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Gaming Roundup 8/29/08: Bandaged Edge

Nathan Grayson — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:25:02 -0500

A few days ago, a friend and I were discussing the venerable Tim Rogers, an opinionated games writer if ever there was one. Here's the fun thing about Rogers, though: If you were to shuffle one of his reviews in with those of ten other game reviewers, his piece would stand out like the Batman in daylight, foremost for one obvious reason -- it'd be really, really long. Rogers meanders all over the place, delving into each aspect of a game, as well as many things seemingly unrelated, which he then acknowledges as seemingly unrelated.

Google to Rescue Doomed WiFi Network, Offer Free Access

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:23:03 -0500

The abandoned remains of EarthLink’s ambitious free WiFi service are scattered across various U.S cities. Many of the WiFi networks that EarthLink founded have been rescued by private investors and saved from their inevitable demise. The latest savior happens to be Google, which has decided to run the WiFi network in Milpitas. It has joined hands with I-Net Solutions and a few others to save the network.

Microsoft Sidewinder X5

Will Smith — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

Sporting an ever-so-slightly trimmed-down shape compared to the original Sidewinder gaming mouse, along with a stripped down featureset, the Sidewinder X5 delivers great performance at a very reasonable price. Like the original Sidewinder, the design works great for gamers who use either a claw or a standard grip (or who like to change between them), but it’s not particularly comfortable for people with small- to medium-size hands. After a couple of hours of play using a standard grip, our hands cramped.

Nvidia to Optimize Drivers for VIA Nano Machines

Paul Lilly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:12:03 -0500

Forget about daytime television, the real drama takes place in the tech industry. Intel and Nvidia's relationship can be described as rocky at best, and now the GPU maker has said it will make "a significant investment in optimizing software" for VIA's Nano processor. VIA's low power chip has already been spotted outperforming Intel's Atom CPU, making this latest announcement all the more interesting for anyone paying attention to the ultraportable market.

It's Official - Comcast Announces 250GB/Month Bandwidth Cap

Paul Lilly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:26:30 -0500

Comcast made it official today by announcing it will introduce bandwidth caps to all residential customers starting on October 1, 2008. The ISP describes the 250GB per month cap as "an extremely large amount of data," noting that a large majority of customers will never cross it. Or will they?

Overclockers Break 4GHz Barrier for AMD Processors

Paul Lilly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:44:31 -0500

Intel fans be polite and stifle those snickers, but at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, members of AwardFabrik.de managed to breach 4GHz on an AMD Phenom 9950 processor using liquid nitrogen cooling. Not without controversy, the feat failed to pass CPU-Z's validation.

Running at precisely 3952MHz, the team recorded a 19.954 second SuperPi 1M time, setting a new record for AMD processors. Other hardware used in the endeavor included a Foxconn A79-S motherboard and an OCZ 1KW power supply.

Once Again, Nvidia Denies Entering CPU Market

Paul Lilly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:22:12 -0500

Some rumors just refuse to die, and one that refuses to stay buried is that Nvidia might be looking to enter the CPU market. On the surface, such a move would seem to make sense, as both AMD and Intel offer integrated CPU and GPU platforms. Speculation that Nvidia might develop a platform of its own has been particularly strong the past few months, and chairman Jen-Hsun Huang, a co-found of the company, only fueled the fire at his press conference on the opening day of NVISION, saying "we believe in x86...we believe in heterogeneous computing."

Mozilla Extends Deal with Google for 3 Years

Paul Lilly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:04:13 -0500

Google inked another 3 year deal with Mozilla to remain the default search option in the open-source Firefox browser. Originally set to expire back in 2006, the deal was extended to 2008 and will now run through 2011.

"We're very, very happy about our relationship with Google," said John Lilly, Mozilla CEO, "and this makes sure that Mozilla will be sustainable and thrive for quite a long time to come."