[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Gaming Edition

Gaming At 18%:

ExtremeTech examines Microsoft Meltdown 2005, Microsoft's gaming oriented conference. Which includes the following little tidbit regarding user averages.

As Microsoft set out to build its next-generation operating system, it first set about collecting data. What exactly do people spend all their time doing on their Windows PCs? The numbers are pretty surprising. 35.5% of the time spent on a Windows PC is browsing the net, but the No. 2 activity—by a wide margin—is playing games. 18% of a Windows user's time (and this is all Windows users here, even grandma) is spent playing games. Granted, this includes casual games, not just multi-million dollar AAA blockbusters that cost $50 at the store. The third and fourth highest- activities by minutes of time spent were using the shell and doing email, at just over 9% each.

Xbox 360 HD-DVD:

Softpedia covers the effects of the new Microsoft Toshiba alliance. The 360 is getting HD DVD as opposed to Blu-Ray. Eventually.

Considering that such a decision would postpone the launching date, Microsoft will equip the initial models with classic DVD drives, and only after the new HD-DVD are ready, the Xbox will incorporate them.

Empire At War:

Gamespot has a preview of the new Empire At War from LucasArts, you can view a trailer now as well.

We had a chance to take an updated look at Star Wars: Empire at War, the upcoming real-time strategy game from LucasArts and Petroglyph. While we had previously brought you an updated look at the game in advance of the show, at E3, we were able to see some new features in action, such as the galactic map and the role of hero characters in the game.