CPU
/ Processors
Lord
of the Rings MMORPG is now Free to Play!!
Yes that right, one of the most popular Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is now free to play. The decision was taken by Turbine Entertainment to change its revenue model of the game in order to compete with the popularity of World of Warcraft.
Players can download the game client for free from the official website and begin playing right away. In the free version you can play the main storyline of the game and take your character right the way up to level 50. Should you like the game you can purchase extra quest packs and other great items from the in game store. So for a great MMORPG that costs nothing unless your really into it (In which case you would of bought the game anyway) download Lord of the Rings today.
Apple
changes stance on 3rd party tools for app creation
Corporate giant Apple have backtracked on their very controversial stance of not allowing 3rd party developers to use any programming language that Apple doesn't support outright to create Apps for its iphone, ipod touch and ipad ranges. This stance meant that programs such as adobe flash compiler could not be used.
Now the decision has been made to reverse this block on other programming languages and opens the door for more developers using more coding languages than C, C+ and C++.
Google
to launch "Instant Search"
Searching the internet these days is a speedy process, but the people at Google think that speedy is not good enough, they are set to unveil "Instant Search". The general idea behind this new feature is that results for your search will be displayed as you type them. Like the auto complete feature which guesses the most likely thing you are typing as you begin to type, instant search takes it a step further by not only predicting what you are going to be searching for but actually giving you the results before you have finished typing.
While this may only save a few seconds of real time, the feature will speed up the internet search even further as research shows while online people's patience is at one of the lowest points. Information is needed immediately. The feature will be rolled out in the coming week. It will also be rolled on this year on mobile devices which will have an even greater benefit as time online can be costing money so the faster the better.
Google is always coming up with new features in its ever increasing business, but with sites like Facebook and Twitter giving news in a short quick way, Google has had to fight back in its core market of the internet search.
First
StarCraft II Patch announced
The first patch for the Real Time Strategy game StarCraft II has been announced. The popular game attracts Millions of online users playing against each other in multiplayer combat. This first Patch addresses issues to rebalance the multiplayer experience after carefully observing the gameplay across the globe. Also in the patch will be support for Nvidia's 3D vision as well as the standard minor glitch fixes. More details.
AMD
to drop ATI branding from graphics cards
Since the take over over of ATI by AMD, the brand name ATI was
kept on. AMD has recently taken the decision to drop the ATI
name altogether but they are keeping the Radeon and FirePro
names on their graphics cards. AMD is developing technology
called "fusion" which will combine the CPU and GPU into a single
unit. They see this as an Ideal time to re-brand the graphics
cards as AMD. The Change should happen by the end of the year.
Two logos will be developed, one with the branding of AMD clearly displayed and a second with just the Radeon / FirePro Branding shown, in order for the logo to be displayed on PC's branded with Intel microprocessors.
Xbox Live Gold
Membership subscription price set to increase
Microsoft has announced that the price of its flagship online service "Xbox Live Gold" is set to increase in price. The price hike will affect the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Canada. The UK price increase for monthly payment will be from £4.99 to £5.99. However there is currently no news on the increase on the annual subscription.
Amazon is currently offering the 12 month Gold Membership Card for less than the standard subscription price. Get the low price now before they have to increase the price. More...
Xbox LIVE Gold 12-Month Membership Card (Xbox 360)
Microsoft Announces
Xbox Live Audio Update
If your a regular Xbox Live user, you may be a little disgruntled at the quality of the audio that is provided when chatting to your friends over the Xbox live system. Well Good news is on its way. Microsoft has announced their intentions to upgrade the audio codec used by Xbox Live. The original codec was used back in 2002 when broadband was in its infancy and now requires an update to meet the demands of today's gaming public. More...
New
PS3 160Gb and 320Gb Bundle announced
With the Playstation 3 becoming more of a home entertainment system than a gaming console, the hard drive size has become of increased importance. With this in mind Sony has announced two further versions of its Playstation 3 slim console. The 160gb version is ready to ship now, while the 320gb version is being held until the release of the Playstation move and will ship as a bundles product. More...