Pentium D 820, Koolance Exos-2 Liquid Cooling System, and more!
Gamers take notice! Many of you may recall the legal battle between Valve and Vivendi, with Valve's child, Steam, in the middle. Well all of that is over and done with, but the questioned still remained as to who would be the next to distribute Valve's products. Now we know(and knowing is half the battle - GI Joe), Valve has teamed up with, drum roll please... Electronic Arts(EA). Details and info on upcoming game packages can be found below, as well as your afternoon dose of news.
EA AND VALVE TEAM UP TO DELIVER HALF LIFE TO GAMERS WORLDWIDE
Redwood City, Calif. and Bellevue, WA – July 18, 2005 – Electronic Arts, the world's leading interactive entertainment company and Valve(R), the award-winning studio behind the blockbuster franchises Half-Life(R) and Counter-Strike™, today announced that the two companies have entered a multi-year agreement to deliver a collection of Valve games to players worldwide. The first two games to be released under this agreement are Half-Life 2: Game of the Year and Counter-Strike: Source™ for PC, both launching this fall. In addition, Half-Life 2 for the Xbox(R) video game system from Microsoft, currently in development at Valve and targeted for release in October, will be published and distributed worldwide by EA.
"At EA Partners, our mandate is to seek out the world's top studios and game franchises, build partnerships, empower the development teams and help get these great games to more people in more countries than ever before. We consider Half-Life and Counter-Strike to be two of the best game franchises of all time," said Tom Frisina, Vice President and General Manager, EA Partners. "We could not be more excited to have the opportunity to help deliver these outstanding games to players around the globe."
"EA is the worldwide leader in bringing best of breed games, for all platforms, to market," said Gabe Newell, Valve's founder and president. "Valve games have sold over 18 million units at retail since Half-Life shipped in November 1998. By combining EA's unparalleled operation structure and distribution channel with Valve's award-winning development teams and games community, we've established an awesome combination for delivering great products to console and PC gamers around the world."
Half-Life 2: Game of the Year is a special edition release of the best-selling and critically acclaimed title that includes Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, plus Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, and Half-Life: Source.
Counter-Strike: Source takes the world's number one online action game to new heights atop the Source engine with brilliant graphics, enhanced versions of the classic CS maps, all-new CS maps, offline skirmish play with AI bots, and more. It also includes Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Day of Defeat™: Source.
Half Life 2 for the Xbox system defines a new benchmark in console gaming with startling realism and responsiveness. Powered by Source technology, Half-Life 2 for Xbox features the most sophisticated in-game characters ever witnessed, advanced AI, stunning graphics and physical gameplay.
Koolance Exos-2 Liquid Cooling System @ PC Perspective
"The Exos-2 surpasses the original Exos in performance thanks to a larger radiator, greater airflow and increased coolant flow. The dual 120mm fans produce a wide range of capabilities, which allows the Exos-2 to provide optimal cooling (with noticeable fan noise), or virtually silent operation with the fans turned down low. The clear plastic reservoir, which is mounted right up front for easy access, includes blue LED lighting that is both functional and adds to the overall custom look of the system."
"With us, we have the 820 which is the lowest-end dual core CPU from Intel clocking at 2.8GHz and has its Hyper-Threading and CPU Throttling features disabled. While we can understand the removal of CPU throttling as the 2.8GHz CPU doesn't really get extremely hot, we're not sure why Intel neutered Hyper-Threading from the entire Pentium D lineup except for the EE version."
Samsung YH-999 Portable Media Centre @ Bytesector
"They have can play music, have vast amounts of memory, and they can also play videos and display pictures. The cutting edge has just leaped forward by a few hundred dollars. One of these next-gen PMC products is the Samsung YP-999. It has 20GB of HD space, a 3.5" screen, and is the smallest PMC yet."
Shuttle SB81P Small Form-Factor System @ X-Bit labs
"The system we are going to talk about today can really become an equivalent replacement for a desktop PC. This Shuttle barebone can perform any function from a modern gaming center to an industrial server. It can be recommended to all categories of users. Want to learn more? Read our review!"
BFG 6600GT OC Review @ ASE Labs
"Since the card is already out of spec, why not push it a bit more? I was a bit dissapointed when I could only reach 560MHz on the core and 1.21GHz on the memory. I see many people get to 570-580MHz. Even so, the card does has a modest increase in performance."
