Why PC Gaming Pwns Its Competition

PC gaming has always reigned king of all gaming platforms in the 14 years I’ve dedicated to gaming. it was the platform I began gaming in back when dial-up was what most of us could afford, and I’ve seen it develop and grow from 8Bit games into the monster it is today, with million dollar championship prizes and games with unbelievable sceneries and detail.

Continuing on the subject of graphics; million dollar companies are paving the way developing ever so astounding video cards that allow big game companies to really push and create spectacular game sceneries and new engines. Unlike consoles, which are built with a set video capacity that cannot be upgraded, PCs can be constantly upgraded with new video hardware in order to accommodate new technologies that make games look ever so beautiful.

Graphics are in charge of giving games that initial “wow” factor when one first looks at a trailer, or box. People unconsciously look at the graphics and automatically associate good graphics with good games.

Now let’s face it, graphics aren’t everything. How many of you would like to have personalized peripherals to fit their gaming styles instead of the stock Xbox or PS controller? Consoles offer a very limited –if not no- range of substitutes for their controllers. PC on the other hand, offers a huge range of peripherals. All from padded keyboards with backlights that come in all shapes and sizes to motion controls that give some games a completely different feel.

The one beautiful invention that wasn’t mentioned above, and not because it isn’t worth mentioning, but because it deserves its own section in this article is the mouse.  I’m yet to see one game that requires quick camera panning that isn’t made better through the use of a mouse instead of a joystick. Mice have become perhaps the most important part of any PC gamer’s arsenal; they’ve become much like an extension of our bodies.  Sure, console joysticks are good and whatnot, but they simply don’t have the feel of a camera rotation that is achieved with a mouse, nor have they got the customization capabilities that mice do. While the only thing you can do with  a joystick in a controller is change its sensitivity, in a mouse you’re able to edit everything that the laser does, everything from the accuracy it measures movements with to how much lift the mouse can have before it stops responding. Not to mention the fact that mice come in all shapes and sizes, and have anywhere from 1 button to 20 or more.

Anyway, enough preaching on about peripherals and how good they are; let’s look at the PC as a whole. Everything in a PC, whether it be the size of the monitor you use, to the bolts that hold the motherboard in place can be customized to one’s preference. Computers allow each individual to express their gaming styles and preferences; while consoles don’t really give you that touch.

 Putting esthetics and peripherals aside, PCs are superior to the rest of the gaming systems out there is the availability of having far more processing resources than the other systems do. Not only that, but the capability for companies to build various graphic cards, motherboards, monitors, mice, towers, fans, coolers, etc. as they please instead of having a single company copyrighting one gaming system allows for competition to happen, and we all know that where there is competition in the marker, we’ll have lower prices on these products; thus keeping PC prices at a moderate level.

Another great thing PCs have that other systems do is the ability for the player to play old games in the latest machines, or even play the latest games in a machine that isn’t brand new. Unlike other gaming systems out there that cannot run new games on previous consoles.

So long as one runs the operating system that the game requires, one can install the game and run it without any compatibility issues –with that being said, the computer the game’s being run in holds hardware that has a processing power roughly around the minimum of those required by the game.

Now let’s not be too biased, let’s look at some of the down sides of PC gaming.

Computers are complex machines that are developed to do very complex jobs. So one major issue us gamers run into a lot of the time is compatibility. With so many companies developing all kinds of improved components at a rapid rate in this 21^st century, one cannot really expect one particular video card to meet the requirements of say.. every processor out there, or every kind of video card for that matter.

Having said that, PCs aren’t victims to hardware problems alone; With PCs running operating systems designed to do all round tasks like write documents and accessing personal information such as emails and online bank accounts, PCs fall prey to all kinds of different viruses that can do anything from merely rebooting a PC every given interval of time, to more serious things like stealing personal information.

All in all, PCs are not perfect; they do have faults that other gaming systems don’t and they are more vulnerable to things such as viruses and compatibility issues. HOWEVER, these issues are easily worked around by doing some research into the compatibility of the products one is buying, or simply getting a good anti-virus for your PC and staying away from those pesky sites that are filled with viruses and scams.

The advantages of PCs outweigh the disadvantages on a big ratio at the end of the day, and PCs remain as the best option gaming platform in the market to date in my opinion, and may perhaps always be on-top.

Silent Hill Book of Memories Review!

Story

The story in Silent Hill: Book of Memories revolves around a character that receives a Mysterious Book for his birthday sent from Silent Hill delivered by an uncanny Mail Man, he soon finds out that everything he’s done so far in life can be found written in the book. As he starts trying to write down in it to try and change things, he begins to have nightmares in which he is placed inside a puzzle that he must solve in order to survive. Book of Memories’ story is a bit confusing and to actually understand it all you must collect all Broadcasts and Notes which contain bits and pieces of the Story. The game is not related to any of the previous Silent Hill games.

Gameplay

Silent Hill: Book of Memories’ gameplay is your classic Dungeon-crawler and it is Addictively Fun. The game has a basic levelling system with simple STR, DEX, VIT, AGI, MND and INT stats to increase as you level up, accessories may also be purchased from the in-game shop. In Silent Hill: Book of Memories you play though ‘Zones’ that are small mazes that you fight your way through to find all the puzzle parts in order to proceed to the next zone and progress through the story. The Game has over 100 zones that will give over 50 Hours of Gameplay. Initially you are given a Flash light to explore and find all the loot and treasures hidden within the world; the flashlight set-up, however, sort of throws off the scary feel to it.

Design

The game does not have set characters, and it allows players to design their own. However the game does not contain much character personalisation capabilities as it only offers 5 different options within each category. The game has a large verity of weapons going anywhere from knives and baseball bats to chainsaws and burning swords. The game doesn’t really take much advantage of the PS Vita’s Features however.

The Multiplayer is where the real fun comes in. Multiplayer in SH:BoM is similar to the single-player campaign with one little twist, you take zones on in groups of 4 players and dead characters respawn at the start of the map; unlike the story mode where you have to restart the whole zone

Presentation

Silent Hill: Book of Memories surpasses other Vita games by having a very nice lighting effect. Characters and monster Models look pretty nice, the game’s texturing and animation works are also done pretty well, the environment visuals a very nicely done. The thing that puts the game down in presentation is the background music; it gets very repetitive.

Overall

Despite the lack of story and “oh my god I almost pissed myself” moments, Silent Hill: Book of Memories is an addictive dungeon-crawler that will have you on the edge of your seat for many hours and features some great multiplayer action.

If you’re a player that ignores story for good gameplay, then Silent Hill: Book of Memories is one game you definitely have to play.

 

Score: 7.5

Reviewed by: Sora Yahya

Games12 day one!

Games12 is definitely an event worth checking out. the atmosphere here is great; hyped gamers, the best of the upcoming games in 32''+ HD screens with insane surround sound, accompanied by ear-blasting music that will make your father's feet tremble from a mile away, awesome dancers and last but not least, babes, babes everywhere.

Babes aside, this event is honestly full of surprises; for one, the sheer size of the tent the vent is being held in is impressive. this place has room for plenty of hyped up gamers as well of plenty of loud bass.  another thing that surprised me is the fact that this place couldn't fit a single soul in after 5pm. they had to lock people out while the place evacuated because there were just too many gamers. i had no idea the UAE held such big gaming community! Seeing over 100 people jump up out of pure excitement when Microsoft hinted to an Xbox raffle they were holding at the end of the night was real fun to watch.

Anyway, legs are hurting and feet sting, but the party continues strong into the night as the music gets louder, more dancers keep showing up, and somehow, the ladies get better looking.
Really hoping that day two raises the bar, to give even more people a reason to come down on Saturday for the cosplay competition!

Be sure to drop by, the event is great and the vibe lives up to it. remember! you only have until the 22nd to come in before the event comes to an end, and then.. You'll have to wait a whole year!

Logitech G600 Review.

 Righty, i got my hands on the G600 MMO mouse by Logitech!

This has to be, by far, the mouse with the most buttons I've ever laid hands on. And despite the 20 buttons it has, it is quite the comfortable piece of equipment. It may not be the best looking mouse in the market, but it does its job very well, along a comfortable grip that fits just right for MMO games.

Specs are as follows:

• 200-8200 DPI
• 11.25 Megapixels/sec
• Max Speed of 160"/sec
• 1000/sec report rate
• 16 bits/axis with a 30G of max acceleration.

I've been playing with the G600 for around 2 weeks now, and I've got to say that this mouse is a great example of the "Don't judge a book by its cover" saying. The mouse doesn't exactly look very appealing, it has a very bulky look to it. HOWEVER, this mouse is pretty deceiving, the G600 is a comfortable mouse and is not very heavy, it slides well on the pads and responds nicely in tight situations.

A thing that makes this mouse interesting, aside from the fact that it has 20 buttons,  is the ability to have different DPI Shifts saved to the mouse, which can then quickly be accessed by holding down whichever keys are assigned to them. It allows you to lower the mouse sensitivity instantly in order to take dead accurate headshots, along with allowing you to increase it accordingly to be able to pan your camera quickly when you're in a PvP fight.

Customization wise, this mouse has one upside and one downside. The good side of it, is that this mouse allows you to fully customize what you want to do with each and every button, allowing you to have 3 different settings saved in the mouse at any one time. The bad side to it, which is simply miscellaneous, to be completely honest; is that you're only able to change the colors of the thumb buttons and can only set one color for all 15 keys.











This is a really nice mouse. It does lack on looks BUT the G600 is definitely a mouse you want to get your hands on if you enjoy having all your macros close to your hands and like having quick access to different DPI level options. It is comfortable and looks very durable.

Score: 4✰

SteelSeries Sensei Fnatic review.

A mouse that has 16.8 million different LED colors for 3 different parts, has its own minicomputer that allows you to carry your preferences on-the-go and allows you to upload custom bitamps to customize it even more?  That’s the SteelSeries Sensei Fnatic mouse for you.

This mouse is great. It does have a rather dull shape, but that’s because it’s a well balanced ambidextrous mouse that gives you the exact same access to the same buttons regardless of whether you’re a righty, or of the rare kind; a lefty.

The Sensei has 7 buttons (with an 8^th to access the on-board computer and screen) and specs as follows.

·                    -DPI of up to 5,700 with room for 2xDPI of 11,400.

·                   -12,000 FPS

·                   -150+ IPS

·                   -30G acceleration

·                   -16 bit true Sensor data path

·                    -Lift distance of 1-5mm

 

The Sensei is a neat piece of technology. The features that really make this mouse shine are the SteelSeries Exactlift, SteelSeries Exactaccel, SteelSeries Exactaim and the SteelSeries Freemove adjustments that can be played with to customize everything from the DPI with the Exactlens, how high you are able to lift the mouse off of the pad before it stops moving the cursor on the screen (Exactlift), as well as the amount of path correction or angle snapping of the mouse. Oh and did I forget to mention? As if all that wasn’t enough, it allows you to adjust the accelerometers in the mouse to give you more accuracy by lowering the mouse sensitivity as you decrease the movement speed, and allows the mouse to move faster as you accelerate the speed of the movement. (Nice help when you’re trying to get those long distance headshots just right, or pan the camera quickly while in a tricky HC raid.)

The SteelSeries Engine is really neat too. It gives you a very comprehensible look at what everything in the mouse does and what it’s for. –perfect for people who don’t know the entire tech -talk we now have. The program even comes with its own ‘Statistics’ section, to allow people to measure their APM!

I’ll be honest, I’m delighted with this Sensei mouse, it’s held up well so far –been bashing it for quite a while now, and it’s holding up just right. The colors are simply splendid, and the feeling you get from knowing how unique this mouse can get because of all customization it allows you to do is great.

Score:      5☆

Few thoughts about RaiderZ (Closed Beta)

So, i was given a key to the closed beta test of the upcoming MMORPG Game by Perfect World, RaiderZ, and i thought i'd write up my thoughts on the game so far, based on what i've seen in the closed beta.

RaiderZ is a fun game to play, the game's been holding up well in the beta. The game currently has 4 classes, and i'm unsure on whether more will be available in the future. -Anyway, it has your classic Tank-DPS-Caster-Healer choices available, which gives you plenty to play around with. Current level cap is 30 and the game seems to have a decent leveling rate so far, (Mind you i've only reached level 15, I don't know if there are any EXP jumps later on that will make it unbearably long, but so far, it seems like the perfect pace.) The open world experience that many similar MMOs with no auto attack lack is one of the features that really caught my eye about this game. It gives you a sense of proportion with the world, it allows you to freely explore things at your own pace, and really feel the environment changing; Rather than having to jump from a city filled with flowers and trees, to a dungeon filled with monsters and not a single plant and be left to wonder how you ended up there.
The User Interface in the game is well designed, and i really enjoy how you're able to move it around to  your liking.

RaiderZ has one major problem, though. The fact that using AoE abilities such as the Cleric's heal, where you have to target the location you want the heal to land on is VERY hard to place right while you and your party are jumping back and forth in a fight with a boss that moves around a lot (Alpha Wolf being the perfect example of this). It makes healing your allies very very hard, because you'll miss the AoE circle most of the time.

But, overall, RaiderZ is holding up well. It's a game that's easy to get used to if you've played MMOs before. I'm happy with the graphics so far, and the overall gameplay. Hopefully some of the annoying bugs will be fixed soon, but then again, it's beta! So, we must suck them up!!

Inversion review!

 

Nothing speaks awesome like a third person action packed shooter in which popping alien heads and gravity control is pretty much an everyday thing. That’s exactly what Inversion delivers to your console/PC.

Inversion delivers a great deal of action, bullets, and blood, among with many other things very well. The game has a nice immersive story, in which you, playing as David Russel, a 28-year-old rather hot-headed cop and your partner Leo Delgado will embark through as an alien invasion from an unknown enemy called the Lutadores takes place on earth.

The downfall this game has is that it does have quite a few flaws. The game itself could allow for a lot more; Inversion lacks in the visuals that follow up the scripts. Voice acting in the game are rather stiff and could perhaps be done better along with the visuals. The game doesn’t allow for much customization, as you can only carry two weapons at any one time.. and there isn’t much of an arsenal to select from to be honest.

The environment in  Inversion is all too familiar, cities in ruins, cars on fire, dead bodies everywhere;it's nothing new -and neither are the gun, they're your basic machine-guns and rifles with a superficial makeover to give them a different look, but no different feel.

Graphics wise and gameplay speaking, Inversion does hold up, though; the destroyed city does look rather well planned out, the aliens are cool nonetheless and the anti-gravity abilities do make it stand out a bit. Gameplay from a campaign point of view does play through rather well -putting bullets in aliens heads never really gets old- so I will say that despite the lack of weapon choices and ways to play with the scenery to kill Lutadores, it still holds up like a 3^rd Person Shooter that is worth buying and playing.

 This game is fun to play -despite its bunch of flaws and lack of uniqueness- However it is missing a lot to make it stand out from among the horde of other shooters out there; the game has room for a lot more improvement, in all its aspects.

Score: 6/10