You write,
In/Out we respond
6 MA XIMUMPC MARCH 2005
GAME-OLA?
Did Valve pay you guys to write
the review of Half-Life 2? You gave
it an unprecedented “11” score
despite the widespread problems
with game-stuttering that many
people have experienced. I am
one of the many HL2 owners
whose game experience has been
compromised by this problem.
This is a major flaw affecting
both Intel and AMD boards, and
all manner of soundcards and
videocards (including ones with
256MB RAM). Given your almost
religious devotion to HL2, if you
had researched the average user
experience, you would have chided
Valve for releasing such a buggy
product and would have awarded it
no greater than a 9 score (which is
still in kick-ass range).
—NATHAN FRAZIERASSOCIATE EDITOR JOSH NOREM
RESPONDS: We’re sorry to hear you dis-
agree with our verdict, Nathan, but we
stand by our rating. We think Half-Life 2
is the most groundbreaking game to hit
the market since id shipped Doom. Due
to our two-month lead time, we’re often
given the opportunity to review highly
anticipated games, including Half-Life
2 , before they’re released to the retail
channel. Let me emphasize, however,
that we review only final code—the
game we played was the exact same
game that was initially sold to the
public. The simple reason we didn’t
comment on the stuttering problem is
that we never experienced it during
our testing. After the game was finally
released—which happened after the
magazine had gone to the printer—we
did encounter the stuttering issue in
varying degrees on some PCs, but not
on others. As for researching the aver-
age user experience, reviews aren’t
terribly useful if they’re published after
large numbers of people have already
purchased the product.POWER-SUPPLY TESTING
Maximum PC has always been a
trusted source for information
and product reviews, which is
why we were very disappointed
to read your “Stack ‘em up, Blow
‘em out” power-supply roundupin the January
issue. There are no
specific standardized
industry PSU tests,
only arbitrary
“torture tests”
conducted by
individual experts. Many of the top
gaming system manufacturers who
have produced torture tests similar
to Maximum PC’s, have not only
approved the Ultra X-Connect for
use in their systems, but also made
X-Connect their preferred choice
for performance builds. I encourage
end users to try the X-Connect for
themselves. The X-Connect has a
three-year warranty for the simple
reason that Ultra Products stands
behind its product.
—MALSERT CHAPMAN, PR
COORDINATOR, ULTRA PRODUCTSEDITOR-IN-CHIEF MICHAEL BROWN
RESPONDS: In the absence of
standardized industry tests, Maximum
PC will continue to develop its own
methodology. Although it’s entirely
possible that we just happened to
receive a faulty X-Connect PSU for
testing, we stand behind our testing
and our review as published. Thanks
for pointing out Ultra Products’
warranty policy; that’s information we
should have included for all the power
supplies in the roundup.HOT NUTS
Maximum PC’s story “Laptops:
Poaching Your Eggs?” [Fun-Size
News, February issue] refers to the
danger of “scrotal hypothermia”
from using a laptop computer on
your lap. It should correctly read
“scrotal hyperthermia,” as the heat
generated by the laptop raises
scrotal temps.
—DR. JOHN W. ROBINSONEDITOR-IN-CHIEF MICHAEL BROWN
RESPONDS: Thanks for clearing that
up for us, doc!I GO FOR PENGUINS
I was so happy to see a penguin
in Maximum PC! I went through
exactly what Will Smith did in
last month’s “The Linux Diaries”
back in 1997. Since then, I’ve gonethrough all the stages of the
Linux (ab)user, ranging from
the irrational hatred of all
things Microsoft, to treating
Linux as a religious experience.
But why didn’t he mention
Fedora Core? It offers better
package management, a GUI
installer (that even configures
X correctly), oodles of add-
ons, a full DVD installer from
BitTorrent, and more. Why did
he think Debian was better?
—RYAN CHIECHIEXECUTIVE EDITOR WILL SMITH
RESPONDS: Like you, I originally
tried Linux in the late 90s. Back
then I was really frustrated with the
limitations and lack of information
available on desktop Linux, so I
went back to Windows. The key
this time around was really giving
myself enough time to futz around
with the low-level OS, knowing
when to walk away for a minute so
I wouldn’t get hyper-frustrated, and
knowing how to find help online
when I couldn’t solve a problem on
my own.
I chose Debian because it struck
me as a nice intermediate between
the “newb-friendly” distros (such
as Mandrake and Fedora Core), and
the really scary stuff that required
compilation (e.g., Gentoo and
Linux from Scratch). After using
Debian, and later Gentoo at home, I
really can repair a broken X install
from the command line. If I hadn’t
learned what the different lines in
my XF86Config-4 file do, I wouldn’t
have been able to fix it when the
autoconfig didn’t work right.
Next stop: OS X.JUST PAYIN’ THE BILLS
I’m a Maximum PC subscriber
and have always found the
information very interesting
and useful. Your writers are
informative without being
boring, unlike some otherpersonality-free publications.
I would like to know if the
14 pages used for advertising
a hosting service are really
necessary? I’d much rather see
a few more product reviews or
some more How-to’s. I realize
that advertising dollars are what
makes the periodical world go
round but, come on. How many
more subscriptions would I have
to buy to get rid of this mag-
within-a-mag?
—JAREDOK, I could accept getting one
AOL CD from you this year.
But two? I’m sure that you’re
getting good money from
AOL to include them (even if
no respectable Max PC reader
would use one), but I’d rather
pay more for my subscription
than get junk mail sealed in the
magazine.
—LUKE CUSHANICKI find it quite interesting that
you accept full-page ads for
the Ultra Products’ X-Connect
power supply when it received
a verdict of “4” in your power-
supply roundup. After all, you
concluded that it exhibited
“poor voltage accuracy, no
active power factor correction,
and it failed [your] load test.”
How is it that you let a product
(or should I say a fiery money
pit) be advertised in your
magazines?
—CHRIS ROOSENEDITOR IN CHIEF MICHAEL
BROWN RESPONDS: I’m sure
you’ve heard all this before,
but... Subscription fees and
newsstand sales alone don’t
produce sufficient revenue to
support any for-profit magazine.
Advertisements—whether they
take the form of pages inside the
magazine, discs within the poly-Spirited AwayEverything, especially the Gravity Gun.HEADCRAB
PANTSCRAB
Allies sometimes bunch up around you.
$50, http://www.half-life.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT
Everything, especially the Gravity Gun.
Allies sometimes bunch up around you.11
WOW!HALF-LIFE 2:
Maximum PC
True^
Maximum PC Maximum PC Maximum PCSTORY