In an attempt to inject some buzz into their upcoming IE 10 browser, Microsoft has created some fun ‘testdrive’ pages that will measure your PC and browser’s performance.

Highlighting HTML5, Canvas, CSS3, and SVG, the “Let it Snow” page lets you adjust the number of snowflakes falling on your screen while measuring your FPS. Is this a snowball in the face of Google from Mr. Softy?

If you want to take a dip into the world of HTML 5 possibilities, try the “Fishbowl” testdrive page that lets you adjust the number of swimming gold fish and graphics layers. (These features are too new for IE 8 and audio does not yet work with Firefox 8, you’ll have to make your own fishbowl sounds)

There’s also a New Year’s Eve countdown page for different cities that displays your browser performance information at the bottom.

Seattle

Washington DC

New York

And if you’re ready for 2011 to be over, click on the “Can’t Wait?” button to watch the clock tick down to 2012 and trigger a fireworks display over the city of your choice.

Happy 2012 from SiliconCali.com!