We review Scythes' new Mugen 5 Rev. C cooler. Rev.C. of the Mugen 5 Rev.C features a new Kaze Flex II 120 mm PWM fan but is based on the traditional Mugen 5 heatsink design with its most recognizable metal caps top cover. The cooler is now also compatible with Intel's LGA1700 socket, ideal for 12th Generation Core processors.

Read the review here.

Ubisoft has sent out a trailer of the HD WMV version of Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway. Take a look at the latest trailer of Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway, Gearbox's upcoming shooter.

This trailer is two weeks old, yet we now received the high-def version. The game was announced with a Holiday 2006 release date, which was later pushed back to Q1 2007 before being postponed to sometime this year. This trailer concludes by narrowing that release window to August 2008, generously allowing us to once again roll out our joke about release dates paving the highway to hell with good intentions. The WMV file is zipped.

Download

A new NVIDIA ForceWare driver appeared on the web which is being served on-line by one of NVIDIA's partners. This driver set is commonly distributed and it is receiving pretty good feedback.

Bare in mind this to be considered a beta driver, use it at your own risk.

There are several discussion open on these drivers in the Guru3D NVIDIA driver forums, check them here. Driver wise, pretty much any GeForce graphics card build in the last 3 years is supported. We have virus & pest checked these drivers and they are scanned as clean.

  ForceWare 175.70 Vista (32-bit)
  ForceWare 175.70 Vista (64-bit)
  ForceWare 175.70 XP (64-bit)
  ForceWare 175.70 XP (32-bit)

I'm just not sure how much amrket there is for this product but still. Arctic Cooling has released a new aluminum memory cooler called Arctic RC.

'High clock speeds and raised voltage lead to increasing temperatures

A tech-savvy White Plains woman whose apartment was burglarized solved the crime herself after she was able to log on to her stolen laptop, photograph one of the suspects with it and get photos of another, police said. Edmon Shahikian, 23, of 13 Cobbling Rock Road, Katonah, and Ian Frias, 20, of 1609 E. 174th St., the Bronx, were picked up at their homes Wednesday night after the victim turned the pictures over to police. The police said they recovered most of the $5,000 worth of electronics stolen in the burglary.

"Our victim did a phenomenal job," said Lt. Eric Fischer, commander of the Detective Division. "She knew her computer, and she let us know as soon as she obtained the information. We rolled on it immediately, and the result is the arrest of two burglary suspects and the recovery of most of the stolen property."

The burglary was reported April 27, when three roommates returned to their Ridgeview Avenue apartment about 10 p.m. to discover that it had been ransacked.

Among the items taken were two laptops, two flat-screen televisions, two iPods, gaming consoles, DVDs and computer games. Police found no sign of force.

On Tuesday, police said, one of the victims, who works at The Apple Store in The Westchester mall, received a call from a friend asking her if she was online.

The victim said no, and was told by the friend that his computer showed her as being logged onto the Internet.

At that point, police said, the victim signed onto another computer and used the "Back to My Mac" program to determine that her stolen MacIntosh laptop indeed was signed onto the Web and that someone was using it to shop online. She then activated the stolen computer's camera, allowing her to "see" what was in front of the laptop.

At first, police said, she saw only an empty chair. But a short time later, they said, she was able to photograph a man, Shahikian, sitting in front of her stolen laptop. The victim then was able to find photos of Frias using the computer after it had been stolen, police said.

Fischer said the victim did not know either man but showed the photos to one of her roommates, who recognized them as having attended a get-together at the apartment a few weeks before the burglary.

Police said Shahikian and Frias apparently are friends of a friend of the victims.The computer-savvy victim contacted police, gave them the tell-tale photos, and the arrests were made a short time later. Shahikian and Frias are charged with second-degree burglary and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, both felonies.

Bail and court information were unavailable. Frias and Shahikian were arrested last year on charges of criminal possession of marijuana, a felony, after police recovered 3 pounds of marijuana worth about $7,500 in a Jeep they were in. The dispositions of their cases were not immediately available.

Powned !

nVidia's own control panel is not always very intuitive to use. Especially the 3D rendering settings are very cryptic and difficult to navigate. Even the new control panel introduced with the 9x.xx line of Forceware drivers isn't a real improvements for these problems. nHancer is a tool to improve the usage of these features.

New features in version 2.4.1:

• New graphical design for the logos, the splash window and the about window, made by Eberhard Klauke.
• Completely redesigned user interface for the profile management:
  • Search for profiles by their name (just enter a part of the game's or the application's name while nHancer's window is active)
  • Filter the list of profiles with the new filter menu (the icon on the top right corner of the profile list) using their type or properties. Most useful is the filter that shows only the profiles for actually installed programs
• Support for all GeForce 9x00 cards and all GeForce (formerly Forceware) drivers up to 175.x
• Even the fixed settings in nVidia's predefined profiles can now be altered, including the "forbidden" flag used in some profiles to disallow anti-aliasing. All profiles can also be reverted to their original state just by clicking on the "delete" button.
• Added additional anti-aliasing modes for GeForce 8x00 and 9x00 cards. The mode "8xSQ" is especially interesting, it gives 2x2 supersampling and 2x multisampling
• Added new SLI modes for triple and quad SLI
• Added support for Hybrid-SLI
• Added anti-aliasing compatibility flags for DirectX 10
• Added OpenGL multi monitor and multi GPU options
• If nHancer is started with full administration privileges, it runs fine even without the nHancer support service. It's possible to deny the installation of the service altogether during nHancer's installation procedure.
• A load of minor improvements and corrections. More dertails can be found in the Readme file

Download - click-here

Cheers to James our server guru for spotting this one. Remember the Matrox TripleHead 2 Go we recently tested ?

SoftTH - Software Triplehead is a tool that allows allows using three monitor "triplehead" with Direct3D 8 and 9 games without special hardware. You need three monitors attached to PCI Express video cards. Only one card does all the rendering work, so secondary card can be a low end card, only Direct3D support is required. SoftTH works by rendering the whole scene on one display adapter, which then gets split into three parts to be displayed on each monitor. While it is technically possible to use it on a AGP/PCI card, only PCI Express has the required bandwidth to get good framerates.

For download & info: click here

Massive Entertainment released a new theatrical trailer of World In Conflict: Soviet Assault.

World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will feature a brand new campaign, new units (chronoplane), as well as the option to call the reinforcements or new units to the battlefiled by using the context menu or voice communication via the headset, same as in Tom Clancy's EndWar. World in Conflict: Soviet Assault for consoles is in the works at Swordfish Studios with Massive Entertainment supplying only new content.

This expansion pack will be released in Q4 2008.

CPU-Z is probably the best ever diagnostic tool that provides information on your CPU, including: processor name and vendor, core stepping and process, processor package, internal and external clocks, clock multiplier, partial overclock detection, processor features, supported instructions sets, L1 and L2 cache information, location, size, speed, and technology.

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

CPU

* Name and number.
* Core stepping and process.
* Package.
* Core voltage.
* Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
* Supported instructions sets.
* Cache information.
 

Mainboard

* Vendor, model and revision.
* BIOS model and date.
* Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
* Graphic interface.

Memory

* Frequency and timings.
* Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

* Windows and DirectX version.

News and corrections:

• Intel Atom Z500/Z510/Z520/Z530/Z540 processors.
• Intel Core 2 Duo E7x00 processor.
• AMD 45 nm Phenom (Dened & Shanghai) processors.
• Intel P45 chipset.

Download - click here.

We posted earlier on in this article that Bioware claimed that the PC versions of both Mass Effect and Spore will make use of copy protection that will require online validation every ten days to continue working. They got a little freaked about the response and probably saw their cash-book being vaporized. Bioware has now confirmed they won't be going along with the ten day checking system.

There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication.

BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

The solution being implemented for Mass Effect for the PC changes copy protection from being key disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to a one time online authentication.

This system has an added benefit of allowing players to seamlessly play the game without needing the DVD in the drive.

Key points---

• This solution allows gamers to authenticate their game on three different computers with the purchase of one disc. EA Customer Service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting customer support.
• Games are authorized to the machine when the player installs and launches the software for the first time.
• We

"We are excited that 2K Games' vision for BioShock will be carried forward in a new medium," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two. "BioShock has been hailed as one of the most highly cinematic and richly plotted titles in interactive entertainment, making it extremely well-suited to film. In partnering with Universal and Gore Verbinski, we have assembled a team that respects the uniqueness of BioShock and will translate it into a powerful movie experience."

Big news. But I still have to wonder if this BioShock flick will ever actually get made. Due to the problems with Halo and other big videogame properties, I'm sure not going to hold my breath. Although I am at least cautiously optimistic, given that this project has a director attached.

Check Take 2's website for more information.

Gosh did I like and still like Call of Duty 4. Anyway, During its fiscal Q4 2008 earnings call Activision shared some information about Call of Duty 5. The game will be available before April 2009 on the PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS.

' For Call of Duty, we

What if you could control everything in your home with a little handheld gadget? That's what this universal remote by David Chacon got us thinking about, with its roomy screen

"FORMULA 1 is ambitious in expanding its reach with more circuits planned beyond recent additions in the Middle East and China," said Rod Cousens, chief executive officer, Codemasters. "It is also ambitious in expanding its reach via technology. The digital communities that computer and video gaming creates will play a key role in further growing the FORMULA 1 audience and connecting them globally. As a world-leading creator of driving games, this alliance with FORMULA 1 is the jewel in Codemasters' racing crown and creates an undisputed segment champion. FORMULA 1 has gone with the best, the segment leader. It has gone to the home of the EGO Engine for quality; it has gone to the company that can host FORMULA 1 Online, to the company that is streaking away from the pack."

"Codemasters' success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge," said Chris Deering, chairman, Codemasters. "The combination of FORMULA 1's new momentum of expansion and Codemasters' contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen."

The FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP games will be developed using the evolution of the award-winning EGO Game Technology Engine, Codemasters' highly versatile cross-platform middleware technology. Its advanced graphics and physics technology brings an unmatched cinematic quality and realism to interactive entertainment.

The first title will be released next year for the PC and consoles. Let's hope they throw some real-time physics effects in it :)

Sweey news from Criterion Games as today they have announced that the award-winning Burnout Paradise is being rebuilt specifically for the PC. The game will be the first Burnout title ever made for the PC, offering expanded multiplayer, enhanced online features and community driven content.

Burnout Paradise features an open-world environment built for intense speed, excitement and exploration and offers seamless transition from single-player to online multiplayer gameplay.

The PC version promises to combine all the elements from the home console versions with new gameplay made for the PC. More information will be revealed during a live webcast at criteriongames.com at 8:00 AM PST today.

Plextor released two new models for their the next generation of NAS drives. The two new models

Cooler Master's Hyper Z600 product page is now online, we've already shown you this cooler at our CeBIT 2008 report. A review sample is inbound, yet delivery was delayed.  I hope to have a review on a couple of coolers within the next two weeks.

This massive processor cooler was shown off at CeBIT a couple of weeks ago. It supports the latest Intel and AMD sockets and has a copper base, six heatpipes and aluminum fins. It measures 127.28mm x 127.28mm x 160mm and weighs 1045g.

Overclockers are also kept in mind when designing the Z600, as up to two 120mm fans can be added to opposing sides of the heat-sink in a push-pull configuration. With one 120mm fan, the Z600 transforms into a first class cooler for CPUs running beyond 89W. With two fans, the Z600 becomes cooling solution for the serious overclocker. The Hyper Z600 is compatible with all existing CPU sockets.

Features:

1. The interlaced fins maximizes the dissipation surface to provide superior cooling performance

2. Unique