Zero Punctuation: DC Universe Online

Yahtzee is a British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder. When he isn't talking very fast into a headset mic he also designs freeware adventure games and has a novel coming out soon. His personal site iswww.fullyramblomatic.com.

---

See a new Zero Punctuation review each Wednesday only at The Escapist.

And as usual, NSFW

Blood Bowl Teaser Trailer

Those of you who are fans of Games Workshop’s Blood Bowl or the MS-DOS adaptation by SSI, a trailer for the latest version - a turn-based/real-time strategy hybrid - has been released. Let us know if you’re psyched for this game, coming for the PC, Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

This looks like fun.

[via GameStooge]

Yahtzee reviews older games too!!

I forgot all about this game. Too bad its not available on gametap. Oh well, since my XBOX 360s were stolen, I guess I'll have to be playing some of the older games like this. Hello bargain bin, here we come.

UPDATE: Talk about a great ad concept. I think Valve should use this since they have the game available for a bargain basement price of $9.99 on Steam. Looks like I won't have to go far to try this one.

Sony Thinks You’re Stupid, Offer’s $50 Option Not To Put Junk On Your Computer

Like death and taxes, one thing that you can always count on is Sony trying to corn hole you. Such is the case with Sony charging $50 to NOT put bloatware on your brand new computer. As you might know when buying a new computer, junk software comes with it in an effort to get you to try then buy it. Unfortunately all that software slows down your brand new computer considerably. Most computer savvy people remove said software immediately after purchasing. But for people who don’t have a clue how to do this, they’re stuck with it unless they pay Geek Dog or Fire Squad to remove it.

But Sony will offer their “fresh start” option and will take care of it for you, if you pay them not to put junk on your computer. I think I rate this one up there like paying the phone company NOT to list my phone number. It's only available on the TZ2000 for now, but I’m sure they’ll expand that to screw as many non computer savvy people as possible.

[Engadget]

Mass Effect for PC

It was once called an 'Xbox exclusive,' but after one agonizing trip into the bowels of the tedious inventory UI, we knew Mass Effect was destined for a PC makeover. (Oh, what wonders a little mouse can do!) With keyboard in tow, BioWare took us through a short demo of Mass Effect for PC, the studio's first 'EA game,' though grunt work has been passed on to a third party, Demiurge Studios.

While of course rig-dependent, Mass Effect PC should display higher resolutions than its console counterpart (a maximum has yet to be determined), with fewer pop-ins, smoother framerates and more seamless loading. Does that mean lifts will operate at expected Space Age speeds? No, not necessarily -- many lift sequences are 'slowed' by intentional dialogue. Oh, and the Mako's still a bizarro Halo reject. At least, controls are now independent of the camera (the 'up' key is always forward).

Read more at Joystiq.

Fastest Windows Vista Notebook: Macbook Pro

There is something just kinda wrong about this, but apparently the fastest Windows Vista notebook is on a Macbook Pro. Yeah I know, it made me throw up a little in my mouth to when I heard about it. But the guys at PC World tested it, and the WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats the Gateway's E-265M by one point.

So if you're looking to run Vista super fast and smooth, buy a Macbook Pro?
Man I can't even say it with a straight face!

[PC World via Gizmodo]

MaximumPC: HP Blackbird Is Crippled With Vista, ATI Cards

Well this I didn't expect at all!!!

The HP BlackBird that has been talked about as the gaming PC to have, has gotten a 'not so good' rating from MaximumPC. They gave it a 7/10 for two reasons, one is because Vista kills the game performance in the system, and two the slower ATI cards. This is just another black eye for Vista, which was trumpeted as a game friendly OS. I'm sure that the graphics cards have to take some of the blame, but when these guys are recommending the XPS systems (which has XP) over a Vista system that was promised to kick all forms of ass, that's not good. I'm curious how this system would have performed had it ran Windows XP.

To quote MaximumPC..... "It's just faster."

[MaximumPC]

Gateway One: Bringing Sexy Back To PC

I have to hand it to Gateway, they certainly get an A for the form factor on their all-in-one PC. The GatewayONE as it's called is a very hot looking PC, that strangely looks like an iMac, but I'm sure that wasn't the goal (yeah right).

There are two models, both with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, T7250 and T5250. Both with 7 USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/b/g/n, AV ports, FireWire, 5-in-1-card reader, 1.3-megapixel Web cam and mic, and a side loading DVDRW drive. All crammed into a 19 inch widescreen LCD with 1440×900 resolution.

Prices start at $1300 and jump to $1800 for the top of the line.

Very nice Gateway, very nice. [Crunchgear]

HP / VoodooPC merger creates new baby

Hewlett-Packard, using the expertise of VoodooPC, is launching a new line of high-end gaming PC's. The initial offering is the Blackbird 002. The PC was announced yesterday at a press event and has some great features.
The coolest thing is that the whole PC is tool-less that requires no screw-driving to add or remove components. Hit the jump for tech specs and more pictures from the event.

Inside the "Dedication Edition", which launches on September 15 (and there will only be 518 made), gamers will find:
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0GHz
Dual nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra
CPU & GPU Liquid Cooling
Razor Mouse & Keyboard
Voucher for The Orange Box from Valve Software
The rigs will be customizable starting on October 1st. The official website can be found here.

Courtesy of G4TV

Windows Vista Service Pack 1: Coming Soon

Microsoft has officially announced Windows Vista Service Pack 1, which was a mystery to no one. The beta has been announced and once the beta is complete, the Service Pack will be released in the “coming weeks”. The Pack will address reliability issues and hardware support. It will also have more IT admin improvements, and enhanced functionality so people will bitch about it a little less that normal.

To see the whole list of stuff, check out the links below via [Crunchgear]

Announcing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta [Windows Vista Blog]
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper (All updates listed) [Windows Vista Blog]

Behold the magic elixir.......BEER!!!

This is great, Tom's Hardware is doing tests on coolants for liquid cooling setups. After they did the regular ones in the first part they decided to test antifreeze and Molson Canadian Beer. You can imagine the results.

Here's the linky. Couldn't find a way to embed the video.

Back To School PC: $298

Well it's back to school time for students and the guys at Everex is trying to help your broke ass out. Everex released the Impact GC3502 with students in mind, and also the environment. This "green" PC only consumes 20W of power due to a 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor.

This isn't going to blow any doors off with accessories, but it does have 1GB of ram, OpenOffice, an 80GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW, and even Windows Vista Home Basic (Which I'm not sure is a good idea on a scaled down system). You won't be using this thing to game on, due to Everex designing it for someone on a budget, and with a price of $298 you can understand. Wal-Mart is carrying the units so you better hurry.

No word if a monitor comes with the unit, but you can find those cheap.

Hit the jump for more information. [Electronista via Crunchgear]