General Gaming Article

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• Best Email Service: Gmail vs.Outlook.com
• Adobe Servers Hacked, 2.9 Million Customers Affected
• Ask the Doctor: Overheating CPUs, Caseless Computing, and More!
• Google Chromebook Pixel Review
• Check Out This Awesome Time Lapse Video of Grand Theft Auto V
• Nvidia Closes $5 Million Deal with Ubisoft
• Gigabyte, Asus Wrestle for Motherboard Shipment Crown
• Nvidia Dubs GeForce 331.40 Beta Driver an "Essential Update" for Battlefield 4 Players
• Newegg Daily Deals: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 Graphics Card, ViewSonic 24-inch LCD, and More!
• ASRock, BMW Put the SFF Pedal to the Metal and Crash the Living Room

Best Email Service: Gmail vs.Outlook.com Posted: 03 Oct 2013 02:54 PM PDT Gmail vs.Outlook.com: the battle of the best email services Your webmail inbox is the center of your online ecosystem, and not just for your primary email account, but for every other account you have that's connected to it. Which one's better? It's time for the battle of the webmail giants, and it'll be a doozy. In one corner, we have the Whale of Webmail, the defending champion inboxer: Gmail! In the other corner, the scrappy kid with a big name, the King of Clean, the Preview of Pain, Outlook.com! Gmail vs Outlook.com: Battle of the best webmail clients Round 1: Aesthetics Outlook.com looks great. It's clean and simple in the Modern UI style: white background, black text, one bright color, low information density. It looks better than the desktop Outlook, and Outlook webmail, and it looks much better than Gmail. It's easy to configure the preview pane—you have to dig in the Labs section to find that in Gmail. On the other hand, customization is limited to changing the one color, and you only get 18 options there. Outlook.com's inbox is clean and modern and has a preview pane by default, but offers much less usable information at a glance than Gmail's. Gmail is more themeable—you can choose background images, color schemes, and even information density, but even at its most minimal it's more cluttered than Outlook.com. It's the same sort of cluttered as the Outlook desktop client—the price you pay for having a lot more information available at a glance. Gmail can look great or horrendous; Outlook.com just looks good all the time. It's close, but Outlook wins this round. Gmail's inbox is information-dense and extremely configurable, but too much information onscreen means info can get lost in the noise. Winner: Outlook.com Round 2: Email Experience The Outlook.com composition window is large and clean and easy to use, but Gmail lets you compose a message in-line with the thread you're replying to, or in a pop-up window in the corner, so you can keep tabs on other messages or your entire inbox while you're writing. Both Gmail and Outlook.com offer robust tagging and sorting for messages, and both have enough keyboard shortcuts to be usable without a mouse. Gmail offers 10GB of storage; Outlook.com doesn't advertise a limit. Outlook.com also allows you to easily unsubscribe from bulk mail. Outlook.com's Quick Views are fantastic, letting you easily find messages with photo or document attachments, tracking numbers, specific labels, or flags. Gmail's Label views can do the same, but take more manual setup. Winner: Tie Round 3: Customization There's just no contest here. If you can find the right settings to enable, Gmail is incredibly powerful. Priority Inbox does a frighteningly good job at sorting your email by importance, Send and Archive keeps your inbox tidy, and the Labs fix problems you didn't even know you had. There are Labs settings to enable an Outlook-like preview pane, tweak the Chat interface, add calendar and documents widgets, even "undo" sending an email—which has saved our bacon once or twice. You can view multiple Label inboxes at once, play Google Voice messages in Gmail, and so much more. Outlook.com's customization is modest, and that's an understatement. Winner: Gmail   Round 4: Ecosystem Gmail ties into the enormous Google ecosystem, from Calendar to Drive to Google Accounts to Google Plus (meh). Outlook.com ties into your Microsoft Account—which you use for everything from Xbox Live to Office 365 to Skype to logging into Windows 8. You can open Microsoft Office files on the web directly from your Outlook.com inbox, but you can do the same for Google Docs files in Gmail, and you can view Office documents (and convert them for editing) in Drive, as well. Outlook.com ties into SkyDrive and lets you send large attachments easily, while Gmail does the same with Google Drive. Gmail has Google Hangouts and Google Plus integrated, while in Outlook.com you can chat with your Facebook or Live Messenger friends. Each, of course, works best if you're heavily invested in its corresponding ecosystem, so we're calling this a tie. Winner: Tie Round 5:  Accounts and Security Both Outlook.com and Gmail connect via HTTPS by default, with 128-bit encryption, and both let you send and receive messages from POP3 accounts. Google also supports IMAP. UPDATE: At the time of publication, Outlook.com did not support IMAP, but has since updated to support it.  Gmail has had two-factor authentication for a long time now; Outlook.com doesn't—yet. Microsoft is reportedly working on it, and it may even be available by the time this issue is out. Two-factor authentication is essential for any online account you don't want hacked. Given that your Gmail and Outlook.com accounts tie into your entire Google and Microsoft ecosystems, anyone who gets your password can access your entire digital life—unless you have two-factor authentication enabled. Finally, Google supports multiple sign-on, so if your work or personal website uses Google Apps, you can be signed into that as well as your Gmail account. Outlook.com doesn't. Yes, Google gets this round. Winner: Gmail And the Winner Is… With ties in two rounds, Gmail only beats Outlook.com by one round. Google's offering has better security options and more power under the hood—if you can figure out how to make it work. Outlook.com is clean-looking, ties into more social networks, and has useful features right out in the open with less tweaking. It can't match Google's eight-year head start, but it's catching up quickly.

Adobe Servers Hacked, 2.9 Million Customers Affected Posted: 03 Oct 2013 02:49 PM PDT Customer information and product source code at risk Adobe Chief Security Officer Brad Arkin has revealed that Adobe's servers were attacked in a successful attempt to access customer data and product source code. 2.9 million customers are affected with "names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders," taken.  If your information was compromised, you should be receiving an email from Adobe with information on how to change your password. While you're at it, be sure to change your password at any site where you use the same username and password. Arkin says that customers with compromised financial information will be contacted separately with "additional information on steps you can take to help protect yourself against potential misuse of personal information." Federal law enforcement has also been contacted and Adobe is assisting in their investigation. In a separate post, Arkin noted that the source code for "Adobe Acrobat, ColdFusion, ColdFusion Builder and other Adobe products," was accessed by "an unauthorized third party."  "We value the trust of our customers. We will work aggressively to prevent these types of events from occurring in the future," Arkin says. Follow Ben on Twitter.

Ask the Doctor: Overheating CPUs, Caseless Computing, and More! Posted: 03 Oct 2013 01:53 PM PDT The doctor tackles Overheating CPUs, Caseless Computing, SSD Free Space, and more The Cooler Does Nothing! I have a PC I built in 2011 with an Asus P8P67 motherboard, EVGA GTX 570 GPU, 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600K CPU, and Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo cooler. When playing BF3, I consistently get temps around 90 degrees Celsius. I'm pretty sure this is dangerous territory, though I've never had any problems—no crashes or anything. Still, this morning I took my cooler off and reapplied the thermal paste. I added a pea-size drop of Arctic Silver 5 after thoroughly cleaning both the chip and the cooler. I plugged everything back up and got the same result. I have an older Lian Li case that has decent cooling. If I take the door off the machine it's very loud, but it does drop the temp by about 10 degrees. Still, 80 degrees seems too high. Friends who play with me who have the same basic setup see temps more like 50 C and 60 C at load. My idle temp is around 40 C. What am I doing wrong? What should I try? Should I worry about it or is 90 C OK? - Aaron Newton The Doctor Responds: Yikes, that is high. The Doc used to have the same problem: a high-powered cooler that just wasn't doing the job. The culprit? The PC's case. It had zero intake fans. It sounds like you're not getting enough airflow through your PC—or your CPU fan is fighting with your exhaust fan. Without a fresh supply of cool air and a quick way to exhaust the warm air, the ambient temp in your case is going to stay high, and even a great cooler isn't going to keep your rig cool. Check that your intakes are clean and free of dust, your fans are spinning, and you have clear airflow from your front intakes to your rear exhaust fans. If you have fan mounts that aren't occupied, consider getting some high-airflow fans to put in them. If that doesn't help, it may be time to invest in a new case—one that has ample cooling for today's components. Finally, make sure the utility you're using is modern and reports the chip temps correctly. CPUID.com's HW Monitor works very well and will let you log the temps. The Doc also recommends using Intel's own Turbo Boost Monitor to see what your chip is spooling up to, as well. A chip that's stable but excessively hot may not actually boost as high as it would if it were cooler. Airplane Mode Shortcut I loved the airplane mode tip for Windows 8 in the April 2013 issue of the magazine. It reminds me of the keyboard key on my mother's laptop, which will enable/disable network access with the press of a button. Can you set me up with a shortcut that I can place in my Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP system tray or desktop what will accomplish the same thing? - Robert Cichon The Doctor Responds: You're not the only one asking for this, Robert—our research shows plenty of people around the web asking the same thing. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a simple way to do it other than the way we've already talked about. Microsoft declines to make that API call available to outside developers, and if someone has figured out how to do it, we don't know of it. As for the alternative methods, those work by powering the radios on and off via hardware; Microsoft says the software airplane mode is the way to go, because it prevents other programs from turning those radios back on without your permission. The Emperor Has No Case What is your opinion on putting together a rig without a case? I think it's rather cool to have a "visible" computer. However, I am concerned about heat dissipation. The system only has a CPU fan and nothing else. Is the natural convection adequate to cool the system? - Bill Ryder The Doctor Responds: We run open-air test benches all the time in the Lab, Bill (ours are from HighSpeedPC.com). We still recommend having some sort of framework to affix your components to, just so everything stays connected. There are plenty of PC "test bench" cases that provide the sort of look you seem to be going for. A closed case does provide focused airflow, as well as protection for your parts. But as long as the room your PC is in has decent climate control, natural convection ought to be enough, though you may want to add an additional fan to keep air flowing over the motherboard components. Just make sure you keep liquids, pets, small children, and airborne debris away. And don't come crying to the Doc if something happens. HighSpeed PC's Tech Station gives you stylish open-air computing. CPU Out of Gas? I have an older laptop with a Pentium III 750 running Windows XP. I had been using it just for Internet browsing until it started to slow down. It was taking forever to boot and opening any application became excruciating. I thought it may have been a virus or just crapware that I might have installed inadvertently, so I wiped the drive and did a fresh install of Windows XP. It didn't make much difference in speed so it made me wonder about the hardware, specifically the CPU. Do CPUs slow down over time and eventually stop working? I was always under the assumption that they either work or they don't. - Greg Whitlock The Doctor Responds: If you're getting poor performance even after a clean install, it is more likely to be caused by a hardware problem than an OS issue. However, make sure that you're not infecting the machine immediately after your clean install. The Doctor has seen a person perform a clean install on a box to eliminate a malware issue and then immediately get it infected upon connecting to the Internet. Despite its age, Windows XP continues to be a top target of malware and putting an unpatched XP box on the Internet without a firewall can result in nearly instantaneous infection. If your outbreak was severe enough, it may have infected any portable drives you use, so you could be getting re-infected that way. But assuming that your issue is purely hardware, CPUs don't get slower over time. They will execute the code as fast in 2013 as they did in 2001—it's just that the code of 2013, written for more powerful hardware, may be far more taxing than the code of a decade ago. There are two problems the Doc thinks might be responsible. The first is possible CPU throttling due to heat. The PIII doesn't have the advanced onboard thermal throttling of today's Core i7 chips. Instead the chip counts on the chipset and motherboard to throttle back the clocks. If the laptop's fan is filled with dust or failed, the CPU may be throttling back in speed. The other possible issue is a failing hard drive, which may be generating enough random errors to affect performance. Don't Delete Your SSD? In the April issue of the magazine the Doctor told us how to move items off an SSD to regain space. Doc, I know I read somewhere that deleting files from an SSD doesn't work the same as a delete from, well, the other type of hard drives, that the more files are deleted, the worse the SSD performs. Is that so? I have avoided performing a lot of deletes on that drive, but no doubt things happen just from running the system. If the drive has been filled up that extensively, will a simple delete be much of an improvement? - Leslie P. The Doctor Responds: It's true that deleting files from an SSD doesn't work in quite the same way as deleting them from a hard drive, but it's not true (anymore) that your SSD will perform worse the more files you delete. The flash memory in an SSD consists of 4KB "pages" inside larger "blocks" (usually 512KB). Because of the way flash memory works, you can read individual pages, and write to them if they're empty, but you can only empty a page by deleting the whole block, then rewriting the pages of the block you aren't deleting. Deleting files in your OS only marks the pages they're on as able to be erased, but the data isn't actually gone until the next time the drive needs to write to that block. Then it's erased and overwritten with new data. On older SSDs, that meant that, once the drive ran out of blocks that had never had data on them, it had to start putting files on blocks that contained data previously marked for deletion. Instead of just writing the data to the block, the SSD first had to copy the whole block to its cache, erase the information marked for deletion, replace it with the new information it needed to write, clear the entire block, then rewrite it with the old good data and the new data. This is a lot more work than just writing the information to a fresh block, so the SSD would slow down by a huge margin while doing all this extra work. Fortunately for us, that's not something you really need to worry about anymore. All modern SSDs have garbage collection algorithms in their firmware, as well support for the Trim command (see our Holiday 2009 white paper at http://bit.ly/7GhVfo). These nifty tools work while your PC is idle to clear away data marked for deletion and optimize data on those blocks. Windows 8 will even detect if you have an SSD and let you manually invoke the Trim command. So while nearly full drives can still get clogged up in the manner described above, even after deleting a bunch of data, simply leaving your computer on and not doing anything for an hour or so is enough to get your SSD back up to speed.

Google Chromebook Pixel Review Posted: 03 Oct 2013 01:31 PM PDT It's the Tesla Model S of laptops After almost three years, it's still difficult to explain to techno-newbs just what the hell Google's Chrome OS and Chromebooks are exactly. Content will look superb on the Pixel's 2460x1700 high-pixel-density screen. Browser-only OS? No, when we tell people that, we just get a slack-jawed look that tells us they don't understand what that even means. Instead, we've taken to using a car analogy to help explain the concepts. A laptop with a full-service OS (whether Windows, Linux, or even OSX) is a truck with a sports car engine; it gives you mind-bending performance and cargo capability not available on any other consumer hardware. An ARM-based device is more akin to early hybrid vehicles. They give you amazing run time and portability, and the applications—for what they are—work pretty damned well when scaled down for the platform. If that analogy holds up, the Chromebook is an electric car. It's fine when you have Internet access, but once you're offline, its capabilities plummet. It's like trying to drive your electric car across the United States—it's just not feasible at this point unless you want to stop every 250 miles and park the car overnight near a power outlet. Well, kids, behold the Tesla Model S of personal computers: the Chromebook Pixel. Built on a stunning aluminum shell, the Chromebook Pixel is the sexiest Chromebook we've ever seen and easily one of the sexiest notebooks, too. It's no clone/me-too notebook, either. Google eschews the popular 16:9 aspect ratio screen for a 3:2 aspect-ratio IPS multitouch panel. This makes the screen slightly taller than 99 percent of the notebooks out today. We appreciate the 3:2, but then again, we actually still pine for the days of the long-ago 4:3 aspect-ratio screens, so maybe we're just crazy. The screen itself is an incredible 2560x1700 pixels crammed onto 12.8 inches diagonal. That gives it a PPI of 239, which is the highest in the industry on a clamshell computing device. The etched glass and laser-honed track pad is simply stunning to use, too. The LTE version reviewed here features 64GB of storage and gives you 100MB of data per month for two years. Pixel buyers will also get 1TB of Google Drive storage for three years. The Wi-Fi-only model cuts the storage in half and brings the price down to $1,300. And proving that even for thin clients, performance still matters, the Pixel uses a 1.8GHz Core i5 processor, which makes a monkey out of all previous Chromebooks we've tested. On the graphics side, some may beg to differ with the performance of the Intel HD 4000 graphics (*cough* Nvidia) but the combination outstrips any other Chrome OS notebook out today. You're probably wondering why you even need CPU performance for a browser OS that actually runs decently on even limp ARM chips. Frankly, our gut says Google has plans to use all the CPU horsepower in the Pixel on something. Don't believe us? Just look up Google's 10,000 Stars experiment on your old Atom- or ARM-based Chromebook and you'll see what we mean. Still, we understand what has led the majority of reviewers to label the Pixel the sexiest notebook no one should ever buy—its utility still falls far short of a full-service laptop. At the same time, there are a lot of a people who think the Tesla S is an impractical, overpriced electric car, too. That assessment is probably accurate, but there's no denying that the Tesla S is a damned-sexy car few of us would turn down. Same goes for the Google Pixel. $1,450, www.google.com

Check Out This Awesome Time Lapse Video of Grand Theft Auto V Posted: 03 Oct 2013 10:10 AM PDT Minus the rampant crime, Los Santos County is surprisingly pleasant A new time lapse video by YouTube's The Despicable Channel highlights some of the many things to do and see in Los Santos County, the fictional setting for Grand Theft Auto V's many illegal antics. However, if you take away the obscenely high crime rate, frequent murders, and the fact that you could be mowed down by an out-of-control driver even when you're walking on the beach, there are worse places to live, and certainly lots of leisure to be found. The video was put together in a single day, underscoring the remarkable level of detail Rockstar Games put into its latest creation. Yes, it's only available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 currently, both of which are dated hardware, but it's not just the graphics that are impressive, but the dynamic world the developer created. If you play close attention, you'll notice that cars don't always stop at the same spot at a stoplight, as PetaPixel points out. It's subtle touches like that, along with the sun reflecting off of buildings and changes in position, that makes Los Santos so immersive. Check it out and let us know what you think! Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Nvidia Closes $5 Million Deal with Ubisoft Posted: 03 Oct 2013 10:02 AM PDT Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4 go green Watch Dogs is shaping up to be a huge game and Nvidia seems to agree. They've spent around $5 million to finalize a deal with Ubisoft to give Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4 PC-exclusive effects and features. If you're holding out for Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed 4 on a PC running an Nvidia card, this is great news. Expect better performance and maybe even 4K textures. We know that we're looking forward to Watch Dogs after seeing the amazing DedSec trailer at Gamescom 2013.  Fudzilla reports through anonymous industry sources that AMD was interested in an Ubisoft deal as well, but dropped out in favor of a large Battlefield 4 deal with EA. Fudzilla's original news post lists Assassin's Creed 5, but we assume the deal involves Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag based on this Nvidia blog post from August that specifically names the fourth game as "in the [Nvidia] alliance." DICE, developer of Battlefield 4, has already promised to patch AMD's Mantle API into the game sometime in December. Which game are you more excited for? Drop a comment below! Follow Ben on Twitter.

Gigabyte, Asus Wrestle for Motherboard Shipment Crown Posted: 03 Oct 2013 09:03 AM PDT Combined mobo shipments from Asus and Gigabyte likely to top 43 million units in 2013 Two top tier motherboard makers, Asus and Gigabyte, are fighting for the shipment crown, and while it looks like Asus will emerge the winner, it's become a fairly narrow race at the top. Gigabyte helped close the gap by shipping six million motherboards in the third quarter of this year and is expected to ship at least five million more mobos in the fourth quarter, bringing its total to 21 million units in 2013 (or more). These aren't official statistics, but numbers based on sources from within the upstream supply chain, according to Digitimes. Those sources say Gigabyte shipped 5.2 million motherboards in the first quarter and 4.8 million units in the second quarter. Gigabyte's efforts to expand its share of the market in China is paying off, and because the company is shipping a large number of mid-range and high-end boards, it's cost control and profits are up, too. It's expected that 27 million motherboards will end up in China in 2013, 9 million of which will come from Gigabyte. Given the success it's having over there, Gigabyte will focus even more attention in China in 2014, Digitmes says. Meanwhile, Asus is still the top dog. Asus shipped 22.2 million motherboards in 2012 and is expected to top that figure in 2013, keeping Gigabyte less than an arm's length away. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Nvidia Dubs GeForce 331.40 Beta Driver an "Essential Update" for Battlefield 4 Players Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:37 AM PDT All GeForce GTX owners playing BF4 should install these drivers, Nvidia says You should always be cautious about installing beta software, and if it's a mission critical system you're dealing with, we'd advise against running any pre-release code just because you never know what kind of stability issues may need to be ironed out. At the same time, if you're GeForce GTX owner who plans on jumping in the Battlefield 4 beta (it opens to the public tomorrow), Nvidia says it's essential you install its 331.40 beta driver. The beta driver preps your system to run BF4 with the latest performance updates and profile tweaks. In addition, it adds support for OpenGL 4.4 and adds or updates SLI profiles for several games, including Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Crysis, Dirty Bomb, Drying Light, F1 2013, FIFA 14, Natural Selection 2, Outlast, Space Hulk, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, State of Decay, and Watch Dogs. Nvidia also spent some time stomping out bugs with the latest beta driver. For example, the TXAA option is now back when SLI is enabled in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and if you noticed the GPU clockspeed would not go higher than 405MHz previously, that should no longer be a problem after installing the 331.40 beta driver. More info can be found in the Release Notes (PDF), or you can hop right to the download page. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 Graphics Card, ViewSonic 24-inch LCD, and More! Posted: 03 Oct 2013 06:38 AM PDT Top Deal: Now that the back-to-school frenzy is in the rear view mirror and things have settled down, you can exhale and get back to doing the really important things, like playing games! Don't have a capable GPU? That's a shame, though easily fixable with today's top deal for a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 Graphics Card for $260 with free shipping (Free Batman Arkham Origins with purchase, limited offer). Unlike regular GTX 760 cards, Gigabyte's version keeps its cool with its Windforce 3X triple-fan cooling solution. This card is fast, cool, and quiet, and it comes with a free game to boot! Other Deals: ViewSonic VA2446M-LED Black 24-inch 5ms Monitor w/ Built-in Speakers for $130 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [AFNJ2623]) Rosewill LCD Screen Cleaner Kit for $8 with free shipping (normally $10 - use coupon code: [RW20MA1013]) In Win Commander III 800W ATX 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular Power Supply for $102 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [IW15OFF]) Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750M 750W Semi Modular Power Supply for $108 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [CRPUZ10]; additional $15 Mail-in rebate)

ASRock, BMW Put the SFF Pedal to the Metal and Crash the Living Room Posted: 03 Oct 2013 06:21 AM PDT When subsidiaries get together, SFF happens ASRock and BMW Group DesignworksUSA collaborated on a small form factor (SFF) system called M8 that offers "unstoppable gaming" and lots of other hyperbole, though before we get into the nuts and bolts of the machine, a little background is in order. ASRock, as you probably already know, is a player in the PC space and was originally formed as a subsidiary of Asus. It's now a part of Pegatron, which itself was spun off from Asus. Meanwhile, DreamworksUSA is a global creative consultancy that was acquired by BMW in 1995 and is now a wholly own subsidiary of BMW Group. We're not sure how these two firms bumped into each other or why they decided to jointly design an SFF gaming PC, but the end result is the M8, a highly hyped and unique looking system built around Intel's Z87 platform. The barebones system measures 372mm (W) by 123mm (H) by 400mm (L) and is made from steel, aluminum, and plastic. Inside is an ASRock Z87-M8 mini ITX motherboard with support for Haswell processors and up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 RAM (two DIMM slots). It can also house a dual-slot graphics card, though bear in mind the built-in PSU is 450W, so you can't go too crazy here. Other features include a slim slot loading optical drive, support for a 3.5-inch HDD and 2.5-inch SSD, four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, 4-in-1 memory card reader, eSATA, GbE LAN, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a few other odds and ends. From the available press shots, the chassis would easily add some flare to a home theater setup. Hidden magnets hold the whole case together, and both sides are partially transparent so that parts inside are "ambiguously visible, adding a sense of mystery."   Finally, the system features an intergrated A-Command with G-sensor, which is a fancy way of describing the OLED display on the front of the chassis. The display allows users to tune or check the system's stats, adjust the volume, toggle three power management modes (Eco, Standard, and Speed), play with the lights, and more. The M8 is coming soon, though ASRock didn't spill the beans on price. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

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MMO Updates

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• EverQuest I and II give free gold memberships during Heroic Character event
• RuneScape 3 launches player-designed conclusion to epic quest series
• The Think Tank: Let's play armchair developers
• Guild Wars 2 free trial and sale extended
• The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like to see made into a movie?
• MMO Family: Highlights from ROBLOX's Virtual BLOXcon
• Leaderboard: What changes would bring you back to a previously played MMO?
• Star Trek Online challenges fleets to build better mines
• Hearthstone wipes beta progress and institutes patch
• Final Fantasy XIV world transfer services to 'begin soon'
• Carbine details WildStar abilities, questing, leveling updates
• EQ Next, Landmark to share combat systems
• A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A marvelous, titanic super-hero September

EverQuest I and II give free gold memberships during Heroic Character event Posted: 03 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free-to-Play, Giveaways, Promotions If jumping in to the latest content on a new level 85 Heroic Character isn't enough of an incentive to check out EverQuest II, SOE has sweetened the deal. During the free Heroic Character promotion running until October 15th, everyone in game will also have a free gold-level membership. And those who sign up to continue their gold membership on or before the 15th will receive an extra bonus of their choice of either a mount, a Thurgadin Grand hall prestige home, or a Windwalker robe armor set. EverQuest is also running a Welcome Back to Norrath promotion during the same time frame, offering free gold membership to all players as well as a large bag and potions. Signing up for a gold membership before the event ends will net the player his choice of either the Hero's Forge armor system, a mount, or a 36-slot bag. [Thanks to BabaGraPL for the tip] EverQuest I and II give free gold memberships during Heroic Character event originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: EQ Welcome back to Norrath event, EQII Welcome Back to Norrath event

RuneScape 3 launches player-designed conclusion to epic quest series Posted: 03 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News Items, RuneScape, Free-to-Play, Browser, Player-Generated Content RuneScape 3 is at the tail end of a long-running, episodic quest series and the conclusion is launching this week. Dubbed Birthright of the Dwarves, this grandmaster quest actually has many elements that were designed and voted on by the players themselves. Earlier this year, players participated in a competition to design two of the main NPCs as well as offered suggestions via the forums for other elements for the questline. The result: Birthright of the Dwarves will include both physical battles and mental challenges, and the fate of the Dwarven kingdom rests solely on the players. This questline is also available to all players through the game's new Bonds system that allows players to purchase membership with in-game gold. [Source: Jagex press release] RuneScape 3 launches player-designed conclusion to epic quest series originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Think Tank: Let's play armchair developers Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Miscellaneous, The Think Tank Sometimes it's fun to imagine what we might do if given the chance to take over an MMO's development or community management teams for a month. Sure, a month might not be long in the scope of a game's development, but it might be long enough to get the ball rolling on some new and innovative ideas -- especially with a limitless budget. Hey, we're dreaming here, folks! So I asked the Massively team what they would do to their favorite MMO(s) if given the keys for a month. Continue reading The Think Tank: Let's play armchair developers The Think Tank: Let's play armchair developers originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Guild Wars 2 free trial and sale extended Posted: 03 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Promotions, Buy-to-Play You know that free trial week for Guild Wars 2 that was ending today? Well, guess what -- it isn't! ArenaNet is extending the trial three more days to give new adventurers more time to experience the game. And for those North American and European players who were kicking themselves for missing the chance to jump into Tyria, that extra time affords a full weekend to give the world a whirl. To get started, just head over to the official site and register. But don't put it off too long, because this deal is ending for reals on Monday, October 7th at 2:59 a.m. EDT. Additionally, the $39.99 sale for the Digital Heroic Edition is also being extended; players can now grab their own copy of GW2 at this discounted price until Wednesday, October 8th at 3:59 a.m. EDT. A helpful hint: Unless you are a night owl, you may want to take advantage of the sale the night before to make sure you don't miss out on the deal. [Source: ArenaNet press release] Guild Wars 2 free trial and sale extended originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like to see made into a movie? Posted: 03 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind So, that WoW movie has an official release date. It also has a skillful director, which is both good and bad. It's good because Duncan Jones may actually make a watchable film from video game source material. It's bad because I would've gotten a laugh out of Uwe Boll or one of his contemporaries soiling Blizzard's brand on the big screen. At any rate, assuming the WoW flick is financially successful, it could possibly pave the way for further MMO-to-film adaptations. Is there a particular massively multiplayer property you'd like to see made into a movie? 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! The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like to see made into a movie? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Family: Highlights from ROBLOX's Virtual BLOXcon Posted: 02 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Free-to-Play, Kids, MMO Family, Family MMO conventions are always a good opportunity for fans to meet each other and for developers to solicit input. ROBLOX held a series of BLOXcons over the summer in Chicago, London, and New York City, where thousands of fans were able to get together and celebrate the game. But of course, not everyone can make the trip to a convention, so the company decided to hold a virtual BLOXcon as well. The firm ran a five-hour livestream that included a state of the game speech, new feature announcements, Hall of Fame awards, and gameplay that showcased some of the best creations by ROBLOX fans. If you missed it, fear not, because this week's MMO Family has a rundown of all the highlights! Continue reading MMO Family: Highlights from ROBLOX's Virtual BLOXcon MMO Family: Highlights from ROBLOX's Virtual BLOXcon originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Leaderboard: What changes would bring you back to a previously played MMO? Posted: 02 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Polls, Age of Conan, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Leaderboard I just realized something. The original concept for this Leaderboard column hinged on two competing MMO philosophies duking it out. In recent months, though, it's sort of expanded into a more general feature and an excuse to make sure our criminally underused polling software still works. Eh, whatever. Random thoughts of an MMO blogger, I guess. Anyway and on topic, I've been thinking about going back to Age of Conan lately. So far I've managed to talk myself out of it, but yesterday's dev letter and its crafting tidbits piqued my interest. It also got me wondering what exactly the criteria is for returning to a game you've cast aside before. I imagine it's different for everyone, so for today's Leaderboard, tell us what changes -- if any -- would bring you back to an MMO you've heretofore abandoned. Vote after the cut! Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard! Continue reading Leaderboard: What changes would bring you back to a previously played MMO? Leaderboard: What changes would bring you back to a previously played MMO? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Trek Online challenges fleets to build better mines Posted: 02 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Events (In-Game), Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries Star Trek Online has a new special project for fleets, but instead of taking place on starbases or embassies, this will be exclusive to dilithium mines. Starting Thursday, October 3rd, player fleets can (ahem) engage in constructing a better mine. The goal is to improve the efficiency of the mine, and players can construct enhancements to the outside of mines to boost their productivity -- not to mention add a few visual flairs. This is the final special project for fleet dilithium mines, and fleets will need to at least start on it by October 17th in order to have a shot at completion. Star Trek Online challenges fleets to build better mines originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dev diary

Hearthstone wipes beta progress and institutes patch Posted: 02 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Fantasy, Patches, Free-to-Play, Trading Card Games The day long feared/anticipated is here: Hearthstone is performing its one and only beta wipe while at the same time plugging in a new patch that includes a wide range of fixes and a new crafting interface. Included in the patch notes are notifications that the level cap has gone up to 60, the chat system has been "rejiggered," and many of the classes have received balance tweaks. Hearthstone players will earn more gold and more cards now, and they can unlock heroes in any of the game's three modes. Blizzard previously said that the game should not wipe from here on out and that more players will be invited into the beta. Hearthstone wipes beta progress and institutes patch originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Closed beta patch notes

Final Fantasy XIV world transfer services to 'begin soon' Posted: 02 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Final Fantasy XIV, Subscription Square has unveiled a bit of info regarding Final Fantasy XIV's upcoming world transfer service. Producer Naoki Yoshida says that character transfers will be freely available to everyone for five days as a way of thanking players for staying the course through the game's various launch issues. If you're planning on moving a character, keep in mind that you can't belong to a Free Company and you can't have any items up for sale on the market. The announcement post says that the service will "begin soon," though there's no official date as of yet. Final Fantasy XIV world transfer services to 'begin soon' originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

Carbine details WildStar abilities, questing, leveling updates Posted: 02 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Subscription It's Wednesday, which means there must be a WildStar news update around here somewhere. Ah, here it is. The latest WildStar Wednesday talks up the title's beta progress and touches on topics ranging from ability loadouts to the new questing system to leveling up. "By making what you've unlocked much clearer, leveling up feels much more like a celebration and less like a paralyzing choice of what to do or where to go next," Carbine says. Carbine details WildStar abilities, questing, leveling updates originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: WildStar Wednesday

EQ Next, Landmark to share combat systems Posted: 02 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next Although we knew that combat was going to be present in EverQuest Next Landmark in some capacity (Franchise Director Dave Georgeson mentioned getting leather for crafting way back at SOE Live), no actual details were known. Now, thanks to a Forbes interview with Georgeson we know that the combat system will have the same mechanics as EverQuest Next. The two games will also share the same emergent AI system, although Georgeson said that Landmark may not use it in the exact same way. So if the two games are sharing so many things, what is the point of having two separate full-fledged MMORPGs? Georgeson answered by stating, "EverQuest Next is more of a focused narrative with story arcs and rallying calls, [and] emergent AI pushing things around. Landmark is very much an exploration in creativity and making things that are cool to show off to other players." While combat won't be in Landmark right at launch, it will be implemented very soon afterwards. We guess the big question now is will you be playing EQ Next, Landmark, or both? EQ Next, Landmark to share combat systems originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Forbes interview

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A marvelous, titanic super-hero September Posted: 02 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Marvel Heroes, A Mild-Mannered Reporter I'm breaking up my usual format a bit for this month. Part of that is just out of necessity; DC Universe Online launched a big DLC pack that I talked about in the last column, which obviously was the focus for most of the past month. Champions Online just had an invasion event going that I didn't actually take part in; I've had enough invasion-style events to last the remainder of my natural life, even if the rewards for this one do look pretty awesome. Call me cynical. No, this month I'm focusing on two games, only one of which is actually out at the moment. One of these games has been firing on all cylinders and might force cynical old me to eat a bit of crow, which I'll happily do if it means that the game is better for everyone enjoying it. And the other... isn't. You can probably guess what I'm talking about, but you can also go ahead and jump past the cut to eliminate any possible doubt. I encourage it! Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A marvelous, titanic super-hero September A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A marvelous, titanic super-hero September originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Oct 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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