13865880
submission
mr_sifter writes:
As we've seen from previous coverage, TRIM support is vital to help SSDs maintain performance over extended periods of time — while Microsoft and the SSD manufacturers have publicized its inclusion in Windows 7, Apple has been silent on whether OS X will support it. bit-tech decided to see how SSD performance in OS X is affected by extended use — and the results, at least with the Macbook Air, are startling. The drive doesn't seem to suffer very much at all, even after huge amounts of data have been written to it. Does OS X even need TRIM?
12439834
submission
mr_sifter writes:
Intel might have beaten AMD to the punch with a CPU featuring a built in GPU, but it relied on a relatively crude process of simply packaging two separate dies together. AMD's long-talked about Fusion product integrates both key components into one die, and the company is confident it will be out this year.
11635756
submission
mr_sifter writes:
And this time, the socket is 1-pin different to the current LGA1156 socket Core i3, i5 and some i7s use. According to a leaked roadmap, next year we'll be saying hello to LGA1155. Sandy Bridge CPUs will be based on the current 32nm, second generation High-k metal gate manufacturing process. All LGA1155 CPUs will have integrated graphics built into the core instead of a separate chip. This is an upgrade from the current IGP, PCI Express controller and memory controller in Clarkdale CPUs that is manufactured on the older 45nm process in a separate die (but still slapped together the same package). This should improve performance, as all the controllers will be in one die, like existing LGA1366 CPUs.
11456014
submission
mr_sifter writes:
UK games retailer GameStation today revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of customers, thanks to a clause it secretly added to the online terms and conditions for its website. The "Immortal Soul Clause" was added as part of an attempt to highlight how few customers read the terms and conditions of an online sale. GameStation claims that 88 percent of customers did not read the clause, which gives legal ownership of the customer's soul over to the UK-based games retailer. The remaining 12 percent of customers however did notice the clause and clicked the relevant opt-out box, netting themselves a £5 GBP gift voucher in the process.
11276162
submission
mr_sifter writes:
In the 1980s, gamebooks were all the rage, and most geeks have read through a Fighting Fantasy novel or two. You might even have heard of Fabled Lands, arguably the most ambitious gamebooks ever — it was planned as a series 12 books, each representing a different area of the world, and players could roam freely from book to book. It was completely non linear, and unless you died, there was no way to finish. In 1996, the authors, Dave Morris and Jamie Thompson, hooked up with game developer Eidos and started work on what would have been a ground breaking computer game version of their books — an MMO, in other words. Unfortunately, development hell awaited. This feature tells the story of the game that could have been WoW before Warcraft.
7779200
submission
mr_sifter writes:
PC gamers love to obsess over whether PC gaming is dying, but bit-tech thinks it's time to look at the other side and examine if console gaming is really as secure as publishers would have us believe. All three console manufacturers suffered from the recession — this year, Sony announced its first net loss in 14 years; a stunning ¥989.9bn, which includes record losses of ¥58.5bn in its gaming sector. Microsoft also announced its first loss since it went public in 1986 in the second quarter of this financial year, with a $31 million US loss coming straight from the Entertainment and Devices division – i.e those responsible for the Xbox 360. Not even Nintendo has escaped the financial plague either, with sales of the Wii dropping by 67 percent in the US, 60 percent in Japan and 47 percent in the rest of the world. In addition to reduced profitability, casual games and the rise of the iPhone further suggest the current model is on its last legs.
