Author - Ripper71

Mortal Kombat X Review (Xbox One)

2015/04/22

News, Reviews, Xbox One News, Xbox One Review

FINISH HIM! Few phrases are more recognizable in video game history than those two words. I remember when a video game came out in the arcades that all the players gathered around to see it. Weirdly, it was also the way kids might circle around and gawk at something that was taboo. They didn’t want their parents to know that their fighting games had just gone up a level – that if you learned the right combination of moves you could rip people’s heads off, pull hearts out or other gory things. They didn’t just fall over while you celebrated, they were destroyed in a beautiful gorefest usually reserved for slasher flicks. You didn’t just lose – you were punished. Everyone figured once the gore was discovered that the game would go away never to be seen again, and yet here we are so many years later with Mortal Kombat X, not only continuing the tradition of brutalities and fatalities but, also, adding depth to both the storyline and the gameplay.

Description:
Mortal Kombat X combines cinematic presentation with all-new gameplay to deliver the most brutal Kombat experience ever, offering a new fully-connected experience that launches players into a persistent online contest where every fight matters in a global battle for supremacy.

Mortal Kombat X gives players the ability to choose from multiple variations of each character, impacting both strategy and fighting style. Players step into an original story showcasing some of the game’s most prolific characters, including Scorpion and Sub-Zero.

Hands On:
First things first and has to be said: Mortal Kombat X has a very detailed and good story in its single player campaign mode. The fights have purpose with fairly long cinematic lead-ins tying together the world and characters with real plot. You aren’t just fighting in a Mortal Kombat tournament. I was stunned and hanging on every moment of the storyline, shushing people who walked through the room chatting. I am pretty sure that they assumed since the controller wasn’t in my hand I wasn’t playing a game – quite the opposite. Sure, some of the dialogue can be a little corny, intentionally for the most part because who could imagine Johnny Cage not having bad one-liners? Every character serves a purpose and every fight has its place in the story which allows players to follow the next generation of Kombatents.

Of course, all that can be skipped at the push of a button if all you want to do is maim, kill, and destroy – and there is nothing wrong with that. Afterall that is pretty much where the game began and, for some people, that’s all they want. For those folks there is still plenty of mayhem to be had and lots of playtime even if they skip the cutscenes or the single player section entirely. It is at it’s heart a two player gorefest even if the game now has a story to accompany it. There is a single player AI play mode to help hone your skills as well as the single player campaign and training grounds. Then it is off to play two player local like the old days or use this newfangled thing called “the Internet” and play folks from all over the world in both ranked and un-ranked battles. Brutalities and Fatalities are unlocked through play and through the Krypt, a cemetery type locations where you bust headstones, open treasure chests or tear open cocooned bodies and egg sacs to unlock moves, art, music and, most importantly, characters for multiplayer mode.

When you first go online, you are asked to join a faction and, once you do, your every battle can help or hurt your faction in its struggle for world dominance. There are a handful of factions to choose from, each with special moves and there are even daily faction challenges. If you don’t like the one you join, you can change your mind at a later date.

Besides factions, there are tower matches that are traditional style matches and team matches where you can get together with your buddies and more. If all this sounds like a bit of a pain and more than you really want to keep track of, just pick online play and click through until you get a game. Then you get to pick between three fighting styles for your character. While they have really tried to enrich the gameplay – in both single and multiplayer, at its heart it is still the fun gorefest you have come to love.

On the Xbox One the gore is particularly beautiful and graphic as are the environments behind the battles. Seeing through the skin as you shatter bones and pummel organs is quite satisfying and the backgrounds with corpses floating on giant waves and large bloody temples can be as stunning as well as wide open mountains and dense forests. I could definitely see this game being a leader in 3D gaming eventually, the terrific action and separation of foreground and background already almost give it a 3D effect.

Also, don’t worry if you are a button masher because you aren’t very good at remember fatalities, you can earn fight skip and easy fatality tokens in the Krypt to keep you progressing in the game and enjoying it even if you aren’t a combo savant.

FINISH IT!:
I could go on and on about Mortal Kombat X but really it comes down to this: Mortal Kombat X is the best game in the series and hopefully starts a new legacy of Mortal Kombat game depth that will continue on. When it comes to scoring a game I try to figure out what I could think of that could possibly improve the game… the only thing that even crosses my mind would be adding popular culture iconic characters to the mix, which is on the way when Jason and Predator join the mix in the Mortal Kombat Pass soon. I can’t wait to FIGHT!

[easyreview title=”Mortal Kombat X Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]

National Association Of Broadcasters Convention Photo Gallery

2015/04/21

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Screenshots / Photos

The National Association of Broadcasters, or “NAB” as it is more commonly known, put on a convention every year the brings out the tech savvy and journalists from all mediums to see what will be next in professional grade electronics. Where CES may show the latest toy drones or consumer grade headsets such as Beats, Wicked, or Turtle Beach, NAB brings out the drones that can carry full size broadcast cameras, studio lighting and audio and video boards that have hundreds of buttons, sliders and switches. All this isn’t to say a person not in the professional broadcasting can’t find technological gold mines, this is just where for the most part gimmick and style are replaced by functionality and durability, it may not look sexy but it will get the job done dependably over and over again. Podcasters taking their game to the next level, web television stations and amateur photographers and videographers stand side by side with the CEO of CNN or celebrities like Wayne Newton (a regular to the show) as they see where technology is going and how it can serve them. And that is the key to this show: service rather than consumption, this show isn’t as much about being entertained as how to entertain others. If this has ever been a plan for you, if you ever want to be in a business where electronics play a factor or if you ever thought that you need a super insane gaming rig or ANYTHING to do with drones (it had it’s own pavillon) then this is a show to catch.

This year included the teaming up of the New Media Expo (NMX) with NAB which furthered it’s interest to bloggers, podcasters and anyone with online audio and video content with seminars, speakers and awards dedicated to these pursuits. Attending the Podcast Awards hosted by Chris Jericho and Emily Morse was a highlight of the show and the red carpet for the IAWTV Awards was a who’s who of internet celebrities.

A special thank you goes to Warner-Chappell for the invitation to Peter Frampton’s release party for “Hummingbird In A Box, Music For A Ballet” it was a special night that was as my mom-in-law put it “the most fun I have had in as long as I can remember.”

Images

Neverwinter on Xbox One Review

2015/04/19

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Reviews, Xbox One News, Xbox One Review

If you read our first review of Neverwinter on the PC you read as I droned on about how Neverwinter Nights was the closest I have ever experienced to tabletop RPG in a video game. I also mentioned that Neverwinter is a great game even if it didn’t live up to the legacy of its predecessor and is built on Perfect World Entertainment’s free-to-play game model which involves quite a bit of spamming. So the real question to be asked about Neverwinter on the Xbox One is if it comes across as just a port or a fully-developed game of its own? Should Monty Python’s “Spam” still be its theme song? And, most importantly, if you are going to put money into Neverwinter should you do it on the PC or the Xbox One? Let’s find out!

Storyline:
Once a bustling location, Neverwinter has faced a great many disasters in the past hundred years. Rule of the city remains unclear following the unfortunate demise of the last Lord of Neverwinter and factions still battle for dominance after the all-consuming Spellplague took a high toll on the population. Even Neverwinter’s dead are beginning to rise from their graves and march upon the city they once called home.

Hands On:
Neverwinter is a MMORPG very much in the vein of Lord of the Rings Online or The Secret World in the sense that it is a free-to-play game with micro-transactions for everything from mounts and companions – even experience point boosts. Based in the fantasy world of official Dungeons & Dragons, players can find lore and characters like from the tabletop game but in an online experience.

The game is pleasantly-loaded with nostalgia for anyone who grew up playing D&D and the voice acting, graphics, and sounds are terrific – especially on the Xbox One since, unlike the PC version, the quality of your visual and audio gameplay experience isn’t based on the performance of your graphics or sound cards. Your internet connection plays a huge factor in your experience, but that is always the case with MMORPGs.

You get to play a good variety of character classes as well as implement an immense variety of customization of the character – though I think there should have been more beard options. Everyone loves a good beard – especially on a female dwarf! Your starting armor looks the same but through finding new armor and the use of armor dyes you can quickly have a look all your own. You can even get some armor dyes just by leveling up your character. Other customization options can come in the form of your choice of NPC companions and mounts.

With a few exceptions, most of the NPC companions, mounts, and really spiffy armor will cost you real life money. This is a pretty standard thing to do nowadays, it is actually the business model for most games that either fail to maintain a subscription base (like LOTRO) or realize that, fiscally, this in-game purchase system ensures continued income to help maintain updates and expanding gameplay. As a player though it requires quite a bit of consideration because you can easily outspend the price of a standalone game and expansions through these micro-transactions. Then players must ask themselves just how much the micro-transactions add to the experience of the game and, in this case, which platform to purchase them on. If you own the game on the PC platform, your characters and purchases don’t transfer over to the Xbox One version of the game. Once you select a platform, you will probably have to stick with it unless you want to start all over again from the beginning.

PC Vs. Xbox One:
The PC versus console argument is decades old now. With next-generation consoles and the use of internet connectivity in game titles, this argument is slowly becoming moot and the lines of “which is better” blurred almost to the point of non-existence. For the most part, it depends on game choices and control scheme choices with each having pros and cons. But, what about when it is the same game?

I played Neverwinter A LOT when it came out on the PC – but, often, found I was splitting my time with other MMORPGs that I was already paying for or had invested RL money in. Also, I found that the game population didn’t do much in the way of roleplaying even though the option was very available. When playing a PC game, it is easy to type emotes and in-character dialogue. There are also a whole set of keys as well as mouse options on which to build the game controls.

In contrast, there is no roleplaying with other players that is possible on the Xbox One and you are very limited on what buttons you have, causing combo actions being necessary just to access menus. Even if you did want to roleplay as your character using your headset… well let’s just say the community would probably shun you a bit. Roleplaying is simply considered more of a PC thing than a console thing.

What I found interesting is that I think I enjoyed game battles more with the Xbox One – even if it is a little more difficult and definitely requires a learning curve. Consoles have a long and popular tradition of third-person action/shooter games and once you strip out the roleplaying layer of the game and make the menus functional, Neverwinter boils down to an open world third-person actioner.

One downside is the spam announcements of who got a special item from a purchased lock box opening seems more severe the larger the screen you play on. When you play on a big screen, the letters look as big as your head and are several feet wide. You kinda get used to it but World of Warcraft players will still startle just about every time one is displayed because they are used to that being a battle warning rather than an advertisement for what could be yours!

It should be noted that, at the time of this review, I can’t compare the worth of which system the purchased items are more effective or enjoyable. I just can’t afford it right now. I plan to update this aspect at a future, more fiscally-sound time – but, I digress…

Last Call:
It really depends on what you want out of Neverwinter as to which version of the game you will like more. If you like the MMORPG style, then you should stick to the PC platform. If you like a third-person shooter/actioner experience, then the console is definitely the one for you. What is interesting is that the Xbox One version of Neverwinter doesn’t feel at all like a port, it feels like two separate games with the same storylines and quests. Personally, I will probably play the console version more because when I am at the computer I have a lot of MMORPG games for it to compete with. In contrast, I don’t have a lot of titles like Neverwinter on the XBox One. Maybe things will shift when real world money comes into play… I guess you will have to stay tuned and see!

[easyreview title=”Neverwinter Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer #2

2015/04/16

Ripper71

Geek News, Movie News, News, Trailers / Videos

A gift from the Star Wars Celebration! Oh by the way… the BB-8 droid came out on stage so it is not CGI!

We Review Etherium (PC)

2015/04/06

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

I’ve been a player of real-time strategy games since the golden days of the genre. By golden era, I mean those titans like Warcraft, Command and Conquer, and the first StarCraft. For a while, there were tons of them – each with expansions and mods and the playtime seemed eternal. Those golden days have passed so that now you have to keep your eyes open for games that will keep you coming back for more. I was lucky when I got Etherium.

Description:
Etherium is a real-time strategy game set in a science-fiction universe, where three factions battle it out for a mysterious and rare resource known as ‘Etherium’.

Manage your resources, develop your base, and take command of infantry, tanks, aircraft, and gigantic colossi of war to battle not only your foes, but weather anomalies and mysterious secondary factions in richly strategic and original RTS gameplay. In the single player Conquest mode, develop your technological capabilities and expand your colonies over the furthest sectors of space, assembling a formidable armada.

Each of the three factions have their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as different tactical command skills such as map exposure, climate control, or planetary bombardment. Define your own strategy, deciding to either fell your enemy by striking their mother-ship from the planet’s surface, or rapidly crushing their colonies. In multiplayer, team up or wage battle in all-out deathmatches with up to 4 players!

Features:

3 empires with distinct characteristics, units, and special skills
A dynamic weather control system that directly impacts your strategy
A challenging multiplayer mode where up to 4 players can compete in intense matches
A dynamic campaign where each decision counts

Hands On:
It doesn’t take an RTS expert, or even a big fan of the genre, to see that there are some similarities to a powerhouse RTS game already on the market. This may bother some people but as someone who has only seen that powerhouse add updates to StarCraft 2’s multiplayer maps recently (to be fair that is the game’s bread and butter via tournament play), I am quite happy to get my hands on some fresh sci-fi RTS fun in the same vein. Etherium’s three empires are quite a bit different both from each other and from those found in StarCraft 2, so each campaign feels completely fresh while only requiring the slightest adjustments to get used to the control set up.

Each side gets one main base and destroying the other team’s base is one of the main ways of winning the game. Destroying the enemy’s fleet above the surface is another method for winning. You take regions by capping a pillar with a colony or outpost and then, if it has an Etherium bubble on it, you can start mining it for money. There is a build time on structures but unit builds are almost immediate. They are considered fleet drops so they can only be dropped at locations with spaceports. Building those spaceports at colonies or outposts throughout the map can mean the difference between wining and losing the planet at hand. Turret placement can only be done within a controlled territory and the number of turrets are limited in each one so be careful positioning. There are a lot of things to consider for each faction and each map, figuring out the strengths and weaknesses is all part of the fun.

The game could definitely use more single player missions. Most folks will probably be playing the online maps and not be too concerned with this aspect but when I get frustrated with “zerging” or bad sportsmanship, I like to go back and do some single player stuff. This game has the potential for expansions or even just new single player maps for skirmishes that could really make this game have legs. Also, with new multiplayer maps, it could make Etherium a contender for ESL tournament use. The model is in place and the formula has already been proven – it just needs proper support and community.

The other drawback is a small aspect to this game that is turn-based space fighting that allows you to engage enemy fleets in space before planetary landing. It plays kind of like a mini game and does add a bit of variety to the game but didn’t really feel necessary or very engaging. If it winds up being your favorite part of the game I would recommend playing turn-based strategy rather than real time.

Last Call:
Etherium is a solid real time strategy game with engaging game mechanics. It has massive potential for becoming a hit, especially with the right support and nurturing over time. This is the game to watch and play with hopes that one day you can say you were playing it before anybody knew what it was.

[easyreview title=”Etherium Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

World of Warships Beta Preview

2015/03/21

Ripper71

News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Preview

If you haven’t played World of Tanks, I hope it is for one of two reasons: you have never heard of it or just hate war games. If it is because you haven’t heard of it, go to you PC or Xbox 360 or mobile device and download it. You’re welcome. As fast paced and fun free-to-play games go, it is hard to beat that one. I even have a hat and a couple key chains that I display proudly because I love that game. If you know about World of Tanks, you probably know about World of Warplanes, the second installment in the Wargaming.net trio of titles that puts you into the driver’s seat of various military aircraft. The next installment, based in naval warfare, has had fans wanting to test the waters for years and it has finally come along with World of Warships Beta Weekends.

Description & Features:

The highly anticipated World of Warships is the latest free, historical online combat game to be added to the Wargaming’s catalog. Command a massive naval fleet featuring history’s most iconic war vessels, level up important tech modules and prepare to dominate the oceans in World of Warships.
With four classes of ships, myriad upgrades, strategically designed environments the action never ends and every match is a unique experience. Endless hours of strategy, tactical gameplay and pulse pounding combat await all who take the helm in World of Warships!
Aircraft carriers — A multi-role ship that brings a RTS-style gameplay to the fight. Loaded with four styles of aircraft (Dive Bombers, Torpedo Bombers, Scouts and Fighters) and the ability to command multiple squadrons, carriers can shape the fight from the skies.
Destroyers — These versatile vessels are perfect for hunting enemy cruisers, spotting them for teammates to target or blowing them out of the water personally. Additionally, the anti-aircraft guns that line their deck offer another line of defense against high flying threats.
Cruisers — Lightly armored but swift, cruisers are the fastest, most maneuverable ship available. This class is a major threat on the open water, dealing damage from either massive cannons or deadly torpedoes.
Battleships — These are the designated “heavy hitters” of World of Warships. Massive cannons, thick armor and rows of anti-aircraft artillery make them a deadly “triple threat” in any battle.

Hands On:
I was like a kid doing the pee pee dance waiting for the game’s beta client to download and install. I first saw this game at E3 2011 and its expo presence consisted of a woman in a sailor costume showing a single image of a Warship as part of the Wargaming.net booth. I was already hooked on World of Tanks, having played it at the show and excited about World of Warplanes but World of Warships was what I was most looking forward to. I have played just about every naval warfare video game I could find and actually grew up as a fisherman on boats since I was 6 years old.

The moment the download was ready I rubbed my hands together and dove in. It took one game to realize that it had all the aspects that I loved from World of Tanks and my favorite parts of World of Warplanes combined into one game. Technically, it is still in beta testing, which means it could change a lot during the time it takes to hit final product, but as long as they maintain their course it should be smooth sailing.

Ok now that I have gotten most of my sea vessel puns out of the way it is time to break in down into what works and what might or might not need refining. The shooting system is a great deal like World of Tanks, where you can lock on an enemy at a great distance but zooming in and adjusting gun elevation and target lead give you the best precision kills and bonus damage ribbons for hitting strong points such as a ship’s Citadel or fuel or armament locations, causing fires. Distance, speed, and maneuverability all play into effect on this as well as your own ships position and speed.

World of Warplanes took all those important factors into consideration, but due to the need to maintain altitude, avoiding stalls, and watching for enemy ground attacks, a zoomed in killshot was a risky one. There are some of those risks associated with World of Warships such as running aground or ship ramming (a popular and frowned upon last ditch effort in WoWP) but mostly terrain is used for cover and concealment such as in World of Tanks. You can even set autopilot and not worry about the ship’s speed and maneuvering but I found out quick that like in World of Tanks, speed and maneuvering can win or lose a battle. Better learn to shoot AND move!

Each class of ship has a very distinct advantage in battle and definitely there is one to fit pretty much every gamer’s taste. The classes play out very similar to World of Tanks and, much like World of Tanks, the ships all seem to belong together on the waters. World of Warplanes seem to be missing a bit of this because plane evolution was mainly driven by leaps forward in aviation causing aircraft to become obsolete where, when it comes to tanks or ships, as long as they are in similar armor classes they haven’t changed that much over time. Plus you don’t see Spanish galleons against WWII iron ships in this game. Maybe they will bring wooden warships in eventually but I think Wargaming.net learned from World of Warplanes to stick to a degree of sameness for proper balance.

The ships have special abilities that might take a little getting used to, torpedoes and planes in particular. But they aren’t necessary to start off, the first ships are straight forward giving you a learning curve before you have to figure out how to fire a torpedo in the right direction… and the right time.

First Round:

World Of Warships looks like it will be a prized addition to the Wargaming.net lineup, especially when you consider how much fun it is AND it is free-to-play. Expect premium ships to come along but they have to pay their team somehow so I don’t blame them. Even with premium vehicles, a good time will be had by all!

Take On Mars Preview (PC)

2015/03/18

Ripper71

News, Previews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Preview

Space… it’s really big! As our national space program backs away from exploration and the possibility of colonizing other worlds, it has become the domain of the corporations and it is no doubt that a company or conglomerate that will eventually achieve these space-worthy goals in the distant future. First they have to retrace the steps that nations have already taken and possibly improve the footing and lower the risks. It is with this idea in mind that Bohemia Interactive’s Take On Mars takes the steps we have already taken to explore the red planet and goes to even further.

Description:
Explore the rocky terrain and sandy wastes of Mars in this brand new installment to the Take On series. Developed by the creators of the award-winning Arma™ series and DayZ™, Take On Mars places you right in the middle of mankind’s most exciting undertaking. Start out in the seat of a rover operator, pushing your vehicles to the max. Finish as the first human to have ever set foot on Mars. With a scientific arsenal at your disposal, you will pioneer the exploration of another planet, unlocking the secrets of Mars’ distant past.

Features:
– Space Program Campaign – Explore the Red Planet from the perspective of a science-driven space agency. Become a rover operator, allowing you to control various fully simulated mobile rovers and stationary landers, and make your way through numerous scientific missions.
– Realistic Terrain – Travel across a vast, unforgiving Martian terrain with locations based on actual satellite data from famous locations such as Victoria Crater and Deimos.
– Economy – Increase your budget by completing missions and individual tasks. Develop new technologies, vehicles and instruments to tackle the challenges you meet along the way.
– Dynamic Destruction System – Break off cameras, robotic arms, even individual struts and wheels, all affecting the way your vehicle handles.
– Content Creation – Create your own scenarios and share them on the Steam Workshop, or just play around with whatever you wish in this limitless, free-form mode. Dive into Take On Mars’ powerful Workbench editing suite to develop new terrains, addons and total modifications.
– Expedition One – Take on the role of a marsonaut and establish the foundation for a human colony on Mars. Build your own habitat, drive unpressurized and pressurized manned vehicles, and manage the resources needed to keep you alive.

Hands On:
The game is still in Early Access which is a very generic term that could be anywhere from alpha testing to finished product just waiting for the release date. In this case it seems to be in the late alpha stage, which means it can still change dramatically before it hits retail. Many features are still just being implemented such as multiplayer and others still aren’t in place in the game such as most of the tutorials. If you like alpha testing and exploring the game mechanics as much as a foreign planet then this is the perfect phase to jump in at. Since instructions are still very limited you have to figure out intuitively how to do most things and why certain things work and others don’t.

With that in mind this is a game for serious simulator fans at this point though once the tutorials are in place it may be more broad based user-friendly. You start from humble beginnings with probes that look like bell dinghies straight out of the beginning of Jaws and work your way up to planetary colonization for by yourself then with others online. I don’t want to give away too much, this much was apparent in the trailers for the game but you get pretty detailed oriented in designing rovers and other tools of the space trade. And like a trade there are budgets and bonuses for completion of important missions and eventually the company expects a return in the form of new real estate developments where there is more than one moon in the sky. It doesn’t take you as far as Total Recall but it does take you farther than the world’s governmental space agencies ever will and I wouldn’t be surprised if you could build Johnny Cab in a future installment (ok let’s face it it will be named Sony Cab or something).

If you follow the campaign mode it will take a while before you have boots on the red planet or even our moon for that matter. As Dr. Whitehall is fond of saying “Discovery requires experimentation”. That means probing and roving so be prepared. If you get too anxious to stomp around and run space buggies then there are scenarios available, at the time of print it even included the E3 demo builds which are pretty detailed and get you past a lot of the research work and right into the action. Action tends towards the simulation side of things, so don’t expect space shootouts or Nazis on the darkside of the moon (Ed. note: GREAT movie!). It is more like taking two hours to master the controls of a robotic arm so you can take a soil sample.

The multiplayer is already proving to be the star of the game, with scenarios that let you and some friends get together and have some red dust filled shenanigans. They require knowledge of the game and building systems but still give you some room to play around.

Conclusion:
Once again, this is a preview of an Early Access title and the game has a ways to go to get to a finished product. If you are a fan of serious sim games then Take On Mars is definitely one to keep on your radar.

Las Vegas Super Toy Convention (Gallery)

2015/03/06

Ripper71

Comics News, Geek News, News, Screenshots / Photos

The Las Vegas Super Toy Convention was held in a little section of Circus Circus this year and like many things in Vegas they tend to play big even when in a small space. This was my first year attending but there was a lot of talent and vendors crammed into the convention area with over 6,000 attendees showing up, mostly on Saturday.

The convention has been around a few years but is still trying to get a bit organized. Enough comic vendors showed up that they changed the name to the Las Vegas Super Toy Comic Convention on some of their literature but not on other things. If you hear someone talking about either one they are both the same show.

The cosplayer tables didn’t get set up until Saturday so that also caused a bit of confusion but it was nice to see them circulating. Then the cosplay stage wasn’t setup on Saturday the ladies stepped up and got it running and done then setup their own panel room on Sunday. There was a definite feel like they didn’t expect the success of cosplayers arriving but with Las Vegas being such a hub for it and large communities nearby in SoCal and AZ I think it could really grow into a larger part of the event. Kudos to AZ Power Girl, Wind Of The Stars. Anti Ai Chan, Cosplay Butterfly, and Mzre Yuen for taking control of the cosplay events and making them run.

The guest stars were definitely the big draws to the event and not all that you might expect. There was an amazing line for the Ric Flair signing, The Nature Boy really drew them in with a long line being kept secure by the 501st Battalion (huge Star Wars primarily stormtrooper and imperial cosplay group). It is quite a sight to see tons of wrestling geeks being kept in line by half a dozen stormtroopers and an imperial guard. Most people expected Ric Flair to be loud but it was the suspendered and bowtie sporting All American Boy Bob Backlund who during photo ops headlocked his fans and shouted in a voice so loud that people jumped at the other end of the convention and the official photographer missed the shot half the time due to shock. For a guy who has been around the ring a few times he is still quite a sight.

There were a few celebs from the film world there too, Jennifer Rubin from movies such as Nightmare On Elm St. 3: The Dream Warriors (she was the punker dreamer, a fave in my house), Screamers and the sleeper film Bad Dreams is still stunning and stops you with a smile. Daeg Faerch who played young Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies has grown into a cool young man that you might not recognize until you make eye contact and see that wicked stare.

On the subject of Halloween, one of my favorite poster designs done for the first Halloween was made by Joe Simko, most notably known as one of the main artists on Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. He has also put out Stoopid Heroes and my personal favorite Cereal Killers. I commissioned him to create a custom Garbage Pail Kids comic cover with a Halloween theme based off Nasty Nick. It is now a prize to be hung in my Halloween room. Simko is also taking part in a Garbage Pail Kids documentary so keep an eye out for that.

When all the above is said and done it is after all a toy convention and that was not forgotten. Big wigs from Mattel and designers from Hot Wheels and WWE action figures were on hand to talk shop and show off the new lines. Bill Miekina showed off a Sting action figure with him holding his bat that is sure to sell out quick when they hit the market later this year. The Arizona Outlaws were there with a 50 foot race track to race Hot Wheels on and gave away thousands of dollars worth of Hot Wheels cars to kids and kids at heart who came up and wanted to get into the race. They added a ton of excitement and a lot of smiles to the event and I look forward to seeing them again.

The Las Vegas Super Toy Convention has it’s rough spots but it is still growing and adapting and I can’t wait to see what they bring us next year.

Las Vegas Super Toy Convention Gallery

Total War Attila Review (PC/Steam)

2015/02/26

Ripper71

News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

There are few names when it comes to war that is as recognizable as Attila. Some may ask “Attila The Hun?” but that is the almost silly response since few people have ever heard of an Attila other than the conquering horseman. For the Total War series it was really just a matter of time before the players were brought face to face with the “Scourge of God”.

Hands On:
There are multiple levels of strategy, some are just getting your forces to the right place in a good way, the opposite extreme has you involved in every political, social and military aspect of the individual characters in the game’s life. The Total War series tends towards the middle where you have to develop technologies, build structures and decide religious influences while sending your army out to attack other countries or defend your borders. You choose what kind of troops you have then have the options on the battlefield of setting troop formations, attack grounds, melee versus range attacks and watch it all close up as troops from both sides fight and fall. If you prefer the political and building side of the game then you can auto-battle most of your fights and concentrate on pleasing the people while choosing their faith. If you are more military minded you can do the minimum political decisions, turn your country into a police state and just squish any rebellions that dare rise up.

The game takes place at the beginning of the Dark Ages, when the goths were fighting goths and not paying enough attention to the horseman sweeping across the land destroying or controlling all in their path. You fight axe to axe not knowing that an apocalyptic horde are about to run you down. The key to this installment of Total War starts with your general struggle to survive with enemy nations on all sides that causes forces to diminish at a time when they are about to be needed the most. When to fight becomes as big of a concern as where since you never know if while you are striking at a village to your west if the nation to your east will start taking your land. Some of your enemies soon become more interested in someone challenging their other borders that are still clouded in the fog of war…

Being able to control and watch the battle of individual unit types and watch from far above or ground level makes the Total War games some of the most engrossing strategy since you can actually see where your attack formations or maneuverings fail as the fighters drop to the field. Everything is heavily researched and authentically recreated so that not only are the weapons historically accurate the details of how the individuals are dressed are spot on. Attila like all the Total War games are great not just as a strategy play but as a history lesson. Attila’s rise was not just because he was a great leader with innovative attack styles but also the timing was right with nations already fighting each other and weakening themselves too greatly to survive a true threat like the Scourge Of God.

With this installment the ability to raze was added so you can burn parts of a city to the ground or turn it entirely to ash. This is fun and tempting but should be thought over, you may wish you had that resource when you are in the shadow of arrows with the sea to your back. At the same time you don’t want to stretch your military and political influence too thin and become a weakened land. It all comes back to strategy. It doesn’t hurt to save regularly either.

If you aren’t in the mood to work on your campaign you can also choose quick battles, historical battles or multiplayer battles. You can choose to play the campaign from the Franks, Huns, Romans and more to see who your style of strategy would best fit and you can play campaigns online as well if you want. This game gives you lots of options and tons of playtime. Great graphics and sound effects help pull you even deeper into play.

Last Call:
Total War: Attila has upped the versatility of the Total War strategy game series and is a must play for fans of the genre, it provides historical facts as well as engaging gameplay. I can’t wait until its Viking DLC comes out!

[easyreview title=”Total War: Attila Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]

Rapoo KX Dual Mode Mechanical Keyboard Review (Tech)

2015/02/26

Ripper71

News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews

I blame gaming for my keyboard snobbery. I was fine at first as a casual gamer having a keyboard that lit up pretty and had a few programmable keys. Then I got my hands on my first mechanical keyboard and it was all changed. Pretty soon I found myself hooking them up to my laptop so that I could get the tactile response I had become accustomed to even when I was on the road. Then an unpleasant thing happened during that period of time… I became disabled. My new condition demanded I spend more time in bed which also meant more time on laptops and considering my laptops are gaming laptops the heat issues from them have always plagued me. So now the keyboards attached to the laptops weren’t just for enjoyment but for necessity, I have to put the laptop nearby and write on a separate keyboard. Full size keyboards tend to be difficult to type on in bed but smaller keyboards tend to lose the tactile response. Now Rapoo has the solution with the KX Dual Mode Mechanical Keyboard which not only provides one of the smallest mechanical keyboards on the market it can be used wireless and has backlit keys!

Hands On:
First off should be addressed is the key design. With full size light up keys it is easy to keep your place on the keyboard. The keys are also slightly elevated rows like in a movie theater so that the row above is slightly higher which helps keep your fingers from slipping. This can be handy also since you may not be resting the keyboard on a flat surface and the slope of the keys helps you hold it in place as well as avoid key slippage. The light-up keys are really nice too especially for evening for night typing or gaming. Most laptops don’t have this feature so it is particularly helpful. For thews that concern themselves with such things there is also no keylight bleed-through on the sides of the keys which can be a bother to some.

The mechanical keys have the response you have come to expect on that type of keyboard, a distinct click as well as a spring response under the key. You know you have hit the button and you have a pretty good idea when you may not have hit a key hard enough or may have accidentally hit two keys. This does bring up the point that with the compact configuration of the keyboard anti-ghosting would be a great addition especially for folks with huge bear paws like I have but as long as care is taken while typing this isn’t so much an issue and when it comes to gaming is a mute point.

While on the subject of the compactness of the keyboard I am amazed at how well this was done while maintaining a key buffer around the edges to protect the keys and give a surface to rest the edge of your hand on. This was partly accomplished by making the F row of keys as well as escape and delete touch buttons. Personally I have no problem with things, it actually helps separate the numerical keys from the F keys during gaming which is really important. Some might be bothered that such important keys such as ESC and DEL are on that row but personally it was no bother for me and once again helped located escape quickly.

My only complaint at all about the minimizing process is that the left shift key has been reduced to a normal size key and the up arrow is located where the inside part of the shift key would be. As a result I find myself accidentally paging up regularly when I am trying to capitalize something. Once again gaming wise this really isn’t a problem but typing wise it was something to keep in mind so much as to become a distraction. If the print button were moved up to the F row and the left windows button removed the arrow keys could be shifted over and the problem fixed. Up until this point in this review I was actually writing on the keyboard while laid up in bed but I hit the arrow button in a way that caused random sections of a sentence to be spread throughout the review for every time I went to capitalize a word or just “I”.

To be mechanical the thickness and weight of the keyboard had to be increased, making the chassis plastic instead of metal might have helped the weight issue but at the cost of durability. This keyboard feels tough and as though it could take a real knocking before showing any problems.

Last but not least is cutting the tether and going wireless. That is one of the key features of this keyboard and probably the reason many people will pick it up. It uses a USB dongle to accomplish this and surprisingly doesn’t seem to have any latency issue as compared to being plugged in. With the lights, touchpad section, vibration response and maintaining a strong connection the keyboard sucks up a bit of juice but for the average typing session or gaming run it will probably stay energized and worse comes to worse you plug it into charge and hardwire which can become quite a distance with a USB extender cable.

Last Call:
The Rapoo KX Dual Mode Mechanical Keyboard fits all the mechanical keyboard features you would want into a compact wireless design. The left shift button area could really use a redesign and if that happens it will be a hard keyboard to top.

[easyreview title=”Rapoo KX Dual Mode Mechanical Keyboard Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]