illeism writes "Ars Techinca is reporting that the HPNA has made a significant stride in copper speed. From the article: 'The HomePNA Alliance, backers of a networking spec that works over coaxial or twisted pair wiring, has announced the release of the HPNA 3.1 specification. The big news comes in the form of a speed jump from 128Mbps to 320Mbps, which pushes it above competing networking standards HomePlug AV and MoCA (Multimedia over Coax) for the title of fastest networking tech outside of gigabit Ethernet and makes it a more attractive option for triple-play providers.'"

GameSpot is reporting that GameStop will be offering a mind-boggling $700 Wii bundle online, as of tomorrow. Considering the retail price of the Wii is $250, there had better be some solid gold Wiimotes in there to go with your little white box. From the article: "Given the GameStop Wii bundle's steep price, one would wonder what assortment of add-ons and games are worth around an extra $449. Apparently, the customer-service reps at GameStop are also wondering. 'We don't know what the bundle contains,' a rep told GameSpot. 'We also don't know when they go on sale. We won't know until Thursday.'"

mikemuch writes "The new top-end GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS from Nvidia launched today, and Loyd Case at ExtremeTech has done two articles: an analysis of the new GPU's architecture, and a benchmark article on PNY's 8800 GTX. The GPU uses a unified scalar-based hardware architecture rather than dedicated pixel pipelines, and the card sets the bar higher yet again for PC graphics." Relatedly an anonymous reader writes "The world and his dog has been reviewing the NVIDIA 8800 series of graphics cards. There is coverage over at bit-tech, which has some really in-depth gameplay evaluations; TrustedReviews, which has a take on the card for the slightly less technical reader; and TechReport, which is insanely detailed on the architecture. The verdict: superfast, but don't bother if you have less than a 24" display."

Gamasutra reports that Rockstar will be releasing all three modern Grand Theft Auto titles as a bundle, simply called 'Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy'. The GTA three-pack will retail for $39.99, and should release on December 4th. From the article: "The collection is believed to be one of the last to carry the Grand Theft Auto name for the PlayStation 2, with the next iteration in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto IV, already announced for simultaneous release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on October 16, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007. Take Two has previously announced, however, that an unnamed 'current generation' port of its handheld Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories will be released by Spring 2007, continuing its recent habit of debuting GTA side stories on the PSP and subsequently porting them to current-gen (generally PlayStation 2) hardware." I don't own any GTA titles at the moment, so this might be a good buy for me.

The New York Times is reporting on efforts by the French culture ministry to treat videogames as art. About time. This initiative will include giving tax breaks for game development, and national recognition of game developer achievements (like the arts award received by Shigeru Miyamoto this March). From the article: "With a total of roughly 100 video game companies, France, along with Britain, has long produced more video games than the rest of Europe combined, according to the market research firm Idate, of Montpellier, France. Of late, however, the French companies have been facing tough times. Infogrames has been struggling against high debt, and an American rival, Electronic Arts, bought 19 percent of Ubisoft's shares in 2004. And Vivendi Games earns most of its revenue from one best-selling game, World of Warcraft, said Laurent Michaud, head of the video games division at Idate. 'It is true that the French video game sector is fragile,' Mr. Michaud said. 'But this is true for companies in all markets due to the quick-changing nature of industry.'"

prostoalex writes "Is it a good idea to go into Computer Science? Yes, there are certainly pending labor shortages as Indian companies outsource to the United States, but speakers of Stanford Computer Forum generally agree that it's a good career choice. From the article: 'To ensure job security, students must learn business, communication and interpersonal skills, Vardi recommended. The personal touch will become as important as technological expertise, he said. "There are jobs galore," agreed Suzanne Bigas, assistant director of the Stanford Computer Forum.'"

Gary Stock, the guy who invented the Googlewhack, tried a bit of Google election predicting last night. Using a methodology that is entirely indefensible, and which he does not try to defend, Stock asked Google to call the results on Michigan's five referendum questions. The result: Google's answers to two questions were spot-on, two questions were answered correctly but underrepresented the 'yes' vote, and one question was reversed. An 80% accuracy rate has got to beat any number of the pollsters and pundits who have been shouting at us since last August, no?

The long-awaited release of Hellgate London, from Flagship Studios, will be handled by Electronic Arts. The Escapist newsroom reports that EA will do sales, marketing, and distribution of the game, while Namco Bandai will handle toys, novels, comics, etc. From the article: "Future games in the series were not listed as part of the deal, despite Namco's tradition of partnering with EA for publishing software in Europe. In Asia, Flagship Studios inked deals with South Korean publisher and developer HanbitSoft to handle distribution and San Jose developer Online Game Services Inc. to assist in maintaining the online world." Future games? How about they release the first one before we start talking about sequels.

MattSparkes writes, "The Chinese GPS system, Beidou, is apparently to be opened up for free access within China, worrying European investors on the €2.5 billion competing project, Galileo. Initially, China had declared that access to their system would be restricted to the military, and Europe had planned to recoup some of the cost of their system by selling licenses to China. Michael Shaw, from the US government's National Space-based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Coordination Office in Washington DC, said, 'Frankly, China's behavior towards Europe is not so different to how Europe behaved with us when GPS was the only game in town a decade ago.'"

simoniker writes "Splinter Cell: Double Agent lead multiplayer level designer Pascal Luban has up an article at Gamasutra examining how to design a long-lasting multiplayer game level. He explains the top three attributes he bears in mind: 'Durability. A map should withstand thousands of game sessions without letting players feel bored. It must provide continuous tactical challenges... Accessibility. Navigation in a map should be clear. Remember that complex map design is one of the main difficulties a new player is confronted with... Entertainment. This need is obvious, but its rules are difficult to define.' But what are the best multiplayer game maps ever created, and why?" I'm not sure about 'all time', but we talked about some really good ones last Friday.

BobB writes to tell us that Google is promising to make the data they store for end users more portable and is urging other companies to do the same. From the article: "Making it simple for users to walk away from a Google service with which they are unhappy keeps the company honest and on its toes, and Google competitors should embrace this data portability principle, Eric Schmidt said at the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco."

An anonymous reader writes "Atari founder Nolan Bushnell points out that PS and PS2 got lucky with their release, 'It wasn't anything brilliant that they did. With the PS and PS2 it was timing. They had the right pricing at the right time [and were] almost the accidental winner.' But he sees things differently this time around. 'It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units.'" I find that kind of hard to believe, but he raises some more salient points in the other parts of the article.

Schneier is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has decided to delve into why upper management doesn't "get" IT security threats. The results aren't terribly surprising to those in the trenches, stating that most executives view security as something akin to facilities management. "Thankfully", the $495 report (if you aren't a "Conference Board associate") helps tell you how to handle the situation.

eldavojohn writes "Despite reports from the CEO that the PS3 will ship with Linux, LinuxDevices is now saying that it won't. Also, despite a rumor that the Wii will have Linux, the originator of the rumor has revealed himself to be a prankster. This won't stop you from putting Yellow Dog on the PS3 or running WiiLi, a live Linux CD for the Wii."

macinrack writes to tell us that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.