General Gaming Article |
- Blizzard Kills Titan MMO 7 Years Into Development
- Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i7 5820K Haswell-E, Crucial MX100 256GB SSD, and More!
- Thinking of Cancelling Your DK2 Order for Cresent Bay? Think Again
- Razer Launches DeathAdder Chroma Mouse with Upgraded Sensor and Multi-Color Lighting
- Survey Says: Desktops En Vogue Again
- Microsoft's Wireless Display Adapter Streams Miracast Devices to Your HDTV
- Roccat's Kave XTD Stereo Gaming Headset Wields 50mm Drivers
- Microsoft Makes It Easier for Eligible Students to Claim Office 365 for Free
| Blizzard Kills Titan MMO 7 Years Into Development Posted: 23 Sep 2014 02:35 PM PDT
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| Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i7 5820K Haswell-E, Crucial MX100 256GB SSD, and More! Posted: 23 Sep 2014 02:00 PM PDT
Top Deal: The MHz/GHz race is pretty much over, hence why none of us own 10GHz processors at this point. In lieu of faster clockspeeds, chip makers have taken to architectural tweaks and piling on more cores. Enter Haswell-E, the latest and greatest consumer-side CPU series Intel has to offer. Looking to make the jump? Then check out today's top deal for an Intel Core i7 5820K Haswell-E CPU for $375 with free shipping (normally $390 - use coupon code: [EMCPAHG33]). This is a 6-core (12 threads) chip clocked at 3.3GHz with 15MB of L3 cache. Bear in mind it's the only Haswell-E chip (so far) to have 28 PCIe 3.0 lanes instead of 40, though that's still a heck of a lot more than Haswell, which has 16. For more on Intel's newest architecture, see our Haswell-E review. Other Deals: Dell 27-inch 8ms (GTG) Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor IPS for $260 with free shipping (normally $300 - use coupon code: [EMCPAWA26]) Samsung 840 EVO 2.5-inch 1TB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive for $390 with free shipping (normally $460 - use coupon code: [EMCPAHG22]) Crucial MX100 2.5-inch 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive for $100 with free shipping (normally $110 - use coupon code: [EMCPAHG23]) G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory for $75 with free shipping (normally $83 - use coupon code: [EMCPAHG46]) |
| Thinking of Cancelling Your DK2 Order for Cresent Bay? Think Again Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:30 AM PDT Oculus confirms that Crescent Bay prototype isn't for saleIf you recently ordered an Oculus Rift development kit 2, but are still waiting for it to arrive, you might be wondering if Oculus will let you hold off on DK2 in favor of the newer, snazzier Crescent Bay prototype. At least, that's a situation we found ourselves in.
Rumor has it that Oculus' Crescent Bay prototype is running a much sharper 1440p-resolution display We placed our order for DK2 on August 13 and are still waiting for it to arrive, but after Oculus revealed that its Crescent Bay headset would feature 360-degree head tracking and a higher-resolution screen among other improvements at its Oculus Connect event this past weekend , we couldn't help but feel a mixture of excitement and dismay at the same time. "Our DK2 order we placed over a month ago hasn't arrived yet and they've already announced a new, better unit," we immediately thought to ourselves. Quick to react, we hastily emailed Oculus' customer support, "We were just wondering if it would be possible to hold out on receiving the DK2 in favor of the recently unveiled Crescent Bay prototype," we asked, adding, "We would be willing to pay any differences as need be. Let us know if this is possible." An Oculus support rep responded, "Unfortunately, the Crescent Bay prototype that was shown at Oculus Connect is not for sale. If you'd still like to cancel your order, I'd be happy to assist you. Simply reply to this email and I'll start the process." So there you have it, Oculus confirmed that it has no current plans to sell the Crescent Bay prototype, at least not in its current incarnation. The good news is that if you'd like to cancel your DK2 order, Oculus is making that process easy. Those that are eager to get their hands on the more advanced headset will have to wait a little longer. Hopefully it will be worth the wait. |
| Razer Launches DeathAdder Chroma Mouse with Upgraded Sensor and Multi-Color Lighting Posted: 23 Sep 2014 10:50 AM PDT
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| Survey Says: Desktops En Vogue Again Posted: 23 Sep 2014 10:01 AM PDT Satisfaction growing for desktop PCs among mainstream AmericansFor enthusiasts, this won't be news but after feasting on the empty calories of tablets and phones for years, mainstream consumers may finally have had enough and may be looking for something with a little more substance in their tech diets: the old-fashioned desktop PC. At least that's part of the conclusion of a new survey released today that gauges American "satisfaction" which says consumers may be turning to desktop PCs again. Desktops, in fact, now actually satisfy more Americans more than tablets and laptops, survey data shows. The annual survey was conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index out of Ann Arbor, Mich. And attempts to quantify overall satisfaction with consumer purchases of goods and services. "Contrary to most predictions, the PC may be on the verge of making a bit of a comeback: sales of desktops are no longer falling after years of significant decline. On the other hand, tablet sales growth appears to have slowed. As the early enthusiasm with tablets wears off, customer satisfaction dips (-1% to 80) and now trails slightly behind desktops (+3% to 81), although both lead laptops (-4% to 76) by a wide margin," the report says. Consumption of tablets and smartphones have been off the charts for years which had analysts and the media predicting the death of the PC. Apparently that ain't so.
"(Consumers have) got their mobile devices now," said, David Van Amburg, managing director of the ACSI, "Maybe we need to go back and replace this PC which is three, four or five years old." Van Amburg told Maximum PC the survey data indicates consumers are likely becoming jaded with the tablet and phone upgrades and have begun to buy desktop PCs again. Van Amburg said the last time they bought their PCs they may have been beige boxes but their new desktop PC purchases reflect the changes the PC has gone through in design, style, and performance. "According to customers, PC makers do a good job of creating reliable products that don't often crash and have good processor speeds (both 82 percent). Devices are easy to use (81 percent) with attractive features such as preloaded software or apps, memory, and data storage (80 percent)," the survey said. Big PC makers shouldn't take too much solace in the survey numbers though. The survey shows that from 2013 to 2014, Dell suffered a 4 percent drop in "satisfaction" with its products at 76 percent in the latest survey. HP took a bit hit going from 80 percent satisfaction to 74 percent. Toshiba, which recently threw in the towel on consumer PCs, also took a hit going from 78 percent to 75 percent. Even Apple lost ground going from an impressive 87 percent in 2013 to 84 percent. These numbers, however, reflect PCs, laptops and tablets bunched together. That, Van Amburg, says may explain Apple's drop in satisfaction. Rather than Mac users being less satisfied, he said it's likely the iPad and iPhone users who are dragging the scores down. That implies that even Apple fans are turning back to servicing the desktop as well. The satisfaction survey data is good news for smaller vendors such as Samsung, Asus and Lenovo. In its "all others" category, the ACSI survey said consumer satisfaction grew by 8 percent. It's not known if even smaller more customized PC builders helped move the needle or not.
As an industry, Van Amburg said overall, the personal computers (including tablets and laptops) rank as only medicore in satisfaction as they should be benchmarked against durable goods items. Televisions and video players, for example, get an 86 percent compared to the 78 percent for computers, laptops and tablets. On the bottom of the ACSI's list are: Internet Service Providers, subscription television, airlines, social media, and cell phone companies and the US Postal service. Credit unions and soft drinks rank far higher. For the personal computer category, the ASCI scientifically selected 3,000 consumers through phone and email during April, May and June.
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| Microsoft's Wireless Display Adapter Streams Miracast Devices to Your HDTV Posted: 23 Sep 2014 09:21 AM PDT
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| Roccat's Kave XTD Stereo Gaming Headset Wields 50mm Drivers Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:37 AM PDT
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| Microsoft Makes It Easier for Eligible Students to Claim Office 365 for Free Posted: 23 Sep 2014 08:08 AM PDT A price point students can affordAre you enrolled in college? If so, you have enough expenses already -- tuition, books, parking, beer, and so forth. The last thing you want to do is spend even more money on software, hence why your PC is filled with open source software. That's one option, though if you'd prefer to roll with Office, it might not cost you a dime. Microsoft just introduced a self-serve model for students and teachers that lets them claim Office 356 at no cost. "It was just about a year ago we announced Student Advantage, a benefit that allows eligible students to get Office 365 from their school for free. One drawback to Student Advantage—the onus has been on the school to initiate the service, create an account and order the Office 365 license on behalf of the student," Microsoft said. Not anymore. If you're a student and at least 13 years old, you can check your eligibility by going to Office 365 for Students and entering in a valid school-provided email address. If you qualify, you'll receive the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher, which you can install on up to five systems. You'll also receive 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage and access to Office Online. So, what makes you eligible? To qualify, you must attend a school that has purchased Office for the entire organization through Microsoft's Volume Licensing program. |
Seven years into the project, Titan's developers couldn't find the fun or passion.
DeathAdder mouse evolves
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