General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


60 E3 2013 Pictures

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 02:40 PM PDT

E3 booth babes, booth tours, and more!

We had the chance to check out E3 2013 in Los Angeles, California last week. As expected, the gaming/tech event was a big one with Microsoft and Sony showing off their new Xbox One and PS4 consoles. But it wasn't all about the next-generation consoles. PC vendors such as Nvidia, AMD, Alienware, and Razer were at the expo showing off their latest gaming toys and there were a bunch of PC-exclusive titles at the event.

In our E3 2013 picture gallery below, we'll provide a look at some of this hottest tech, booth babes, and much more. What did you think was the coolest thing at the show this year? Let us know in the comments!

Newegg Daily Deals: All Networking Gear Edition!

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 12:22 PM PDT

D-Link Cloud RouterNewegg

Top Deal:

Need a new router or switch? Boy, have you come to the right place. Today's batch of deals is loaded with networking gear, including our top deal for a D-Link Cloud Router 2000 (DIR-826L) Wireless N600 Dual Band USB Shareport for $48 with free shipping (normally $110 - use coupon code EMCXPWT39; additional $10 mail-in-rebate). Manage your home network from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!

Other Deals:

Asus GX-D1081 8-Port Power-Saving Gigabit Switch 10/100/1000Mbps 1MB Buffer Memory for $22 with free shipping (normally $45 - use coupon code:[EMCXPWT37])

Buffalo AirStation HighPower N300 Gigabit Wireless Router - WZR-300HP for $46 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupone code:[EMCXPWT38])

Trendnet TEW-680MB N900 Dual Band Wireless Media Bridge for $60 with free shipping (normally $170 - use coupon code:[EMCXPWT42])

Zyxel GS1100-24 10/100/1000Mbps 24-port Enterprise LAN Switch for $80 with free shipping (normally $250 - use coupon code:[EMCXPWT84])

It's Official: China Owns the Supercomputing Crown

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:24 AM PDT

Tianhe-2We saw this coming.

Earlier this month we said that China was poised to sit atop the supercomputing summit with its Tianhe-2, a system built by the Chinese National University of Defense Technology (NUDT). Armed with over 3 million physical processing cores and 1 petabyte of memory, there was no way this thing wouldn't shoot right to the top, and so it did, taking pole position on the TOP500 chart.

Tianhe-2 became the world's fastest supercomputer with a performance metric of 33.86 petaflop per second on the Linkpack benchmark, according to the 41st edition of the twice-yearly TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers. What's more, Tianhe-2's ascent to the top came far earlier than expected.

"The surprise appearance of Tianhe-2, two years ahead of the expected deployment, marks China's first return to the No. 1 position since November 2010, when Tianhe-1A was the top system," TOP500 said. "Tianhe-2 has 16,000 nodes, each with two Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors for a combined total of 3,120,000 computing cores."

It's an incredible machine equipped with 32,000 Xeon processors and 48,000 Xeon Phi accelerator processors. The machine also has 12.4 petabytes of storage and consumes 17.8MW of power. It's cooled by a closed air cooling system.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Were Xbox One E3 Demos Powered by Windows 7 and Nvidia Graphics?

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 08:36 AM PDT

Xbox One on Windows 7Things that make you go hmmm.

Microsoft made a splash at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) last week by showing off a number of fantastic looking games for its upcoming Xbox One console. It was hard not to get excited by some of the titles, including Dead Rising 3 and Forza Motorsport 5, but as it turns out, the game demos we saw might have actually been running on Hewlett-Packard PCs running Windows 7.

Before we go any further, let's be clear that it's not all that unusual for game developers to use PC hardware to show off future titles, so that in and of itself isn't reason to rake Microsoft over the coals. However, it's at least a little bit interesting that these tech demos were being run on Windows 7 rather than Windows 8, which the Xbox One's OS is partly based on.

Secondly, it was discovered that the HP PCs were equipped with Nvidia GeForce GTX 700 Series graphics cards. Given the risk of exposure, it would have made more sense to use machines running AMD graphics cards since the GPU in the Xbox One is an AMD part that's comparable to a mid-range Radeon HD 7790.

All of this came to light when Julian Rignail from U.S. Gamers posted to Twitter a message saying, "I just played an Xbox One game using an Xbox One controller that crashed... to a Windows 7, Hewlett Packard-branded desktop. Magic!" The Internet demanded pics, and lo and behold, there are a couple shots of Windows 7 PCs tucked inside Xbox One cabinets.

Again, using PCs to show off console games isn't unusual, but the choice of OS and GPU certainly raise an inquisitive eyebrow. And according to Cinema Blend, which first broke the story, developers have confirmed that PlayStation 4 game demos shown off at E3 were running on PS4 Dev kits, not PC hardware.

File this under "T" for "Things that make you go hmmm."

Update 12:30 PM

Or maybe not. A developer for Twisted Pixel's LocoCycle claims that his game was the only one of the bunch running on a PC, and that the choice of hardware was "solely [Twisted Pixel's] decision," not Microsoft's. That would certainly explain a few things, and hopefully blunt those pitchforks and douse the torches.

Kudos to "dracx619" for the update in our comments section.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Samsung Starts Mass Producing World's First PCI-Express SSDs for Skinny Laptops

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 05:38 AM PDT

Samsung XP941Slim design, big performance.

Samsung has ramped up production of what it claims is the industry's first PCI-Express solid state drive (SSD) for next generation ultra-slim notebooks. Dubbed XP941, these new drives come in the new M.2 form factor and measure just 80mm by 20mm. They weigh a scant 6g, which is about 9 times less than a standard 2.5-inch SSD, Samsung says. Though they're small and light, these drives kick out some heavy-hitting performance numbers.

Sequential read performance is as high as 1,400MB/s. To put that into perspective, Samsung says its new drive can read 500GB of data or 100 HD movies as large as 5GB in just 6 minutes, or 10 HD movies at 5GB in 36 seconds. A typical hard drive would need 40 minutes to perform the same task.

"With the Samsung XP941, we have become the first to provide the highest performance PCIe SSD to global PC makers so that they can launch leading-edge ultra-slim notebook PCs this year," said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung plans to continue timely delivery of the most advanced PCIe SSD solutions with higher density and performance, and support global IT companies providing an extremely robust computing environment to consumers."

While the drives are just now going into mass production, Samsung said it's been supplying the parts to major notebook players with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB capacity SSDs since earlier this quarter. New and thinner laptops that use these drives should start showing up soon.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Patriot Memory and Meteor Tag Team Hawken Themed Rage XT USB 3.0 Thumb Drive

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 05:14 AM PDT

Patriot Supersonic Rage XTFree in-game bonus with purchase.

Patriot Memory on Monday announced that it's teamed up with Meteor Entertainment to launch a "one-of-a-kind" SuperSonice Rage XT promotional bundle with Meteor's online mech action game, Hawken. The bundle pairs Patriot's 64GB USB 3.0 Supersonic Rage XT NAND flash memory drive with a game changing 7-day Hawken Double XP Boost, allowing gamers to level up faster in the multiplayer mech title.

Hawken is a free-to-play first person shooter built around Unreal Engine 3. It uses a freemium model, though up until June 25, gamers can test drive the Scout and Rocketeer mechs at no cost.

As for the flash drive, the Supersonic Rage XT sports an "extra tough" rubberized housing. It's rated to read data at up to 180MB/s and write at up to 50MB/s when plugged into a USB 3.0 port. It's available in bundled form exclusively at Newegg for $60.

In semi-related news, Patriot recently launched new Intel Extreme Masters Limited Edition DDR3 memory. Built for gamers and intended for 2nd and 3rd Generation Intel core processors, the Limited Edition RAM is certified for Intel XMP 1.3 delivering frequencies of 1600MHz, 1866MHz, and 2133MHz. It's available in dual- and quad-channel kits in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

MMO Updates

MMO Updates


FFXIV: A Realm Reborn screenshot video montage shows off beta

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , , , , ,

FFXIV A Realm Reborn screenshot video montage shows off beta
Although sharing sound, music, and video from the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta is still prohibited, testers' thoughts and screenshots from phase three are now allowed. Taking advantage of that partial NDA lift, one creative beta participant has put together a montage of stills in video form to show off the upcoming reboot of the game. Wondering if you can glean what's going on from the screenshots alone? Don't worry -- he also added commentary to explain each shot.

The nearly 33-minute montage includes character creation (all races have two genders to select from), the public quests (Fates), menus and the UI, combat, and a look at the updated graphics. Get a glimpse of the game for yourself in the video after the break.

[Thanks to Chris for the tip!]

Continue reading FFXIV: A Realm Reborn screenshot video montage shows off beta

MassivelyFFXIV: A Realm Reborn screenshot video montage shows off beta originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wurm Online's summer update tweaks graphics, UI, and more

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

Wurm Online's summer update tweaks graphics, UI, and more
Ready for Wurm Online's summer update? It happens tomorrow, June 18th, and it's all about enhancing client performance in the long-running browser-based sandbox. Also on tap are new housing extensions, fence types, mystical sorcery powers, and overhauls of the foraging and botanising system.

The UI and the graphics are getting an overhaul, too, thanks to new creature models, animations, inventory grouping and more. So, yeah, it's a pretty substantial patch. You can read more about it at Wurm's official blog and be sure to check out our recent revisit of the classic sandbox game.

MassivelyWurm Online's summer update tweaks graphics, UI, and more originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Stream Team: Caveman edition, June 17 - 23, 2013

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:00 AM PDT

Filed under: , , ,

The Stream Team  Caveman edition, June 17  23, 2013
With all the talk about bashing stuff lately, I can't help but envision a certain prehistoric child going around whacking everything with a club, "Bam! Bam! Bam!" Of course, who can blame the little tyke? There are definitely times in game that we've all wanted to swing a cudgel or two, be it a nerf design or a just-quitcher-whining bat.

Destructive tendencies can even be harbored in the gentle hearts of your favorite Stream Team hosts. A number of you can surely attest to that. Need proof? Just watch Massively TV and see for yourself. Warning: You may start to feel sympathy for those poor mobs...

Continue reading The Stream Team: Caveman edition, June 17 - 23, 2013

MassivelyThe Stream Team: Caveman edition, June 17 - 23, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

    The Daily Grind: How do you feel about the console MMO trend?

    Posted: 17 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT

    Filed under: , ,

    The Daily Grind
    So the big E3 MMO news centered on consoles this year, with existing titles like DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 as well as upcoming projects like The Elder Scrolls Online and Final Fantasy XIV's reboot unveiling their plans for extensive console ports.

    For today's Daily Grind, we're interested to know what you think about the increased consolization of the MMO market. Do you think it's a good thing, or do you think it will ultimately water down what have traditionally been complex PC games? Are you planning to play any of the aforementioned titles on a console? How do you feel about the current console MMO trend?

    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: How do you feel about the console MMO trend? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments

      MMO Week in Review: E3 didn't suck

      Posted: 16 Jun 2013 06:00 PM PDT

      Filed under: , , ,

      Snapshot taken by Jasmine Hruschak
      At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post.

      Color us surprised: What we expected to be another hum-drum E3 for the MMO industry was actually packed with genuine reveals and even new title announcements. Massively's away team returned home loaded down with interviews and hands-on with big-budget MMOs like WildStar, huge console-port news for several games including The Elder Scrolls Online, and a peek at upcoming IP-driven titles like Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade.

      Join us after the break for a roundup of all our E3 coverage as well as a few other top MMO stories from the past week.

      Continue reading MMO Week in Review: E3 didn't suck

      MassivelyMMO Week in Review: E3 didn't suck originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

      Permalink | Email this | Comments

        EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey

        Posted: 16 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT

        Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , ,

        EVE Evolved Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey
        Tech 1 ships in EVE Online used to be arranged in tiers that determined the cost and power of the ship and what level of the appropriate skill was required to fly it. This gave a sense of progression back in 2004 when all we had was frigates, cruisers, and battleships, but developers have since filled in the gaps between ship classes with destroyers, battlecruisers, strategic cruisers, and tech 2 ships of all shapes and sizes. In a recent game design initiative, CCP has been removing the tiers from within each tech 1 ship class by buffing the lower-tier ships up to the same rough power level as the largest ship in its class.

        The recent Odyssey expansion saw the humble battleship buffed beyond all recognition. The Megathron, Raven, Tempest, and Apocalypse all became extreme damage-dealing powerhouses, but the Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, and Armageddon were buffed the most. Each of them can now fit several monster setups, dealing upward of 1,000 damage per second or completely disabling enemy ships with energy neutralisers and electronic warfare. The build costs of these tier one battleships were more than doubled in the expansion, but prices are only slowly rising due to the existing stock on the market. That makes the tier one battleships incredibly cost-effective PvP powerhouses at the moment, and players are beginning to take advantage of it.

        In this week's EVE Evolved, I experiment with PvP setups for the newly revamped Typhoon, Armageddon, Scorpion, and Dominix battleships.

        Continue reading EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey

        MassivelyEVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

        Permalink | Email this | Comments

          Stick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's E3 absence

          Posted: 16 Jun 2013 12:00 PM PDT

          Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

          Stick and Rudder - On Star Citizen's E3 absence
          So E3 happened this past week. If you're a Massively regular, you're no doubt aware of that since we spammed up our front page and your RSS feed with gobs of hands-on coverage including everything from racing games to The Elder Scrolls Online.

          One thing we didn't cover was Star Citizen, because thankfully, Cloud Imperium's upcoming space sim sandbox didn't bother with an official E3 presence.

          Continue reading Stick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's E3 absence

          MassivelyStick and Rudder: On Star Citizen's E3 absence originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

          Permalink | Email this | Comments

            MMORPG News

            MMORPG News


            The Repopulation: Site Updates Spotlight Harvesting, Resources & More

            Posted: 17 Jun 2013 04:35 AM PDT

            Site Updates Spotlight Harvesting, Resources & More

            The Repopulation's site has been updated with a trio of articles to shine the spotlight on what the team has been working on through the month of May, resource extraction and general harvesting.

            MMOGaming News

            MMOGaming News


            WoW Patch 5.4 World Changes

            Posted:

            WoW Patch 5.4 World Changes


            Garrosh, Warchief of the True Horde hasn't left the world of Azeroth unnoticed. Garrosh still resides in Orgrimmar, but there have been some fundamental changes made to the Horde capital city.

            Continue reading WoW Patch 5.4 World Changes.

            GM Behavior and You

            Posted:

            GM Behavior and You


            I have been playing MMORPGS for some time. Perhaps you have as well, or you are new in the MMORPG community. Either way, you have or you will run into the social aspect of this interesting world.

            Continue reading GM Behavior and You.

            E3 2013: Black Gold Hands on Impressions

            Posted:

            E3 2013: Black Gold Hands on Impressions


            Black Gold is the second game from Chinese developer Snail Games. In this Action MMO players join one of two factions, either the Steam or the Nature Mystics. Each faction is seeking a resource known as the Black Gold, which they use for their own purposes.

            Dice Venture [FIRST LOOK]

            Posted:

            Dice Venture [FIRST LOOK]


            Today I will be making a first look on Dice Venture. It is a casual board game with chat features published by Netmarble, the publisher of Arcane Saga and Uncharted Waters Online. It's a pretty much Monopoly based game with only some features changed (Prison = Desert Island, different cities and buildings, etc.)

            Continue reading Dice Venture [FIRST LOOK].

            Dragon Nest New Class Assassin: Official Video and Images

            Posted:

            Dragon Nest New Class Assassin: Official Video and Images


            Finally the first image of the new class, assassin has been released, in a JDN event: Dragon Nest Fan Day 2013 in Japan.

            The Consumer Version of Google Glass Should Be Priced Lower, Much Lower

            Posted:

            The Consumer Version of Google Glass Should Be Priced Lower, Much Lower


            If you were planning to buy a pair of Google Glass, but the $1,500 price tag was just too much for you to swallow, fear not, because it looks as if Google Glass will be released to consumers at a much lower price.

            E3 Review: Age of Wushu Martial Arts Showdown

            Posted:

            E3 Review: Age of Wushu Martial Arts Showdown


            E3 2013 has come to an end! Following the announcements and updates of the game, there was always a bit of time for fun at the Snail Games booth. Check out the pictures below to see both audience members and the beautiful cosplay girls showing off a few of their vicious martial arts moves!

            Exclusive Peek Into Aion 4.0's New Zones

            Posted:

            Exclusive Peek Into Aion 4.0's New Zones


            Are you one of those who are looking forward to taking off into Aion new reals? MJ Guthrie from massively. Joystiq.com just shared a video and several screenshots showing off all three new zones in Aion 4.0. Excepting them, you can know more about the story behind these new areas. Let's check it out!

            WCG 2013 Grand Final: LoL, WoT, FIFA 14 Selected

            Posted:

            WCG 2013 Grand Final: LoL, WoT, FIFA 14 Selected


            World Cyber Games, organizer of the premier global game competition and festival, has announced the addition of five game titles to the WCG 2013 Grand Final, one of those being Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV.

            EA Unveiled FIFA 14 Official E3 Trailer

            Posted:

            EA Unveiled FIFA 14 Official E3 Trailer


            E3 offers game lovers a stage to know about all kinds of games, here is the news of the classic sports game -- FIFA 14 from EA sports. A new FIFA 14 official gameplay trailer for Xbox One and PS4 is released, Lionel Messi, Pique, and their Barcelona teammates describe the perfect goal, supported by exclusive gameplay for FIFA 14.

            New Korean Action MMO Hero Warz Kikcs off CBT 1 on Jun 21

            Posted:

            New Korean Action MMO Hero Warz Kikcs off CBT 1 on Jun 21


            Developed by the same developer of Dungeon Fighter Online and Cyphers, the Diablo style "next gen" game Hero Warz will kick off its first closed beta test in Korea on June 21 till June 30. A new game trailer is released for the beta test.

            Hands on with the fully reloaded Modern Combat 5

            Posted:

            Hands on with the fully reloaded Modern Combat 5


            You have to hand it to Gameloft. It knows how to run its key franchises. Contemporary military shooter franchise Modern Combat is now on an annual refresh; like Activision's approach with Call of Duty it has multiple development teams.

            RIFT: Doubling Server Capacity to Meet Player Demand

            Posted:

            RIFT: Doubling Server Capacity to Meet Player Demand


            It's safe to say that at least in the short term, RIFT's conversion to the free-to-play model is a major success as players are hitting hour long login queues on some of the heavily populated servers.

            MMOsite 8th Anniversary Carnival

            Posted:

            MMOsite 8th Anniversary Carnival


            MMOsite will be turning 8 this year on June 17. We've had a fantastic journey for nearly a decade, but we couldn't have done it without each and every one of you.

            World of Tanks Invite Code Giveaway Event

            Posted:

            World of Tanks Invite Code Giveaway Event


            To celebrate MMOsite 8th anniversary,Wargaming have teamed up with MMOsite to give away the invite codes.

            TERA: Valkyon Outfitters Web Store Now Online

            Posted:

            TERA: Valkyon Outfitters Web Store Now Online


            The TERA in-game store is now available on the web called the Valkyon Outfitters. Players will be able to purchase all of the same items, but from the comfort of their browser without having to log into the game.

            GunZ 2: The Second Duel Has Been Greenlit on Steam

            Posted:

            GunZ 2: The Second Duel Has Been Greenlit on Steam


            The popular Korean action shooting MMO GunZ 2: The Second Duel has finally been greenlit from Steam, it means that you are able to experience the stunning game soon! GunZ 2 provides a whole new user experience that players have never seen from other games.

            'Kingdom Rush: Frontiers' Review: An Excellent Exercise In Restraint

            Posted:

            'Kingdom Rush: Frontiers' Review: An Excellent Exercise In Restraint


            When it comes to playing sequels to games that a nearly flawless the first round, my preference is for a follow-up that looks to iteratively improve upon on its predecessors pitfalls without messing too much with its successful formula.

            E3 2013 Sees Record Attendance, E3 2014 Dated

            Posted:

            E3 2013 Sees Record Attendance, E3 2014 Dated


            The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced that 48,200 video game industry members attended this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

            Total Pageviews

            statcounter

            View My Stats