Author - Ripper71

GoGroove AudiOHM HDX Earbuds Review

2017/08/23

The other day I needed a stack of sticky notes so I went into one of my old convention bags. They usually have a few of them inside as companies hand them out like candy at the conventions. It’s good marketing for them as, each time you look at the sticky note, you are reminded of their company. As I reached in I felt something else and no it wasn’t a scorpion or brown recluse spider, both of which you have to be careful of when you reach into bags in my area. Instead, it was a little round rubber bag slightly smaller than the post notes (which explained their misplace) with the word GoGroove on the top and with that I fell back in love with my GoGroove AudiOHM HDX High Performance Earbuds With Mic.

Grooving Through the Grounds:

The earbuds were in their case and not their box because I had put them to heavy use at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) where the din gets to intensity levels that damage your eardrums and cause you to hear a ringing for a day or two. I had been visiting GoGroove’s booth when I won a raffle they happen to be having, I said thanks and put them in my pocket with plans to use them after I finished chatting with the booth. Since it was so loud on the floor I took everything out of the packaging, used a clip to attach the little round storage bag to my backpack and started using the earbuds immediately. I chose the buds that were already on them since they felt secure and helped drowned out the noise before I even started the music and I began some tunes to try and find a bit of inner chill in this massive electronic market place.

The nice thing was at the end of the day my ears weren’t ringing as bad as usual and I had the case attached in an easy to reach place. The case has an elastic belt strap but I used a clip ring to secure it to my backpack instead. The next couple days I wore them, I was wearing down but they, of course, were doing fine. Start the day pulling them out of the case and hanging them over my shoulders until I decided to use them and at the end of the day back into the storage case. That is how it went for the week until the last day when I took everything from the bottom of my bag and hooked around it’s outside and tossed it into a storage bag. The earbuds slipped to the bottom until the other day.

I have been walking a lot lately to try to lose some weight and try to get into great condition for Halloween season, when a good deal of the GamingShogun staff and thousands of others travel to everything from home haunts to full-size amusement parks to take on the scares they have to offer. It involves A LOT of walking and I have a medical condition that highly limits that, so at this time of year I start pushing and testing my endurance while finding out what canes work the best for me and figuring out when I will need a wheelchair.

The cables are wrapped in a nice thick rubber, the design at the earbud is set up so that if you accidently pull it from your ear it will pull at an angle instead of straight down on the connection. This should give it a lot of extra life. The call button is bright orange so it stands out nicely against the grey to hit it on the fly and the split section between the input cable and the earbud cables is reinforced rubber to help it from breaking down.

Because of that I use headsets a good deal of the day, trying to distract myself from massive amounts of pain or trying to find inspirational music to push that much further. I have used all kinds of headsets from dollar store ones WalMart specials. I never seem to get the $250 ones for gaming or walking but I know my way around affordable and the GoGroove AudiOHM HDX are definitely the higher end of that with a price tag of around $15.

Grooving Along:

The GoGroove AudiOHM HDX High-Performance Earbuds with Microphone are a nice and durable set of earbuds with some sound cancellation and a very affordable price. I will definitely have them in my headset/earbud rotation and expect for them to stand up to repeated use for some time to come.

GoGroove AudiOHM HDX Earbuds With Mic Review Score

[mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#8224e3″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#8224e3″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#8224e3″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#8224e3″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star-o” color=”#8224e3″ type=”fa”] (4 out of 5 stars)

John Carpenter’s Tales Of Science Fiction: Vault (Issue 2 of 3)

2017/08/23

Ripper71

Book Review, Comics News, News

The first issue of Vault left us with a strangely alien ship that has a quote from Emily Dickinson on the hull. The strange ship is named Vault and it features an Arabic countdown timer on a large screen on the bridge. It would all seem quite inviting if not for the bodies strewn about in a eviscerated form, strange gooey slime, and a science officer that seems to want to join the other team. That last may actually make sense with the conditions of the bodies.

The second issue in the series really ramps up the tension as faces are given to what is to be feared on Vault and probably at least a couple of the explorers of the ship wish they didn’t know now. Instead of providing the crew with any answers it seems to just have confused them more since the “monsters” have cousins on Earth but those cousins do not cruise around in ships eating folks as snacks. Their Earth cousin and them do seem to share at least one thing and I keep waiting for some to Google it up (it’s okay to say Google, they use the name in the series). Thankfully, the crew have finally realized how the creatures managed to get around them in a very Alien kind of way. Because of this, I am hoping that they will be able to keep at least a handful of the crew they have through the rest of issue number two and, maybe, the final issue -perhaps to become re-occurring characters in John Carpenter’s Tales Of Science Fiction comics going forward. That’s going to be a tall order, however, as they’ve got some big nasty stuff to get by if they are going to have that happen.

Deeper Into The Vault:

The first issue of John Carpenter’s Tales Of Science Fiction: Vault was really good at building up tension but issue two brought on the monsters and showed what they will have to fight or, at least, survive if they want to make it out alive. I’m still wondering how they will get the whole story tied up in just one last episode but we are talking about John Carpenter. If anyone can pull off a three issue Tales of Science Fiction run, it would be him!

The Monster Project Film Review

2017/08/19

Ripper71

Film Review, Movie News, News, Reviews

When the opportunity to review The Monster Project came along, I was completely excited about it. I didn’t know the filmmakers for their celluloid works but, instead, for their annual interactive haunted attraction known as Delusion where the guests play a part in the storyline. Delusion is only accessible by reservation and sells out quickly every year (this year they are dark, unfortunately). I’m such a fan I even have a poster and a plague doctor’s mask from one year’s production. Knowing that these people can take you into a setting and make you feel like you are part of a movie I figured the chances would be great that they could pull off the easier task of letting us sit back for a change and have them do the movie magic. So I gladly screened The Monster Project.

A Story You Can Sink Your Teeth Into:

The premise they came up with was fairly straight forward but not one that had well-trodden on by other movies yet. A small group of filmmakers, who up until now had made to fake viral monster videos, decide to do a documentary on people who think they are really monsters. They put out a casting call for people in the area who might think they are possessed by demons or suffer from conditions such as Lycanthropy or Renfield’s Syndrome (clinical vampirism) to come and be interviewed for the documentary. It doesn’t take long before a man claiming to be a Native American Skinwalker, a woman claiming to be possessed by a demon, and woman claiming to be a full blown vampire each contact the group in their own special way to apply for the interview. They rent out a derelict house for atmosphere and get ready for the night.

The crew consists of the “idea man” Devon (Justin Bruening), his videographer Jamal (Jamal Quezaire), Devon’s ex Murielle (Murielle Zuker), and a recovering addict named Bryan (Toby Hemingway). Bryan is a close friend of Murielle and someone her and Jamal havce taken in to give him a chance to get back on his feet. As a gift for his sobriety and his birthday, Murielle gives Bryan a GoPro which helps us have another view of the happenings directly from the head of one of the characters as this film is shot in somewhat of a “found footage” style. It also lets you know how people are feeling by being the “fly on the wall” in dramatic moments.

We never get a good look at the Skinwalker played by Steven Flores as his characters requests to be kept in the shadows to protect his identity and they even use a voice modulator on him. As a reservation police he wears a body cam which gives us a little more looks at situations that I will get back to but it does have a certain irony that the monster we hardly see helps us see the crew better. Then you have the demon possessed girl played by Shiori Ideta. Ideta’s character is akin to Kayako from The Ring: She is a petite Asian woman with black hair over her face, pale skin, and a simple white dress. The pleas she makes to the demon that, she claims, lives inside her can make your skin crawl with creep factor.

The last monster in the mix is “vampire” Shayla (Yvonne Zima), who steals the show. She has an enticing beauty that pulls you in despite her glowing white eyes. Sporting a ton of tattoos and making herself at home putting her feet up on the interview desk, there is no question who is in charge of the room once she enters the scene. The Monster Project has an interesting take on vampirism – especially how they handle a vampire’s dealing with sunlight. Shayla answers their questions until she decides it is a good time to drop a bomb on the team that sends them fighting among themselves, kicking off a lot of chaos for our filmmakers.

I can’t give away anything else without venturing into spoiler territory, but once that chaos begins, the folks behind The Monster Project really begin to shine. After years of having to have practical effects that look perfect time after time feet away from a live audience, their coming up with them for a movie seemed effortless. Using night vision helps with this of course, wires aren’t as visible and the image is somewhat distorted. A GoPro carried by one of the crew is also a savior because they can take it and shoot in sections of a property that might be too difficult otherwise. The ending is definitely important to catch too because it had a surprise that myself and the person watching it with me did not expect at all.

There were only a few things minor that detracted from our enjoyment of The Monster Project. On the small end of the gripe spectrum, Jamal seemed a bit over the top and, while this helped the energy of the scene, I didn’t believe his delivery some of the time. Also, they seemed to love racking the slide back on their pistol after already having done so multiple times. With semi-automatic handguns, there is a round in the chamber once the slide is racked back the first time. Each additional racking of the slide will eject the currently-chambered cartridge and load the next one in the magazine until the magazine is empty (at which point the slide stays locked back). This is a small, yet technical-detail that I noticed and did pull me out of the scene at points. There was one big thing though and that was the use of the would-be Skinwalker’s body cam. Once he takes off his clothing, where was the camera attached to? I love the idea of a body cam view, but someone has to be wearing the cam for it to work, right? I digress, however, as I really enjoyed this movie despite those minor issues.

A Monster Project:

The Monster Project starts off a bit slow but once it gets up and running it starts sprinting with an amazing kinetic energy all the way until the end. The Monster Project is a great example of how practical effects can be performed on-set and still be very effective to the audience at the same time. Couple that with good acting and Victor Mathieu excellent direction and The Monster Project is a great time – especially if you can find it in a theatrical screening. I look forward to seeing more films from the folks behind Delusion, as long as it doesn’t mean we have to miss out on another year of that!

The Monster Project Review Score

[mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#dd0000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#dd0000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#dd0000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#dd0000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star-o” color=”#dd0000″ type=”fa”] (4 out of 5 Stars)

The Domicile Movie Review

2017/08/18

Ripper71

Film Review, Halloween, Movie News, News, Reviews

I like all kinds of movies, from serious, high-budget productions to the campy, home video quality flick. The divide between those two kinds of films is closing over time with the rise of professional grade editing programs and consumer video equipment. Add to that mix crowdfunding programs such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe and an independent filmmaker’s dream can come true without their having to mortgage a property. So it’s difficult to say if something is actually a low budget film or video anymore, which is nice because then quality isn’t distracting from the film. This is definitely the case in The Domicile, a new film by Artist View Entertainment.

Entering The Domicile:

Once The Domicile commences, the scene is set with low hanging fog (which can be a bit overused if not careful) and ominous reflections in various glass objects. A very pregnant, redheaded Estella (Katherine Flannery) puts on an Estella’s Baked Goods apron for just a moment then takes it off which kinda makes you wonder why she put it on or if it might be foreshadowing. She talks to her husband Russell (Steve Richard Harris) who is working on a home project and injures himself so responds to his crankiness by saying she is going to sedate Sam (Amanda Ruth Ritchie) so she doesn’t go into the neighbors house again. Then when Brody’s drinking buddy and playwright partner David arrives, the stage is set for a movie of creepy happenings that will make you begin to wonder what might be supernatural and what might be “simple” insanity.

The person telling the story, from whose point of view we are witnessing the events, is not perfect. They have some issues with alcohol, are known by the police as being a troubled individual, and goes from calm to extremely angry in a moment’s notice. This can make some viewers wonder if he is a “faulty narrator”, that maybe he sees paranormal things because of what he has been through and not because they are actually happening. There’s also the simple possibility that it is a creepy ghost story, you are left to judge for yourself.

The creepy moments are well done and The Domicile features some good makeup effects and lighting design. It looks like a Pepper’s ghost illusion might have been used but it’s also possible the effects were done in post production. When I think about The Domicile, I keep going back to the makeup I liked and the effects – they struck my wife and I as the strongest part of the movie and whoever did it deserves more work!

Russell is an alcoholic, and the movie kinda beats that point a little deeply into the ground. There is a little green bottle in pretty much every scene he is in, most scenes have several. He is extremely stressed about finishing his latest play and any distraction makes him drink even more. The thing is he never seems to have more than a buzz even though he is constantly drunk, his only side effect is better writing. Or maybe more… but we don’t need more green bottles to go there.

In the way that the drunkenness is under played a lot of the other scenes are a bit overplayed. Acting can be a subtle thing and it was pretty good, just a little off. I bet their next films they will be even more on spot.

One Last Peek in The Domicile:

The Domicile had some really creepy supernatural effects that kept you glued to the screen to see what would happen next. The acting was still a little raw but the effects, camera, lighting, and editing are all well done and professional causing this movie to only drop a hair into the realm of “campy”. I look forward to The Domicile Two or maybe a new venture from the same production company.

Redeemer Review

2017/08/18

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

One of the best things to ever happen to gaming I believe is Steam’s Project Greenlight. Games that would have failed to be seen or even fully produced found their fans and funding through this way. This is a hotly debated topic since Project Greenlight is going away, but it is nice that it brought us REDEEMER before it leaves. I’m not taking an editorial stand here on whether moving away from Greenlight is a good or bad thing, I am just happy it managed to bring us this top-down gore filled action title.

In REDEEMER, you play as an elite operative who once worked for one of the biggest arms industry corporations in the world. Officially working in security you was tasked with infiltration, assassination, extortion and even torturing. You managed to escape this life and live a peaceful one among monks who showed you the path to harmony. Unfortunately his former corporation didn’t look kindly on his retirement and have come to retire him and all the monks permanently…

It starts easy enough, a few guys to fight in each room, some combating you with their fists and some using cattle prods. You start with only your hands and what the environment provides such as a chair here or a crate there, you can even ram their heads into walls, fires, ornate objects. When you take out an enemy with a weapon you can pick up the weapon but everyone of them have limited durability or armor and you throw them away after their usefulness wears out. So you are constantly grabbing a weapon, using it up then grabbing another, generally from the merc you just killed. You also keep track of where more than one weapon dropped in case you have to backtrack and pick up some more. Another good way of getting a weapon is watching which direction the enemy is facing and coming up behind them and doing a sneak execution. Then their weapon is at max durability from not being used and gives you a little more fight.

You can only hold one melee weapon at a time and one range weapon, so you generally want to pick up the best durability ax and most ammo pistol for example because once those are done you are fighting with your hands and the environment such as chairs until you get more weapons. Something I like to do is once I have cleared a couple of room of all the mercs I check and pick up the best weapons then I grab a chair or a crate so that technically I will have three weapons starting off the next fight. You pick a target, throw that chair and then decide if you want to empty your pistol or start zapping them with the prod. You can also pick environmental things while you are at it because those tend to have the most beautiful Rorschach blood patterns.

The levels are all varied and have beautiful details scattered throughout. It would have been easy to make the levels more sparse because a lot of people will probably be plowing through as fast as they can but, for those of us who take the time to notice, the details and sound quality are really well done. One reason you might see a room a lot is the save points are kinda far apart, especially when it comes to a difficult group to fight, you might be all jazzed you got past a rough spot and you get killed right after that spot, only to have it send you back quite a ways.

After you get past certain levels in the game, it unlocks Arena fights, which are wave based matches on the map you just cleared. They come from all different directions with increasingly tough weapons but it is a bunch of frenzied fun.

When it comes to the PC there is a decision to make on how to play it: Using a game controller or not. I think it was initially made with a game controller in mind because all the onscreen hints are for a controller. Looking into the controls you can find all of them and most of them are fairly obvious and once you get used to them you maneuver and aim just fine. I played part of the game using each style, game controller and keyboard / mouse. Both were fine but I think I preferred the game controller just a bit more (which is usually not the case).

Last Splat:

REDEEMER is an amazingly fun top-down gore ride into righteous fury. I never got tired of smashing, bashing, and splatting all the mercenaries who have showed up to disturb my chill. May you have the same road to redemption blast.

REDEEMER Review Score

[mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#1e73be” type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#1e73be” type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#1e73be” type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#1e73be” type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star-o” color=”#1e73be” type=”fa”] (4 out of 5 Stars)

John Carpenter’s Tales Of Science Fiction Review – The Vault (Issue One Of Three)

2017/08/13

Ripper71

Book Review, Comics News, Halloween, News, Reviews

John Carpenter has long been a household name for things that go bump in the night, and his work has had a huge impact on the world of horror entertainment. From video games to films to comics and more, you would be hard-pressed to find a modern piece of horror entertainment that doesn’t somehow borrow something from a John Carpenter film. From a silent, knife-wielding man wearing a bleached out William Shatner mask to fog-roaming undead pirates to crashed alien organisms which assimilate other life forms. John Carpenter has always been incredible at making horror seem real, no matter the source. Now, this “Master of Horror” has set his sights on a new medium: comic books. Thanks to the publisher, we have the pleasure of reviewing Tales Of Science Fiction – The Vault (Episode 1 of 3).

Everything Has A Beginning:

We have often looked to the stars to ask if we were alone. Many times in science fiction, once that question gets answered with a close encounter, we find that we might have been better off not asking in the first place. That is kind of the running theme in John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction – The Vault. It begins with a very Alien kind of vibe, an old helium-3 collecting freighter gets a new set of co-ordinates that take it into the dark side of the moon where a massively large and apparently derelict ship floats, looking much like the smooth dome rim of an HR.Geiger alien with little pieces broken off and afloat, a foreboding sight for a bunch of space miners. They board the vessel which has an Earth name “Vault” and printed above the entrance is a quote from Dickinson (which is often a bad sign) “The spreading wide my narrow hands to gather paradise”.

What commences is a definite teaser into what can be expected in the other two issues and one could easily conclude it will end with a few less crewman than they started with. Carpenter is no stranger to the otherworldly “Things” and he makes sure you know this won’t be pure science fiction but rather science fiction with his bread and butter: fear and blood. The comic is drawn wonderfully and features a lot of eye-catching visuals. Its story is great and it really is a John Carpenter film in comic book form.

I only hope that some of these characters will survive this trilogy! With Carpenter’s work, you never really can tell and that makes reading this book an absolute joy for a horror and sci-fi fan such as myself.

Left Wanting More:

It is hard to do a review on a series of movies, games, and especially comics off of the first section. “John Carpenter’s Tales Of Science Fiction – The Vault” has been added to my box at the local comic book store because the beginning dug hooks into me and I have to see what happens in The Vault and the tales to come. For now, I will say that if you are a fan of John Carpenter, science fiction, or horror you will love this comic book. Dig your heels in and get ready ’cause it’s going to be a great trilogy!

Tales Of Science Fiction – The Vault (Episode 1 of 3) Review Score

[mks_icon icon=”icon-rocket” color=”#dd1313″ type=”sl”][mks_icon icon=”icon-rocket” color=”#dd1313″ type=”sl”][mks_icon icon=”icon-rocket” color=”#dd1313″ type=”sl”][mks_icon icon=”icon-rocket” color=”#dd1313″ type=”sl”][mks_icon icon=”icon-rocket” color=”#dd1313″ type=”sl”] (5 out of 5 rocketships)

Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories Review

2017/07/26

Ripper71

Film Review, Halloween, Movie News, News, Reviews

It’s nearing that time of year again, and if you say “Christmas”, I have a whole lot of creatures of the night I can have crawl out from under your bed to have a *ahem* talk with you. No, we have started talking about haunted attractions which start in the latter part of September, horror conferences, costume designing, and lots and lots of horror movies. Recently we here at GamingShogun got a screener code to check out a movie called Volumes of Blood which having just the day before having suffered an injury I was more than happy to watch a couple of times into the wee hours of the night. While my wife set it up she noticed that there was a movie title with the same name streaming free on one of the streaming services. Since that was easier we snuggled up and watched the blood flow. It had a wrap around story that were friends chatting in a library trying to create urban legends that were all centered around a library after hours. It was fun and campy, it looked a lot like a group of college kid’s class project or initial offering into the genre with some very unique takes on trying to create a sustainable urban legend. The movie had some good twists, some odd ones and both good and purposely bad effects. Overall a great way to maintain date night despite being bed laden.

So Mrs. Ripper drifted gently off to snoring-like-a-chainsaw land and I went about preparing to watch the movie again. To make sure I didn’t wake her up I turned off the TV, plugged some headphones into my iPhone 6+ which has a decent enough screen for movie watching and followed the screener link this time instead and started watching… a completely different movie with the same name. Wait but it wasn’t completely different because it had some of the same cast! And one of the same masks from the first movie we watched. What the french toast? Turned out it was the same group of folks just using a different subheader. The first was Volumes of Blood: Some Libraries Make A Killing! and this one was Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories! So now the only one awake in the house and all the lights still turned off I watched the film I was meant to review.

The first thing to note is that the first movie is briefly referenced in the timeline of the second movie so it really is good to see as a double feature to get the full effect. The second movie allows itself to mostly stay as kinda like dark impressions on one house but doesn’t limit itself to one night, one group or even really one theme. The only real limitations it gives itself is horror stories which is almost redundant when you consider the film is called Volumes of Blood, but they did need to separate the films some way (I probably would have gone with Part 1, etc. though it is a little less interesting of a title it would help the viewer catch them in order).

With all that behind us this second in the Volumes of Blood series was a great deal of an improvement over the first. There were some scenes in the first which pulled me out of the picture due to how it was shot or acted. This one did far better at maintaining my suspension of disbelief and had me wondering what was coming next. The acting was a bit better as well, with only a few lines or jokes failing in a cringe worthy fashion. Thankfully, most of those cringes landed on an acceptable point, like a character’s death scene where more than once I said to myself “oh that’s brutal!” There was a some over the top acting, but it didn’t get too hammy. If you have any issues with this film, they will probably be the same issues you had with the first film. Sometimes it is hard, especially with a mirco-budget, not to be distracted by video quality and product placement to help pay for it.

Just Enjoy The Blood:

I highly suggest you watch the first movie and then the second, it isn’t absolutely necessary but some scenes will make more sense and the way the second one is edited it weaves the first in a bit. Plus with the quality being similar and some re-occurring cast members you might as well sit back in the dark with some popcorn and watch the campy double feature Volumes of Blood provide.

Volume of Blood: Horror Stories was directed by:

Sean Blevins (segment “Trick or Treat”)
John William Holt (segment “Feeding Time”)
Jon Maynard (segment “Blood Bath”)
Nathan Thomas Milliner (segments “Murder Death Killer”, “Fear, For Sinners Here”)
Justin Seaman (segment “The Deathday Party”)
James Treakle (segment “A Killer House”)

Secret World Legends Review

2017/07/26

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC Review

Several years ago, Funcom’s The Secret World released with amazing depth of storyline and great graphics. You had to save the world over the course of several chapters in a story that was told throughout various environments. Though it was set in modern day, you could choose to join the ancient organizations of The Illuminati, The Templars, or The Dragon. You would then find yourself fighting in some expected places like Transylvania but then you also found yourself trying to take double taps to the heads of zombies in Maine. To find locations for quests you often look in phone books where you will find markings for where your next quest takes you but it also has all kinds of Easter eggs for literary and cult movie fans. Want to stay at Jack and Wendy’s Bed And Breakfast? Maybe you need meds from Flagg’s Pharmacy. You might want to chat a bit with fellow Templars about doing some ultra violence. Besides all the Easter eggs the game draws heavily from cult horror with a particular fondness for Lovecraft. Since I love all of the above and they even manage some Poe references I was hooked since beta and played the game pretty long and pretty deep.

Being a game reviewer though does make it so that I always have another game I need to play so The Secret World fell a bit to the wayside, I would often stop by when a new chapter was introduced but because I couldn’t keep up with end game weapons (The Secret World relies heavily on your gear which you get through drops then improve through an weapon sacrificing system). In that sense it made it very straight forward to play and upgrade your weapon enough it just took time that when I am also gaming with my wife and we have a 10 1/2 year old guild on WoW resulted in taking up much of the free time I had when not reviewing.

But time and the Mrs. called me back to other things and The Secret World slid back to the back until news about The Secret World came along in a very startling way. The Secret World was ending and becoming Secret World Legends, a Free-To-Play with in-game purchases and something called the Patron system. So I decided to give it another try!

Not My First Free-To-Play Rodeo

It was definitely not my first time playing a free-to-play game with micro-transactions. Actually I have been playing them since the first ones came out. Some made it so you had special looking pets, mounts, even furniture in your in-game house. Others made a difference in play these were known as Free-To-Play, Pay-To-Win and gave you a distinct advantage in battle by selling you special weapons with higher kill damage that Free-To-Play could manage. Others might give you a mystery chest, if you can earn the chest in game but you can buy one if you are impatient that is fine, in a sense that is rewarding someone for their patience. If the only way to get the weapon, or ship or whatever the advantage is is buy spending real life money and no equivalent can be earned that falls into a sketchy ground that eventually winds up just being a bunch of the same players playing each other because they were all the ones who spent real life money when others stuck to the “Free-To-Play” motto.

This was my biggest worry going into Secret World Legends because they had instituted something called the “Patron” system and I didn’t know what other pay system they might have in place. I was excited jumping in and with the Dark Tower movie causing gunslinger excitement in the air coming out, I started playing a Templar gunslinger. I was basically like Roland’s old ka-tet, I had a couple of guns that can do neat tricks and I was a defender of the White. It took a few minutes to get used to things again but once I did I was saying the gunslinger’s mantra outloud while blowing the heads off of zombies. So before I get too into the paying and the Patron system, I first want to talk a bit about how the game looks and feels, especially after my time away.

As a Templar gunslinger, I was walking in and out of buildings in London and talking to people who sound like they are right out of a Bond movie. Many MMORPGs have you choose between magic or physical damage where this is physical damage that can be supplemented with some magic damage but it really comes down to improving your use of weapons and the weapons you can use. In a lot of ways it also feels like the movie Wanted as you do outrageous moves and lightning fast reloading. I started my story following the assignment I was given. When you first play it is very much a game on rails to make sure you learn what you are doing before things open up a bit more and you can take side missions and different story lines. The atmosphere is very everyday normal in your home area but it gets dark as soon as you head out on missions. You take portals to get to these areas and nicely for the safety sale of the player it won’t let you go into areas higher than your level. Sometimes when you have been weapons crafting and feel you have a bad ass combo and want to go higher this might be frustrating but it really is for your own good. When you get higher though all kinds of things open up for you such as multiple areas and group battles against bosses.

Something really key to play right now whether you have played or not is that it launched with only part of the previous game intact and with very regular updates, maintenance and hot patches. They wanted to get this play-for-free model out as quickly as possible (this has been video game convention season) so that new players could start learning the ropes and old players would stop playing characters that were about to become obsolete. I’ve seen it and sadly experienced it more than once when a game is changing format like this and they wait too long, those who planned to give it a try might forget or move onto another title and those who were playing get frustrated and do the same. You just need to be patient and don’t be too surprised if you have a few minutes of patch time most times you log in or have it down for maintenance. Don’t be too surprised if you get some crashed right now too. If you have twitter or Facebook it is a good idea to follow them on there to get the latest information.

So there are two forms of game on Secret World Legends, the first being free-to-play the second being Patron. Basically the reason for the game to have a Patron is pretty much in it’s name, the developers need money to keep the game going, they need servers, coding, equipment, all the things that you are generally paying for when you buy a game outright. Sometimes they put ads in the game, loading screens or matchmaking screens that help with these costs but if they don’t they have to come from somewhere. So much like people who are Patron Of The Arts by donating to museums you are Patrons of Secret World Legends.

Museum Patrons get benefits for the money they provide and it is no different in the game. As a Patron you get:

Now these are all handy things that help you level faster, stay alive longer and experience more of the game faster but none of them are a Pay-To-Win item, they just speed up gameplay by allowing more access in a shorter time. You eventually will get all the access you need it just might take a day or two longer than a Patron. This is really key because I am a strong detractor of the Pay-To-Win system and I would be the first to cry foul if I thought it was happening at all here but that really does not appear to be the case or anytime in the future. The Patron is a timed thing, bought in one month increments and when the time runs out you just no longer get the benefits. I’m sure you’ll feel how things are moving slower but you won’t feel like the Patrons had you at a huge disadvantage.

Learn a Few Secrets:

Secret World Legends is now free-to-play and it is actually free-to-play which not all games that claim to be so are. I highly recommend you give it a try if you like MMORPGs at all, it has a beautiful, modern supernatural flare that makes me think of the gunslinger a lot now that we are in the shadow of the Dark Tower. Give the game a try and if you like it consider becoming a Patron but whatever you do don’t keep your new found love for this game a secret.

Secret World Legends Review Score

[mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#000000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#000000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star” color=”#000000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star-o” color=”#000000″ type=”fa”][mks_icon icon=”fa-star-o” color=”#000000″ type=”fa”] (3 out of 5 stars)

Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con Photo Gallery

2017/07/26

Ripper71

News, Screenshots / Photos

The Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con is one of the best mid-sized comic-book conventions in the country. The convention features local artists who get to meet up with loyal fans and as well as develop new readers. At the same time, it brings in huge convention names that cost you some serious money to catch a quick pic or signature with. The real key though is to catch the big names who are just there for the fans and are avoiding charging when they can and take an honest interest in what you have to say. If you want to get up close and personal with those folks, this is the convention for you.

A lot of folks, myself included, were looking forward to seeing Adam West, the man who kept me entertained in my childhood with his campy sense of humor and goofy antics. Unfortunately, the world lost him right before the convention – there he was supposed to sign beside Burt Ward. It was with this in heart that the folks at the convention arranged to have Lee Meriwether and Julie Newmar come along, Meriwether actually being carried on stage by “henchmen” due to twisting her ankle, and the told their fondest stories of the days, little inside jokes they would slip in for the adults and just what it was like to be on that family set. It was a truly beautiful tribute to West but also those days in general, that time of Hollywood stars and starlets.

The big draw was the main man of Marvel himself, Stan Lee, who in the past it had been rumored would no longer be doing any cons but his own. He was being handled as they often have to these days, with high prices for a pic or a signature and even the media told he was a no-fly zone unless you bought your ticket but those who got things signed walked away with an expression like it was worth every penny they spent.

For me the artists that aren’t so heavily handled and just want to meet with the fans are what make this con so …well amazing. Todd McFarlane didn’t realize I was media when he chatted with me and signed my Jaws Movie Mania box while we walked the floor a bit, I think pretty much ever year Rob Liefeld winds up giving stuff out during panels as did Sandy King, John Carpenter’s long-time writing partner.

The Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con is on my calendar every year and I certainly don’t plan to change that. They can bring in the big names to pay tribute to and pay the rent so the undiscovered and the down-to-earth can do their thing which is just show a general love of the work. Can’t ask for much better than that.

GOgroove FlexSMART X2 In-Car FM Transmitter

2017/07/11

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Tech Review

In our family, we are no strangers to long distance trips. We used to have to make 18 hour round trips just to keep our medical care up and found that books on tape were good but that podcasts were better. To hear our audio during the trip, we would have to plug a cable into to the auxiliary port and try to ignore “The Buzz”. I give it a name because it was akin to a third person in the car, making noise over whatever you listened to from your phone. eventually building to make the podcast indiscernible and the moment we unplugged the phone to use it for a call or a text the stereo volume would come through at the rate you had slowly been working it up to: ear shattering. Thankfully we were able to finally give Buzz the boot when we tested the GOgroove FlexSMART X2 Bluetooth transmitter.

Pump Up The Volume

First off the FlexSMART X2 features Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, USB port interface, FM tuner, Auxiliary-in port, and DC power surge protection, so it is not just a glorified tuner. That being said, setup only takes seconds and the system has an LED display hub lets you control your music and take calls with ease. You can even pair two devices to the GoGroove at once so you can take calls and stream audio from either.

Once you are wirelessly connected to the your devices, it is hands free all the way. If a call comes in while you are driving it even lowers the volume levels of your music to connect to the the call. It has a built-in microphone with voice detection so the conversation will come through clearly. You can even charge through the USB port so your device can keep it’s power along with the FlexSMART though, personally, I like having a separate power connection if I can so that I don’t have to worry about loosening the fit in the DC outlet overtime.

Speaking of DC outlet, I found that once I had it in place and my phone connections in place I just left them be until the next big metropolitan area. Another nice thing about the FlexSMART is that you can tune it more than a few pre-programmed spots, you can fine tune into anywhere you want. They seem to have thought of just about everything since they even set it up so you could use an aux cable if you don’t have Bluetooth.

Moving Right Along

The GOgroove FlexSMART X2 is the perfect solution for any audio system that doesn’t have Bluetooth. It is a tunable Bluetooth audio system, a DC to USB port, FM tuner, DC surge protector, hands-free phone system and it pairs up in seconds. I don’t know how I have made it through all these years with out it. Bye Bye auxiliary port buzz!

GoGroove FlexSMART X2 Review Score

5 out of 5