Activision has just announced that the original game in the Call of Duty series, re-dubbed Call of Duty: Classic for this release, will be available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday for 1200 Microsoft Points. It will also be coming to the PSN on Thursday for $14.99.
MSI’s Wind U200 netbook turned heads with its sleek design and crisp widescreen display. Powered by a 1.4GHz Intel CPU, MSI has upgraded the unit in its successor, the Wind U210. Forgoing Intel, the new Wind U210 features a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo CPU while also doubling the system bus speed to 1600 MHz. Coupled with its large, 12.1-inch widesceen display, the Wind U210 is still turning heads. Netbooks have come a long way in their relatively short lifespan as a consumer product, and the U210 can really be seen as a cross-over in the way that many SUVs are these days. It is way more powerful than most smaller netbooks while not performing as well as a full-fledged laptop.
DESIGN:
The basic layout and design of the Wind U210 has not changed much since its predecessor. The netbook features a graphite composite frame with a sleek shine that eagerly picks up the available light in the room giving the unit a showroom-feel. The roughly 2” x 2” touchpad is functional, but not ideal for netbook usage. It does not feature a slide pad to help navigate large documents or web pages. It does, however, feature a slight texturing to its surface which creates good feedback while not hampering the pad’s slickness.
The netbook’s keyboard, while not as large as a standard laptop’s, has more then enough typing area to be comfortable and not make your hands cramp up the way some smaller netbook keyboards tend to. Each of the keys on the U210’s keyboard also feature what MSI calls EDS (Ergonomic De-Stressing). The keys are slightly concave, more fitting to the natural contours of a human finger-tip. While I do not have any type of stress-measuring device to judge this, I can say that the keyboard feels comfortable even after many hours of use.
The biggest flaw in the U210 is the lack of an internal Bluetooth receiver. It actually took me off-guard as there is a button on the U210’s keyboard with the Bluetooth symbol on it as well as a Bluetooth Assistant program which loads automatically with the operating system. Unfortunately, this assistant is looking for you to attach your own BT dongle. Why MSI would include a webcam and not a Bluetooth adapter is beyond me. Nevetheless, USB-powered BT adapters are only a few dollars on Amazon.
DESKTOP:
Utilizing Microsoft’s new Windows 7 Home Basic OS, the Wind U210 is very stable in the desktop-department. I experienced no hardware lock-ups or glitches denoting an incompatibility and it is clear MSI has done the required work to get the netbook working with the new OS. Applications such as MS Office 2007 worked smoothly and the netbook provided enough power to sift through the fairly complex GamingShogun.com database with ease.
GAMING:
I have always wondered how a netbook would do in the gaming arena and with the U210’s ATI x1250 GPU and shared 2GB of RAM, this would be the one to test it with. I need to mention that our review unit came with an ATI x1270 GPU, at least according to the Catalyst Control Center software. MSI’s website continues to say the U210 is equipped with an x1250. Why this discrepancy? We don’t know yet but will update this review when we find out. Unfortunately, even with this large amount of shared system memory, as well as the x1270 GPU, the U210 is not the mini-gaming powerhouse I had hoped. Honestly, I was not all that surprised – with gaming performance comes a loss of battery life as well as an increase in retail price – neither aspect being appealing in a netbook. That is not to say you can’t game with the Wind U210 – you just have to be very selective of what you choose to play. For instance, the demo for World in Conflict at the lowest possible visual setting yielded an average frame rate of 6. Play a title like Gratuitous Space Battles or even the Flash-developed Bloons Tower Defense and you will be a much happier gamer.
MULTIMEDIA:
Featuring a very bright, and crisp, 12.1-inch widescreen display, the U210 is a treat for the eyes. In helping with this is the fact that the display features a low-power LED back-lighting. Not only is the light distributed more evenly and brightly across the screen, but you will save some precious battery life too!
The 1.3 megapixel camera of the Wind U210 is more than fine for video conferencing and basic web chatting. Here is an example of a 1.3 megapixel image shrunk down to 540 pixels wide and compressed to 70% of its original quality via Photoshop. Yes, I took it at a Starbucks. What can I say? I like coffee.
The Wind U210 also includes both VGA and HDMI outputs on the left side of the netbook. The VGA output performs perfectly for presentations and other more work-related needs. The HDMI port was a bit of let down as I was hoping for better performance outputting 1080p video to LCD displays. During 720p video output, the video quality performed fine. Whether or not the HDMI output issues are due to the CPU, GPU, or some combination of the two is up for debate. If any new driver updates fix the issue in the future, I will update this review accordingly.
The netbook features two small speakers which do an adequate job of providing sound output. There are microphone and headphone ports on the right side of the netbook.
BATTERY LIFE:
MSI estimates that the Wind U210 will last about 6.5 hours while running in what the have dubbed ‘ECO Mode’. For those of you who are not aware of this mode, MSI includes some power-managing presets into most of their new laptops and netbooks. The presets range from ‘ECO Mode’, which gives MAX batter life, to the ‘Gaming Mode’ which uses power much more liberally. During our general-use tests we found battery life to hover from 3 to 4 hours depending on what we were doing and other factors such as screen brightness.
DEVELOPERS:
Being a web designer and programmer, I could not resist the urge to install Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 Beta as well as Adobe’s Photoshop CS2 on the netbook to see how it would work in this regard. I created a small test website with some custom graphics on the netbook’s localhost server and can report that the process was very smooth. There was a slightly longer than normal load time for both Visual Studio and Photoshop but it was nothing very painful. Once loaded, both programs pretty much performed as I have seen them on more powerful desktops, which is to say – well.
CONCLUSION:
Filling the gap between a standard netbook and a full-fledged laptop, the MSI Wind U210 is portable, yet powerful, and will be a welcome addition to both your school bag, briefcase, or even journalist’s jump pack (which is where this one is going).
*DISCLOSURE: MSI gave GamingShogun.com a Wind U210 netbook, which was evaluated over a period of several weeks.
You all remember all those crazy ads on the site for that online game EVONY? Well, I had them removed from our ad roll – you’re welcome – as the controversy around the game grew. As it turns out, an anti-EVONY group has posted evidence linking the game to a Chinese gold-farming ring as well as several other kinds of shenanigans.
CCP Games has released a new trailer for their upcoming EVE Online expansion: Dominion. Dominion will see what CCP considers EVE Online’s ‘end game’ come to play, more often known as Alliance Warfare. It will also see a completely overhauled Sovereignty system as well as the obligatory new quests, ships, items, etc. You can see the full features page at the game’s official site.
A company we always keep up with in regards to their latest gaming peripherals, Razer, is having a special free-shipping sale now through the end of the weekend on everything in their store. This includes their newly-announced Imperator gaming mouse. The free-shipping sale is good not only in their US Razer Zone store but also their European and Chinese stores as well.
Spike TV has unveiled some of the new footage from the upcoming video game based in some way on TRON LEGACY, the forthcoming film from Walt Disney Pictures. The full gameplay footage will be revealed LIVE during the 2009 Video Game Awards on December 12th at 8pm. Of course, we will have a crew there LIVE blogging the event, so stay-tuned!
Cryptic Studios has released a new Starship Tactics video for their upcoming MMO, Star Trek Online. Big reveals in this video – not only do you see the battle section of a saucer-separated ship in action but also how boarding parties work in the game. Star Trek Online is due out on February 2nd, 2010 on Windows PCs.
HISTORY:
Founded in 1995, BioWare hit the mark with PC gamers by way of their 1998 RPG, Baldur’s Gate. They, and Black Isle Studios, followed this up with an expansion as well as a full-blown sequel in 2000 and went on to develop some of the best video games in existence. For instance, BioWare developed both the Neverwinter Nights and Mass Effect series of games.
After Neverwinter Nights, however, BioWare’s RPGs tended towards the action variety as PC developers the world over tried to keep up with the faster-paced games making their way onto console platforms. In business, you give the people what they want and the cold, hard truth of it is that there are a multitude more console gamers than PC gamers these days (not counting the hybrids, of course, such as yours truly). In 2004 as fans found out that Baldur’s Gate III: The Black Hound, being developed by Black Isle Studios, had been canceled they returned their attention to BioWare for classic-RPG salvation. BioWare has answered their call with Dragon Age: Origins. They have said that this title will appease both types of core gamers and I finally got the chance to check out the PC version in order to see if it really lives up to its promises.
STORY:
The kingdom of Ferelden is potentially in the midst of what Grey Wardens call a Blight. Basically, this is a situation where a twisted and evil group of beings known as Darkspawn wage an all-out genocide against humanity as well as the rest of the races in the land. Grey Wardens are a group of individuals who fight the Darkspawn and are imbued with some mystical powers. Your part is played as an initiate Grey Warden who must battle the Darkspawn as well as perform some other pretty huge tasks, such as uniting a slew of conflicting races as well as restore the proper order in some instances of political coups!
While the basic story in Dragon Age: Origins may sound familiar, I promise you that this game is murky – VERY murky. You will be forced with making some very tough decisions and, in some cases, the decisions you are offered are all negative and it will be your job to choose the option you feel best. The great thing about DAO is that it really does not judge you for actions that could be considered ‘bad’. Sure, there are consequences in the way the world unfolds around you, but you are never labeled as one thing or the other based on those actions. Likewise, the amount of human drama which takes place in this game rivals some episodes of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. This is a mature game with mature themes, and will readily appeal to the group of gamers who grew up with classics such as Baldur’s Gate. Most of us are in our thirties now and able to ingest such content – yay for maturity!
GAMEPLAY:
DAO has a varied play styles depending on your preferences. If you like, you can play the game in a 3D isometric view of the world and your party. Moreover, you can also set the game to auto-pause at the beginning of combat. This will give you time to assign actions to your party members before resuming real-time combat. This play style warmly reminds me of those classic RPGs while also dazzling me with popping 3D effects and details. It truly was the best of both worlds and his how I prefer to play.
You can also choose to zoom the camera all the way in behind the character you are controlling at the moment and play the game like a modern MMO such as World of Warcraft. I see this view lending itself more towards the younger crowd who grew up mainly on console titles, however it still works very well on the PC. The experience is definitely more intimate in this view and it is easier to lose your perspective on combat (you may want to use the auto-pause to help with this) but you ALSO get the benefit of seeing a lot more of the gory details and effects!
The rest of the controls are easily picked up by anyone who has played an RPG, MMO, or shooter in the last five years. Right-click to attack and move, left-click to select something. You will find the traditional inventory screens as well as skills and ‘paper doll’ interfaces work seamlessly and are very user-friendly.
GRAPHICS:
Dragon Age: Origins features detailed characters and vibrant combat and magic effects. It also features blood. Lots of blood. In fact, blood is a recurring theme in the game, from the box art to the loading screen you will find blood spray and spatter. Also, a key point in the game revolves around the blood of the Darkspawn. You will not be surprised, then, to find out that after combat your characters will look like they stepped out of an Ed Gein dinner party. They are covered from head-to-toe with the blood of their enemies. The effect is really cool at first but, when you find out the blood stays with your characters as they go about the rest of their business, it is off-putting. Walking around an unsuspecting village, talking to citizens, all while drenched in blood just appears strange. You expect the NPCs to ask you, ‘Hello, why are you and those three other characters drenched in blood?’.
Aside from vibrant magical effects, you will also find that DAO features its share of combat finishing moves and other gory moments. The blood and heads really start flying in heated battles – this is easily the goriest game BioWare has made to date. Well done – it looks amazing!
SOUND:
The spectacular soundtrack of DAO was composed by Inon Zur, veteran composer of games such as Fallout 3 and Baldur’s Gate II. Here, Zur is at his best with sweeping sounds and musical climaxes. Aside from the game’s soundtrack, the sound design team has done a wonderful job with the environmental noises as well as the sounds of combat.
It needs to be mentioned that the voice work in Dragon Age: Origins, is almost too solid for its own good. You will begin to think that all games should have a voice cast this talented, which will then ruin your experience with these other titles. Actors such as Claudia Black, Tim Curry, and even Kate Mulgrew will grace your ears with their incredible performances. BioWare and EA really pulled out all the stops with their casting on this one.
ORIGINS:
Unlike most classic RPGs, the amount of character customization available to the player is more limited than they will remember from older RPGs. In DAO, you will find three races to choose from, each with only a couple of class picks as well as a couple of background options. Your decisions when first creating your character will decide what origin story you play-through first. An origin story is like a training campaign – more than that, it sets up your character’s back story and really puts you in his or her mindset.
Some of these origins are noble, while others start you off as a cold-blooded killer… Like I said, this game is murky. Each of these origin stories takes a good couple hours to complete, so be ready to put in the proper time to get your maximum enjoyment from the game. This, being a more classical RPG, has a huge amount of story options for you to take on. Prepare to spend about 40 to 50 hours on a thorough play-through!
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:
Once your character begins leveling up, you will have to choose where to spend your skill points. You will be able to choose from several disciplines and skills to increase your proficiency in. Character development is fairly straight-forward and it is really fun to plan out how your want your party members to develop.
Like the Baldur’s Gate series, your party members will often communicate amongst themselves and, in some cases, squabble about random stuff. Your decision as to what party members to bring with you will also affect how their interactions go. Like-minded characters tend to get along better, etc.
TACTICS:
A big gameplay point BioWare has added a new AI feature called ‘Tactics’ to DAO. Basically, this allows you to setup your AI to perform certain actions or skills based on varying criteria. For instance, you can set a magic user to heal if health goes below a certain percentage. A player who has more levels into the skill ‘Combat Tactics’ will be grated additional tactics slots to fill out. Unfortunately, for the less hardcore gamers this system might be overwhelming. Thankfully, you can use preset character tactics (like Aggressive, Defensive, Ranged, etc) to make this aspect of the game easier.
CONCLUSION:
Dragon Age: Origins is an incredible deep role-playing game experience that is accessible by both PC and console gamers alike. It features a rich story, excellent voice acting, and crisp visuals that will keep you clamoring for more, even 50 hours into the game.
As most of you probably know, Electronic Arts shut down one of its brightest development houses the other day – Pandemic Studios. This was the developer being the Mercenaries series of games as well as the upcoming The Saboteur. Thankfully, most of their core IP teams were moved to other places in the EA realm. Many were not, however. In this edition of G4’s Sessler’s Soapbox, Adam says goodbye…
I remember testing these cans out at CES 2009 and I was pleasantly impressed with them at the time. They had the crisp high-hats and head pounding lows, while feeling very comfortable. I remember being very impressed with the Silencer technology which, when paired with a Creative Fatal1ty sound card, intelligently cuts out the background noise to provide a very clear voice for online VOIP or in-game voice chat. When I was handed this headset by out intrepid editor, I was frothing at the mouth to get home and try them out in the real world.
I will preface this by saying I’m an extreme audiophile, I’m just not in the tax bracket to afford the type of hardware I would wish for. That doesn’t mean my ears are any less snobbish when listening to the run of the mill speakers that are poorly powered and balanced. When I put the cans on for the first time at home after installing the software, I immediately turned on a game and cranked it up into the ear bleeding range. Even in the extremes, the speakers hold themselves together maintaining clarity. The wonderful world the over-ear cans create is very deep and layered. I was able to hear ambient sounds over the BAM, POW, CRASH of Batman: Arkham Asylum, this brought a smile to my face. I went from game to music and tested a playlist I have specifically designed to test new audio equipment. It ranges from classical to acoustic singer-songwriters and rock to rap. Each song came across admirably and I was continually impressed that these retail for $99.
Comfort is a major issue with me and headphones. I’m above average in height and apparently I have a huge head (both metaphorically and physically I’m told). Only headphones that were in the astronomical price range would ever feel good being worn for more than even a few songs. For me, on-ear cans are simply not an option, I’ve never once been able to find one comfortable enough to wear for more than a few minutes. In fact, I would prefer to have comfort over the highest end speakers you could fit in a headset. Putting these on for the first few minutes is a real joy. They are very light, and fit well over my gigantic ears. Normally around the fifteen minute range I start to get annoyed with any normal headset. I went for a long-term session and clocked in about four hours playing Dragon Age: Origins. The only minor discomfort I felt was from the pad that rests on the top of your head. Creative – are you listening? For the next iteration of this headset, make the pad at the top both wider and more plush. I will marry someone over there for that.
The construction is as good as you can get for the price tag. It’s plastic in most places, the part you slide out for more room is of course metal. I also like that it doesn’t have notches, you can infinitely adjust to any increment. I have purchased headphones before that one notch was too small, the next too big – simply not a worry here. They rotate at the actual cans to make sure the plush padding around your ears is always flush. I would have liked to have seen some metal here. If you look at pictures of the headset, you will see right at the point that the speakers attached to the top a plastic wishbone. I can see in some frustrating situations that the headset could get ripped off a ‘pwned newb’, or tossed at the wall in a rage. I can see that point being the weak spot.
Any good gaming headset needs a good mic. This one is nice, actually. I was able to clearly be heard by anyone either over VOIP programs like Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, but also on in-game voice chats. There was one exception to this, however and it’s one of the headset’s key selling points. When I had the Silencer technology turned on, people constantly asked me to turn up my settings, or ‘swallow the mic’. Unfortunately, all my mic settings in Windows and in the Creative control panel were fully maxed out. The mic itself will pretty much rest just a couple of inches away from your mouth, right where it’s supposed to be so that wasn’t the issue. There may be a firmware or driver update that will fix this, so if there is please let us know so we can correct this right away. I tried recording myself with the Silencer on and off, I can see that being of some use, but how often does a gamer record himself? I suppose it will happen from time to time, but this still needs work in my opinion. Otherwise the mic works fine, it’s connected by a rubber casing that will never break and will of course move up and away if you’re not using it.
I have a fundamental problem with USB headsets. They can be fussy, this one is better than most, but still has its anomalies (mostly because of Windows). Also, I have a perfectly good sound card in my system and I would like it to continue to take clock cycles away from my CPU to handle sound. Even if the Creative card helps the headset in processing power, it’s still communicating via USB which means it will go through the ‘South Bridge’ of your motherboard (most of the time) and on through your CPU. If you have the Silencer technology going, or if the card is helping in some other fashion, it’s going down to the PCIe bus and back again. Gamers typically want to squeeze every last frame-per-second out of their rigs, and this is aimed at gamers to a point. I understand the convenience of being able to plug the headphones into the front panel of your case, but if you have that option 9/10 times you also have the speaker jacks. When I’m playing a game, I can remove the headphones and the default audio device will switch back to the sound card automatically. Unfortunately, the game/music/movie doesn’t know about that as a sound source cannot be swapped like that unless you restart the process. That’s no big deal, but when dealing with a game and having to save then shut it down then restart just to switch from speakers to headphones or back, it’s annoying.
All in all, this is a great pair of cans. I enjoy their fidelity, ease of use, and comfort. What else do you need? I think if Creative gives a version of these with speaker jacks (even if they have to lessen the software that comes with it), improves the Silencer technology to let the voice still get through with volume, and gives a better pad at the top, they will be a force to be reckoned with for ages to come.
