PC Gaming Hardware Shipments Twice That of Consoles
There's a group called the PC Gaming Alliance that concerns itself with the growth of, oddly enough, PC gaming. It recently released the results of its Horizons Hardware research report which found that the annual PC gaming hardware shipments in 2009 were over two times that of the three major gaming consoles combined. They also measured the sales of consumer PCs equipped with discrete GPUs (no netbooks and PCs with integrated graphics) capable of gaming and found the sales totaled $54.6 billion in 2009 with sales expected to continue to climb to $61.3 billion over the next five years.
Lest you simply dismiss this as a function of PCs costing more than consoles, the report goes on to say that the number of consumers gaming on these discrete graphics equipped systems will grow from 212.6 million in 2009 to about 322 million by 2014.
Interestingly enough, the U.S. is not the largest market for PC gaming hardware, accounting for only about 22% of the total market. The Asia Pacific region claims the crown with 33% with Western Europe coming in at 24%.
[via Blue's News]
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Four New Playable Species Announced for The Old Republic
In the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), there are sure to be plenty of playable species, but developer BioWare hasn't unveiled much in that regard. From demos and screenshots, we got wind of the Rattataki Bounty Hunter, Chiss Imperial Agent, and the Twi'lek Smuggler. Now, BioWare has confirmed that "all classes will include optional non-human species."
Those wanting to play as a Sith Warrior class will be able to choose the Sith Pureblood, a member of the original Sith Race. If you'd rather play as the Sith Inquisitor, you'll be able to be a Zabrak, Darth Maul's race. If The Galactic Empire is more appealing to you, you can be a Miraluka Jedi Knight, wearing veils and blindfolds, as they've adapted to use the Force to see their surroundings, as their homeworld is in complete darkness. Lastly, if you were hoping to play as a Jedi Consular, you can select the green-skinned Mirialan.
Sounds pretty cool, right? Not to everyone. Many people are rather disappointed that races are class-specific, but as BioWare states, "the list is not yet complete." It's likely that although there may be class-specific races, there will also be some non-human races that will be selectable for all classes. Even so, for people wanting to play a particular race, they may now be forced to play a particular class. Furthermore, some people are upset with the races chosen so far - not only are they all humanoid, but they seem to simply boil down to reskins of a human model. Again though, the list is not complete, so BioWare may still unveil other more varied playable species, like Rodians or Mon Calamarians. However, due to the game being fully voiced, it's unlikely the Wookies will be a playable race.
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Apple Ready to Plug Security Hole that Allowed for Web-based iPhone Jailbreak
Earlier in the week the iPhone Dev Team released a website that allowed users to jailbreak their iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The process involved exploiting a vulnerability in the PDF viewer of Apple's mobile operating system. The same vulnerability used to jailbreak the iPhone could allow malicious websites to install software to an iOS based device, gain root access, and then access any part of the system. Thankfully, there are no known malicious exploits out there yet, but the issue itself is a pretty scary thought.
Apple is said to have a patch ready that will plug the security hole, and it will be released in an upcoming iOS update.
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NVIDIA to Cut GTX 400 Prices?
Keep this filed under rumor for now but it seems NVIDIA is going to gear up for a price cut on the GTX 400 products. When the GTX 470 launched at $350, some people didn't think it was worth that much when it performed about on par with an ATI HD 5850. Slowly the price on that card dropped to $330 which made it a bit more affordable but still above a 5850 in most cases. The GTX 480 is still in the upper $400s, with some at $500, but a few can be found for $450. However, a pair of GTX 460s running in SLI is still cheaper than the majority of the GTX 480s and will outperform that card by a substantial margin. If the GTX 480 and 470 can drop even lower, say to $300 for the GTX 470 and $400 for the GTX 480, I think NVIDIA will be good for some time.
The odd card out is the GTX 465 which has been dropping from its original $280 launch price down to $240. That price will compete with the GTX 460 but seeing as how the 460 performs about the same while producing less heat and using less power it makes it hard to recommend the GTX 465 over it. Now, the GTX 465 could compete at a lower price point, say $230 or a bit below, but then NVIDIA may drop the price of the 768MB GTX 460 to further differentiate that from the 1GB version. The 768MB could drop below $200 but then I think that would compete with NVIDIA's upcoming GTS 450 card.
This all gets a bit murky but NVIDIA is slowly getting backed into a corner and needs to compete with AMD/ATI in order to stay afloat. Time will tell what happens, but if you are in the market for a new video card, I think I would wait to see how low the prices go on the GTX 400 series before settling on NVIDIA or ATI.
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Gigabyte Announces PowerRock PSU Series
When people think of power supplies, they often think of grabbing something with enough wattage to last several computer systems. However, there are some people who may not need a power supply with 850 watts or just need something small for an HTPC. For that, Gigabyte has you covered with its newest series of power supplies, the PowerRock series. The PowerRock series measures in at 150 x 140 x 86mm and comes in 300, 350, 400, and 500W capacities. The units are ATX +12V 2.2 compliant and feature dual 12V rails along with a non-modular cable design. There is a fan to cool everything down but no mention was made on the size of the fan. Seeing as how the PSUs aren't that big, I'd have to wager a 120mm fan is keeping everything cool. The 400 and 500W models feature 80Plus certification and PFC technology.
No word on pricing or availability was announced at this time but seeing as these units have a particular group in mind, I do not see them costing all that much.
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