Gaming

Gigabyte has done something unexpected and thrown their hat into the interface ring. It is not really surprising considering they produce just about everything else a gamer needs. So let's take a look at their latest offering, the GK-K8000.

Make no mistake, the GK-K8000 is not going to be taking home any design awards. Butt ugly is an understatement, but then looks aren't important when it comes to an all-out fragging contest. It has all the buttons in the right places and a bunch of macro keys mounted atop the F-Key line. There does not appear to be any LED backlighting, which means that unless you can touch type you might want to play with the lights on.

While I have not had a hands on, looking at this keyboard I can see that Gigabyte has opted for high-profile hard plastic keys. My Razer Lycosa has the low-profile rubberized type which pays dividends if you do a lot of typing. Seriously, I bang out about 6,000+ words per day, so any keyboard I get has to be functional as a typing platform first and foremost and this is where the GK-K8000 looks like it falls down. It looks like an RSI nightmare.

On first impressions, I would say that it is good if you want a cheap and nasty but effective gaming keyboard, but try it out if you need to crunch a lot of data or do a lot of writing. There is nothing worse than aching fingertips from a stiff set of keys. [Tweak Town via PC Launches]

This might seem like an obscure problem, but it has happened to a few people that I know of.  The cursor, presumably of its own accord, jumps either left or right.  Fortunately, it does not happen as much while it is activated, but when it does, it can be infuriating.  If you are in the midst of editing a long document or working in an Adobe Illustrator file or Photoshop Image, it can really sour your mood.  Don't get me wrong, I love the mouse, but when I noticed that this started happening; I felt that action must be taken.

First, I wanted to identify the source of the error.  It did not happen from the beginning, so there was a big clue.  Also, I had not installed any new software for some time.  Number one suspect, one of the Windows Vista x64 Updates.  I have heard of this happening in Vista 32, but as of yet have not heard reports of Windows XP being problematic.

Next, I decided to search for a solution.  There was nothing on the Razer support section for some time and indeed no solutions popped up for sometime until one day, Razer addressed the issue with a Beta Firmware update.  Instructions for how to get the beta update are in the Razer support section.  I installed the Beta firmware and two things happened:

1. Mouse died (temporarily)
2. Beta update failed (until reboot)

A reboot fixed things, but n00bs beware, there are a couple of things that you should know before you start.  If you do not know how to reboot from your keyboard, then this will be a valuable lesson.

You know, as cool as the guitar hero games look, I just can't see myself standing in front of the TV holding a plastic guitar.  Aside from that, I don't really have the space for a joystick let alone a toy guitar that I will only play with as long as I am enjoying the game.  That is what makes the Guitar Grip that Activision is packing with the DS version of the Guitar Hero such an incredibly cool idea.  The Nintendo DS is really the Little Engine that Could of portable gaming platforms.  The Sony PSP packs in so much more performance, but the DS seems to trump them with the fun factor every time.

Available this summer!

Source: Gear Log, Guitar Hero on Tour

If you had not heard of Vology you are not alone, I had never heard of them either. For this reason I was very surprised to hear that they are claiming to have the world's fastest gaming laptop. The model in question is the Vology Limited Edition Predator X-2. How have they made it so fast? Easy, they have blended desktop and laptop components together to create a powerful, though somewhat unwieldy concoction.

The specs of the Vology Limited Edition Predator X-2 are very impressive for a laptop. It is packed with an Intel Core 2 Quad 2.66GHz, GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB, and 4GB of DDR2 – 800MHz RAM. It boasts a full-sized keyboard with hot keys and a 17-inch screen. Peripherals include a 7-in-1 card reader, 200GB HDD, Pioneer DVD burner and we are assuming a full spectrum of 802.11 wireless support.

Is the Vology Limited Edition Predator X-2 fast? I am sure that it would fly through processor intensive tasks, but that is not what gives you the juice in gaming. The bottleneck for most gaming systems is video. That is why Alienware and the like are pushing mobile-SLI solutions in many of the higher end mobile gaming platforms.

Laptops like this are semi-portable at best. No one wants to lug a brick like this around any further than a trip from the living room to the bedroom. It is too big for commuting and I am guessing the battery life will be as laughable as other gaming laptops. Which brings us to the price, at $4,600 it is simply too expensive. If you want a powerful gaming platform, get a desktop. $4,600 would build an incredibly powerful system that would blow the Vology Limited Edition Predator X-2 right out of the water.

The Asus G70 is essentially a scaled down version of what ASUS promised us quite a while ago. We were initially promised up to 8GB of RAM, now we get 4GB, which is more than enough for most gaming scenarios that you are likely to encounter in this day and age. It rocks a pair of GeForce 8800M cards in SLI. The standard configuration will give you 400GB of storage. Sound is supplied by Altec Lansing who have managed to build in stereo speakers and a subwoofer.

I am not quite ready to jump on this whole gaming notebook bandwagon. All of the components that are jammed into them make them extremely heavy and you can forget about battery time. I understand that some people view them as desktop replacements, but I have to say, I like having a desktop. Desktops are easy to tinker with yourself, whereas with laptops things become a lot more complicated. Dropping the max down to 4GB of RAM is not really an issue for today's applications. It is a beast of a notebook, but I have to say it is not for me.

Sources: SlashGear, PC Launches