Round Rock, Texas, May 1, 2008

* Play Crysis at full 1920x1200 resolution and 30+ FPS with Quad Graphics
* Enhanced optional patent-pending H2C cooling solution keeps gamers in the red zone, CPUs out
* Choice of Painted Anodized Aluminum H2C chassis or Silver Brushed Aluminum air-cooled chassis with optional X-View clear panel for under-the-hood ogling

Dell has raised the performance bar yet again with the launch of the XPSTM 730 H2C edition, a premier gaming desktop that is one of the most advanced gaming platforms on the planet.

With support for optional quad-core processors, quad GPU graphics solutions and up to four hard drives, the XPS 730 is more than ready to deliver an immersive experience and ensure gamers pwn their opponents in the most demanding PC games available today.

The air-cooled XPS 730 (starting at $3,999) and XPS 730 H2C (starting at $4,999) bring together some of the top bleeding-edge performance technologies gamers crave, such as:

* The new NVIDIA

Hiper Type R Mk-II 680W power supply

One PSU that certainly will catch your attention as well is the one we'll be testing for Hiper (High Performance group) today. It's their beefy 680Watt Type RII 680 Watt PSU. A product that costs roughly 120-130 bucks. This PSU immediately will catch your attention die to it's original packaging, the extremely 'out there' paint job and then .. when you look at the front side of the PSU, you'll spot 8 USB connectors. And all that is it next to being an actual PSU.

Another advantage, despite the fact that the PSU is rated 680 Watts it can actually peak at 890 Watt, and actually is s more energy friendly product.

Have a read here:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/hiper-typer-mkii-680w-power-supply/

Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies revealed in an interview that the recently released Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360) had a budget of roughly $100 million, marking the title as the most costly development of any game to date. Here's an clip:

As somebody who abhors violence, I ought to feel a degree of ambivalence about Benzies, instead I feel as awestruck as an Italian peasant in the presence of Galileo. What is lost amid the brouhaha over virtual gangsters killing virtual policemen, snorting virtual cocaine and sleeping with virtual prostitutes is the incredible technological innovation and attention to detail that goes into the game. GTA IV, actually the eighth game in the franchise, takes about 60 hours to complete. (Benzies has played it about 40 times and won't play it again). Each scene is rehearsed by actors, filmed in a single take then "translated by animators. There are about 1,000 pages of script.

"It's like making a theatre production, a few movies and an album all to fit into one package," he says. He hasn't a clue how much GTA IV has cost to make but hazards a guess at $100m. About 1,000 people have had a hand in developing it. The perfectionism Houser and Benzies demand of their teams is astonishing.

For GTA IV, time-lapse cameras were set on rooftops in New York to capture the correct intensity of the rain. Over 100,000 photographs were taken on location. In the US, a deal with Amazon lets players download any of the 150 songs they hear on the radios of the cars they steal. Liberty City has its own working version of the internet. If you blow up part of the city, you will hear about it on one of the city's half a dozen radio stations.

Wow it was a long time ago since we reviewed the first model. Hercules announced that their Mobile DJ MP3 is available, and it's only 99 bucks.

Hercules, the computer DJ entertainment specialist, brings the fun of DJ mixing to music fans everywhere with the first wireless digital mixing mini-controller, the Mobile DJ MP3. An intuitive, user-friendly DJ mixing controller for PC, the Mobile DJ MP3 allows users to, personalize music and host parties like a DJ. The portable Mobile DJ MP3 is available for the retail price of $99.99 in black as well as white online at www.djdeals.com, J&R Computer World, Musician's Friend, American Musical Supply, and more. (www.hercules.com)

Until now, DJ mixing novices have found only semi-professional or professional DJ hardware or complex mixing software requiring practice and agility to progress beyond the basics. The Mobile DJ MP3, the most mobile, dual deck, DJ mixer available, is an affordable, general consumer solution for anyone 12 years and up looking to mix his or her favorite digital tunes and be the hit of their house party. Indeed, with this wireless, handheld mixer the host of the party can control the music while still mingling and dancing with friends.

"In light of the explosion in the popularity of MP3s, we have created a novice MP3 mini-controller that puts DJing within reach for all music and entertainment enthusiasts of all ages" explains Fran

An interesting interview with Valve VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi:

"But I think a lot of what's happening now in the public perception and the press perception is fueled by thing like NPD releasing sales data from retail in the States that says "Oh, PC games were only 12 per cent of sales at the holiday" - or last year, or whenever it was - and everybody grabs hold of that and all of a sudden declares that PC gaming is on the way out and what-not. But that ignores all the subscription revenue from World of Warcraft, which just by itself would change that number, that perception that's its only 12 per cent of the business. Just add that in and all of a sudden I'm guessing it's over 20 per cent of the business. Throw in things like Steam sales - that's going to move it again. Then there are different models, like the DICE guys are doing."

Crytek was probably the last innovative dev team devoted solely to making PC users feel inadequate about their system specs. No longer.
In an interview with PC Play, Crytek president Cevat Yerli has said that thanks to both "huge piracy" and the small returns PC games bring in compared to console titles, the company will no longer be making games exclusively for the PC market.

They'll still make games for the PC, of course, just...not only for the PC.

I'm not disputing that piracy is a big issue but ... Crytek ... Maybe if your obscene system requirements had a little to do with it ? Granted though, they brought one of the most technologically impressive masterpieces to the gaming world. They at least have the balls to push the envelope.

We have absolutely no idea how valid these results are. Yet there are some results floating on the web showing regarding ATI's upcoming ATI HD 4870 512MB ATI HD 4870 versus the 1GB GeForce 9800 GX2. Included are Crysis and 3DMark06 results.

Let me state that anyone can make this stuff up and re-produce some nice charts. But if true .. very interesting as it would certainly seem that the new Radeon is an impressive contender. A well .. fingers crossed.

Apparent test system:

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 @ 3.00GHz
ASUS P5E3 Deluxe
2

NVIDIA's GeForce 9600 GT based products have been around for like two months now. Those of you who decided to wait a little before purchasing this product, I can only say bravo. Because at this very moment prices are dropping, the 'OC', thus special edition versions are widely available bringing even more value to you well spent money.

Now we spotted the exact triple X model as tested today for roughly 159 USD /

This is pretty cool technology for sure. Sharp started a partnership with AMIMON in order to offer a wireless HDTV link based on the latter company's WHDI technology. Apparently the 37-, 42- and 46-inch displays will be sold in both nations with an optional wireless video transmitter bringing its users the ability to send uncompressed HD to their HDTV from up to 100-feet / 30 meter away. As for US pricing and availability, Sharp's not quite ready to dish out those points, and while we're not exactly sure if this is the launch that finally gets wireless HD headed in right direction, it certainly can't hurt matters.

Santa Clara, Calif. and Osaka, Japan