Origin's $17,000 XBox 360 Hybrid Gaming PC Beast

If you were a multi multi billionaire (in which case, why are you even reading a blog like this) and money was no object and you wanted to do a spot of gaming on your PC, then take a little look at Origin's Big O. For those of you who think like me, even though it's named the Big O, it doesn't mean that it requires foreplay and a little teasing to get it turned on. Instead this Hybrid PC come Xbox combo hopes to have everything you need in this neat little liquid cooled tower.

The configuration over at Kotaku cost just under $17,000 and the only way to describe it is it's either  technological beast of a machine or it's creators made something powerful enough to kill a small child. The specs are listed below and taken from the Kotaku page but if you can't be bothered to scroll then what you really need to know is that it's a six-core Xeon 5680 processor which over clocks to 4.3Ghz along with Quad SLI Liquid Cooled GTX's with12Gigs of souped up RAM.

From the mouth Origins,

The Big O will satisfy the demands of even the most power hungry gamer, but when you create the ultimate personal computer system it has to be designed to go above and beyond gaming" said Kevin Wasielewski, CEO and Co-Founder of ORIGIN. "From the hottest games on the market to digital video editing and 3D rendering you will have the power to perform at every level. To have the best you have to build using the latest in computer technology that guarantees unmatched performance and that is exactly what you get with the Big O.

I think the big news also here is the fact that there's an entire Xbox 360 fitted into the case and well it's one hell of a souped up machine. I tried to figure out any aspect of my laptop that could best this computer in any way and the only thing I can see is ... that I can carry mine in a bag without needing a chiropractor. Yeah, I rock. (weeps silently in the corner.)

Source: Geeky Gadgets

Related articles

• Origin's Big O Stuffs an Xbox 360 Into a Gaming Desktop Hellbeast [Hybrid] (gizmodo.com)
• ORIGIN "The Big O" pairs Xbox 360 with gaming PC (slashgear.com)
• ORIGIN's EON18: The New Leader in Custom Gaming Laptops Now Offers the Most Powerful and Fastest Gaming Technology in the World (eon.businesswire.com)
• Amazing Xbox Slim-PC combo, only $7,669 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• The Big O: a liquid-cooled PC and Xbox 360 in one case (geek.com)

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OMGS: Justin Bieber's Ridiculous Twitter Impact

At any moment, Justin Bieber uses 3% of our infrastructure. Racks of servers are dedicated to him. – A guy who works at Twitter

The employee goes on to say that his "account receives more than 60 @-replies per second for a while after he tweets, which is something Twitter wasn’t originally designed to handle". Therefore the next time I see a Fail Whale on the site, I'm blaming Justin Bieber. Unless of course something bad has happened to his pretty little face in which case I welcome you Fail Whale into my home.

Source: Mashable

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Can’t wait for iOS 4.1? Get it Early!

Steve Jobs made his usual September conference about iPods and the state of the Apple Universe last week in a keynote that not only showed off the new Apple TV, a new line of iPods but also the next version of the iOS software. iOS 4.1 is scheduled for release sometime next week however over at uneasysilence, they’ve found out that you don’t need to be a developer to try out the new 4.1 iOS (which you usually have to be) and they’ve stuck links up online for where you can get the new version without having to wait till next week. Word of warning, I haven’t tested these out myself so do so at your own risk but as far as I can tell, it’s all perfectly legit.

 

iPhone 3G – iPhone1,2_4.1_8B117_Restore.ipsw – Multiupload
iPhone 3GS – iPhone3,1_4.1_8B117_Restore.ipsw – Multiupload
iPhone 4 – iPhone1,2_4.1_8B117_Restore.ipsw – Multiupload
iPod Touch 2G – iPod2,1_4.1_8B117_Restore.ipsw – Multiupload
iPod Touch 3G – iPod3,1_4.1_8B117_Restore.ipsw – Multiupload

 

Source: Uneasysilence

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Shogun 2 Total War looks Incredible … In Pre-Alpha Stage

PC gamers amongst you will know of the Total War series. This series of real time strategy games by ‘The Creative Assembly’ dates back as far as 2001 and well let’s face it, it’s pretty much Age of Empires ramped up with crack cocaine and steroids. But scheduled for release next year is the next release in the long running series, Shogun 2 Total War. The first of their “Battle Report” trailers has just been released and my oh my have they out done themselves on this one.

 

 

Shogun 2 Total War is set in 16th Century Japan during the aftermath of the Onin War. During said era, you take command of one of nine warring factions and lead their to victory through espionage, diplomacy and of course, conquest. The new engine being developed for Shogun 2 allows for an excess of 56,000 soldiers to be on screen at any one time quite a milestone in game development if you ask me. Shogun 2 Total War is due for release sometime next year, 2011.

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Latest iPod Nano Advert Released

Earlier today Apple announced the launch of the latest in their iPod Nano range. Along with the updated iPod Touch, firmware updates and Apple TV, the Cupertino company released the first nifty little ad for the bite sized music device. On first impressions I do love the new design, it looks really good and this definitely appeals a lot more to me than their last attempt at a clip on player, the shuffle. One biggest gripe however comes with the fact that most people use the Nano when they’re jogging, in the gym, travelling around and a lot of the times you just need buttons to provide a tactile feedback. I’m not sure how easy this would be to use if you had to handle this while running or if you travelling on a crowded metropolitan city train.

 

 

So what do you think of the new Nano?

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John Williams vs Hans Zimmer

Upon leaving the cinema after watching Inception this summer, I came with a profound new love for movie soundtracks. You simply cannot have an amazing film without an amazing soundtrack. And in my mind, there are no two better composers in the business than the legendary John Williams and of course Hans Zimmer. But my question is, who do you prefer?

 

Of course at the end of the day, it’s all just a matter of opinion. But I thought it was a rather interesting debate. John Williams on one hand has under his belt, some of the greatest films of all times with Jurassic Park and E.T. for example which I’m sure if you’re in my generation will forever be adorned as the true classic films of our era. Then there’s Hans Zimmer whose catalogue of films is also impressive with arguably one of my favourite films of all time in Gladiator. There’s a clear contrast in styles here but in the end, it really does come down to what you’d prefer. Either the instantly recognisable tunes from John Williams, or the atmospheric rollercoaster that comes from Hans Zimmer.

 

To help you decide, I’ve listed down 8 of my favourite songs from both directors.

 

 

Let me know what you think in the comments section, Twitter or on my Facebook page. All the links as usual can be found in the sidebar.

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