Posted 09/04/09 at 12:50:40 PM by Paul Lilly

One way to intimidate your opponents right off the bat is to show up at your next LAN party lugging around a water-cooled rig, but in a SFF enclosure.

Now you can do that, thanks to CyberPower's new LAN Mini H20. Measuring just 11.25 (L) x 8.75 (W) x 7 (H) inches and weighing about 10 pounds, the OEM managed to cram an Asetek water cooling solution into the cramped confines of a Silverstone SST-SG05 Mini-ITX enclosure that integrates both the CPU and GPU into a closed loop.

Also included in the sub-$1000 base configuration is an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12MB L2 cache), Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX motherboard, 4GB of DDR2-800 memory, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 videocard, 8X DVD burner, and Windows Home Premium 64-bit.

The customizable LAN Mini H20 is available now.

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Posted 08/25/09 at 04:21:09 AM by Nathan Grayson

LAN? You still use that? People gathered together and sat around the old LAN, like, back in the days of vee-see-arrrrs and stuff, right? That’s old news, man. But how about that new thing Blizzard’s got cooking? It lets you play multiplayer games with a blazing connection, as if the Internet isn’t even involved. It’s crazy. What will these developers think of next?

"We are working on solutions with regard to things we can do to maintain connectivity to Battle.net in some way, but also provide a great quality connection between players," said Battle.net developer Greg Canessa.

The plan, it would seem, is for the game to authenticate with Blizzard’s server before switching into LAN mode.

"Something like that," Canessa replied when asked about such a solution. "Maintaining a connection with Battle.net, I don't know if it's once or periodically, but then also having a peer-to-peer connection between players to facilitate a very low-ping, high-bandwidth connection… those are the things that we're working on."

So then, can we never talk about LAN in Blizzard games ever again? With this solution, Blizzard’s happy and you’re happy. Unless, of course, you’re a pirate, in which case, it looks like your luck's finally run out.  

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Posted 08/17/09 at 11:02:47 PM by Nathan Grayson

The petition may already be having fond, nostalgic memories of the time it was at 100,000 signatures, but Blizzard’s decision to keep StarCraft II LAN-free remains set in stone. So, one might wonder, is Blizzard an unfeeling, out-of-touch monster? Does it even care what its fans think? Blizzard’s Rob Pardo was taken to task with such a question, and he fired back with this little number:

“Of course we care, but it’s not like we’re surprised that there’s a petition about LAN in Star II. It’s not like we went, ‘D’oh. People care about that?’ Clearly, we knew, it was a very tough decision, and I’d say we’d been talking about it back and forth for well over a year before we finally decided that this is more the direction for the future for us, and actually for the industry.”

“If you look at LAN, that goes back to the War II days, with Cali and stuff like that. I think LAN will be a great footnote in our history, just like DOS was. It’s just something that, with broadband and with the connections and the things that we can do on Battle.net, and having to support LAN in addition to that… It’s the sort of decision we have to make that has to be the lowest common denominator for both. I don’t necessarily think [LAN’s] going to be the way of the future. And that’s going to be the best thing for Star II and our future games.”

So there you have it. Blizzard thinks history is all well and good, but the future’s where it’s at. And we imagine Blizzard knows a thing or two about the future. After all, the company did birth one of the greatest futuristic sci-fi gaming series of all time. And that concludes this week’s installment of Flawless Logic Theater.

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Posted 07/15/09 at 04:37:16 AM by Nathan Grayson

Wow. Nothing gets past StarCraft fans. Case in point: Blizzard quietly announced that LAN play would be absent from StarCraft 2, and fans immediately zerg rushed an Internet petition all the way up 57,000 signatures.
 
As of now, Blizzard has yet to respond, though with 57,000 semi-militant people joining in a spectacular chorus of anger, sorrow, and rage, we imagine the developer won’t be able to ignore the whole fiasco for too much longer.

So, what’s your stance on LAN in StarCraft 2? Could you care less, or are you so determined to cram a bunch of guys in a room to play StarCraft that you’d even go so far as to write your name on a piece of paper?

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Posted 05/08/09 at 03:02:05 PM by Paul Lilly

Summer's fast approaching, and that means (hopefully) more free time for gaming (who needs sunshine?). To help you do that, CyberPower today announces the LAN Party Commander, a new system built around the Core i7 platform and housed in Cooler Master's recently released Scout enclosure.

"CyberPower offers a true LAN party solution that combines gaming performance quality and style," CyberPower wrote in a press release. "This all-around LAN Party case embodies CM’s 'Storm Tactics' approach to extreme gaming systems that gives you Strength, Security, and Control."

We were half expecting CyberPower to throw an 'Army Strong' quote somewhere in the press release, but marketing eccentricities asides, the self-proclaimed "Perfect LAN Party Rig" seeks to get you gaming on the go with an Intel Core i7 920 processor, Gigabyte X58 motherboard, 6GB of DDR3-1333 tri-channel memory, AMD's ATI HD4870 videocard, 1TB hard drive, DVD burner, 680W power supply, and Windows Vista 64-bit. Several upgrades are available, each of which will add to the base configuration's $1,130 price tag.

For security duties, CyberPower says the Commander's StormGuard security solution will allow you to lock down peripherals from mischievous passerbys.

The Commander is available now starting at the aforementioned $1,130 price point, though you can knock 5 percent off with coupon code "Instant."

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Posted 04/29/09 at 04:21:12 PM by Andy Salisbury

So you’re a fan of multiplayer gaming, but you haven’t tried a LAN party yet. What’s holding you back? If it’s the (admittedly) huge hassle of packing up your entire computer, iBuypower has got you covered with their latest PC.

The LAN Warrior, which is a mega tower with a nylon strap attached, comes with your choice of an Intel Core i7 processor, a 1000W power supply, an Asus Rampage II Gene X58 motherboard, up to 24GB of RAM, and either dual Nvidia or ATI graphics cards.

The machine starts at only $1000, and is available now.

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Posted 01/05/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Chris Comiskey

With outsourced support now the de facto standard in the IT and ISP industries, do-it-yourself computer repair has gone from being an optional luxury to an outright necessity. You might feel hopeless and abandoned the first time your network connection gives out, but don’t fret just yet. Given the right direction, even the greenest of users can fix a number of common network errors. We’re going to give you all the tools you need to become your own network tech support.

You might be skeptical, but LAN/WAN troubleshooting isn’t all that difficult. Upgrades are easy and cheap—if required at all—and the analysis process is brief and painless, even if you’ve never wired a Cat5 cable or run a command line ipconfig. Even better, many of the steps and instructions are identical in Vista and XP, which goes a long way toward easing the troubleshooting transition, should you switch from one OS to the other.

While sometimes a call to your ISP is unavoidable, when you do have to do it, at least you’ll brandish the knowledge to blaze through all the low-level BS and head straight to a speedy resolution. Don’t let the Internet and networking companies bully you any longer—it’s time to stand up and take matters into your own hands.

Read on to find out how to optimize your internet experience!

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Posted 09/15/07 at 02:39:59 AM by David Murphy

Maximum PC co-hosts yet *another* awesome LAN party. Why are you reading this? Go frag!

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