PC
Imagine Cup Microsoft Game Dev Camp – You’re invited!
AshMan says… Are you a student? Do you want to know how to make your own PC and Xbox 360 Games? Well if you are already answering yes to these questions this camp is for you! The camp runs from Friday December 18 2009 through to Sunday December 20 2009 and will be a nonstop experience full of gaming, development, learning and fun. You’ll hear about Imagine Cup and how you can help change the world through technology, learn about XNA and how it makes development for Windows and Xbox as straightforward as possible for both 2D and 3D games.
You’ll also team up with others who are as keen to get into game development as you are, potentially forming up proper partnerships to enter Imagine Cup, the world’s biggest technology competition for students.
And, best of all, it’s free to attend. And, even better, if you’re one of the first 50 students to register by December 8, Microsoft will cover your accommodation as well – you just need to get to the event, and we’ll look after the rest!
How good is that!? Prizes, gaming, learning game dev, fun, teamwork, challenges, all rolled up into one 3 day experience. Sounds good to me!
Agenda: December 18 10:30 – Registration 11:00 – Camp Day 1 Begins 18:30 – Camp Day 1 Ends 19:00 – Pizza and Xbox Gaming Night
December 19 8:30 – Camp Day 2 Begins 18:30 – Camp Day 2 Ends 19:00 – LAN Party
December 20 8:30 – Camp Day 3 Begins 16:00 – Camp Day 3 Ends *Agenda subject to change.
To RSVP simply follow this link: http://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=374345&linvitation
Modern Warfare 2 PC hits new low
AshMan says…
Infinity Ward has certainly had a rough time with the PC Community with the launch of Modern Warfare 2. COD 4 – Modern Warfare was a fantastic game for consoles and PC, and this is part of the reason why gamers feel MW2 has taken leaps backwards.
Best Buy in the US held an online chat featuring some employees from Infinity Ward. This chat was opened up to all comers…and it was brutal. As it showed from the gamers perspective how dumbed down the MW2 experience will be on PC compared to COD4.
Some of the questions asked were literally asking for some hope, but to no avail Infinity Ward only made things worse for gamers. Some of the questions were:
Moriarte: Ignoring IW.net, is the PC version a direct port of the console version?
Mackey-IW: No, PC has custom stuff like mouse control, text chat in game, and graphics settings.
kaRMa: Please give me a direct answer. On the PC version. Are all games hosted by players, and is there a five-second delay when host migration is in effect?
Vince-IW: yes
With Modern Warfare 2 being launched today. I really hope that PC Gamers are only wanting a single player experience if they choose to buy the PC version, and stick to COD4 for the mulitplayer action.
Something for all netbooks to aspire to: Acer Aspire One
AshMan says…
The Asus Eee PC when it launched introduced consumers to a new type of computer…a netbook. Its features weren’t the latest or the fastest, but were enough to perform the basic tasks of web surfing and Skype all at a very cheap price.
The Acer Aspire One takes everything which the Eee PC did and made it better; it looks better, feels better and performs better.
Acer Aspire One
The Aspire One contains an Atom 1.6Ghz processor, and though it doesn’t sound like much of a processor, it is capable of playing 720p resolution video with little or no stutter. Paired with the processor is 1GB of RAM, which is upgradable to 1.5GB. Unfortunately it is however a pain to try and access the RAM slots and when you do you can only remove one stick as the other is soldered to the motherboard.
Acer Aspire One - Number One for Netbooks
8GB SSD and 120/160GB hard drive versions are available and both versions run Windows XP SP3. Personally I own the hard drive version as I think that 8GB wouldn’t give me enough room to upgrade to Windows 7 which has been designed with netbooks in mind. The screen size is 8.9 inches with a 1024 x 600 resolution; the resolution is large enough to not need to struggle to see the text. At the top of the screen there is a 0.3MP webcam and microphone which is adequate enough to have a video chat on Skype.
Pretty in Pink: Aspire One available in a number of colours
Weighing in at 985 grams this netbook is one which is so light that I have had to double check my bag that I have it still in there. The 3 cell battery doesn’t give battery life as good as the Eee PC but it is still very respectable. In a light use test (running only a word application, and default start up programs) it achieved 3 hours 10 minutes. In the heavy use test (encoding a video file, as well as a full virus scan) it powered on for 1 hour 25 minutes.
External ports on the machine include: Multi-card reader, SD card reader, 3 USB ports, VGA, Headphone, Microphone, and Ethernet. This set of ports on a small machine beats some full laptops, especially the number of USB ports. The two card readers also are a great asset to a netbook as they can double as SD card storage or Ready boost memory if you are running Windows 7.
All the ports in the world you could need in a netbook
The usability of this small laptop isn’t a problem as the keyboard is 92% of a traditional keyboard which is quite easy to get used to. The mouse buttons are located to the left and right hand side of the track pad, allowing the keyboard to be that bit larger. The location of the left and right buttons takes a little while to get used to it, but once you’re accustomed to the layout it is very easy to use.
The Acer Aspire One is a brilliant little machine, and one of the most popular netbooks available on the market. The average price for the hard drive model is $499, which is a superb price for a machine that is loaded with ports, good battery life, great looks and the ability to run Windows 7 excellently.
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