RAnDoM VidEO GAmE NeWS

[melkathi]

Haven't played Enter the Dominatrix yet. But is that cyborg Fun Shaundi?

[Keyrock]

iBuyPower shows off Steam Machine Protoype, Names Price

 

 

 

iBuyPower showed off a prototype for its first Steam Machine, which will be out next year for $499. The sexy white box will have a multicore AMD CPU, an AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card, a 500GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SteamOS, and a Steam Controller.

 

Don't run at me with torches ablaze, but it looks like this early Steam Machine will outperform the new consoles, at least from a raw power perspective. TFLOPS is a way to calculate how fast a computer is, and according to Anandtech the PlayStation 4 has 1.84 TFLOPS, the Xbox One has 1.23 TFLOPS, and The Tech Report has the R9 270, a $180 GPU, at 2.4 TFLOPS. With similar AMD multicore CPUs, the edge will go to the system with the better graphic processing and speed.

 

This is a lower price with better hardware than most people were expecting. Valve's own prototypes are all above this price point, so it's nice to see that the first third-party system will be very affordable. We'll learn more about the hardware of this box, and other Steam Machines, at CES in January.

That's actually a really reasonable price.  Same price as a XBone and significantly more raw horsepower, granted it doesn't have a camera to look at your pen1s.

[ShadySands]

No **** cam, no sale

[Raithe]

Okay, just puttering around on steam and I note the assorted AC4 dlc. Seriously? They're selling "Time Saver DLC".. that, shows you where all the collectibles are, gives you resources before they become available in the game, and.. let you build stuff without having to go to the trouble of playing the game and finding the plans..

 

The mind is boggled. "I'm going to pay £40 for a game, and then I'm going to pay even more money because I don't want to spend my time playing that game..."

 

Now I'm feeling like a crotchety old gamer who doesn't understand the current generation.

[Labadal]

I just pretend that stuff doesn't exist. it's better for my sanity.

[Keyrock]

Okay, just puttering around on steam and I note the assorted AC4 dlc. Seriously? They're selling "Time Saver DLC".. that, shows you where all the collectibles are, gives you resources before they become available in the game, and.. let you build stuff without having to go to the trouble of playing the game and finding the plans..

 

The mind is boggled. "I'm going to pay £40 for a game, and then I'm going to pay even more money because I don't want to spend my time playing that game..."

 

Now I'm feeling like a crotchety old gamer who doesn't understand the current generation.

Wait, you're surprised about this?  This is the direction that gaming is headed and has been for years.  I estimate we're only a year or two away from games coming out with a special edition you can buy for a cool $20 more where you don't get the game at all, but instead you automatically are awarded all the achievements so that you can show off your SKILLZ and your ePen1s can grow.

[Mamoulian War]

iBuyPower shows off Steam Machine Protoype, Names Price

 

 

 

iBuyPower showed off a prototype for its first Steam Machine, which will be out next year for $499. The sexy white box will have a multicore AMD CPU, an AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card, a 500GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SteamOS, and a Steam Controller.

 

Don't run at me with torches ablaze, but it looks like this early Steam Machine will outperform the new consoles, at least from a raw power perspective. TFLOPS is a way to calculate how fast a computer is, and according to Anandtech the PlayStation 4 has 1.84 TFLOPS, the Xbox One has 1.23 TFLOPS, and The Tech Report has the R9 270, a $180 GPU, at 2.4 TFLOPS. With similar AMD multicore CPUs, the edge will go to the system with the better graphic processing and speed.

 

This is a lower price with better hardware than most people were expecting. Valve's own prototypes are all above this price point, so it's nice to see that the first third-party system will be very affordable. We'll learn more about the hardware of this box, and other Steam Machines, at CES in January.

That's actually a really reasonable price.  Same price as a XBone and significantly more raw horsepower, granted it doesn't have a camera to look at your pen1s.

 

If this piece of hardware allows you to install other operating systems, it is hell of a good price...

[Keyrock]

 

iBuyPower shows off Steam Machine Protoype, Names Price

 

 

 

iBuyPower showed off a prototype for its first Steam Machine, which will be out next year for $499. The sexy white box will have a multicore AMD CPU, an AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card, a 500GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SteamOS, and a Steam Controller.

 

Don't run at me with torches ablaze, but it looks like this early Steam Machine will outperform the new consoles, at least from a raw power perspective. TFLOPS is a way to calculate how fast a computer is, and according to Anandtech the PlayStation 4 has 1.84 TFLOPS, the Xbox One has 1.23 TFLOPS, and The Tech Report has the R9 270, a $180 GPU, at 2.4 TFLOPS. With similar AMD multicore CPUs, the edge will go to the system with the better graphic processing and speed.

 

This is a lower price with better hardware than most people were expecting. Valve's own prototypes are all above this price point, so it's nice to see that the first third-party system will be very affordable. We'll learn more about the hardware of this box, and other Steam Machines, at CES in January.

That's actually a really reasonable price.  Same price as a XBone and significantly more raw horsepower, granted it doesn't have a camera to look at your pen1s.

 

If this piece of hardware allows you to install other operating systems, it is hell of a good price...

 

I don't see why not, neither does Valve.

 

Can I hack this box? Run another OS? Change the hardware? Install my own software? Use it to build a robot?

Sure.

The one thing they don't mention in the article is the CPU, but that's not all that relevant for someone looking to just buy a box off the shelf, plug it in, and not mess with it.  For a single mid-level GPU gaming setup the CPU is mostly irrelevant provided it doesn't bottleneck the GPU, and even a $60 or $70 AMD CPU won't bottleneck a R9 270.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Keyrock

[Mamoulian War]

Any CPU is faster than my current PC, I still have a single core machine, which I bought when NWN2 was released, after that, not a single PC game was worth of upgrade, but with PE, Torment, and mostly Squadron 42, I am thinking about finally upgrading it... And the offered price is kind of tempting... Will need to check various specs and the possibility of tinkering with the machine over the course of time...

[Bester]

Any CPU is faster than my current PC, I still have a single core machine, which I bought when NWN2 was released, after that, not a single PC game was worth of upgrade, but with PE, Torment, and mostly Squadron 42, I am thinking about finally upgrading it... And the offered price is kind of tempting... Will need to check various specs and the possibility of tinkering with the machine over the course of time...

Are you poor or something?

[Amentep]

 

Okay, just puttering around on steam and I note the assorted AC4 dlc. Seriously? They're selling "Time Saver DLC".. that, shows you where all the collectibles are, gives you resources before they become available in the game, and.. let you build stuff without having to go to the trouble of playing the game and finding the plans..

 

The mind is boggled. "I'm going to pay £40 for a game, and then I'm going to pay even more money because I don't want to spend my time playing that game..."

 

Now I'm feeling like a crotchety old gamer who doesn't understand the current generation.

Wait, you're surprised about this?  This is the direction that gaming is headed and has been for years.  I estimate we're only a year or two away from games coming out with a special edition you can buy for a cool $20 more where you don't get the game at all, but instead you automatically are awarded all the achievements so that you can show off your SKILLZ and your ePen1s can grow.

 

But you need the X-Box One kinnect camera to show that last bit off, surely?

[marelooke]

 

Okay, just puttering around on steam and I note the assorted AC4 dlc. Seriously? They're selling "Time Saver DLC".. that, shows you where all the collectibles are, gives you resources before they become available in the game, and.. let you build stuff without having to go to the trouble of playing the game and finding the plans..

 

The mind is boggled. "I'm going to pay £40 for a game, and then I'm going to pay even more money because I don't want to spend my time playing that game..."

 

Now I'm feeling like a crotchety old gamer who doesn't understand the current generation.

Wait, you're surprised about this?  This is the direction that gaming is headed and has been for years.  I estimate we're only a year or two away from games coming out with a special edition you can buy for a cool $20 more where you don't get the game at all, but instead you automatically are awarded all the achievements so that you can show off your SKILLZ and your ePen1s can grow.

 

As sad as that sounds it wouldn't really surprise me... I once heard someone slamming a game because it was "too long", so it took him "too long" to finish so he could move on to the next game...

 

I died a little that day.

Edited November 27, 2013 by marelooke

[Nepenthe]

I've played games that are too long, with Dragon Age Origins at the top of that list.

[Guest Slinky]

Doom 3 is on top of my list, 20h of identical dark corridors without any variation until the very end. Had to summon all the good memories I had of Doom 1&2 to be able to finish the damn thing.

 

Funny how getting to hell felt like gift from god

Edited November 27, 2013 by Slinky

[melkathi]

I've played games that are too long, with Dragon Age Origins at the top of that list.

 

Last Remnant is higher on my personal list.

[Nepenthe]

I had enough self preservation to skip both of those in the first place :D

[Lord of Lost Socks]

 

 

Okay, just puttering around on steam and I note the assorted AC4 dlc. Seriously? They're selling "Time Saver DLC".. that, shows you where all the collectibles are, gives you resources before they become available in the game, and.. let you build stuff without having to go to the trouble of playing the game and finding the plans..

 

The mind is boggled. "I'm going to pay £40 for a game, and then I'm going to pay even more money because I don't want to spend my time playing that game..."

 

Now I'm feeling like a crotchety old gamer who doesn't understand the current generation.

Wait, you're surprised about this?  This is the direction that gaming is headed and has been for years.  I estimate we're only a year or two away from games coming out with a special edition you can buy for a cool $20 more where you don't get the game at all, but instead you automatically are awarded all the achievements so that you can show off your SKILLZ and your ePen1s can grow.

 

As sad as that sounds it wouldn't really surprise me... I once heard someone slamming a game because it was "too long", so it took him "too long" to finish so he could move on to the next game...

 

I died a little that day.

 

Tbh, any game that forces me to run around picking random **** up is wasting my time. However, that would never make me buy a time saver package, because I don't want to encourage devs to balance single player games around a pseudo-F2P model where they balance the game to be a chore unless you pay more.

 

The DLC is stupid, so are collectibles. And grind is bollocks.

[marelooke]

I've played games that are too long, with Dragon Age Origins at the top of that list.

I probably should have specified that said person considered the game he was playing to be a good game.

 

Also I didn't really consider DA:O to be too long...on my first playthrough, then the lack of sidequests and the railroaded "Go find allies." got rather annoying (not quite as annoying as the snorefest that was NWN1's OC though, nor quite as retarded as having to go catch some escaped critters)

Edited November 27, 2013 by marelooke

[Keyrock]

Everyone's idea of the perfect length game will be a bit different, and will likely change from game to game, I know it does for me.  A game being quite lengthy yet constantly engaging and entertaining is the hallmark of good design.  For example, GTA: San Andreas took me well over 50 hours to complete, yet I loved every second of it and actually felt compelled to look for hidden stuff and steal all the cars, not because of some drive to get an achievement (I don't give a flying **** about achievements), but because I was enjoying it.  I've (unfortunately) played plenty of other games that only took 4 or 5 hours to complete and they bored me to tears, making those 4 or 5 hours feel like 30.  I think variety is the key.  If you're constantly doing the same exact thing again and again and again, it's going to wear you out and grind (pun very much intended) you down.  Grinding through trash mobs in filler battles completely sucks the enjoyment out of a game for me, and since trash mobs generally don't present any actual challenge and can be simply brute forced, developers all too often fall into the trap of simply making you face larger quantities of trash mobs to make the battle more challenging, which only compounds the problem.  Some of the tedium of grinding through trash mobs can be alleviated a bit by allowing you to pull off different combos while mopping up trash mobs.  That's part of what makes games like Batman and Sleeping Dogs work, letting you pull off cool looking combos that make you feel like a badass while you're mopping up waves of trash mobs, but even that only goes so far and the filler battles become just plain tedious after a while.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Keyrock

[mkreku]

When will people stop confusing game length with game quality?

 

Do you honestly think you would have enjoyed Dragon Age 2 if it was shorter? A short crap game is still crap.

 

Or the other side of the coin: if you were playing the best game you had ever played, do you think you would complain that it was too long?

 

If a game becomes boring after a while, it's not because it is too long. It is because it's not good enough.

[BruceVC]

When will people stop confusing game length with game quality?

 

Do you honestly think you would have enjoyed Dragon Age 2 if it was shorter? A short crap game is still crap.

 

Or the other side of the coin: if you were playing the best game you had ever played, do you think you would complain that it was too long?

 

If a game becomes boring after a while, it's not because it is too long. It is because it's not good enough.

 

I've never played a game that I enjoyed that was too long

[Bester]

[Guest Slinky]

If a game becomes boring after a while, it's not because it is too long. It is because it's not good enough.

I rather take a game that I enjoy for the full 15 hours it offers than a game that takes 80 hours to finish of which I only enjoy the first 40 hours before it starts to get boring.

 

Everything can and will turn into **** if it just keeps on going and going, no matter how much you like it.

 

[Mamoulian War]

 

Any CPU is faster than my current PC, I still have a single core machine, which I bought when NWN2 was released, after that, not a single PC game was worth of upgrade, but with PE, Torment, and mostly Squadron 42, I am thinking about finally upgrading it... And the offered price is kind of tempting... Will need to check various specs and the possibility of tinkering with the machine over the course of time...

Are you poor or something?

 

 

You know I rather pay flight ticket to HK for a date, than to throw out money out of the window and buy something, I would not use for more than 3 years...

 

That's how long I did not play any PC game, coz of the suckfest, that got published last few years... And I rather take something big and purple up my ass than to install sometihing like Steam, uPlay or Origin on my PC

Edited November 27, 2013 by Mamoulian War

[Bester]

Yeah yeah yeah, every time I see some poor who has an old nokia brick, it's always the same excuses.