Steve Ballmer and company have some big decisions to make.
It was bit odd that Microsoft chose not to disclose in its most recent financial report exactly how many Windows 8 licenses it sold, though we now know the number is north of 100 million. Tami Reller, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer, revealed the figure in a Q&A session that was posted on Microsoft's Windows blog, adding that the figure takes into account Windows 8 licenses that ship on new tablet and traditional PCs, as well as upgrades to the touch-friendly OS.
"This is up from the 60 million license number we provided in January. We've also seen the number of certified devices for Windows 8 and Window RT grow to 2,400 devices, and we're seeing more and more touch devices in the mix," Reller said. "As we talked about in our last Q&A, Windows 8 is a big, ambitious change. While we realize that change takes time, we feel good about the progress since launch, including what we've been able to accomplish with the ecosystem and customer reaction to the new PCs and tablets that are available now or will soon come to market."
Reller also touched on Windows Blue, the codename for an update that will be available later this year. She said that Blue represents an opportunity for Microsoft to respond to customer feedback, though stopped short of saying the coveted Start button would make a triumphant return.
Regardless of what Microsoft decides to do with the Start button, you have to wonder if the company would be better served by admitting failure and going in a different direction before it's perhaps too late. Reller, who apparently has been getting around the interview circuit, spoke with the Financial Times and admitted that Windows 8's "learning curve is definitely real." More than that, at least one analyst likened the current state of Windows to that of Coca-Cola's New Coke nearly three decades ago.
"This is like New Coke, going on for seven months -- only Coke listened better," Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering, told FT.
It only took Coke three months to drop its new formula after consumers reacted negatively, and one could argue that Microsoft should do the same with Windows. Just as Coke tried to reinvent the flavor of its soda, Microsoft drastically changed the flavor of Windows to suit the trend towards tablets and mobile, but iOS and Android slates still rule the day.
What's your opinion on all this? Should Microsoft admit failure and reverse course, or ride it out knowing that consumers sometimes reactive negatively to change in the beginning?
TiVo's Desktop platform is about to switch to a paid pricing model.
Ruh roh Shaggy, time is quickly running out to grab the free version of TiVo's Desktop software for PC. Starting June 5, 2013, the free version will no longer be available to download, so if you want to listen to music and view photos on your TV, or transfer shows from your TiVo DVR to your PC -- all of which the free Desktop software allows -- you'll have to download the software before the deadline. Even then you could still end up having to pay a subscription, depending on your operating system.
After June 5th, you'll still be able to use the free software, provided you're running a compatible OS earlier than Windows 8. Those who plan to use their Windows 8 box will have to upgrade to TiVo Desktop Plus for $16, which is $9 less than it used to be.
"TiVo Desktop Plus works with Microsoft Windows 8 and gives you all of the same features of the regular TiVo Desktop software for the PC. Plus it allows you to transfer shows to your portable devices and transfer web videos to your TiVo DVR," TiVo explains on its FAQ page.
For the full experience that TiVo Desktop has to offer, you'll need at least a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 5GB of disk space plus an additional 5GB for ever every of HD programs you transfer.
Ultrabooks and tablets are fine for what they're intended to do, but if you want to play a game like Crysis 3 at a high resolution, good luck trying to so on Integrated graphics. Gaming notebooks, while bulky, flex significantly more pixel pushing power, and that's especially true of MSI's new GX70 laptop, a system the company claims is "officially recommended for Crysis 3." MSI's marketing spin aside, this thing wields a pretty powerful Radeon HD 8970M GPU.
MSI also tapped AMD for central processing chores, which is handled by an A10-5750M quad-core APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) clocked at 2.5GHz to 3.5GHz. It's not Ivy Bridge, but respectable nonetheless, especially when paired with the high-end discrete graphics.
Other hardware features and options include up to 32GB of DDR3L-1600 memory (two DIMM slots), 128GB solid state drive (RAID 0) paired with either a 500GB or 750GB hard drive (7200 RPM), up to a Blu-ray writer for optical duties, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, SD card reader, HD webcam, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Killer Gaming LAN, HDMI 1.4 output, DisplayPort, D-Sub, 9-cell battery, and Windows 8. It also has a full color backlit LED keyboard built by SteelSeries.
When's the last time you saw "Vaio" and "affordable" in the same sentence?
Sony's Vaio line doesn't have a reputation for being friendly to budgets, but that's about to change with the introduction of new Vaio Fit laptops and Ultrabooks. Pricing starts at $549, which isn't exactly netbook territory but is a far cry from being expensive for a notebook. For that kind of dough, Sony will sell you a Fit E 14E model, which is a 14-inch laptop that's thin, light, and made of aluminum.
If you need something a little bigger, there's a 15-inch variant (Fit E 15E) that starts at $579. Both are available in a few different color options, including black, pink, and white, and both are outfitted with 3rd Generation Intel Core processor options.
There are also non-E models to choose from, with the 14-inch Fit boasting a 1600x900 resolution and the 15-inch Fit featuring a Full HD 1080p display (1920x1080). Nvidia graphics are optional, as are hybrid hard drive and straight-up solid state drive storage. Pricing for the Fit 14 and 15 start at $649 and $699, respectively.
Besides a certain brand of cereal, do you know what else can go snap, crackle, and pop? A generic power supply built from shoddy parts, that's what. The PSU is the unsung hero of PC builds, and if you're in need of a new one, take a look at today's top deal. It's for an OCZ ZT Series 750W Modular Power Supply for $77 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code:[EMCXRXT53]; additional $17 mail-in-rebate). It's the highest wattage available in the ZT Series, is 80 Plus Bronze certified, and utilizes a single +12V rail design. It's also fully modular.
Seagate, one of the largest suppliers of hard drives in the world, announced on Tuesday a new portfolio of flash-based storage solutions. Among the portfolio of products is a new Seagate 600 Series solid state drive, the company's first client-based SSD and one that's available in multiple z-heights, including an industry first 5mm-high drive that can squeeze into ultra-thin devices and laptops alike.
The 600 Series comes in 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB flavors, all of which use multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory and sport a 6Gbps interface. Performance varies by capacity and breaks down as follows:
120GB: 500+MB/s read, 300+MB/s write, up to 80,000 IOPS read, up to 60,000 IOPS write
240GB: 500+MB/s read, 400+MB/s write, up to 80,000 IOPS read, up to 70,000 IOPS write
480GB: 500+MB/s read, 400+MB/s write, up to 80,000 IOPS read, up to 70,000 IOPS write
Seagate didn't mention the controller it's using, but a peek at some reviews that have popped up on the web indicate it's based on Link A Media Device's LM87800 controller, the same as found in Corsair's Neutron and Neutron GTX SSDs.
The storage maker also unveiled a 600 Pro SSD Series billed as a low power server and storage solution that's especially well suited for cloud system builders, hyperscale data centers, content deliver networks, cloud service providers, and virtualized environments. It only uses 2.8W of power (typical).
Finally, Seagate announced a 1200 SSD Series. These drives feature dual-port 12Gbps SAS connectors and are twice as fast as previous generation drives. These are available in capacities up to 800GB in either a 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch form factor.
This Post has been published under “Guest Posts“ category in Gameforumer.com Post Autor: Claudia 8 Best Addictive Android Tablet Games Android tablets are the most preferred devices these days that provides ample of features for your convenience. As these are portable, so you can easily carry them whenever you need … Continue reading →
After my so-so review of The Burning Crusade's score a few months ago, I'm sure a few of you thought I was barking mad. World of Warcraft is well-known for great orchestra pieces, but I stick by saying that most of the brilliant stuff stayed the heck away from Outland. Fortunately, the sound quality got a lot better when we went up north for Wrath of the Lich King in 2008.
The score was composed and arranged by Russell Brower, Derek Duke, Matt Uelmen, Neal Acree, and Glenn Stafford. As to be expected by that name sandwich, the score features a lot of variety. While there are epic chants and the like that are to be expected from WoW, there's also a lonely, savage feel to the music that represents these far-off lands. There's also a lot of blowing wind that segues between tracks if you listen to the album straight through, and if that doesn't make you envision a snow-blasted landscape, I don't know what would.
The liner notes say that "this is the music of ice and despair, a dirge and a call to arms." I couldn't put it better myself. Let's dive into my picks for the best tracks from this score, shall we?
May has just gotten started and already ArenaNet has another content update scheduled for Guild Wars 2. Called The Secret of Southsun, this May 14th update comes right on the heels of the final installment of Flame and Frost and extends the episodic content that began with that first series. This time, the adventures focus on troubles brewing on the tropical island of Southsun Cove where players must quell the rising violence and discover the secret that hides there.
The Secret of Southsun also brings an end to culling in the rest of the world (it was previously only disabled in World vs. World) and introduces two improvements to WvW -- traps and an improved award system. Traps will remove supply from enemies and players will gain reward for a wider range of activities in the Mists, such as destroying siege weapons, escort missions, and repairing walls. Players can also try their hand at a new crab toss mini-game.
On top of the update annoucnement, ArenaNet has recently posted additional lore expanding the story of Rox, the Charr. Read on to see where her latest adventures lead.
[Update: It seems ArenaNet let some of this info out before they intended to, as detailed in this forum post. So the WvW changes won't be in just yet.]
From tanks to planes and now ships, Wargaming is definitely known for the exquisite detail of its WWII-period vehicles. And today the company released new screenshots and renderings showing off that detail in the battleships of the upcoming naval MMO World of Warships.
While the screenshots show a variety of vessels, the renderings draw attention to the USS New Mexico, a battleship that served the US Navy for decades and was a force to be reckoned with during World War II. Get a glimpse of some of the giant warships setting sail in WoWS in the gallery below.
Crossovers are cool, in this humble author's opinion. They not only keep comics spicy and interesting but have offered MMO studios the opportunity to join the hands of two games together in holy geekamony. As Massively Speaking makes a triumphant return this week, we talk about transMMO synergy, Camelot victorious, Flame and Frost, and more.
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Hitting 51 on my Scoundrel in Star Wars: The Old Republic meant getting what is probably the greatest ability ever, the ability to quickly roll forward. I absolutely love any sort of quick movement ability like that, especially rolls -- anything that lets me dart around the battlefield without being directly tied to combat. Being able to do so in Guild Wars 2 was one of my favorite parts of the game as a whole.
We've all got certain abilities that we just like making use of in MMOs. Sometimes they're not really beneficial to our builds, and sometimes they're not even all that useful, but darn it they're just plain fun to trigger. So what abilities do you find the most fun to use? Silly cosmetic tricks? Certain impressive storms of particle effects? Or are you just fond of abilities that work well from a mechanical standpoint with no concern for silly elements?
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!
As the clock ticks down to the June release of Aion's big 4.0 update, NCsoft is ramping up the event machine. First up: an all-new RvR event dubbed the Guardian General Showdown. Running from May 8th, 2013, through May 22nd, 2013, this event will take place in Jotun Square in Silentera Canyon (necessitating that Daevas be level 50 and over to participate). There, each faction will fight to defeat the Guardian General of the enemy while simultaneously protecting its own.
The Guardian Generals -- Furious Dux for the Elyos and Furious Stalari for the Asmodians -- will spawn support mobs to join in the fray every 30 seconds. Once one general is defeated, both (and all accompanying mobs) will disappear and the 12-hour countdown to repawn begins. The league that contributes the most to defeating the other faction's Guardian General first will earn the Guardian General's Treasure Chest, which will provide every member with one mithril medal, one special manastone box (grade II), and one major ancient crown.
This week is packed with MOBA news as almost every major title released a new patch. Infinite Crisis introduced new champions Poison Ivy and Gaslight Catwoman and announced that the game's closed beta will start in two days' time on May 8th. SMITE introduced new Norse god Fenrir the Unbound, and League of Legends released a champion spotlight on new Ice Witch champion Lissandra. Dota 2 also released new hero Elder Titan based on the original DotA hero Tauren Chieftain, and Heroes of Newerth released several months of balance changes at once in its colossal version 3.1 update.
Star Citizen celebrated hitting $9 million US in its ongoing crowdfunding campaign, and to celebrate, developers controversially gave all current backers free lifetime insurance on their ships. The title's success has also spurred EVE Online developer CCP Games to show off its own virtual reality dogfighter called EVR that uses the upcoming Oculus Rift headset.
Diablo III's first anniversary is just over a week away; details of any celebrations haven't yet been released. Developers confirmed that the PlayStation 4 version will not be getting mouse and keyboard support and that the PC version won't be getting support for analog controllers. For those of you up for some oldschool dungeon-crawling, Diablo II also announced that its ladder will be reset on May 14th this week and all players will start the game fresh again.
In just over two weeks, Star Trek Online's first expansion, The Legacy of Romulus, will be released. The developers at Cryptic Studios have been working furiously, and we'll all get to see the results of all of the hard work on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013.
I've had the opportunity to jump into the Star Trek Online's test server, Tribble, to catch a few glimpses of some of the character works in progress. With more material being pushed to Tribble on almost a daily basis, there should be lots to see in the next couple of weeks!
The official launch of DUST 514 is planned to go live later this month on -- what else -- May 14th. But judging by the latest CCP dev blog, players can expect a whole bevy of new features before the game launches thanks to an update by the name of Uprising which, as it happens, went live today. For starters, the skill system is getting totally revamped in order to "make it more intuitive and deep." CCP is also introducing three new dropsuits to the game, along with a new assault dropship. As if that weren't enough, the studio has "done major rebalancing on weapons, dropsuits, modules, and vehicles." In light of all of these changes, players will be receiving full skill respecs and market refunds. Uprising will also include the addition of the new starmap, new UI and graphics features, and adjustments to the faction warfare system.
But that's not all. When the game officially goes live on the 14th, CCP will introduce DUST's planetary conquest system, which means that DUST players will be able to take part in the great territorial control battles that will tie the game into EVE Online. The launch will also bring a few new weapons and a new game mode (Domination) and new maps over which players can vie for supremacy. If that's not enough to look forward to, then we're not sure what to tell you. For the full details on Uprising and DUST 514's official launch, go on and check out the full dev blog on the game's official site.
We're not kidding about that title. The latest set of answers for The Elder Scrolls Online's Ask Me Anything is full of lore. Spilling over with lore. Its lore cup runneth over. Do you want to know how old an elf has to be before he's actually old? 200-300 years is old. Want to know if there will be any Dragonborn running around a la Skyrim? Nope, and shouts are a thing of legend. It's all the lore you've wanted and were clearly not afraid to ask about.
There are some other answers in the mix as well. Players will have to guess about the abilities of their opponents in PvP to some extent, since the armor system will not allow you to guess at abilities by appearance. Players can also expect to find puzzles in the game rather than pure combat encounters, although no details are given. So while you'll find the most meat if you're looking for lore, even more system-focused players will find some relevant answers in the full set.
The downside of picking up some special items and drops in Star Wars: The Old Republic is that a lot of them are limited. Sure, you might be able to buy Revan's Mask, but you have to decide which of your characters will get to wear it. But that's changing in patch 2.1. A recent interview sheds more light on the upcoming Collections system, which will allow you to unlock items you have obtained on one character for repeated access.
Once you've obtained an item on a character, that item will be marked in your collection, allowing you to recreate that item for that character. Pay a few Cartel Coins and that item unlocks for every character in your account, including characters on other servers. The system will include mounts, armors, and pets, with more room for special promotions and the like in the future. So now you don't have to worry about who gets the special mount -- everyone can get the benefit.
If you are hanging your hopes and dreams on World of Darkness coming along to rescue you from the humdrum of life and your precious mortality, well... be prepared to settle in for a good long wait. Executive Producer Chris McDonough said in an interview that the title is still in pre-production and that players shouldn't expect to see it for a few years yet. However, CCP did show a few technical videos to the press to assure folks that the game is still alive.
McDonough did have good news to share, however. World of Darkness has a 70-person crew that is currently building the framework for the title, and according to the producer, they are "making phenomenal progress." The team plans to host the entire game on a single server where active combat and politicking between vampires will be the crux of the content.
"We're making sure this is a next-generation MMO. It's very focused on movement and motion and capturing what it's like to be a vampire," he said. "People ask about our high level designs for World of Darkness, and we've called this a vampire simulator. What's it like to be a vampire. Not a superhero, but a super-powered individual. The way the characters move around the city feels very vampiric."
One of The Secret World's most unique elements makes it ripe for producing immersive experiences, even outside of the game. Set in the modern real world (as opposed to the fantasy or even sci-fi themes prevalent in our MMOverse), a game can more easily blur the line between logged in and logged out. Players can, and do, generate ways to be a part of the game while still out and about in the real world. Today, I'm going to shine a spotlight on two of these projects that use very different methods to continue immersion beyond actual gameplay.
In January, one TSW fan ran an Alternate-Reality Game (ARG) for fellow players. Using Twitter, the forums, email, and even in-game characters, this player orchestrated a full-on investigation for participants to work through. And just recently, a new site offering to immerse players more deeply into the game through imagery was beta-launched. Both projects further player involvement in the world of the game -- the stories, the conspiracies, the histories, and the surroundings -- beyond the actual game. Both received support from Funcom in their efforts to expand the fans' experiences. And both are definitely worth checking out, so I sat down with the creators to get the scoop on the why, the how, and the what's next.
Neverwinter recently launched, and Cryptic's Forgotten Realms MMO brought with it a substantial player-generated content toolset called the Foundry. The Foundry isn't the first of its kind, however, or even the first of its name. Star Trek Online boasts an earlier version of Cryptic's Foundry, and other games going back a decade or more have also tried their hand at user content suites.
Assuming you've played around with a few of these tools, which one is your favorite? Vote after the cut!
Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
When I first picked up Forge on Steam back in the day (when it first hit the Greenlight service), I was hesitant to say the least. The last time I played any sort of game billed as a class-based PvP arena, it was FURY (does anyone else remember that?) and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic before that. To say those games were less-than-stellar would be a bit of an understatement. Despite my trepidation, I still snagged the game since it was fairly cheap and I felt there was at least a good deal of potential for it to finally do justice to the concept.
Unfortunately, Forge ended up being released far too early because of (as I understand it) a lack of funds, so many of the advertised features (such as a ranking system, matchmaking, and so forth) were conspicuously absent. So I figured I'd put it on the backburner and check it out once it had received some much-needed polish. So of course I was pretty pleased when Dark Vale Games announced that Forgehad been "re-released" with many of the missing features in tow, but my initial worries about the game were far from assuaged, and I figured it would just be FURY 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Sci-fi MMO EVE Online has seen phenomenal success recently, from breaking through the 500,000 subscriber boundary to successfully relaunching in China. The game officially turned ten years old today, and CCP celebrated the occasion with events and gifts for all current subcribers. The part-jovian Gnosis battlecruiser was given to every subscribed account at midnight last night and can be claimed before the end of the month, and players logging in yesterday or today will have found a whole slew of bonus gifts.
EVE smashed its previous Peak Concurrent User total during the festivities by a clear margin, replacing 2011's record of 63,170 with a new figure of 65,303 players logged in simultaneously. Part of the reason for the record was the huge number of player-run events taking place that evening, such as the ever-popular Flight of a Thousand Rifters. The event saw almost 2,500 players join together to take down player Marlona Sky's expensive supercarrier. Most of the participants were in small frigates like Rifters and ended up being easy prey when a nullsec sniper Loki fleet turned up. The event was nevertheless a massive success and huge fun for those involved. Continue reading for a gallery of screenshots from the event and video footage from player Scott Manley.
Come next week, denizens of Middle-earth will have five new areas to explore and adventure in; Lord of the Rings Online launches Update 11: Treachery of the White Hand on Monday, May 13th. The epic story will continue in Wildermore, the remote area of Eastern Rohan, where players will attempt to restore the region from the icy destruction brought by the stone giant Núrzum.
The journey will take players through Writhendowns, The Fallows, Whitshaws, High Knolls, and Balewood where they will face Uruk-hai threats, marauding Warbands, violent Huorns, and Wood-trolls in an effort to protect the people and fight against growing evil and corruption.
Update 11 also includes a mounted combat revamp, daily Silver Hobbit Presents for logging in, and improved VIP benefits including an improved bonus experience system. The Wildermore Quest pack is free to VIPs. Check out the adventure that awaits in the gallery below.
Steve Ballmer and company have some big decisions to make.
TiVo's Desktop platform is about to switch to a paid pricing model.
Yes, it can run Crysis 3.
When's the last time you saw "Vaio" and "affordable" in the same sentence?
Welcome to the consumer fray, Seagate.
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 
Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's 
