Upcoming AMD Phenom II X4 960T Unlocked to Six Cores
New AMD Phenom II X6 "Tuban" processors are due on April 26th, as well as a Phenom II X4 model with a slightly more vague Q2 2010 release date. The quad core chip is essentially a Phenom II X6 chip with two cores disabled and it turns out that much in the same way Phenom X3 chips could have a fourth core unlocked, the Phenom II X4 960T can have two cores unlocked, turning it into a fully fledged six core chip. The guys over at OCWorkbench have the details, which shows the aforementioned X4 960T running on an ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard. That motherboard features a UCC Function that can unlock the dormant cores, with the BIOS showing the associated L1 and L2 cache size increases you would expect. Windows task manager also shows the six available CPU threads, though that's as far as the screenshots go (there is no evidence of stability testing or performance improvements).
It is exciting news for AMD fans and if the core unlocking proves to be reliable, then I can see the new quad core processor being very popular amongst those looking to get as much as they can for their money.
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Ubisoft Says DRM Vital to Game Development
For everyone upset by Ubisoft's new draconian DRM plan, it seems your wishes have not been answered. Ubisoft responded to criticism's of its DRM plan and decided to further reinforce it. The creative director for Splinter Cell: Conviction went on to state that DRM is vital to creating PC games in order to better protect them. He also believes it is necessary in order to make more creative and innovative games. Now, I always thought PC gaming got along just fine without always on DRM due to the many great games that have come out before it. I just think its a bit of a stretch to say the new DRM policy of Ubisoft is a vital part of game creation. I suppose it will be left up to the consumers to decide whether or not this new policy is the best, but I would just rather take the game on the console myself.
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StarCraft II Rated Adults-Only in Korea
To say StarCraft is huge in Korea is putting it mildly. The sci-fi real-time strategy game owes a lot of its success to Korea, and for that reason, Blizzard chose to officially announce the sequel in that country way back in 2007. So when the decision by Korea's Games Rating Board came down the other day, designating StarCraft II for gamers 18 years and older, disappointment must surely have spread thru the Blizzard offices. The decision was even more surprising since an earlier version of the game was rated 15 years and older. Blizzard requested a re-evaluation of the game, this time of the release candidate (RC), hoping to achieve the 12 years and older rating the game received from North America - that re-evaluation has seemed to backfire.
According to an official from Korea's Games Rating Board, "Considering that the RC version of the game is closer to what will be sold on the shelves compared to the beta versions, we looked more carefully at the content." The Games Rating Board cites the "game's level of violence, foul language and depiction of drug use."
Blizzard now has 30 days to file an appeal, but the company has not decided if it would do so just yet. Blizzard could opt to adjust the content in question, as it apparently did with the first game, but that could substantially delay the game's release, which surely wouldn't sit well with the rest of the world, if such a delay wasn't limited to Korea.
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