Author - Jerry Paxton

Need for Speed Most Wanted Demo Out

2012/11/13
Jerry Paxton
News, Windows PC News, Xbox 360 News

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Nov. 13, 2012 – Have you been itching to make trouble in the open world, action racing game everyone is talking about? Now you can. Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) and Criterion Games today released a single-player demo for Need for Speed™ Most Wanted, the recently launched and critically acclaimed reimagining of the bestselling title in Need for Speed history. Need for Speed Most Wanted has generated excitement and enthusiasm from players and press around the world.  Since launching on October 30, the game has received numerous press accolades including a perfect 5/5 score from UK’s The Guardian, and 9/10 scores from IGN, Game Informer and the UK’s Edge Magazine. The demo, which is available now for free download on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live® (LINK), unleashes gamers into the connected, open world of Fairhaven City where they race, chase and explore their way to become Most Wanted amongst their friends.

The Most Wanted demo starts players behind the wheel of one of the game’s most recognizable, rides: the Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Players can also jack into three additional cars placed in different areas of Fairhaven– the Porsche 911 Carrera S, the Audi R8 GT Spyder and the Ford Focus RS500 – if you can find it, you can drive it. Each vehicle has its own unique races, challenges and mods to unlock. Autolog 2 puts social competition at the heart of the experience by tracking and comparing everything players do against their friends and offering up gameplay recommendations and challenges throughout the open world as a result. If there’s something to do, there’s someone to beat – from achieving the best time in a race to the fastest speed through a speed camera. Players are constantly blazing a trail of high scores not only in their game, but in their friend’s games as well. How can you tell which friend has the furthest jump through a billboard? Autolog 2 puts their face on it. New Most Wanted players can achieve up to 50,000 Speed Points in the demo – all of which will carry over into the full game, giving players a flying head start to topping the Most Wanted list.

Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 Gaming Keyboard Review

2012/11/13
Jerry Paxton
News, Peripheral Review, Reviews

When we looked at the Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 Gaming Keyboard, the thing that stuck with me was its high price point. It seems that Mad Catz was thinking about this too as they released the little brother to that keyboard, the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 model. Now that I have tried that unit out, I am in a position to compare the two of them so you don’t have to! Your wallets are welcome.

In looks alone, the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 and 7 keyboards are very similar: each features a modular design with gunmetal colored, heavy plastic components. The lower-budget model can be configured in a similar fashion to its higher-end sibling, mixing and matching how you put the modules together. The biggest difference is the lack of the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7’s “Control Module with V.E.N.O.M. TFT-LCD Touchscreen”. Instead, Mad Catz has replaced it with the “Control Module with E.Y.E. OLED Display”. This unit is not as “whiz-bang” as the touchscreen but still VERY useful for your gaming endeavors. You will not, however, find the extra swap-able keys in your box like you do with the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7. I loved the rubberized feel of those and miss them on this keyboard.

The back-lighting is unchanged from the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7, featuring 16 million RGB eye-pleasing color combinations. In fact, this keyboard has a lot of macro capability as well as some nifty options for timers and whatnot that the E.Y.E. OLED can display. For most of the configuration of the keyboard, however, you will be relying on Mad Catz Sentinel control software instead of the touchscreen found on the more expensive model. An interesting change in the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 is that its wrist rest is a lot more comfortable than the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7’s. It is nice and squishy – very comfy for long play periods. Unfortunately, the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 does not feature the built in USB ports of the higher-priced S.T.R.I.K.E. 7.

In play-testing, the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 performed very well, and I couldn’t tell a difference between the key presses of either model (they are, in fact, the same keyboard keys, etc). The S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 took all the sessions of Skyrim, Dead Island, and even Call of Duty: Black Ops II (our preview build) that I could throw at it. In terms of sheer function, either model does a great job.

Overall, the Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 Gaming Keyboard is an excellent choice for gamers looking to get a lot of features and performance from a keyboard. My biggest concern with the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 is its price point – if you are already into a keyboard for $199 dollars, why not go “all-in” and get the upgraded model for an extra $100 dollars? That being said, if the touchscreen isn’t something you care about or you simply can’t wait to save up the extra dough, you will be very happy with the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5.

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Pros

  • $100 dollars cheaper than the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7
  • Comfortable wrist rest
  • Great performance

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Cons

  • At $199 dollars, it is still very pricey
  • No USB pass-through ports

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Images

Guardians of Middle-earth Release Date

2012/11/09
Jerry Paxton
News, PlayStation 3 News, Xbox 360 News

November 9, 2012 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions today revealed that Guardians of Middle-earth will be available Dec. 5, 2012worldwide via download on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The key art for Xbox LIVE® has also been revealed. Guardians of Middle-earth was previously confirmed for release on PlayStation®Network on Dec. 4, 2012.

With more than 20 Guardian characters and two maps available for unparalleled competitive play at launch, Guardians of Middle-earth is a valuable buy at $14.99 on PlayStation Network, and for 1200 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360.  A separate Season Pass can be purchased for just $14.99 more, or 1200 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360, and provides discounted access to a significant amount of additional game content to be released in the future, including Guardian characters, map skins and a new gameplay mode. The game and the Season Pass are available for bundled purchase* in select retail stores across North America for a price of $29.99 beginning December 4.

New Key Art

 

Kenny Loggins and Green Day Coming to Rock Band

2012/11/09
Jerry Paxton
News, PlayStation 3 News, Xbox 360 News
Cambridge, Mass. – November 9th, 2012 – Harmonix today announced that two tracks from Kenny Loggins, along with a handful of Green Day songs – including the full albums21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot, and Dookie  – are headed to the Rock Band™Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™.Rock Band provides the deepest and best selection of artists, songs and albums through the Rock Band music platform, which features more than 1,400 artists and more than 3,500* tracks via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks atwww.rockband.com/songs). Rock Band’s gigantic music library dwarfs that of any other rhythm video game on the market. More than 100 million songs have been sold through the Rock Band Music Store since its launch on Nov. 20, 2007.

Tracks downloaded from the Rock Band Music Store are compatible with the award-winning full-band Rock Band 3 experience, as well as the controller-based rhythm-action title, Rock Band Blitz, available now on PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE® Arcade!

Rock Band DLC Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii™

On November 13th, two soundtrack classics from singer songwriter Kenny Loggins will come to the Rock Band Music Store! “I’m Alright,” the theme to the 1980 filmCaddyshack, and “Footloose,” from the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name, will be available!
                                                                                          
Additionally, tracks previously only available as part of the Green Day: Rock Band disc will be available for download from the Music Store! Over 40 Green Day tracks will be available as part of packs or singles, detailed below. And for the first time, Pro Guitar and Pro Bass upgrades will be available for two of those tracks – “American Idiot” and “When I Come Around”!

These tracks come on the day of release of the band’s latest record, Green Day ¡Dos!, the second of the three album trilogy entitled Green Day ¡Uno!, Green Day ¡Dos!, Green Day ¡Tré!.

Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation®3 system (November 13th, 2012):

  • Kenny Loggins – “I’m Alright”
  • Kenny Loggins – “Footloose” O X
Price:
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points ™, 200 Wii Points™) per song
$0.99 USD (80 Microsoft Points™, 100 Wii Points™), £0.59 UK, €0.79 EU per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade
“Green Day Pack 04”

  • Green Day – “Geek Stink Breath”
  • Green Day – “Nice Guys Finish Last”
  • Green Day – “Hitchin’ a Ride”

Price:                    
$5.49 USD, £2.49 UK, €3.99 EU (440 Microsoft Points™, 550 Wii Points™) for the “Green Day Pack 04”
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points ™, 200 Wii Points™) per song
 
Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown (Note: Songs available only as singles on Wii)

  •  “Song of the Century”
  •  “21st Century Breakdown”
  •  “Know Your Enemy”
  •  “¡Viva La Gloria!”
  •  “Before the Lobotomy”
  •  “Christian’s Inferno”
  •  “Last Night on Earth”
  •  “East Jesus Nowhere”
  •  “Peacemaker”
  •  “Last of the American Girls”
  •  “Murder City”
  •  “¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl)”
  •  “Restless Heart Syndrome”
  •  “Horseshoes and Handgrenades”
  •  “The Static Age”
  • “21 Guns”
  • “American Eulogy”
  • “See The Light”

Price:                    
$19.99 USD, £9.99 UK, €14.99 EU (1600 Microsoft Points™) for the “21st Century Breakdown (Album)”
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points ™, 200 Wii Points™) per song

Green Day – American Idiot

  • “American Idiot” X
  • “Jesus of Suburbia”
  • “Holiday”
  • “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
  • “Are We The Waiting/St. Jimmy”
  • “Give Me Novacaine/She’s A Rebel”
  • “Extraordinary Girl”
  • “Letterbomb”
  • “Wake Me Up When September Ends”
  • “Homecoming”
  • “Whatsername”

Price:                    
$17.99 USD, £8.99 UK, €13.49 EU (1440 Microsoft Points™, 1800 Wii Points™) for the “American Idiot (Album)”
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points ™, 200 Wii Points™) per song
$0.99 USD (80 Microsoft Points™, 100 Wii Points™), £0.59 UK, €0.79 EU per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade

Green Day – Dookie

  • “Burnout”
  • “Having A Blast”
  • “Chump”
  • “Longview”
  • “Welcome To Paradise”
  • “Pulling Teeth”
  • “Basketcase”
  • “She”
  • “Sassafras Roots”
  • “When I Come Around” X
  • “Coming Clean”
  • “Emenius Sleepus”
  • “In The End”
  • “F.O.D.”

Price:                    
$19.99 USD, £9.99 UK, €14.99 EU (1600 Microsoft Points™, 2000 Wii Points™) for the “Dookie (Album)”
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points ™, 200 Wii Points™) per song
$0.99 USD (80 Microsoft Points™, 100 Wii Points™), £0.59 UK, €0.79 EU per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system November 14th)

Tracks marked with “X” will offer Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions for $0.99 per song.

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change. **
 
*Available on-disc, via download and disc export. Internet connection and export key purchase required. Wii™ Shop Channel has more than 1,500 song tracks available for purchase on the Rock Band platform on-disc, via song import, and download. Not applicable to Nintendo DS™.

Website Links:
For more information, please visit:

Rock Band Website

Dungeonland Accepting Limited Beta Testers

2012/11/09
Jerry Paxton
News, Windows PC News

NEW YORK – Nov. 9, 2012 – Paradox Interactive and Critical Studio today announced (under explicit permission from the Dungeon Master) that the world’s first theme park for pesky adventurers, Dungeonland, will open its doors to a small amount of sniveling beta testers in a limited beta starting in November. Though these insufferable soon-to-be beta participants obviously lack the brilliant, evil-focused brain that the almighty Dungeon Master has inside his big, beautiful, and pointy-beard endowed head, he shall nonetheless allow them to christen his theme park as a means to test out all the death dispatching gizmos and rides he has in store for the rest of the world’s adventurers when Dungeonland opens in Q1 2013.

Get a chance to meet your demise in Dungeonland by signing up on the newly launched official game site: http://beta.dungeonlandgame.com/

Every miserable hero who signs up for the limited beta will receive a little something extra at launch, regardless of whether or not they are picked by the illustrious and extremely good looking Dungeonmaster, so start entering in your contact info at the game site already!

Limited beta sign up must be submitted by December 1st to qualify for a chance to participate and participants will be selected ongoing until then.

For full details on Dungeonland, and the corresponding beta, please visit:http://www.dungeonlandgame.com/

Expired – Guns of Icarus Online PC Code Giveaway

2012/11/08
Jerry Paxton
Contests, News
11 Comments

**UPDATE** – The winners of our Guns of Icarus Online code giveaway are Ursulescu Vlad from a Facebook comment and Petlare from a comment on our website post. Thanks to everyone for entering and we are closing in on our uber-huge 1K Facebook like giveaway. 

We are giving away two PC/Steam codes for Guns of Icarus Online, the new airship combat simulation/actioner from Muse Games. That is, two winners – each getting one code for redemption on Steam. This contest will expire on November 16, 2012 @ 11:59PM pacific time. Winners will be randomly-selected upon the giveaway expiration.

Entries are limited to one per person, per method. This means that you have three times the chances to win if you enter via the following methods! So – how do I enter?

Facebook

First, like our Facebook page – Then, post a comment on this thread telling us what the last movie you watched was (doesn’t matter which medium – tv, theater, etc) and why you did or did not like it.

Twitter

Follow our twitter account then tweet this message and we will count that as one entry:

Checkout @GamingShogun for details on their Guns of Icarus Online giveaway — http://bit.ly/QsGXwF #giveaway #pcgaming

Right Here

Simply register an account with us and post a message below this thread telling us what the last movie you watched was (doesn’t matter which medium – tv, theater, etc) and why you did or did not like it.

Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse Review

2012/11/08
Jerry Paxton
News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review, Windows PC News

Logitech’s new G600 MMO gaming mouse features a black plastic body with a wired, braided cable that connects to a USB port. Unlike other gaming mouse, the Logitech G600 doesn’t go with a lot of flashy lighting schemes save for the customizable lighting on its button labels. Visually, it is a rather “classy”-looking computer mouse. It features twelve thumb buttons on the mouse’s left side and two underneath the rubberized scroll wheel. A medium-sized mouse, it can be used with both claw and palm mousers – although the thumb buttons are far easier to access in palm mode. Inside the G600, you will find an 8,200 DPI laser sensor which can be adjusted via the downloadable control software. Performance-wise, the G600 is very accurate and was useful even in first-person shooters – even though that was not its intended game genre. The users can assign one of the mouse buttons to be the “G-Shift” control. This is basically an on-the-fly profile selector which allows the other buttons on the mouse to have more than one function. This gives gamers a staggering number of mouse button/functions to utilize in their gaming sessions. If I could change one thing on the G600, it would be the mouse’s surface. The black plastic doesn’t have much of a grip to it – a rubberized or textured surface would have been better.

Technical Specifications

Tracking
  • Resolution: 200 – 8200 dots per inch (dpi)
  • Image processing: 11.25 megapixels/second
  • Max. acceleration: 30G*
  • Max. speed: up to 160 inches (4.06 m)/second*
Responsiveness
  • USB data format: 16 bits/axis
  • USB report rate: Up to 1000 reports/second
  • Sleep mode: disabled
Glide
  • Dynamic coefficient of friction: .09 µ (k)**
  • Static coefficient of friction: .14 µ (s)**
  • Total weight: 133 grams
  • Cord: 15 grams
Durability
  • Buttons (Left / Right / Third): 20 million clicks
  • Feet: 250 kilometers
Measurements
  • Weight: 133 grams (without cable)
  • Dimensions: 118mm x 75mm x 41mm
  • Cable length: 6.5 feet (2 meters)

Overall, the Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse is a well-rounded mouse with plenty of buttons for both MMO and MOBA gamers alike. It is easy to distinguish between all the thumb controls and will allow you to quickly maneuver your mouse cursor with its high-DPI sensor.

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Pros

  • Thumb buttons easily-accessible
  • G-Shift feature doubles button functions
  • Solid braided cable makes for no tangles

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Cons

  • Only right-handed
  • Mouse could use a better grip surface

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The Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse is available now for $79.99

SteelSeries Expands North American Retail Presence

2012/11/08
Jerry Paxton
Industry News, News, Peripherals News

CHICAGO – Nov. 8, 2012 –SteelSeries, the leading global manufacturer of premium gaming peripherals, today announced its expansion and growth in North America with new retail and etail partners located and/or shipping in the U.S. and Canada. Consumers can now find select SteelSeries gaming audio, mice, keyboards, controllers and mousepads at the following new locations: h.h. gregg, EB Games Canada, Staples Canada, London Drug, Target.com, Costco.com, Hastings, TigerDirect, and The Source.

SteelSeries’ product categories that will be available from these new partners may include:

  • Audio: PC, console and mobile gaming headsets
  • Mice: Laser, optical and MMO gaming mice
  • Keyboards: Mechanical, rubber-dome and illuminated gaming keyboards
  • Controllers: PC and mobile gaming controllers
  • Gaming mousepads with a variety of surface materials
  • Licensed peripherals for blockbuster game titles including: World of Warcraft®, Diablo® III, Call of Duty®: Black Ops II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Portal 2, UFC, and more

 “We are proud to partner with such respected channel partners. Consumer demand has been phenomenal, which is a testament to the growth of the SteelSeries brand and PC and mobile gaming categories,” said Brian Stech, SteelSeries President of the Americas. “We are excited that consumers will now have more places and opportunities to experience our full line-up of products both in stores and online.”

For a full list of North American retail and e-tail locations please visit the SteelSeries Where to Buy section on our web site. For more information about SteelSeries’ full line-up of peripherals, please visithttp://steelseries.com/us/home, and be sure to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

About SteelSeries

SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of premium gaming peripherals, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software and gaming surfaces. For the past decade, SteelSeries has been on the forefront of competitive gaming gear thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gaming teams. SteelSeries also supports the growth of competitive gaming tournaments and electronic sports leagues through professional team sponsorships, partnerships, and community support all over the world. For more information, please visit http://steelseries.com.