby and Senior Art Director Tramell Isaac. The video overviews the latest community events, the start of beta and tech testing, and more details about the light assault class.

If you missed the first episode, catch up on it here. PlanetSide 2 is starting beta testing soon!

Sony Online Entertainment also publishes EverQuest and DC Universe Online.

PlanetSide 2 Command Center: Episode 2

RaiderZ Early Closed Beta Preview

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 03:30 PM PDT

Action MMORPGs are continuing to surge in popularity in both the free-to-play and pay-to-play world.  Perfect World Entertainment is adding to the genre with RaiderZ, teasing players with trailers of giant monsters, powerful abilities, and epic confrontations.  MMOHut had a chance to play the game thoroughly before the closed beta began to see if these trailers did the game justice.  How does RaiderZ compare to giants like TERA and Vindictus?

 

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Although we had access to a high level character, we also decided to create a new character to get a feel for the newbie experience.  Character creation is surprisingly expansive, with a variety of faces, hair styles, and clothing colors to choose from.  The game only features four base character classes – Defender, Berserker, Cleric, and Sorcerer – so this level of customization ensures everyone can have a unique style.

 

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Once our character was created, we entered a tutorial island, designed to help ease new players into the experience.  The game is very newbie-friendly starting out, especially to those who may not have ever played an action MMO before.  The whole island you start out on gives a taste of the storyline of the world, with the archaeological discovery of travelstones of a long departed civilization.  The tutorial expands to cover combat, boss encounters, and crafting.

 

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Combat is the core experience of RaiderZ, and it is both engaging and exciting, while remaining very simple to learn and understand.  Melee attacks are performed by left clicking, and blocking by right clicking.  This isn't a simple "auto attack until it's dead" game, though.  You're free to move around during a fight, strategically avoiding attacks from enemies and counterattacking when appropriate.  You can also dodge, using up stamina as you do.  Stamina recharges quickly, but you must still be careful and plan your dodges to not exhaust your character.

 

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Skills also play a major part in how combat in RaiderZ flows.  As a sorcerer, we only had our initial fire skill, which launched a bolt that did damage over time in addition to its initial damage.  This skill has a cast time, which makes it useful to pull a monster with, or to use while out of range of a monster's attacks.  Several instant attacks can also be learned in the talent trees as well, which help deal damage on the move.  For instance, we found we enjoyed fighting in close-combat as a sorcerer, utilizing instant spells and melee while dodging around each lunging foe.

 

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You're also not confined to just taking talents from your starting class in RaiderZ.  After level 10, you can place points into other class abilities.  This gives a wide variety of options beyond the basic class roles, as you can be a tank with healing abilities, a sorcerer that can switch to berserker abilities when monsters get close, and more.  Each class also earns a variety of additional abilities when a multiple of five points has been spent in the tree (5, 10, 15, etc.).  This combination and blending of abilities will serve players well against the tougher creatures in the game.

 

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RaiderZ features its boss monsters prominently, and for good reason.  Each boss monster encounter is truly epic, requiring several minutes of time, energy, and strategic combat. Each of the bosses has a weak point that can be exploited to knock it down or deal additional damage.  Player skill is very important with these bosses as their attacks are brutal and they're immune to most forms of crowd control.  The best part, however, is that while they are easiest to defeat in a group, they can be taken out solo too.  Expect it to take a lot of time and patience, however!

 

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Weapons, armor, and consumables can all be crafted by collecting loot drops from monsters.  Rarer monsters and bosses drop items that can be used to craft the most powerful of equipment for each level range. This equipment also includes bonuses like additional sockets for weapons, and large defense improvements for having an entire set of armor equipped.  Consumables are also very important, giving valuable buffs and recovery options while you're fighting. A group called the Explorers will also teach you how to gather raw materials and track recipes for equipment. Once you've gathered enough, the game will alert you so that you can create your new items – including mounts!

 

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From what we have seen so far, RaiderZ is very polished and addictively fun.  The combat system is slick and intuitive, while providing a significant challenge for the boss monsters.  We were able to overcome the first four of the six bosses featured on the RaiderZ website, and each felt as epic and challenging as the last.  For a game that touts its boss battles, RaiderZ is set to deliver. With its blend of customization, entertaining combat, and polished gameplay, RaiderZ is shaping up to be the game to watch out for.

 

For more information about RaiderZ, check out the official MMOHut game page.


More RaiderZ Screenshots:

Bullet Run – First Look HD

Posted: 07 Aug 2012 12:16 PM PDT

 

JamesBl0nde joins us with a first look at Bullet Run originally known as Hedone. This game places players in a life-or-death combat game show aired to the world, striving for celebrity status while accessing the latest technology to gear and skill up.

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