Author - Jerry Paxton

Cooler Master Storm Recon Gaming Mouse Review

2012/10/03
Jerry Paxton
News, Reviews

Cooler Master has released its new gaming mouse, the CM Storm Recon. Ambidextrous, the mouse is perfect for lefties who often find themselves at the end of the proverbial stick when it comes to such peripherals. The mouse features a black, gunmetal design with very attractive lighting scheme that is selectable in the software control panel. A medium sized mouse, it is just the right size for both palm and claw gripping gamers, and its Avago 3090 optical sensor has a maximum sensitivity of 4,000 DPI. There is a lot of argument between laser and optical sensors. Personally, I always go with what works for me and, I can safely say that the CM Storm Recon worked great in all the game sessions I had with it. Whether it was countless hours of Borderlands 2, fun times with Costume Quest, or even Sid Meier’s Civilization V – the mouse was excellent. In terms of how it feels, I have to describe it as “slick”. The feet of this gaming mouse are some of the slickest-moving I have ever used. In terms of friction, the CM Storm Recon feels like you are using a mouse on an air hockey table.

Official Specifications

  • Avago 3090 optical sensor with 800-4000 dpi
  • On-The-Fly Lift-Off-Distance adjustments
  • On-The-Fly DPI adjustments
  • On-The Fly USB polling rate adjustments
  • Up to 1.5m/s or 60”/s tracking speed and 20G of acceleration
  • Highest grade Japanese Omron micro switches
  • Extra wide 16-bit USB data path
  • 1000 Hz polling rate / 1ms response time
  • Super Grip coated ambidextrous mousebody
  • Ultra swift mouse feet
  • Flexible 1.8 meter or 78.6 inch long cable
  • Dimensions (W x H x D): 64.4 x 116.4 x 42 mm/ 2.53 x 4.58 x 1.65 inches
  • Multicolor Mousewheel light to identify Profiles

One feature of the mouse which you won’t find on others currently is the ability to adjust the lift-of-distance. Lift-of-distance is the distance between the mousing surface and the mouse at which point the mouse’s sensor deactivates. This is especially important when picking up your mouse to bring it back after sweeping one direction or another. Customizing this option means you can negate the off-centering effect that most mice experience. Additionally, you can set your DPI and polling rate through the control panel. All of this gives gamers an incredible range of customization.

If I could pick one aspect of the Cooler Master Storm Recon gaming mouse that needs fixing, it would be the cable. Unfortunately, the cable attached to the mouse is rubberized, not braided. This means that you have to be very careful how you manage your mouse cable as it can result in tangling and friction. Of course, you could always use the Cooler Master Skorpion cable suspender/organizer, but that’s for another review…

Overall, you can’t go wrong with the Cooler Master Storm Recon gaming mouse. It has a lot of features for both right and left-handed gamers as well as a a cool style and great retail rice of $39.99. There are plenty of gaming mice retailing for a lot more which do a lot less.

CM Storm Recon Images

Paradox Makes War of the Roses A Franchise

2012/10/03
Jerry Paxton
News

STOCKHOLM – October 3, 2012 – With thousands of players duking it out on the server battlefields of War of the Roses, Paradox has officially confirmed plans to form a permanent franchise team for War of the Roses which will be led by Executive Producer Gordon Van Dyke. The game has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception by reviewers and gamers alike.

“There is no doubt that War of the Roses has been an ambitious project for us,” noted Gordon Van Dyke. “The game’s reception from players has exceeded expectations and we are truly grateful for the continued support from the community. We’ll continue to improve the game and add substantial content for all players.”

In War of the Roses, players don the role of a knight and are pitted against one another in an uphill squad battle to control the coveted crown of England. With steel on steel clashing and arrows and blots grazing past players, War of the Roses unleashes fury on a variety of battlefields in painful, real-time combat.

To celebrate the successful launch, Paradox has also announced a contest seeking the most action-packed screenshot of a battlefield image. The top two winners will each reach a private 32-player server for three months along with five copies of the game. Additional prizes will also be awarded. For more information, please visit:https://www.facebook.com/AWarofRoses

War of the Roses officially launched on October 2nd, 2012 and is currently available now PC for $29.99. Buy the game here: http://www.waroftherosesthegame.com/buy

More about the game
http://www.waroftherosesthegame.com/buy
http://www.facebook.com/AWarofRoses
http://twitter.com/AWarofRoses
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com

Bethesda Opens Battlecry Studios in Austin

2012/10/03
Jerry Paxton
News

October 3, 2012 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, is pleased to announce it has established a new studio in Austin, Texas, Battlecry Studios, to be headed by long-time industry veteran Rich Vogel. Most recently, Vogel worked at Bioware where he served as the executive producer on the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Rich has a long history in the industry having worked on Ultima Online, and Star Wars Galaxies as well as other online and console titles during his 20+ years in game development. The new studio is currently hiring other experienced game developers to fill key roles for an unannounced project.

“I have always admired and respected Bethesda’s approach to making great, original games,” said Vogel. “It’s a belief and passion I share, and I’m looking forward to building a team of high quality developers who want to bring that same commitment and creative energy to the games we’ll be creating.”

“We are very pleased to have someone with Rich’s vast experience join us at Bethesda,” said Vlatko Andonov, President of Bethesda Softworks. “Rich has a history of building and managing talented development teams and bringing high quality games to market, and we look forward to working with him on a new exciting project.”

Battlecry Studios will be the second ZeniMax studio located in Austin, joining Arkane® Studios, whose highly-anticipated title, Dishonored™, ships this month. For more information about Bethesda Softworks and available jobs at Battlecry Studios, visit: http://jobs.zenimax.com/.

Duo Gamer Bluetooth Controller Review

2012/10/03
Jerry Paxton
News, Reviews

The Duo Gamer is a Bluetooth game controller for the iOS platform  The controller is made from a durable, hard plastic and feels like it could take a beating. The package also contained a simple plastic stand for your iOS device to rest on so that you can prop it up for a more console-like experience. The stand may be simple, but does the job it was designed for without issue. It even has a cutout in it to run a charge/sync cable through. For an even greater console-like experience, you can attach an HDMI cable and run your device to a television set. The package also contained a nice, felt pouch to hold the Duo Gamer while in transit – although, our pouch string did not contain any kind of locking mechanism for cinching. I am unsure if our pouch is defective or that’s just how they come – hopefully, they all have cinch locks of some kind.

Pairing the Duo Gamer to my iPad was very easy – simply hold the power button on the controller down for a few seconds and the device appeared in my iPad’s Bluetooth device window. After its first paring, a window appeared, directing me to some of Gamelofts titles which support the controller. As it stands right now – only Gameloft titles are supporting the Duo Gamer. Thankfully, that means that you get a nice array of titles of varying genres to try out until the company releases some more or perhaps makes some deals with other game developers.

I was able to try out a couple of the first person shooter games in the Gameloft library as well as Order & Chaos Online. All the games performed remarkably well with the Duo Gamer and the two analog sticks feel really natural to control. The biggest problem I had with the Duo Gamer was the form factor of its upper section where the bumper buttons are located. For the FPS titles, the bumper acts as a trigger and, due to the shape of the controller’s corner, is slightly annoying to depress – especially when cranking out rounds with your character’s pistol. Hopefully Duo will update the design at some point but the issue should not deter you from purchasing now – you get used to it.

Overall, I would definitely recommend the Duo Gamer controller for any iPad gamer interested in taking their Gameloft titles to a new level. The overall experience is very console-like and will hopefully show hardware and software makers that the realm of iPad gaming has only reached the tip of the iceberg. The Duo Gamer will retail for $79.99 when it is released on October 5th at various retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and even the Apple Store.

Duo Gamer Product Page

Endless Space Free DLC Released

2012/10/03
Jerry Paxton
News

Haarlem, The Netherlands – October 3, 2012 – Iceberg Interactive and developer Amplitude Studios announced today the first free add-on for their ‘4X’ strategy hit ENDLESS SPACE, “Rise of the Automatons,” is now available on Steam.

“We have to thank our community for its help in defining the add-on — GAMES2GETHER’s votes were used to determine half the improvements,” said Amplitude CEO Mathieu Girard. “We really appreciate our players’ devotion and ideas; they’ve given us ammo for many more updates and upgrades beyond this one. They’re numerous, argumentative, and occasionally challenging, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

RISE OF THE AUTOMATONS FEATURES:

  • Addition of the new Automatons custom faction (thanks to the community hero ‘Panzer‘)
  • GUI changes such as a new Trade Route panel and Empire Management screen
  • Upgraded and updated diplomacy and alliance options
  • Improved hero management
  • Improved AI
  • Fixes, amendments and changes

The full list of changes for the add-on can be found on the Amplitude forums here. Players should finish their current game today as the add-on is incompatible with old saves due to the many changes.

Screenshots

Port Royale 3 Pre-Order Bonus Details

2012/10/03
Jerry Paxton
News


Ridgewood, NJ, October 3, 2012 – North American PC gamers looking to pick up the swashbuckling adventure Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants will be pleased to hear of two special retail purchasing incentives today. Both are DLC packs available to consumers who pre-order a boxed PC copy of the game before its North American retail release on October 9, 2012.

The first DLC pack is available to customers who pre-order a boxed PC copy of the game throughAmazon.com. This pack contains three new pirate-themed building — the pirate palace, temple and warehouse.

The second DLC, the adventure pack, is available to anyone who pre-orders the boxed version of the PC version of Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants, and sends a scanned/photographed copy of their final purchase receipt to bonuscontent@kalypsomedia.com by October 9, 2012. The adventure pack contains three additional buildings.

By purchasing through Amazon.com, gamers can earn a total of six buildings, three from the pirate pack, and the additional three from the adventure pack.

Kalypso will release Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants to North American retail on October 9.  For more information about the game, please visit http://www.port-royale3.com/us/

In Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants, players will embark upon an epic adventure through the Caribbean during the turbulent 17th century where the naval powers of Spain, England, France and the Netherlands all fight for supremacy in the colonies. Players take on the role of a young captain trying to build his fortune and reputation in the new world colonies. The campaign consists of two different paths for the young protagonist to follow: adventurer and trader.

Following the path of the adventurer will lead the player on a naval conquest where they must gain notoriety through raids, piracy, bounty hunting, plundering and conquering cities as they strive to build their new Caribbean empire.

The route of the trader sees the player using their economic know-how to become the most powerful trading tycoon in the New World by setting up trade routes, building production facilities and developing cites.

In free-play mode, the player crafts a combination of the two paths, creating a unique and challenging scenario on the path to increase wealth and power.

Features of Port Royale 3 Pirates and Merchants:

  • Two different single player campaigns: Adventurer and Trader
  • Naval battles, raids, plundering and invasions await the Adventurer, while the Trader will develop trade routes and the economy to earn glory, fortune and power
  • 16 different ship types, such as powerful Galleons or versatile Frigates
  • Organize trade with 60 different cities such as Port-au-Prince or Tortuga
  • A comprehensive trade system, with supply and demand dynamically setting the price of goods and wares, like in the real world

About The Kalypso Media Group

Founded in 2006 in Germany by industry veterans Simon Hellwig and Stefan Marcinek, Kalypso Media is a global, independent developer, marketer and publisher of interactive entertainment software with 120 employees world-wide.

Along with Headquarters in Worms, Germany, the company has offices in the United Kingdom and the United States.  Kalypso Media also enjoys very strong global digital distribution through its Kalypso Media Digital Ltd. office and owns three development studios – Realmforge Studios GmbH, Gaming Minds Studios GmbH and Noumena Studios GmbH – and works with multiple leading independent developers.

Kalypso Media‘s titles include the critically acclaimed Tropico 4, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Dungeons. Upcoming multi-platform titles include Port Royale 3, Omerta – City of Gangsters, DARK and The Dark Eye – Demonicon along with Legends of Pegasus for PC. Further information about Kalypso Media is available at http://www.kalypsomedia.com.

The Walking Dead Episode 4 Trailer and Screens

2012/10/02
Jerry Paxton
News

Telltale Games has released a new trailer as well as some screenshots from the upcoming The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner. Enjoy!

Trailer

Screenshots

Krater Co-Op DLC Release Date

2012/10/02
Jerry Paxton
News

STOCKHOLM, Sweden. October 2, 2012. Fatshark today announced a release date for the upcoming co-op DLC to Krater – October 23, 2012.

“The co-op DLC will be available on October 23, 2012 via Steam. The download will be free, and will also include a large number of updates to the single player content.” says Martin Wahlund, CEO and Executive Producer, Fatshark. “Shortly thereafter there will also be new character DLC’s with some nice vanity flavor to them if you want your character to look the best when playing the game.”

Krater is a retro-flavored post-apocalyptic top down RPG where you control a squad of free-diggers through the perils of an open game world. It is not your generic action RPG clone – it is lush in its colors, hardcore and got a different vibe to it. The base pillars are crafting, exploration and consequence. Consequence brings not only the ability for the characters to level up and improve themselves, but also permanent injuries and death.

“The game experience from day one to now is very different. We have listened to the player feedback. There is a lot things adjusted and added to the game.” says Robert Bäckström, Producer, Fatshark. “If you played the game at release, and play it on October 23rd, you will get a whole new experience.”

Visit www.kratergame.com for more detailed information.

To get the latest info on all Fatshark activities; follow us www.twitter.com/fatsharkgames and @fatsharkgames at Instagram, like uswww.facebook.com/fatsharkgames, contact us press@fatshark.se or visit us www.fatshark.se.

Co-Op Screenshots

SpookyShogun Movie Review: Grave Encounters 2

2012/10/02
Jerry Paxton
Film Review, Halloween, Movie News, News, Reviews

Grave Encounters 2, the new film from the Vicious Bros., begins by showing clips of students reacting and talking about Grave Encounters. The new film takes a reality/viral-video style voyage in a world where the first film was actually released to its characters. The new cast in the sequel begin to investigate the original film’s production (which has become a sort of cult-film) and decide to delve deeper into its happenings. Obviously, this is just a terrible idea and will results in creeps, scares, chills, and death. Unlike Human Centipede 2, which takes a similar look at its preceding film, Grave Encounters 2 does this frame story style very well, and the Vicious Bros. should be commended for balancing the two films together – adding a lot of new mythology in the sequel while keeping grounded in the world setup in the original.

The scares are far more visceral in this sequel, with more blood and straight-out action than before. The cast is all natural in their deliveries, which is so often an issue in these found-footage style films, and were a pleasure to watch. The effects budget has also been increased for this one, and the added production value shows. All of the effects come off VERY realistically, and it all blends together in a ballet of horror.

Additionally, the way the directors weaved in some serious twists and turns in the movie’s plot was masterful and, without giving anything away, I was very satisfied with how it all turned out. Overall, I would definitely recommend Grave Encounters 2 for anyone looking to watch a film with genuine scares this Halloween season.

Grave Encounters 2 will be available on-demand beginning today, with a select theatrical release on October 12.

[easyreview title=”Grave Encounters 2 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″] Our Rating Scores Explained