General Gaming Article

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• Comic Con 2013: Pictures (Day Two)
• No BS Podcast #207: AMD's 5GHz CPU, the State of the PC Industry, Incoming Surface Refresh, and Reader Questions!
• March 2013: Break In Your New Rig The Right Way!
• February 2013: Next-Gen Broadband
• Steam Summer Sale: Day 9
• Microsoft's Failed Surface RT Strategy Leads to $900 Million Charge on Unsold Inventory
• Intel Missed the Boat on Mobile, Sees 29 Percent Profit Drop
• Nvidia Settles Canadian Class Action Lawsuit for $1.8 MIllion
• Newegg Daily Deals: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified, G.Skill 16GB DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM, and More!

Comic Con 2013: Pictures (Day Two) Posted: 19 Jul 2013 05:10 PM PDT 100 more pictures from the second day of Comic Con 2013! Day two of Comic Con 2013 is coming to a close, but it feels like the San Diego event is just getting started. Friday introduced many more awesome costumes and was even more crowded than opening day.  Below are 100 more pictures that will give you a glimpse of what it's like to be at the show. Again, we're not 100% sure who everyone is in the pics below, so if you recognize any costumes, please sound off in the comments below and we'll try our best to give you identification credit!

No BS Podcast #207: AMD's 5GHz CPU, the State of the PC Industry, Incoming Surface Refresh, and Reader Questions! Posted: 19 Jul 2013 12:30 PM PDT The latest news, our picks, your questions, and Gordon's rant! This time around it was a full podcast room as we tackled the latest industry developments, including the future of our very own magazine. First up Deputy editor Gordon Mah Ung kicked off a discussion of AMD's 5GHz CPU and its position in the enthusiast market, then Editor in Chief Katherine Stevenson dished on the rumors surrounding the Microsoft Surface refresh, and finally Associate Editor Tom McNamara opined on the state of the PC Industry. We closed Episode #207 of the Maximum PC Podcast with some tablet talk, tons of reader questions, our editors' picks, and Gordon's signature rant.   Editor's Picks: Tom: FEZ Gordon: Leatherman Carabiner Josh: Aduro U-GRIP PLUS Universal Dashboard Windshield Car Mount and DropBox Katherine: Ninite Julian: ioSafe N2 Check out future episodes of the Maximum PC No BS podcast at: Check us out online at www.maximumpc.com Subscribe on iTunes Fan us on Facebook Tweet us on Twitter Subscribe to us on Youtube Check out our Windows 8 app in Microsoft's app store Subscribe to our RSS feed If you have any feedback or questions feel free to: Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or Leave us a voicemail at 877-404-1337 x1337 Thanks for listening! We Wouldn't be here without all of your support! Subscribe to Maximum PC in Print or on Google Play, itunes, Kindle, Nook and Zinio.

March 2013: Break In Your New Rig The Right Way! Posted: 19 Jul 2013 11:43 AM PDT In the PDF archive of the March 2013 issue you can find: Keyboard Roundup Build It: We build an affordable Ubuntu box Asus GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP Review Head To Head: LaCie Xtremkey vs. Corsair Flash Survivor How To: Safeguard your PC with Malwarebytes

February 2013: Next-Gen Broadband Posted: 19 Jul 2013 11:30 AM PDT In the PDF archive of the February 2013 issue you can find: Next-Gen Broadband Chasis Roundup How To: Build a home server with Windows 8 The List: Seven usung heroes of the PC universe Head To Head: Intel NUC vs. Raspberry Pi Build It: We build our own all-in-one

Steam Summer Sale: Day 9 Posted: 19 Jul 2013 10:44 AM PDT The deals keep pouring out  Steam deals for today include indie crime game Monaco for $7.44 (normally $15), Civilization V for $7.49 (normally $30), GRID 2 for $30 (normally $50), and Awesomenauts for $3.39 (normally $10).  Flash Deals are currently Portal 2 for $5 (normally $20), Fable III for $5 (normally $20), Rayman Origins for $6.79 (normally $20), and Star Trek for $7.49 (normally $30). The community choice right now is Bully: Scholarship Edition for $3.74 (normally $15). Games to be voted on for the next community pick include BIT. TRIP Presents… Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm, Super Meat Boy, and Retro City Rampage.

Microsoft's Failed Surface RT Strategy Leads to $900 Million Charge on Unsold Inventory Posted: 19 Jul 2013 09:13 AM PDT Failed Surface RT strategy costing Microsoft millions of dollars Remember when Acer tried to warn Microsoft to steer clear of competing in the hardware market, telling the Redmond outfit that the hardware business is like "hard rice" and "is not so easy to eat?" Well, Microsoft should have listened. That's easy to say on hindsight, but it's not as if Microsoft's strategy wasn't fraught with criticism from the get-go. Having ignored the advice of Acer and other hardware partners who weren't stoked about Surface, Microsoft is now paying the price. That price is $900 million, representative of the charge it took on Surface RT inventory for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. Microsoft also reported net income of $4.97 billion, or 59 cents per share, compared to a $492 million loss in the same quarter a year ago, which was the result of a $6.2 billion "goodwill impairment charge" related to its 2007 acquisition of aQuantive. Microsoft's performance fell short of expectations, causing shares of the Redmond company to fall nearly 11 percent. "While our fourth quarter results were impacted by the decline in the PC market, we continue to see strong demand for our enterprise and cloud offerings, resulting in a record unearned revenue balance this quarter. We also saw increasing consumer demand for services like Office 365, Outlook.com, Skype, and Xbox Live," said Amy Hood, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "While we have work ahead of us, we are making the focused investments needed to deliver on long-term growth opportunities like cloud services." Ballmer recently announced a major restructuring of Microsoft, and while the early signs are less than positive, we'll need at least another quarter before being able to offer up any kind of meaningful analysis on the changes he implemented. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Intel Missed the Boat on Mobile, Sees 29 Percent Profit Drop Posted: 19 Jul 2013 08:35 AM PDT Lower cost Atom tablets part of Intel's turnaround strategy Intel earlier this week announced its second quarter financial results, revealing that it raked in $12.8 billion in revenue, operating income of $2.7 billion, and net income of $2.0 billion, the latter of which is down 29 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. Even with the decline, a $2 billion quarterly profit is hardly anything to sneeze at, and several companies would love to trade positions with the Santa Clara chip maker. However, investors can't be thrilled that Intel was slow to react to the mobile market. Intel chief Brian Krzanich admitted as much during a conference call, saying his company was "slow to respond to the ultramobile PC trends," adding that "we've not always lived up to the standards we've set for ourselves," The New York Times reports. Krzanich indicated that Intel was caught off-guard by the somewhat sudden decline in the traditional PC market as buyers shifted to mobile devices like tablets. To right the ship and catch up with the competition, Krzanich said lower priced chips and devices are on the horizon. He sees upcoming convertible/hybrid devices selling for as low as $400 with Atom inside, touchscreen laptops going for $300, and Atom-based tablets selling for $150-$200. "Looking ahead, the market will continue buying a wide range of computing products," Krzancih said in a statement. "Intel Atom and Core processors and increased SOC integration will be Intel's future. We will leave no computing opportunity untapped. To embrace these opportunities, I've made it Intel's highest priority to create the best products for the fast growing ultramobile market segment." Intel's PC Client Group recorded $8.1 billion in revenue, up 1.4 percent sequentially and down 7.5 percent year-over-year. It's Data Center Group raked in $2.7 billion, a jump of 6.1 percent versus last quarter and flat year-over-year. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Nvidia Settles Canadian Class Action Lawsuit for $1.8 MIllion Posted: 19 Jul 2013 07:55 AM PDT GPU maker still paying the price for defective chips Several years ago, there was a big brouhaha over Nvidia's notebook GPUs failing at an "abnormal rate" due to a manufacturing defect. Nvidia would go on to settle a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. for $2 million, and it looks as though it will spend a similar amount to settle another suit brought on behalf of Canadians who also purchased systems equipped with a faulty GPU. It's not clear if the current class-action suit is related to those same GPUs, though according to Yahoo News, Nvidia has agreed to pay CAD $1.9 million (around USD $1.8 million) to settle for the benefit of those who purchased an "Affected Computer" experience a "Qualifying Symptom." There are five symptoms that qualify: Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen No video on the screen even when the computer is on Random characters, lines, or garbled images on the computer screen Intermittent video issues Failure to detect wireless adapter or wireless networks Those who qualify will receive a cash payment based on a number of factors, including the severity of the symptom(s), loss of use of the affected PC, age of the PC, out-of-pocket repairs, and other relevant factors. A court still has to approve the settlement. There's a hearing scheduled for mid-September. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified, G.Skill 16GB DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM, and More! Posted: 19 Jul 2013 05:13 AM PDT Top Deal: The mission, if you choose to accept it, is to equip your machine with a power graphics card and decimate the competitions. Details are, quite literally, Classified. As in, today's top deal is for EVGA's GeForce GTX 680 Classified 4GB video card for $510 with free shipping (normally $610 - additional $30 mail-in-rebate). We'd tell you more, but then we'd have to hug you. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Other Deals: Western Digital WD VelociRaptor 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive for $120 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code [EMCXNWM26]) G.Skill 16GB (2 x 8G) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 Laptop Memory for $113 with free shipping (normally $125 - use coupon code [EMCXNWM33]) Logitech Black 7 Function Keys RF Wireless Ergonomic Desktop for $70 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code [EMCXNWM44]) Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz 2GB 256-bit PCI Express Video Card for $185 with free shipping (normally $240 - additional $15 mail-in-rebate)

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