Everyone talks about this - PC Gaming is dead/dying. It will always be here, but whether we get AAA+ titles that can only be played on PC and are not gimped or cut down because of console hardware limitations and their ports is the main argument.

Microsoft are stuck - they have on one hand the super successful Xbox 360, on the other, 100's of millions of Windows-based users. Windows 8 is meant to be a push in the right direction for gamers.

TechRadar have had an anonymous source say "Windows 8 will represent a real new push into PC gaming," followed by "Gaming will be a key component for the whole OS."

I think it really sucks that there are still very few 3D Blu-ray flicks on the market today and it sucks even more that the really cool 3D flick Avatar can't be purchased at all without buying Panasonic gear to get the flick. If you still want a 3D Blu-ray player despite the lack of content on the market right now and you like the Pioneer brand the company is shipping its 3D players now.

The line includes the new Pioneer BDP-430, the BDP-41FD, and BDP-43FD players. All three of the players are 3D ready with HDMI 1.4a outputs. The devices come with wired Ethernet ports for connectivity and can be fitted with an optional WiFi adapter as well. All three naturally support Blu-ray 3D and use Pioneer PureCinema tech for upscaling standard resolution video to 1080p.

One of the cooler features that all three support is the iControlAV App. This app allows the iPhone or iPod touch to be used as a full function remote control of the players. The devices also support 36-bit deep color. The BDP-430 sells for $299, the BDP-41FD sells for $399 and adds a RS-232 port for custom installs and the BDP-43FD sells for $499 with better components and a rugged chassis.

It doesn't take long when you use the iPad a lot to realize that having to look down at the screen if you watch movies or read a lot can be a literal pain in the neck. There are a ton of stands on the market for the iPad to prop it up for you making it more comfortable to use. The latest stand to hit the market is from NewerTech. NewerTech makes all sorts of accessories for Mac computers and has for a long time.

The new stand is called the NuStand Alloy and is offered in version of the iPad and a version for the 2010 Mac mini computer as well. The iPad version of the stand is black and is sized to allow the iPad to be used in the stand while a thin case is installed. It has non-skid rubber feet and a rubberized black soft touch finish.

The stand holds the iPad screen in landscape or portrait modes at a 15-degree angle. You can pick it up right now for $24.99. The version of the stand of the 2010 mini is very similar with a silver rubberized finish. It has the same non-skid feet and won't scratch your computer at all. It sells for $24.99 as well.

Any adult male that likes to be known as Tron Guy and wears a homemade replica of the original Tron suit for the 80's flick isn't all there in my book. I bet Jay Maynard peed his Tron Underoos when he heard that Legacy was coming to theaters. As the story goes, Tron Guy called up a local theater in Michigan and told them he was coming to watch Tron: Legacy in his Tron suit.

The theater staff told him that he would not be allowed to watch the flick wearing his suit. Apparently, a middle aged, pudgy dude in a Tron suit is distracting. I took my son to see the flick last weekend when it opened and he liked it, though he asked me tons of questions and I didn't get to watch as close as I wanted.

It's a bit ironic that my son is nine and I was nine when the original flick came out at the theater. I still remember going to see it with my dad, maybe in 20-ish years when the third Tron flick comes out he can take his kid. Legacy has much better visuals (naturally) and it was a cool flick if you haven't seen it you should go.

I like to see what's on the inside of my gadgets and hardware as much as the next geek as long as that doesn't mean I have to kill my gear. If you like gaming RAM for the speed and performance you probably know that each time a new set of RAM comes out it has increasingly garish and complex looking heat sinks to help keep it cool. Most of the heat sinks are for looks as much as cooling through. If you prefer your hardware to look like hardware with no aluminum or flashing lights Kingmax has your memory.

The company has just unveiled a new set of fast 2400MHz DRAM modules that have no heat sink. The RAM is designed for overclocking and is the only module that can operate at 2400Mhz without a heat sink according to the maker. The Nano Gaming RAM uses nano thermal dissipation tech to cool the chips.

The RAM promises bandwidth of 19.2GB/sec with 1.65v of power. Latencies are 9-11-9-27 and the maker promises the RAM is perfect for gamers. The Nano Gaming RAM series has modules with operating frequencies of 1600MHz, 2000MHz, 2200MHz, and 2400MHz that will work with different computer platforms. The 2400Mhz RAM is for Intel P55 chipsets.

Google have dropped $1.8 billion like it's hot (shout out to Snoop Dogg!) on a new office in the concrete city where dreams are made of (wink Jay-Z), New York City.

They've spent the $1.8 billion on 111 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea. Google will also be leasing out the building to continuing and new tenants. Google have also said:

"Today, we're pleased to announce that we've closed a deal with the partnership of Taconic Investment Partners, Jamestown Properties and the New York State Common Retirement Fund to purchase 111 Eighth Avenue (also known as 76 Ninth Avenue).

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX460 caused quite the stir in the market. It was very competitively priced, performance was explosive and stock was everywhere. SLI performance was great too, which meant great bang-for-buck SLI could be had.

NVIDIA is ready to sequel this card up with the GTX560 which will fight a very bloody fight with AMD's popular HD6950 which was just released last week. The GTX560 will still be fabricated using TMSC's 40nm process and will be designed as the cheaper alternative to NVIDIA's GTX570 and GTX580 GPU's, all without drastically reducing performance.

There has been a GPU-z screenshot making it's way around, which shows the GTX560 including 384 stream processors, 32 ROPs and a 256-bit memory interface f filled out with 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

It rarely gets cold enough here in Texas to need gloves. It was 80-degrees out yesterday for instance and only a bit cooler today. I can appreciate cold weather though because we do get it on occasion and I can see where users in really cold locations would have a hard time working their iPhone with gloves on since they would have to take the gloves off each time. A new app called NoseDial has surfaced that lets you dial the iPhone without using your fingers.

The app has a large list of icons for your contacts that are sized for hitting with your nose. The contacts can be navigated by tilting the iPhone. The big question in my mind is how users will unlock their phone, I guess you will have to do that with your noise and then find the page with the app using your nose, and then hit the icon with your nose to launch NoseDial.

If your nose is running, this app will be really gross. The app will sell for 99 cents and is on the app store right now for you to download. You can determine how many contacts are on each page and the size of the icons too.

If you have your smartphone packed with music that you want to listen to while you drive in the car you are not alone. In some cars, getting the music from your phone to your car stereo is a snap thanks to a line in jack. Other cars lack a line in making you need an FM transmitter. Those transmitters are often bulky and have lots of wires that you need to deal with. If you use an Android smartphone, a new FM transmitter that needs no wires is coming next month.

The device is called the TuneLink Auto for Android. It's a small FM transmitter that barely sticks out of the DC outlet in your car. The device uses Bluetooth to connect to your smartphone and allows the streaming of music from your phone to the car stereo. The device also has a USB port on it that you can use for charging your phone while you listen to music. The catch is that you will need to have a charge and sync cable with you to use that feature.

The TuneLink Auto can also be plugged into your cars aux input rather than using FM for sending the music out. The Bluetooth functionality supports more than one Android device at the same time and the FM transmitter is controlled by an app that is on the Android market right now. The kit will ship in mid-January for $99.99.

Every time I take my DSLR camera with me on the road, I worry that it will get broken. I know how fragile the thing is and if I take an extra lens with me, I worry more. I can keep the camera secure around my neck when I am out and about, but any extra lenses just have to sit in the bag. If you have expensive lenses that you take with you on the road and you want the best protection you can get the Beta Shell is for you.

The Beta shell is a case with a threaded lid that is waterproof, impact proof, and resists temperature extreme. The case looks sort of like a high-tech coffee can with a lid that appears to screw on. The top of the lid has foam to and the bottom of the case has foam as well to pad the lens in case you drop.

The foam is visco-elastic memory foam. The Beta Shell will work with the top ten lenses for Canon and Nikon cameras. Even longer 70-200mm lenses will fit inside the case. That means you can use one case for several different lens sizes that you might own.

Easily the biggest thing hurting 3D today is that you have to wear glasses to see the 3D effects. The need for glasses is why many consumers haven't adopted the tech and the glasses are often very expensive too. There are a few 3D sets hitting the market that use passive 3D glasses that are cheaper than the active glasses often required to watch 3D programs.

Toshiba has announced that it will be showing off new screens at CES 2011 in January that need no glasses of any sort to view. The autostereoscopic screens will be larger than the 20-inch versions that Toshiba showed off this year at CEATEC. Although it has only been three months since the 20-inch screen was seen Toshiba says the tech is already better.

Toshiba plans to make even larger screens next year. The downsides to this sort of screen is that it has worse viewing angles that screens that need glasses and getting the best spot for ideal viewing is harder to accomplish.

Most people feel comfortable using an Xbox 360 controller, but a keyboard and mouse for FPS is a superior, easier and much, much more precise way of playing. It allows micro-movement of your aiming (while also being much faster) compared to much slower, un-precise aiming.

XIM devices have been around for a while, bu the new XIM3 seems to fix the previous editions issues. XIM3 is housed in an LCD box with a touch-screen display which should make connection and config much easier (and better to look at!)

The XIM3 acts as a "translator" or "bridge" between your Xbox 360 and PC peripherals - a user plugs in their PC's mouse and keyboard into the XIM3, then plugs the XIM3 into the Xbox 360 and you should be all good for some owning.

Telltale Games are releasing the first episode of Back to the Future: The Game for PC and Mac on Wednesday. The game picks up 6 months after the end of the original movie trilogy.

After these 6 months in the Back to the Future world, Doc Brown's lab is on the verge of being sold off because of his absence. Marty gets a surprise visit from the DeLorean where it brings him to the past, where he must help a teenage Emmett Brown to keep all of space and time from unraveling.

Bob Gale, co-creator and co-writer of the films has said:

Futuremark have today released the first major update to 3DMark 11. The update introduces some critical stability improvements to 3DMark 11 and addresses some specific bugs that needed squashing.

One of the fixes with v1.01 included a problem with the SystemInfo component that prevents the Physics and Combined tests from running, crashes related to the absence of DirectX 11 API and .NET, and updated SystemInfo component, etc.

A full list of changes is below:

There are numerous studies that have looked at gaming and the incidence of violence and other issues when it comes to players of games with violence. The studies come down on different sides of the topic often with some showing no link between video games and how people act in the real world and others showing an alleged link between games and real world behavior. A doctoral student at the University of the Rockies did her dissertation on the relationship between demographic factors, social anxiety, proneness to boredom, grade point average and Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game playing.

The student found that college students that are prone to excessive playing of MMORPG titles often miss meals, classes, and lose sleep to play their favorite video game. The study found that males are more prone to excessive play, but the effects are the same for males and females. The study author is Sabrina Neu and she claims that 42% of those in the survey cited online gaming for interfering with work or academics.

Neu also found potential good benefits for online gaming. "Players cite social opportunities as a primary reason for play. Players can overcome shyness, actualize previously untapped talents, mentor other players, free themselves from physical disabilities, develop a sense of purpose and achievement and engage in altruistic, heroic and generous acts," she said.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say restocking fees suck. We all know it doesn't really cost companies 10% or more of what the purchase price of a gadget is to restock them. Those fees are just a way for the company to help talk us into keeping the gadgets we really don't like and would return if we didn't have to pay a fee. Best Buy has announced it has finally stopped being such a douche and eliminated restocking fees.

The fees were killed off on December 18 and the store will even refund you that restocking fee if you made a return in the 30 days or so prior to the 18th and were charged 10% or 15%. The old restocking fees were 10% of the price on an iPhone and 15% on other electronic devices like notebooks, TVs, GPS devices and more. Those high fees could add up to some really big losses for the consumer.

An email that Best Buy sent to stores across the country ended up in the hands of The Consumerist and it read:

One of the best selling gadgets on the Amazon website and one of the most popular eReaders on the market is the Kindle. The Kindle sold in droves since the reader first debuted and many of those buyers also picked up the official Amazon Kindle case for the reader too. Many consumers who purchase the case with no light have noted some serious issues with the case.

There have been many reports that the non-lighted case for the Kindle is causing the Kindle to have screen freeze issues and to reboot repeatedly. Amazon has announced that it is investigating the cause of the issues when the kindle uses the non-lighted case. The company also notes that anyone who purchased a non-lighted Kindle case can return the thing for a replacement or a full refund.

The issues with lockups and reboots are thought to possibly be a result of metal hooks integrated into the case, but that is unconfirmed. The lighted case for the Kindle has not suffered from the same issues. "There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this," the company said in an email statement that was also posted to its customer forum where users were complaining. "Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please contact us at kindle-response@amazon.com, and we will be pleased to replace it for free or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased."

Last week Blizzard's Five-Year plan was leaked, which had a few super-duper golden nuggets of information including a next-generation MMO coming in 2013.

At the moment, Blizzard have a next-gen MMO coming in 2013 currently codenamed "Titan". Other tidbits of info included Diablo III released in Q4 2011, StarCraft II expansion and Phoenix campaign for Q4 2011 also, another StarCraft II expansion in Q1 2013 with Diablo III expansions in 2013 and 2014.

A World of Warcraft movie is listed and showing a release period of somewhere in Q4 2012, another WoW expansion ready for Q2 2012 and then yet another for Q4 2013.

I have talked about the different types of PC gamers before when it comes to peripherals like mice and keyboards. Some like lots of macro capability some want smaller and more compact keyboards. The same goes for mice, some want low-resolution mice and others want high-resolution mice. Mouse pads typically have different sorts of gamers too. Some want a smooth and slippery hard surface; others want a textured cloth mat to suit their needs.

If you are, the sort of gamer that likes hard and smooth pads for gaming Razer has a new offering for you. The new mouse pad is called the Scarab and it has a new Fractal 2.0 gaming surface. The surface is supposed to be uniform in construction allowing the mouse to track more smoothly when gaming. The bottom of the pad also has a new rubber base.

The rubber base will keep the pad in place no matter how hot the acting gets and the soft rubber is supposed to be able to smooth irregularities under the mouse pad to make your mousing even smoother. Razer ships the mouse pad with a carry case to keep it safe when you travel to LAN parties. The mouse pad will ship next month for $39.99.

When it comes to HDDs you can usually have a really thin drive or you can have a high-capacity drive, but not both. Hitachi has unveiled a new HDD that gives mobile devices the best of both worlds with a thin design that also packs in a lot of storage space. The new HDD is the Travelstar Z5K5000 and it is the thinnest 2.5-inch 500GB HDD in the world.

The HDD packs 500GB onto a single platter allowing the thickness of the drive to be only 7mm. That means that the thin profile device will work in devices that are really thin and typically rely on more expensive and lower capacity SSDs for storage. The drive spins at 5400 rpm and is a direct replacement for 9.5mm thick drives in all sorts of notebooks and external storage devices.

Other than being thin, the drive is also very green needing only 1.8W when reading or writing and 0.55W during idle. The drive is also nearly silent with 1.9 bels at idle and 2.1 bels during seek. The drive uses Hitachi advanced format tech to allow for HDD sectors of 4K bytes rather than 512 bytes improving capacity and reducing errors. The drives are shipping this month at an undisclosed price.