Intel Second Generation Core i7 3820 Review
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Noctua NF-F12 PWM Review
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MSI Announces New R7970 Video Card
MSI has announced the release of a new video card based on the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GPU, the R7970 Lightning. The card features an unlocked Digital Power Architecture, which has an unlocked BIOS, digital PWM controller, and enhanced power design. All of this is done in an attempt to increase overclocking potential. The "GPU Reactor" power supply module reduces power supply noise, further adding to the overclocking potential. A Twin Frozr IV cooling system powered by two 100mm fans ensures that the card will run cool, even at overclocked speeds. Military class components are used on the card, and have gone through extensive testing to ensure that they are up to proper specifications.
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New Grim Dawn Gameplay Trailer Launches
While Diablo III may be holding the interests of parts of the population, another action RPG has been sitting quietly on the sidelines for a while now with only snippets of information released so far. The folks at Iron lore Entertainment were behind the widely popular Titan Quest, but the studio closed its doors in 2008, shortly after the launch of Titan Quest: Immortal Throne. Several members of Iron Lore went on to create Crate Entertainment and announced it had acquired Iron Lore's Titan Quest engine for a new action RPG. In 2010, Crate announced the new game would be known as Grim Dawn and has slowly been revealing footage of it. Everything seen so far is in a pre-alpha stage, including the new gameplay trailer seen below showing off the Occultist class. Even with that pre-alpha label, Grim Dawn looks terrific. You can shoot down enemy projectiles, explore rather large levels (the video only shows ~1/6th of the Abandoned Watefront level), and get a sense of what Crate wants to do with Grim Dawn. Right now there is no release date, but you can purchase Grim Dawn now to secure a key and help give Crate a little extra money toward development.
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Claptrap's Letter to Borderlands 2 PC Gamers
Everyone knows the first Borderlands was not that friendly towards PC gamers. An unfriendly control scheme, poor field of view, and other missteps were taken by the team at Gearbox, and the fans let the developer know. Borderlands 2 has been announced as being aimed more towards PC gamers, and today everyone's favorite robot (to shoot) gave a detailed list why. Claptrap has written us a letter saying how the PC version of Borderlands 2 will finally be worth showing off. Claptrap kind of comes across as an ex attempting to make amends for past transgressions, but he makes a valid point. Borderlands 2 will feature an FOV slider to hopefully not induce motion sickness, all of the menus will finally be usable with the mouse, all the controls can be remapped, and even a PC-specific UI. There is plenty more in store for the PC version of Borderlands 2, like V-sync, cloud save support, and LAN support, so head on over to the source to read the (slightly creepy) letter.
Borderlands 2 arrives on September 18th for the PC, PS3, and 360.
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Baldur's Gate 3 'Long-Term Goal' for Team Behind Enhanced Edition
If the idea of reexperiencing Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 in the upcoming Enhanced Edition is not enough alone to get you salivating, then you may want to continue reading. Gamespy recently spoke with Cameron Tofer, one of the developers at Overhaul, about what to expect with the "new content" for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and what the future will bring. The biggest news is Baldur's Gate 3 is a "long-term goal" for the studio, but wants to get everything else in place with the Enhanced Editions before even thinking about beginning work on that. The Enhanced Editions are a way to improve upon the original games without replacing those classics. The team will add new side stories, ones to tie things together, and even give an end to unfinished stories in order to deliver a more complete Baldur's Gate experience. The team at Overhaul want to reestablish Baldur's Gate place atop the throne of fantasy RPGs, and once that is accomplished, then work on Baldur's Gate 3 can begin. Odds are a Kickstarter page will be in the future, based on the success of Tim Schafer and Brian Fargo, but right now Overhaul Games is focused on Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.
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Texture Changing Polymers Developed
From smooth to rough to patterned, polymers can have a variety of textures, but previously this was only done by molding or etching the plastic, and once done the texture cannot be changed. Not content with this static characteristic, researchers at Duke University have developed a technique to dynamically change surface of a polymer to specific patterns, just be applying different voltages.
To start, the researchers looked at how polymers used to insulate wires degrade over time. By increasing the voltage running through the wire, the researchers were able to observe creases forming in the polymer, which eventually turned into craters. This effect is what the researchers have taken advantage of, so as the voltage on their polymer increases, the creases form the patterns the programmed into it, via lithography.
Though the technology is not there quite yet, a potential use for this the researchers speculate on is rubber gloves with changeable fingerprints. The patterns they can make in the polymer include straight lines, curves, and circles which are the building blocks of fingerprints. Other uses include making surfaces change for camouflage or microfluidic effects, as well as self-cleaning systems.
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BioWare Willing to Discuss Mass Effect 3's Ending Once More 'Experience the Game'
A lot has been made of the ending to Mass Effect 3, with many people disappointed with how the series is wrapped up. A petition has been going around called Retake Mass Effect that is raising money for Child's Play in order to show BioWare the desire for a new ending. The ending to a game is hardly ever changed, although there have been examples of it being done. Bethesda released the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3 in order to let you keep adventuring beyond the main quest's conclusion, and even Valve redid the ending to Portal 1 to better set up Portal 2. BioWare, however, has not given any indication of changing the ending, until today. The Retake Mass Effect petition has raised $53,000, and BioWare's Chris Priestly said the studio is willing to begin discussions with gamers once more "experience the game." While not outright confirming a new ending or endings is on the way, at least BioWare sounds like it wants to talk to the fans to see what can be rectified.
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Magnets Not as Simple as Researchers Thought
Long before scientists knew quantum mechanics and that particles, like atoms and electrons, have spin, they knew large magnets could be thought of as a collection of much smaller magnets, all pointed in the same direction. To this day, when discussing the magnetic effect of a particle having spin, the analogy is to magnets. The reason why any material is magnetic is because the spins of the particles within are aligned, but researchers want to know what happens when you disrupt this order.
Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and NIST have recently studied what happens when a femtosecond X-ray laser strikes a magnet made of an iron-nickel alloy. They knew to expect the ordered-spins becoming very disordered within quadrillionths of a second, causing the material to temporarily demagnetize at the location. What they did not expect though was for there to be any difference between the iron and nickel atoms within the magnet. The quantum mechanical effect called exchange interaction was believed to cause all of the spins to change together. Instead the spins of the iron atoms changed much more readily than those of the nickel atoms. After a few more quadrillionths of a second though, everything lines back up and is as expected.
Research teams across the world are working on future magnetic data storage systems that use light to assist the reading and writing processes. This research may be used to better design the magnetic materials used within future hard drives, enabling faster drives with higher capacities.
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The Elder Scrolls Online to be Announced in May?
What is perhaps one of the most rumored games Bethesda could make may finally get a reveal. According to reports, Bethesda is set to reveal The Elder Scrolls Online this May, with more to be shown at E3 and Quakecon. The MMO, if it does come to pass, would likely be set in the Second Era of The Elder Scrolls universe, which would put it well before any of the other games. There will be three playable factions that are represented by a different animal (lion, dragon, bird of prey), but that is pretty much all that is known so far. The bird of prey would either by a phoenix or an eagle, however the sources did not elaborate. All of this could just be pure speculation, but Bethesda and ZeniMax are hiring for work on an MMO, which was believed to be a Fallout MMO. We will just have to wait and see if it turns out being The Elder Scrolls Online.
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The QWERTY Effect Found
There is a pretty good chance that every computer you have used has a QWERTY keyboard. This layout is so common it appears to be impacting what people think of a word. Called the QWERTY effect, the phenomenon occurs because some words are easier to type than others.
There are fewer letter keys on the right side of a QWERTY keyboard, which makes it easy to press them. This great ease has leaked into our feelings towards words, making us feel more positively towards, ‘right-side-only words.’ When researchers asked English, Dutch, and Spanish speaking people to emotionally rate words, the results showed a preference for those that are written just with the right side of the keyboard. Considering these languages have different sounds to their letters, and this positive trend was found for both right-handed and left-handed people, the keyboard is the best explanation. Even made up words, that the test subjects could have no pre-established opinion on, showed this effect.
This may sound like a random study, but there have been others like it. There have been studies looking at the effect of texting on the ratings of words too, and the data showed words that were easier to typo on a numpad were considered more positive. All of these studies show how views on language can be altered by the tools we use, instead of the actual semantics. No mention of if future research will look for a Dvorak effect.
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No New Xbox at E3, Says Microsoft
There have been no shortage of rumors on the Next Xbox, but Microsoft has been denying them all, like any company would. Microsoft has already denied reports of a new Xbox this year, but some speculated there was still the possibility of revealing the next console this year. Well, Microsoft has clarified the rumors yet again, by saying there will be no new Xbox shown at E3 2012. In fact, the folks in Redmond have no intention of unveiling anything about the Next Xbox until 2013 at the earliest, with E3 2013 being a possibility. Either way you look at it, Microsoft is going to stick with the Xbox 360 for at least another year, especially after experiencing its best year of sales last year. The Kinect sensor has certainly helped in that regard, but whether or not Microsoft focuses almost exclusively on that at E3 this year will have to wait a few more months.
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Little Bit of Gold Helps the Reactions Go Through
Catalysts are really interesting things. They accelerate or even make a difficult process possible, yet are not used up by the process. This is because they introduce intermediary steps to the process, which each require less energy than the entire process without a catalyst present. Catalysts are currently found in the catalytic converter of a gasoline car, but are also used in fuel-cell-powered cars. Unfortunately several modern catalysts, such as platinum, are not well suited for this work, but researchers at Brown University have created something to help.
The reason platinum does not work well in these fuel cells is because it will bind with carbon monoxide, and interfere with the reaction. Iron also binds with the dangerous gas, but gold does not. The researchers created nanoparticles consisting of iron, platinum, and gold (FePtAu) that were effective as catalysts without having the binding issue. This is because while gold will not bind with the carbon monoxide particles, it will still catalyze them into carbon dioxide.
An interesting phenomenon observed in this nanoparticle is what happens when the nanoparticle is heated. First the layout of the iron, platinum, and gold atoms is random throughout the layer, but after heating an order emerges. This happens because the gold moves out of the way, allowing the iron and platinum atoms to align. With this structure, the gold keeps the carbon monoxide molecules away from the iron and platinum, which act as catalysts for the fuel cell system, and work quite well. At 2809.9 mA/mg Pt (milliamp per milligram of platinum) this nanoparticle is the most efficient of all reported nanoparticle catalysts.
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The Man Who Made a 13-Mile Jump From Space
It takes an extraordinary amount of bravado to climb the Earth's atmosphere, but Felix Baumgartner just might be a little bit insane for soaring 71,581 feet skyward and then take a dizzying freefall back to terra firma. Protected by a pressurized jump suit, Baumgartner used the helium balloon-powered Red Bull Stratos capsule to ascend to a height of 13.6 miles, offering a magnificent view of the planet that he took in before taking the breakneck plunge. While the entire trip (from the climb to the successful landing) took one hour and 40 minutes, Baumgartner spent three minutes and 43 seconds in a nerve-wracking descent with a velocity of 364.4 mph.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg for Baumgartner. This summer will be an even more jaw-dropping feat, with the fearless skydiver shooting for a breathtaking altitude of 23 miles near the stratosphere's edge, where he'll drop back down to Earth at a speed reaching Mach 1.
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Indie Royale St. Patrick's Day Bundle Now Available
Everyone enjoys getting great indie games on the cheap and luckily Indie Royale has another bundle to entice you. The Indie Royale St. Patrick's Day Bundle is now available with five different games waiting for you to purchase. This bundle includes: Hard Reset, Jolly Rover, Vertex Dispenser, DLC Quest, and Lair of the Evildoer. Hard Reset is an old school FPS with a cyberpunk flair, Jolly Rover is a 2D point-and-click adventure game, Vertex Dispenser is an abstract RTS, DLC Quest is a platformer that pokes fun at the reliance on DLC, and Lair of the Evildoer is an RPG shooter from the DLC Quest team. That last game is included as a free bonus, as is Vertex Vortex Remix Cortex, which is a puzzle re-imagining of Vertex Dispenser. If you beat the minimum price, you will also receive the NES-inspired O.S.T: Original Soundtrack in FLAC and MP3 formats. Right now the minimum is at $4.25, and like past Indie Royale offerings, the higher you pay over that minimum means the lower it drops. The more people pay at or slightly above minimum means the higher it goes, so try to be a little generous.
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Obsidian Did Not Receive Bonus Payments Due to Fallout: New Vegas Metacritic Rating
Troubled times are certainly coming to Obsidian Entertainment. Just yesterday came the news of some layoffs at the developer, and now it looks like Obsidian did not receive any bonus payments for Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian would have received a bonus payment based on an 85 or higher Metacritic rating for FNV, but the game only received an 84. One point kept the team from receiving anything extra for the well-received Fallout: New Vegas, but this is only an all too troubling trend in the games industry. Other studios have been denied bonuses and royalties due to a low Metacritic rating, even if it is just off by one point in the case of New Vegas. I have put well over 100 hours into FNV and enjoy the game immensely, so it is a little disappointing to see a popular game not help the studio as much as it could. I can only hope Metacritic ratings (and scores in general) stop being so crucial to game development in order to keep everyone from having to look for a different job.
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