www.youtube.com Click this to watch the previous episode! Machinima Today 12/29/2009 (Machinima News/Videos/Directors’ Spotlight) S1E24 My oh my, its already Tuesday again. What’s that hidden behind the Christmas tree? More awesome videos?! Allll-right. Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Ep. 2: All Your History S1E26 www.youtube.com In the Game: Best of 2009 (Gameplay Overview) S2E21 www.youtube.com Versus: Resident Evil vs. Silent Hill (Who Would Win?) S1E10 www.youtube.com Final Fantasy Machinima: Real Men (Machinima) www.youtube.com Sporeout 3: Part 1 (Fallout 3 / Spore Machinima) www.youtube.com Gman Squad Episode 1 – Operation Black Mesa www.youtube.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA GOTO: www.youtube.com TAGS: yt:quality=high Machinima Today Christmas Edition Consumer Electronics Show CES All Your History Are Belong to Us Pong Uncharted Best of 2009 versus rock band guitar hero rhythm game in the game the saboteur meet the sentry guthix runescape gods exposed ep one pandemic studios 00711719812326 882224866484 882224729741 8888525349 47875333376 047875837492 14633098778

The ATI Radeon HD 5970 is essentially two 5870s slapped together, but underclocked a little bit so as not to melt a hole through your carpet (but will melt a hole through your bank account~!) Asus saw that and was like, “Pfft, wait till you see what we’ve come up with.” It’s called the Asus Ares 5970, a true-to-life dual 5870 solution that doesn’t downclock nothin’ for nobody. Slight problem: it might not actually come out here in the U.S.

This card keeps the two 5870 GPUs running at full speed, which should improve performance more than a little bit, “easily [surpassing]” 3D Mark scores of a standard 5970.

The extra power literally requires extra power, requiring a third auxilary power connector just to keep the thing plucking along. Asus says it still comes in under the magic 300W mark, so no worries there. (A plain ol’ 5970 “officially” clocks in at under 300W, but Asus says it’s more like 260W—more than enough breathing room for its Ares 5970 to operate in.)

You’d probably need an Extreme Edition Core i7, plus the new Rampage motherboard, to most effectively take advanateg of this kind of power. And to what end, so you can play Fallout 3 again, but with 12 extra frames per second?

Meh, who am I kidding, I’d be all over an extra 12 frames per second. Gotta have a hobby!

Fallout: New Vegas looks a lot like Fallout 3. This insight and more, right here on CrunchGear!

There is a virtual cornucopia, so to speak, of games out there right now, readers. From Mass Effect 2 and Borderlands to Bayonetta and Dark Void, to the constant stream of demos, freeware, and indie games — it’s a good time to be a gamer. We chat about games throughout the day, but we’d like to hear from you guys. Got any recommendations? Think something’s overrated? Looking forward to anything? What are you playing?

Here’s us, to get the ball rolling:

Devin: This week has been a week of smaller indie games, since I was disappointed by the latest Borderlands expansion, Dragon Age is getting boring, and I’m afraid of jumping back into Team Fortress even though I’m awesome at it. I’ve been playing Iji, a Flashback-esque sidescroller, CrimzonClover, an insane shoot-em-up, and Dungeons of Fayte, an incredibly frustrating yet somehow compelling little action RPG. I’m also trying to set new records in SNES Super Mario Kart.

Matt: I’m totally caught up in the Command & Conquer 4 beta right now. I maxed out the NOD class and just started playing as GDI. The game is totally different than the last 47 C&C games, but it’s also great fun so I’m alright with it. I still haven’t gotten around to installing and playing Mass Effect 2, but I expect that I’ll be bored with the four-map beta by week’s end. That’s next.

Dave: It’s all about Halo:ODST. Really enjoying the improved HUD and the new storyline. Add to that some World of Warcraft and Crysis, and you get the idea. Mainly playing ODST though.

Jimin: This baby is a Jupiter 593GL Deluxe. Plays like a dream. If dreams were saxophones. And could play a low A. Oh, you said what games we’re playing. I’ve started a new character on Fallout 3 emulating Han Solo. Give him the Lady Killer feat, max out his Speech skill, pretend Fawkes is a wookie, arm him with Smuggler’s End, and he’ll be sweet-talking his way through the Capitol Wasteland in no time.

John: I’ve been playing Burnout Paradise – but in 3D. It really adds a lot to the game to see your car crash into gates that then swing away from you wildly and seem to spring back in your face.

Greg: I’m hooked on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo to the point that I’m worried for my health. It’s a very no-nonsense game; the guns are accurate enough that I never feel that bad luck made me miss a shot, and there’s none of those wonky perks that make Modern Warfare 2 feel like Mario Kart. If the full game is as good as the demo, you should probably expect me to disappear for a few days come March 2nd.

Doug: I’ve been splitting time between NBA 2K10 on the PC and Mario Kart Wii, with the scales being tipped ever so slightly in Nintendo’s direction as far as pure playing time goes. Online play is highly addictive but I’m having fun trying to unlock all the goodies in single player mode, too. I never got the hang of using the Wii remote’s accelerometer for steering so I opted to use the classic controller instead. Now, however, I’m using the Wii remote + Nunchuck combo with the best results.

Fresh off the Twitter… um… trolley. Sphere? Obelisk? River? Whatever it is that carries twats around. Best Buy is running a buy two, get one free deal on Xbox 360 Platinum Hits games.

Included:

• Resident Evil 5
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Fallout 3
• Dead Rising
• Army of Two
• Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Battlefield: Bad Company
• Halo 3
• Fable II
• Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection
• Assassin’s Creed
• Street Fighter IV
• Forza Motorsport 2
• Gears of War Two-Disc Edition
• Midnight Club: Lost Angeles Complete Edition
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Halo Wars
• BioShock
• Rockstar Table Tennis

Enjoy, please.

[via Major Nelson on Twitter]

At least 2 million Xbox Live users have logged into Facebook this past week, which I guess means the feature is a bit of a success. (You’ll recall that Microsoft launched Facebook and Twitter to so much enthusiasm last week.) Mysteriously, Microsoft didn’t reveal the number of people who logged into Twitter. Is this the end of Twitter?

No, of course not. Maybe it just means that Xbox Live users don’t see any value in using Twitter when there’s no way to click all those bit.ly links?

In related “social” news, Microsoft says that around half a million Last.fm account were created with the launch of Xbox Live-Last.fm compatibility.

Needless to say, these applications weren’t a total waste of time on Microsoft’s part. I’m still not convinced of the value of using Facebook or Twitter from the couch—don’t you have a Facebook or Twitter application on your phone in your pocket?—but I’m decidedly non-plussed by all these newfound “social” applications. It doesn’t help that, generally speaking, I’m an anti-social jerk

Now, there’s a larger point to be made here about whether or not we actually want our video game consoles to become little more than low spec PCs. If you had a top-of-the-line PC, why would you want to buy the PS3 version of, say, Fallout 3 when you can grab the PC version, what with all those mods and whatnot?

Maybe I should save my beans and buy a gaming-worthy PC in the next year, and actually play games like Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Fallout 3, and Call of Duty the way they were meant to be played? I’m very much considering it. Too bad I know *nothing* about what makes a good gaming PC these days.