Content and news by Rob Williams

Many games make more money on consoles than they do on PC, and so publishers are always keen to have multi-platform releases. However, with Source being such a beast – even on modern day graphics hardware – a console conversion always looked unlikely. However, after a ‘will-they-won’t-they’ period, Half Life 2 is…..

ABIT is a world renowned computer component manufacturer, known best for their high performance yet stable product lines. ABIT strives to push the technological limits through both proprietary BIOS enhancements, as well as integrated technologies like their uGuru dynamic overclocking chipset. This latest edition to their nForce4 lineup keeps in this tradition well.

Check out the full review at Hard|OCP.

We all know that there are only a handful of companies who control the hard drive industry and each one of them has their own strength and spotlight product. Hitachi isn’t one of the names that come to mind very quickly, but it is one that is deserving of attention in many cases. Last year, I took a look at Hitachi’s 7K250 desktop SATA hard drive and was completely amazed by the performance offered. Today, I am going to be taking a look at their updated T7K250 drive, which is pretty much the same, but it supports the SATA II specification and is backwards compatible.

Check out the full review at ByteSector.

Since the 1920’s the Altec Lansing Company has enjoyed a long and respectable history of researching, designing and manufacturing products for the audio industry. They continue this tradition today by building some of the finest audio products and devices available for personal, home and industrial applications. The FX6021 speaker set is no exception to their fine lineup of PC products. Although at first glance the price tag looks to be extremely high for a 2.1 speaker system, (and we do agree it is a bit steep) the engineering and overall quality somewhat justifies the street price. You may just find yourself saying WOW! I would buy these if they were $100 cheaper, and from this we hope Altec Lansing can take a hint from folks like us that spend all their extra money on the latest games.

Head on over to The Best Case Scenario for the full review!

Obviously, the best way to quiet down a system is to minimize the number of fans in it. Fanless video cards and power supplies have become increasingly popular for that very reason. Adam reviewed the original Phantom 350 back in November last year and was pretty impressed by it. Today, it’s time to look at its 500W big brother – the Phantom 500.

Yet another gorgeous looking and powerful fanless PSU! This one seriously looking great, especially if you have a black case. Check out the full review over at Bjorn 3D.

A new, unpatched flaw that affects all versions of Firefox could let attackers surreptitiously run malicious code on users’ PCs, a security researcher has warned.

The problem lies in the way Firefox handles web links that are overly long and contain dashes, security researcher Tom Ferris said in an interview via instant messaging late on Thursday.

Check out the full posting at Silicon.

Many games make more money on consoles than they do on PC, and so publishers are always keen to have multi-platform releases. However, with Source being such a beast – even on modern day graphics hardware – a console conversion always looked unlikely. However, after a ‘will-they-won’t-they’ period, Half Life 2 is definitely coming to Xbox and, what’s more, it’s almost done.

The sad thing is, that a lot of quality is lost. Textures are weakened and there is no AA, of course. Still, if you’ve never played HL2 (!) you should check it out, or wait to see if they will make a better looking version for the Xbox 360. Check out the screenshots and more at Bit-Tech.

eBay has agreed to buy the fast-growing Internet start-up Skype in a move to add free Web telephone calls to its online auctions and fuel growth, the companies confirmed Monday.

The auctioneer said it plans to pay $1.3 billion in cash and $1.3 billion in stock for the Web communications company. It would make a further payout of up to $1.5 billion by 2008 or 2009 if financial targets are met, giving the deal a total value of up to $4.1 billion, executives of the two companies said.

Who would have originally thought that Skype would get so popular? $2.6 Billion is unbelievably high.. hopefully eBay can do things right to improve it. Check out the posting at News.com.

Rockdirect’s Pegasus is a laptop that does well in most areas. It’s not tied down by the extra weight associated with pure desktop-replacement models, yet, thanks to a novel 5% guaranteed overclocking feature, offers you the performance associated with the next processor up in the Pentium M line at no extra cost. Pure CPU performance, then, is excellent. The use of ATI’s Mobility Radeon X700 MXM graphics card offers reasonable gaming performance for the money, although you probably won’t be able to run the latest game at the laptop’s native WSXGA+ setting. The Pegasus 650’s battery life is enhanced by another novel feature, that is, the ability to toggle between onboard and discrete graphics at the flick of a front-mounted switch. Neat, eh?

Check out the full review at Hexus!

ABIT have long been known for their motherboards. Their boards usually
targets overclockers, but recently this
has changed to gamers and modders. ABIT was also known for their daring (and
sometimes annoying) lack of features.
However, the AN8 Fatality SLI packs features that is not only functional,
but convenient and long overdue. Other manufacturers
can learn a thing or two from ABIT. Found out why we like this board so
much.

Head on over to Tech-Hounds for the full look.

Following the tradition of the iPod, the iPod nano’s casing is very smooth, complete with rounded edges and no screws or extruding parts with the exception of the hold switch. The reflective metal backing smoothly transitions into the acrylic face of the nano, polished so well that you can see your reflection. In a word, the iPod nano is beautiful.

I can’t get over how thin this thing is! I think this would be my next player choice for sure. Check out the full review at EverythingUSB.

It only leaves us to recommend this XG Magnum 500watt fanless, noiseless power supply for its quality of manufacture, design and well it works for us here and we give it our Editors Award for a fanless power supply. Another way to reduce the noise from computers.

It’s nice to actually have an alternative now. Usually fanless PSU’s are in the 300w range, so 500w is killer. You can check out the full review over at A1 Electronics.

Today we have a fresh look at what could quite possibly be the very last AGP based video card ever reviewed on BFR. Are we sad? No, not really. AGP has managed to stay around in the graphics market for quite a while, mainly due to business reasons, and we think a final goodbye is well overdue.

Check out the full review at Bona Fide Reviews!

Being the hardcore gamers that we are, the need for more than 1GB of memory is becoming evident. Last year, 512MB didn’t cut it, especially when playing top games like Half-Life 2 and Doom III. Now, current and upcoming top games are demanding more than 1GB, like BF2 and FEAR. Today, we are taking a look at a 2GB kit that is designed specifically for gamers.

In my opinion, they ALL should be. I want to be able to unhook my current Xbox, and throw it in the closet, instead of keeping it around to play a few select games.

The question of whether or not the Xbox 360 will run older games has never been fully answered. Even after the Xbox 360 event on MTV, Microsoft publicly admitted that they hadn’t even made up their minds on the question of backwards compatibility. Later, Microsoft Senior VP of the Home and Entertainment Division Robbie Bach left us with a vague promise to provide support for the “top selling” games.

I still don’t understand why they couldn’t just make it work with all current gen Xbox games. The PS2 didn’t seem to have any problems. Maybe MS should put more effort into this.. Check out the posting at Ars Technica.

Our brothers from NGOHQ want your opinions and feedback to help them create an outstanding driver. I have used their drivers before, and they are great. Even great driver sets can always be made better, so if you have any recommendations, be sure to check out this thread!

(New York, September 1, 2005) – ARCTIC COOLING proudly announces the opening of its North American sales office in New York City from September 1, 2005.

ARCTIC COOLING has been working with globally recognized ompanies in the graphics industry since 2001. Through these strategic partnerships, ARCTIC COOLING has access to the latest technology and experience about graphics requirements for developing new cooling solutions. ARCTIC COOLING utilizes the Swiss art of engineering to realize innovative cooling ideas. Combined with the low labor cost in Asia, ARCTIC COOLING is able to produce highly customized products with high performance while remaining affordable.

It’s great to see that they are now based over this way, and hopefully we will only see more great things from them.

Five years after introducing Europe to its “What TV Can Be” concept at IBC 2000, Microsoft – seemingly with a different set of partners – this year demonstrated ways of delivering content to Xbox 360, Portable Media Centers, mobile phones and TV sets, as well as to PCs.

Check out this, and many other IBC stories at Hexus.

We knew it would be just a matter of time when Must Kill Teddy
Bears by CaseModGod Staff Member Sheldog 23 would appear in a Magazine.
This is definitely a one of a kind mod that attracts the attention of
everyone. The outrageous graphics, perfect lighting, and attention of detail
makes this a must see mod.

Check out the full article at CaseModGod!

Sporting a EMI ring core, ATX 12V V2.0 specifications,
official NVIDIA SLI certification, dual 12V rails, and a plethora of
connectors, will the Enermax Whisper II 535W (EG565P-VE FMA) power
supply be able to handle the strenuous needs of a Pentium D and GeForce
7800GTX? We’ll pair this power supply up with some of the latest
components and see how well the Whisper II holds its ground.

Head over to Phoronix for the full review!