Content and news by Rob Williams

Chris Kohler at Game|Life played it straight with Sony, confirming they’re only sort of interested in an achievements system. “We didn’t mention that, but it is our intention that we would have it — although I think it would be game-centric. It’s very difficult to draw analogies [between] your success on SOCOM and your success on Madden.

Well there you have it. I actually like the achievement system on the 360. More times than not, I use it to see just how “well” I have beaten a game. For those who wanted the same thing for the PS3 though… nada. Not happening.

Now, according to a corporate presentation on new 360 peripherals in Korea, Microsoft is planning on delivering a 100GB hard drive add-on for the 360. The peripheral is enclosed in a sleek, curved shell that plugs directly into the 360.

It’s about time, that’s all I can say. The only thing that I have to wonder about now though, are those people wishing to upgrade. Will we have to buy a memory card simply to transfer over saved game files? Or demos for that matter, should you want to keep them. Regardless, it’s good to finally see a larger capacity on the horizon.

The real star during AMD’s third quarter, however, was the Turion 64 processor. AMD saw saw demand for the mobile processor grow 50 percent along with increased average selling prices. Opterons were also strong performers.

AMD has been on a roll over the past few months and don’t seem to be slowing down. Despite their Turion being slower than Intels latest offerings, they still sold quite well. Add to that fact, AMDs margins have gone down! No doubt this holiday season will boost that back up though.

The stock Intel Mac Mini has a white Power LED. Because I want the mac mini to look “stock” and right at home in my G35’s dash; I’m going to spell out the details on how to mod your mac mini’s stock LED color.

Just when I thought I have seen it all! This sounds like a rather simple mod, but it’s actually quite in-depth and could offer a lot once completed. Imagine driving down the road listening to WinAmp and using Google Earth as your GPS system. Yup, you heard me right.

Increasing component costs and pressure to cut its prices mean Apple’s best bet for long-term success is to quit the hardware business and license the Mac to Dell, analyst firm Gartner claimed on Tuesday.

Sega deja vu anyone? Honestly though, this does seem to make a lot of sense. Some Apple hardware is great, but not all. Will this ever actually happen is another story, but it wouldn’t be -that- surprising.

Unbeknownst to my family and me, someone was scoping out our trash earlier this year — someone hired by Hewlett-Packard Co. The trash study was carried out in January by Security Outsourcing Solutions Inc., a Needham, Mass., investigative firm that H-P employed, according to a briefing H-P officials gave me yesterday. Whether the sleuths ever encountered my toddler’s dirty diapers, H-P said it doesn’t know.

We’ve all heard HP’s side, but now you can hear the other side. Pui-Wing Tam was one of the reporters being spied on, and her blog goes well into detail about the entire ordeal.

Samsung is preparing to release a new Flash memory-assisted computer hard drive that boasts improved performance, reduced energy consumption, a faster boot time, and better reliability. The new hybrid hard drive will be released around the same time as the upcoming Windows Vista operating system and will be one of the first hardware designed specifically to benefit from it.

This sounds like a type of hard drive storage that we will all welcome. 128MB – 256MB of Cache is a huge jump from what we are used to now. With Vista on the horizon, I think people will take extra speed wherever they can find it…

Cases & Enclosures
• Enermax Phoenix – Think Computers
• SilverStone MS02 2.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure – ModTheBox
• Thermaltake Matrix V2000 – InsaneTek

Cooling
• Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX CPU Cooler – Virtual-Hideout

Memory & Storage
• Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 – Big Bruin

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD Quad-Father 4X4 Update – HotHardware
• Foxconn 975X7AB Core 2 Duo Mobo – Hexus

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Apevia Iceberg ATX-IB680W Green PSU – Overclockers Club
• Seasonic S12 Energy+ 80Plus 550Watt PSU – DragonSteelMods
• Silverstone Strider 750w ST75F PSU – Overclock3D
• Spire Rocketeer III 500w PSU – XS Reviews

Displays & Video Cards
• GeForce 7900GS Roundup – Tech-Hounds
• Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH Silent Geforce 7600GT – PC Stats
• Leadtek Winfast PX7950 GT TDH Extreme – Bjorn3D

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• ExtensiveMods Modding Contest – ExtensiveMods
• Fedora Core 6 – Phoronix
• Olympus E-500 – Digit-Life
• Samsung ML-2571N Laser Printer – XYZ Computing

AUSTIN, Texas, October 19, 2006—NCsoft today announced that a new retail package for its premier player-versus-player (PvP) massively multiplayer online PC game, Lineage II, is available in stores across North America. Lineage II: The Epic Collection is a special edition retail package which, for the first time, includes the original game plus all five expansions in one box. Also included in this unique, limited edition DVD set is a total of 45 days of game time, behind the scenes video footage, and a special in-game character mask only available to those who purchase The Epic Collection.

If you have yet to play L2, do yourself a favor and run out to pick this up. It’s a great deal at $30 considering it offers 45 free days of playtime. Even if the game doesn’t interest you, playing it for a few months will make all other MMO’s seem easy.

Well the Windows Service Pack Road Map was quietly updated on 17 October 2006… The major changes: SP3 for Windows XP is currently planned for 1H 2008. This date is preliminary.

Ouch! If this proves to be the final date, it will be a full four years after the final release of SP2!

While we are still working out exactly how to distribute the final Player version to be as easy as possible for the typical end user, this beta includes 2 gzip’d tarball packages: one is for the Mozilla plugin and the other is for a GTK-based Standalone Flash Player.

The wait is finally over! Be warned that this -is- a beta, so download at your own risk. The Adobe server is getting hit hard, but keep trying this URL to grab the download.

It’s almost funny to see the Wall Street Journal with an article about how record labels are finally admitting that file sharing is a way to market to the biggest music fans (found via Broadband Reports). While it’s laughable that it would take the industry this long to even venture to admit what was obvious to most everyone else, it is a tiny step in the right direction.

This is a step in the right direction no doubt, but it’s sure to be a long time before we -ever- see actual change. The first step would be to stop suing people, and spend all those lawyer and employee dollars on marketing music to those who actually want to buy it.

NVIDIA today announced it has released WHQL certified drivers for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Vista operating system. The ForceWare Release 95 drivers are version 96.85 and available for Windows Vista x86 and x86-64. All NVIDIA graphics cards since the GeForce FX5xxx series are supported by this driver release including NVIDIA Quadro FX and Quadro NVS products.

WHQL usually means nothing to me, but the reason this is of importance is because this driver contains support for all NVIDIA GPUs dating back to 2002. So even if you have an older PC with an NVIDIA card installed, you should be good to go. If you are a Vista user, grab the 32-Bit or 64-Bit drivers, and be happy.

After years of preparation, Nielsen Media Research, famed for its influential television ratings, is planning to provide its usage-tracking ratings for games, the firm announced today. The rating system will monitor the goings-on of game consoles, including next-generation models such as Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii.

Being the pessimist I am, I can’t figure out why such a thing needs to exist? Who actually pays attention to their TV ratings? I could be wrong, but like most statistics in life, they all prove rather inaccurate.

Nature would begin to reclaim the planet, as fields and pastures reverted to prairies and forest, the air and water cleansed themselves of pollutants, and roads and cities crumbled back to dust. “The sad truth is, once the humans get out of the picture, the outlook starts to get a lot better.”

This is an interesting read that you should check out if you like getting those brainwaves moving. The article goes into detail regarding the Earths “healing” process if all life suddenly halted, and brings up many points I would not have previously considered. Definitely check this one out.

We have been building a relationship with Logitech for quite some time. As we got to know their executive team, it became clear that there was a compelling opportunity for us to work together to bring Slim Devices’ products to the mainstream market. As you may know, Logitech recently launched the Wireless DJ music system, and also produces Harmony remote controls, which many of our customers already use with their Squeezeboxes.

This is a huge win for both companies. Slim Devices is rather new to the market, but their products are already making a huge splash. Coupled with Logitechs PR and development powers, we should be seeing some very unique products in the near future.

The Phishing Filter and the architectural work in IE7 around networking and ActiveX opt-in will help keep users more secure. IE7 also delivers a much easier browsing experience with features like tabbed browsing (especially with QuickTabs), shrink-to-fit printing, an easily customizable search box, and a new design that leaves more screen real estate for the web site you’re viewing.

If you are an IE user, then be sure to grab the latest version directly from Microsoft. This release includes many bug fixes as well as features… you will notice a big difference if you are still using 6.0.

Plug into the most advanced source of technical information for creating the next generation of leading online games. The Online Game Development Conference is the first conference with a razor-sharp focus on the technology, art, design, production, and business of games delivered over the internet. OGDC will be held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle’s premier luxury hotel located in the heart of downtown.

There is currently a great deal on admission if you book early… $195US. You do have until March to decide whether you will attend or not, because after that point the price will be raised. You can learn a whole lot more about the conference and the other admission prices here: http://ogdc2007.com/.

FLETCHER, OHIO – October 18th, 2006 – Ultra Products, a global leader in technology solutions, has unveiled its new line of stackable computer peripherals. The line, which includes HD enclosures, hubs, card readers, and power supplies, will solve the old catch-22 – leave no usable desk space uncovered or risk damage to peripherals and data by stacking them, creating dangerous levels of heat. Ultra’s new line is designed to keep stacked components safely cooled (and interconnected) while leaving the smallest possible footprint.

You can read the full press release here.

Cooling
• Jetart JACSG1 North Bridge Cooler – Bjorn3D
• Mega Watercooling Roundup – Virtual-Hideout

Memory & Storage
• Crucial DDR2 PC2-5300 10th Anniversary – Tech Spot

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Raidmax Volcano 630W Power Supply – 3D Gameman
• Thermaltake Toughpower W0116RU Cable Management 750W Power Supply – Tweak News
• Zalman Zm600-HP Powersupply – Red & Blackness

Displays & Video Cards
• PCMCIA TV Tuner/Vid Capture/Fm/Remote Card for Laptops – DragonSteelMods
• Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro – TweakPC

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• DigitalLife 2006 Wrap-up – Digital Trends
• GNOME v2.17.1 – Phoronix