MMORPG News

MMORPG News

Champions Online: May Ask Cryptic Published

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:46 AM PDT

Champions Online devs have published the latest Ask Cryptic with devs answering a host of questions submitted by players and fans. Topics include whether or not players will ever get 'throwing' powers, lairs and the upcoming comic series. It's a terrific and eclectic read. Check it out!

Lineage 2: Anniversary Survey & Gift

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:35 AM PDT

NCSoft and the Lineage II team are reminding players to open their special 7th anniversary gifts no later than June 8th or lose them forever. The team also asks players to fill out the annual survey to help them assess the health of the Lineage II community.

General: Outside the MMO Box: LA Noire

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:09 AM PDT

LA Noire burst upon the scene recently and has been taking the gaming world by storm. As part of our continuing series of articles devoted to games outside the MMO sphere, Adam Tingle takes a look at LA Noire. Check out Adam's thoughts on the game and then let us know if you've played and what you think.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Commando vs Vanguard

Posted: 30 May 2011 05:04 PM PDT

In his latest column devoted to Star Wars: The Old Republic, MMORPG.com Community Manager Mike Bitton utters those iconic boxing words: "Let's get ready to RUUUUUMBLE!" In the red corner, we find the Commando. In the blue corner, the Vanguard. Check out Mike's thoughts about the two classes and then let us know what you think.

General: The Quiz: Letter W Edition

Posted: 31 May 2011 03:31 PM PDT

It's that time again, ladies and gents. Get the MMORPG.com games list up and scroll down to letter W because Quiz Master Drew Wood is going to test all things W this week. See how you do and then report back!

EverQuest II: The Children of War Goes Live

Posted: 31 May 2011 02:59 PM PDT

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Everquest 2 Update 60: The Children of War is now live on all servers. Update 60 brings several key PvP improvements including a new lobby system, a new map, a new PvP battle type and more. Also added are some raids and heroic dungeons.

General: Interplay Suffering Financial Woes

Posted: 31 May 2011 01:49 PM PDT

Looking forward to Fallout Online? If so, the latest SEC filing by Interplay may shed some light on just how long that wait could be. In the filing, Interplay is in deep financial straits with over $2.8 million in operating deficits in past year, compensation owed to board members, unpaid taxes and more.

General: Responding to a Call of Duty Subscription Fee

Posted: 31 May 2011 10:40 AM PDT

At our sister site, FPSGuru.com, Managing Editor Jon Wood responds to the news that Activision Blizzard will offer a subscription service for the upcoming FPS, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

TERA: Bonus May Screens

Posted: 29 May 2011 05:45 PM PDT

Welcome to the bonus fifth May installment of our continuing series, TERA Tuesday. MMORPG.com has partnered with TERA devs and En Masse to bring you the best TERA screens on the Net. This week, we feature three action-packed screenshots that epitomize the statement, "Holy cow...that's B-I-G!" Check them out in our May TERA Bonus Screens feature.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures: Server Merges Coming, FAQ Released

Posted: 30 May 2011 04:35 PM PDT

The Age of Conan team has published a handy-dandy FAQ on the topic of server merges coming to the game as devs prepare it for its freemium iteration later this summer. The FAQ details several important questions players might have including characters with the same name on merged servers and issues facing guilds.

APB: Reloaded: Build It & They Will Come

Posted: 30 May 2011 04:29 PM PDT

According to the latest update on the APB Reloaded blog, open beta players are coming to the game in droves. Over 24,000 concurrent players enjoyed the game at one point late last week. With only six days of open beta, that's an impressive stat. The dev team also lays out some more details for premium holders and the explosion of social media surrounding the game.

DC Universe Online: Update 3 Developer Roundtable

Posted: 30 May 2011 12:37 PM PDT

MMORPG.com Lead Writer Bill Murphy recently had the opportunity to attend a roundtable discussion between DC Universe Online developers and several members of the media. The team was ready and able to tackle a wide-variety of topics including some more controversial ones such as the departure of Chris Cao, the seeming 'bat' fixation of the team and when several key issues and bug would finally get resolved. Check out Bill's report on the DCUO Developer Roundtable.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures: Return to Hyboria Part 2

Posted: 30 May 2011 12:21 PM PDT

It's been awhile since MMORPG.com's Phil James has visited Age of Conan. In Part 1, Phil detailed his adventures on Tortuga. In Part 2 of his Return to Hyboria series, Phil has left the lushness of Tortage behind and has set out in the larger and more dangerous world. Get the details on what Phil has found and then leave us a couple of comments.

The Secret World: Five Reasons to Watch The Secret World

Posted: 30 May 2011 12:03 PM PDT

As The Secret Word becomes less and less secret and with E3 right around the corner, there's a lot to look forward to and a lot to get hyped up about. In The List this week, MMORPG.com Lead Writer Bill Murphy gets that thrill running up and down his leg as he anticipates Funcom's The Secret World. Check out Bill's thoughts and then add a few of your own.
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMO updates

MMO updates

ArcheAge Korea - WoW was inspiration

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 04:38 AM PDT


(Source) At yesterday's annual Nexon Developers Conference (NDC), the creator of NCsoft's Lineage and founder of XL Games, Mr Jake Song, talked about the thought process he had in creating the company's maiden online title, ArcheAge. Please note that this is just a small summary of the whole speech. Mr Song said that after playing Blizzard's World of Warcraft, he felt that his earlier titles (Lineage and The Kingdom of the Winds) were nothing compared to the record-breaking MMORPG. However, he was convinced that World of Warcraft is not the ending point for MMORPGs, hence he started working on ArcheAge.

↑ Mr Jake Song at Nexon Developers Conference (NDC) 2011

The most important and significant feature of MMORPGs will be the word "massively". A few thousand players having fun in the same game world is one of the biggest selling point of online games. However, online games over the years used various restrictive methods to cover up their system flaws, including items and currency binding to characters, using PvE maps to heavily restrict PvP and spamming of instance dungeons to prevent players from kill stealing. All these eroded the basic foundations of what an online game was meant to be.

↑ Mr Jake Song (right) was in the same college as Nexon's founder Mr Kim Jung-Ju (left),
↑ Spending quality time brainstorming.

MMORPGs and console games should be different, but nowadays both are getting too similar as each other. There shouldn't be a fixed system where players are ordered to party up and clear an instance, it should be through meeting new players by chance and thus go on adventures together. This particular "free" and unpredictable system is what makes a MMORPG.

↑ Mr Jake Song met Mr Richard Garriott years ago after creating Lineage.

Majority of online games nowadays use the questing system as a guide for players to understand the game. While it is necessary, it should not become a game's main focus. If questing, storyline, characters and lore becomes a game's main features, the game will not last long as the developers do not have the time and resources to catch up with players' consumption of in-game content. As such, the number of players will dwindle and shortening the title's lifespan.

↑ Years of researching finally came to fruition as Mr Jake Song started on Project X2 (ArcheAge).
↑ Icons representing some main features: Housing, tree climbing, naval warfare and siege.

In order for a MMORPG to have an extended run, the main features should be developed right at the start. For ArcheAge, some of the core features include house building system, naval warfare (ship construction) and castle siege. He stressed that the core features are the most important elements which will determine a game's longevity.

TERA Korea - Major server merge coming

Posted: 31 May 2011 11:27 AM PDT


Earlier today, NHN Korea, the publisher for TERA Korea, announced that the game will go through its 2nd major server merge on 2nd June 2011. More recently, NHN Korea posted the company's latest revenue and earnings, with TERA not meeting the expected figures. During the first round of server merge, 37 servers were merged into 35. In this coming round, the 35 servers will be merged into only 15, with the top 2 populated servers unaffected.


The game's latest update, Destruction of the Beast, will be implemented on the live servers soon after letting players try out the new content in the test server.
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News

Fallout Online is at Stake as Interplay Facing Financial Disaster

Posted:

Fallout Online is in the balance as Interplay is troubled by financial problem. Fallout Online is scheduled for 2012 but we may not be able to see it next year.

WoW 4.2 PTR: Fireland - Ragnaros Encounter Preview

Posted:

Fighting the Firelord will not be easy. The fight itself has three stages in normal difficulty and four stages in the heroic difficulty of the encounter. Ragnaros seeks to appease the Old Gods by incinerating the World Tree of Nordrassil. Are you willing to accept the challenge?

Dragon Nest - SASA QUEEN Sexy Cosplay Show

Posted:

As a casual gamer of Dragon Nest, SASA brought us a group of cosplay works about a sexy fan art by famous ACG painter Aner from China.

Pocket MMORPG Order & Chaos Online Earns $1M for Gameloft in 20 Days

Posted:

It is reported that French publisher Gameloft's iOS MMORPG Order & Chaos has gained $1 million in revenue in its first 20 days since been released.

Age of Empires Online to Launch on August 16th

Posted:

One of the best-selling PC games Age of Empires will release its MMO version on August 16th worldwide. You can get the game at retail stores as well as from online download.

DragonSoul Presents Male Warrior Class

Posted:

Today, Neonga reveals the male warrior class for its free-to-play title DragonSoul, which is a PvP MMORPG with a strong focus on strategy and tactics. Once players master their classes, they will become formidable fighters with unique skills.

WoW Patch 4.2 - New "/roar" Sounds Preview

Posted:

As many of you who play goblins and worgen may have noticed, the sound usually associated with your characters' "/roar" emote was removed in patch 4.1. This was done to help resolve an issue that caused the sounds associated with the both the "/roar" and "/attack" emotes to play simultaneously whenever the "/attacktarget" command was used.

ArcheAge Latest Screenshots Show Ferres Race's Novice Village

Posted:

XLGAMES's ArcheAge acquires good responses from the third CBT players. For people who want to know everything about this upcoming new title, we get some latest the scenes screenshots of the game.

Create a Boss for RIFT, Win Free Goodies

Posted:

Ever had a great idea for an enemy concept for a video game, but didn't have the backing of an actual company to bring it to life? Then Trion's got a deal for you.

LOCO Introduced The Sultry Succubus Lacrimosa

Posted:

burda:ic today introduced a brand-new character to RTS Action MMO LOCO - Land of Chaos Online: the sultry succubus Lacrimosa. Players who want to start luring opponents into Lacrimosa's dainty-yet-demonic clutches today can enter the battle-torn world of LOCO at http://loco.alaplaya.net/.

Bounty Hounds Online Reveals Heavy Gunner Class

Posted:

InnoGames's free-to-play Sci-Fi game Bounty Hounds Online (BHO) has entered closed beta on May 25th. One week after the closed beta test, InnoGames is prepared to shed more light on the game. Today, the company introduces the Heavy Gunner - second of five available classes.

FPS Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead to Start Closed Beta Soon

Posted:

Joymax announced today that Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead will open fire June 7th when its closed beta begins.

Upcoming MMO Games in June

Posted:

Dragon Nest NA will lit this summer up. Without fatigue system, you can indulge in the game in its first closed beta in June. However, the time for DN closed beta is still foggy and the Prius Online will come first on June 2nd!

ArcheAge Becomes the Most Anticipated Korean Game

Posted:

According to the latest statistics from the South Korean game site MUD4U, ArcheAge by XL Games has become the most anticipated Korean game, which not only shows the "Father of Lineage" Jake Song's persuasive development power, but also embodies the great success ArcheAge won in its third CBT.

[Part 1]ArcheAge: Highly Free Shipbuilding and Naval Battle

Posted:

Korea-based XL Games' ArcheAge performed its 3rd CBT from May 24th-29th, when the in-game naval battle system was fully revealed based on the theme "Freewill Naval Battle".

ArcheAge - CBT3 Character Creation Preview

Posted:

XL Games' ArcheAge kicked off its 3rd CBT on May 24th. During this test, the game provides more options upon character creation. Characters will look different based on their races. The Nuians look like human beings, the Elves are similar to mythical gods and the Ferres are endowed with beast appearances.
Posted by Shri Krishna


General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Cheat Sheet: 10 Tips And Tricks For Evernote

Posted: 31 May 2011 03:44 PM PDT

We used to have a love/hate relationship with sticky notes. They were great for jotting stuff down, but over time the small yellow squares ended up consuming the entire surface of our desks in a slow, ever-expanding Blob-like wave. We could never find the note we needed when we needed it. It always ended in hysterical tears and missed appointments.

Then we downloaded Evernote, and never touched a sticky note again. Plus, we started making it to our appointments on time. Or at least some of them.

Once you create or edit a note in Evernote, the program backs up your data to the Evernote servers and makes it accessible from any device with the software installed. You can get Evernote for Windows, Macs and all the major smartphones, giving you access to your notes from almost anywhere. But there's more to Evernote than simple reminders: we've compiled 10 tips to help you squeeze as much as possible out of the surprisingly powerful application. 

More In Sync Than Justin Timberlake

The core of Evernote's power lies in its syncing ability. By default, the program uploads all of your new and edited notes to the company's servers every 30 minutes. You can change the frequency by selecting "Tools" > "Options" > "Sync." If you need access to one of your notes on another device, and you need to do it now, click the "Sync" button in Evernote's toolbar to upload your changes to Evernote's servers immediately.


Evernote's Sync button.

Have SMTP Do The Work for You

As powerful as Evernote is, sometimes you just won't have access to it. If inspiration strikes while you're helping Grandma clean malware off her Mac, just shoot your Evernote account an email. Evernote sends you an email address for your account when you sign up. The subject of the email becomes the note's title, and the body becomes the content of the note. You can even categorize emailed notes by including modifiers in the subject: add @(notebook name) to assign the note to a specific notebook, and add tags with #(tag).

Wanna Trade Pics?

A picture's worth a thousand words, especially if it's a picture of your totally cool case mod. The free version of Evernote lets you add images, audio files and PDFs to your notes simply by dragging and dropping them in. Smartphone users can just snap a pic with their camera, or you can add a supported file to an emailed note by including it as an attachment. Upgrade to the premium version and you can add any kind of file you'd like.

Digitize Your Life

Adding images to your notes can be used for so much more than sending your mom pics of your Pomeranian. Handed a business card? Snap a shot of it and tag it with the person's name and business. Swimming in school notes? Don't want to lose the kick-ass idea spewed all over your whiteboard? Take a pic. Not only do you keep the information forever, but Evernote's awesome optical character recognition software can read your handwriting and turn the pictures of words into searchable text.

Music To Your Ears

Eminem fans doing their best "Eight Mile" impression used to have to resign themselves to the fact that their battle-mic prowess was lost to the aether the second they spit out a hot lyric. No longer. Mobile Evernote apps include the ability to record audio notes, so you'll be able to record those spur-of-the-moment thunderbolts of inspiration while your fingers are otherwise occupied. Additionally, the Voice2Note software by Power2Do can transcribe your audio into text notes if you want a print version of your brainstorm. Voice2Note even maintains a dedicated phone line so that you can call in your notes completely hands-free.

Add Web Pages to Your Notes

Adding Web content to Evernote in Firefox.

You can always just copy text from a website and paste it into a note, but you'd be losing a lot of the benefits of the Web. The modern Internet is chock full of media, baby, and Evernote's Web Clipper plugin grabs entire chunks of the screen at once, keeping images and formatting intact (for the most part). Simply download the Web Clipper add-on for your browser, then highlight a portion of a Web page. Right-click the excerpt and select "Add to Evernote." Bam! Done. The Chrome plugin adds even more functionality. Its "Simultaneous Search" option adds results from your Evernote tags whenever you search Google, so when you Google "Furry" pics, it conveniently tells you that you already have thirty teddy bear-sporting notes tagged with the term.

Streamline Your Research and Shopping

The Web Clipper plugin makes it easy to compile multiple research sources into a single note. Rather than bookmarking each and every website you reference in your thesis, just create a new note and clip the appropriate snippets of each page into it. It works great for keeping track of websites and prices while comparison shopping, too. You can still add your own text to notes with clipped Web pages, so jotting down notations and extra details to go with the clips is easy.

Show Me Yours And I'll Show You Mine

Users of Evernote's Mac and Web versions have been swapping notebooks for a while, but the feature only appeared on Windows earlier this year. Spamming Twitter or Facebook with your notes is easier than ever before thanks to the "Share" button in Evernote's toolbar. Just click it and choose how you want to share your grocery list with friends. Sharing whole notebooks is handled via the "Shared" tab in the left-hand navigation panel. Select which notebook you want to share, then choose to show your stuff to the entire world or to selected individuals via email. If you're using the free version, others can only see your notebook; upgrading to a premium account lets others alter shared notebooks, making it an awesome collaboration tool for business or creative types.

Search Like A Pro

Evernote supports several modifiers that can help you unleash some serious Search-Fu. Preface your search with "Tag:" – minus the quotes – to limit your searches to notes with a specific tag. The "notebook:" modifer works the same way, only with notebooks. Add a minus sign to the front of a modifier to exclude compatible results from searches. Asterisks act as wildcards, just like they do in Google searches and DOS commands. Want an example? Search for "-tag:*" to show all your untagged notes. The "created:" modifier sorts by date. There's tons of depth to Evernote modifiers – so much that honestly covering them would take an entire article of its own. Check out this comprehensive post over at Dropping Steps for all the syntax info you'll ever need.

Evernote search modifiers in action.

Get Things Done With Checklists

Are you like Santa, constantly making a list a checking it twice? Evernote's got you covered. Just right-click in the body of a note and select "To-Do" > "Insert Checkbox" to drop a checkable box into the note. It's perfect for creating shopping lists on the run.

No Love For Linux

A last, quick note for Linux fans: Evernote doesn't offer a Linux version. Sure, you could try to run the program in Wine, or you could just download and install Nevernote, an open source Evernote clone that fully interacts with the Evernote servers. Nevernote gets bonus points for including "Why is it so ugly?" as a topic in its documentation.

 

Twitter Adds Follow Button for Faster Following

Posted: 31 May 2011 02:51 PM PDT

followThe "Tweet" button has been available for some time, allowing users to share links easily on Twitter. Now the short messaging service has added a feature from the other side of the coin. The Follow button can be placed on websites to allow visitors to easily follow an account. No more awkward linking to profile pages, just a one-click follow.

According to Twitter, over 50 sites have added the Follow button today. The goal is to make it easier to know when someone has an account, and to help users find official accounts for notable personalities. Sites like IMDB, MTV, and TVGuide are among those using the button already, but any user can configure their own Follow button on the Twitter site. You will need to be logged into Twitter in the browser to use the one-click Follow button.

Simply input your user name, pick a background color, and decide if you want your follower count shown. The site will give you the HTML snippet to paste on your blog or website instantly. Will you be more likely to follow someone if they have this one-click button set up?

See-Through Stunner: How to Build The Ultimate Acrylic PC

Posted: 31 May 2011 12:25 PM PDT

When all of the walls of a system are transparent, where do you hide the cables? Answer: behind all the awesome insides

Were there a Mount Everest of PC builds, the see-through PC would likely be it. The difficulties are great, and the possibilities for failure high, but there's nothing that gets me more excited than the opportunity to crack my knuckles and customize the lighting and electrical setup of a transparent desktop system.

The most fearsome part of this build is the acrylic case I'm using: There's nowhere to hide any mistakes. Nor can I just stuff a mass of cables in some secluded area of the case and call it a day. Every bit of this build has to be focused on aesthetics, so I'm grabbing my toolbox and busting out a ton of different tricks to make sure this system can stand up to scrutiny.

Ingredients

 

  • Total (customizations only)  $945 

Total for PC: $1,945

Selecting the right hardware to make a system look good is the most important part of a transparent PC construction. That's why you'll see that my parts—a number of which were donated to the cause by online retailer FrozenCPU—are more focused on the system's appearance than its actual performance. Feel free to use whatever components you want. I'm using the same standard parts I've used for my previous case builds.

The case is a no-brainer: acrylic. DangerDen graciously sent over a version of its acrylic case that hides the hard drive underneath the power supply, lest I be tempted to bust out the Dremel and construct a window within the drive itself. The two-bay cutout on the front of the case is critical, too, providing just enough space for an optical drive and a series of switches that I'll use to power and control the system's lighting.

Also critical: the modular power supply (provided by Kingwin). If you haven't noticed by now, the name of the game here is cable management. Specifically, I need to use as few cables as possible inside the case, as there's no great way to conceal them.

I'm packing a 3/8-inch water-cooling setup to give the inside a bit more visual flair. The reactive fluid should look extra special combined with blue lighting from the radiator fans and separate UV spotlights. And to complete the Tron motif, I'm outlining the exterior of the case with yellow electroluminescent wire.

Step One: Build the Case

The DangerDen acrylic case I'm using, the DD Tower-21, comes fully disassembled. The process for assembling your flat-packed parts into a mighty chassis will vary with whatever case you've purchased, but two key pointers will always stay the same.

First, take precautions to minimize fingerprint smudges. Wearing a pair of soft gloves or using a cloth barrier between you and the panels can keep things clean (above).

Second, don't use power tools—no battery-powered screwdrivers, no drills, nothing. Over-tightening screws can lead to cracked acrylic, which defeats the entire purpose of having a see-through case to begin with. I love how the design of the DangerDen case makes it so I don't actually have to hold nuts in place while attaching screws (above).

Step Two: Attack the Radiator

There's only one place to attach a radiator on this case, and it's on an acrylic panel that sits directly behind the case's front. Since I knew I wanted to run EL wire to outline the front of the chassis, this secondary panel had to be in position prior to setting up the case's lighting. This point illustrates the reason why you should inventory and strategize a case build before you start slapping things together.

I used smaller screws to attach my Black Ice GT Stealth 360 X-Flow radiator to the acrylic panel. I then flipped the panel over and used longer screws to attach a combination of three UV-reactive Yate Loon 12cm fans and three ModRight FilterRight fan filters (above). I then slid the secondary panel into place and screwed it into the case (below).

 

Step Three: Install the EL Wire

EL wire, or electroluminescent wire, is thin copper wire that glows a particular color (thanks to a phosphor coating) when you run current through it. After mounting the primary inverter to the rear of the case (above), right around the hard drive (for maximum concealment), I ran the black wire cabling for my two strands of EL wire through the holes in the rear of the case. I then looped each 5-foot strand of wire around the bottom, front, and top of the case, securing it to the case's sides using clear adhesive tape (below)—any other method would disrupt the strand of light.

Step Four: Add PSU and Hard Drive

I next decided to throw in my Kingwin LZ-1000 modular power supply and 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive, because I wanted to get a feel for how the system's primary components would affect the placement of the other aesthetically oriented parts I had in mind. I also wanted to start testing out my system's lighting setup by connecting an Antec power supply tester to my PSU, which would generate juice for anything attached to its wires. Both the power supply (above) and hard drive (below) slid right in without difficulty, and I hand-secured them with a smile.

 

Step Five: Assemble the Water Cooling

To assemble the water-cooling apparatus, I began by attaching Koolance Quick Disconnects to my various water-cooling parts (below); these would come in handy for adjustments and spill prevention later. My plan was to run 3/8-inch tubing from my Swiftech MCP35X pump (overkill in power, but extremely small and easy to position) to the Black Ice radiator, which would flow out to my Koolance CPU-370 water block, up to a Swiftech MCRes Micro Rev2 reservoir, and back down into the pump.

We've said it once and we'll say it again: Test your loop away from expensive components before you put it in your rig. I tested the whole setup using UV-reactive Feser One cooling fluid (below) before cracking open a cold one and pondering just how I was going to get this into the case—and look good, to boot. I decided to delay this decision a bit and proceeded to install the system's motherboard into the case using the provided standoffs and screws, followed by the graphics card.

 

Step Six: Install Water Cooling

I decided to mount the reservoir right below the hard drive, using a mechanism that would allow me to run the reservoir itself parallel to the case. I screwed a mounting bar into a hole previously designed for a hard drive, then screwed a mounting bar attached to the reservoir into the first mounting bar (above). The way I attached the reservoir meant that the tank could conceivably pivot on an axis, so I made sure to tighten the screw and nut combinations as much as possible to lock the entire contraption into place (below).

Attaching the pump to the case was much easier: I just used velcro, adhered to the case itself (below).

 

Step Seven: Connect the Cables

To minimize cabling and maximize my ability to control lighting brightness and fan power, I connected all the case fans and lighting equipment (including a 12-inch UV cathode) to a Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme six-channel fan controller (below). The controller provides up to 30 watts of power per channel, meaning that no connected device would need a secondary connection to the power supply.

I cut off these secondary connections and, if a device didn't come with a 3-pin connector, I split its cable and the cable of the fan controller's included 3-pin wire, then connected these two halves by twisting the wiring and covering the connection with electrical tape (below).

After I plugged in all the cables to the controller, I installed the system's optical drive over the top of it—both to hide the cabling connections and because it would have been a real pain to try and hook them up with a huge optical drive in the way.

Step Eight: Tidy Up

For any smaller cables that didn't come presleeved, I used Flexo Pet sleeving to wrap the cables in a colorful, UV-reactive exterior. Heat-shrinks and—in some cases—velcro strips were used to hold the sleeving in place (above). I used these same velcro strips to bind all of the power supply's black-sleeved cables together, and then wove all UV cabling around the exterior of this mass, akin to vines around a tree trunk (below). It might not look that interesting with the lights on, but the UV-reactive cabling looks striking in the dark—and with my UV spotlights on, of course.

I finished out the system build by connecting all the associated power and data cords, including the tiny wires used by my third-party, UV-glowing system switch. The last part of the puzzle involved finding the perfect place to mount my three UV-LED spotlights, which deliver focused light over a good chunk of the case's now-glowing parts.

The Guts

The Brain

This build would not be possible without this rig's six-channel fan controller. Every light and fan in the case (save for the PSU's) is adjustable (and powered) using this simple series of switches.

COOL IT

In addition to providing better cooling than air, a
liquid-cooling setup provides visual flare, especially with UV-reactive coolant.

Simplicity, simplicity

I didn't just pick Koolance's CPU-370 for its prowess. The water block is also a snap to install, requiring very few parts, headaches, or wizard swears in order to firmly attach the block over one's CPU.

Artificial Walls

Use elements like your lighting inverter or your water-cooling pump to wall off cabling where possible. It's a lot easier to keep a cable in place with a rigid device blocking its path than with a ton of Velcro and twist ties.

 

Looking Through the Results

It sure looks easy on paper, doesn't it? In practice, the physical construction of the see-through PC was a multiday build involving several trips to the hardware store to deal with a variety of issues. The biggest hurdle in working with a case that you build yourself is that not everything always goes according to plan. Some screw lengths don't fit the predrilled holes in the chassis; some unexpected twists have to be navigated (the first UV-reactive coolant I used looked less than impressive); some dents, dings, and cracks find their way onto the chassis no matter how careful you are.

If I could offer one piece of advice to instill courage in folks looking to follow in my transparent footsteps, it would be this: over plan. Take your time. Don't order a mess of components at once with some grand vision in your head of how they're all going to come together, because you'll be amazed at some of the new ideas you'll come up with once you actually have a huge acrylic case sitting on your coffee table. You can just wing it with a conventional build, but acrylic cases require a lot more TLC.

Had I the time, opportunity, or work setup, I would have loved to craft some acrylic frames for both the power supply and the optical drive. That's not the kind of deal that one just budgets an hour for, and it does pose some risk that a newbie with a Dremel could send his or her expensive components off to the scrap heap. Still, see-through is see-through, and see-through devices, where possible, would have been a nice touch.

One final word to the wise: EL wire is both a blessing and a curse. Get the longest single strand you can purchase. Here's why: The more strands of EL wire you connect to a converter, the dimmer the strands become in total. Depending on the brand of inverter and wire you've chosen, the inverter itself can also emit a loud, high-pitched whine. It's a rookie mistake, but one that could easily scuttle the dreams of those looking to turn their mid-tower desktops into a device out of Tron: Legacy.

Building a see-through PC is like the sword in the stone of computer construction: Once you've mastered the sleeving, electrical, and liquid-cooling challenges of a transparent build, you can accomplish great things. May your lights shine bright, aspiring builder.

European Union Investigates Hard Drive Mergers

Posted: 31 May 2011 11:36 AM PDT

The European Union frowns on mega-mergers and doesn't like it when a handful of companies control an entire industry. It's not afraid to spank companies that try to grab power, either; just ask Microsoft and Intel, who were each slapped with bowel-quiveringly huge antitrust fines in excess of 1 billion euros in the past. Now, Seagate and Western Digital find themselves in the regulatory spotlight as each company tries to take over competitors in the increasingly cut-throat hard drive business.

Seagate wants to absorb Samsung's hard drive division while Western Digital is hungrily eying Hitachi's storage business, Bloomberg reports. The European Commission put dampers on both moves to conduct a detailed investigation of the proposals. The inquiries would be complete by October 10th, the Commission said.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Union's competition commissioner, cited concern that the mergers would limit the number of hard drive manufacturers to just three. "The sector has already experienced significant consolidation and the proposed acquisitions will further reduce competition," Almunia says. If approved, Western Digital would hold 50 percent of the hard drive market, Seagate would control another 40 percent, and Toshiba would bring up the rear with the final 10 percent. US regulators are taking their own look at the deals.

Game Theory: The Death of Online Poker

Posted: 31 May 2011 11:24 AM PDT

On April 15, thousands of professional Internet gamers were put out of work by the U.S. Justice Department.

You didn't realize there were so many people who derived some or all of their income from online gaming? Well, if poker isn't a game, then I'm not sure what it is. And thousands of people—many of them college students and the unemployed—played poker online to support themselves, right up until the Justice Department decided to pull the plug.

Technically, Internet gambling isn't illegal, or at least not clearly illegal. When the Bush administration rammed through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (the UIGEA) as a last-minute addition to a port security bill, they didn't bother to really define "unlawful Internet gambling." Instead, they opted to deny the financial tools commonly used for e-commerce (extension of credit, electronic fund transfers, etc.) to any enterprise transmitting a wager to any location where that wager is illegal.

no poker

But these laws, which are different for each state, simply can't be applied to something like Internet poker. Plus, all of the major poker sites were based offshore, bringing international law into the picture.

President Obama, in his mysterious efforts to cement his reputation as The Second Coming of George W. Bush, decided to pick up the UIGEA ball and run with it. Thus, on April 15, the Justice Department seized the domains for Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars.net, and Absolute Poker; froze billions in assets; and arrested 11 of their executives. These three weren't chosen at random: They are the three largest online poker sites.

full tilt

If you were a casual online player, you may miss the thrill of playing for real money. But if you relied on that income, you woke up on poker's Black Friday to find your world gone. Rather than taking on the complex task of defining and perhaps even regulating Internet gambling, the government simply destroyed it.

You can follow Thomas McDonald on Twitter at StateOfPlayBlog.

Asus Gaming Gear Steals The Spotlight At Computex

Posted: 31 May 2011 10:59 AM PDT

Does Asus have a chip on its shoulder? The company showed up swinging at the Computex expo in Taiwan with the official announcement of the PadFone yesterday, and today, it unleashed a torrent of PC-related products upon the drooling crowds. Souped-up notebooks, motherboards, graphics cards,  peripherals and full-blown gaming PCs – most sporting the Republic of Gamers brand – were on display as Asus tried to offer a solution for every gamer who ever even thought about playing Crysis.

Maybe the coolest thing Asus unveiled was the G53SX Naked Eye 3D gaming notebook, which obviously carried the ROG brand. The portable beast is powered by Sandy Bridge Core i7 processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M graphics, but perhaps best of all, it can display in 3D without the need for those goofy 3D glasses. Slashgear reports the notebook will be able to convert 2D to 3D and even display them side-by-side.

Other announced ROG systems were the G74SX 3D notebook – which still needs glasses – and the CG8565 Gaming System, which includes a Z68-based Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 GPU. The thing looks like a stealth fighter itching to kick your ass and includes an overclock button, charmingly labeled "Level Up."

Asus also displayed three new ROG motherboards: the Maximus IV GENE-Z and Maximus IV Extreme-Z motherboards both feature Intel's Z68 processor, while the company's press release boasts that the "Crosshair V Formula is the first AMD 990FX-based motherboard supporting both 3-Way SLI and CrossFireX." It runs on a AM3+ CPU. Two NVIDIA GTX 580-based graphics cards also carried the ROG brand, and the company showed off its M5A99/97 Series and Sabertooth 990FX motherboards. The M5A99/97 lets users fiddle with power settings, while the Sabertooth 990FX keeps cool with CeraM!X technology.

Asus also revealed the first peripheral carrying the ROG brand: the Vulcan ANC gaming headset, which features active noise-cancelling technology so that you can hear you foes being vanquished while simultaneously ignoring your girlfriend shouting at you to get off the computer.

Broadcom Announces 40nm WiFi/Bluetooth Combo Chip

Posted: 31 May 2011 10:12 AM PDT

Convenience isn't just for fast food and corner store shopping; laziness – or efficiency, whichever you want to call it – is also one of the driving factors in portable PC design. Us end-users hate to lug around gargantuan laptops, and we hate being tied to electrical outlets while our batteries recharge. We want to be like Ali and float like a butterfly, dammit! Fortunately for us, Broadcom unveiled a new 40nm-thick Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo chip at Computex on Tuesday, the smallest ever developed.

Called the BCM43142 InConcert combo chip (the link keeps timing out, presumably due to heavy traffic), its invention follows the trend of incremental changes: while we've seen WiFi/Bluetooth combo chips before, we've never seen them this small. Not only does the device combine what used to be two chips into one – eliminating one full chip entirely – but the smaller size means less weight, which could lead to less energy consumption. Win-win all around!

The chip will be available for Windows and Android-based notebooks and netbooks.

Google: Chrome OS Only for Notebooks (for Now)

Posted: 31 May 2011 10:07 AM PDT

Between 1,000 different flavors of Android, iOS, QNX, Windows Phone 7, and every other operating system out there, it's not as if the mobile world is dire need of yet another OS. That's good, because if tablet and smartphone makers are waiting for Google's Chrome OS to be ported over, they better bet cozy, it could be a long wait. Speaking at the Computex trade show, a Google senior executive says the search giant is content to keep its Chrome OS on notebooks.

"Chrome OS is a computer model designed with various form factors in mind, but we are entirely focused on the notebook form factor for now. We have no other plans at this time," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior VP for Chrome, according to a Reuters report.

Whether or not that's a sound strategy will soon be revealed. Laptops from Samsung and Acer sporting Google's barebones Chrome OS will go on sale next month, and some analysts predict it will have a similar impact on the PC world as Android did (and continues to have) in the mobile space.

"The big issue is whether Google has the marketing nous and focus to position the Chrome PC to compete head on with the established full-OS laptop and tablet players in the consumer computing market," said Steve Hodgkinson, IT research director fo Asia Pacific at research firm Ovum."

Corsair Launches Low Profile 'Vengeance' DDR3 Memory Kits

Posted: 31 May 2011 08:13 AM PDT

Corsair has come up with a solution for anyone having trouble trying to squeeze a monstrous CPU cooling solution into their rig only to find that the RAM is getting in the way. It's the company's new Vengeance LP DDR3 memory series. These low profile kits feature heat spreaders with a reduced height of 1.03 inches (25.25 millimeters), nearly an inch shorter than the standard height of 1.87 inches (47.37 millimeters).

The Vengeance LP kits are available in three different colors, including "Jet Black," "Cerulean Blue," and a "Special Edition Arctic White." Like the original Vengeance series, these are designed to run at 1.5V, except for the Arctic White version, which operates at the ultra-low voltage of 1.35V.

To kick things off, Corsair plans to offer its Vengeance LP series in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB kits, each one with a rated frequency of 1600MHz and 9-9-9-24 latencies.

No word yet on price or availability.

Image Credit: Corsair

Opera 11.50 Beta "Swordfish" Browser Now Available for Testing

Posted: 31 May 2011 07:35 AM PDT

If there's a Rodney Dangerfield of browser makers, it has to be Opera Software, the Norwegian browser maker responsible for Opera, the oft overlooked alternative to Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Opera might not get the same market share respect that the big three receive, but even if the useage numbers don't bear it out, it's a decent overall browser worth checking out. For those who like to live on the bleeding edge, Opera Software just made available Opera 11.50 beta codenamed "Swordfish."

The new beta shakes up Opera's popular Speed Dial feature by adding extensions to the mix. Speed Dial extensions transform what's traditionally been a simple thumbnail bookmark into a dynamic source of information. Using extensions, you can configure Speed Dial to display live, animated content like news feeds, weather, a photo stream, and more.

Opera's other big feature upgrade is password synchronization through Opera Link. Opera Link synchronizes bookmarks and other browser information across multiple computers, and purportedly keeps passwords safe through encryption (you can read more about the security features here).

Those are the two main features of Opera 11.50, which are flanked by improved HTML5 support, improved CSS, better DOM event handling, and a handful of other changes underneath the hood.

Opera 11.50b1 Download
Opera 11.50b1 Changelog

Image Credit: Opera Software
Posted by Shri Krishna
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