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2009-03-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

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Home » News » PC Gaming » F.E.A.R. 2 System Requirements Announced

2009-01-13T04:50:00.000-08:00

Monolith’s creepy shooter is about to hit stands next month and if you plan on picking it up for the PC, here’s a look at the hardware needed to run this bad boy.

Minimum System Requirements:

CPU: P4 2.8GHz (3.2GHz Vista)/Athlon 64 3000+ (3200+ Vista)
GPU: DX9-capable graphics card with 256MB (SM 2.0b). NVidia 6800 or ATI X700.
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB Vista)
Hard Drive: 12GB
OS: Windows XP SP2/Vista SP1
DirectX: 9.0c
Sound: DX9.0c compliant
Optical drive: DVD (boxed only)
Internet: Broadband

Recommended System Requirements:

CPU: Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz processor family/Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (required for MP host)
GPU: Fully DX9-compliant graphics card with 512MB (SM 3.0). NVidia 8600 GTS or ATI HD 2900 XT.
Ram: 1.5GB
Hard Drive: 12GB
OS: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1
DirectX: 9.0c
Sound: DX9.0c compliant
Optical drive: DVD (boxed only)
Internet: Broadband (768kbit/sec upstream required to host 16 players)

Samsung F268 is Greenest Mobile Phone

2009-01-13T04:48:00.002-08:00

Samsung's F268 handset has been named the "Greenest Mobile Phone" by environmental campaigning organization, Greenpeace International.

The F268 saw off competition in the form of the Motorola V9, the Nokia 3110 Evolve, the Sony Ericsson C905 and the LG KT520 in the handset category.

The win was unveiled by Greenpeace's 'Green Electronics: The Search Continues' report, which commends the Samsung F268 as the 'greenest mobile phone on the market today'. The report recognizes the efforts Samsung has made to develop more renewable and eco-friendly materials and describes the accolade as a 'remarkable achievement.'

The Samsung F268 is the brominated flame retardant (BFR) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) free mobile phone. Neither the device nor its accessories (including the charger and headset) contain PVC, and the all components are also entirely free from BFRs.

In addition, the Samsung F268 has an alarm function that tells users to unplug their charger when the device is fully charged. The product also fully complies with the Energy Star requirements - a set of strict energy-efficiency guidelines established by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.

BioShock Coming to the Mac

2009-01-13T04:48:00.001-08:00

At the Macworld Expo, Chris Holt from Macworld.com got word that Irrational Game’s most excellent action RPG BioShock is finally coming to the Mac. Here's what he had to say:

"If you wandered your way over to the Feral Interactive’s Macworld Expo booth on Friday, you might have noticed something a bit different about the shirts the exhibitors were wearing. On the back of the shirt, for all the world to see, was the iconic Big Daddy character from the Bioshock series.

Hoping that this was not some kind of terrible wardrobe malfunction, I talked to a couple of Feral’s representatives, who confirmed the dystopic adventure first-person shooter is coming to Mac."

So yeah go ahead and rejoice Mac users.

Logitech Introduces Keyboard, Mouse Combo

2009-01-13T04:46:00.001-08:00

Logitech has introduced the Logitech Cordless Desktop S520 that offers a keyboard-and-mouse combination to match a wide variety of computer setups.

"The compact, contemporary design of the Logitech Cordless Desktop S520 makes it a perfect companion for flat-screen monitors, completing your stylish setup while offering advanced features such as programmable keys and buttons, a high-performance cordless laser mouse, and extended battery life," said Subrotah Biswas, Country Manager- India & SAARC, Logitech.

The keyboard-mouse combination comes in matte-black and grey and provides up to eight months of battery life for the mouse and 15 months for the keyboard. With one-touch access to Word, Excel and browsers - users can instantly get to their favorite applications . Four additional programmable F-keys lets users customize their keyboard the way they want it and a full set of media and volume controls make managing media, photos and music easy.

The Logitech Cordless Desktop S520 is priced at Rs. 4,275 comes with a replacement warranty of 3 years and is available at all leading electronic stores in India.

XFX Launches Graphic Card With 1.5 GB Memory

2009-01-13T04:44:00.000-08:00

The XFX GeForce 9600 1.5 GB Far Cry 2 Edition graphics card has been announced and this special edition package comes bundled with the most memory available in a budget-minded performance graphics card with a full release version of Ubisoft's first person shooter, Far Cry 2.

Designed to play DirectX games, the 9600 Far Cry 2 Edition graphics card is built for high-definition gaming and visual computing that's sharp, clean and accurate.

Featuring Ninety-six processing cores, and next-generation NVIDIA PhysX, CUDA and PureVideo HD technologies, the Geforce 9600 Far Cry 2 Edition graphics card incorporates NVIDIA unified architecture, full Microsoft DirectX Shader Model 4.0 support, true 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting and Quantum Effects physics processing technology.

The GeForce 9600 supports resolutions of up to 2560x1600 and the 9600 Far Cry 2 Edition graphics card is SLI-ready, which means users can enjoy enhanced performance when paired with another 9600 GSO-based graphics card. Plus, PCIe 2.0 compatibility ensures that the Far Cry 2 gaming performance holds true for tomorrow's games and 3D applications.

XFX 9600 1.5GB Far Cry 2 Edition graphics card will be available through Rashi Peripherals at an estimated street price of Rs.10000 with a 3 year warranty.

Edimax Launches Wireless USB Adaptor

2008-12-20T05:29:00.000-08:00

Edimax Technology has announced a Wireless USB Adaptor with 3 DBI Antenna called the EW-7711UAn. EW-7711UAn is a high-gain wireless USB adaptor which provides a simple and easy way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity to your desktop or notebook computer.

It complies with wireless 802.11b/g standards, and claims to increase the coverage 3 times more and reduce 'dead spots' within the wireless range. It is compatible with wireless 802.11n standard with data rate up to 150Mbps. It has a rotatable Antenna - 90 degrees of vertical angle and 180 degrees of horizontal. Also, this wireless USB adaptor supports software WPS-compatible configuration and hardware WPS push button. It includes 16 languages EZmax setup wizard and a friendly UI to set up the network.

It is also touted as the smallest wireless adapter. The compact design of the EW-7711UAn is convenient to carry for all mobile users. Prices have not been revealed as ye

Wireless Technology Differs Drastically From West to East

2008-12-20T05:27:00.001-08:00

The Eastern hemisphere of the mobile handset world stands in contrast with the West. In tech-focused Eastern countries like Japan and South Korea, heavy-duty wireless networks rule. Those networks aren't as robust or widely deployed in the West, where the dominant model focuses on handset features and budding application marketplaces.

The Asian cellular phone market is something of a paradox. Countries such as Japan and South Korea have invested the equivalent of billions of dollars to develop sophisticated, high-bandwidth wireless services, such as mobile video and mobile commerce technologies. One reason for doing this was so they could lead the world in deployment of such services; however, other countries have been slow to follow that lead.

In terms of sophisticated cellular data services, Japan and South Korea are well ahead of their European and North American counterparts. In those countries, consumers rely heavily on their handsets. In Japan and Korea, the cell phone functions like a laptop. Users surf the Internet, purchase goods and watch TV on their handsets.

While mobile video and mobile commerce services have caught on in those countries, they have not been as popular elsewhere. Mobile commerce has started to take significant root in only a few European countries, and rich mobile television offerings remain a future rather than current capability in most areas.

The gulf between Asia and the rest of the world is not because carriers have not been tried to introduce such services to consumers. So, the question becomes: Why is there such a significant difference between these areas? Cultural components play a role. Certain technologies have simply appealed to Japanese users more than U.S. consumers. In addition, consumer desires are different. In South Korea and Japan, complexity is valued, so there are often multiple steps involved in order to complete transactions on their networks. In Europe and North America, efficiency is the focus: Users want to do things as quickly and with as little work as possible.

While the Asian companies have been at the forefront of low end systems, U.S. companies have in many ways been leading smart phone technical innovations. Google has also had a dramatic impact on smart phone features. The company has forced suppliers to change their development outlook. Traditionally, cell phone vendors concentrated on delivering proprietary systems with closed operating systems.
The current focus is on applications. Vendors are trying to develop ecosystems that will spawn new applications and drive more cellular network usage. Chances are that these applications will come from the U.S.

Mobile Phone Demand to Dry Up in 2009

2008-12-20T05:26:00.002-08:00

Mobile phone sales will shrink in 2009 as consumers cut spending according to a recent poll, as analysts express concern about unsold phones piling up in stores. On average, the poll of 36 analysts shows global market volumes shrinking 6.6 percent in 2009 and 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter - traditionally the strongest period for the industry due to holiday sales.

In a similar poll in early November 2008, analysts on average forecast the market to rise 2.6 percent in 2009. But since then Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, has warned twice on market growth, saying its best guess was for sales to fall 5 percent or more in 2009. Fear and uncertainty are causing many suppliers and consumers to delay purchasing their next handsets.

Consumer electronics demand has slumped in the run-up to the key Christmas sales season, triggering the loss of 16,000 jobs at Sony Corp and profit warnings from Samsung Electronics Co and Texas Instruments Inc.

British electronics group Laird Plc, a component supplier for Nokia and others, on Tuesday announced the loss of 5,000 jobs, or nearly half its staff, and said it sees global handset volumes declining 10 percent next year.

Analyst estimates varied significantly due to the uncertainties over economic growth, with 2009 forecasts ranging from a market contraction of 13 percent to growth of 3 percent. Only two analysts polled expect growth next year.

The European market -- where almost everybody has a phone and margins are fatter thanks to higher sales of technologically advanced phones - is set to fall sharply this year and analysts say the trend will continue next year. Sales volumes in emerging markets surpassed developed markets in 2005, and this year around two-thirds of sales are in emerging markets.

The two largest vendors, Nokia and Samsung Electronics, are set to exit 2009 stronger than before, increasing their market shares to 39.6 percent and 17.3 percent respectively. Motorola is seen losing the most market share, with the wide range of estimates, from 55 million to 100.7 million phones, reflecting the uncertainties over the company's future.

Far Cry 2 (PC) Gets Free DLC

2008-12-20T05:26:00.001-08:00

If you've skimmed through the single player campaign of Far Cry 2 and are done with the multiplayer, Ubisoft's got a treat for you. Ubisoft has released two new freely downloadable missions for the PC version of the game - The Moroccan and The American.

Rather than being a singled out mission, both have been worked into the single player campaign to ensure that they don't feel disjointed, and blend in with the plot. The missions offer roughly 3 hours of gameplay each, which is pretty awesome for free content.

Head over to FileFront to download the missions.

Sims 3 System Requirements Announced

2008-12-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

Not that this makes a difference to my life but if you enjoy playing with the Sims, here’s a look at the hardware you’ll need to run Sims 3 on your desktop or laptop:

PC/Desktop, XP Service Pack 2:

Processor: Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 1 GB
GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500
Graphics RAM: 128 MB

Laptop, XP Service Pack 2:

Processor: Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+
Memory: 1.5 GB
GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600
Graphics RAM: 128 MB

Still no word on the copy protection this game will use but I’m sure EA will be extra careful after the while Spore debacle.

EA's PC Catalog Heading to Steam

2008-12-20T05:22:00.000-08:00

Electronic Arts is the latest publisher to join the Steam bandwagon with nearly ten of their high profile PC games that will (or already are) being distributed on Valve’s digital service, Steam:

Just in time for the holidays, Valve announced that, Spore, Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Mass Effect, Need for Speed Undercover and EA SPORTS FIFA Manager 2009 are available now to gamers in North America via Steam, a leading platform for PC games and digital content with over 15 million accounts around the world.

In the coming weeks, Mirror's Edge, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, and Dead Space will also be added to the catalog of EA's titles available via Steam.

I swear I will start killing puppies if their catalogs stays region locked to North America only.

Left 4 Dead Pre-orders Surpass Orange Box by 60%

2008-10-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

For a new shooter IP to make waves in a market saturated with first-person shooters, is a big thing. With a ton of positive pre-release positive reviews (through hands-on previews), Turtle Rock Studios’ Left 4 Dead is doing just that and Edge Online has the scoop. Valve’s funding a $10 million ad campaign, and here’s how co-founder/managing director of Valve rationalizes the move:

"People had really strong reactions to Left 4 Dead when we started showing it…"

"Our pre-orders are running 60 percent ahead of Orange Box. This in combination with the fact that it is a new IP made us think that an extensive marketing program made a lot of sense."

For those of you who don’t know about it – Left 4 Dead is Turtle Rock and Valve’s upcoming horror first person shooter, that’s built ground up to be a co-op game. While the market has a ton of FPSes, the number of co-op shooters is negligible. In that respect, L4D’s like a drop of blood for the hordes of gamer zombies that thirst for some good co-op action.

StarCraft 2 Will be a Trilogy

2008-10-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Blizzard wants to show its fans that they’re making their upcoming RTS sequel – StarCraft 2 – every bit as epic as the series’ fans deserve. They’ve announced that the game will be split up into a trilogy, where each race will get an individual 'standalone product'. Here are the details:

The first game will be called "Terrans: Wings of Liberty"
The second will be "Zerg: Heart of the Swarm"
The third will be "Protoss: Legacy of the Void".

Each campaign will play out differently (maybe just slightly) - the Zerg campaign is said to have RPG elements, while the Protoss one will be more focused on diplomacy. The Terrans campaign will also contain a Protoss mini-campaign.

Apart from this, they also mentioned that they want the games to feel like standalone products, rather than expansion packs.

How do all these things affect your life, you ask? For starters, each campaign will get the full-game treatment; meaning they’ll have a start and end cinematic each, along with many more in between, meaning the number of cinematics in the entire trilogy will be far more than any game you’ve played before (Blizzard cinematics are to die for!). Also - on the flip side – the price of each campaign might cumulatively end up being on the higher side (boohoo!).

Blizzard Worried About Over-populated Co-op in Diablo III

2008-10-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

In an interview with IGN, Blizzard’s Rob Pardo revealed that the finer details of co-op play in the upcoming Diablo III haven’t been decided yet. The team behind the game is worried about the games being too swamped with players:

"We’re a little bit worried that if you go up to too many players that you’re not really going to be playing together anymore…

We want to make sure it’s a great co-op experience where you really play with the people you’re with, so we’ve just got to experiment and figure out what the optimal number is."

The traditional way of incorporating co-op play is increasing the number of creatures, or the difficulty of the game to match the number of players. This rarely works out well, and I sincerely hope that Blizzard finds an innovative way to pass this hurdle.

Verbatim Introduces 500 GB Mediastation Pro

2008-10-13T10:50:00.001-07:00

Verbatim has launched two new multi-media hard drives, MediaStation and MediaStation Pro. Offering upto 500 GB in storage capacity, these drives enable users to easily store videos, photos, music and films and then play it back directly via the TV or an audio system. These drives weigh just around a kilogram.

The MediaStation features a 3.5" SATA hard drive for smooth writing and reading of data. It can store upto 1,000 hours of video (Mpeg 4) or 6,300 hours of music (MP3) or 250,000 5-Megapixel photos. The multimedia drive can play back all popular video, audio and graphics formats, including MPEG4, DivX, MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, JPEG and PNG. All connection cables required for this are available with the drive. The included composite and S-video connection cables ensure picture-perfect playback. The standard version of MediaStation offers a scaled resolution of 1080i. A USB 2.0 connection allows additional data media to be docked with the MediaStation Pro and content transferred or displayed directly onto TV.

In addition to all the features of MediaStation, the MediaStation Pro version offers a WLAN connection with the help of which data from the PC can not only be transferred conveniently to the MediaStation Pro, but can also be played back directly in real time on the TV. Offering an HDMI connection for the best possible audio and picture quality, and full HD (1080p), the MediaStation Pro is also capable of receiving Internet radio streams, Shoutcast and Icecast, directly via the Internet connection. Both MediaStation and MediaStation Pro supports Digital Audio 5.1 format and offer a state-of-art remote control that enables easy on-screen navigation. It is even possible to create personal playlists and set up private, password-protected folder options on both the drives.

Both MediaStation and MediaStation Pro will be available by November '08 at an MSRP of Rs 15,000.

LG Announces Prada II Handset

2008-10-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

8MP camera phones aside, LG has also announced another partnership with Prada to launch a new version only with a slide out full QWERTY keypad. With handsets like SE's Xperia and HTC's G1 Android all set to launch, LG is making sure they’re not too far behind.

It’s almost identical to the successful original except for the ultra-thin keyboard that slides out from under the handset. The silver keyboard along with the additional on-screen call and hang-up buttons gives fresh tactility to the original minimal concept.

Other features include 3G compatibility with video calling, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, full HTML browser, the 5 mega pixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens and Wi-Fi accessibility.

The new Prada mobile will be available at a starting price of Rs. 38, 975 (600 Euros) through major mobile dealerships in Italy, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Netherlands in Q4 of 2008.

iPhone 3G Pricing Out

2008-08-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

Everything about the iPhone 3G launching in India is known. Everything but the price.

Well, that's about to change now as we've received official pricing for the most-awaited phone.

The 8 GB version of the iPhone 3G will cost Rs. 31,000, while the 16 GB version will cost between Rs. 36,000 and Rs. 37,000.

These prices are not inclusive of the plan these phones will come bundled with.

Customers buying the iPhone will have a choice of plans to choose from, so stay online with us to get those details soon.

Samsung Series 5 vs LG Scarlet

2008-08-15T11:18:00.001-07:00

Long weekend coming up, so why don't I sign off with a bang? The latest LCD TV models from Samsung and LG have already been reviewed by us, and while they proved competent, neither was perfect in all respects. So it should be fun to play god and pit the 42-inch LG Scarlet against the 40-inch Samsung Series 5. On we go..Aesthetics and Form
The LG Scarlet has become quite famous for its red back panel, which no doubt looks beautiful, but it’s at the rear! Are any consumers going to fall for this? There's no sensible explanation for putting the most striking design element where it's least likely to be seen. It must be some inside joke on LG’s part.

The on/off button on the Scarlet is an awesome piece of work – no doubt about that. It’s a hole carved through the bezel’s bottom panel, which has a transparent ridged rim. It is touch-sensitive, and lights up subtly when on. On the other hand, the Series 5 is basic, with the high gloss black finish all over and a thin metallic strip on the left and right borders. The bezel is narrow and straight up.

Both have hidden speakers and flush, touch-sensitive buttons, but the Scarlet looks distinctly better. LG has clearly made an attempt to go one up on Samsung when it comes to aesthetics, so it wins our opening round.

Grand Theft Auto IV on PC

2008-08-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Good news for PC Gamers. Take Two Rockstar Games has announced that it is releasing the computer version of Grand Theft Auto IV on Nov. 18 in North America as well as Nov. 21 in Europe. The version will include a newly expanded multi-player feature. Approximately 3.6 million units sold in its first day, and the company says that in its first week it generated $500 million.

Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser said, “We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV. The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC.”

We expect they are also looking forward to a greater profit.

Transcend Introduces Transparent Digital Photo Frame

2008-06-18T02:13:00.001-07:00

Transcend has introduced an all new transparent version of its first digital photo frame – T.photo 710C. The new T.photo 710C comes with a 7-inch (480 x 234) TFT flat-panel display, plays music and has 1GB of internal memory.

Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC and APAC, Transcend, said, "If you're looking to add a bit of fashion to your living room, bedroom, or office and show off your picture collection at the same time, be assured that the T.photoTM 710C offers exceptional quality, features and value. As opposed to the original T.photo 710's elegant black and gold color scheme, the new T.photo 710C's transparent frame offers a simple and pure look, making it perfect for setting on an office desk or mounting on a living room wall, regardless of décor."

The T.photo also includes a picture-clock and calendar, alarm, and built-in MP3 player with speakers. It comes with a remote control . It costs Rs. 5,700 and comes with a 2-year warranty

XFX Introduces GTX280 Cards In India

2008-06-18T02:09:00.001-07:00

XFX has released its version of the XFX GeForce GTX 280 cards, which utilizes second generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture and delivers up to 50% more gaming performance (compared to the first generation) thanks to 240 enhanced processing cores and a GPU clock of 602 MHz that provide incredible graphics horsepower. The cards come with NVIDIA's new PhysX technology that renders convincing facial expressions, multiple ultra-high polygon characters in complex environments and convincing physical effects like weather and explosions.

The cards also support three-way NVIDIA SLI Technology support, which ensures powerful performance scaling by implementing three-way Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) for the world’s fastest gaming solution under Windows Vista. Furthermore the cards also support PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture, offers the highest data transfer speeds for today’s bandwidth-hungry games and , and is backwards compatible with existing PCI Express motherboards. Apart from this, support is also present for HybridPower Technology, GigaThread Technology, Lumenex Engine, 16x Anti-aliasing Technology and 128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR) Lighting.

The new GPU will be available through Rashi Peripherals and its 53 branches across India at an estimated street price of Rs. 49,000 with 3 years warranty.

AMD's upcoming 790GX mobos

2008-06-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

AMD is not due to officially release its codenamed RS780D named 790GX chipset (along with SB750 chipset and AMD Overdrive Extreme overclock tweaking utility) until a little later but several companies were showing off their early design boards at Computex Taipei 2008 this week.

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 - First motherboard with 4x Gigabit Ethernet

2008-06-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

As the name suggests, the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 is based on Intel's new P45 chipset. What makes this board special is that it supports four Gigabit Ethernet ports, with an optional teaming feature. While this feature is only of limited use for desktop users, it becomes interesting when building a powerful office or LAN party server. Also included is a TPM chip which is becoming more and more useful in the business world, and might even make it onto gaming PCs for the use of game copy protection.

Computex 2008: ELSA 9800 GT displayed

2008-06-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

Even though it has not been announced officially yet by NVIDIA, ELSA has been showing a card at their Computex booth that is labeled as GeForce 9800 GT.

The specs are nothing impressive, 112 shaders, 1 GB GDDR3, 256-bit memory, 630 MHz / 1800 MHz clocks. So basically the card is a rebranded GeForce 8800 GT. There are hints that the 9800 GT will use a shrinked down G92 core @ 55 nm. But then we should see a higher clock, maybe ELSA just wanted to show something interesting...