News::Steam Machines are slower gaming systems than Windows PCs

The whole point of a Steam Machine is to get PC-like gaming in your living room, but do you actually get PC-like performance? Not so much, if you ask Ars Technica. It recently ran benchmarks comparing the performance of SteamOS and Windows 10 on the same hardware, and it's pretty clear that you're taking a speed hit in the name of couch-based convenience. The two operating systems are very close in synthetic tests, but SteamOS lags well behind Windows when it comes to real gameplay: depending on the game and your detail settings, you could be losing dozens of frames per second. All of the titles tested were still very playable on the modest test rig (a dual-core 3GHz Pentium with an old GeForce GTX 660), but this could pose a problem with more demanding titles in the future.

Source: Ars Technica

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News::Watch people play 'Desert Bus' for days in the name of charity

Penn & Teller's Desert Bus mini game is legendary for its tongue-in-cheek monotony (you drive 8 hours to score a single point), but it's also a force for good: the Desert Bus for Hope campaign has raised $2.4 million for the Child's Play hospital charity over the years. Well, the volunteer group is at it again with the just-launched Desert Bus 9... and this may be one of its most ambitious fundraising efforts yet. The team is planning to stream live gameplay from the notorious Sega Genesis title for as long as donations allow, which could be quite a while when last year's effort lasted for 158 hours -- that's nearly a full week. If you like the idea of an epic video game endurance test helping a noble cause, tune in below and consider sending some cash to Desert Bus for Hope at the source link.

Source: Desertbus.org

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