interview en Interview with Elite Dangerous CEO David Braben <!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u166440/elite_dangerous_braben.jpg" alt="David Braben" title="David Braben" width="200" height="141" style="float: right;" />Game will support 4K and 16K</h3> <p>Elite: Dangerous is almost upon us and we are excited, even though the game was not one of our <a title="The 20 Most Anticipated PC Games of 2014" href="" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">most anticipated PC games of 2014</span></a>. Created by Frontier Developments, the sci-fi combat simulator is the fourth installment in the Elite game franchise that also features trading and space exploration in a 1:1 scale of our own universe. <strong>Maximum PC had the opportunity to interview Frontier Developments CEO David Braben</strong>, courtesy of Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="//" width="600" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: left;">Braben, who founded <a title="Frontier Developments homepage" href="" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">Frontier Developments</span></a> back in 1994, talked about how the game’s setting is a recreation of our universe and, when asked about how the universe in the game is modeled after our own, he replied, “Every single star in the night sky, that you can see, is in the game. Even the really faint ones. So we can see 6,000-7,000 in the night sky and they are all in the game. So are the full 160,000 that we got from star catalogues and other sources.”</p> <p>The interview goes on to cover other topics such as what gamers can do in the game, virtual reality support, whether or not a person can become stranded while exploring, why the developer decided to have the game support 16K, and Develop Frontiers’ decision to do regarding playing single player offline.</p> <p>“We found it increasingly difficult to do, and I think this has upset some people, is the wholly offline play,” Braben replied when asked about the single player campaign. “The game was still going to be downloaded, but the ability to play wholly offline is something we found increasingly difficult to offer.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Be sure to watch the <a title="MPC Interview with David Braben" href=";list=UUdLWXfNqKICJBpE8jVMm6_w" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">entire interview</span></a> for his full explanation about the company's apporach to the single player campaign and let us know what you think of the interview in the comment section below.</p> <p><em>Follow Sean on&nbsp;<a title="SeanDKnight Google+" href="" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">Google+</span></a>, <a title="SeanDKnight's Twitter" href="" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">Twitter</span></a>, and <a title="SeanDKnight Facebook" href="" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">Facebook</span></a></em></p> 16K David Braben elite Elite Dangerous Frontier Developments interview Gaming News Features Sat, 06 Dec 2014 00:10:26 +0000 Sean D Knight and Jimmy Thang 29045 at Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Addresses Inequality and Other Topics in TV Interview <!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/satya_nadella_3.jpg" alt="Satya Nadella" title="Satya Nadella" width="228" height="198" style="float: right;" />Satya Nadella's first TV interview since being named CEO of Microsoft</h3> <p><strong>Jon Fortt at <em>CNBC</em> sat down with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for his first TV interview</strong> since becoming boss of the Redmond outfit. Nadella answered questions about Microsoft's cloud strategy, why he opposes a spinoff, and yes, he addressed recent controversial comments that were made in regards to women in the workplace, and specifically the issue of a pay discrepancy between men and women.</p> <p>The controversial comments came when Nadella was a guest speaker at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Speaking to a mostly female audience, Nadella suggested that women workers rely on karma for raises.</p> <p>"It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. Because that's good karma. It'll come back because somebody's going to know that's the kind of person that I want to trust," Nadella said.</p> <p>His comments were later criticized on the web. Fortt asked Nadella if he understands why what he said upset so many people and if he could elaborate on that. In response, Nadella said he spent several days reflecting on what's been a "very humbling experience," admitting that he was "completely wrong" in his answer to how women should promote themselves.</p> <p>"I basically took my own approach to how I approached my career and sprung it on half the humanity, and that was just insensitive," Nadella said.</p> <p>On the topic of cloud computing, Nadella said that any major company that's not already spending "four or five billion dollars each year to just grow your cloud, probably it's a little too late to enter the market." That's what Microsoft is doing, as are Amazon and Google, which are really the big three in that category.</p> <p>And what of splitting the Microsoft's consumer business from its enterprise efforts? Nadella is against the idea, choosing instead to focus on what he calls "dual-use," such as people using Windows and Office for their personal use, and taking it to work."</p> <p>There's a lot more to <a href="" target="_blank">digest here</a>.</p> <p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p> interview microsoft satya nadella News Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:55:57 +0000 Paul Lilly 28751 at No BS Podcast #226: In-depth Interview with AMD Graphics Guru Richard Huddy <!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u154082/richard_huddy.jpg" alt="richard huddy interview" title="richard huddy interview" width="200" height="200" style="float: right;" />AMD exec doubles down on assertion that Nvidia Gameworks presents a threat to PC gamers&nbsp;</h3> <p>This week on <a title="Maximum PC no bs podcast 226" href="" target="_blank">episode 226 of the No BS Podcast</a>, AMD graphics guru <a title="richard huddy" href="" target="_blank">Richard Huddy</a> joins the Maximum PC crew. For those unfamiliar with the AMD exec, Huddy has spent time working at ATI, AMD, Nvidia, Intel, and is now back at AMD. He’s also widely considered one of the pioneers of DirectX. Suffice it to say, he knows his stuff.</p> <p>In this special edition of the podcast, we pick his brain on a variety of topics relating to AMD. Easily the most exciting part of the discussion is the fact that Huddy doubles down on AMD’s assertion that <a href="" target="_blank">Nvidia Gameworks presents a threat to PC gamers</a>, most notably by adding lines of code to games that would hinder performance on AMD graphics cards (It’s some pretty damning assertions). We also talk about the recent controversy surrounding the PC version of Watch Dogs, discuss Mantle vs DirectX, AMD’s answer to Nvidia Gsync, 4K, and the future of graphics/graphics cards.&nbsp;</p> <p><iframe src="//" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <h5 style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.05em; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; color: #990000;"><a style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" title="maximum pc no bs 226" href="" target="_blank"><img src="" width="80" height="15" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;" /></a>&nbsp;<a style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" href=""><img src="" alt="chicklet_rss-2.0.png" title="chicklet_rss-2.0.png" width="80" height="15" style="margin: 0px; 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font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Subscribe to Maximum PC in&nbsp;<a href=";cds_mag_code=MAX&amp;id=1389911545126&amp;lsid=40161632249048437&amp;vid=1&amp;cds_response_key=IHTH31ANN">print</a>&nbsp;or on&nbsp;<a href="">Google Play</a>,&nbsp;<a href="">iTunes</a>, Kindle,&nbsp;<a href=";g={C074694B-14F6-4312-AEB3-4CED99451590}">Nook</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=";offer=500431111&amp;WT.mc_id=ACQ_COM_BUY_GLOBAL_072512_Future_MaximumPC_PubPage">Zinio</a>.</p> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thanks for listening!</p> amd interview mantle maximum pc No BS Podcast nvidia richard huddy watch dogs Gaming News No BS Podcast Fri, 20 Jun 2014 23:06:45 +0000 The Maximum PC Staff 28046 at AMD Mantle Interview with Oxide Games' Dan Baker <!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u163784/dan_smaller.jpg" alt="dan baker" title="dan baker" width="191" height="196" style="float: right;" />Could Mantle be the next successor to DirectX?</h3> <p>Oxide Games developer Dan Baker helped answer some questions we had about AMD’s new <strong><a title="mantle" href="" target="_blank">Mantle</a></strong> API. &nbsp;Oxide’s upcoming game, <a title="star swarm" href="" target="_blank">Star Swarm</a>, will support Mantle out of the gate and the company has been very vocal about Mantle which it believes can help all gamers and also start a dialogue about the future of APIs on the PC.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: Most believe Mantle is a low-level API that is very close to the metal. Can you explain why this concept is wrong?</strong></p> <p><strong>Baker</strong>: Relative to Microsoft's Direct3D (D3D), Mantle is indeed more low-level. But it's not low-level in the sense that we are exposed to individual architectural decisions. For example, Mantle still abstracts the details of the shader cores themselves, so that we don't even know if we are running on a vector machine or a scalar machine. What isn't abstracted is the basic way a GPU operates. The GPU is another processor, just like any other, that reads and writes memory. One thing that has happened is that GPUs are now pretty general in terms of functionality. They can read memory anywhere. They can write memory anywhere. A lot of the things an API has traditionally managed aren't really necessary any more. Mantle puts the responsibility onto the developer. Some feel that is too much, but this really isn't any different than managing multiple CPUs on a system, which we have gotten pretty good at. We don't program multiple CPUs with an API, we just handle it ourselves. Mantle gives us a similar capability for the GPU.</p> <p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: You’ve said Mantle really addresses the inefficiencies of DirectX which was architected in the 1990s. Can you give us some examples of the inefficiencies of DX? We know you’ve mentioned DrawCalls as an example.</strong></p> <p><strong>Baker</strong>: DirectX was architected in a time when two things were true. First, the hardware itself was very fixed-function. That is, there was a lot of secret sauce as to what exactly it did. As shading models became almost completely general, the need to abstract this level become less useful. The best way to think of a GPU is just a processor that runs programs. All we really want our API to do is give us a means of executing little programs on the GPU. This programs are what's in a batch, or a draw call. We don't want it to manage memory, we don't want to 'make things easier for us.'&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u163784/ces_small.png" alt="Oxide's Star Swarm" title="Oxide's Star Swarm" width="620" height="348" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Oxide's Star Swarm RTS promises a huge boost in performance when running AMD's Mantle API</strong></p> <p>The second problem is that APIs are still designed in this functional threading model where you have a series of processes that pass work back and forth to each other. The idea is that you have say, one thread for rendering, one thread for audio, one thread for gameplay, etc. This is a really not a scalable way to build things. In situations where you have a shared L3 cache, you also create contention from all the different processes running, since they all access completely different memory. The industry continues to move to a job-based setup, where we have lots of tiny jobs that run asynchronously. This can now scale to a large number of CPUs, and we can fill up most of the previously unused time where one of the processors isn't doing something.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: Does OpenGL face the same limitations? It’s also a pretty old API at this point.</strong></p> <p><strong>Baker</strong>: OpenGL has essentially all the core problems of D3D, except that one can add extensions to it. The main difference between OpenGL and D3D is that D3D made an attempt to be threaded, and failed, whereas OpenGL has not yet attempted it. One question is whether it is worth building a new API or making a bunch of extensions to an existing API. You can get some mileage out of making extensions, but extensions can't bridge things like being able to use multiple CPUs. Also, at some point it's cleaner and easier just to hit the reset button, rather than throw yet another feature in a fairly big API. Believe it or not, Mantle is actually easier to support than OpenGL. OpenGL has many unobvious pitfalls and traps, whereas Mantle really doesn't.&nbsp;</p> <p><iframe src="//" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Oxide Games and Mantle Presentation Demo</strong></p> <p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: There have been some pretty wild claims of performance increases by going to Mantle. How much have you seen in your game?</strong></p> <p><strong>Baker</strong>: This depends on how exploitative you are, and the specifics of your engine. For us, we have been completely limited in what we could do by driver overhead problems. We were actually making decisions where we traded GPU performance for CPU–that is, we’d end up doing things that are slower on the GPU, because we could get away with less driver overhead. &nbsp;When you talk about building an FPS, you probably spend much of your time optimizing for the GPU; when you try to build an RTS, you end up optimizing for the driver overhead. Nitrous is a new breed of rendering system. Oxide’s specialty is high throughput.&nbsp;</p> <p>When you look at Star Swarm, it's really a testament to brute force. For us, we can see cases where Mantle is many times faster, with especially big differences as we add more cores and slow down their clock speeds. We wouldn't expect most games to necessarily see this, as it will happen in cases where you have a really efficient, high throughput engine, but it will certainly make an impact everywhere. We aren't set up to do very precise testing, so we'd rather others do the analysis on this. However, we'd like to point out that our Direct3D performance is absolutely outstanding, relative to what is expected. We have spent a huge amount of time optimizing around D3D, and we feel we are actually pretty biased in D3D’s favor. Mantle, on the other hand, we've spent far less time with and currently have only pretty basic optimizations. But Mantle is such an elegant API that it still dwarfs our D3D performance.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: It seems that the main challenge for Mantle to succeed is getting support from Nvidia and Intel. Do you see that as actually happening from a developer point of view?</strong></p> <p><strong>Baker:&nbsp;</strong>Yes and no. Mantle does detract from other platforms, and we are already seeing a big dialogue in terms of what future APIs should look like. Mantle is kind of the disruptive technology that gets everyone rethinking things. Whether this means a new version of OpenGL, or a new version of D3D, we can't say. But it is clear that they will have to adapt if they want to stay relevant. Some of us have been screaming for change for years. The arguments we got in the past were: 1) it couldn't be faster 2) it would be too hard to use, and 3) we have enough performance, so more isn't useful. We wanted to show that all three of these things are provably false.</p> <p><strong><strong>Maximum PC</strong>: Do you see a world where developers will have to write for DX and Mantle? How much of a challenge is it to write for both APIs?</strong></p> <p><strong>Baker:&nbsp;</strong>APIs come and go. Once you support more than one, it's pretty easy to support a dozen–assuming there is parity in the hardware features, and assuming you don't have to rewrite your shaders in an entirely different language. If you release a title right now, you would end up with likely six paths. An Xbox360, a PS3, a PS4, a Xbox One, a DX9, and a DX11. For us, the graphics system is just a module that talks to the API. All we did for Mantle was replace the D3D module with a Mantle one. It's about 3,000 to 4,000 lines of code for the Mantle version, which took me personally about two months to write. In terms of support, at least for us, it wasn't terribly difficult.</p> <p><em>If you'd like to give Mantle a test drive, you can download AMD's beta drivers for it <a title="amd mantle download" href="" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;and the Star Swarm stress test <a title="star swarm stress test" href="" target="_blank">on Steam</a>.&nbsp;</em></p> amd api Direct X Direct3D dx11 FAQ graphics card interview mantle OpenGL optimization q&a. d3d News Features Wed, 12 Feb 2014 23:40:10 +0000 Gordon Mah Ung 27243 at League of Legends - Team Curse Interview <!--paging_filter--><h3>An in-depth Q&amp;A with one of the best professional LoL teams</h3> <p>With an astounding <a title="32 million players" href="" target="_blank">32 million registered players</a> and <a title="lol one billion hours" href="" target="_blank">one billion hours</a> of collective playtime each month, <strong><a title="League of Legends" href="" target="_blank">League of Legends</a></strong>&nbsp;(LoL) is the <a title="most played videogame lol" href="" target="_blank">most-played videogame</a> in the world. The free-to-play title pits two teams of five players against each other and has them destroying enemy bases: think team-based tower defense gameplay where players have different designated positions. The deep, complex game is just as competitive as it is popular and features unprecedented lucrative tournaments that have&nbsp;<a title="millions" href="" target="_blank">multi-million dollar prize pools</a>. Throughout the process, LoL has created several gaming rockstars in the burgeoning eSports world.&nbsp;</p> <p>One such rockstar team is top-10-world ranked&nbsp;<strong><a title="team curse" href="" target="_blank">Team Curse</a></strong>. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the American team currently has a record of 9-2 this season and has garnered sponsorships from such companies as <a title="cooler master" href="" target="_blank">Cooler Master</a>. Team Curse is so well-respected in the community that its players charge up to <a title="lol lessons" href="" target="_blank">$250 an hour</a> for gameplay lessons. While this fee sounds astronomically high for what is nothing more than a videogame practice session, Team Curse tells us that requests for lessons can be at times overwhelming.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC</strong> had the opportunity to conduct an in-depth interview with the beloved team where they talk about their insane practice regimen, discuss what it's like to recieve so much attention from fans, share tips on how to become a better player, and much more. Read on for the full interview.&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154082/team_curse_ad2.jpg" alt="team curse" title="team curse" width="620" height="588" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>From left to right (with played positions): Cop (AD), Nyjacky (AP), Elementz (support), Voyboy (top), Saintvicious (jungler)</em></strong></p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: While you guys have done well in the past, Team Curse is currently destroying the competition this season. What changes to your practice regimen have you guys made?</strong></p> <p>LiQuiD112 (Curse Director of eSports): Preparing for our qualification matches to earn our spot in the <a title="LCS" href="" target="_blank">League of Legend Championship Series</a> (LCS), we knew that we had to put everything on the line. &nbsp;We adopted a strict scrimming (practicing against an opposing team) and replay [watching] schedule. In addition, we use communication exercises to improve synergy in the game that we have leveraged from the military and other high-stress team environments.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: How many hours do you guys practice a day and what does your practice regimen look like?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Saintvicious (jungler): An average day we typically work 12 to 14 hours. We work six days a week, but sometimes we work seven depending on travel schedule. We normally put in 70-80 hour weeks. &nbsp;We scrim for five to eight hours. We do an additional three to five hours of <a title="lol stream" href="" target="_blank">streaming</a> and self-practice. &nbsp;We strategize, watch replays, and have team meetings where we run drills to improve gameplay. &nbsp;When we travel, our schedule goes a little out of whack depending on our access to internet, flight times, and match schedules.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: Can you guys have fun in pro games or does it mostly feel stressful?</strong></p> <p>Elementz (support): It is always fun, we have one of the best jobs in the world. When you love what you do, it’s always fun, but fun and stress go hand in hand for us.&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Team Curse prepares for Season 3</em></p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: What kind of impact does audience reaction in tournaments have on you guys?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Cop (AD carry): The best impact is when we are on stage and there are thousands of live people watching us play. &nbsp;Even though we wear noise-canceling headsets, you can still hear the fans - they are THAT loud - shouting and screaming during big team fights. &nbsp;It feeds me this energy and after the match I love looking out into the audience. &nbsp;You see these people with Curse signs, face paint, and all kinds of stuff that makes you really appreciate what you do.</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: Would you say the game is pretty well-balanced? Considering there are over <a title="lol champions" href="" target="_blank">100 characters</a> to choose from, would you say there are some champions that are underpowered or overpowered?</strong></p> <p>Saintvicious: The game is balanced; however, from patch to patch, which happens weekly or biweekly, the champions that are more powered than others changes. &nbsp;For example, this week AP <a title="Tryndamere" href="">Tryndamere</a> has become a common ban (in LoL tournaments, teams can ban three enemy champions) because of how powerful the champion’s heal is. &nbsp;<a title="riot games" href="" target="_blank">Riot</a> has already nerfed it by 90%! But since the tournaments we play in are always a week or sometimes two weeks behind the [normal] live client, we can abuse these more powered champions. That’s why you’ll see [he] was banned against us in Week 4.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154082/lol_spectacle.jpg" alt="lol germany" title="lol germany" width="620" height="315" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>IEM – Grand Championships in Hannover, Germany. League of Legends has become quite the spectacle around the world.</em>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: What are the biggest pitfall newer players make and how would you suggest avoiding them?</strong></p> <p>Cop: New players will often jump to blame other players instead of trying to improve themselves. They will go into solo-queue games and complain the jungler is not coming (helping) enough or that another lane is feeding (dying) too much. &nbsp;Instead of worrying about those things, just focus on your own game. &nbsp;Read up on how to play your champion. On sites like <a title="lolpro" href="" target="_blank"></a> you can get info on what builds to use, detailed guides on strategy and tactics. &nbsp;When you focus on yourself and improving, you’ll naturally get better at the game.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: Are people too caught up on the "meta" mechanics of the game? Or do all the roles and positions warrant their place?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>NyJacky (AP carry): The meta of the game changes when the patch changes. There is always a ‘fad’ or a champion of the week and players adopt to that champion in the tournament weekend. &nbsp;Most champions are viable, it’s just how you use them. When you play a champion, other teams see your builds and copy you - then it becomes the new ‘OP’ or overpowered [setup]. &nbsp;There are a lot of jump-on-the-bandwagon strategies.</p> <p><em>Click the next page to hear who Team Curse thinks is their biggest rivals this season, what they consider their biggest comeback moment is, and more.&nbsp;</em></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maximum PC: What would be the team's biggest comeback moment?</span></p> <p>Cop: Our match versus <a title="GGU" href="" target="_blank">Good Game University</a> (GGU). We had two Inhibitors down and they were hitting our <a title="LoL Nexus" href="" target="_blank">Nexus</a>&nbsp;(last structure)&nbsp;ready to finish the game. We ended up acing them (killing all of them) while they were trying to finish the Nexus and counter pushed for the win. &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: Which team is the one to beat this season? And what makes them so difficult?</strong></p> <p>Elementz: The best team is probably <a title="Team Dignitas" href="" target="_blank">Dignitas</a>. They are a really good team, their communication is excellent and they have <a title="Crumbzz" href="" target="_blank">Crumbzz</a> who is one of the best junglers in the game.&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Team Curse does a meet-and-greet with its passionate fans.</em></p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: What’s more important: a great individual player or five solid players?</strong></p> <p>Elementz: This one is obvious: five solid players. This is a team game, communication is paramount. &nbsp;You are only as strong as your weakest link. &nbsp;Individual skill means nothing if you can’t coordinate and move around the map properly. That is why you see teams that are made up of very high Elo (ranked) players sometimes do horribly in tournaments.</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: Do you guys ever troll (mess around) in non-competitive games? If so, what antics have you guys gotten away with?</strong></p> <p>Elementz: Sometimes when you want to relax after a long day of scrimming, you get to play some fun unorthodox champions that are fun to play. &nbsp;Sometimes those fun games turn into amazing strategies that we use in our professional games. You never know. One of my favorite compositions is <a title="Cassopeia" href="" target="_blank">Cassopeia</a> support and <a title="Signed lol" href="" target="_blank">Singed</a> on bot's so strong!&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154082/lol_pro_team.jpg" alt="team curse lol" title="team curse lol" width="620" height="413" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Professional gaming at the top level is serious work.</em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maximum PC: This is situational, but in general, if you guys kill all members of the enemy team (known as "ace"), is it a better idea to use that time and destroy&nbsp;<a title="LoL turrets/towers" href="" target="_blank">turrets</a> or kill <a title="Baron" href="" target="_blank">Baron</a> and go for the Baron buff? I’ve personally felt that going for Baron has cost me many-a-game.&nbsp;</span></p> <p>Saint: This is highly situational it depends on so many different things. &nbsp;It depends on oracle control, the health bars, death timers, how many towers you already have, if you have inhibitors or not, the minion lanes and where they are pushed, item builds, and how many players are left after the ace. &nbsp;With all of that being said, if you can get inhibs - typically it is better than Baron. &nbsp;In most solo-queue games, teams will overextend at the enemy base trying to pick up an inhib and over-stay and then they will get re-aced. &nbsp;It’s always best to take small-bite advantages. When you get greedy and overextend, it almost always backfires.</p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: Let’s say you’re pitted up against an unknown enemy team in a tournament. Which three characters would you ban and why?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Cop: This is way too hard to answer. &nbsp;It depends on the meta, the patch, red or blue side. In this hypothetical imaginary situation, I guess we would ban some of the more overpowered champions. At the moment that would be Tryndamere, <a title="Xin Zhao" href="" target="_blank">Xin Zhao</a> and <a title="LoL Kayle" href="" target="_blank">Kayle</a>. &nbsp;Tryndamere because he can fully heal himself with his Q which is on a four-second cool down. Xin because his ganks are godlike and he can tank tower hits. Kayle because she dishes out so much damage and her ultimate can make or break team fights because you can save someone.&nbsp;</span></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>Team Curse shows off it's Cooler Master gear.</em></strong></p> <p><strong>Maximum PC: What do you guys think of the other multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like <a title="dota 2" href="" target="_blank">Dota 2</a>, <a title="HON" href="" target="_blank">HoN</a>, and <a title="smite" href="" target="_blank">Smite</a>?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Voyboy: They don’t even compare to League. They will have their own loyal fan bases but League of Legends dominates them all. Riot games has made significant investments in eSports and ensuring that their games have more fans than all of those combined.&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maximum PC: Thanks for the time, guys. We'll certainly be routing for you this season.</span></p> cop elementz interview League of Legends liquid112 lol maximum pc nyjacky saintvicious team curse voyboy News Features Web Exclusive Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:43:28 +0000 Jimmy Thang 25126 at Steve Ballmer is "Super-Glad" Microsoft Built Surface, Thinks Windows 8 Adoption is "Perfect" <!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/steve_ballmer_6.jpg" alt="Steve Ballmer" title="Steve Ballmer" width="228" height="213" style="float: right;" />Steve Ballmer sat for a spell with MIT Technology Review to discuss the Windows 8 ecosystem.</h3> <p>It's no easy task to gauge the impact Windows 8 is having on the industry, in part because the industry is changing. The traditional desktop is taking a backseat in popularity to mobile form factors, like notebooks, tablets, and hybrids. Windows 8, as you know, is an attempt to bring all these devices together, along with smartphones, under a unified user interface. Is <strong><a href="">Microsoft</a></strong> happy with its strategy up to this point?</p> <p>Jason Pontin, <em>MIT Technology Review's</em> Editor-in-Chief, had a chance to <a href="" target="_blank">speak with Steve Ballmer</a> about Windows 8 and related topics. One of the questions he asked is what Ballmer feels is a reasonable adoption period for a new version of an operating system that's to be used by a billion people.</p> <p>"Well, it’s a complex question. You’ll need to define what you mean by adoption rate. It’s affected by three things: How many do we sell? How quickly do people retire the installed base that they own? And what are the similarities and differences between the consumer market and the corporate market?," Ballmer said. "In the first 10 weeks, we sold 60 million copies. All new consumer PCs are now Windows 8 based. So in that sense, I would say that here the adoption rate is perfect."</p> <p>Ballmer pointed out that consumers upgrade PCs less frequently than phones but upgrade them more frequently than TVs and game consoles. And in the corporate world, "adoption is always a little slower."</p> <p>And what of Microsoft's Surface strategy?</p> <p>"I'm super-glad we did Surface," Ballmer said. "I think it is important -- and not just for Microsoft, but for the entire Windows ecosystem -- to see integrated hardware and software....Surface is a real business. In an environment in which there's 350 million PCs sold, I don't think Surface is going to dominate volume, but it's a real business."</p> <p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p> Hardware interview mobile operating system Software steve ballmer Surface tablet windows 8 News Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:14:33 +0000 Paul Lilly 25070 at Bill & Melinda Gates Uphold Household Ban on Apple Products Despite the Death of Zune <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/gatesiphone.png" alt="Jennifer Gates With an iPhone" title="Jennifer Gates With an iPhone" style="float: right;" /></p> <h3>Zune is Dead, but Melinda Gates confirms the no Apple policy is still alive and well.&nbsp;</h3> <p>Back in June of 2011, Bill Gates conducted an interesting interview with the <a href="">UK’s Daily Mail</a>, and revealed a much more personal side of the ex-Microsoft CEO then we were used to. He opened up about his family life, an amusingly enough, he even admitted what he tells his kids when they ask Santa for an iPad. At the time Bill was adamant they were a Zune only family, but fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2012, and Zune is all but completely dead. So has this loosened up the no iDevice policy?</p> <p>In a recent interview on <a href="">Radio 4 in the UK</a>, Melinda Gates reaffirms the ban is still in place. When asked if Bill Gate’s two daughters and one lone son still ask for Apple products, she replied without hesitation. Of course they do, she said. "But they get Windows technology," she added. "The wealth from our family came from Microsoft so why would we invest in a competitor?"&nbsp;</p> <p>Melinda Gates also openly admits lusting after the iPhone prior to the launch of Windows Phone 7, calling the handset rather tasty. "Every now and then I look at my friends and say 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone’," she said.</p> <p>Despite the ban, Melinda Gates also confirms Bill’s statement that the house of Jobs and Gates was at complete peace leading up to Steve’s death. It would appear the household policy is more about public perception than malice towards a competitor.</p> <p>Rumor has it Jennifer Gates found a way to <a href="">sneak an iPhone into the house</a>&nbsp;at some point last year based on the picture above, but we assume it has since been confiscated based on this interview.</p> <p><em>(Img Credit =</em></p> <p><span style="font-style: italic;">Follow Justin on </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="">Twitter</a></p> apple Bill Gates ceo charity interview microsoft philanthropy News Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:46:38 +0000 Justin Kerr 24747 at Activision Moving Slowly Into Mobile: Recognizes Hardware Almost Xbox 360 Level <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/activision-blizzard-logo.jpg" alt="Activision" style="float: right;" />While it’s difficult to compare the widely differing architectures of consoles, PC’s, and phones, most experts agree we have almost reached hardware parity. Activision is the latest “expert” to chime in on the debate, and claim that by the time next-generation of smartphones hit the market, they will indeed have the equivalent amount of raw graphical grunt as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This has the company looking long and hard at its 30-year portfolio of more than 350 IP’s to see what would work well in the mobile space. Vice President of mobile development, Greg Canessa <a href="">met with the guys over at CVG</a>, and detailed what they have in store for the future.</p> <p> </p><p>Canessa has acknowledged that Activision is a bit behind some of their competitors when it comes to releasing games for iOS and Android, but claim they are taking a “thoughtful” approach to the market rather than flooding app stores with sub-par products. Just for the record, we are pretty sure he’s talking about EA. "I know there's another company that paid crazy money for mobile companies and spent a lot of time trying to mesh them together," he said. "That's not our approach. We are taking an organic approach, building things from the ground-up."</p> <p>When asked about the genres that make the most sense to them on mobile, strategy seemed to be the area of greatest interest. Of course touch interfaces continue to be a concern given how limiting it is as an input, and will ultimately be the last piece of the puzzle. An Apple or Google branded gamepad is starting to look like a pretty good idea these days.</p> <p><em>Follow Justin on <a href="">Twitter</a></em></p> activision blizzard future Gaming interview mobile Software News Sun, 26 Aug 2012 15:58:15 +0000 Justin Kerr 24053 at Iron Man PC Mod Kicks Bionic Ass, Creator Explains How It Happened <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/iron_man_small.jpg" width="228" height="223" style="float: right;" />Ron Lee Christianson's known in modderati circles for the outstanding attention to detail in his case mods, and his latest project is no different: the Iron Man PC blows our mind. Commissioned by Thermaltake and built with Thermaltake's new Armor Revo case -- though you'd never know it just by looking at it -- this kick ass case contains the extra touches that make a difference, such as a replica of Iron Man's chest-bound Arc Reactor and a front-facing copy of Iron Man's helm that actually opens and closes. We spoke with Ron about the Iron Man mod and other things over the weekend. </p> <p>He told us that the Iron Man PC, which will show up in Thermaltake's booth at Computex next week, could be just the first of many Marvel-inspired cases; "Thermaltake and I are discussing the entire Avengers line of case mods," he writes. </p> <p>Thermaltake approached Ron with the Iron Man mod idea way back in January. "After discussing design ideas for weeks I got started on the build in early March. The greatest challenge was staying true to Marvel's design of the Iron Man suits and incorporating it into a PC case. I watched the movies over and over as I worked on the build trying to pick up on the fine details and personality of the suits."</p> <p>Ron keeps his skills honed by following the build logs of other in-progress case mods around the Internet. (You can see <a href="">the build log for the Iron Man PC</a> on Ron's BlueHorseStudios website, complete with a material list and dozens and dozens of pictures.) He also offers some tips and tricks for would-be modders:</p> <p>"The advice I'd give to anyone starting a build is to do a ton of research on your subject matter (and) document your work in work logs and free media outlets like Facebook and Youtube. Everyone has their own skill sets that they feel comfortable in, master those skills and don't be afraid to try new things... Attention to detail is everything."</p> <p>Click through the gallery below to see a bunch of pics of the final Iron Man build and two awesome in-progress pics of the Arc Reactor. More pics can be found in <a href=";type=3&amp;l=dac227452d">the worklog Thermaltake has up on its Facebook page</a>. Speaking of Facebook, if you like what you see, head over to <a href=";type=3">the May edition of Xoxide's "Build of the Month" competition</a>, where Ron's Iron Man PC is one of several finalists vying for the top spot.&nbsp; </p> <p><em>Follow Brad on <a href="">Google+</a> or <a href="!/BradChacos">Twitter</a></em></p> case mod case mods cool interview iron man thermaltake News Tue, 29 May 2012 17:14:57 +0000 Brad Chacos 23451 at Seagate CEO Explains Why Flash Won’t Replace Magnetic Hard Drives Anytime Soon <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/seagate_hard_drive.jpg" alt="Seagate" width="228" height="157" style="float: right;" />Solid state drives don’t just “sort of” speed up your boot drive, the difference is literally night and day. Anyone who has spent any amount of time with a machine equipped with one will tell you it’s hard to go back to using a mechanical drive, but that doesn’t have Seagate worried. <a href="">Forbes</a> had an opportunity to sit down with CEO Steve Luczo this week, and he makes a pretty compelling argument as to why the mechanical hard drive industry has nothing to fear from SSD to makers, at least for now.</p> <p>According to Luczo, the notion that solid state storage will take over is absurd, and smaller capacity SSD drives are doing little more than shifting the burden for archiving elsewhere. That could be an external hard drive, or even a cloud server. In fact, if every flash memory plant in the world were to max out their production capacity, they would barely be able to achieve 25% of the storage shipped by mechanical hard drive vendors last year. That number in case you are interested is in the neighborhood of 400 exabytes. &nbsp;</p> <p>With storage requirements growing by over 40 percent a year, solid state drive makers have their work cut out for them if they ever hope to catch up. SSD’s of course also have to find a way to address the problem of long term reliability as capacities increase. Of course we are paraphrasing a bit, so here it is in his own words:</p> <p><em>"Our industry shipped 100 exabytes of data five years ago, 400 exabytes in 2011, and we’ll probably ship a zettabyte sometime between 2015 and 2016. A zettabyte is equal to all the data that’s been digitized from 1957 through 2010. Everything, however you want to think of it, cards, tapes, PCs, mainframes, client/server, minicomputers – one zettabyte. And we’re going to ship that in one year. So whatever the architecture is, pads, phones, notebooks, ultrabooks, real notebooks, PCs, servers, clouds, one year, a zettabyte – that’s all going to be on rotating mass storage."</em></p> <p>Head on over to <a href="">Forbes</a> if you want to check out the full seven-page interview.</p> Flash Storage hard drives Hardware interview seagate ssds News Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:28:51 +0000 Justin Kerr 23131 at Apple Grants ABC Reporters Full Access to Foxconn in China <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/foxconn.jpg" alt="Foxconn" style="float: right;" />Apple news rarely makes the headlines around here because, well, we love our PC’s. iOS devices on the other hand is a completely different story. Since the vast majority of iOS users are in-fact running Windows, (an interesting bit of trivia you’ll never hear them advertise), it never hurts to bring up the odd news tidbit. This week we would like to bring your attention to the controversy surrounding Foxconn, and the allegations which basically accuse Apple of running a modern day, high tech sweat shop. To try and counter the mounting consumer unrest, Apple is pulling open the kimono, and letting <a href="">ABC Nightline reporters take a tour</a> of the assembly lines, and interview key personnel.</p> <p>The special edition of Nightline will air on Tuesday, February 21st at 11:35PM ET on ABC, however anchorman Bill Weir has already released a few early impressions. "For years, Apple and Foxconn have been synonymous with monster profits and total secrecy so it was fascinating to wander the iphone and iPod production lines, meet the people who build them and see how they live. Our cameras were rolling when thousands of hopeful applicants rushed the Foxconn gates and I spoke with dozens of line workers and a top executive about everything from hours and pay to the controversies over suicides at the plant and the infamous "jumper nets" that line the factories in Shenzhen. After this trip, I'll never see an Apple product the same way again" said Weir&nbsp;</p> <p>Regardless of your personal feelings towards Apple, this special promises to shed a bit of light on the lives of the poor souls who toil away day and night to make sure we can buy cheap electronics. It will be interesting to see if it is a fair and balanced view, or if it will still get caught up in the Apple reality distortion field.</p> apple Foxconn interview ios iPad iphone iPod News Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:14:22 +0000 Justin Kerr 22742 at Ubisoft Dev: Piracy To Blame For Lack Of "I Am Alive" On The PC <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/no_pc.jpg" width="228" height="228" style="float: right;" />Ubisoft hates it when pirates plunder the company’s gaming wares online. They’ve been at the forefront of the DRM battle, and by that, we mean they’ve been forcing DRM-ridden content down PC gamers’ throats left and right. It gets worse: Ubisoft won't even be publishing its upcoming “I Am Alive” on the PC due to piracy concerns. Disappointed PC players have been vocal in their displeasure, but all the “bitching” doesn't change the facts, creative director Stanislas Mettra says.</p> <p>“We’ve heard loud and clear that PC gamers are bitching about there being no version for them,” <a href="">Mettra told IncGamers</a>. “But are these people just making noise just because there’s no version or because it’s a game they actually want to play? Would they buy it if we made it?” </p> <p>That’s a real concern for the company, Mettra explained: if Ubisoft paid a team of 12 developers to port the game over to the PC, the game would have to sell in excess of 50,000 copies in order to make the effort financially viable for Ubisoft. Mettra then insinuated that for all their talk, most PC gamers are – you guessed it – filthy pirates who wouldn’t actually buy the game, anyways. “It’s hard because there’s so much piracy and so few people are paying for PC games,” he said. </p> <p>After some negative feedback to the article, <a href="">Mettra sent IncGamers a follow-up email explaining his position further</a>: “I would really love to see a PC build of the game and I don’t think I meant to say ‘the game won't happen on PC’… What I meant is that the PC version did not happen yet. But we are still working to see the feasibility of it, which is not necessarily simple.” Mettra, who isn’t a native English speaker, said that communication issues may have been part of the reason the message came across the way it did. </p> <p>Thoughts?</p> interview pc games piracy pirates torrents ubisoft News Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:30:56 +0000 Brad Chacos 21496 at Witcher 2 Development Director Pledges To Keep DLC Free (At Least On The PC) <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/witcher_2.jpg" width="228" height="210" style="float: right;" />While we were still bumming about the PC snub EA delivered with its Battlefield 3 tournament, we ran across an interview with Adam Badowski, the development director at CD Projeckt – i.e., the makers of The Witcher 2. All the DLC for The Witcher 2 is supplied absolutely free, no strings attached. CDP would like to make DLC free for owners of the upcoming Xbox 360 version of the game as well, but Microsoft just won’t let them.</p> <p>“All DLC for the PC version is and will remain FREE,” Badowski <a href="">told Rock Paper Shotgun</a>, a PC gaming site with a super-cool name. “That’s not likely to be the story for the Xbox version, because of certain Microsoft policies that need to be followed. But on PC, once you buy our game, you don’t need to worry about any additional costs – we will provide all updates, including those featuring new content, for free. I think it’s reasonable than when you buy our product, you can expect us to service it for you quite a long time after release, though less intensively as time goes by.”</p> <p>What a breath of fresh air, huh? Don’t expect to see any more major content for The Witcher 2 this year, however. The game’s console launch is slated for the first quarter of 2012, and CDP plans on releasing a new PC update simultaneously. Badowski said the update includes “a new, four–minute CGI intro by Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning animator Tomasz Bagiński, who was also responsible for the intro and outro of The Witcher 1,” but he wouldn’t talk about any other improvements or new features.</p> CD Projekt DLC free games interview The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 News Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:12:36 +0000 Brad Chacos 20564 at Google Chairman Says He Stayed On Apple's Board Until Those Jerks Got On His Last Nerve <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/schmidt.jpg" width="228" height="171" style="float: right;" />It’s a fact: Justin’s Long’s smarmy “I’m a Mac” jackassery doesn’t sit well with the PC crowd. As it turns out, the patronizing hipster persona worn so well by Long in those commercials might not have been an entirely fictional creation. Could he have been the personification of the members of Apple’s board? Probably not, but Google Chairman Eric Schmidt doesn’t paint a pretty picture of his stint as an Apple director.</p> <p>"I was on the board until I couldn't stand the board anymore," Schmidt told CEO Marc Benioff during an interview at the Dreamforce 2011 conference yesterday afternoon. Ouch! There’s no taking those words two ways. <a href="">Bloomberg reports</a> that the tension arose as Google and Apple started competing more and more in the marketplace. The Goog’s expansion into Android and Chrome OS stepped on toes in Cupertino and Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board in 2009. But even if he couldn’t stand the waves of seething anger radiating off his former fellow directors, Schmidt still holds a lot of respect for Steve Jobs.</p> <p>“What Steve has done at Apple is certainly the best performance of a CEO for over fifty years, maybe a hundred years,” Schmidt said.&nbsp; He didn’t follow up with “Too bad about the rest of those schmucks on the board,” although he must have been thinking it.</p> <p><strong>Update</strong>: Apparently, Bloomberg got it wrong. The link above is dead because Schmidt claims he said "I was on the board until I couldn't <strong>stay on</strong> the board anymore." Bloomberg killed the original story and altered their other reports to get rid of the erroneous quote used as the basis for this article. That's one heck of a transcribing error -- "stand" and "stay on" don't really sound the same to our ears.</p> apple chairman eric schmidt Google interview News Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:12:20 +0000 Brad Chacos 20128 at An Interview With The New Bill Gates, And How He’s Still Teaching Us To Be Better Geeks <!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/gatesphoto.jpg" alt="Gates" width="228" height="247" style="float: right;" /></p> <p>Every geek knows who Bill Gates is, but just who is the man behind the legend? In an uncharacteristically candid interview with the <a href="">UK’s Daily Mail</a>, he describes not just his family life, but what he plans to do with his personal fortune. It might sound like an easy question to someone like you and me, but if you actually stop and think about what you would do with $56 billion (after making $28 billion in charitable donations), you’ll begin to appreciate why it’s not so cut and dry.</p> <p>Here is the coles notes version if you don't feel like reading through the full article.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">When asked about his children’s future.</span></strong></p> <p><em>‘The Billionaire song is what my kids tease me with,’ he says. ‘They sing it to me. It’s funny.’</em></p> <p><em>In reference to his personal fortune, Gates responded: ‘I don’t think that amount of money would be good for them.’ He won’t specify what they will get, but the reports that they’ll receive ‘only’ $10 million each can’t be far off, because he concedes, ‘It will be a minuscule portion of my wealth. It will mean they have to find their own way.</em></p> <p><em>'They will be given an unbelievable education and that will all be paid for. And certainly anything related to health issues we will take care of. But in terms of their income, they will have to pick a job they like and go to work. They are normal kids now. They do chores, they get pocket money.’</em></p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What does Bill Gates do when his kids ask for an iPad?</span></strong></p> <p><em>His face hardens: ‘They have the Windows equivalent. They have a Zune music player, which is a great Windows portable player. They are not deprived children.’</em></p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What About Cars?</span></strong></p> <p><em>“I drive myself around town in a normal Mercedes. I’ve had a Lexus. The family has a Porsche, which is a nice car that we sometimes take out. We have a minivan and that’s what we use when it’s the five of us. My eldest daughter rides horses, so we go to a lot of three-day shows.”</em></p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">When asked if Philanthropy is more important to him now than Microsoft.</span></strong></p> <p><em>‘My full-time work for the rest of my life is this foundation.’&nbsp;</em></p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Will he ever return to helm Microsoft?&nbsp;</span></strong></p> <p><em>‘No. I’m part-time involved. But this is my job now.’</em></p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">On Mark Zuckerberg</span></strong></p> <p><em>According to Gates, Zuckerberg “has already pledged to give most of his fortune away. Gates lets slip that Zuckerberg may be engaged to Priscilla Chan, his long-term girlfriend: ‘I didn’t say to Mark, “Give me all your money!” He was predisposed to do it and he came to me seeking advice”.</em></p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">When asked if Gates still sees himself as a Geek.</span></strong></p> <p><em>‘Hey, if being a geek means you’re willing to take a 400-page book on vaccines and where they work and where they don’t, and you go off and study that and you use that to challenge people to learn more, then absolutely. I’m a geek. I plead guilty. Gladly.'</em></p> <p><em>(Image Credit DAILYMAIL.CO.UK)</em></p> Bill Gates charity interview microsoft philanthropy News Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:28:45 +0000 Justin Kerr 18979 at