General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


NVidia’s Jen-Hsun Huang Talks About Windows Arm, Tegra, and the Cost of R&D at AsiaD

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 11:45 AM PDT

HuangNVidia's founder and president Jen-Hsun Huang was on hand at this years AsiaD conference, and as usual, he put on quite the show. In addition to reconfirming the companies future plans for the Tegra platform, he offered up sage advice for Microsoft on how to manage Intel during the transition to arm, how much his company is spending on R&D, and even openly fantasized about getting his chips in future versions of the iPad. 

When asked about his feelings towards Windows on ARM, Huang was quite specific, don't call it a PC.

"It's important for [Microsoft] not to position these as PCs. From a finesse perspective -- I can't speak on their behalf -- but I would come out with tablets first with Windows on ARM. It helps to establish that this isn't a PC. Will yesterday's Office run on tomorrow's Windows on ARM PC? Will a new version of Office run on tomorrow's Windows on ARM tablets? Both questions are about legacy, and both are about Office. The actual implementation of it is radically different. I see no reason to make Office 95 to run on Windows on ARM. I think it would be wonderful, absolutely wonderful -- I'd say, as someone who uses Windows -- it would be almost a requirement to me that [the ARM] device runs Windows interoperably. If Office runs on Windows on ARM -- it's the killer app. Everything else is on the web."

On the topic of Tegra, Huang explained that NVidia has been literally transformed by its work in this area, and now finds itself in direct competition with Qualcomm. Development has been expensive, and he estimates they have already spent well in excess of $2 billion on R&D. 

"In order to build these system-on-chips, we need 500 chip designers and 1,000 software engineers to bring them to market. Two or three years each, so not exactly economic to build 'em for just the tablet, but some versions are perfect for tablets, some for high-end smartphones, somewhere between two segments. A long time ago there was only one CPU shipping at the time, and that was from Intel; and now there are many. We started out with the smartphone, but it's going to explode to all kinds of mobile devices. We also have the car market, the ultimate mobile processor."

"The cost for developing such a chip is likely to go up over time, Huang said, and is driven by an approach to come up with "something magical" and "unexpected" in every product generation. For example, while Kal-El will be moving to four cores, with one additional supporting core, the cores in the succeeding product generation will offer more performance and there will be a feature that catches NVidia's rivals "off-guard", the executive said."

As for the iPad? "It would be a great delight to have NVIDIA's tablet chip in an iPad", Huang confirmed. NVidia already powers approximately 70 percent of all non-iPad's sold in the market today, so convincing Apple to outsource on chip development would be a huge win.

Hard Drive Shortages and Higher Prices Confirmed Due To Flooding in Thailand

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 09:54 AM PDT

WD

A few days ago we were speculating, along with the rest of the web, that the massive flooding in Thailand could end up playing havoc with the mechanical drive industry. New images of Western Digital's flagship production facility just barely above water have surfaced (no pun intended), along with dire predictions from CEO John Coyne. According to Coyne, the water damage will result in significantly reduced hard drive supplies going into 2012. 

CRN is reporting that hard drive prices are already beginning to spike in distribution channels, and OEM's are likely to be the hardest hit. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims they are already planning around possible shortages, and a Dell Spokesperson confirmed the same. 

Head on over to thisismynext.com for more photos of the devastation.

Note:

Maximum PC's focus is on the technology impact of this disaster, but as always, our thoughts go out to everyone impacted by the tragedy.

Google Drops Chromebook Subscription-Only Policy

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 09:27 AM PDT

ChromebookWhen Google launched its Chromebook initiative for business and education customers, potential clients weren't given very much flexibility when it came to financing. Basically they either chose to agree to a three-year subscription fee, or they could look for something else. In a rather rare change of heart, Google has reversed the three-year requirement, and are now giving both sets of customers the option to buy the machines outright with one year of support instead. Clients will have the option to renew web-based admin, phone support, and hardware for years two and three, but it is no longer required.

Google admits that the change was a result of not fully understanding how budgets in this market were allocated, and that in some cases, financing over three years just wasn't an option. Pricing for the Chromebook's are now as follows:

Education: 

1-Year Upfront: $449 (Wi-Fi), $519 (3G)
Years 2-3: $5/month per Chromebook for management & support

Business:

1-Year Upfront: $559 (Wi-Fi), $639 (3G)
Years 2-3: $13/month per Chromebook for management & support

It's also interesting to note that Google has yet to announce any major victories for the Chromebook in either market. I'm sure it will take time, but if these things were selling like hot cakes I'm sure we'd be hearing about it by now.

Rupert Murdoch Admits MySpace was “Mismanaged” and Everyone Involved Has Been Sacked

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:52 AM PDT

Rupert

The debate over whether or not MySpace could have fended off Facebook with a different set of managers at the helm is one for the ages, however, in a recent News Corp shareholder meeting CEO Rupert Murdoch was pretty candid as to what went wrong, but also deflected the blame. When it came answering questions on their role in mishandling the once dominate social networking giant, Murdock admitted that following the acquisition, "We proceeded to mismanage it in every possible way and all the people involved with it are no longer with the company."

Everyone that is, except for Murdoch himself.

To investors, or anyone who follows the technology industry, MySpace's "mismanagement" was fairly oblivious. Still, hearing a CEO put it so bluntly is a rare and welcome admission. Murdoch also admitted that after purchasing MySpace for $600 million, he passed on an opportunity to offload it early for a huge profit. "We bought it for $600 million. We could have sold it for $6 billion a month later."

Ouch.

Dropbox Improves Third Party API’s and Beefs Up Security

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 07:57 AM PDT

DropbloxWe've recommended Dropbox to our readers more times than we can count, but with good reason. Recent security issues aside, its still the best file storage / sharing service in town, and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. Dropbox has always had a very robust and flexible set of third party API's, but on Friday the company announced these would be expanding to offer not just more flexibility, but improved security as well. 

What does this mean for your average Dropbox user? For one, they are adding support for application specific folders. This means when you install a camera app on your phone for example, you can authorize it to place images in one or more folders of your choosing, without giving that application full access to your entire Dropbox. Third parties will also now be able to tie into the versioning system, which will allow users to jump back to an older version of a file, or recover something that was accidentally deleted. 

That covers off the most noticeable changes from a user experience standpoint, however security is also getting a rather important makeover. As opposed to simply typing your Dropbox information into random websites or phone apps, third parties will need to redirect users to the website and allow you to enter your credentials directly. By doing this third party apps are assigned very specific permissions, and never get an opportunity to store your user name and password. This approach makes it easier for users to manage third party access, and more importantly, make it easier to revoke access if needed. 

Its great to see Dropbox finally taking security seriously, but they are still missing a few critical features that prevent us from recommending it as a solution for your sensitive data. Multi-factor authentication and client side encryption aren't just nice to have features for cloud storage these days, its critical for anything you'd like to keep private. Dropbox has openly admitted that each file is scanned and checked against their database for duplicates prior to uploading, and a copy of your encryption key is kept on-hand as a result. This doesn't mean someone at Dropbox HQ is sitting around sifting through your files just for kicks, but its still a pretty big security vulnerability. 

EFF Gives Thumbs Up to Amazon's Silk Web Browser

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 05:57 AM PDT

Even as all other Android tablets seem hopelessly incapable of holding a candle to the Apple iPad, Amazon's upcoming Kindle Fire can already be seen glaring rather invitingly (or ominously if you're Apple) in the distance. Its initial dazzle is perhaps largely due to its highly affordable price and cloud-accelerated Silk browser. While its hard to look beyond its unbelievably low price, certain folks are much more interested in the latter.

Unlike normal browsers, the Silk browser will actively tap into Amazon's powerful AWS servers to deliver a speedier browsing experience to the user. Given the novelty of this approach, it's no surprise that the Silk browser is drawing a lot of interest. Likewise, it's even less surprising that a lot of people are only interested due to obvious concerns attached with the whole idea of Amazon routing huge amounts of web traffic through its servers. In fact, even some Congressmen have expressed concerns.

However, in what is a huge vote of confidence in Amazon's favor, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has said that most of its data privacy concerns with the Silk browser have now been laid to rest. Actually, the non-profit digital rights group had approached Amazon with its concerns and sought answers. As it turns out, the e-tailer managed to allay most, if not all, of the EFF's misgivings.

"Cloud acceleration mode is the default setting, but Amazon has assured us it will be easy to turn off on the first page of the browser settings menu," reads EFF's statement. "When turned off, Silk operates as a normal web browser, sending the requests directly to the web sites you are visiting. "

Further, the EFF was told that the browser does not use cloud-acceleration for encrypted traffic, meaning secure web page requests (SSL) aren't routed through Amazon's servers whatsoever. Amazon also assured the EFF that it only logs the URL, timestamp and token identifying the browsing session.

"We repeatedly asked if there was any way to associate the logged information with a particular user or Amazon account, and we were told that there was not, and that Amazon is not in a position to track users."

All said, the EFF still has a few lingering concerns: "First of all, Amazon stores URLs you visit, and these sometimes contain identifying information. To pick a prominent example, there is an opportunity to identify people through their search history with some degree of accuracy. Indeed, given the common practice employed by search engines of putting query terms in the URL as parameters, Amazon will effectively have a database of user search histories across many different search engines."

MMO News

MMO News


MMOHut Weekly Recap #57 Oct 23 – SD Gundam Capsule, Wind Slayer 2, & More

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 11:41 AM PDT

MMO Weekly News #57 – SD Gundam Capsule, Wind Slayer 2, & More

Weekly MMO News summary for the week ended October 23 (Oct 17 – Oct 23). A quick look and discussion for every major announcement and update during the week! This week we discussed updates from the following games: SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online, Wizardry Online, MapleStory, WIndSlayer 2, Angels Online, Seal Online, Vindictus, Dragon Nest, and Digimon Masters Online. The biggest news this week is the bit about OGPlanet licensing SD Gundam Capsule Online. You can view all the individual news articles mention over at the MMOHut.com News section.

MMO Updates

MMO Updates


Rise and Shiny recap: MagicDuel

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

MagicDuel screenshot
My job is to hunt down unique and hopefully exciting new games for my readers to try. Some actually try them, and others just enjoy reading about their choices and might try them later. Either way, I am proud to show off some of the gems I find, but I am a little sad when I have to say, "This game sucks."

And MagicDuel, an odd browser-based MUD sort of game, sucks. Of course I will need to explain this to you or I'll risk coming off of some sort of buffoon who does not know how to navigate a simple point-and-click adventure, so click past the cut and I will tell you why.

Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: MagicDuel

MassivelyRise and Shiny recap: MagicDuel originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Global Chat: October 16-22, 2011

    Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:00 AM PDT

    Filed under: , ,

    AC2
    Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat!

    While almost all of our news stories and columns are game-specific, the conversation that follows in the comments often expands beyond the game in question. Discussion turns to mechanics, development styles, and industry trends. Even if the game in the original story isn't your thing, you may find some interesting conversation, so follow along after the jump to see what some of our readers had to say last week.

    Continue reading Global Chat: October 16-22, 2011

    MassivelyGlobal Chat: October 16-22, 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Daily Grind: What games go overboard with effects?

      Posted: 23 Oct 2011 06:00 AM PDT

      Filed under: , , ,

      Still not as bad as the Praetorian Invasion event.
      It's not that I don't love City of Heroes, don't get me wrong. And it's not that I don't love the flashy and unique animations that every powerset gets to show off. But when you get in a full group of people exploding with various powers, the whole screen turns into a sustained burst of white light grouped around a red box that's probably your target. It's kind of overkill at best, and it makes it near impossible to see what's going on at worst.

      Maybe you don't mind the effects in the game. Maybe you find Final Fantasy XIV's dramatic spotlight for weaponskills or the constant beams crossing in Star Trek Online more obnoxious. Whatever the context, there are doubtlessly games in which you feel there's a bit too much going on in the midst of a battle. So what game do you feel goes overboard with effects when you want something just a bit more straightforward?

      Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

      MassivelyThe Daily Grind: What games go overboard with effects? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        Land of Chaos Online rebranding as LOCO: Evolution

        Posted: 22 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT

        Filed under: , , , , , , ,

        The first step to a persistent world is a bunch of guys with spears.
        Land of Chaos Online is one of a large number of games that's close to being a full MMORPG but isn't quite there. The team behind the game at alaplaya has had its sights on a more full-featured experience for a while. Later this year, the game will be launching a huge update dubbed LOCO: Evolution, which is adding new elements of persistence together with several new character types and a new faction for players to explore.

        The update promises to add a persistent town in the form of Arhonnas, complete with the usual staff of NPCs. The addition of a third faction to the game pushes conflicts into a struggle between Heaven, Hell, and Nature, with players caught in the middle. And aside from that, there will be new gameplay types to explore, new areas to look through, and several other quality-of-life improvements. The update should be release later this year, but until then you can take a gander at the teaser trailer after the break.

        [Source: alaplaya press release]

        Continue reading Land of Chaos Online rebranding as LOCO: Evolution

        MassivelyLand of Chaos Online rebranding as LOCO: Evolution originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Blizzard elaborates on Guardian Cub sales

          Posted: 22 Oct 2011 05:00 PM PDT

          Filed under: , , , ,

          WoW
          Has Blizzard surrendered to the powerful RMT lobby or are there other forces at work behind the company's recent decision to introduce a loophole that allows players to buy in-game gold and items with real-world currency? According to a recent post on World of Warcraft, the sale of the Guardian Cub is meant to test the waters of fighting rampant account compromises.

          Blizzard claims that gold farming is actually not as common these days, but instead most of the gold that is sold through third-party services comes from stolen accounts. The idea of bypassing third-party gold sellers by providing a cash shop pet that could be resold or traded in game was meant to be a creative solution to the problem.

          "Players can buy one for the purpose of trying to sell it in-game, creating the potential for players to exchange real money for gold in a way that does not lead to account compromises. Of course, all that comes with the pretty important caveat that demand for the pet will be finite, and there's no guarantee you'll be able to find a buyer," Blizzard writes.

          The company says that it doesn't expect this will solve the overall issue, the success or failure of the unique pet will help Blizzard determine if this approach is worth pursuing further.

          MassivelyBlizzard elaborates on Guardian Cub sales originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Not So Massively Extra: Our impressions of Path of Exile

          Posted: 22 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT

          Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

          Path of Exile title image
          Path of Exile is an upcoming online action RPG by relatively new developer Grinding Gear Games. The game boasts a dark and gritty game world with randomly generated levels and dozens of different skills, all the things that old-school fans of the Diablo series loved. The game is currently in the closed beta stages, but the developers say it will be free-to-play when released and will feature an online world able to support hundreds of thousands of players. The game servers will use the Guild Wars model of communal town districts leading to instanced combat areas, making the game potentially more MMO than online action RPG.

          Grinding Gear Games was kind enough to give Massively a few beta keys and permission to livestream the game in its current beta state. The livestream was a huge success, with over 200 people tuning in to check out the game and have a chance of winning a beta key. In this article, Massively's Patrick Mackey and I deliver our first impressions of the Path of Exile beta based on last week's livestream and further play time.

          Skip past the cut for Massively's first impressions of the Path of Exile beta.

          Continue reading Not So Massively Extra: Our impressions of Path of Exile

          MassivelyNot So Massively Extra: Our impressions of Path of Exile originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            The Mog Log: Non-reactive

            Posted: 22 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT

            Filed under: , , , , , ,

            The Mog Log header image by A. Fienemann
            As pretty much everyone reading this column knows, there was a big bombshell dropped on the community on Friday of last week. As at least a few people reading this column also know, this column is written on Thursday. This isn't the first time that this has been relevant to the discussion, but what might seem a bit unusual is that last week's column did not discuss 2.0 or the billing cycle at all. It just continued on with my impressions of 1.19. To be quite honest, my actual Friday was spent at the local casino for dinner and some shopping.

            I could have, of course, written a new column for last week by virtue of that breaking news. Certainly it was big. But as it stands, I looked at it, considered it, and realized that I didn't actually have a strong reaction to what had been announced. I was vaguely excited about 2.0, of course, but for the most part all of the big sweeping announcements about the future of Final Fantasy XIV didn't make nearly the impression that one might think. And there's a good reason for that, I believe -- it's because these announcements weren't as sudden or shocking as they look at face value.

            Continue reading The Mog Log: Non-reactive

            MassivelyThe Mog Log: Non-reactive originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              The Tattered Notebook: Beastlord prep 101

              Posted: 22 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT

              Filed under: , , , , ,

              EQII beastlord
              EverQuest II's most recent update brought two new additions: the dungeon finder and the prelude event for the new Beastlord class that will arrive with the release of Age of Discovery. I was going to look at the dungeon finder this week, but it's had its share of problems, and with the team still working on tweaks to make it more useful, I figured I'd table it until some of the changes get patched.

              That means this week's Tattered Notebook is focused on the Beastlord. Closed beta is beginning, and while it's hard to believe, the expansion is due to launch in late November. There's no doubt that many of us will be rolling up Beastlords, so this is a perfect time to start making preparations in advance of launch day. Read on for a look at some tips to make your first few days as a Beastlord fun and enjoyable.

              Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Beastlord prep 101

              MassivelyThe Tattered Notebook: Beastlord prep 101 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                Undead Labs Q&A touches on health bars, death mechanics

                Posted: 22 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT

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                Class 3 - ugly zombie dudes
                Undead Labs has posted another question-and-answer session with fans of its upcoming Class 3 zombie MMO. The firm fielded a bunch of queries relating to healing, death, health bars, and assorted other topics.

                "You'll have a health bar so you won't have to guess how much health you have, but zombies won't. While we could have opted to have no health bar for you too, we wanted to emphasize the survival aspect of the game by having the damage you take stick with you until you can heal up," the dev team says.

                The Q&A also features some interesting tidbits about weight, fatigue and stamina, and the fact that zombies will respond to the noise generated by building survival structures (translation: Bring your duct tape). Read all about it at the official Undead Labs blog.

                MassivelyUndead Labs Q&A touches on health bars, death mechanics originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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