Week in review: Microsoft makes nice

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its "Montecito" processors with three models running at 1.6GHz and 1.4GHz, but by the end of the first half of next year, at least six more are scheduled to arrive. The plan also shows an even broader portfolio of Xeons, a vastly more popular server chip that, unlike Itanium, can run the same software as other x86 chips such as Pentiums.

The road map also shows that Itanium clock speeds will get a 200MHz boost from the addition of Intel's new "Foxton" technology, which lets chips run faster as long as they don't get too hot.

Violence, viruses and video games
If life can imitate art, can life imitate video games? Some scientists will tell you yes.

Violent video games appear to put the human brain in a mood to fight, according to a new study from Michigan State University. In the study, 13 males played the first-person shooter game "Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror" while in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) system, which measures brain activity. The brain scans of 11 of the subjects exhibited "large observed effects" characteristic of aggressive thoughts. The researchers said the pattern of brain activity can be considered to be caused by virtual violence.

"There is a causal link between playing the first-person shooting game in our experiment and brain-activity pattern that are considered as characteristic for aggressive cognitions and effects," said Rene Weber, assistant professor of communication and telecommunication at MSU. "There is a neurological link, and there is a short-term causal relationship."

However, online video games may also hold clues to deadly viruses. A plague that hit the virtual game "World of Warcraft" in late September quickly propagated, causing the temporary death of innumerable players and significant damage to large numbers of others.

But to some scientists and educators, virtual reality outbreaks could prove a valuable tool for studying the spread of infectious diseases and the public response to them. The correlation between online and real-world behavior in the face of epidemics, they say, takes on heightened significance in the face of public-health threats like a potential avian flu pandemic.

Virtual online worlds--where players' economic and social behavior is often a microcosm of their off-line behavior--are a perfect place to compare real-world infectious diseases with those comprised only of digital ones and zeros. Among other things, she explained, virtual environments can allow researchers to see how social ostracization occurs as a disease spreads and people try to avoid going near the infected.

Speaking of realism in video games, CNET News.com's Daniel Terdiman joined a small crowd of journalists invited to try their hands at 12 titles expected to be ready in time for the Xbox 360 launch next month. He calls Microsoft's next-generation video game console an "impressive machine."

The invitees were immediately immersed in a magical world of stunning graphics that brought even the blades of grass to life. The level of detail was monumental. "The attention to detail on "Project Gotham Racing 3" was indeed noteworthy: spectators who reacted individually when my car got too close, glare on the window, even a realistic reflection in the side-view mirror," he writes in his reporter's notebook. "And the driving, I have to admit, was pure fun."

Also of note
Hidden images built into chips have yielded a catalog that now boasts more than 100 images of extremely small automobiles, dinosaurs and cartoon characters...Google and Comcast are in serious talks to buy a minority stake in Time Warner's AOL, according to sources familiar with the matter...Microsoft detailed changes to its server product licensing to better accommodate virtualization software, an emerging technology that big companies are eyeing as a way to consolidate servers and cut costs.

[nickbyfleet]

Whats the big deal with monopoly anyway?

Who cares if Microsoft is bigger and better than anyone else. If they can dominate the OS market by releasing a product that everyone likes better then why shouln't they be able to dominate the market. Next will come antitrust cases against Google because they are the best search engine out there. Its basically a safety net for small crappy companies.

[qwerty75]

clueless

MS did not get to where they are because they create such great products(they mainly produce software that is just good enough, at best). MS is not the best, what an uninformed comment.


MS got to where it is at through intimidation and market control. If you can't figure out why that is bad, you are hopeless.