The Midaged Gamer Report for June 21st, 2013
This Week:
Xbox 1 Reversal, Haswell oh well, Nvidia's mobile monster
and more!
Remember when everyone was bashing Microsoft for their
"always-on" requirements for the Xbox 1? It seems like only yesterday....because it
pretty much was. Wednesday, Microsoft effectively reversed their DRM policy dropping the always-on requirement as well as the
restrictions on used games. The company
also relented on the 24 hour check-in and promised that all downloaded Xbox 1
games will run regardless of whether you're online.
I'm of two minds on this.
On one hand we saw the potential for yet another failed Microsoft
product launch, averted. Windows 8 may
show the way to the future but consumers weren't ready to be forced into
it. Like most Windows operating systems
Windows 8's only hope is preloads on tablets and their captive corporate
customer base. As such it really isn't a
pure consumer product despite appearances to the contrary.
But...
The Xbox 1 isn't an operating system, it's a consumer device
heavily dependent on discretionary income that will live or die by popular
opinion. With last week's playful PS4 demonstration of the relative lack of restrictions on the secondary PS4
game market, the future of the Xbox 1 was at a crossroads. The entire franchise was in jeopardy if
Microsoft didn't relent. So score 1 for
the consumer.
Here's the other side.
The move was typical Microsoft. In
the same mixed message that Microsoft sends with every new edition of Windows,
consumers know that they'll get what they want if they howl loud enough. It's the reason why support for long obsolete
hardware and software crowd bloat your Windows directory. It's hard to leap ahead when you're dragging
along so much baggage. It seems
Microsoft doesn't have enough faith in its own vision to change anything but
its mind.
So much for the new paradigm.
So if you were already aware that the extra scratch you
shell out for an Intel "K" series processor has been quietly ripping
you off since the release of the Ivy-Bridge then this isn't news.
Ripping me off? but I've got an unlocked multiplier you
say!
Yes you do, in fact the new Haswell "K" series
processors are the only members of the family that will allow any overclocking at all. Even the
turbo tweaks have been removed. You
don't get so much as the 400Mhz bump unless yours has a "K" after the
name. Ok, well, I guess that makes sense
except that there's also been a trade-off for that price premium.
It's been confirmed that features like VT-d, TSX memory
extensions and vPro security extensions have been removed from the K series of
processors. It's been theorized that
this was to curb those of us too cheap to come up with the 4 figures it takes
to get equivalent performance from a Xeon platform.
So no cheap servers for you!
Even if you wait around a year for Haswell-E and are willing
to take the hardware price hit because of a new socket (2011-3) and new RAM
(DDR4) you're still out of luck if you care about having all the features the
platform can provide.
Most K series buyers could probably care less if all they're
doing is using the platform to make their eyeballs bleed in Battlefield 4. Still, the fact that you pay more and get
fewer features, even if you won't use them, seems like a hostile position for
Intel to take.
These days most of these features are probably irrelevant
but the very act of consciously removing them for no other reason than to screw
your consumers is reprehensible.
Of course I suppose you could compare it to those ultra rare
supercars they make in Europe. They're
really fast, look really cool and you've got to have serious cash to own
them. Thing is, most of them don't have
so much as a radio to listen to let alone AC or power windows. I suppose if you're ok with that line of
thinking then Intel's strategy makes sense.
Did you ever look at your gaming laptop and wish you could
stuff an Nvidia GTX 680 in there? You
can!
Well, almost if you buy the new MSIGT 70 Gaming laptop with the GTX 780M.
The 780M is basically and underclocked GTX 680 with the same 1536 CUDA
cores, 256Bit memory bus and 4GB of DDR5 memory. It's downclocked about 200Mhz from its
desktop cousin and has a lower Thermal profile but you won't notice.
Both AMD and Nvidia are currently in a GPU war the likes of
which we haven't seen on the desktop in years.
See AMD's8970M for proof.
Let's face it, AMD or
NVIDIA usually fail on their drivers and
not their hardware these days. In the
mobile space, however, it's all about the hardware and the battle is taking
mobile hardcore gaming in the right direction.
All the power of the top end of desktop gaming cards in a thermally and
more power efficient package, that's real innovation.
Finally,
We've got a launch date for Nvidia Shield and a price drop.
In the continuing saga of the cool gaming device with no purpose comes
news that the handheld controller with its own console built in will be hitting
the shelves on June 27th. It'll also be
$50 cheaper at $299.
Release Date? Confirmed
Price Drop? Confirmed
Market? Unconfirmed
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