gaming

If you think the new generations of video cards, the Radeon HD 4800 series and the GeForce GTX 200 series, from ATI and nVIDIA, respectively, are hot (as they actually are, literally and figuratively), then just know that they can be cool, too. Liquid-cooled, that is.

Asetek announced last Friday their first liquid cooling solution, called LCLC, for the latest video cards from the two leading GPU companies. Asetek's new liquid cooling solution is compact yet powerful enough to bring the temperature of the card down to less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit during peak performance. This allows users to … Read more

The Olympic Games are supposed to be about international brotherhood and friendly competition, but NBC apparently doesn't want its competition to get too chummy.

NBC, which has the exclusive rights to televise events from the games in Beijing, has made great strides over the years in bringing more content to viewers. For the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, the network set up NBCOlympics.com, but alas it offered little more than photos and schedules intended to drive Web surfers to their TVs.

In 2004, the network discovered high definition, which was nice--unless you weren't too keen on … Read more

Anyone can have a Bluetooth headset nowadays and, unfortunately, it often seems like everyone does. But there's one way you can separate yourself from the loquacious crowd--with a model branded specifically for your favorite game.

Just as Metal Gear Solid 4 got its own headset, SOCOM Confrontation--another PlayStation 3 title--will get one as well. Sony says it will available both as a standalone product and as part of a bundle with the Blu-ray version of the game, according to SlashGear, though no pricing has been disclosed yet.

The headset will come with its own USB charging dock and, … Read more

Lately I am obsessed with video games, not so much in playing them but figuring how they work. It's kind of surprising that companies like Amazon and Google tell you how their entire infrastructures are built but as my fellow CNET blogger Don Reisinger points out, the gaming industry is shrouded in anonymity and secrecy.

It makes me think there is a huge opportunity for some kind of open source-esque video game console and game development. Gaming is a market dominated by 3-4 giant players just like how software was, and music has been. We've seen the effects … Read more

Modern games not immersive enough for you? You might want to consider getting the 3rd Space FPS Gaming Vest, which promises to blast you into the action in ways you might never have imagined. Sort of.

Here's how it works: You strap on the vest, connect it to your PC via USB, and to a compressor unit via an air tube. Fire up a compatible game (Call of Duty 2 is bundled), get shot, and the drivers will send a message to the compressor to fire a blast of air down the tube, and into a set of air … Read more

As I searched for something to talk about today, I came across this article from Joystiq featuring a discussion by Will Wright about Spore and the gaming industry.

For those of you who don't know Will Wright, he's not only the creator of Spore, but he's also the creator of the Sims franchise, and arguably one of the greatest game developers of all time.

And yet, I'd venture to say that at least some of you reading this have never heard of Will Wright before. I'll bet you've played the Sims and may even know about Spore, but you had no idea who Will Wright is.

If that's true, the blame shouldn't be placed on you and you certainly shouldn't be expected to perform research just to find out who develops a specific game. Instead, the blame should be placed squarely on the video game industry, and more specifically, major companies like Take-Two and Electronic Arts, for creating an environment where anonymity is not only accepted, but expected as well.

And if you ask me, that's just wrong.… Read more

I'm In Like With You, a social-network-turned-gaming-site that caught a brief flurry of press for its eye-popping design when it launched, has just closed a $1.5 million round of venture funding led by Spark Capital. It's the first funding the site has received since its angel round last year.

In addition to Spark, the round includes current investors Baseline Ventures, Betaworks, and veteran investor Ron Conway, as well as an investment from Netscape and Ning founder Marc Andreessen.

The funding round was widely rumored as the site--having failed to live up to the hype it first generated … Read more

These will sell out crazy-fast, so I'm going to keep it brief: Buy.com has reconditioned Xbox 360 Premium consoles on sale for $199.99--and shipping is free!

This is the non-HDMI version, but it does include the standard 20GB hard drive, wireless controller, and headset. Alas, you get only a 60-day warranty--though arguably a reconditioned Xbox will outlast a new one.

This deal is $20 sweeter than the last time I posted about a refurb Xbox 360, so if you've been waiting to pull the trigger on this killer console (and media-center extender), wait no longer.… Read more

The New York Times featured a story today that discusses the ongoing legal battle over the "Hot Coffee" scandal. For those of you who may have forgotten, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured a hidden scene where the star of the game was engaging in a form of sexual activity with another on-screen character.

After parenting groups expressed shock that developers could throw such a "disgusting" act in a video game, the ESA was forced to change its rating to Adults Only and Rockstar Games was brought under fire for having so-called pornographic material in a video game.

But as the Times is reporting, it seems the only people that care are the lawyers. According to the report, "Lawyers who sued the makers of the video game...profess to be shocked, simply shocked, that few people who bought the game were offended by sex scenes buried in its software."

Since the lawsuit was brought against the company, only 2,676 claims were filed and the lawyers have expressed displeasure over such a low number.

"Am I disappointed? Sure," said Seth R. Lesser, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs. "We can't guess as to why now, several years later, people care or don't care. The merits of the case were clear."

But were they? Was San Andreas really "sold as something it wasn't" and gamers were really upset to find out that sexual content made its way into a game even though they couldn't find it unless they had third-party software and some advanced knowledge of game development?

I certainly don't think so. Look, I don't see any problem with the scene and even if it was readily available, I wouldn't care. Call me a socially liberal loon or naive, but why should we care about sex in video games?… Read more