Why I'm Becoming More of a Spiderman: AMD's New Phenom Quad Core CPUs

AMD has announced that it’s launching four new Phenom Quad-core CPU’s. In an effort to increase scalability, the CPU giant has offered up more AMD Phenom x4 9000 Quad-Core Processors: the 9550 (2.2GHz), 9650 (2.3GHz), 9750 (2.4)GHz, and finally the 9850 (2.5GHz).

So now you can get the Spider platform—a Phenom CPU + 790 series chipset + an ATI HD 3800 series graphics card—in a rainbow of different flavors. For all you AMD/ATI enthusiasts, this should be good news. Increased scalability = an increase in price range. And with the Spider platform, you can add up to four 3800 series graphics cards. That means that your system is highly upgradeable over a long period of time. Quad-core technology matched with quad cards—I don’t think our brain is even able to process the graphics that kind of rig can offer.

Yeah, it might be overkill but there’s still a market for PC extremists like that. The genius in AMD’s new release is that the increased scalability of their product line allows for a wider price range. Which then attracts a wide range of consumers—from PC extremists to hardcore gamers to multimedia enthusiasts to middle of the road consumers. And the idea of an “Enthusiast Platform” AKA the Spider Platform, is an extremely unique twist in how to market to consumers. AMD isn’t offering parts. It’s offering it’s consumers an entire system. And that’s how the company is trying to differentiate itself from Intel. Not to mention the fact that AMD is the first to create a triple-core processor.

Of course, Intel is still resolutely killing AMD. Still, these new innovations from AMD impresses me..I thought they were down for the count. But they still keep turning out new tricks.

And in even happier news for AMD/ATI fans, ATI is cutting the price of their 3850 and 3870 graphics cards. The 3850/512 is going to crash to $145 and less, and the 3870/512 will hit markets at $159 and less. At those prices the Spider platform is looking more and more enticing to me.

The Worlds Hardest Game. And Zero Punctuation

The hardest games were the old Nintendo games where you only had 3 lives and 'Game Over seriously meant that the game was over. According to engamed.com, this is the hardest game in the world. Hard as hell, but I've had better.

With a slew of amazing games being released this year, I've become uncomfortably aware that if I'm not careful choosing which games are worth my $$$ and time, I'll easily end up broke and single. Again.

So from one desperate gamer to all you other gamers with the same problem, check out ZeroPunctuation. He's by far the most honest, on-point, and entertaining game critic ever. And he's reviewed most of the games out there.

World of Warcraft: PWNing the War on Terror

Counterterrorists, epidemiologists, sociologists and economists love WoW. Because they love to watch you get PWN’d.

Wired magazine reported that scientists and researchers in the fields of counterterrorism, epidemiology, and sociology have all noted how terrorism and the spread of diseases in WoW bears a striking resemblance to the way real life suicide bombers and bioterrorists would do things.

WoW’s network of 10 million players gives scientists a ready made virtual model of the world, complete with participants capable of making their own decisions-as rational or irrational as they may be. Even the Deputy Director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies says that WoW offers a revolutionary new way to study how terrorist cells form and operate.

It’s no wonder terrorism is still an ongoing problem. All the people who should be solving the problem are busy PWNing people online. And although Wired magazine does come up with some cool stuff on occasion, this is one of the stupidest articles ever. Namely because it’s….well, complete BS.

In real life, there is no respawning in 10 seconds. And the motivations of a bored 15 year old aren’t even remotely comparable to a brainwashed suicide bomber on every level. Counterterrorists, epidemiologists, sociologists, and economists are coming up with really cool reasons as to why they should be playing WoW at work…

And that’s the lesson I’ll be taking from this article—if you’re good enough at BSing people, you can do anything. Even get to play WoW at work.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/news/2008/03/wow_terror

Who Doesn’t Want a Transparent Toaster

TechEBlog posted up their list of the top 10 strangest gadgets of the future complete with a Self Cooling Beer Can, an “On-Target” Video Game Urinal, a foldable DVD player, an intelligent spoon, and a transparent toaster. Yeah, that’s right. An “On-Target” Video Game Urinal.