Author - Ripper71

MPowerd Luci Inflatable Smart Solar Light Review

2019/02/07

Geek News, News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

We here at GamingShogun don’t often get to report on charitable organizations, but one we have been covering over the years is MPowerd. In 2012 MPowerd worked with one of its primary inventors Jason Snyder to come up with a solution to something people don’t realize are a huge problem around the world: light. There are still three billion people in the world without electricity and in many parts of the world the main solution is kerosene lanterns which are expensive and dangerous. As a result there are still places around the world where when the sun goes down it becomes too dark to study, work or do much of anything that requires a light source. As a matter of fact, the current President and CEO of the company Seungah Jeong was one such person person and it is this drive that has helped make the company global with the plan to light the world literally.

The original Luci was straight forward, an inflatable waterproof lantern that can be charged during the day to last well into the night. The lights over the years have changed with the times but one thing has always been the same, the business model. They sell the lanterns in developed countries at retail prices so they can give them to underdeveloped lands at a price that can be afford or for free through donations. If you buy a lantern as a gift to a dark country you know that the money is going straight to the manufacturer with no middle man to get a cut. It is only $10 to send one out to the world and I encourage everyone to make the small price gesture that helps light the way for others in need.

HOW IT WORKS:

Buy a light or lights through GIVE Luci program.
Your GIVE light goes directly to non-profit partners.
Non-profit partners working actively on the ground deliver them to where they are needed most.

I have been very proud of bringing the Lucis to the attention of our readers as a company I personally champion. So without further ado let’s talk about one of the handiest lights for developed, lit countries, the MPowerd Luci Inflatable Smart Solar Light Mobile Charger. From here on I’ll just call it the Luci Charger to save page and brain space.

The Luci was already a great emergency light source you could leave on a window sill or camping because of it’s ease of use, low profile when the lantern is not inflated (does not have to be inflated to charge) and with it’s flash and SOS functions it could literally be a lifesaver. Now if you find that your phone has died you can use the built in solar mobile charger. If the rechargeable unit gets a USB charge it takes 2-3 hours, solar it takes up to 14 hours to be fully charged. This is great especially if it is an emergency since you don’t have to have a phone fully charged to get help. That may seem like a really long time for a charge but you are literally charging from the sun at that point which can take longer, though the important thing again is you don’t need a fully charged phone to to make an emergency call, just a couple of percents to get it going enough for a text, call or FB post. And when they come looking for you you can have the lamp flashing SOS.

This little Luci Charger can do more than that though, it can be at the life of the party instead of just for camping or emergencies. I have gotten a few Luci models over the years and they always get added to our summer pool nights. I like to take a heavy weight and attach it to the handle and watch it sink partway under the water. Then I make use of it’s 36 LEDs, 24 white and 12 RGB, that can send out up to 250 Lumens of light. As a result they light up that section of the pool and I can have my all white Luci floating around with flashing lights and my Lucis with RGB all get set to color changing the whole pool time. It also looks good on the ground around the pool lit up so people can be safer while walking around it. Even in Las Vegas where the winters are almost to freezing and the summers are desert heat we leave the Lucis out to charge and I have one that has never been taken out of the sun for five years that works just as good as the day I got it, still inflates and is still waterproof, though the plastic of the lantern has begun to lose some of it’s malleability. If that doesn’t show how tough they are I’m not sure what does, especially since if it gets a hole you could use a standard patch kit to repair it or buy a couple of new ones so that more people around the world benefit from a Luci.

One of the new features on the Luci Charger is that it is now phone compatible, you can adjust the lights how you want through a phone app via Bluetooth! This has made it even more impressive for mood lighting or maybe a lantern can be put somewhere and if you lose power and it is charged you can just use your phone to turn it on and off as you leave rooms or got to sleep.

My big concern was that having a USB port might make it no longer waterproof up to a meter. It seems my concern was unjustified though since they use a stopper similar to the one used to hold the air in when you inflate a ball, pool toy or mattress just designed to plug a different shaped hole, in this case the one over the USB port. So if you plan to go camping on a river that you are kayaking you don’t have to worry about it getting to splash damaged or submerged to work.

Apparently it is obvious I can’t say enough positive things about the MPowerd Luci Inflatable Smart Solar Light Mobile Charger and every concern that presented itself proved unwarranted, one of the latest additions to the Luci family has definitely earned it’s spot of prominence. The emergency and relief effort uses are staggering as are the humanitarian as since 2012 when the company started they have affected over 3 million lives and counting. Donate $10 to improve the world, and while you are at it you should pick up a couple for yourself which in turn will help more people. There are no cons or downsides, except maybe the fact that you do need it to be charged.

Kingston Nucleum USB Hub Review

2019/01/31

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

A concern for just about everyone who buys an Apple Notebook, two small USB-C connections just won’t cut it for their mobile lifestyle. Thankfully, Kingston has come up with something that takes up one of the ports, a USB-C 7-in-1 hub that allows the owner to do everything from use their favorite monitor and mouse to a favorite keyboard and more.

Kingston’s Nucleum has a built-in USB-C drive connection cord that gives enough room to use the connections but not for the cord to hang off a surface and get caught up in things as the cord is just a few inches long. The device is covered in polished aluminum so it doesn’t look cheap and goes nicely with most computers. The connections, which are really what this is about, consist of two USB-C ports, two USB 3.1 connections, and a 4K HDMI port which can come in really handy when working with a monitor or, in our case, a television.

The last two connections are pretty important: Both microSD and SDHC card reader slots! During September and October we travel A LOT and take tons of pictures and video. All of the adapters that let me plug the microSD or SDHC cards into my computer simply have not worked. As a result, our nice expensive camera and video camera tend to just sit in a bag while we use our phones to take pictures. This unit functioned exactly as promised, however, and the transfer rate was exceptional – offloading memory cards full of images took mere moments.

A couple other cool features of the Kingston Nucleum is that you can have every device connection used all at the same time! So maybe you have things plugged into all of the connections except one USB 3.1, you can still plug into that and charge your phone or a portable battery bank.

You can probably buy an adapter that does many of the things the Kingston Nucleum can do for cheaper, but odds are you won’t get the high standards of quality we have come to expect with the Kingston name and it will probably look cheaper as well whereas the brushed finish does add a lot to the look. It also means playing roulette with the card readers.

Gamesir VX AimSwitch Review

2019/01/24

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Nintendo Switch, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews

The Gamesir VX AimSwitch is a wireless half keyboard with a programmable mouse and the VX Dongle for the optional connection and in case the device doesn’t have Bluetooth. It is pretty much plug n’ play on the console, with the XBox One you plug the mouse into the half keyboard then plug the dongle into the system. These are pretty much the directions for all consoles. It can vary a little bit on the next step which is to plug into a controller and then have the controller turned off. This will bring up a screen asking you to reconnect the controller but the AimSwitch then just takes control, you can make moves with the keyboard and mouse that are super accurate. If you are playing a game with on the fly moves that allow for aim-assist that would probably help with quick shots but otherwise the fun is in having the mouse shooting accuracy.

Xbox One Titles That Support Keyboards (At the time of this posting):

Bomber Crew
Deep Rock Galactic (Xbox Dynamic Lighting)
Fortnite
Minecraft
Strange Brigade (Xbox Dynamic Lighting)
Warframe
Vermintide 2 (Xbox Dynamic Lighting)
War Thunder
X-Morph Defense (Xbox Dynamic Lighting)

When it comes to the PC it is literally plug and play for the keyboard and mouse, or use the dongle if you want to use them wirelessly. However just like most keyboard and mice, when it comes to a PC computer it just takes connecting – VERY simple.

A big point in the GameSir VX AimSwitch’s favor is that no matter how I am connected to the console/system I didn’t see a latency difference between the keyboard and mouse when it came to wireless or wired. That is a huge deal because bad latency is a peripheral and game killer. As long as you don’t need to type sentences, you really don’t miss that other side of the keyboard either. You may want to go back to the controller when you aren’t in a game playing since the system menus are definitely designed for controller navigating. Once you get used to it though you may not find yourself wanting to switch off it.

The biggest problem with wireless running is needing to charge periodically, when you are deep in a game and start measuring playtime in days rather than hours it might be a bit of a pain if after hours on the keyboard you had to switch off to a controller that you are not used to at the moment. This could result in you needing to plug into the system and hoping you have a long enough cord to sit in the comfortable position you had to get into during the marathon game session. A trick I like to do is keep a USB battery nearby (other batteries are available), then I plug into it and get a charge faster than plugging into a console and they tend to hold such a great charge that I can play hours with it tethered next to keyboard. I still get the wireless experience without the drawback then.

I really like how they decided to attach the wrist rest, it has a ratcheting side-to-side movement. That way it won’t become unattached if you are playing on your legs or something and it customizes to where you would normally have your hand on a mouse pad (a lot of folks let their left hand drift more to the right to accommodate hitting middle keys, especially small hands). It seems like a simple touch but I am typing on a really nice quality keyboard right now and the wrist rest slides sometimes even with a magnetic connection. Some people’s left hand also drifts because their right might be working a numbers keypad for moving. I try to stick with my keyboard for all uses so I don’t tend to miss the number pad. The keys are mechanical so you get that nice solid feel and click you have come to expect with mechanical keys.

I found the GameSir VX AimSwitch stands out great for 3rd person shooters, FPS, and RTS games. It almost seems like they were the initial target which makes sense with battle royale games like Fortnite being so big and games like Minecraft showing they have legs. X-Morph Defense is a solid tower defense game and its map coverage is immense resulting in dizzying fast moves with precision stops which I have always found is more doable on a keyboard. It works with the Nintendo Switch even, which I have a hard time with because I have huge, sausage-like fingers and big hands. When I think of it, Halo Wars sound pretty good – guess I know what I am playing next.

They even have their own app called G-Crux so you can set keys via your cell phone! You can have presets that you load when you are about to play one game and a different setup for when you play another. This too helps you customize it for the game types mentioned above. You can also update the GameSir VX AimSwitch’s firmware via your phone’s Bluetooth connection.

The only concerns I know of is that it takes some getting used to where the action buttons are, the ones that change weapons, fire weapons, etc. when it comes it console play. Another concern, which I hope will prove to be invalid but you never know, this may be considered a benefit to game play accuracy which might become a banning situation in some online games eventually. The AimSwitch is that impressive on the console once you get used to the keys, especially with all the key mapping and binding you can do. Also both the keyboard and the mouse have extra buttons that are just dedicated programmables.

The Gamesir VX AimSwitch wireless half keyboard and mouse combo is great for folks who like the play of a keyboard but want to get the most out of their console’s play. It works well RTS, FPS, and 3rd person shooters and anything you may want a keyboard and mouse, when you think about it that is a pretty large number. It has a great Plug N’ Play setup and works great both wired and wireless on some pretty big games out right now. With it’s extra programmable buttons along with the standard half keyboard setup you can make your gameplay even smoother and more accurate. The Gamesir VX AimSwitch may just be the video game snipers best friend.

X4: Foundations Review

2019/01/19

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

The X franchise has been developed by Egosoft since the beginning in 1999 right up until the latest edition X4: Foundations which you would think would wind up presenting a complete series of games just adding onto the previous ones universe. It increases over the games in sector size (explorable and building sections of space) from 54 in the first game to a couple of hundred in X2: Terran Conflict which you think would wind up in massive size going through X3 and expansions… but that isn’t how X4 wound up. X4: Foundations has 47 sectors and systems within each sector that does add up to some considerable space but still seems like less than X2. Of course, the space of a sandlot game isn’t as important as the quality of play in the game which if it all worked well would be plenty enough to keep you playing for a long, long time. Besides the number of areas may be less but they might be bigger to balance it out.

The learning curve for this game is probably one of the highest I have seen since… well it may be the steepest ever which considering how many hundreds of games I have under my belt might be a quite a statement. I spent a day learning the most basic of ropes of the game only to forget most of them the next day. I had post it notes all around the screen and saved very regularly but it didn’t matter, when/if I figured out a command sometimes it would just fail so that I thought I had it wrong. I would then go back through my notes again and try only to have it succeed despite doing it the same. Another time the game’s hints mentioned using automated docking and when I went to do it it didn’t work. Looking through tutorials, hints and online help I found that the problem was I needed a purchased upgraded drive.

When I was just trying to do the docking on my own giving up on the automated system I followed the nav comms instructions on how to put my ship on the deck but unfortunately right when I was supposed to land I fell THROUGH the landing deck resulting in my ship being stuck inside the station’s walls unable to get out. I saw a good deal of the station, it was just from a ship cruising through the inside of the walls only to have it stop me when I would exit the walls. This led to me having to quit the game and go to a previous save point.

Saving isn’t made easy, probably to keep you from using it a lot but it really plays into an important aspect of play, there are just enough bugs and things that you discover are unhealthy for your survival only right after it kills you. It has a save and quit which is easy to miss or forget about. I was guilty of getting into the gameplay and concentrating so hard on how to get around and do stuff that I don’t notice I have forgotten to save for a while. I usually discover this after something goes wrong, like falling through the deck of a space station.

Don’t get me wrong the game is not bad, it just set out high hopes and there is nothing wrong with shooting for the moon but you want to have a solid comfort core to the game gameplay and game storyline to work up and out from. Make sure that the players start having fun then start working into deeper controls and features from them so they can make choices in play.

The game has a storyline though the way it ended made me think that they plan a sequel to X4 soon to take us the rest of the way into the story. There are places to get a little more story and history for the game but sometimes they require a bit of digging. One nice place to look that surprised me off hand is the Steam cards you win for completing certain tasks. Each time I go to play I read the cards over really quick to pick up information. Exploration and questing gets you more information too if you pay close attention when some dialogue pops up. The story ending still will probably feel abrupt but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are working on the sequel as they released this one. I just wish they had worked out more of the bugs before this part came online. Sure it is important to hit your release dates but generally with gamers it is better to release a cleaner game than an on time one.

Exploration is really the most fun part of this game, as is the case with just about every sandbox game. You make and break alliances with those you run into, sometimes helping with repairs on a space station or helping that station survive an enemy attack, which will then turn that enemy against you. If you get outnumbered you jump on super highways and pass through jump gates to get away. It even has Orbital Accelerators to get you moving quick. You can go out into what looks like empty space and just might be, or you might stumble upon a derelict ship floating in the outskirts of space just loaded with rewards. Or you can talk to a space station and help them repair the air scrubbers or something like that. You don’t have to attack every station you come across, actually that would kinda be a bad idea because you may find yourself hiding out by some derelict wreckage hoping you don’t get added to it.

Fighting is interesting and might scale to your play, I know my first fights seemed pretty easy and then got harder as I went, but that could just be like in a lot of games where the more trouble you cause the more attention of the enemy you garner. Even in battle you have choices, you can kill a ship that knows it has lost and is trying to escape or you can take heed of their request “Please Let Me Live!” which might earn you favor with a particular empire, or get their attention even more. And that is just talking about regular fights, when you start to take on a space station or a giant ship to pirate for cargo and the ship itself most times and you are getting into a whole new level of fighting.

Once you get a good feel for the controls, actually while you are on your way to it, you will find yourself addicted to the game more times than not, it appeals to fairly hardcore players due to the learning issues it has but those type of players are usually the kind who love the play once they figure it out. I find it hard not to go back to the game right now, writing about it makes me want to give it a run but I don’t have enough hours to spend with it right now, refreshing the gameplay and then running around on mini-quests is fun but still requires some time put aside.

Like most flight games it is also playable through a game pad, flight stick or H.O.T.A.S. setup which would help submerge a player even more into the game. I know the next time I get one of those to review this game will be at the top of my list to give run it through it’s paces. This is the most submersive first person flight game I have, which is kind of funny since it is space flight instead of sky flight where you have to keep an eye out for the ground. In X4: Foundations you just have to worry about other objects you might collide with.

X4: Foundations is a bit of a rough starter but once you get the hang of it it is one heck of a fun ride worth the effort. It will probably appeal to the more hardcore gamer but that’s fine since that has really been its true audience since the beginning.

RIG 300HC Gaming Headset For The Nintendo Switch Review

2019/01/02

Ripper71

Geek News, Mobile Review, News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

Plantronics has been around a while and have already made a name for themselves when it comes to headsets and accessories, particularly the RIG series. While they make each one for a particular system some are made to run the bases of gaming being able to be used on other systems by design or adapter. One such headset is the RIG 300HC, designed for the Nintendo Switch but usable on any system with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The RIG 300HC has some great features that make it solid for around the house. With that size jack you can use the headset when walking around the house listening to music as well as playing games on your phone (one I play called Hello Hero sounds amazing on my iPhone) then grabbing a seat and snuggling up to your XBox One for a long gaming session. They are designed to be used with the Nintendo Switch and they do work great with it, being lightweight enough to portable play with but being a larger profile than ear buds like a lot of people might use, the larger profile providing a far more expansive sound experience.

One of the ways the RIC 300HC keeps the weight down to keep the headset on the go is to have cups with a spider web modular design to the outer plastic section around the cup. This actually works two fold, it allows sound to come in so you can hear a car screeching or maybe your mom yelling that it is time for dinner. It is a great beginner and younger player headset since they can’t use the excuse that they can’t hear their parent/spouse. I often find this a problem when I am playing WoW and Mrs. Ripper is telling me what I need to improve on during a raid while we are both wearing headsets to hear our raid leader on Discord. The headset even has adjustable volume and mutable mic inline on it so you don’t have to open a jacket if your phone is in your pocket and you want to temporarily turn down the music and if you need to talk to someone outside of game you can turn the sound and mic off on your headset to talk to people IRL. This all just seems so handy for a parent and child dynamic, which might be why it is aimed at such a family console as the Nintendo Switch. Also the holes increase airflow through the headset which helps prevent too much sweat on them, yuck!

On the side of the head bar of the headset there are three holes on each side where you can choose to plug in your headset cups. If you want a larger headset space you go on the headset holes at the farthest end, if you want it smaller then it’s inner most spots. The headset uses this to set the size on your head, there is no adjustability to the bar which means it won’t slip but it also won’t fine tune in comfort. There is a modular/spider web design to the head bar as well, my guess is those and the lack of an adjuster are there to help lower the weight of the headset even more. It is plastic with a bit of padding is all which definitely puts the main weight in the cups themselves.

The inside of the RIG 300HC has padding around the outside with quite a bit of padding on the inner most cup as well, this helps with the lack of adjustability allowing longer contact with that area before fatigue. Attached to one side is a noise cancelling microphone on a bendable boom. This combined with the cups being plug n play with the head bar makes it so you can put the mic on either side which I find to be a great design. Sometimes if I want to block sound quickly to talk to someone in the room I reach up and cover the mic, often having to pull it down to talk to the person. With this headset system I can put the boom mic cup on whichever side I want so if I spend a majority of my time talking to someone on my left side I can not only move the mic cup to my right but the boom is designed to be fully rotated around to face the other way for a natural look and feel even if the headset is technically backwards then. You can even move the boom up and out of sight if you are playing a game that you don’t need a mic for or you are just walking around listening to music. The mic is noise cancelling so you don’t have to worry about somebody else in the room letting out a blue streak about their game.

Last bit to mention would be 40mm drivers to hit the sound home and make music in your head and Soundguard Acoustic Safety Technology makes sure the sound isn’t damaging the hearing is said head. Besides that if the headset is taken on an airplane you might be required to keep the sound down somewhat because they are cracking down on electronics that make noise other passengers can hear. RIG 300HC have some bleed out which might not bother the average person in a car or house but sitting uncomfortably close on a plane is a whole different story.

Plantronics RIG 300HC is a great headset for younger gamers and professionals alike, pretty much anyone who wants great sounding audio and has a 3.5mm audio jack to plug into (or an adapter for such things as a USB port). The design looks sleek while having every part of it serving a purpose or being stripped away to create the longest and most portable use time possible.

myCharge myFlipShade Phone Shade Review

2018/10/07

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

When you use your phone in public spaces, particularly crowded ones, you tend to find someone peeking at your phone. I notice this especially in airplanes where people often don’t bring anything to entertain themselves and with a short time they are finished with the in flight magazine. At that point they start looking around for something of interest like your phone while you are watching a movie or reading a e-book. You can also imagine being at the beach or poolside trying to read your phone and you just can’t because of the glare on the screen. myCharge had all these issues in mind when they developed the myFlipShade, a great and affordable way to keep your phone safe in multiple ways.

Don’t be too surprised by appearance as in this case it is definitely deceptive. The myFlipShade is made of plastic with four total joints, two attached to the visor section and one attached to each of the wings that snap down to help prevent sun glare or side peeks. The back of the myFlipShade is a piece of plastic with 3M adhesive strips to secure the section to your phone or a case. The back piece has nice sized holes to still allow use the camera. One of the joints that connect to the backing and both of the wings make a clacking noise that at first makes you a little nervous it might be breaking but in reality they are so that you can put the upper and side shades how ever you need to and they will clack into place and not just flop around.

One of the very nice aspects is that the back with the camera hole only takes up a third of the back so if you have a pop up holder or a Love Handle they can be attached and still have no problem. You can even use one of those stick-on wallets below the myFlipShade with no problems accessing the contents. My mother-in-law likes stick-on wallets with built in stands for the back of the phone because almost every meal she puts her phone on the table and plays slot machine games while eating. People tend to see her doing it and stop briefly while passing by to glance at it and maybe whisper to a friend about it and now they won’t. If she isn’t worried about it being seen she can fold the whole thing onto the back of the phone and use the wings as a kickstand to watch her phone on. The only drawback to having myFlipShade attached to your phone is that you can’t see any images on your case if it is a vanity one, it does however provide a few vanity designs of its own!

While you are out in the sun it is easy for a phone to overheat fast, sometimes even resulting in some battery leeching. The myFlipShade helps absorb the heat and allows you to keep going. The toughness comes into play because the shade lifts up above the front of the phone both when in use and folded down, as a result if you drop it on its face or its top-end the shade will wind up taking most of the impact making it screen damage resistant.

myFlipShade fulfills a variety of functions in its small plastic shade system. It can be great for helping view hard to see screens in the sun and makes the screen hard to see when you don’t want it to be. It also makes a great kickstand and helps protect the phone when deployed in case of dropping it. If myFlipShade breaks in the process, it’s only 9.99!

Telltale’s The Walking Dead Final Season: Episode One Review

2018/09/09

Ripper71

Comics News, News, Reviews, Xbox One News, Xbox One Review

I have been following the story of Clementine and her horrifying adventures among The Walking Dead since the beginning several seasons ago. It has been one a few different platforms too making it so that when it comes to my decisions throughout the game’s seasons I couldn’t accumulate them like all Telltale games do where certain decisions you make have long term last repercussions. As a result I just decided I would play it cold then and whatever happened before was done and past, I figured especially since I hadn’t played any of the parts on the Xbox One it was just all I could do.

Luckily for me and others who find themselves in the same situation Telltale Games was prepared for this by making a Story Builder that gives you a chance to make all the really important decisions that needed to be made through the story while giving a recap of events as they happened after the decision. In the end you find yourself in the same place starting the game out but your decisions and your opinions on things are based off of the Story Builder choices. After you make the 34 possible decisions you can get a downloadable poster that reflects all of them, neat!

Clem starts out the final season looking for food with two mouths to feed since she is still has AJ as a surrogate son, a hard thing to be going through with both the living and the dead to fear and is little more than a child herself. To make it harder AJ is at the age where he is like a sponge, he soaks in information from all over, especially from Clem. There are some very serious decisions and consequences that start almost immediately. And trust me without a spoiler, your choices made at the beginning will effect you before Episode Two, though the game definitely makes me want to come back for more.

Something that has to be mentioned, if you haven’t seen the art style that Telltale games uses on this game and others, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. If you like comic books you definitely need to check it out, it almost feels like what motion comics could have been. You feel more immersed than a comic because you make choices, you lead the fighting, but otherwise it is giving you a story in comic form. This was also downloaded in 4K HD onto one of the newer Xbox Ones that can play the game in 4K HD onto a 4K HD 65″ television and I have to say it was amazing. I was afraid the game might not translate to that size and quality but I was completely wrong. Visually and voice wise this game was mind boggling cool.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead Final Season: Episode One was Telltale’s commitment to quality by making the sensory aspects of the game look great if you like stylized game art and I appreciate it and a good quality story at it’s heart. The only drawback I have is I now have to wait for Episode Two!

Surgeon Simulator CPR Announcement Trailer

2018/09/06

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Nintendo Switch, Trailers / Videos

London, UK – 6th September 2018: Surgeon Simulator – the critically-acclaimed operation sim by Bossa Studios – today announced the release date for its highly-anticipated Nintendo Switch port by way of a brand-new Launch Trailer. Arriving on the 13th September, the news was shared in the form of a highly-stylised training video – dubbed ‘A Burke’s Guide to Surgery’ (Dr. Nigel Burke being the game’s notorious protagonist) – which plays up to the game’s 1980s setting to toe-curling effect.

As for those who are pulling their hair (not to mention teeth, eyes and intestines!) out with anticipation, the good news is that Surgeon Simulator CPR can now be pre-ordered via its Nintendo Switch store page. Priced at £9.99, Bossa Studios are also offering a 10% discount from now through to launch week!

Armed with a less-than-conventional toolkit, the game sees players perform terrifying transplants in theatre, high-pressure procedures in an ambulance, and anti-gravitational operations in space! But it’s Surgeon Simulator’s notoriously difficult controls for which the game was originally celebrated, with previous ports on PC, PS4, PSVR and iOS spawning over 2 million fanmade instructional videos, as well as a strong influencer following including PewDiePie, Fernanfloo and JackSepticEye.

Fully revived and feeling better-than-ever, the upcoming Nintendo Switch version takes advantage of the console’s much-lauded functionalities to create the most immersive surgeon experience yet. By snapping out a Joy-Con controller, players will be able to swap to motion controls at any time for nail-biting precision, while HD Rumble will help bring the full roster of tools – from hammers to hatchets, buzzsaws to laser pens – to life like never before!

Also taking advantage of Nintendo’s split Joy-Con support, players will be able to tag a second surgeon in at any time, whether it’s at home or on the go, to immediately launch local co-op play! Because sometimes you need a second opinion…

Containing all the original heart-in-your-mouth (or wherever else you decide to put it!) operations, including the additional teeth and eye transplants from the A&E Edition, Surgeon Simulator CPR also includes the highly-classified Alien Autopsy mode, too! Coupled with the console’s effortless portability and multitude of play options, it’s safe to say operating on the go’s never been easier!

Jurassic World Evolution Review (PC)

2018/09/04

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Reviews, Windows PC News, Windows PC Review

Jurassic World Evolution starts off wonderfully with the beautifully detailed island jungle underneath the helicopter as it heads toward the landing pad. Then Ian Malcolm, voiced beautifully by Jeff Goldblum fills us in on what’s in store, reminding us that the island chain will be playing on is known as the “Five Deaths” and we don’t know how it earned it’s name in the first place but once the Jurassic team had shown up it lived up to the name thanks to lots of dinosaurs with big pointy teeth. This means that this game is more than just a glorified zoo sim, there aren’t a whole lot of animals in a standard zoo that go out and kill people for fun. Well, some do but not on the scale that the Jurassic critters do. The voice acting is key to the game’s enjoyment and suspension of disbelief so it is nice that they got most of the cast from the movies to lend their voices to the characters. The same can be pointed out as being key when they don’t have the actor’s voice in the case of Chris Pratt’s Owen where the person who did the voice work in his place was really bad, laughably so. I think it almost would have been better to have someone else’s character or a fresh one to speak in place of Owen. Luckily with the excellent voice work of all other characters and the beautiful scenery of the island it is easy to forget about Owen until they decide to use him again.

The gameplay is fairly similar to most city or zoo sims with maybe a bit more simplification. You don’t have to worry about trash cans and bathrooms but you do need to consider souvenirs and hotels as well as transportation once the park grows in size. Starting off just about all of the contracts and objectives are designed to set up the basics of the park as well as to train you on how to use the menus which is good because the menus aren’t as intuitive as one might hope for, mainly because the game’s biggest weakness is some of the learning curves. For example you can run powerlines over near a property and it will declare that there is no power going to it. So you open up a menu that gives you a map that shows where the power is going to. You then have to quit that map and go to the main view and make powerline adjustments. You then have to go back into the menu to see how the coverage is until you get it just the way you want, then when you build new buildings you have to do it all over again. Repetition results in a learning curve but when you just want to have fun making dinosaurs you definitely wished you could make corrections on the menu map.

At the beginning of the game there is a decent amount of start then wait for things to be done moments. However, don’t fret as, once the game gets going, you will find you are running around taking care of all kinds of things at once keeping you constantly occupied. Enjoy the easy pace while you have it!

You need to think of the Hammond Research Center as being your command building. If you want to build a t-shirt shop you need to research in the Hammond Building for example. If you want to build dinosaurs that happens through the Creation Center but you need to send out dig teams from the Expedition Center to get fresh Dino DNA and the more and better quality of it you get the better the chance of the dinosaur surviving the birthing process. All the starting buildings serve a purpose to get those dinosaurs hatching, after that most of what you do is developing a park while sending out regularly to get more Dino DNA, you definitely want to be careful when juggling buildings and building upgrades with funds to go on expeditions and creating new dinosaurs.

There are three main branches that give you contracts to fulfill and they are Science, Entertainment and Security. Anytime you do a contract for one you lose popularity with the other two even if it should have been positive for them. If the scientist asks you to build a new dinosaur that should make the Entertainment division happy but no matter what the other divisions are unhappy. Also you might make a triceratops for one division and then the next division will ask you to make a triceratops and even if the first one fits all the criteria the game doesn’t recognize the step as already having happened. You have to make it all over again to fulfill that contract. Science won’t be happy even if that new dinosaur improves on the one you already have wandering around if the dinosaur is made for Security or Entertainment.

You can go into the dinosaur DNA and alter it using the DNA of other creatures to make them live longer, be more aggressive, to be able to eat a variety of foods and other such things. You might add turtle DNA to make the brain power of the dinosaur to last longer. Most of the DNA changes you make are to help the dinosaur’s health though some can alter the aggressiveness of them as well. DNA manipulation can result in the dinosaur rating dropping and the dinosaur aspect of the park to drop as a whole so keep an eye on such things, it might even effect the percentage of chance that the hatching will provide a viable dinosaur (hint: it almost always gets changed). So if you decide to try to make the dinosaur version of a platypus it won’t be very viable and actually you can only get so far in that direction. The longer you play the more DNA juggling you can get away with as well as unlocking more dinosaurs.

If you picked up the Dinosaur Pack DLC as well then you will find yourself that much happier with Styracosaurus, Crichtonsaurus (one of my all time favorites), Majungasaurus, Archaeornithomimus, and Suchomimus being added to your ultimate dinosaur list.

When it comes down to it, everything I have mentioned as an issue is one that is easy to overcome with practice and let’s face it: most of us are playing it so we can make dinosaurs and see them be released into their enclosures and start running around it. This game has behavior traits built into the dinosaurs as well as allowing you to make variations of them through their DNA resulting in watching the little dinosaurs start running around eating and drinking to the big dinosaurs that stand off against each other in great battles. You can watch the dinosaurs from a couple of aerial maps or you can lock cameras onto a dinosaur to watch it from a ground point of view or you can order a helicopter or jeep in and watch the action from third person or man the camera and look at them first person from a distance and take “pictures” which are screenshots the game saves to your drop box. Watch a meat eater trying to take a bite out of a triceratops is pretty exciting, especially if you have altered their DNA to make them behave or survive differently.

Jurassic Park Evolution has a learning curve to it but once you get past it there is a great and continuous excitement hatching and taking care of the dinosaurs. True, you are supposed to concentrate on the fact that it is a theme park sim. To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson, you have all the problems of a zoo and a major theme park, but don’t let that distract you from the joy of dinosaur-making and watching your creations come to life and run around behaving like we believe the dinosaur would in modern day. When you get far enough in you can open sandbox play and get unlimited cash at which time you really can concentrate on dinosaurs. Until then make t-shirts for the guests who survive the island to take home as souvenirs, if any survive that it.

Star Trek Las Vegas Convention 2018 Photo Gallery

2018/08/22

Ripper71

Geek News, News, Screenshots / Photos

I cannot overstate how amazing the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention is every year, it is something I dream about going to every year and pinch myself every year that I make it. It is hard to even express how it can reach you to your core if you are even a slight Star Trek fan and it is easy to understand how this show put on by Creation Entertainment is a mecha for all things Trek. I was a fan before but now I am a fanatic with the Enterprise and “boldy go” tattooed on my arm. I don’t think the show quite touched my core as deeply as it did after going to this show.

The first thing people generally ask if they haven’t been to the convention is “It’s just about Star Trek The Original Series right?” Nope, that couldn’t really be farther from the truth. It is about everything you can possibly imagine Star Trek wise, just about every guest star who has ever graced any of the incarnations shows up to sign autographs, take pictures and do panels discussing their experiences on and off the set of the Star Trek show they were on. Every anniversary of every one of the shows is celebrated with guest panels, podcast recordings and merchandise. The merchandise goes from hats and shirts celebrating the different Treks to coffee tables and specially built Borg cube computers (oh I would be willing to get assimilated for one of those). Ever wish you had Mal’s hand gun from Firefly or an autographed picture of Cindy from Land Of The Lost? You can get those too. Ever dreamed of meeting the best creature character actor of all time Doug Jones? Stop by Discovery’s row of autographs and you will get to meet Doug Jones and the rest of the cast (though Doug Jones is one of the nicest guy’s in the business and I can’t steer you to meet him enought).

The convention items from the vendor’s room with it’s massive number of autographs and souvenirs is nice but it’s really the panels that make the convention. They are going constantly during the show, in different rooms, all curated to be a great bunch of folks full of high energy. Creation Entertainment does an thoroughly impressive job providing a panel interviewing extras from the first series in one, and interviewing the creators of a game like Star Trek Online in another discussing their Discovery content that will go until about the convvention’s time next year. If neither of those catch your interest you can sit in on a panel about Star Trek’s influence on culture and technology as presented by one of curator’s of The Smithsonian. This year there was even a panel comparing Shakespeare to Star Trek, particularly the roles of Kirk, Spock and Bones.

If you decide you want to take a break from sales and sessions you have the opportunity to go into different museums dedicated to costume and weapon designs from Discovery, the Terran Empire and even the bridge of the Enterprise with all it’s pretty lights flashing. For those who were will to try out brave new worlds there was a Star Trek VR experience setup that allowed people to put on a headset and controllers and take a trip around a federation ship, looking around rooms, taking turbo lifts and even interacting with items (people were having fun figuring out what they could pick up and throw at each other). It still needed a few kinks worked out (walking nausea which is fairly common in the build process) but for lots of folks who had never done it there was a lot of excitement. Every day at the beginning of the day I took my program and went through marking what I wanted to see because it was easy to get distracted by something else and missing some event.

Being a lifetime player of Star Trek Online I got to geek out with the creative team at their booth and talk about a new playable character coming out with the new Age Of Discovery content. They have so many missions and ships it is almost hard to keep up but I am already trying to figure out my gaming plans later this fall to allow for some serious trekkin’.

This year there were three big things in Trek news the first being Discovery and it’s content from a costume museum to video games. CBS is working closely with it’s video, audio and even IDW comic partners to make this new property that the fans have been nicely embracing already. The Discovery cast was amazing and they showed up everywhere they could to promote the new property.

The next big deal was that it was already DS9’s 25th anniversary! Time really does fly when you aren’t traveling at Warp Speed and I was surprised it had already been that long. Lots of the cast members made appearances and talked about the old days on set and off of it and what it was like to be part of such a huge Star Trek universe.

The big deal of the weekend though was Patrick Stewart being snuck into the building and surprising everyone with the announcement that he would be reprising his role as Jean Luc Picard and his continuing life adventures after TNG. There were little to no details other than that but it was enough to ignite the imaginations of everyone who heard that.

Creation Entertainment’s Star Trek Las Vegas is a dream come true for any Trekkie, hardcore or casual, it actually makes a lot of the casual become hardcore. It is the final frontier for anyone who shares Gene Roddenberry’s dream.