General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

The New Maximum PC is Coming

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 08:45 PM PDT

Maximum PC is moving forward

I love cutting-edge technology. It would be natural to think that all of us who read Maximum PC have an affinity for the latest and greatest. But instead of talking about the newest graphics card, or the next motherboard, I'd like to talk about what's happening with Maximum PC itself from a technology point of view.

The website that you're reading right now is going to change. These changes will be both visible and invisible. Let's talk about the invisible changes first.

The back-end

From a content production point of view, we are overhauling the entire CMS back-end for Maximum PC. That means that there has been a tremendous amount of development from our tech team in an effort to help our team of editors and writers produce better content. Every part of the writing process has been streamlined and trimmed. Anything that wasn't needed is no longer there. Processes that used to take multiple steps will now take just one. It's a much more efficient platform, overall.

Right now, the new site is on a staging server where we're squashing out the remaining bugs. We're also importing all the current content into the new database to ensure that when the switch is flipped, everything will go smoothly. We have a target launch time frame of mid-May. The exact date is going to be somewhere around the 19th of May, but I will provide a second notice once the date is set in stone.

Now, let's talk about the visible changes.

Website front end

The site you see before you now will cease to exist. Maximum PC will relaunch with a brand-new front end that embraces a far more modern and visually appealing design. The actual content, as in the stuff you read, will be easier to consume, too. Clearer font choices, color palettes that are easier on the eyes, and a very clean layout that's both browser-width friendly as well as mobile friendly. There are, however, some critical changes that may impact some readers. We believe these changes are for the better.

Scoring

Maximum PC will adopt a new 20-point scoring system. This means that after the new site is live, all reviews thereafter will have a score that's between 5 and 100, in multiples of 5, for example 65, 70, 75, 80, etc. This will allow us to be more granular in our rating. It would also provide us room to indicate if one product that's similar to another has a feature that's worth noticing. The difference between a score of 80 and 85 may not be much at first glance, but it may be useful in say, a roundup of motherboards.

Comparing the new system to the old 10-point system is not entirely 1 to 1, as in, an 8 in the old system isn't necessarily 80 in the new system. A product that we would have given an 85 to, may have ended up with just an 8, simply because we rounded down. Since the scale of the old system was small though, the point gaps were relatively smaller, too. For example, getting a 9 out of 10 score feels better than receiving a score of 90 out of 100. Also, any products that score 95 or 100 will automatically get our Kick Ass seal of approval.

As we continue to use the new point system, comparing products will be easier. For now, we will point out where old products would be on the new system if they're referenced in new content.

Editorial content

Maximum PC will be introducing several new features in the coming months, and we actually already started on some. For example, we are producing more content with Linux users in mind. Our recent RAID guides for examples, provides information not only to Windows users, but Linux enthusiasts, too. Many readers have asked for this. We are committed to doing more.

You'll also see in increase in how-to guides with a split focus on both hardware and software. The two obviously go hand-in-hand, and you're building your PC—or buying a pre-built—for a purpose, so we want to touch base on the "purpose" of things.

We are also working on more in-depth buyer's guides too. More price points, more options. But we're not going to hold back from telling you what we think is good. In the new Best of the Best section, we're rewriting everything. There are some things that we're baking right now that I can't talk about yet, but they're really exciting.

A lot of the new content that's coming through is a result of your feedback. Thank you.

Comments

In an effort to improve the user experience across the site, reduce the large number of spam comments, and bring a cohesive user experience, we will be transitioning to using the Disqus community platform. There are a number of beneficial reasons behind our choice to go with Disqus.

1. Disqus is fast. Site load times can be slowed if articles containt lots of comments. This is true on the current comment system. With Disqus, load times will be improved significantly for articles with a large number of comments.

2. Spam reduction and filtering. Disqus maintains its own spam-filtering system that's both comprehensive and redundant. I'm personally tired of someone trying to offer me some work-from-home scheme that can add an additional $6,000 to my monthly income.

3. User experience. With Disqus, you're able to track your comments, and see everything on your dashboard. And since thousands of popular websites use Disqus, you'll only need one login to comment on any of them. You'll see all your comments across all the websites you read, and be able to follow conversations more effectively.

The current comment system will be turned off later this week, and Disqus will take its place. This means your current comment login will no longer work, and you will need to sign up for Disqus.

Foreword

Nine years ago, I lost something very precious to me: a binder containing all my pencil sketches that spanned years. In fact, it was more than a loss, it was taken away from me and never returned. I was devastated, and was haunted for a long time. One day though, a friend of mine told me that if I didn't let go of those old drawings, I would never draw anything better. This totally changed my perspective for the better. I decided then, that I would stop looking at where I had been, and look toward where I was headed.

Although some may not agree with the changes, we truly believe that we're heading in the right direction. I personally invite you to join us in the changes we're making, and continue to provide feedback. I'm really excited, and can't wait for the all the new goods to arrive!

A Brief History of Steam

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 03:51 PM PDT

Everything you need to know about Steam's storied history

There's no question that Steam has become an ubiquitous part of PC gaming. Some have hailed it as the savior of PC gaming, while others have seen it as more of a necessary evil. Whether or not you're a fan, Steam is here to stay. Its massive storefront contains over 4,500 games, and some 125 million people actively use the service. The question we're trying to answer here is this: How the hell did Steam get to where it is today?

Steam

It all started with an announcement at GDC 2002, where Valve first unveiled the digital distribution platform that we now know as Steam. Valve originally pitched it as a service that would provide an easier way for gamers to update their games, but the company's obvious motivation was to create a digital storefront for PC games. Gamers could purchase CD copies of their favorite Valve games—at the time, Half-Life and Counter-Strike—and register those CD keys with Steam. Installing a game from a disc would speed up the installation process, but the CD would no longer be necessary with the advent of digital DRM. 

OG Steam

The iconic, all-green Steam UI. Photo by willxcore. 

Gamers were obviously nonplussed by what they saw as a dishonest attempt to lock them into a single platform. Games sold on Steam were protected by DRM that required gamers to log into their libraries to access registered games. Think back to late '90s and early 2000s, and it's hard to stomach not being able to swap discs with friends (or in the case of games like StarCraft, simply guess CD keys at random). Add in the fact that the client required online authentication—with a convoluted offline mode available as a sort of back-of-box bullet point—and a multitude of client-crashing bugs, and Steam was a hot mess. Its ugly green UI wasn't helping things either. 

Skip forward a few years and Valve has managed to smooth out most of the service's bigger problems. Crashing isn't as frequent, and the client was more than usable. Steam had gotten to the point in 2005 where it could plausibly replace retailers like GameStop, EB Games, and Best Buy as a point-of-sale for PC games. Valve established its very first distribution deals with third-party publishers that same year, and for the first time, independent games like Darwinia were available on the platform. Strategy First was one of the very first—no pun intended—bigger publishers to sign on to Steam. 

Game.com HL2

A 2004 post on Geek.com covering the release of Half-Life 2 with a snippet of the debate brewing in the comments.

By 2004, Half-Life 2 graced the world with a stunning caveat: gamers would be required to register and install the game through Steam, even if the game was purchased in physical form at a retail store. If the hubbub surrounding Steam wasn't already big enough, gamers were outraged that the hotly anticipated game would be unplayable independent of Steam. The usual fears—launch woes, problems authenticating, and issues registering CD-keys—were warranted, but after the initial hiccups, Steam was well on its way to becoming the ultimate platform for PC gamers. 

badges

Badges are an evolution of the achievement system and they're entirely unique to Steam. Gamers collect trading cards and complete event-related activities to earn and collect badges, XP, and levels. 

As the years went on and the trove of games available on the platform increased, Valve implemented new features that solidified Steam's role as the ultimate system for gamers. Steam Cloud provided a way to store and access game saves across multiple systems, while Steam Achievements helped PC gamers get some sort of parity with the Gamerscore metric popularized by the Xbox 360. Steam Community expanded upon the friends list and chatting system by establishing groups with group chats, and Valve even added voice-call support to the client. 

2010 was an important year for Steam because the classic green skin was replaced with a more modern design that also acted as a starting point for the Mac and Linux clients that were released later that year. The UI change was followed by a slew of additional features like Steam Workshop, Big Picture mode, non-gaming applications, and more recently, Steam Greenlight. 

Steam Workshop

Steam Workshop, now with over $57 million in payouts since its inception.

The important thing to notice here is that Valve hasn't sat on its laurels with Steam. It's in a position now where it can do pretty much whatever it wants with the huge audience that it's attracted. After all, its only competition exists in the form of significantly smaller services like GOG.com and EA's Origin. Instead of milking the cash cow for all it's worth, the company has also been doing what it can to expand the experience for gamers—although the business implications of each of these moves is obvious. Steam Workshop provides endless user-created content for a whole host of games available on Steam. These downloadable files range from maps for Counter-Strike Global Offensive to hats and skins that users vote on for Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2. 

More recently, Valve has pushed Steam even further into our lives with SteamOS and the SteamOS-powered Steam Machines. These rigs aim to provide a gaming experience akin to console gaming in a small form factor PC, running a Linux-based operating system that provides easy access to Steam. It's an interesting expansion of Steam.

Steam Big Picture Mode is Valve's 10-foot UI for the living room.

If you think that Valve is immune to backlash, however, think again. Fast forward to today, and Valve has recieved a lot of criticism over its idea to allow for the monetization of mods. Many users think that mods should be free, and that if anyone should be getting the lion's share of the profits, it should be the modders and not the game developers that don't contribute to the mod. Valve has since reversed its stance, stating that it had good intentions with the system, but didn't execute well on the implementation. 

steam.com

Despite the seemingly endless resources of Valve, Steam.com is one of the few things that remains outside its grasp.

One thing we're still curious about Steam is why Valve hasn't gobbled up the Steam.com domain. It's still sitting pretty at www.steampowered.com, which is a bit weird considering the absolute popularity of Steam. Then again, Steam.com's pretty clear that it's not for sale—see the picture above.

Newegg Daily Deals: Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB SSD, Asus GeForce GTX 970, and More!

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 10:36 AM PDT

 

Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB SSDNewegg

Top Deal:

Times are changing. Owning a solid state drive used to mean taking out a second mortgage and dipping into the kids' college funds, all for that might boost in speed. And now? Check out today's top deal for a Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB SSD for $85 with free shipping (normally $99). For less than a Benjamin, you can make the jump to SSD territory and enjoy up to 450MB/s read and write speeds, and a 3-year warranty.

Other Deals:

OCZ ARC 100 2.5-inch 480GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $160 with free shipping (normally $180)

Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB Support Video Card for $330 with free shipping (normally $340)

Acer K242HL Bbid 24-inch 6ms LCD Monitor for $120 with free shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCARNW23])

OCZ Vertex 460A 2.5-inch 120GB Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $65 with free shipping (normally $75; additional $10 Mail-in rebate)

HyperX Releases Mean Looking Savage SSD Line Into The Wild

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 10:13 AM PDT

HyperX Savage SSDA Savage solution to storage

Kingston's HyperX division has begun selling its Savage line of solid state drives that we first spied at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. These drives combine a SATA 6Gbps interface with the Phison S10 quad-core, eight-channel controller for high read and write speeds, though clearly HyperX is also hoping to win consumers over with aesthetics.

The drives sport a red steel and aluminum case that looks somewhat aggressive, though unless you have a case that's capable of showing off SSDs, it becomes a see-it-once-and-forget-it kind of deal. Nevertheless, maybe blinged out SSDs are the future -- remember Intel's 730 Series with a skull graphic?

Getting to what matters most, here's a look at capacity and performance options:

  • 120GB: 520MB/s read, 350MB/s write (100,000 random 4K read IOPS, 84,000 random 4K write IOPS)
  • 240GB: 520MB/s read, 510MB/s write (100,000 random 4K read IOPS, 89,000 random 4K write IOPS)
  • 480GB: 520MB/s read, 500MB/s write (100,000 random 4K read IOPS, 88,000 random 4K write IOPS)
  • 960GB: 520MB/s read, 490MB/s write (99,000 random 4K read IOPS, 89,000 random 4K write IOPS)

Not the fastest we've ever seen in SATA 6Gbps territory, though still peppy.

The 7mm-high drives are available now, both as standalone offerings and in upgrade bundle kits. Pricing on Kingston's website is set at $130 (120GB), $219 (240GB), $444 (480GB), and $929 (960GB). Word to the wise -- prices are significantly cheaper on the street

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LG Makes Fashion Statement with Leather Clad G4 Smartphone

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:45 AM PDT

LG G4LG's new flagship phone

It's been an interesting past few months in mobile as handset makers come out with new flagship devices, each with unique features. There was Apple with its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the largest iPhone models to date; Samsung with its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, the latter with a curved edge display; and now the LG G4 is official, complete with a curved display and leather backside.

After months of leaked photos and speculation, LG finally unveiled its much anticipated G4 smartphone today at events in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Istanbul, and Seoul. As such, we can finally confirm the specs, which include a 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS display (2560x1440, 538ppi), Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of LPDDDR3 RAM, 32GB of internal storage + microSD card slot, 8-megapixel front camera, 16-megapixel rear camera, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Blueooth 4.1LE, NFC support, USB 2.0, 3,000mAh removable battery, and Android 5.1 Lollipop.

The handset measures 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3-9.8mm and features a Slim Arc design that runs along its entire body, adding a subtle curve to the display. Over on the backside what LG says is handcrafted, genuine full grain leather available in half a dozen color options.

LG G4 Phones

As with many smartphone makers these days, LG is really emphasizing the rear camera. It features a wide f1.3 aperture lens that allows 80 percent more light to reach the sensor. It also benefits from second generation Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) technology that expands the range of image stabilization from one degree to two degrees on the X and Y axis, while also adding a third axis. And if you really know what you're doing, there's a new manual mode that allows owners to adjust the focus, shutter speed, ISO, exposure, and white balance, and save photos in RAW format.

LG plans to launch the G4 on all major carriers in the U.S. at the end of May or early June. No word yet on pricing.

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Asus Starts Shipping Fancy Zenbook Pro UX501 Ultrabook with 4K Display

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 09:14 AM PDT

Asus Zenbook Pro UX501May cause MacBook Pro owners to have buyer's remorse

Asus last month announced its Zenbook Pro UX501, a sexy looking laptop that many are comparing to the MacBook Pro. Of course, the Zenbook Pro UX501 runs Windows 8.1, but that's not the only difference. Arguably the highlight of the laptop is its 4K Ultra HD (3,840x2,160) In-Plane Switching (IPS) display that boasts 100 percent sRGB color coverage. There's a bit more to drool over, and most important of all, Asus has begun shipping the Zenbook Pro UX501 in the U.S. today.

This is a 15.6-inch Ultrabook measuring just 0.81 inches thick. The model that should appear on store shelves soon boasts an Intel Core i7 4720HQ processor, 16GB of DDR3L-1600 RAM, 512GB PCIe solid state drive, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 720p webcam, three USB 3.0 ports, Thunderbolt port, HDMI output, 2-in-1 memory card reader, and backlit keyboard.

From the pictures we've seen, it's a nice looking notebook with a spun-metal finish that's supposed to echo the spirit of Zen. It also has diamond-cut highlights and brushed-metal surfaces with a ripple-effect pattern that's laser engraved on the lid.

Hopefully we can get this one in for evaluation soon, as the collection of hardware seems solid. Speaking of which, that PCIe SSD? It's rated to deliver read and write speeds of up to 1,400MB/s -- snazzy!

As the price, world on the web is it will go for $1,799

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Valve Closes Door on Steam Workshop's Paid Mod Program

Posted: 28 Apr 2015 07:55 AM PDT

Free the ModsEasy come, easy go

Mere days after opening up the Steam Workshop to paid mods, Valve has decided to reverse course and go back to the way things were. In other words, modders can no longer sell their Skyrim mods, which was the first (and only) game to kick off the short-lived initiative. In a statement explaining the reversal, Valve said that jumping into a years old modding community was a pretty poor decision.

Valve went into this newest venture with good intentions, and of course to make money -- modders would only receive 25 percent of the revenue they generated, which was one of the knocks against the program. Nevertheless, Valve says that in the past, allowing community creators to receive a share of the rewards has been received well, but it's now obvious that this is a different animal.

"We underestimated the differences between our previously successful revenue sharing models, and the addition of paid mods to Skyrim's workshop. We understand our own game's communities pretty well, but stepping into an established, years old modding community in Skyrim was probably not the right place to start iterating," Valve said. "We think this made us miss the mark pretty badly, even though we believe there's a useful feature somewhere here."

The hotly debated program received criticism from a number of different angles. In addition to taking issues with royalties, gamers feared that paid mods would divide the community, many of which want to keep these things free. There was also concern over policing the mods for stolen content, along with crappy mods being put out by people looking to make a quick buck.

All these concerns led to a petition on Change.org that received over 133,000 signatures. This no doubt played a role in Valve's decision to end the program, along with the "dump truck of feedback" that flooded its inboxes.

On the flip side, some big names supported the program, including Garry Newman (Garry's Mod) and FMPONE (Counter Strike modder). You can throw Gabe Newell into the mix as well, who recently took to Reddit to answer questions about the now defunct program.

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