Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 10th Dec 2012 23:24 UTC
Confirming the industry's worst-kept secret, Valve CEO Gabe Newell has confirmed Valve is working on its 'Steam Box', a Steam-powered HTPC geared towards console-like gaming. It'll most likely run Linux. "Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment," he told Kotaku. "If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that's what some people are really gonna want for their living room." Steam has 50 million subscribers, so there's a market here. As a comparison: Xbox Live has 40 million subscribers.
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RE[4]: Comment by shmerl
by lucas_maximus on Tue 11th Dec 2012 17:30
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by shmerl"
Member since:2009-08-18
Member since:2005-07-06
yeah, I'm planning on building an entire new machine next year after haswell comes out, if I can afford it. Otherwise I might just max my ram to 16gb, get a better GPU, and some new HDDs. Who knows. My CPU is decent enough, I would just like something faster. I suppose I could put a Q9650 in it :p
RE[4]: Comment by shmerl
by kurkosdr on Wed 12th Dec 2012 11:08
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by shmerl"
Member since:2011-04-11
Only people that want the maximum possible graphics settings at the highest resolutions at playable framerates constantly upgrade :p
Or people who don't want to mess with graphics settings...
I may be stupid, but on most PC games, I never managed to hit the balance between getting a decent visual quality and speed. When I had just said "that's it, I nailed it, I am good now", immediately afterwards the game would throw a level with much higher-that-usual detail at me and I would lose FPSes (i hate it when this happens, it ruins the virtual reality feeling, I can't believe most PC gamers are fine with their games suddenly going choppy, then back to normal again).
So, most of the time, I decided to stay on the safe side and run my PC games at a lame resolution and with most settings to "low".
Essentially, the only way to escape the settings hell is to spend a bucketload of money every now and then on upgrades...
Instead, on consoles, the developer (who really knows how much detail each level has) knows exactly what graphics settings are good for the hardware, and can even optimize the levels themselves (read: remove useless fluff that only bogs down the hardware).
In plain English, on consoles, if it loses FPSes, it's developers fault, not mine. I like that.
Edited 2012-12-12 11:19 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
I've been using the same 9800gt video card I bought for $120 like 4 years ago to play games [...] My PCs other specs are [...] Nothing that special these days.
Though it's sad how some people basically slander consoles ...games are now finally decently optimised for oldish hardware largely because of them (well, and because laptops are more and more popular - an average PC caught up to the present console generation, GFX-wise, only a year or so ago)
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.More Features »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
yeah. The whole argument about PC gaming is ridiculous. I've been using the same 9800gt video card I bought for $120 like 4 years ago to play games. it runs Skyrim at my monitors pathetic resolution quite well. It also runs Crysis and DiRT3 and anything else I've tossed at it.
Only people that want the maximum possible graphics settings at the highest resolutions at playable framerates constantly upgrade :p
My PCs other specs are a stock speed Intel Q9400 (2.66ghz, quadcore, 6mb L2, 1333fsb), 8GB ddr2-800. Nothing that special these days.