40 pictures that will make you wish you were there
AMD recently unveiled its new line of graphics cards that includes its new top tier R9 290X GPU, but this wasn't some simple press release announcement, not be a longshot. To commemorate the announcement of its Hawaii GPUs, AMD invited over 100 tech journalists from all around the world to Hawaii for its GPU 14 Tech Day conference. For the journalists there, getting to attend the event was just as exciting as the announcements.
We got a chance to go ourselves and while nice trips have absolutely no influence on Maximum PC's stringent No BS policy, we have to give it to the red team that they really know how to throw an event together. We ended up hiking up a volcano, stayed in a hotel with shark-infested ponds, and more.
Below are 40 pictures that will make you wish you were there!
Now that another month is in the books, we have yet another opportunity to gauge Windows 8's ability to penetrate the market and make some predictions. One of those predictions is that despite Microsoft's best efforts to the contrary, Windows 7 could become the next Windows XP, meaning the last generation operating system could become one that users cling to for years to come.
First things first. Windows 8 continues to climb in market share and is now installed on just over 8 percent of desktops around the world, according to data by NetMarketShare. That's up from 7.41 percent a month ago and 5.4 percent in July. Granted, almost every new PC ships with Windows 8, so you would expect its market share to rise, though that doesn't necessarily explain why it made such a comparatively big jump from July to August.
In any event, some of that share is coming at the expense of Windows XP, which is now down to 31.41 percent. That's still a significant number of PCs, however it's definitely on a downward trend. When Windows 8 launched in October of last year, Windows XP held a 40.66 percent share of the market.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 is quietly gaining ground. After holding steady at around 44.5 percent for several months, Windows 7 climbed to 45.63 percent in August and ended up with a 46.43 percent share of the desktop market at the end of September. While most XP users seem to be making the jump to Windows 8, at least some are leaping to Windows 7 instead.
FreedomPop envisioned mobile phone service being free for the masses, but rather than dream about it, the company went out and made it a reality. The free service goes into effect today and includes monthly allotments of 500MB of data, 500 text messages, and 200 anytime voice minutes. Obviously this is intended to be an entry-level plan, but for users who don't spend every waking moment on their smartphone, this could be a great thing.
Initially FreedomPop is only available for the HTC Evo Design, a dated Android smartphone that's still running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). You can pick up an HTC Evo Design from FreedomPop for an introductory price of $99, which is half off its normal selling price (it's not clear how long the introductory pricing will be valid).
FreedomPop chief Stephen Stokols told ArsTechnica that it plans on offering at least half a dozen of the most popular handsets with a free plan a year from now. In addition, he plans to upgrade the Evo to Android 4.0 after launch.
"We're not tied to one handset because you can't disrupt with one handset," Stokols said.
So, how can FreedomPop do this? The company is banking on people subscribing to paid plans that offer more than what the free plan does. For example, an $11/month plan offers unlimited voice and texting with a 500MB cap on data. For $8/month, you get 500 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited calling to other FreedomPop users, and 500MB of data. Customers who go over the data cap will be charged a penny per megabyte, or $10 per gigabyte.
Thinking about signing up? Head over to FreedomPop's website to check availability and find out more.
Computer has quickly become a touch-feely experience. Between smartphones, tablets, and touchscreen PCs, you may find yourself tap, tap, tapping the day away. But what if your laptop doesn't have a touchscreen, are you out of luck? Not necessarily. Have a look at today's top deal for a Leap Motion Controller for $80 with free shipping (free GameWAVE with purchase, limited offer). Just plug the Leap Motion device into your PC and you can start waving your hand around making natural in-air hand motions. And with GameWAVE, you'll be able to control compatible games such as Diablo, Skyrim, World of Warcraft, Far Cry 3, and several more!
When you think about it, we've been spoiled by the advances in technology. It's been several years now, but there was a time when gaming laptops would cost almost as much as a new car. The cost of entry has come way down since then, and serving as a reminder of this are a pair of new gaming laptops from Velocity Micro, the 17.3-inch NoteMagix M17 and 15.6-inch NoteMagix M15 LE.
These two systems flank Velocity Micro's existing NoteMagix M15 (non-LE version), and all three are relatively affordable out of the gate, yet customizable in case your budget runs a little deeper.
The NoteMagix M15 LE, for example, starts at $1,159 and includes a Full HD 1080p display (1920x1080), Intel Core i7 4700MQ processor (Haswell), 4GB of DDR3 memory, Intel HD Graphics 4600, 750GB hard drive (7200 RPM), 8X DVD burner, GbE LAN, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 2MP webcam, 6-cell battery, and Windows 8 64-bit with disc.
For most gamers, integrated graphics aren't going to cut it, which leaves the regular NoteMagix M15 and the larger NoteMagix M17, the latter of which starts at $1,899. For that, you get twice as much RAM (8GB of DDR3-1600), a bigger display, Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M graphics, and a larger battery (8-cell).
Depending on how much you want to spend, you can configure these systems with higher end parts, including up to a Core i7 4930MX Extreme Edition CPU, up to 32GB of RAM, and SSD options, to name a few of the available upgrades.
You're going to hear a lot more about 4K resolutions in 2014. More and more, we're starting to see 4K monitors and televisions trickle into the marketplace, but as far as PC gaming is concerned, not all hardware supports running games smoothly at Ultra HD. To take the guesswork out of it, boutique system builder Origin PC has partnered with GPU maker Nvidia to design and build 4K gaming-ready "BattleBox" systems.
This is mostly a marketing play between the two firms, though there's some value here for gamers who don't want to spend hours researching parts for compatibility and horsepower. That's where these BattleBoxes come into play.
A BattleBox is a desktop built by Origin PC, approved by Nvidia, and powered by GeForce GTX 780 graphics or better. A system that qualifies as a BattleBox will be capable of playing the latest games at 4K Ultra HD without feeling like you're watching a slide show. That includes titles such as Batman: Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Watch Dogs, and Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Systems that qualify as BattleBoxes are specially configured versions of Origin PC's Millennium and Genesis lines, which are available now. The cost of entry for a BattleBox is $2,873
A all-in-one machine doesn't have to wield a big size display, and if you're in the market for something a bit more compact than what a 27-inch AIO or even a 23-inch AIO can offer, you may like what you see with Acer's new Aspire ZC-605. Acer's newest AIO system features a 19.5-inch HD display with a "slim, attractive" chassis and ergonomic frame that tilts from 10 to 30 degrees.
Acer describes the package as an understated look, and from what we can tell of the pics, that's a fair description. The PC maker also says this is an ideal system for first-time AIO buyers due to its "sleek and compact size, low price, and solid configuration." Acer's upfront about the fact that this rig is intended for those shopping a "basic PC for researching recipes, online shopping, and enjoying social media."
As such, Acer opted for a Intel Pentium dual-core 2127U processor, a low level chip clocked at 1.9GHz with 2MB of cache, albeit it's based on Ivy Bridge. The Aspire ZC-605 also has 4GB of DDR3 memory, 1TB hard drive, HDMI input, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, SuperMulti optical drive, a pair of front-facing speakers, and Windows 8.
The Aspire ZC-605 is available at Amazon for $440, a good chunk less than the system's $600 MSRP.
SkyDrive integration is a key part of the upcoming update
Not only is cloud storage service SkyDrive set to become an integral part of Windows with the upcoming Windows 8.1 update, but Redmond is also trying to make the whole thing smarter. To this end, the company has introduced "smart files."
A new SkyDrive feature built right into Windows 8.1, smart files are essentially placeholder files and thumbnails that make it possible for the user to interact with their entire SkyDrive without having to first download each and every file, thereby conserving both local disk space and Internet bandwidth.
One area where this feature should really shine through is when using Bing Smart Search to look for images that have text in them. By leveraging the Bing-powered OCR (optical character recognition) feature that Microsoft announced recently for SkyDrive, you will be able to "search from the desktop for the content of Camera Roll photos that have had text extracted from them" regardless of whether those photos are stored locally or not.
"For example, you might have taken a photo 6 months ago of the menu of your favorite restaurant, but can't remember where it's buried in your Camera Roll and want to remember the dish you had. You can simply type in the restaurant name on your desktop and Bing Smart Search will search text of your Camera Roll photos and pull up the picture of the menu with the restaurant name printed on it," Microsoft wrote in a blog post Monday.
"With the power of smart files, this will work even if your Camera Roll is marked for online-only access. The moment you open the photo, it will be instantaneously pulled from the cloud for you to view the full version."
Despite publicly voicing its displeasure over having to compete with Microsoft in the tablet market, Acer earlier this year became the first company to launch an 8-inch Windows 8 tablet — the Iconia W3. The device itself, though, didn't exactly set the world alight. Things were so bad, in fact, that reports of a replacement started doing the rounds just a few weeks after it first became available. Turns out those reports were mostly accurate.
Called the Iconia W4, the successor to the poorly received W3 was recently spotted at a recent Intel event, with Dutch site Bouweenpc.nl even managing to shoot a short hands-on video of the device. According to the site, the W4 has an Intel Atom "Bay Trail" Z3740 chip and an IPS display, both of which are a marked improvement over the W3's dual-core Intel Atom "Cloverview" Z2760 processor and shoddy Twisted Nematic display.
Further, the 8.1-inch Iconia W4 is said to have 2GB of DDR3 memory, 32GB of storage, 5MP front camera, 2MP rear camera, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, micro-USB, microSD card reader and micro-HDMI.
I'm aware that not everybody who reads this column loves Guild Wars 2, and I'm cool with that. Occasionally I'm baffled by a comment or two left by people who apparently just swung by to give a brief, negative review of the game, completely independent of the topic of the article they left it on, but that's mostly harmless. I appreciate the vast majority of thoughtful comments, whether positive or negative; I like to think that most of you love MMOs as much as I do, and I believe that a person doesn't necessarily have to like a game in order to have something insightful to say about it and its role in influencing the industry.
I mention all of this because I want to make it clear that when I talk about toxic GW2 commentary, I don't mean people leaving negative criticism in general, or saying that they don't like the game. In fact, the majority of what I'd like to discuss comes from people who apparently play the game regularly and who are deeply invested in it. Some of them say that they love it. And because they love it, it's easy to see why they might feel protective of it and take perceived threats to it personally.
Who says all games must be awash in millions of pixels and near life-like graphics? 8BitMMO proudly boasts over 100 pixels and over the last two years has grown from one to over 75,000 registered users. The game also has a desktop version currently in beta, which includes a new leveling system, new swords, and new monsters. With so much growth (as well as an upcoming Steam launch), this sandbox is looking to upgrade its servers. Enter the MEGA-OCTOBERBIT-FUNDRAISER.
Creator and one-man-development-team Robby Zinchak has joined the crowdfunding bandwagon by turning to the community for help in raising the funds needed to get the server upgrades that will let more players in, allow for faster load times, and reduce latency. Also, the stretch goal includes the equipment to make a Mac edition of the desktop client.
If you are interested in seeing what this game is about or want to hear about the expansion plans straight from the source, watch the fundraiser trailer after the jump.
With Bree out on vay-cay-cay, MJ's stepping up to perform incredible broadcast soliloquies that will bring a tear to your eye, they will. The Massively Speaking co-hosts divide up the show between fantasy and science fiction this week, so no matter where your tastes lay, they've got something for you.
Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!
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It's been hard to miss the spam in Final Fantasy XIV lately. You can't walk into a major city without seeing several dozen people shouting repeatedly about selling in-game currency, which has resulted in a lot of people getting to really kick their blacklists into overtime. But Square-Enix isn't ignoring the problem, and as of today we've been informed that a lot of players are out of the game for cheating. If you can really call them "players."
6,154 accounts have been removed from the game for advertising RMT services, while another 156 have been removed for "illicit activity." The game has also undergone a bit of maintenance to help eliminate the (unspecified) methods of item use that contributed to the problem. Whether or not this will eliminate the shouting spam that plagues the major cities remains to be seen, but it's certainly worth hoping, and it's always good to see the RMT crowd get what's coming to them.
Scarlet Briar and her Aetherblades are doing a little remodeling work on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2'sTwilight Assault content update. No, no need to thank them -- after all, they live there too, now. We're a little concerned that the new modern industrial decor might clash with the existing creepy nature theme, but that's really the Nightmare Court's problem. Your job is to evict all of them, because as tenants go they really suck.
The new level 80 explorable path for GW2's Twilight Arbor dungeon -- dubbed the "Aetherpath" -- is the brainchild of the ArenaNet content team responsible for Aetherblade Retreat, along with content designer Leif Chappelle, who worked on the Molten Weapons Facility. Chappelle and his party of professional dungeon runners were kind enough to give us a partial tour of the content, which combines feedback and lessons learned from previous content to provide a challenging new experience. Jump past the break to check it out!
I have an overarching goal in Final Fantasy XIV: be level 50 everything. All crafts, all gathering classes, all combat classes. It's a worthy goal, but it's also the sort of thing that's going to take me roughly forever to accomplish. So I don't tend to work on the big project; I pick little goals along the way, like getting one level on a specific class every day. When I get bored with one, I move on to another.
Not everyone works like that. Some people would rather not have little goals, preferring one big goal to just push on. Get to the level cap with one class, then on to the next one, no breaks to risk distraction. So which do you prefer? Do you like to have sidelines or do you find them distracting? How do you handle your in-game projects, especially ones that you know are going to take quite some time?
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!
Star Citizen hit the $20 million crowdfunding mark this week and announced that its $22 million goal will be for the purchase of equipment to capture actors' faces and put them in-game. Diablo III site Diablofans found more juicy hints about the upcoming Reaper of Souls expansion in its latest datamining attempt, and developers have opened a discussion on the problems caused by low character health pools. Path of Exile released patch 0.11.6 this week, adding in the new Lightning Trap and Smoke Mine skill gems and rebalancing existing traps and mines. After laying off 10% of its staff, Firefall developer Red 5 Studios has released a new optional subscription package that grants bonus Crystite, manufacturing slots, and marketplace slots.
The semi-finals of League of Legends' Season Three World Championship took place this weekend, ending with Korean favourite SK Telecom T1 and Chinese team Royal Club advancing to the grand final to compete for the million-dollar top prize. Frustrated with the difficulty of learning to use Pudge's Meat Hook ability, a Dota 2 player has developed a standalone mini-game designed to let players train to aim the ability. Classic DC Comics character Catwoman was added to Infinite Crisis as a playable avatar this week, and award-winning Russian MOBA Prime World is now on Steam despite missing its intended mid-September Steam release date.
There's a subgenre of horror video games that sometimes falls within "survival horror," where the developers design an experience where you're limited in some fashion to make you feel more vulnerable. Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, Amnesia -- all of these give you characters that move slowly, fight poorly, get freaked out easily, or have to cower in the shadows because they can't fight at all.
This feeling of vulnerability amps up the fear because whatever is going bump in the night is much more powerful than we are. The game trains us to avoid confrontations as much as possible, which triggers a second scare technique: keeping the monsters more in your imagination than on the screen. There is nothing more terrifying than what our minds can conjure up, at least in video games, and a good dev knows this and uses it against us.
Yet for all of its horror trappings, The Secret World takes a polar opposite approach. We are the super-powered, heavily-armed, nimble-footed, nigh-immortal hunters. We come, we see, and we shoot to kill. On top of that, we're almost always surrounded by other players to give us psychological and physical support.
So that makes me think: Is The Secret World scary? If so, how does it accomplish this without an inherent feeling of vulnerability that's present in the other games I listed above?
Hearthstone's upcoming patch is detailed in a new blog post on the game's official website. The update "covers a wealth of bug fixes and quality of life improvements," according to Blizzard. There's also a blurb about class balance, with particular attention paid to Rogues, who will be "adjusted to bring them more in line with the other classes."
Crafting, golden cards, and social improvements make the cut too, but you'll need to click through to the links below for all the details.
If you were planning on playing Star Wars: The Old Republic tonight, you might want to take a look at a BioWare forum post first. It seems as if the company accidentally rolled out its 2.4 patch a day early and as a result, some players have had to re-download the entire game client.
"If you have already begun patching or completed patching, we recommend that you do not run the launcher until after tomorrow's maintenance," BioWare says. "If you do not run the launcher until tomorrow, you will only have to patch Game Update 2.4."
We have a winner! Or... not. After announcing that a Victorian-themed outfit took the top prize of The Secret World's costume contest, Funcomhas disqualified the winner due to a rule violation and restarted the voting process.
"As a result of further investigation following our 'Get your art in the game' contest conclusion, we have eliminated the winning entry as disqualified," the studio posted today. "It has been brought to our attention that Mirura is connected with one of our affiliates, and thus does not qualify for this contest as per our terms and conditions. We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this has caused. While we know that many of you really did like the fantastic design that she submitted, we must adhere to the rules to be fair to all of our contestants."
The revote will include the previous nine entries for both male and female outfits as well as a new 10th entry to fill in the gap. Check them out and enter your vote, as the winning design will be included in the game.
What do you get when you cross MMO dragons with big-haired 1980s metal gods? The latest Dragon's Prophet video, naturally. SOE has teamed up with Cinderella drummer Fred Coury and Vince Neil guitarist Brent Woods to produce a little ditty called Ride Until We Die.
Be sure to catch the clip after the cut, and don't forget that Dragon's Prophet is free-to-play right now. You can download the client via the official website link after the video.
What does this mean? Possibly nothing. It could be a hoax, it could be an unrelated property, it could be almost anything. There's certainly some possibility that it could be a new expansion to World of Warcraft, with plenty of possible meanings for what it might contain.
So is it a hoax, the next expansion, or something else altogether? That's up to the individual to guess. What we can say with certainty is that if these heroes don't get to ride on the storm, the game will have missed a golden opportunity for a pop culture reference, and that's just not likely to happen.
One of the analogies I keep coming back to is that choosing an MMO is a lot like being in a long-term relationship. That's also true of sticking with one for the long term. Some weeks, your MMO of choice just seems to do everything wrong, and sometimes you go through a period of time when you're just not sure if the relationship works any longer.
WildStar and I are in a bit of a long-distance relationship at the moment, what with me steadfastly existing in the present and her not technically having launched just yet. And sometimes she finds ways to make me upset, with clueless design or business decisions that leave me wondering what in the hell went on in the background. But then there are things that get me excited, things that remind me of why I've been waiting for this game for a while. So let's talk about some of the stuff that still gets me excited.
At the close of every month, Joel Bylos pens a producer's letter to all The Secret World fans reviewing the activities of the previous four weeks and outlining what's still to come. For September, Bylos updated players on the progress of both Issue #8 (scenarios are being balanced for solo, duo, and groups as well as nightmare versions) and the much-anticipated Issue #9 (when visiting Tokyo, bring your origami skills!).
Bylos also invited players to jump in and participate in the current Whispering Tide event and reminded them that many more phases of the event are yet to come. On top of that, he announced that the Cat God event from last Halloween will be back, so everyone who missed out on completing that line will have a chance this year. Additionally, a new series of missions called Stories from Solomon Island will be available where players will investigate the legitimacy of the islands' various urban legends. This series brings players back to the stories of Tyler Freeborn and the Groundskeeper at Innsmouth Academy.
40 pictures that will make you wish you were there
Is Windows 7 the next Windows XP?
No cost mobile phone service becomes a reality
Configurable gaming on the go
Paving the way to 4K gaming
A compact and affordable all-in-one
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 
