More than half (60%) of gamers have had their multiplayer gaming experience negatively impacted by other players cheating on multiple occasions, according to new research by Irdeto. The Irdeto Global Gaming Survey of 9,436 consumers also indicates that these online gamers will purchase less in-game content and even stop playing the game in question, if they feel that other players are gaining an unfair advantage through cheating. Cheating in these games often involves manipulating and distorting data or code to gain an advantage over others or bypass in-game transactions.

Of the consumers surveyed online across six different countries, including China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, UK and US, 77% of online gamers are likely to stop playing a multiplayer game online if they think other players are cheating and 48% of online gamers are likely to buy less in-game content as a result. This suggests a massive impact on the revenues of game publishers if they do not adequately protect multiplayer online games from cheating.

An update to the Steam survey results is always worth noting, especially with the added, tremendous growth Valve's online store service has seen recently. And it seems that in the Steam gaming world at least, quad-core CPUs, NVIDIA graphics cards, and Windows 10 reign supreme.

Windows 10 64-bit is the most used operating system, with 50.33% of the survey. That the second most used Windows OS is the steady, hallmark Windows 7 shouldn't come as a surprise, though it does have just 32.05% of the market now. OS X has a measly 2.95% of the grand total, while Linux comes in at an even lower 0.72%. While AMD processor submits may have increased in other software, it seems that at least in Steam, those numbers aren't reflected, since AMD's processor market share in the survey has decreased from 21.89% in February to just 19.01% as of June, even though the company's Ryzen line of CPUs has been selling like hotcakes. Quad-core CPUs are the most used at time of the survey, at 52.06%, while the next highest percentage is still the dual-core CPU, with 42.23%.

The latest TechPowerUp front-page survey springs up some interesting findings on what our readers are most looking forward to, with the upcoming GPUs. Timed ahead of market availability of new GPUs from both NVIDIA and AMD, this poll gains relevance. At the time of writing of this article, we had received 4,650 votes over a week-long period, which amounts to a reasonable sample size. Some of the findings were surprising.

An overwhelming 60 percent of the respondents find price/performance most important. Interestingly, only 7 percent find efficiency/noise important. The second most popular choice, at 14 percent, was "4K Playability" (the ability for the GPU to play games at 4K Ultra HD resolution, at playable frame-rates). Our readers are seven times more likely to invest on 4K Ultra HD monitors (which start at $300 if you look in the right places), than picking up a VR (virtual reality) headset. A negligible 2 percent of our readers find VR most important.

PC Helps, the premier provider of 24/7, expert, on-demand support for core office software applications and mobile devices used every day by corporate employees, recently completed the first in a series of Windows 8 Pulse Surveys designed to gauge reactions and plans to migrate to Windows 8 - information which the company needs to estimate demand for its services and to plan resourcing and hiring. More than 500 IT leaders and managers from US-based companies with 500 employees or more, across a range of industries, responded to the survey and a majority of the respondents (70%) were from companies with 2,500 or more employees.

After a thorough, independent investigation found significant issues with working conditions at three factories in China operated by Apple's major supplier Foxconn, the Fair Labor Association secured groundbreaking commitments that will reduce working hours to legal limits while protecting pay, improve health and safety conditions, establish a genuine voice for workers, and will monitor on an ongoing basis to verify compliance. The nearly month-long investigation found excessive overtime and problems with overtime compensation; several health and safety risks; and crucial communication gaps that have led to a widespread sense of unsafe working conditions among workers.

"The Fair Labor Association gave Apple's largest supplier the equivalent of a full-body scan through 3,000 staff hours investigating three of its factories and surveying more than 35,000 workers. Apple and its supplier Foxconn have agreed to our prescriptions, and we will verify progress and report publicly," said Auret van Heerden, President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association, a coalition of universities, non-profit organizations and businesses committed to improving the health, safety, fair treatment and respect of workers worldwide.

It looks like there's a subtle but relentless push to get ARM CPUs into desktop PCs. Morgan Stanley recently surveyed 30 PC makers (names not revealed) and discovered that 40% of them are interested in trying out ARM-based PCs within the next two years. As we reported previously that the Wintel alliance appears to be crumbling, this finding appears to add weight to that assertion. Of course, there's a huge mountain to climb before ARM processors can compete head to head with high performance x86, as explained in our article, not least because Microsoft won't begin supporting ARM until Windows 8 is released late next year and the fact that the vast majority of existing software won't run on ARM. A real catch-22 if ever there was one. Just as crucially, the many high performance enhancements and interface standards that currently go into making a modern x86 chip fly will also have to go into an ARM - and developing that isn't going to be cheap, although it may not take that long, since these are tried and trusted technologies that need to be applied. Still, the interest is there and Morgan Stanley expect that 10% (39 million) PCs, excluding tablets, will have an ARM processor at their heart. If true, it will make for interesting times.

Cooler Master today announced a survey for residents of North America. The survey covers a broad set of questions regarding what users ask for when looking for a gaming mouse, mousing surface, and notebook accessories. It should also give you a hint that the company plans to venture into these product lines. Up for grabs are a Storm Sniper PC case, V10 CPU cooler, and a Silent Pro modular power supply, as part of survey contest. For participation and rules, visit this page.

Thermaltake have launched their 2009 Survey along with a sweepstake for people who have completed the survey. The survey lasts approximatly 3 mintues and 38 seconds and ends January 19th, 2009 11:59pm PST. The prizes up for grabs are as follows:

1x Toughpower 850W
1x Speedo Advance Package
3x SpinQ CPU Cooler
5x V1 AX CPU Cooler
15x BlacX HDD Docking Station
15x Vi-ON 2.5" Enclosure

For more information and to take part click here