The Zone

Nothing so sinister about that, actually as the "G" in question is Logitech's first gaming keyboard; the G15! Oh yeah, baby, typing on this super soft keyboard is a charm, but as for gaming, this one is uncapable of creating macros, let alone spare some time for fragging undead zombies on his ancient PC, so this one will just let you drool over some pics for now....

The cool LCD and multimedia buttons......don't ask about the ram; my machine is on XP yet has lesser than 512MB of physical memory LOL

This one almost went under our radar last week. In a seemingly copycat move, HP recently announced that it has acquire specialist high-end PC maker, VoodooPC, for a undisclosed sum of money.

VoodooPC will be a special business unit within HP's Personal Systems Group division, focussed on the niche gaming PC market. The owners of VoodooPC, brothers Rahul and Ravi Sood, will assume the positions of chief technologist and director of strategy respectively in the new business unit.

No word yet if HP will maintain the VooodooPC name or otherwise. Stay tuned as we bring you more developments on this piece of news.

PS: We also don't know if HP is going to bring VooodooPC to Malaysia, but we'll find out soon enough.

Link (PDF)

Hullo, missed me? :D I didn't update the blog last week since I was in Singapore (courtesy of Sendi Mutiara Multimedia) to check out the debut of Hellgate: London and Granado Espada at the IAH Game Conference.

I got to try out both games and they're sweet, especially Hellgate: London. It was really fun hacking and slashing hordes of demon, and the first-person view when using ranged weapons really felt like an FPS even though I was shooting all over the place.

Developers Bill Roper and Kim Hakkyu were like superstars at the event; dozens of people were asking them to autograph their Hellgate/Granado T-shirts and posters (I, too, also asked for their autographs). With so many game journalists circling them constantly, I was lucky enough to get one-on-one interviews with both Bill Roper and Kim Hakkyu, so look forward to their interviews in the upcoming GameAxis issues.

It wasn't all fun and games as upon returning home to Malaysia, a few sample products came in the mail for me to review. Here're a couple of stuff that you can look forward to next month's issue of HWM:

A couple of days ago, a colleague of mine asked about the benefits of using industrial monitors, and since many might not know of their existence, I might as well list down some of the pros and cons of these often-overlooked devices.

Pictured above is a Samsung 42" LCD display with HD capability. Don't be alarmed of the diagonal break in the picture, its a transition frame. More after the jump.

When the Sony PS3 SixAxis controller was presented at this year's E3, many players expressed disappointment not only at the controller reverting back to the old PS2 Dual Shock controller design, but also of the decision to remove the rumble feature of the Dual Shock controller.

In a recent interview from GameDaily BIZ, SCEA President Kaz Hirai said that the decision was made to make the controller more affordable. Quote:

"Is it technically feasible? Absolutely. But the balancing act that you need to do, is to be able to present the controller to the consumer at an affordable price."

"If we have to come up with technology... to isolate the vibration from the sensing, but if that means that the controllers are going to be so expensive, then we're doing the consumer a huge disservice by coming up with a controller that is not very affordable"

So nice to see Sony thinking of the consumers' wallet! Especially a little while ago they said that the PS3 was "too cheap". But is rumble technology that expensive? Immersive CEO Victor Viegas says otherwise.

The second part of the two page feature is here!

The LG M3200C-BA Flatron monitor - with a USD2199 list price that includes HDMI with HDCP, 1080i-ready, 1600:1 contrast ratio and a three year warranty, its more sensible to own than some newer sets. Don't forget that there's a bulk discount price, too!

Continuing where we left off, the main reason for the increase in exposure of industrial monitors is due to two main reasons - affordability and future-ready. While the general public would be more receptive to finished, sleek products for their homes where they can brag about their latest big-screen TV, there is a percentage of the population who would rather DIY their garages instead of pre-ordering one from ACE or Home Depot. They include the average family man who buys supplies in bulk at Tesco, to the up-and-coming studio executive who needs a large, but affordable screen (or screens), or for art directors and the like in the creative industry to fulfill their display needs. (more after the jump)

Last week, we attended Logitech's launch of their latest lineup of desktop and gaming peripherals. Lots of drool-worthy stuff for gamers and PC users were on-display for the media to try out. Check out the pics! (More)

I went shopping at Low Yat Plaza the other day in search of a comfortable keyboard, and while browsing around, I spotted this =

Sorry for the blurry picture, as I a hurry to snap it and move along =P, but seeing this gave me a thought:

If Taiwanese 22" LCD displays that can display 1680 x 1050 pixels are priced that low, why are we still paying for relatively expensive China displays that are at most 19" widescreen displays? Of course, quality and the market's buying power have not been factored in, so if you guys can give this poor lad some reason why, it would be great!

Does this animal look cute to you? With its beady eyes and slightly snickering smile, it looks a bit scary to me, in fact. Truth is, it (or rather, he) is the new Toshiba mascot for their IT product line, and yes, he's a seal. Like what you have been reading on other technorati blogs, Toshiba has finally launched the new Pala-chan MP3 player in Malaysia, along with their latest notebook range and branding strategy. More after the jump!

• Asus Striker Extreme motherboard: RM1700
• x2 Asus Graphic Card 8800 GTX: RM4600
• Corsair Dominator 2GB 800MHz RAM: RM1500 
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz Quad Core processor: RM3500+

Total cost: RM11300+

System being devoured by the power tentacles of a CoolerMaster 850W PSU? Priceless

XD 

Kontron, a maker of tough computing devices that could possibly take a direct hit from a hydrogen bomb has released its latest tough portable computer - the NotePAC.  To quote from the site:

 "NotePAC™ is completely sealed from intrusion by water, salt laden air, and blowing dust and dirt. It combines a high-strength cast-magnesium case and shock mounted components to form a portable platform that can withstand a 15g ¬operating shock load–as might be experienced during rough transportation. For example, NotePAC can operate continuously in high vibration environments, such as found in rotary winged aircraft and off-road vehicles."

Now, before you people come to the conclusion that this is just another notebook that offers maximum security but has minimal performance advantages over, lets just say, a Sony VAIO ultra-ultra portable, you're wrong.

Maximum specs include a dual-core Intel processor, Wireless-G, up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, super-shock resistant hard drives up to 160B, 3D audio and even a touch screen! If only it wasnt so thick and heavy at 16 pounds. *sigh* 

While we were still lagging behind the rest of the world on our slower-than-slow internet connections, Hitachi has pulled off a big one - it has broke the 1TB hard drive space, which means that we can now fit that hidden stash of porn movies in our HTPCs!! hurrah!

more sauce here: Hitachi announces 1TB hard drives (opens in a new window)

One thing we spotted while browsing Engadget is their hands-on report of the Asus XG Station in the CES event in Las Vegas, which is basically an external video and audio processing "docking station". Once you connect it to your notebook via your ExpressCard slot, you no longer have to depend on the stock Intel GMA graphics chips to power your games. Apparently it managed to run 3DMark06 (default settings, we presume) quite nicely.

A few caveats: it's kinda big, and you'll need an external monitor to output the graphics. But if you're just gonna use it at home I guess that's okay; as long as it's a marked improvement over the standard Intel GMA graphics. We're still wondering what's the GPU powering the Asus XG Station... X1000 Radeon or a GeForce 7 card?

Read

Taking all efforts to eschew the current trends of Core 2 computing, OC Team Italy, or more accurately, ThuG, has broken the record for world's fastest OC'ed CPU, a 'lowly' but golden P4 631. While they used a modified Asus P5B with slapped on copper pipes, liquid nitrogen and a line straight to a coal burning power station, (and 2GB of CellShock PC8000 RAM, if you're asking)  and several packets of ciggies, this is undoubtedly a feat to be reckoned with. Too bad they didn't run any from of benchmarks though, although we've got some pics! (all rights reserved to OC Team Italy. Forza Italia!)

Hello guys, missed me? If you were wondering why I didn't blogged any entries for the week, it was because I was down in Korea for the HP regional PSG consumer launch. Lots of nifty stuff was on showcase, including their new HP TouchSmart PC and "Touch & Twist" TX-1000 notebook. I'll cover more on the event in the March issue of HWM Malaysia. Mucho thanks to my colleague kev for covering my share! I'll treat ya to yum cha one day. :D

What you see above is the free original DVD copies of Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit and 64-bit edition that was given out to all the members of the media who attended the Microsoft Corporate Vista launch this morning at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Don't you just love the holographic imagery captured by our studio lights? Too bad this Vista is for office-use only. I wish they had given away free copies of Office 2007 though...I could really use it, heheheh...

Look forward to our March issue for more pictures and coverage of the Malaysian Vista launch! For now, here's some pictures of what went down this morning down at the KLCC.