General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


How To: Enable Steam Big Picture Mode Beta

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 04:30 PM PDT

Valve has released Steam Big Picture Mode, which provides PC gamers with a new, elegant TV-tailored experience of Steam. The problem is Big Picture Mode is currently only in open beta testing, and finding out how to opt into the beta can be tricky. Detailed below are steps to help you get Steam's new Big Picture Mode running smoothly on your nice, big-screen TV.

Steam settings

Opt Into Steam's Big Picture Mode

The first thing you'll want to do upon booting up Steam is to click on the "Steam" dropdown menu at the upper left and then select "Settings."

Steam change

A menu will pop up. From here, under the "Beta Participation" section, click the "CHANGE…" button. 

Steam Beta Update

Another pop-up menu will appear and then in the Beta participation drop-down menu, select "Steam Beta Update." Steam will then ask you to restart the program. Do so. Steam will then take a couple of seconds to update.

Big Picture icon

Once Steam reloads, you'll notice a new "Big Picture" icon at the upper right-hand corner. Click it.

Steam home screen

After a brief intro animation, you'll be in Steam's Big Picture Mode. 

You'll find that Steam Big Picture mode comfortably allows you to navigate its interface from the confines of your relatively distant couch or bed with the assistance of your favorite game controller. While you can certainly use a keyboard and mouse, we can tell Valve spent a lot of time tailoring the experience for USB-powered Xbox 360 controllers. 

Now that you've gotten into the Steam Big Screen beta, you might be wondering how you get this new interface onto your HDTV. 

Multiple monitors

Set Your HDTV to Your Primary Screen

If your HDTV is connected to your PC via HDMI, doing this is really easy. On Windows 8, simply right-mouse click anywhere on an empty portion of desktop then click "Screen resolution." From here, select your TV and click on the "Make this my main display" checkbox. Select "OK." Now your nice, big screen TV will be your primary monitor (you can always switch back when you're done using Steam's Big Picture Mode).

Sound

Switch to Your TV's Audio

Before you boot up Steam, you'll similarly want to enable your TV to play your PC's audio. To do this in Windows 8, right-mouse click on the speaker icon on the lower-right hand corner of your desktop > select "Playback devices" > choose your TV's speakers > press the "Set Default" button > Press "OK."

Voila! Now your TV is configured to take full advantage of Steam's new Big Picture Mode. 

Windows 8 Review

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 01:52 PM PDT

Microsoft straps a tablet operating system to Windows 8. Should enthusiasts make the big upgrade? 

Windows 8 is not a want, it's a necessity. Not for you, the consumer. For Microsoft.

We'd like to think that somewhere, somehow, a group of user interface experts like to meet up for lunch in one of Microsoft's (likely) sprawling Redmond cafeterias. They talk about their days, their families, and how horrified they are at Microsoft's decision—and need—to unify a single user experience across its entire product line.

That's the real reason why Windows 8 looks and feels like a tablet operating system slapped overtop Windows 7 (with a few tweaks here and there). It is. Users are given no way around it—Microsoft has made sure of that fact. And, in many ways, there's no way around it for Microsoft, either. The company has decided that users cannot have dissimilar Windows experiences across desktops, tablets, smartphones, or any other kooky gadgets on the horizon, but refuses (or can't) cut the cord of the traditional desktop experience just yet.

Windows 8 is the natural, necessary hybrid—the last time you're likely to see the "core" Windows experience of the last decade mashed together with the multicolored, touch-sensitive, "Metro" boxes of the future. A word on that: While Microsoft has elected to not call the tablet-ized portion of Windows 8's user interface Metro—it's now just called "Windows 8," we think—we'll keep using the old nomenclature just to make this review easier to process.

However, we're willing to bet you'll have many other colorful names for your experience with the new OS.

The Installation

We never thought we'd type the words, "Microsoft has made it easy to install Windows," but there you have it. Your first introduction into Microsoft's latest iteration of Windows comes from the previously laborious process of blanking your hard drive and playing the company's equivalent of 20 questions to install an OS.

Assuming you have a product key—now a requirement to install Windows 8, instead of an after-the-fact input—the installation process looks identical to Windows 7's at first. Once you've set the installer to copy files to your hard drive, Windows 8 is off to the races. A simple, black installation screen gives you pithy updates about what's happening between your installation media and your hard drive. After that, only five prompts require your attention, including one for picking your PC name and your favorite color and three that relate to verifying the settings for the Windows Live ID you'll want to link to your installation.

When Windows 8 says, "Your PC will be ready in just a moment," it's not kidding. This is the speediest, most annoyance-free OS installation we've ever experienced.

And Then…

Windows 8

Welcome to Metro! Right-click tiles to select them, and then drag them around your Metro desktop to create new columns—it's a "dumping grounds," of sorts, for groups of programs.

Up pops Metro, the tiled-box screen that's easily Windows 8's most controversial feature. To discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and intricacies of Metro alone could eat up an entire multipage review. So we'll lead with the biggie: At its core, Metro feels… undone. To put it another way, Microsoft's treatment of its tiles, Metro's interactions with the "normal" half of Windows 8, and the lack of customization present in this Hyde to Windows 7's Jekyll does a disservice to those who want anything beyond an operating system set in "easy mode."

People app

Metro's People app is a virtual gathering place for just about every contact you'll likely ever have - pulled in from your Google, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Microsoft accounts, for now.


You, faithful Maximum PC readers and computing enthusiasts that you are, will hate Metro. Some developers are even working on applications that will terminate Metro altogether. 

Let's start with the apps. At the time of this review, Microsoft and third-party developers worldwide have yet to jump on the app bandwagon. We can't speak to what's on the horizon for Metro, but we can certainly discuss the apps that come bundled with the operating system by default.

The single-app, full-screen Metro environment takes some getting used to. Truly, your capacity to enjoy Microsoft's tablet treatment depends on the app: The People app is as pointless as it is cluttered. We don't understand why one would need to have all of one's contacts—yes, your random Twitter friends too, if you so desire—in a setting that's hard to navigate (horizontal scroll only!), difficult to configure (one giant "news feed" for everyone, really?), and difficult to edit (merging contacts and setting "favorites" takes too long).

SkyDrive? We dare anyone to say that this Metro app is easier to navigate than a simple, Dropbox-like folder in File Explorer (Windows Explorer, no more). Video? Sure, if you like a player that's more in touch with Microsoft's online store than an app that can legitimately play all the files you toss its way. Messaging? Works great with Microsoft Messenger and Facebook—and that's about it. Trillian is hardly shaking in its boots, here.

Other apps, like Weather and Maps, deliver a compelling experience within Metro. Games—and the downloadable Xbox Smartglass app—finally tie together one's PC and one's Xbox 360 in a better, but not ideal, fashion. News, though still annoyingly stuck to a horizontal plane, looks as wonderful as its companion app Sports. 

Mail, however, is downright laughable—especially when free alternatives like Mozilla's now-dead Thunderbird, the web-based Gmail, or Microsoft's own Outlook application blow its lackluster capabilities out of the water.

It's frustrating that Windows 8's built-in Internet Explorer 10, an app that gets the full Metro treatment to delightful results, requires you to set the browser as your default just to play with its Metro version. Apps like Google's Chrome browser—admittedly still in the development channel as of this article's writing—don't cross-pollinate between Windows Metro and Windows Desktop. Each browser is its own unique instance in this case, which couldn't be any more frustrating for laypeople and enthusiasts.

The strength of Windows' apps—both third-party and Microsoft-driven—are going to be the make-or-break elements for Metro. At launch, and especially on a single-screen setup, they are more novelty than necessity.

Windows 8 sidebar

Metro's search tool, accessible just by typing in anything when you're staring at the main tiles screen, is one of its most compelling features. The now-lamer Windows Indexing of Windows 7 just got put to shame.

Metro Organization

It's possible to think of Metro as simply a start menu—which it basically is, given that Microsoft has killed the traditional Start Menu in Windows 8's desktop mode. Just ignore all the live tiles and downloadable apps and use the blocky UI as a souped-up entry to your desktop. Sort of. 

Organizing tiles is as easy as dragging them around to new columns based on whatever internal organization scheme you're going for. That said, it's still annoying that you can't adjust their shape at all, nor edit their size beyond one of two set limits Microsoft has put into place. Microsoft does give you the option to assign a name to columns of tiles, but you might miss this feature unless you go hunting (hint: use the lower-right-hand "minus" sign to expand your Metro UI to the full, zoomed-out view, and then right-click a column). 

In Metro, a tile is often an app, or a shortcut to an app, that you've pinned to the "Start," though it could also be a folder, library link, or network resource, to name just a few. For whatever reason, you can't create tiles for important "common" files within the Metro interface, like a critical PDF or favorite song you want easy access to.

Windows 8's biggest Metro killjoy occurs when you go to install a new app—like, say, the Combined Community Codec Pack. For Windows 8's Metro interface is, for all intents, its start menu. And when an app like CCC comes with eight or more shortcuts that would otherwise be simple links in said menu, they transform into a whole heckuva lot of tiles within Metro. We can count on one hand the number of times we've needed to delete extraneous or unwanted links on a conventional Windows start menu. Within Metro, you'll be doing this a lot, if you're actually trying to keep your horizontal interface (ugh) clutter-free.

PC settings Windows 8

While Metro comes with a number of options to prettify your PC, know that its settings are a wee bit more buried than your average Control Panel—and they aren't even accessible via the Control Panel.

To Microsoft's credit, it's wonderful that you can now just type that which you wish to find on your system—from apps, to Windows elements, to files. Metro takes the old and familiar Windows Indexing and kicks it up about five notches. Type in—well, anything—and you'll be able to search for apps that fit your query, Windows settings or prompts, or files. You can even get a little more specific and search within apps, like Microsoft's Store, if you already have an idea of what you're looking for and where it might be.
Can you ignore Windows 8's Metro environment and instead pretend that it's just one big, boxy Start Menu? Yes—mostly thanks to Metro's search. However, Microsoft will still do its best to force Metro down your throat by booting to this user interface by default instead of allowing you to jump straight to your desktop. Will you still mostly miss your old Windows 7 Start Menu? We do.

The Multi-Monitor Difference

In a single-monitor environment, Metro just doesn't make a lot of sense. As much as Microsoft tries to fit the square peg in the round hole, Metro is, at its core, an interface made for tablets, not a monitor. For a pair of monitors, however, Metro becomes a pretty ideal combination of a standard Windows 7 desktop and a big-ol' screen that you can glance at to view useful information in a blown-up, exaggerated fashion.

In other words, Windows 8 reads a lot better in a multi-monitor setup.

We had the pleasure of being able to try out Windows 8 in such an environment. Better still, our secondary monitor was a handy-dandy ViewSonic touchscreen monitor (for the full Windows 8 Metro experience).

Setting up two monitors is just as easy to do in a Windows 8 environment as it is in Windows 7. For those rocking a touchscreen, however, you'll have to do a bit of jumping around to ensure that your device is perfectly calibrated for your setup. And we don't mean matching your finger-presses to where they register on the panel itself. We had to jump into Windows 8's Tablet PC Settings—of all Control Panel options—to ensure that our finger-presses were correctly mapping to screen number two instead of the primary display. That could not be any more unintuitive on Microsoft's part.

Metro Mulitmonitor

Metro's new multi-monitor support means you'll no longer need to turn to third-party apps to manage the funner parts of a dual-screen setup, like setting different wallpapers (or slide shows of wallpapers) on each screen.

It's great that we no longer have to resort to third-party apps to stretch a single wallpaper image across two desktops—thanks, new Windows 8 personalization settings. Even better, Windows 8 now allows you to set custom backgrounds or slide-show wallpapers for each monitor, and you can even flick off the taskbar—or hide it, if no active apps are open on the display—as you see fit. 

Keyboard commands allow you to flick windows back and forth between your monitors—nothing new there for Windows 7 multi-monitor enthusiasts. However, what's lacking is a way to force Metro to pop up on a specific monitor via key press or, even better, set a single monitor as the "default" recipient of any Windows key action on your keyboard.

It gets uglier. Metro doesn't just pop up on whatever monitor your mouse cursor happens to be hovering over—that would be too easy. Metro appears on your primary monitor by default.

To launch it on a second monitor instead, you first have to hover your mouse in the lower-left-hand corner of the target display and click. After that, Metro will "bind" to your Windows key for that monitor until you repeat the process on a different display.

That's not so bad, right? It gets uglier. The basic Metro interface is not a unique entity; it's attached to your normal operating system in such a way that clicking anywhere outside of the interface—like, say, on your primary display—closes Metro entirely. Huh?

You have to launch a Metro app in order for it to "stick" to your second display. After that, all's well—dragging Metro apps back and forth between monitors is as easy as dragging conventional desktop windows to and fro. Metro's snap feature, or the ability to stash a Metro app to a left or right sidebar while you simultaneously operate another app, stays in place when you switch between screens.

We're not sold on Windows 8's touchscreen controls, first and foremost because Microsoft does the barest minimum to explain what they are—and Windows 8 isn't all that intuitive. Second, because you really have to dig into the bezel in order to activate Metro's various "hot corners," which include the options panel you pull up from the bottom of the screen for Metro apps, the right-hand Charms Bar, and the left-hand app‑selector sidebar. It would have been a grand gesture if Microsoft gave users the option to adjust the size or sensitivity of the hotspots on their screen. But, hey, at least Windows 8 now supports multitouch gestures on touchpads. Eh?

Windows 8 apps

This image represents the ideal Metro experience: an easy-to-understand (and ideally, touch-sensitive) Metro app on one screen, combined with the standard Windows 7-ish desktop as the primary input. In other words, Metro is better as a spice than as the main ingredient of Windows 8's dish.

Another not-so-insignificant annoyance related to a two-monitor setup is that there's no way to get Windows 8 to ignore any touches during inopportune moments. Since Windows 8 treats a tap as if it was a mouse cursor, playing a game full-screen on monitor one while trying to tap your way to an email or a news item on monitor two's Metro display minimizes your game and sends you back to the desktop on monitor uno.

Specific problem? Yes. But it's the kind of Metro annoyance that screams for a solution..


Windows Other

While we think it's important to dig deep into the perils and pleasures of Microsoft's biggest change in the Windows 8 environment, that's not to say the company left the "Windows 7" portions of the operating system out to dry.

First, and most noticeable, is Windows 8's absurdly faster startup and shutdown times compared to any other iteration of the operating system. That's thanks to a lesser hibernation routine that (finally) stores the operating system's kernel session—Windows 8's system state and memory contents—to a file on your hard drive. Windows 8 employs multicore processing to read and decompress the contents of this "hiberfile" during boot, which leads to a much speedier system launch versus Windows 7, which requires a full system initialization each time you hit the power button.

While you might notice slightly slower file transfers within Windows 8 versus Windows 7, were you to compare the two directly, it's because Windows 8 now builds malware scanning directly into the process (helped by the integration of Windows Defender, formerly Security Essentials, into the operating system). We don't mind that a bit, especially when it's accompanied by Windows 8's amazing new File Transfer feature. Not only can you now pause and cancel transfers whenever you want, but Windows 8 also gives you a throughput graph that populates your speeds in real time. It almost makes us want to forget about TeraCopy.

Windows 8's Task Manager receives a similar face-lift, including a wonderful "historical" option that shows you just how many resources various apps have consumed over the past week—Metro-only apps, however, which dovetails nicely with the interface's "never really closes your apps" treatment. And, heavens be praised, Windows finally integrates a "what the heck is this?" option for its Startup tab, which gives you a quick way to search for more information about various apps that run once Windows 8 boots.

The Office-like "ribbon" that now adorns the top of Window 8's File Explorer takes a little getting used to, but it's a great way to organize all of the most useful settings you need to access within a single window. Its available options even change dynamically depending on what you're clicking, from applications, to pictures, to movies, etc. It's still a shame that even File Explorer can't escape Microsoft's need to horizontal-ize Windows 8—you can view more

files in a directory when file details are displayed at the bottom of the window, not on the right-hand side.

And, of course, it's hard to overlook Microsoft's head-nod to the cloud in all sorts of various permutations. There's the SkyDrive app, a mini-Dropbox of sorts for 7GB of your most important or interesting files that's wonderfully interwoven with other apps like Office 2013. There's Window 8's native synchronization with your Microsoft Live account (should you set up Windows 8 with one), which allows you to keep your Windows preferences, Metro app data, bookmarks, passwords—the list goes on—in sync no matter which computer you're using Windows 8 on.

Windows 8 Task Manager

No longer will you have to manually type in strange application names to figure out just what the heck is loading when your system boots. With Windows 8, discovery is but a mouse-click away.

Though you'll never need to use them, astute Maximum PC reader that you are, Windows 8 even tosses in some great features for restoring your system in the face of disaster (good luck finding the buried System Restore app, even if you use the Metro search tool). A "Refresh your PC" option copies your data, reinstalls Windows, and transfers your data back—the "lesser" restoration technique that just might do the trick in the face of slowness or serious error. Window 8's more hardcore tool, the "Remove everything" option, does just that: nukes your drive, reinstalls Windows 8, and begins the initial configuration process anew.


Our Final Thoughts

Considering that a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium costs north of $80, we think it's completely fitting that a standard Windows 8 upgrade costs $40: Metro's worth can be counted on one hand for a typical desktop user, but the improvements found across the "Windows 7" version of the OS are certainly worth paying for. Even with Metro's annoyances—and we haven't even covered the full list in this extended review of the OS—Windows 8 is a good-to-have, but not supremely necessary upgrade. Those who made the jump straight from Windows XP to Windows 7 know the feeling we're describing here.

Windows 8

Windows 8's more advanced Storage Spaces tool allows you to add new storage sources at any time—hard drives, flash drives, or other external storage devices—to create giant storage "pools" with redundancy policies you decide on. 

The features we've touched upon, and some of the operating system's more hardcore elements that we haven't—like Windows 8's Storage Spaces or File History feature—just about balance out the general issues you'll deal with when confronting Microsoft's "newbie mode" head on. It would be wrong to fear Windows 8 because of the sweeping changes (and poor follow-through) Microsoft has introduced into an otherwise fine desktop operating system. Upgrade your OS. Bask in your faster boot times. Synchronize your settings and files with Microsoft's fluffy clouds. Heck, burn and mount ISO files—that's a new one for Windows!

Fear Windows 9 instead. Once Microsoft cuts the cord on the classic desktop, kiss your productivity goodbye. Say hello to Microsoft marketplaces accompanying everything on the OS—much as they do now with a handful of Metro apps. Us? We plan to prepare for the desktop apocalypse by stockpiling copies of Windows ME. $100 per. Cash only.

Windows 8

Windows 8's File History setting, buried deep within the Control Panel, is yet another "backup" technique that saves shadow copies of your data to other hard drives, external devices, or network-based storage.


Windows 8 VS. Windows 7: Fight!

Windows 8 haters have already labeled the new OS as the second coming of Windows Vista, but those who can contain their bile know that Win 8 is likely to be far from the performance-sucking, driver-breaking Windows Vista in its pre-SP1 days.

To find out how Windows 8 compares to the lithe Windows 7, we took an Asus P8Z77-V Premium board; inserted a Core i7-3770K, a GeForce GTX 690, 8GB of DDR3/1866, and an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD; loaded up Windows 7 Professional SP1; and ran our benchmarks. We then took an identical Vertex 4 SSD, loaded up Windows 8 Professional, and reran our benchmarks. We used the same beta 304.79 GeForce drivers for both and the latest beta drivers available from Asus for our testing.

The verdict? We expected the scores to be nearly identical, and for the most part they were. As Windows 8 is built on the foundation of Windows 7, we didn't expect a quantum shift here, but we did see some performance differences. The most glaring difference was in PCMark 7, where Windows 8 produced significantly faster scores in the creativity and computation tests. 

Why such a huge difference? We suspect it's the result of changes to Windows Media Foundation in Win 8. Windows Media Foundation is Microsoft's replacement for DirectShow, which was implemented in Windows Vista. 3DMark 11 also showed a difference, but in Windows 7's favor, by a smaller percentage, in the physics and combined score. The difference there is likely due to some efficiency with the Bullet Physics engine that FutureMark uses in the test. More importantly, the graphics score is the same between operating systems, which tells us there should be no difference when gaming in Windows 7 or Windows 8—at least on Nvidia hardware.

Windows 8 includes native USB 3.0 support, and we saw it smoking the stock Windows 7 USB 3.0 performance by a hefty margin. Our Asus board, however, includes a Turbo mode, which puts it within striking range of Windows 8. USB 3.0 performance on Windows 8, for the most part, is pretty awesome, though.

The rest of our tests were mostly a wash except in two interesting instances: Cinebench 11.5 and X264 HD 5.0.1. Both are multithreaded like mad, and both show about a 5 percent advantage in Windows 8. This could quite possibly be a sign of the improved scheduler in Windows 8.

To sum up, Windows 8 performance is generally the same as Windows 7, with a performance edge in anything that uses the Windows Media Foundation and likely anything that is heavily multithreaded. USB 3.0 is also markedly improved. We do note the issue with Bullet Physics in 3DMark 11, but we don't think it's a very serious issue. So all you haters better find something else to hate on. –Gordon Mah Ung

Windows 8 Windows 7

Early Birds Get Preferred Pricing

Microsoft has simplified the editions and prices of Windows 8—at least compared to how the company initially segmented its first batches of Windows 7. However, folks considering an upgrade won't want to delay for too long, as Microsoft is also offering early birds a significant discount on Windows 8.

Windows 8, in total, will arrive in four versions: Windows RT, the ARM version of the OS that comes preinstalled on supported devices; Windows 8; Windows 8 Pro; and Windows 8 Enterprise. 

If you're already running Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39 until January 31, 2013. That's just for a digital download; retail copies will cost $69 until the deadline, when the Pro price will then bump to $199. There's no word, as of this article's writing, how much Windows 8 (standard version) might cost.

Still, compare that to the pricing scheme for the three major versions of Windows 7 currently on the market: $119 for Home Premium, $199 for Professional, and $219 for Ultimate. To Microsoft's credit, the company did offer similar discount pricing for Windows users shortly after Windows 7's 2009 launch—a final cost of $50, $100, and $219, respectively.

Playing on price is Microsoft's answer to the inexpensive upgrades Apple enthusiasts have enjoyed for years now. It also might just be Windows 8's ticket to increased adoption rates in the face of Metro's heavier criticisms.

Minimize Metro's Annoyances

As mentioned, Windows 8's Metro isn't the simplest of interfaces to navigate—especially if you're stuck on a good-ol' keyboard and mouse. However, there are still a few tricks you can use to streamline and customize your way through (or around) Microsoft's "tablet" portion of the OS.

For starters, make sure you fire up Windows' Default Programs app—found by typing "default" into the Metro UI—and use it to set Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Player as the default apps for all file types they can open. This allows you to bypass the annoyance of jumping into Metro Photos or Video whenever you click on a related file in File Explorer.

If you want to avoid Windows 8's app management entirely, don't pin your most-used apps as Metro tiles; pin them to your taskbar. The bottom of your desktop screen might get a little cluttered, but at least you won't have to hunt down your apps within Metro.

One of our favorite tricks allows you to bypass having to jump into Metro from the desktop to run Metro apps. Make a shortcut on your desktop and type this in for the item location: %windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}

Your shortcut will pull up Windows 8's Applications window, which will let you launch Metro apps directly from the desktop.

For a more intense Metro transformation, check out the third-party app Classic Shell (classicshell.sourceforge.net). Not only can you bring the long-lost Start Menu back into Windows 8, but you'll also be able to boot directly to Windows 8's desktop instead of its Metro UI. Additionally, you can also completely disable a number of portions of the Windows 8 Metro UI: Hotspots, the Charms Bar, etc.

Windows 8 also includes a number of useful tweaks within its Group Policy Editor, including the ability to bypass Windows 8's lock screen for faster logging-on. It won't spare you from Metro, but it'll at least help you get to your safe and friendly desktop even faster.

Windows Application windows

Windows 8's Applications window is the sure-fire way to launch Metro apps without first haivng to jump into Metro

Windows 8: Under the Hood

While the new Metro UI will be what catches your attention in Microsoft's latest OS, there's actually far more under the hood that offers tangible performance benefits.

USB 3.0 Native Drivers

Windows 8 brings native USB 3.0 drivers to the mix, so no longer will you have to hunt for USB 3.0 drivers after your clean install. Even better, USB 3.0 performance is greatly increased with the native Microsoft drivers, too.

Windows Acceleration

Windows 8's implementation of Direct2D—the API for hardware-accelerating text, bitmaps, and other UI elements—offers a huge leap in performance over Windows 7 by relying on DirectX 11.1 to accelerate 2D graphics. Other improvements include 60 percent faster decompression of JPEGs and PNGs and techniques to make graphically intense chores drink less power. 

DirectX11.1/WDM1.2

DX11.1 offers fairly innocuous changes from DX11, with the most noticeable being support for enhanced 2D graphics acceleration. DX11.1 also officially adds stereoscopic support, improved memory management, and better management of tile-based rendering for low-power applications.

Improved Scheduler

We already know that AMD says Windows 8 will give its Bulldozer cores an uptick in performance, thanks to an improved scheduler that can deal with AMD's core design, but it's apparently also a bit faster on Intel parts. See our performance analysis on page 32 for more info.

App Suspension

This applies more to the Metro side of the fence, but instead of Metro apps staying open and sucking up RAM, Windows 8 will suspend the applications to disk when not in use and also let the OS reclaim RAM easily. Even desktop apps, though, can be individually suspended or have components suspended when physical memory is running low.

Windows RT: What is it?

Even though Microsoft is planning to put the full version of Windows 8 onto its upcoming Surface tablet, the company realized it would also need a stripped-down version to run on ARM tablets and cell phones, so it has created Windows RT to handle those duties. Windows RT, which stands for Windows Runtime (we know, the name is horrible) is designed to run one thing and one thing only—apps from the Microsoft store. That's all it will do, just like how an iPad or Android tablet only lets you add or remove applications. There will be no desktop, no file explorer, or any other trappings of a traditional Windows environment. Think of it this way: Imagine if Microsoft yanked Metro's tile-based interface out of Windows 8 and created an operating system out of it; that's Windows RT in a nutshell.

Now before you go getting your jimmies rustled, consider this: Using apps is all a tablet is designed to do. You'll have an app for your email, web browsing, e-books, and so forth, so you should be able to accomplish most of what you can do on today's tablets on a Windows RT device. You'll even be able to be mildly productive, as Microsoft is bundling a free version of its ubiquitous office suite, tentatively named Office RT. And though you'll surely be able to download some sort of media player, Windows Media Player will not be bundled with Windows RT. Hopefully, VLC will come to the rescue.

What can't you do in Windows RT? You won't be able to install whatever Windows software you have lying around, so put that USB key away for now. If it's not in the Windows 8 store, you can't install it. Good news, though—Maximum PC will have an app, so you can read all about the latest hardware anywhere you take your tablet (we won't ask where that is). –Josh Norem

Daily Deals 9/14/12: Kingston Hyper 3K 2.5" SSD, Nexus 7 16GB with $25 Google Play Credit and More

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 11:47 AM PDT

Kingston HyperX 3K

Logicbuy

Top Deal

Today's top deal from Logicbuy is the Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD on sale for $79.99 (normally $99.99). The drive has a SandForce controller and sequential read and write speeds of 555MB/s and 510MB/s respectively. We personally like installing SSDs as our primary drives to minimize boot times. If you're in the market to do the same, this isn't a bad deal. 

The rest of the daily deals are as follows:

Laptops

Dell Vostro 3560 15.6" i7 2.1GHz Ivy Bridge Laptop with 1920x1080 display, backlit keyboard, 1GB of GDDR5 Radeon 7670M graphics with Free $100 Gift Card for $859 with free shipping (normally $939 - use $80 coupon code: GRNT3S4KF7Q6VQ).

Computing Hardware & Peripherals 

Hanns-G 26" 5ms 1920x1080 LED-backlit LCD Monitor for $179.99 at CompUSA (normally $279.99).

Netgear Wireless-N Gigabit Gaming Router (WNDR37AV) for $79.99 at J&R (normally $99.99 - use coupon code: BACK2SCHOOL).

Nexus 7 16GB Android 4.1 Tablet with $25 Google Play Credit for $249 with free shipping at B&H.

Cybercriminals Turn to Supply Chain, Infect New Computers with Malware

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 08:32 AM PDT

Electric DreamsIf you think dealing with bloatware on a new OEM system is a pain in the backside, imagine buying a PC only to find out that it's infected with malware...straight from the factory! Apparently that's something PC shoppers need to be worried about these days, according to an investigation conducted by Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU). The investigation and subsequent sting operation, codenamed "Operation b70," found that several new systems sold in China had malicious software pre-installed.

In a blog post, Microsoft said it was granted permission to disrupt more than 500 different strains of malware with the potential for targeting millions of innocent people, which comprised the Nitol botnet. Operation b70 came as a result of a study in which Microsoft discovered cybercriminals had started infiltrating unsecure supply chains to "introduce counterfeit software with malware for the purpose of secretly infecting people's computers."

Not surprisingly, Windows was among the counterfeit software, with malware in tow. Microsoft claims that 20 percent of the PCs its researchers purchased from an unsecure supply chain had been infected.

"Making matters worse, the malware was capable of spreading like an infectious disease through devices like USB flash drives, potentially causing the victim's family, friends and co-workers to become infected with malware when simply sharing computer files," Microsoft said.

All the more reason to roll your own rig, right?

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This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 08:28 AM PDT

iPhone 5 review

Three million page views on TechRadar in a single day show just how the iPhone 5 has attracted mainstream attention. It's all anyone's been talking about this week and we got our first look at it at the launch on Wednesday.

We've written a first-look review so you can digest our initial thoughts before the in-depth verdict is in. Short version: it's great! But is it great enough?

Check it out, along with all of the other gear we've tested this week!

Hands on: iPhone 5 review

It needs no introduction, does it? The Apple iPhone 5 is finally here, with the latest arrival boasting a 16:9 display, new smaller port connection, thinner, lighter design and 4G LTE. It has a bigger screen than earlier versions and looks pretty much like the leaked versions we saw - the rumour mill was exactly right. There's a fifth row of icons on the home screen, while the display is the expected 4-inch version, but the iPhone 5 screen is not wider than the iPhone 4S, it's just thinner.

It's without doubt the best iPhone ever, but is it enough? The internet is currently divided with many people feeling that Apple has not done enough to develop the product, especially considering the astronomical prices! Check out our first-look review and let us know what you think.

Panasonic LX7 review

Panasonic LX7 review

With lots of fantastic features and brilliant image quality, Panasonic has produced a compact camera to be proud of with the LX7. With a wide maximum aperture of f/1.4, the ability to shoot in raw format and full manual controls, many people will surely be tempted by this. Its main competitor, the Sony RX100, currently retails for around £100 more, so you're getting a bit of a bargain to boot.

Image quality is great, while our labs test indicate that the Panasonic LX7 shows an improvement in quality in the raw files, with less noise and greater dynamic range. With a good range of digital filters and fun features to tempt a wide range of photographers, the Panasonic LX7 is a real photographer's compact camera, as well as being accessible by enthusiasts and beginners.

LG 47LM860V review

LG 47LM860V review

Few TVs scream 'buy me' at prospective punters louder than the LG 47LM860V. Aesthetically it's gorgeous, and its feature list is everything you could hope for - and then some - from a 2012 premium TV. It performs excellently too for the most part, being particularly in its element with bright, colourful footage. We can't give the LG 47LM860V a completely unreserved recommendation, though, on account of the issues it sometimes has when showing dark scenes, and its slightly painful price.

But it's still a superior TV that makes us very excited about what LG might unveil at January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2013). So if you want LG's top-level edge LED TV, the LM860V series is it. And the 47-inch LG 47LM860V wears its premium credentials on its sleeve, thanks to a truly sensational design and a feature count that fully embraces today's multimedia needs.

Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A review

Asus Zenbook Prime review

The Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A is a premium computer with a price tag to match. The build quality is excellent, the performance is great for an Ultrabook and the screen is top-notch. Sadly, the battery life makes you think twice about its good points when you're spending that amount of money - we're just not sure that it's worth it for all that many people. If you want a high-end Ultrabook, we recommend the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A as long as battery life isn't your main concern. If you just want an Ultrabook, we suggest starting a bit lower, with its little brother, the Asus Zenbook UX32A.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review

Without Ice Cream Sandwich, we'd completely shrug off the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus in favor of newer and cheaper options. But the upgrade works wonders for last year's model, and makes it a suitable bargain-basement option.

If you're seeking a capable Android tablet with expandable storage, and happen to find a refurbished or otherwise discounted model for $200 or less, we can solidly recommend the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. But that's a window that's shrinking by the day as manufacturers continually top themselves with better and cheaper seven-inch options.

Other reviews this week:

Cameras

Hands on: Sony RX1 review

Hands on: Nikon D600 review

Hands on: Sony Alpha a99 review

Sony Alpha a99

Hands on: Sony NEX-6 review

Nikon 1 J2 review

Disk Drives

Neutron GTX 240GB review

Graphics Cards

EVGA GTX 660 Ti SC review

Zotac GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition review

EVGA Geforce GTX 660 review

Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti Superclocked review

GTX 660 Ti Superclocked

Headphones

Apple EarPods review

Headsets

Astro A50 Gaming Headset review

Laptops

Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A review

Media streaming devices

Belkin @TV Plus review

Mobile phones

Sony Xperia Tipo review

Speakers

Creative Sound BlasterAxx SBX10 review

Will the iPhone 5 Become the Best Selling Consumer Electronics Device Ever?

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 07:45 AM PDT

iPhone 5Apple on Wednesday unveiled the iPhone 5, and though it boasts a handful of respectable upgrades over the iPhone 4S -- bigger display panel, faster processor, thinner and lighter design, 4G LTE connectivity, an improved camera -- few would claim with a straight face that it's the end-all-be-all of smartphone design. But it is an Apple device, and inevitably, it's going to sell well. So well, in fact, that at least one analyst believes it will become the best selling electronic gadget to date.

"This is going to be the best-selling consumer electronics device of all time, bar none," Carl Howe, an analyst with Yankee Group, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Howe, like others, is predicting Apple will sell more than 10 million iPhone 5 devices by the end of September, which would break a sales record Apple set a year ago with its iPhone 4S model. That's also equivalent to half as many Galaxy S III smartphones Samsung claims to have sold since launching the handset three and a half months ago.

Apple Line
Image Credit: Flickr (brownpau)

By the end of the year, iPhone 5 sales could be as high as 58 million, according to the average analyst estimate, as surveyed by Bloomberg. That's a ridiculous number for such a short period of time, and also feasible. Apple has already sold out of its initial batch online; new orders are now expected to ship out in 2 weeks instead of next week on September 21.

One thing analysts are either overlooking or dismissing is Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform. For the iPhone 5 to sell as many units as analyst predict, Windows Phone 8 would have to have a relatively lackluster launch.

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MMO Updates

MMO Updates


Some Assembly Required: Creating content for cash

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT

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Some Assembly Required  Creating content for cash
Housing. Mission generators. Player-run festivals. Music. Overall general sandboxy goodness. Since its debut over a year ago, Some Assembly Required has covered a number of topics related to player-generated content as well as the games that offer such features. However, recent events have turned my attention toward a different aspect of PGC.

Between the Dota 2 incident and last week's announcement from Sony Online Entertainment, I am actually looking at player-generated content in a whole new way: as a revenue generator. That's right -- collecting cold hard cash for your creativity. Although plenty of titles allow players to create content and share it within the games, very few let players sell that content for real-world money. This column explores the cash-for-content phenomenon in MMOs: what games have it, how to use it, and whether it is likely to become the next big thing.

Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Creating content for cash

MassivelySome Assembly Required: Creating content for cash originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    PAX Prime 2012: Hands-on with Origins of Malu

    Posted: 14 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT

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    Screenshot -- Origins of Malu
    PAX Prime is gone and passed, but our coverage isn't done quite yet. As it happens, we've saved one of the best for last. Burning Dog Media's upcoming MMO, Origins of Malu, has been making a few waves in the sandbox-craving community. Boasting features such as brick-by-brick player-house construction and exploration-focused gameplay, Origins of Malu is a game that I've had my eye on for some time.

    So of course I was rather excited to be able to go hands-on with the game at PAX, where Burning Dog had set up a small alpha-build PvP battleground in which players could battle head-to-head in a slightly twisted version of the traditional capture-the-flag gametype. Now, I don't know about y'all, but PvP isn't exactly on the top of my list of Origins of Malu features I'm looking forward to, but there were definitely some surprises to be had in the demo, plus I got to have a bit of a chat with Burning Dog's president of media, Michael Dunham. What did I think? Find out for yourself after the cut.

    Continue reading PAX Prime 2012: Hands-on with Origins of Malu

    MassivelyPAX Prime 2012: Hands-on with Origins of Malu originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      Farewell and thank you!

      Posted: 14 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT

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      Farewell
      Well, the time has come. After almost five years at Massively and over three and a half at the helm, it's time for me to step down as Editor-in-Chief. On September 30th, I'll be handing the site over to the capable hands of Bree Royce, who has been such an integral part of the behind-the-scenes goings-on at the site already that it should be a seamless transition.

      It's certainly been a wild ride, and as much as it pains me to leave everything I've helped build with my blood, sweat, and tears, it's a necessary change at this point in my life. As a guy who has been everything from a graphic designer to a police officer to the Orkin man, I can honestly say this has been the best job I've ever had.

      Continue reading Farewell and thank you!

      MassivelyFarewell and thank you! originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        Blade & Soul opens Western website, debuts trailer

        Posted: 14 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT

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        Blade & Soul opens Western website, debuts trailer
        If you've been long awaiting NCsoft's Blade & Soul, then today might be the shot in the arm that your anticipation needs. The publisher unloaded a brand-new website for its Western fans as well as a North American trailer.

        The website offers many goodies right out of the gate, including an overview of Blade & Soul's world, races, and classes; screenshots, concept art, and videos; a newsletter signup; and frequently asked questions and answers.

        As for the trailer, it's a high-octane mix of splendid videos and flashy combat, as you might have expected. Massively recently met with NCsoft to talk about the title's voyage to the Western market, and the following trailer is certainly part of that transition.

        Continue reading Blade & Soul opens Western website, debuts trailer

        MassivelyBlade & Soul opens Western website, debuts trailer originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          The Daily Grind: Which studio would you like to see do a Reddit Ask Me Anything?

          Posted: 14 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT

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          The Daily Grind Which studio would you like to see do a Reddit Ask Me Anything
          Funcom, ArenaNet, and heck, even Blizzard have all turned to the popular online gaming community at Reddit to participate in what is known as an Ask Me Anything (AMA). These Q&A sessions are in real-time and can get quite heated, although they are monitored closely by Reddit mods.

          The results of these AMAs are sometimes up for interpretation as weeding through the oceans of questions for anything meaty can be a chore. Nonetheless, more and more game studios are discovering how effective these scheduled events can be.

          So who (in MMO gaming) would you like to see do one of these AMAs? If your favorite MMO dev studios haven't jumped in yet, would you like to see them go for it? Or do you think it's a waste of time? Let us know!

          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: Which studio would you like to see do a Reddit Ask Me Anything? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            CCP shares EVE's social calendar

            Posted: 13 Sep 2012 08:30 PM PDT

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            EVE invites you to meet the devs
            It's the busy season for conventions and expos. There are events running all 'round the world, and now you can know which ones CCP is taking part in. Flip open your calendar and ring up your travel agent if you've got your heart set on meeting your favorite EVE Online devs.

            The EVE DUST Summerfest runs this weekend, September 14th-16th, in Loutraki, Greece. It's followed shortly by the Tokyo Game Show on the 20th-23rd. The player-organized VETO EVE event is in London on the 29th, so if you're in town for the Eurogamer Expo, which runs from the 27th-30th, you might as well check it out. After that, the party moves to Igromir in Moscow, Russia before winding up in the Las Vegas for EVE Vegas.

            Check out the EVE blog for full details and hit up the official forums for word of more player meetups.

            MassivelyCCP shares EVE's social calendar originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            World of Warcraft continues Mists of Pandaria TV coverage

            Posted: 13 Sep 2012 08:00 PM PDT

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            World of Warcraft continues Mists of Pandaria TV coverage
            "The question isn't why we fight," a wizened voice says, "but what's worth fighting for."

            Thus goes the third TV commercial for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard continues to storm the airwaves in preparation for Pandaria's September 25th release. The commercial is just cobbled together from the opening cinematic, but it's still cool to see an MMO get airtime on television these days.

            Give it your full and undivided attention after the jump.

            Continue reading World of Warcraft continues Mists of Pandaria TV coverage

            MassivelyWorld of Warcraft continues Mists of Pandaria TV coverage originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            RaiderZ shows off Hero's Lane

            Posted: 13 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT

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            This really isn't the sort of graveyard where you leave flowers on headstones.
            The whirlwind tour of the world of Rendel continues with the latest zone preview for RaiderZ. Today's video shows off the region known as Hero's Lane, a lovely location for a leisurely stroll that's filled with aging graveyards and expansive gardens. Of course, since this is RaiderZ, your definition of a leisurely stroll will need to include hordes of undead, carnivorous plants, and demonic forces working all around you.

            Beneath the expansive graveyard filled with the undead lie the Catacombs of the Damned, which is absolutely lousy with undead minions and demonic cultists (as the name might imply). Stopping to smell the roses instead might be a bad idea, as the aforementioned expansive garden is home to the Master of the Garden, a plant that's far more dangerous than any photosynthesizing creature ought to be. Check out the full trailer for the area just past the break.

            [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release]

            Continue reading RaiderZ shows off Hero's Lane

            MassivelyRaiderZ shows off Hero's Lane originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              City of Heroes fans buy Paragon Studios a meal and proclaim allegiance

              Posted: 13 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT

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              You gave us a game.  Let us give you some food.
              The zeal of the City of Heroes fanbase has not wavered, and fans continue striving to avert the game's shutdown. But it's not just the game that's suffered; the staff at Paragon Studios has been hit with a heavy load as well. TonyV, mastermind behind the movement to save CoH, knew of a restaurant that the studio employees frequented for meals and started a fundraiser to buy the staff a meal. It took three hours to raise $1000, enough for the entire team to have a nice dinner out courtesy of the fans.

              Fans are also organizing further events in-game. Two massive joint task force runs are scheduled for September 20th at 9 p.m. EDT and September 22nd at noon EDT. Players are asked to gather in Steel Canyon in record numbers to run Positron's Task Force en masse, showing that the entire playerbase is indeed Positron's Ally. Check the official thread for more details and start clearing some space on your schedule for next week.

              [Thanks to Dr. Toerag for the tip!]

              MassivelyCity of Heroes fans buy Paragon Studios a meal and proclaim allegiance originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              Chaos Theory: Nine of The Secret World's best videos

              Posted: 13 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT

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              Chaos Theory 12
              What say you to the idea of a feature film based on The Secret World? It's a pretty cool thought, however unlikely, amirite?

              Yesterday, someone linked me to one of those mash-up YouTube fan trailers that purported to be a teaser for a Secret World movie, and it was so well done that I spent portions of the day collecting as many pro-quality TSW trailers as I could find. Most of these I'd seen already. Some are fairly obscure, though, and given the bad news swirling around the game these last few weeks, I figured that today's Chaos Theory ought to take a step back and celebrate some of the awesome that stems from the TSW's chewy narrative center.

              Continue reading Chaos Theory: Nine of The Secret World's best videos

              MassivelyChaos Theory: Nine of The Secret World's best videos originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                ArenaNet on Guild Wars 2's reimagined endgame

                Posted: 13 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT

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                ArenaNet on Guild Wars 2's reimagined endgame
                Fan scuttlebutt has long held that Guild Wars 2 has no traditional MMO endgame, but now you can get a summation of the design manifesto straight from the horse's mouth.

                ArenaNet Lead Content Designer Mike Zadorojny has authored a blog post called The Endgame Reimagined, and in it he says that yes, Guild Wars 2 seeks to avoid making players grind "through chunks of boring, repetitive content to get to the occasional pockets of fun."

                How, specifically, does the game manage it? For starters, it introduces elements typically associated with endgame "at every level and every possible opportunity." Things like large-scale boss fights are commonplace, as are the title's dynamic events that spread across the level range. Once you do get to the actual endgame, ANet says that there's still plenty to do. Read all about it at the official site.

                MassivelyArenaNet on Guild Wars 2's reimagined endgame originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                SOE working on two additional PlanetSide 2 continents

                Posted: 13 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT

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                SOE working on two additional PlanetSide 2 continents
                Those of you enjoying er, testing the PlanetSide 2 beta have thus far been confined to a single continent. That's about to change, as Sony Online Entertainment is getting ready to Galaxy-drop a new landmass into the thick of the game's closed testing phase.

                CEO John Smedley took to the official forums earlier this week to provide some details. Not only is SOE working on a second continent (Esamir), but it's got a third one waiting in the wings.
                We are working hard on Esamir. It's getting closer and closer to a finished state where we want you guys to play on it. It's pretty awesome and very different gameplay-wise than Indar.

                After that, Amerish will go back to being worked on. These continents are taking longer than we expected and it's possible we end up launching with two and delivering the third shortly after launch. We're working super hard but we have some resource bottlenecks. We also are going to see how the game plays with two continents before making any final decisions, so please do us a favor and don't judge any of this before you play the game with two.
                Further updates, including performance, gunplay, and spawning tweaks, are all viewable on the official PS2 boards.

                MassivelySOE working on two additional PlanetSide 2 continents originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                LotRO hands over war-steed reins in dev diary

                Posted: 13 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT

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                LotRO hands over warsteed reins in dev diary
                The Lord of the Rings Online team is hard at work putting the final touches on next month's Riders of Rohan, and a new dev diary shines a spotlight on the expansion's star attraction: trainable war-steeds.

                The article gives a brief overview of the types of mounts -- light, medium, and heavy -- as well as the trait trees that accompany them. According to the devs, each war-steed will have 32 potential traits to unlock. The good news, they say, is that retraiting a mount is easily accomplished on the fly for the cost of a few coins.

                The devs round out the post by sharing a few of their favorite traits and skills that war-steeds boast. These include feigning injury to dump threat, trampling enemies, giving additional damage to attacking from behind, and boosting crit chance by a whopping 25%.

                MassivelyLotRO hands over war-steed reins in dev diary originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                Players in DUST 514 and EVE Online can join the same corporations

                Posted: 13 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT

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                Players in DUST 514 and EVE Online can join the same corporations
                Integrating EVE Online with CCP Games' upcoming DUST 514 must present many challenges, one of which is how to handle the issue of corporations (guilds). In a new blog post, CCP confirms that players of either game can join the same corporations, whether they are newly established or deep-rooted EVE entities.

                DUST 514 corps will therefore be structured and function much the same as the corps in EVE Online, with the founding member becoming CEO. DUST 514 players will not be able to access all levels of management for multi-game corps, however.

                CCP is providing similar corporation creation tools for DUST 514, including logo design, structured roles, and corporation battles. Players of both games will then be easily able to communicate to each other through corp chat.

                MassivelyPlayers in DUST 514 and EVE Online can join the same corporations originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                BioWare testing new high-population server tech for SWTOR

                Posted: 13 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT

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                BioWare testing new highpopulation server tech for SWTOR
                BioWare is working on something called "high-population server tech" for Star Wars: The Old Republic. A new posting on the game's official website claims that the new stuff "will allow us to significantly increase current server populations."

                The company is putting out a call for testers, and all characters from East Coast servers have already been copied to a new public test server that is available starting today. Full instructions for logging in and testing can be found on the official site.

                MassivelyBioWare testing new high-population server tech for SWTOR originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                New Firefall milestone focused on PvE

                Posted: 13 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT

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                New Firefall milestone focused on PvE
                Red 5 has posted a new announcement on its website concerning Firefall's latest project milestone, and this one features a laser focus on PvE content.

                The posting details a bit of Red 5's internal structure before going on to talk up what exactly each team is doing. The Chosen Warfront group is working on "new, dynamic encounters with the Chosen to make the war a part of the daily life of New Eden's residents." Translation: They're expanding on patrols and incursions to give PvE battles more of a random, life-like feel.

                There are also specific teams devoted to creatures, player rewards, core combat, exploration, matchmaking, and more. Check it out on the Firefall website.

                MassivelyNew Firefall milestone focused on PvE originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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