Content and news by Rob Williams

Bellevue, WA, June 22, 2006 – Valve® announced a Day of Defeat: Source Summer 2006 Update featuring a Free Map Pack is scheduled for release on June 28 via Steam (www.steamgames.com) to everyone who owns a copy of the game.

The Map Pack, which arrives just before DoD: Source’s 1st birthday, introduces a new gameplay style, Detonation, in two brand new missions (Jagd, Colmar).
In addition to the new missions and gameplay style, the Summer 2006 Update also introduces new technical features and gameplay enhancements to Day of Defeat: Source. Some of the new gameplay enhancements – such as spawn clip adjustments, improved hit location detection, and weapon balancing – were made after reviewing the player statistics gathered since the stats (www.dayofdefeat.com/stats) feature was added to DoD: Source earlier this year.

Since it’s original release in the fall of last year, Valve has introduced a number of new features, missions, and enhancements for the game – following in the company’s long tradition of ongoing development for its online properties. Below is a summary of the new missions and features added to Day of Defeat: Source since the initial launch:

New Missions Added:

Colmar (June 2006) — Set in Northern France, Colmar introduces Day of Defeat’s Detonation style of gameplay. Marred with cold weather conditions, Colmar’s Detonation objectives drive successful teams to attack target areas in unison.

Jagd (June 2006) – Jagd challenges to teams to a more advanced urban Detonation mission, one that most be completed in a limited amount of time and is therefore unforgiving to unorganized offensive attacks.

Kalt (February 2006) – The narrow city streets, wheelhouse, and center bridge on which Kalt is fought challenges Axis and Allied forces to disperse and hold multiple points. As such, surging attacks and sudden changes in momentum may be common.

Argentan (January 2006) – The first new mission introduced after the initial launch of Day of Defeat: Source is set alongside the rolling hills of a French trainway. It’s hillsides and country structures provide the setting for punishing sniper and machine gunner stand offs.

Technology Updates:
• Color Correction
• Film grain
• New Shaders
– Image-based texture blending
• – Light warping
• – Phong Shading/Rim Lighting on player models
• Improved Animations
• Support for Bloom on DX8 level GPUs
• Prop Vertex Lighting
• Engine Optimizations

Gameplay Enhancements:
• Spawn Clip adjustments
• Improved Hit location detection
• Weapon balancing
• Detonation Gameplay Introduced
• Player Statistics

Available via Steam and at retail outlets the world over, Day of Defeat: Source is one of today’s most played online action games. Players join the ranks of Axis vs. Allies battles in Western Europe at the height of the war in 1944. Players enlist in specific combat roles, ranging from scouts to sharpshooters, and are tasked, as a unit, to complete objective-based missions.

For more information on Day of Defeat: Source, Valve or Valve’s games, please visit www.steamgames.com.

About Valve

Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The company’s portfolio of entertainment properties includes Half-Life®, Counter-StrikeTM, Day of Defeat®, and Team Fortress®. Valve’s catalog of products accounts for over 20 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 80% of PC online action gameplay. In addition, Valve is a developer of leading-edge technologies, such as the Source game engine and Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. For more information, please visit www.valvesoftware.com

The available screenshot doesn’t look as impressive graphically as Most Wanted. Either way, this seems like Underground 3 with an alternate title. I can’t wait for this one.

EA announced today that Need for Speed™ Carbon is in development and will hit the streets this November. Developed by EA Black Box in Vancouver, British Columbia, Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of adrenaline-filled street racing and will challenge players to face the ultimate test of driving skill on treacherous canyon roads.

“We pride ourselves on our ability to reinvent the franchise and continually uncover new and exciting trends in car culture. Canyon Racing is a real test of a driver’s skill and we think it provides a fantastic game play opportunity to lean into,” said Larry LaPierre, the game’s executive producer.

What starts in the city is settled in the canyons as Need for Speed Carbon immerses you into the world’s most dangerous and adrenaline-filled form of street racing. You and your crew must race in an all-out war for the city, risking everything to take over your rivals’ neighborhoods one block at a time. As the police turn up the heat, the battle ultimately shifts to Carbon Canyon, where territories and reputations can be lost on every perilous curve. Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of customization giving you the power to design and tweak your crew’s cars in every way using the ground-breaking new Autosculpt™ technology. Represent your car class, your crew, and your turf in Need for Speed Carbon, the next revolution in racing games.

Need for Speed Carbon will be available for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Wii™ as well as the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox® videogame system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™, Game Boy® Advance, PSP™ (PlayStation Portable) handheld entertainment system, PC and mobile.

Adobe Systems Inc. said late Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Google Inc. to distribute the Google Toolbar with various Adobe products. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The term of the agreement also wasn’t disclosed, with Adobe referring to it only as a “multiyear” deal.

As long as it’s an optional install, this shouldn’t really prove a problem for the user. Get ready to battle this with all your future Adobe installs though, including Acrobat reader.

While we were in Taiwan covering Computex, ECS whisked us away for a quick tour of its manufacturing facilities in China and showed us exactly how these motherboards are built. We saw it all, from traces being etched onto individual PCB layers, to the mounting of surface components like DIMM slots and capacitors, all the way through testing and retail packaging. Join us as we walk through ECS’s Golden Elite Technology campus and witness the birth of a motherboard.

It’s always amazing to see how a motherboard is built. ECS specifically seems to be a well oiled machine, with amazingly fast workers that didn’t even get distracted by the journalists hovering over them.

Will iTunes do for online movies what it did for online music? Does Apple’s entry into this space represent a ‘tipping point’ for the entire segment, or is such an outcome even relevant to Apple? In other words, is this simply the next step in Apple’s larger strategy to establish a presence in living room?

Chances are even a $9.99US movie would have it’s quality downgraded significantly. Most music on iTunes is currently at a very low bitrate, so it would not be a surprise. I think it would have to be straight DVD quality before this ever catches on.

Now, normally, most people don’t really give two shakes about a patch update. But this is pretty big. The oft mentioned Arena Mode is coming. This is really exciting for us because we’re not only adding an entire new mode to Emergence, but one with a very devoted focus — replayability.

Picture a multiplayer mode that’s singleplayer. It sounds odd, but I’m willing to give it a chance. Shawn also notes that we -may- see Episode 2 media ‘soon’.

Toshiba is on the ball with HD-DVD technology and it plans on having another first in the industry with the launch of an HD-DVD RD-A1 super-receiver on July 14th, 2006 in Japan only. The company was already the first to launch an HD-DVD set top player back in April. The Toshiba RD-A1 is a digital video recorder with HD-DVD built in. The receiver features 1TB worth of storage, analog and digital receivers, Ethernet, and all of the other trimmings featured on the HD-A1 receiver already announced.

This thing is completely ugly, but it sure packs a punch. There are numerous connections on the back, so you know it means business. But for $3,500USD equivalent? It should only cost you half that to build yourself… and probably have one that’s less ugly.

Sunnyvale, CA—June 22, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced two low latency PC2-6400 memory solutions prepared to deliver enthusiasts the performance they demand on the latest DDR2 platforms. The new PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2 Edition is rated at 4-4-4 and the new PC2-6400 Titanium Alpha Edition is rated at 3-4-3-9 making this dynamic duo an exciting new addition to the acclaimed OCZ memory line.

You can read the full press release here. How ’bout those purty ‘spreaders?

Cases & Enclosures
• Microfly SFF Case – Motherboards.org

Cooling
• Rainbow Fan TC – Bjorn3D
• Scythe Samurai Z – Tweak3D
• Thermalright SI-120 CPU Cooler – Rojak Pot

Memory & Storage
• Corsair TWINX2048-4400PRO 2GB Kit – PC Modding Malaysia
• OCZ PC2-8000 EL Platinum XTC DDR2 – Virtual-Hideout

Motherboards & CPU’s
• Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 SLI AM2 – PC Stats

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Creative ZEN Vision:M – UK Gamer
• Everglide g-1000 Gaming Mouse and Titan Monster Mat – Fastlane HW
• SanDisk Sansa e260 4GB MP3 Player – XYZ Computing
• Summer 2006 MP3 Player Buyers Guide – Think Computers

Video Cards & Monitor
• Diablotek 6600GT 256MB – MB Review
• GeForce 7900 GT – TechSpot
• HIS X1900XT IceQ3 Dual DL-DVI VIVO 512MB – HotHardware
• Nvidia prepares 7600LE, 7500LE and 7300SE – NGOHQ
• Sony SDM-E96D – BIOS Magazine
• XFX Overclocked GeForce 7600 GT – Hardware Secrets

The highly anticipated Prey demo has finally been released, and I couldn’t wait to give it a go. Does the demo deliver? Read on to find out!

Your notebook is wireless, so why not have a wireless mouse? We are taking a look at Microsofts latest solution, which promises to offer a comfortable, and precise experience. Does it deliver?

A story just released by the Inquirer shows that 80% of incoming search requests from Microsoft’s domain arrived via Google’s search engine. In contrast, 64% of Yahoo! staff and 100% of Google staff use their own company’s search engine. How’s that for a product endorsement? I’d guess that Microsoft may soon add google.com to the list of blocked URL’s on their intranet.

This is no surprise, at all. It would not be odd to see MS block the Google domain from internal use though. Ballmer once noted in an interview that he doesn’t even allow his own children to use Google, so we know the stance on this one.

The highly anticipated demo of 3D Realms latest creation is finally available. From gameplay I have seen, this game has massive potential. You play as Tommy, who is a Native American that had his life overturned by aliens. If you guessed that it’s your job to take them out, you would be correct. Some key features that helps Prey stand out though, are wall walking and portal jumping. You will also have the ability to leave your body and play as your spirit, which will become imperative to accomplishing specific goals.

The demo is around an hour long for average players, and you can grab it from one of the download links listed on the 3D Realms site.

DailyTech previously reported AMD Socket 754 processors would outlast Socket 939 parts. We’ve received confirmation that Socket 754 processors will indeed be available for a couple months after the early death of Socket 939. AMD Athlon 64 3700+ and 4000+ will be the first to get the axe on July 2nd of this year. Right before 2007 rolls around AMD intends on discontinuing seven Socket 939 and 754 processors. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, Athlon 64 3200+ and 3000+ Socket 939 processors will cease to exist December 31st, 2006 leaving the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ as the sole Socket 939 processor available.

This gives us a good idea that 754 and 939 are both on the way out. While 754 will last a bit longer than the 939, it looks like AM2 is the only way to go if you want a system that is ‘future proof’.

It appears that third party ink refill companies need to be careful about their businesses. HP announced this week that it has launched legal action against Walgreen Co. and OfficeMax over patent infringements that HP says it found in multiple stores across the countries. Both Walgreen and OfficeMax have ink refilling stations in stores that will refill ink cartridges that customers bring in. Unfortunately, HP is not happy that customers are bringing in HP cartridges and refilling without genuine HP ink.

This type of thing has been going on for years, so I am surprised it took this long for a company to finally whine about it. I don’t blame people for taking the Walgreens route though. When it costs as much to fill your car with gas as it is your printer with ink, that’s when you look for alternatives.

Given the company’s cheap prices, near-endless configuration options, and bold claims, we wanted to see what a PC in the $1000 range could do. We also noticed that many of their products mirrored that of “competitor” Cyberpower. We purchased both this machine and our Cyberpower machine at the same time.

They give their tech support and presentation a terrible 1.0/10. I think that’s a good hint to stay far away.

WALTHAM, Mass. – June 21, 2006 – Novell has unveiled a new, comprehensive training course for SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10 completely self-contained on a portable USB drive. The SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 First Class course provides users a first look at the upcoming SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, including both the new server and desktop products. As a result, customers gain a flexible, cost-effective new option for learning about Novell’s latest platform.

You can read the full press release here.

Published on June 22, 2006

Cases & Enclosures
• Spire Pininfarina PALU/S – A1-Electronics
• Thermaltake Tenor Case – Modders-Inc

Cooling
• BlueGears b-COOL and b-ice Computer Fans – A True Review

Motherboards & CPU’s
• AMD’s new Hammers to bludgeon Conroe? – Hexus

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• 8-way SLI and Crossfire Power Supply (PSU) Roundup – Legit Reviews
• I-Star TC-750PD2 750W PSU – ModTheBox
• Kingwin Absolute Power ABT-600CW PSU – Think Computers
• Plextor EX-PH25L NAS – Overclockers Online
• SteelPad 5L – Phoronix

Video Cards & Monitor
• AGEIA PhysX – Tech Report
• HIS Radeon X1900XT IceQ3 – Overclocker Cafe
• MSI NX7600GT VT2D256E – HotHardware
• Nvflash 5.16 for Windows 2000/XP/2003/x64 – NGOHQ

Etcetera, Complete Systems & Contests
• Apple Intel-powered Mac mini – Hexus
• Beginners Guides: Understanding and Tweaking WindowsXP Services – PC Stats
• Computex 2006: Day 5 – NGOHQ
• Dell XPS M2010 Desktop – Digital Trends
• Nokia N91 – BIOS Magazine

In the months ahead, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will test an unmanned, remote-controlled surveillance plane. If deputies want a bird’s-eye view of a standoff, they might scramble the unmanned drone instead of a helicopter to get a closer, quieter look. Within minutes, real-time color video would be streamed to a portable computer system manned by an officer 250 feet (76 meters) below.

This sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. Why they could be a huge benefit though, is that they cost less than a helicopter, especially after taking fuel and maintenance into consideration. How long until we see this in other cities?

With the transition to solid-state, totally silent, desktop drives still a long way off enthusiasts are always looking for better storage options for silent/power efficient computers. This article is going to examine the use of a 2.5″ notebook hard drive in a desktop computer. The unique demands placed on portable hard drives have made them evolve into devices which are very small, have minimal power demands, and are very quiet. The tradeoff for these qualities has always been limited capacities, high costs, and slow transfer rates, but a the recent progression in portable storage techology has changed the 2.5″ drive greatly. We put the Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160GB SATA notebook drive in our test system and took it for a spin.

If you have ever pondered what it would be like to run a 2.5″ drive on your desktop, this is the article to read. While it does prove slower than the 3.5″, it’s an interesting concept regardless.