Antec Sonata Proto Review
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Torchlight Sells 500,000 Copies, Publisher Buys Majority Stake
The indie title Torchlight has been a huge success for a game of its caliber. Coming from a relatively unknown developer in Runic Games and being launched on virtually every digital download service, Torchlight has sold 500,000 copies since it first launched at the end of October last year. To sell 500,000 copies of any game is a major feat in the gaming world and since Torchlight is from an independent developer, it is even more amazing. Now, a publisher has taken notice of the game's success and has bought a majority stake in Runic Games for $8.4 million. That publisher is Perfect World Entertainment which specializes more in MMO games than anything else. This could possibly mean that Perfect World is going to help Runic launch the MMO update in a few years with as much success as the single player game. All in all though, this is great news for Runic Games and for independent developers everywhere. Not to mention the gamers who helped make Torchlight such a runaway success.
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Chip Makers Fined by European Union for Price-Fixing
Several chip makers have been fined by the European Union over price-fixing. The affected companies are Samsung, Hynix, Infineon, NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Elpida, and Nanya. Micron was also under investigation by the EU, but it alerted the authorities about the price-fixing ring. The nine companies were fined a total of 331 million Euros or 404.2 million USD. The chips in question are DRAM chips which many of these companies have a huge stake in. Samsung was levied with the largest fine at 146 million Euros while Infineon was hit with 57 million, the second largest amount of the nine. However, all the fines were reduced by 10% since all the companies involved cooperated with the EU probe. The ring was in effect from 1998 to 2002 and it involved a "network of contacts" who would share information about what each company was doing. The investigation had been ongoing since 2002 when Micron alerted the EU about it and with this settlement, it marks the end of this one but possibly the start of others. The only company a member of the EU is Infineon, which is based in Germany, but since all the others sell products in Europe, each one was subject to the law.
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PhysX Adds Another Game To Its List
Even though most developers are slow to add PhysX support to their games, mainly due to development costs, 2K Games is adding the technology to their upcoming Mafia II game. All versions of the title will feature the technology to make it even more realistic, especially with scenery and landscapes couple with gun use, namely the ever so popular Tommy Gun. NVIDIA’s APEX Clothing Module will also be used for graphically pleasing suits and shirts, which will add even more to the overall experience of the Mafia in terms of the real world. The 2K Czech Illusion Engine is being used alongside PhysX, and 2K Games also plans for the title to be released sometime around late August. Gamers that are fans of the series, that also have good enough systems to run the Mafia II title, will probably clamor over the dynamics and graphics and gameplay as well.
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