pc gaming
News
Alienware’s TGS Lineup Is So Very Pretty
3:20AM Mike Fahey
Gaming computer experts Alienware took the occasion of the Tokyo Game Show to unveil four new desktops and one new laptop for those of us who could never afford one to drool over. More »
News
What Does Windows 7 Mean To You?
2:40AM Mike Fahey | Will the upcoming new version of Windows be yet another Vista for PC gamers to worry about, or will Windows 7 be a boon for the mouse and keyboard set? TechRadar takes a look. More »
Lenovo Packs Motion Gaming Controller In With New Desktop
1:00AM Brian Crecente | Lenovo rolled out their new line of computers today in preparation for the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show. Among the list is an “all-in-one” desktop that includes a motion-sensing remote for gaming. More »
PC Gaming Is The Largest Market
3:20AM Mike Fahey | Is PC gaming giving way to today’s more versatile and powerful consoles? Not according to a market study recently conducted by research group JPR, which claims that more gaming PC’s have been sold over the past three years than Xbox 360s, PlayStation 3s, and Wiis combined. The study, which tracks the sales of three different classes of gaming PCs over since Q3 2005, found that 196 million units have been sold between then and Q3 2008, compared to a worldwide total of 74.7 million consoles. As Edge points out, this of course doesn’t take into effect handheld gaming systems like the DS and PSP, which sold a combined 125 million units during the same period. More »
Silence is Gordon
8:00AM Owen Good | No one is suggesting a future iteration of Half-Life’s protagonist will suddenly start talking, like Chief Bromden savouring Juicy Fruit, but Matt Smith, writing at Thunderbolt Games, has an eloquent defence of Gordon Freeman’s muteness, why it works so well in this series, and why Freeman is such a beloved character despite saying nary a word. More »
What’s Better Than an Achievement? A Triumph
1:00AM Owen Good | Greenhouse Interactive, the digital distribution service run by the Penny Arcade guys, has a new take on in-game accomplishments and is now pitching it to indie developers. The Nitrogen Software Development Kit offers games the option of being enhanced with “triumphs” and “standings” — achievements and trophies of course, but just more achievement-y sounding.
The Drawback of Multiplayer: Other Players
5:00AM Owen Good | People who call me an elitist are quite mistaken: I’m actually a misanthrope. It’s not that don’t associate with certain people, I don’t associate with most people. Present company excluded of course. Or included. However you want to read it. John Walker at Rock, Paper, Shotgun feels somewhat the same way, and that’s why he’s fired up about The Old Republic. And he has a novel argument for why it’ll save MMO gaming, for antisocial types like myself. More »
Invade Stormwind? You and What Arm– oh, That One
12:00AM Owen Good | When you can’t convince 35 other people of your master plan to attack two Alliance capital cities, you really only have one alternative: Do it yourself. “Bradster” does. He owns that rig above — 11 computers that run 36 World of WarCraft accounts simultaneously. His infrastructure costs (to say nothing of his utility bill) weren’t itemized, but he unashamedly admits he pays $US5,711 per year in subscription fees to keep together his one-man raiding party (family photo of that on the jump). More »
Even Spielberg Cannot Beat BioShock’s Mysterious God Spider (Huh?)
3:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Yes, yes, Steven Spielberg likes games, blah, blah, blah. A GQ Magazine feature on Spielberg’s Indy Jones star Shia LaBeouf sheds some light on the way the filmmaker plays games. From the article: LaBeouf kept following the calls until he got to the director’s office. And there was the master himself: shoes off, socks on, dressed in shooting gear, but sitting behind a computer, stuck on the fifteenth level of a first-person shooter called BioShock. “This is like months to get to this level, and he can’t get past this one little mysterious spider god, and he’s losing his mind. He’s like, ‘I can’t do it, Shia! I can’t do it.’ “ LaBeouf, who got into acting at age 12 partly because he wanted to make enough money to buy himself a Sega Genesis, had found himself a soul mate. Bwah? The 15th level of BioShock? There are 15 levels in BioShock? And mysterious spider gods? Guess Spielberg really is losing his mind! LaBeouf Article [GQ Thanks, Brendan!] More »
