Hasta La Gadget!

While we’ve seen some exotic PC mods in our time, most of those still dutifully stuff all the computer parts into a box, hiding them from the outside world. Martijn Laman isn’t one for that kind of traditionalism. His recently completed Project Inverted, just highlighted by ASUS, puts most of the hardware on the outside: the Sabertooth Z77 motherboard, Core i5 processor, fan cooling, memory, Radeon HD 6870 video card and watercooling pipes all sit in plain sight. Everything is joined by a unique, hand-cut case whose backbone and elevated base hide the custom wiring, the watercooling pump, two solid-state drives and controllers for both fans and lighting. And did we mention the 7-inch touchscreen? The result is a truly special gaming rig that’s relatively quiet and pristine despite baring its heart and soul for all to see. Building a replica won’t be quick, nor will it be cheap at about €1,500 ($1,909), but Laman’s detailed assembly process could well be the inspiration for a few more extroverted PCs.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, ASUS

Project Inverted turns a gaming PC inside-out with hand-made casing originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari games redesigned in HTML 5 may bring back a flood of nostalgia, but they leave out a key part of the gaming experience: the classic hardware. Hard Drives Northwest filled that void by gutting a limited number of authentic Atari 2600s and stuffing them with modern PC components. Packing a Core i7 3.4GHz processor, the retro console now boasts 22,857 times more processing power than it did in its heyday, according to Microsoft’s calculations — more than enough oomph to handle the recent remakes. Other internals include 8GB of RAM, a 120GB SSD and a Radeon HD 6570 graphics card with 1GB of video memory. With support for USB 3.0 and 2.0, eSATA, DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI, the system is well stocked on the connectivity front. Finally, the signature of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell acts as the cherry atop the faux wood grain-toting package. While the souped-up machines aren’t up for sale, a pair of them are slated for a giveaway. Glamour shots and the full set of specs await you at the source.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Atari 2600s get PC innards, 22,857 times more processing power originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ask any PC gamer what makes the platform so great, and (after bragging about the hardware in their rig) mods are bound to come up at one point or another. After the immense success of The Witcher 2, CD Projekt Red is ready to open the game to modders, giving players the opportunity to create their own adventures set within the Witcher universe. It’s an exciting prospect to be sure, and if you’re interested in CDP’s REDKit, you may be pleased to know that you can now sign-up for the beta.

Yes, unfortunately CD Projekt Red won’t just be unleashing REDKit and letting modders go nuts, as it has to make sure it has a good platform to offer modders first. That’s where you come in: if you’re a modder, CD Projekt Red wants you to sign up for this beta and help it develop a better set of tools to eventually offer to everyone. Beta sign-ups start today and run through September 30, so make sure you get your application in before then.

In a statement today, CDP studio head Adam Badowski explained what makes REDKit so great. “We have our own vision for RPGs, they should present an exciting story and give players lots of choices that really matter,” he said. “The REDkit is designed to create adventures that way – mature, non-linear and engrossing stories set in vivid worlds filled with believable characters.”

The Witcher 2 is already an amazing game on its own, but with modders constantly providing new content, it stands to become even better. We don’t know when CD Projekt is planning to wrap up this closed beta, and for that matter, we’re not sure when the studio will be releasing the finished toolkit. When it finally does, however, it’ll be big, so be sure to keep an ear to SlashGear for more information!

Beta sign-up for The Witcher 2 modding tools now live is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve played military shooter ArmA 2, chances are you’ve heard of DayZ, a mod that turns the game into a multiplayer open world zombie-fest where no one is to be trusted as you struggle to survive. The mod is brilliant, if not a little rough around the edges in this early stage, and perhaps that’s why ArmA 2 developer Bohemia Interactive has decided to turn it into a full release. DayZ creator Dean “Rocket” Hall announced the game today, saying that he will become project lead with Bohemia Interactive acting as publisher.

“That’s right, this is actually happening,” Hall wrote on the DayZ blog. “This is the fairy-tale outcome for a mod that many would have said impossible four months ago.” Hall says that development on the mod will occur alongside development of the game, so those currently playing the mod can continue to enjoy it. He likens the development process of the full DayZ game to that of Minecraft, meaning that the game will be released very early in the development cycle (for a discounted price, of course) and will be getting frequent updates after that.

This has to be exciting news for those who have been playing DayZ since the start. With Bohemia Interactive backing it, Hall will be able to make the game he envisions at a much faster pace, and we’ll likely see additional features in the full game that probably wouldn’t have made it into the mod. More importantly, it’s good to see a developer that’s eager to support a team of modders who are clearly very talented.

Hall apologizes for the lack of details in his announcement today, but promises that more updates about this full DayZ game will be coming shortly. We don’t have a launch date for this planned DayZ alpha yet, but we expect that to be one of the first details Hall and Bohemia part with. Get excited folks, because if this full game is as awesome as the mod is, then we are all in for a treat (a bloody treat, but a treat nonetheless).

ArmA 2 mod DayZ getting standalone release is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Whenever there’s a new version of Android, Steve Kondik and the CyanogenMod team tend to swing into action almost immediately with plans for a major revision of the fan-favorite platform overhaul. For Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, that swing will be faster than ever. The crew’s early looks suggest that there will only be a few minor tweaks needed to merge Google’s latest with the custom Android code, making CyanogenMod 10 a relative snap to produce. The update’s release is still very much up in the air without the Android Open Source Project code available to modify; that said, device compatibility also isn’t expected to be an obstacle. Any device that can run CyanogenMod 9 should run version 10 when it’s released. As long as we’re willing to wait for a stable 9.0 to emerge first, there are few barriers to making Jelly Bean that much sweeter.

CyanogenMod plans a quick leap to Jelly Bean for version 10, existing devices likely to tag along originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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