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Earlier on today we were invited to an Intel Ultrabook event at the Sherwood hotel here in Taipei where we got a run-down on Intel's Ultrabook technologies including Intel Rapid Start Technology, Smart Response Technology, Smart Connect Technology, Anti-Theft and Identity Protection Technology. All of the demos Intel ran at the event were actually rather impressive and paint the Ultrabook platform to be a very solid product in my eyes.

After the event we were allowed to go hands-on with all the Ultrabooks on display from ASUS, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, HP and Toshiba. Since many of you would have already seen these covered before, we opted not to focus on them, but what we did find was a brand new prototype / reference design next-generation Intel Ultrabook with a touchscreen display. That spiked your interest, right?

This is just a system built my Intel to show the capabilities of next-gen Ultrabooks and you won't actually be able to buy it. As I mentioned, it comes with a touchscreen display which bodes well for Intel's vision to build a platform which is premium portability, style and performance.

Epic Games' Cliff "Cliffy B" Bleszinksi B has just grabbed a huge crowd of developers at 2012's GDC, and told them how it is. He has said that when starting up as a developer, forget Xbox Live, PSN, iOS, Android and Windows Phones, and instead, create games for PC.

Cliffy B talked down Microsoft and Sony's way of treating indie developers, dismissed mobile gaming, and said that the PC was the only place to start. He only had a five-minute microtalk, but he went through it quite quick, according to Rock, Paper, Shotgun. He heavily emphasised the need to focus on PC, and jokingly suggested that they should use the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) to do it.

He also stated that early games will definitely suck, but added that persistance and passion were necessary for eventual success. He cited Rovio had made 50 games before they hit the big time with Angry Birds. Cliffy B did state that developers should move onto different platforms over time, but primarily said to stick with PC, and consider iOS if you can get the touch controls to work properly. The Xbox and PlayStation he still qualified with warnings that Microsoft or Sony may not give you the promotion you deserve.

The latest report from the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) paints a different picture to the "PC gaming is dying/dead" argument, citing record software sales reaching $18.6 billion in 2011, a 15-percent increase over 2010.

This increase in sales, is said to be attributed to China, where they're seeing a growth twice as fast as the global market, generating $6 billion for a 27-percent jump on-year. Surprisingly, no geographical market declined in sales, with the US, UK, Germany, Korea and Japan seeing a nice 11-percent boost to $8 billion in revenue.

PCGA does not that free-to-play games provided a very nice slice of that profit pie, with Zynga alone reporting $1.1 billion in sales. The report reads:

Game Developers Choice Awards were held, with big winners for Valve's Portal 2, and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Skyrim walked away with non other than Game of the Year (GotY) award, which is quite the epic achievement.

Game of the Year had some serious competition, with Skyrim going up against Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dark Souls. Portal 2 took home the most awards, with it winning Best Narrative, Best Game Design, and Best Audio. Battlefield 3 took out Best Technology, when when pitted against Crytek's CryENGINE 3-powered Crysis 2.

The event itself was hosted by Cliffy B, who you'll know from Epic Games. A full list of the nominees, and winners, is below. I've bolded the winners:

Forbes has a nice article out, where they've stated that Valve co-founder and managing director, Gabe Newell is one of the richest people on the planet, with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, he ranks in at 854th out of 1,226 global billionaires.

Newell made his debut on Forbes' list of world billionaires, as Valve had a smash-hit 2011. Valve had massive success in both in-house developed games such as Portal 2, but as a game distributor, where Steam doubles its sales for the seventh straight year, and now features over 40 million users.

With the "most conservative estimates", Valve's enterprise value sits at more than $3 billion, and because Newell owns more than 50-percent of the company, he is worth in excess of $1.5 billion. The privately-held Valve Corporation are hush-hush when it comes to revenues, and Newell himself doesn't comment on his personal finances. So, Forbes consulted with video game industry insiders, equity analysts, investment bankers, and technology analysts to figure out just how much Valve is worth.

Manli, one of a bunch of companies who are part of the PC Partner group from Hong Kong have shown off some seriously slick looking gear at CeBIT. The hardware in question is Manli's latest mini PC, dubbed Manli Elite. Manli Elite is similar to Zotac's ZBOX systems, but features upgraded hardware, and a different design.

Manli Elite has the same motherboard as Zotac's ZBOX mini AD10, but the Elite sports an upgraded AMD E450 APU, versus the ZBOX's older E350. On top of this, the Elite features two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort out, HDMI out, an eSATA port, GbE, a memory card reader, audio jacks, and built-in 802.11 b/g/n/ Wi-Fi.

Inside the Elite itself, is room for an internal 2.5-inch HDD, and a single SO-DIMM slot for memory. The Manli Elite does look very nice, featuring a simple, yet nice design. Manli are also offering an optional media center remote with the Elite and pre-configured models with 2GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD are to be made available in selected markets.

Yesterday we gave you our first video unboxing of the MSI Z77A-GD65 from the Taipei Test Lab and today we bring you another involving two AMD Radeon 7800 series video cards from Sapphire. Lately we have been very impressed with the cooling solutions Sapphire has used on its video cards and from what we have seen today, this trend looks to continue here. In the video above we cover both the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 OC Edition as well as the Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 OC Edition video cards.

The 7850 OC Edition features an impressive looking dual fan cooler with a single heatpipe which exhausts hot air out the back of your case. The bundle is rather impressive too including a card to join the Sapphire Select Club, quick installation guide, DVI to VGA connector, molex to PCI Express power connector, mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter, HDMI to DVI connector, CrossFire bridge and a HDMI cable.

Next up in the video above is the 7870 OC Edition which in many ways is quite similar to the 7850 OC Edition, just bigger in all ways - the cooler is pretty much the same except it is bigger just like the retail box. The bundle is exactly the same as the 7850 video card expect it comes with an additional Molex to PCI Express power connector since the video card calls for it with its higher power draw requirements since it is of course a faster video card.

IBM have reached quite the milestone, with researchers at the company demonstrating a prototype optical chip that is capable of transmitting up to 1 terabit of data per second. Engineers managed to built the Holey Optochip using readily available components, meaning that the chip could actually be manufactured in high volumes for commercial implementation sooner, rather than later.

IBM created the Holey Optochip as part of their continued efforts to use light rather than electronics over wires to transmit huge amounts of data. Surprisingly, the Holey Optochip was created using a standard 90nm-based CMOS chip, which they then drilled 48 tiny holes through the back of it.

What this allows is for 24 receiver and 24 transmitter channels, with each capable of moving 20 gigabits of data per second. This results in a product that can move 960 gigabits (nearly 1 terabit) of data per second. For this next bit, I hope you're sitting down: this means you could transfer 30,000 HD movies in 60 seconds. 30,000 in 60 seconds.

CeBIT 2012: G.Skill has shown off a bunch of new RAM at CeBIT this week and it all looks great. The first kit we see is an expansion to the Ripjaws Z series with a 4x 4GB kit sitting on the much loved ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard running at a blistering 2666MHz DDR.

The massive speed does come at the cost of some more relaxed timings, but CL10-12-12-31 at 1.65v isn't anything to turn away from. Considering the speed and the sheer amount of RAM that's on offer, this is no doubt a kit for people who want both speed and a large amount of RAM.

Along with that we've got the Ripjaws Z 2400MHz DDR kit running on, of all motherboards, a Biostar one. Honestly Biostar isn't the first company that comes to mind when I think of a performance motherboard, but it handles the CL11-11-11-30 at 1.65v 16GB with no issues at all.

Intel's third-generation Core processor platform is almost ready to begin selling and that of course means we are starting to get new Intel ZZ Express based motherboards in for testing. MSI told us to say third-generation Core, but we all know that of course means Ivy Bridge and we know many of you are really excited about this platform.

MSI were one of the first to ship us a Z77 board to our Taipei Test Lab and in something new here at TweakTown which we are starting today, we are giving you an unboxing of it as an early preview before our full review gets posted later on. We hope to do several of these unboxing each week as long as everything goes to plan.

MSI sent us its Z77A-GD65 which is their mid-range Z77 board, but still comes packed with plenty of great features including PCI-Express gen 3 support, Military Class II, OC Genie II, Click BIOS II and much more. The motherboard itself looks brilliant with its stylish black and blue theme. It features passive cooling, but looks to be a rather solid cooling setup with impressive heatsinks, that also looks just great.

Battlefield 3 is set to receive some themed downloadable expansions, with the first one 'Close Quarters' arriving in June. The new expansions will feature new weapons, and vehicles that can be used across the entire game, as well as new multiplayer maps.

Console players are set to receive something quite new, with a rent-a-server programme, allowing them to run dedicated game servers that can be customized to their own rules and preferences, just like the PC players know and love. This is a first for any console shooter.

Close Quarters is as it sounds, focused on up-close-and-personal indoor infantry combat with verticality to the map designs. It drops on the PS3 one week early, includes 10 new weapons and four new maps. It has been described as "hectic and intense". The map was shown off at EA's GDC event, and featured a "swish-looking" office block called Ziba Tower, according to Eurogamer, with, my favorite: lots of glass to shatter.

Now this is something I want, now. Late last month, Samsung confirmed that they would start mass production of flexible displays later this year, with the first of the screens to come out of Samsung's monitor ovens, baked and ready to go, in Q2-Q3 of 2012.

The second batch would be built in the second quarter of 2013. Samsung have toyed with contoured displays in the past, but a flexible display would allow a device to be fully folded and unfolded like a book. Samsung have even said that the displays are capable of decreasing power consumption by cutting the supply of operating power to a display based on the degree to which the display is bent.

In a recent patent filing, Samsung have stated that the flexible displays are bendable, can be made to appear crooked, and can be folded and rolled up like a magazine. All of this while maintaining the visibility and other features found on flat displays. The way I see it, is we could have stretchy displays, that could eventually be rolled out into a tablet-sized display. Imagine that. You could rock along with a normal smartphone-sized screen, but when needed, it stretches out to say, 7-inches.

GIGABYTE motherboards kick ass, we all know this, but just how much? Well, enough for them to claim the No. 1 spot in the world for motherboard durability. A lot of this comes from GIGABYTE's Ultra Durable technology, which has now spread its tentacles into Ultra Durable 4 on their upcoming 7-series motherboards.

GIGABYTE's industry-leading Ultra Durable 4 technology, is coming on their 7-series motherboards, and helps safe-guard GIGABYTE motherboards from common everyday threats such as humidity and moisture, electro-static discharge, sudden power loss and high operating temperatures.

Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit says:

Sapphire's Vapor-X coolers are somewhat of a huge deal in the GPU community, reviewers and users love them, because of their great performance, and noise levels. It seems Sapphire want to see CPU coolers sporting the Vapor-X technology, and have now shown off a new cooler at CeBIT, which should hit mass production in the near future.

The Vapor-X cooler, at first glance, does not look different from many other big CPU coolers we see from Cooler Master or Thermaltake. It features four heatpipes running from the base of the cooler to the fins on the heatsinks, as well as sporting two 120mm fans and various bits of plastic shrouding to make the cooler look, well, cool.

So far, this is no different to most other coolers, except the vapor chamber. Rather than use a standard metal plat for the base of the cooler itself, Sapphire have chosen to use a vapor chamber, to which the heatpipes are attached. Again, this itself isn't unique, as Asetek have been here before a few years ago, but in their case, the vapor chamber was directly connected to the heatpipes, and thus, too sensitive to how to the cooler was installed.

I bet you read that title, and thought "haha, yeah right", well, strap yourself in ladies and gentlemen. NVIDIA's 28nm-based Kepler GK104 GPU is being shown around the Game Developers Conference, as we speak, with Heise.de citing people it spoke to at CeBIT.

Let's do this: some models of the GeForce 600-series from NVIDIA will introduce a load-based clock speed-boost feature, similar to Intel's Turbo Boost, where the GPU will ramp up clock speeds to the GPU when it senses heavy loads. If there's a stressful scene to render, the GPU overclocks itself, gets through the scene, and goes back down to stock speeds. Wow.

This ensures that the GPU has higher minimum and average frame rates, which is a great thing to see. Another thing to point out, is the GK104 does actually sport 1,536 CUDA cores, which should give it a definite kick up the bum for number-crunching scenarios, such as shading, post-processing, and GPGPU-based work. But, the CUDA cores don't automatically give you super amounts of performance, unfortunately.

Corsair have just released a new range of SSD series today, the Accelerator. The drive is aimed for caching purposes, and even comes bundled with NVELO's DataPlex caching software. Corsair had shown off the Accelerator series at CES 2012, but the drive has not been made available until today.

The Corsair Accelerator series is available in three sizes: 30, 45 and 60GB. The drive doesn't need to be super-large, as its only used as a cache drive, so it only stores the most frequently accessed data. Caching is aimed toward average users as utilizing two separate drives can be a bit hard for the novice user, whereas advanced users want total control over their data.

Keeping the price of the drive down is important, as it will attract more buyers, especially those who don't yet own an SSD drive. The new drive sports a SATA 3Gbps interface, which Corsair chose to keep the price down. The drives come in two different specs, with two different controllers between the 30GB (SandForce SF-2141 controller) and the 45/60GB drives with the SandForce SF-2181 controllers.

Apple aren't wasting any time with this event and not boring us with facts and figures. We already saw that the new iPad will get Retina Display, but it will also get 4G LTE high-speed internet access.

For comparison, the iPad 2 has 3.1Mbps on EV-DO and 7.2 Mbps on HSPA and the new iPad will get 21Mbps on HSPA+, 42Mbps on HSDPA and a massive 73Mbps on supported LTE networks. According to Engadget, Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus and AT&T will be the LTE partners.

In addition the new iPad can be a personal hotspot like the iPhone 4, but it will still depend on if your carrier supports it or not.

Crytek's first game in the mobile universe is called 'Fibble - Flick 'n' Roll'. Crytek say that the game is a "highly engaging puzzle game" that "combines strategy with physics-based interactions" with vivid and highly detailed visuals.

CEO and President of Crytek, Cevat Yerli says:

CeBIT 2012: OCZ have just unveiled the successor to the Vertex 3 SSD, dubbed Vertex 4. Vertex 4 is a fourth-generation SSD which sports the Everest 2 controller, as well as synchronous MLC flash memory that should sport speeds of up to 550MB/sec read, and 500MB/sec write, with 90,000 IOPS (4k random write).

OCZ, if you remember, exited the memory market in early-2011, where they cited weakness in the global DRAM industry, but noticed rapid growth in the solid-state drive market. OCZ then scooped up South Korea-based Indilinx, who they worked on the original Vertex SSD.

OCZ's Vertex 4 drive is the second drive to sport technology from the acquisition and the first to use the Everest 2 platform. OCZ did launch the Octane SSD in October of last year, which featured the original Everest controller, and was the first SSD to ramp up to 1TB in a 2.5-inch form factor. No release date is set on the Vertex 4, but we should see it hitting shelves in the coming months, and we should also see it in capacities up to 2TB.

EA have removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out from the App Store for a, well, weird reason. First up, an anonymous gamer posted on EA's help forum, asking about the game, and had a very interesting response from an EA representative:

So, EA removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out, because it was too popular? I was never the popular kid in school (contrary to popular belief from my flowing locks and eagle-sharp eyes, I look like a young Alec Baldwin), so I don't understand how this happens. EA predicts that players who have already downloaded the game will experience a smoother experience, with EA saying "actually, your experience should only improve as we work on a solution".