General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

No BS Podcast #189: Nathan's Farewell

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 05:18 PM PDT

No BS PodcastEpisode 189 of the No BS Podcast ushers in a new era for Maximum PC. It is Nathan Edward's farewell podcast (He's moving to Texas, y'all), but with every ending there comes a new beginning. New Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang makes his podcast debut alongside Editor Josh Norem and Maximum PC Editor-in-Chief Katherine Stevenson. Our special guest star this week is Gordon Mah Ung's soundboard! (WARNING: ridiculous times ahead) 

Along with employee introduction and departure discussions, the No BS Podcast delves into the Samsung vs Apple ruling, game developers vs Microsoft's Windows 8, and the death of the optical drive. Oh, and we also answer a bunch of your questions from Facebook and Twitter!

Daily Deals 9/10/12: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SATA III SSD, MSI Raedeon 7770 and More

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 11:57 AM PDT

Logicbuy

Top Deal

For those looking to put an SSD into their laptop or desktop, today's Top Deal from LogicBuy is an OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD (VTX3-25SAT3-120G) for $84.00 with free shipping (normally $104.00). The SSD has a SandForce 2281 controller and is rated for 550 MB/s and 500 MB/s Sequential read and write speeds. We liked its bigger 240GB cousin that came out last year. You can check out our review of that SSD here. 

Laptops:

15.6" Apple MacBook Pro MD318LL/A Core i7 2.2 Ghz Laptop with 4GB of DRR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive, Thunderbolt port, and Radeon HD 6750M for $1,469.00 (normally $1,669).

 

Alienware m14x R2 14" Core i7 2.3 Ghz Gaming Laptop with 6GB of DDR3 RAM, 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics, for $1,099.00 with free shipping (normally $1,199.00).

 

Desktops: 

Dell Vostro 260 Core i3 3.3Ghz Slim Tower with 21.5" Dell 1080p LCD Monitor, 500GB hard drive and Windows 7 Professional with a bundled $100 Gift Card for $549.00 with free shipping (normally $893.00 - use coupon code W9D06J14FX10WM ). 

 

Computing Hardware & Peripherals:

21.5" Dell U2212HM UltraSharp1080p IPS-panel LCD Monitor with DisplayPort for $188.10 + Free shipping (normally $259.00 - use coupon codes: XNL07K1W36RMW5 and H164M9QC3SDVTL ).

 

MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB of GDDR5 Video Card for $114.99 with free shipping (normally $139.99).

 

Patriot Axle 32GB USB Flash Drive for $19.99 (normally $30).

 

HP Select 120 15.6" Laptop Backpack for $29.99 (normally $80 use coupon code SVP471394).

 

Sony VAIO WMS30 Wireless Laser Mouse which has an 800dpi and nano USB receiver for $9.99 (normally $29.99).

 

Fausto II Mesh Executive Office Chair for $49.99 (normally $99.99).

Toys R Us Jumps on Tablet Bandwagon with $150 Tabeo Slate for Toddlers

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 08:21 AM PDT

Let's face it, Steve Jobs was wrong when he downplayed the market for a 7-inch tablet. Amazon proved it (Kindle Fire), Google reaffirmed it (Nexus 7), Barnes & Noble bought into it (Nook Tablet), and now Toys R Us is jumping on the bandwagon, albeit it's headed towards a different destination. Toys R Us is targeting tots with its specially design 7-inch "tabeo" (lowercase 't') tablet for kids. It's relatively affordable at $150 MSRP, and it comes pre-loaded with 50 kid friendly apps.

"Over the past year, we've spent considerable time talking to parents and children to determine what features and functions they really want in a kids' tablet, resulting in tabeo," said Troy Peterson, Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager, Toys R Us, U.S. "We are proud that tabeo offers robust and flexible parental controls that can help protect children as they surf the Internet, and we are pleased to offer the tabeo App Store, which features only kid-safe content carefully curated by the Toys R Us team."

Let's start with the hardware. The tabeo is a 7-inch device with an 800x480 screen resolution, ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a micro SDHC card slot, HDMI output, front-facing camera, built-in Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 interface, and of course it all comes wrapped in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (which we assume most toddlers prefer over Jelly Bean, at least in name alone).

Tabeo Tablet

It's not just about the hardware, however. Toys R Us has built an ecosystem around its kid-friendly tablet. Among the 50 pre-loaded apps are nearly 20 games, including titles like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Temple Run, and more. There are educational apps tossed into the mix, and a full suite of parental controls to keep little Billy from venturing over to seedier sides of the Web or from spending too much time online. In all, Toys R Us says it has available over 7,000 free games, books, and educational programs at its tabeo App Store.

"As an added bonus, if users bypass tabeo's built-in Internet browser, parents will receive an email alert to notify them that their children may be browsing in an unfiltered environment," Toys R Us explains.

The tabeo will land on store shelves on October 21, with pre-orders being accepted now.

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Valve Sees the 'Big Picture' in Gaming, Launches Revised Steam Interface for TV Today

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 07:19 AM PDT

It's called "big picture mode," and it's how Valve intends to declare war on consoles. Launching in beta form today, big picture mode is a special interface for Steam that's more appropriate for viewing on a living room television set than the current one you see on your PC. It's Valve's answer to the walled garden approach console makers have taken with their platforms, and could be the first step towards the oft-rumored Steam Box that's talked about every so often.

Don't worry if you're a big fan of Steam just the way it is, the new viewing mode is completely optional and intended for gamers who want take their pastime into the living room, PC in tow. For those that do, big picture mode boasts full controller support, without shunning the keyboard and mouse.

"Steam's big-picture mode doesn't require any additional development from you. Just ensure your game works well with a controller, and we'll take care of the rest," Valve explains on its Big Picture portal. "And don't worry, keyboard and mouse aren't going anywhere—users will be able to switch between input devices at any time."

Steam Big Picture Mode

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has been very outspoken in his disdain for wall garden ecosystems, such as the one he fears Microsoft is building around Windows 8. With projects like big picture mode and recent hirings for hardware developers making the news, it seems increasingly likely Valve is headed towards a Steam Box, which is essentially a PC-console hybrid.

If you want to catch a glimpse of what big picture mode will look like, Kotaku posted a bunch of screenshots of the new interface. Note the larger fonts and icons that are easier to view on a TV, along with an overall look that's somewhat similar to the Xbox 360's dashboard.

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HP's Ultra-thin SpectreONE All-in-One PC Sports a Wireless Trackpad for Windows 8

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 06:36 AM PDT

Hewlett-Packard, still the world's largest pre-built PC player, introduced four new all-in-one desktop PCs today, including the SpectreONE, which is the first AIO to join the Spectre family. The other three include the HP Envy 23, Envy 20 TouchSmart, and Pavilion 20, the latter of which is the only one of the bunch that's a non-touch system. HP's SpectreONE doesn't sport a touchscreen either, but it does ship with a wireless trackpad that will allow users to scroll, swipe, and tap around Windows 8 when it ships in October.

"The clean look of an all-in-one PC and the ease of one-cord set-up are key reasons customers turn to HP," said James Mouton, senior vice president and general manager, Personal Computer Global Business Unit, HP. "The SpectreONE design is art as well as a powerful entertainment hub. Across our rich line of all-in-ones, we continue to drive value and differentiation that have earned us sales of more than 5 million all-in-ones."

In addition to a wireless trackpad, the SpectreONE is accompanied by a 23.6-inch flush-glass Full HD 1080p display, an unidentified Nvidia graphics card with 1GB of memory, third generation Intel Core processor options, optional SSD storage, NFC technology, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, HDMI input, Beats Audio, and various other odds and ends wrapped in a frame that's just 11.5mm thin.

The HP Envy 23 and Envy 20 are both touch-enabled AIOs with a similar feature-set as the SpectreONE, while the Pavilion 20 is for budget conscious buyers who aren't necessarily interested in the touch revolution sweeping the PC landscape.

HP says it will begin shipping the HP Envy 23 TouchSmart ($999), 20 TouchSmart ($799), and Pavilion 20 ($449) in October. The SpectreONE will be available in November starting at $1,299.

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Posted by Shri Krishna

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