Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB Review
A look at Seagates new Constellation ES.3 4TB drives performance including RAID performance.
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AMD Announces New Semi-Custom Processor Division
AMD has launched a new division which aims allow companies to design their own processors for specific applications using the basis of AMD's existing APU technology, while incorporating the company's own intellectual property. This has already been applied in the upcoming Playstation 4, which utilises a heavily modified APU based on the Jaguar core, but until now, there has not been a dedicated division for custom chips. It is hoped that the advent of this new division will help generate the profit that AMD so greatly needs.
One example of the application of this new initiative would be use in Smart TVs, where the APU could contain hardware-accelerated decoders for specific video file types. Interestingly, the new division could enable AMD to incorporate ARM cores into its existing APUs, which may eventually open doors for AMD to enter the ARM SoC market. This could then lead to more powerful graphical rendering capabilities on smaller ARM-based devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Source: AMD
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Steam Greenlight Spotlight: Flowstorm
Flowstorm is a top-down 2.5D racing and aerial combat game created with the Unity 3D engine. I suck at it. To call the game unforgiving would be an understatement – more like sadistic. You control a rocket ship through various levels, but if any part of the ship other than the armored underside touches a wall, you shatter. We're not talking high speed collisions here; you can be going as slow as possible, just lightly scrape the side of the rocket against the wall, and BOOM! It's a good thing the death animations are beautifully done, slightly soothing the pain of dying over and over.
The controls are simple to use yet hard to master. I know that sounds cliché, but it really applies here. W or Up Arrow accelerates, while A or Left Arrow and D or Right Arrow turn you left and right, respectively. When the game mode permits it, pressing Shift or Spacebar fires a grenade – its length of travel and arc depends on how long you hold down the key. Pressing R, Tab, or Return respawns you; you'll be using that a lot. The game also supports a gamepad, though I think that would make it even thougher to control. No matter what your preferred control method is, your rocket is affected by gravity, firmly planting Flowstorm in the Thrust-clone sub-genre.
Flowstorm sets itself apart from other Thrust-clones with its unique sliding mechanic. As I mentioned earlier, your underside is armored. With careful manipulation – and maybe a bit of luck – you can use the underside of your rocket to slide across surfaces and keep momentum through turns. It's an interesting mechanic that can be quite useful in the racing levels, though probably not so much in aerial combat. It also happens to be essential in one of the six "game modes" you can partake in.
Such a system also lends itself well to level creation as the map creator doesn't have to worry about choosing which game mode(s) to allow. And yes, that was a subtle hint at another great feature of Flowstorm – it comes with a level editor! Though I did not get to test out the level editor – it's only available in the standalone version of the game and not the free-to-play web version that I tried – based on the videos, it looks quite easy and intuitive to use. If you have any experience using the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, or the Curve Tools in 3D modeling programs like Maya, you'll be right at home in Flowstorm's level editor. In fact, it may actually be easier than those aforementioned tools, as you can easily add and remove points, divide segments in half, and toggle linearity (lines vs. curves). After you lay out a path, you can set the spawn point and place checkpoints and various props to bring the level to life.
As I mentioned above, there is a free-to-play web version that's currently available at the official Flowstorm site. It's classified as Alpha 4.0, so don't expect perfection or a complete game, but it's certainly very playable. It features five racing levels, three racing levels with targets you have to destroy, and one local 1v1 combat level. You can register for free to have the game save your scores, as well as provide you with stats. The standalone version supports PC, Mac, and Linux. Though I'm a bit late for the Kickstarter (it ended unsuccessfully on Thursday), Swedish developer Neat Corporation (the duo of Jenny "Sranine" Nordenborg and Joachim "Acegikmo" Holmér) is continuing development. Multiple rockets are planned, each with unique properties (two are in the game right now, though the fatter Rooket doesn't have crash animations, so it's not as satisfying to play), as well as a 2v2 multiplayer mode where you kill opponents to steal energy cores that you then have to bring to your base. So go vote YES on Greenlight – don't blame them if you suck at the game like I do.
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Enermax Announces COENUS Case Line
Enermax has a new entry into the mid tower gaming chassis market with the COENUS line. Users are first greeted with a case that has a large amount of mesh exterior, providing for improved ventilation, and a side window exposing the innards for all to see. The case can support up to eight 3.5" or 2.5" hard drives in a variety of configurations with drive rails providing for easy installation. Up to three dual slot video cards can also be accommodated based on the chosen hard drive configuration. The COENUS ECA3290A-G is available now with an MSRP of $69.99.
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Cooler Master Wants to Take You to School
Cooler Master has announced a new website aimed at informing customers about their products, Cooler Master University. The first guide takes a look at the variety of Cherry MX switches available in mechanical keyboards. Future topics include gaming surfaces and mouse grip styles. Senior Product Marketing Manager Bryant Nguyen said, “We’re committed to educating new users and enthusiasts to better understand how the technologies implemented by Cooler Master can augment their computer experience.”
Source: Cooler Master
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