Lacoste

Bullets from cannons and sawblade projectiles; plasma and lasers and big friggin' missiles; blown-up loot piñatas emptied of bling; these are a few of my favorite things. Tower of Guns is a genre mash-up of bullet hell games, fast-paced first-person shooters, and roguelikes. And while the game isn't without its flaws, it delivers a high-energy rush. The objective of Tower of Guns is to, well, destroy the Tower of Guns. To do so, you navigate randomly generated levels chock-full of cannons, roving robots, and secret caches of cash. Each floor has a handful of rooms you have to blast your way through on your way to the boss. Of course, because you only have one life available for each attempt to defeat the tower's gauntlet, it's sometimes wiser to keep your gun holstered and simply play dodge(cannon)ball instead, though by doing so, you miss out on loot just begging to be grabbed. You begin each run by selecting a gun and a perk. The two guns available at the start aren't anything special, but you quickly unlock others; then you can decide what playstyle suits you best. Your gun options are quite diverse; whether you want to fire bouncing sawblades, highly explosive "unicorn vomit," or the FPS-staple rocket launcher, Tower of Guns has you covered. When it comes to perks, you quickly realize there's no better option than your initial choice--the Bluegrass perk. Because who doesn't want to start with the ability to triple jump? As you progress through the levels, you gain access to additional jumps and faster movement while seeing a marked increase in difficulty. Although the early levels may seem sluggish, the pace ramps up until you've become completely lost in a delicate waltz weaving in and out of the oncoming onslaught. A normal successful playthrough only takes about 30 minutes (assuming you survive), but the endless mode sends you back into the tower time and time again until either your sanity or your body breaks. No attempt on the tower is the same twice, and although many of the levels will appear familiar as you play, there are always new level chunks to discover or a new enemy layout in a familiar landscape to keep repetitiveness from setting in. Even if every run were on identical terrain, for better or worse, each run is further differentiated by the loot that spawns. Some attempts may give you access to weapon modifications or items that make your destructive path easier to achieve. Others may give you more jumps sooner. If you're extremely unlucky, you may just find coins and hearts everywhere, leaving your arsenal a meager sampling of the game's great sandbox. Although you have only 10 guns to choose from, many more can be found throughout the game. Each gun progresses in power with experience pick-ups. On my best run, I had the option of swapping through six different guns I'd found to lay waste to the turrets impeding my advance. My personal favorite was a trumpet that launched shrapnel, but the game's Experience Cannon, which literally turns any acquired experience into a weapon, was certainly the most unique. The game controls are very fluid and simple to learn. Occasionally, you may encounter hitches when jumping, but that usually only happens if you're trying to add too much finesse to your ledge dancing. If you find it too difficult to leap across a great divide, you can elect to fire your weapon straight down and use the game's physics as a backwards propellant to give yourself more lift. Aiming can be a little difficult to grasp while moving because every shot is a projectile, forcing you to consider travel speed and distance. Each boss fight offers its own challenges. Though most are fairly easy to handle and are just larger versions of the constructs you fight as you progress through a dungeon, some, such as the stationary Pipe Organ or the Tilt-a-Whirlesque Egg Scrambler, offer a unique experience you can't find in the ordinary halls of the citadel. The game even ensures that fights against the same boss aren't identical. The most notable example of this is seen in run-ins with Dr. Turret; the level's layout can change, greatly altering the experience by segregating the different areas in which his weak point may spawn. Once you get enough jumps and jump height, some of the boss fights begin to get repetitive, but that's only a concern during the long grind of Endless mode--even then, it's not a common issue.

He agreed that it was time. He was infected. It was more than the Zed curse. We all had that--we knew that we were ticking zombie time bombs. He was sick, and he was going to die, but he couldn't do it at our new home. We couldn't risk it; we'd sacrificed so much to get there. We drove to a home in what had been the pristine town of Marshall. How many suburban daydreams had died since the outbreak? He could die with dignity here. But when we arrived at the home, he fled. I chased him in his aimless sprint across the decaying but once vibrant Trumbull Valley--killing hordes of zombies to protect him--until, twenty minutes later, I realized that I'd encountered another of State of Decay's game-breaking bugs, and I had to reload my save and start anew. Whenever I attempt to describe State of Decay to people who have never played the game, I find myself describing the game I want State of Decay to be--and the game that Undead Labs attempted to craft--more than the game that State of Decay actually is. State of Decay wants to be many games--chief among them the first video game to properly capture the community survival elements of aDawn of the Dead film in mechanical terms (as opposed to the narrative terms of Telltale's The Walking Dead)--and, at its best moments, it creates a sense of community, tension, and character agency matched by few of its peers. But for each moment of spontaneous, unscripted story wonder that State of Decay generates, it is also one glitch, bug, or broken feature away from drawing you completely out of its experience. State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition collects the base State of Decay game from 2013 as well as its two major add-ons (the infinite sandbox Breakdown and the story-driven Lifeline), and updates it for the Xbox One and PC (for those who didn't already own the game for the latter). Set in an unspecified portion of the United States, State of Decay tasks you with ensuring the survival of an ever-growing (or shrinking, depending on your competency of play) community after a zombie apocalypse consumes the world. You gather resources, explore, and fight (but mostly avoid) the undead as you look to stay alive. State of Decay feels like a collection of other games' remnants in part because its various systems are separate and distinct entities that often fail to complement each other in meaningful ways. Though the initial hours of the game may give the impression that State of Decay is a punishing and clunky exploration-focused action-adventure game as you complete the scripted prologue and the early (but still heavily scripted) hours of more freeform play, its primary focus is on building and maintaining your community of survivors. Beyond a handful of plot-mandated characters--who can all meet permanent death if you fall to one of the game's many ways to die--you collect a procedurally generated group of survivors that you both control directly and observe as they integrate into their new home. Whether it's the cramped confines of the Spencer's Mill church, where the game proper begins, or one of the more spacious shelters that you can find throughout State of Decay's massive world, you use these survivors to explore towns and the wilderness to look for supplies--food, bullets, guns, medicine, construction materials--to ensure the survival of your home as well as to complete the missions that rocket State of Decay toward its (literal) explosive end. The endgame supports a solid strategy of turtling and building up defenses, meaning that you rarely feel the sting of encroaching starvation or the fear that your ammo supply has run dry. Otherwise, State of Decay's choices and consequences are only tangentially related to the main plot. Every resource you use is gone forever and a choice you won't have again down the road, and State of Decay never lets you forget it. The fear that a beloved and effective melee weapon will suddenly break is always there. If you play well enough to lead your survivors to a degree of comfort and security, you feel that you earned it through judicious planning and execution, although you miss those sweat-inducing early runs in the game where failure and retreat meant that some survivors wouldn't eat that day. It all becomes too routine if you play well enough; Intelligent play is not nearly as interesting as life on the edge of total annihilation. By the endgame, you have enough resources to not have to worry about the supply runs that are the key to success in the early game, beyond finding relatively common construction materials, which remain key throughout the gam. You are also provided enough human capital to eliminate most of the challenge of avoiding the great masses of zombies that the game intentionally designed to kill you swiftly if you engage too many at once. "Influence" is the game's key currency, which you gain for completing missions and runs, and you can use it to ask other members of your community for help--a good design and essential for clearing out packed infestations--as well as to call for backup from survivors in Trumbull Valley who aren't part of your group. This is problematic when you can call in three magical SWAT team members for a barely nominal influence fee who can then shotgun-blast all the zombies swarming that hard-to-reach supply drop. The cooldowns on those abilities keep you from spamming them, but if you save them for major missions, they remove every last ounce of challenge from the game. Despite that, the character-generated stories in State of Decay--leaving Spencer's Mill for fear of the military only to become close allies with them in a well-planned twist and realizing the final cost of my appeasement of the Wilkersons--are so fascinating and well crafted that the game's failures in virtually every other category become all the more agonizing. Year-One Survival Edition has addressed few, if any, of the bugs, glitches, and basic structural flaws at the heart of the base game. Environmental clipping is constant throughout the game. Zombies often wander halfway through walls and doors. Textures don't so much pop in as entire structures and characters appear out of nowhere, including one instance where I killed an invisible zombie that was terrorizing my group. The AI of your fellow survivors ranges from "at least they aren't getting themselves killed" to "where the hell are they going, and why won't they stop?"

Welcome to Our Community Enjoy your stay Have fun.

Welcome to Our Community Enjoy your stay Have fun.

Wellcome to CsBlackDevil Enjoy Your Stay Have Fun

Wellcome to CsBlackDevil Enjoy Your Stay Have Fun

Wellcome to CsBlackDevil Enjoy Your Stay Have Fun

Wellcome to CsBlackDevil Enjoy your Stay Have Fun

Welcome To CsBlackDevil Enjoy Your Stay Have Fun

Wellcome to CsBlackDevil Enjoy your Stay Have Fun

In my best Ron Paul impression, all I can say is “It’s happening!” Google today announced its Project Fi wireless service, which has been the subject of much speculation over the past few months. However, Google has confirmed much of that speculation now that the full details of the service have been revealed. First and foremost, Project Fi — yes, that is its official name — is limited only to the Nexus 6 smartphone for the time being. That will severely limit the service’s reach at launch, but it does allow for Google to initially tailor the service for a hardware/software platform that it completely controls. If you can past that bit of disappointing news, Project Fi actually has a lot to offer. As previously reported, Google has partnered with Sprint and T-Mobile to provide mobile voice and data service across the country. Project Fi will always connect your Nexus 6 dynamically to the fastest available network be it Wi-Fi, Sprint, or T-Mobile. You will also be able to automatically connect to over one million Google-verified, open Wi-Fi hotspots around the country. Before you start clinching your stomach over the prospects of automatically connecting to an open Wi-Fi hotspot, Google explains that all of your transmitted data will be encrypted. “Wherever you're connected to Wi-Fi—whether that's at home, your favorite coffee shop or your Batcave—you can talk and text like you normally do,” said Nick Fox, Google VP of Communications Products. “If you leave an area of Wi-Fi coverage, your call will seamlessly transition from Wi-Fi to cell networks so your conversation doesn’t skip a beat.” In addition, your phone number is not tied to one physical device — it “lives in the cloud” according to Fox; similar to Google Voice. “You can talk and text with your number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop. So the next time you misplace your phone, you can stay connected using another screen.” Now for the really juicy stuff: pricing. Google will charge you a flat $20 a month for a “Fi Basics” package that includes unlimited talk/text, Wi-Fi tethering, and international calling to over 120 counties. You can then pay $10 for each gigabyte of cellular data that you want to add to your plan. So if you want 2GB of data, you’ll pay a total $40 per month. If you want 6GB of data, you’ll fork over $80 a month. But that’s not where Google’s fresh wireless endeavor ends — you will be refunded for data that you don’t use (more details can be found here). “Since it's hard to predict your data usage, you'll get credit for the full value of your unused data,” adds Fox. “Let's say you go with 3GB for $30 and only use 1.4GB one month. You'll get $16 back, so you only pay for what you use.” Nexus 6 owners that won’t to sign up for Project Fi (and who wouldn’t?) can request an invite to the Early Access Program right here.

It's been a mere day since we last talked about an SSL-related vulnerability in iOS, and we couldn't even make it beyond hump day before another popped-up. This one is quite interesting, though, and not to mention quite severe. Researchers at Skycure have discovered that by generating a specifically-crafted SSL certificate, iOS will try to render it and go wonky. In simple cases, an app will crash, while in more aggressive situations, the entire phone will crash. Where it can get severe is if someone is exploiting this vulnerability hard, it could mean that an iPhone will get stuck in a reboot loop until it's outside the range of wherever this SSL certificate is being broadcast. Skycure calls this "No iOS Zone", because if someone understands how the vulnerability can be exploited, they could build a tool that that basically renders all iPhones near to the broadcast useless. This is kind of like the TV-B-Gone of the smartphone world. The research firm has contacted Apple with information on this flaw, but it hasn't been noted that a fix is en route quite yet. However, Skycure is deliberately keeping all of the important details mum for the time-being, as some serious ruckus could be caused if they got loose. If you manage to experience this issue before it gets patched, your best course-of-action is to move far from your current location until you can regain access to the phone, and then disable Wi-Fi. Skycure notes that the latest iOS version may also include some important updates, so it'd recommend wasting no time in becoming up-to-date.

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Steve Jobs' Apple displayed a rather fascinating balance between design and utility. Granted, it often shifted more toward the design side, which resulted in problems like Antennagate, but that tended to happen when Jobs wasn't around. He made sure the products worked well and looked good -- he understood the need to do both. After Jobs left Apple in the 1980s, there were clearly changes to Apple's products. However, it wasn't until Windows 95 launched that folks actually seemed to look at Apple very differently, and not particularly favorably. By any financial measure, Tim Cook has been doing a great job -- but traditional CEOs tend to work tactically, sacrificing the [CENSORED]ure to hit ever-higher present heights until what becomes an increasingly fragile house of cards comes crashing down. Here's a look at what the beautiful Apple Watch and the sexy new MacBook can tell us about whether Cook is moving strategically -- like Jobs did -- or more in line with other Apple CEOs, who eventually failed. I'll close with my product of the week -- what is suddenly a much better deal in smartwatches: the Fitbit Surge.

Nvidia on Thursday launched the latest in its GTX 900s series of mobile GPUs -- GTX 960m and 950m -- designed to make a gaming laptop as [CENSORED]ure-proof as possible. Asus' recently unveiled GX501 is one of the machines that already has incorporated the latest Nvidia tech. The new GPUs include such gaming-enhancing features as BatteryBoost, ShadowPlay and Optimus. BatteryBoost prolongs play time by managing battery consumption; ShadowPlay tracks achievements and captures video; and Optimus optimizes laptops for performance and battery life. Though it isn't ready to disclose the GX501's full specs just yet, what Asus has revealed suggests the GTX 960m card will be surrounded with worthy hardware. The GX501 will have the option of a 4K display, with a resolution of 3840 x 2160, or standard HD. Asus also has improved the gaming laptop's cooling system for stealthier performance. Nvidia's Lead: Asus apparently kept a watchful eye on the processor competition before solidifying its plans for the GX501. Intel recently announced its long-awaited Broadwell chips, but they are in their "tick" phase and haven't hit their powerful "tock" just yet. Also passed over was AMD, which has struggled to compete with both Nvidia and Intel in the GPU wars. Still, the red team isn't out of the game yet, according to Ted Pollack, senior gaming analyst at Jon Peddie Research. "AMD is not giving up that I know of," Pollack told TechNewsWorld. "The price to performance trade-off in some AMD machines presents a compelling option for some consumers." Despite AMD's persistence and its loyal following, besting Nvidia has become more of challenge as it has deepened its push into tablets and laptops. [CENSORED]ure of Gaming Laptops: Despite the rise of mobile gaming machines, tablets and smartphones, laptops in general are thriving, according to Mike Schramm, manager of qualitative insights atEEDAR. "We're not seeing mobile gaming overlapping with laptop gaming," he told TechNewsWorld. "Most gamers are using laptops to play desktop-style PC games." Gamers are willing to buy high-end laptops to play AAA titles -- big budget games -- but they view it as a separate experience from mobile gaming, Schramm pointed out. "It's not a 1:1 comparison, in other words," he said. "Players will enjoyMonument Valley on a tablet, but then go and play League of Legends on their laptop as well." Never Say Die: There's always going to be a market for PCs and laptops, thanks to gaming and productivity, said Tim Coulling, senior analyst at Canalys. Times are changing, though, which is why hardware manufacturers are leaning on gaming. "When you look at the total market, you've got [average sales prices] declining quite rapidly at the low end," he told TechNewsWorld. "So it's very difficult for the likes of Asus or any of the other vendors to make money in the wider notebook and desktop market." While the money may be fading at the lower end, PCs will continue to have a place in homes indefinitely, according to Coulling. "Some things require a bit more heavy lifting -- things that you can't do on a tablet or a smartphone -- even basic spreadsheets," he observed. "People always go to a PC to do that, because you have the keyboard and mouse. It's a bit easier to use that instead of a touchscreen."

The Micro Bit is preceded by the BBC Micro, a computer placed in classrooms during the 1980s. In the spirit of that effort, and inspired by the positive result it had on so many computer engineers, the BBC launched the current Make It Digital initiative. While the BBC and its partners see value in self-directed learning, they are developing an intensive, structured traineeship program, also part of Make It Digital, that will be launched in the summer. Up to 5,000 unemployed youth will have the opportunity to engage in a nine-week apprenticeship session at the BBC Academy. The traineeship program will cover basic digital skills and employability skills, two classes that will cover six weeks at the academy. In the final three weeks of the traineeship, the pupils will engage in work placement program. Some of the best of the bunch will be encouraged to apply for apprenticeships with the BBC. The Micro Bit The BBC has partnered with more than 25 technology companies to propel the Make It Digital initiative. Collaborators worked on everything from fabricating the Micro Bit to providing content. On the hardware side of things, the BBC partnered with companies such as Microsoft and ARM. On the content side, it teamed with organizations such as Decoded and CoderDojo to create supporting curriculum and media for the Micro Bit. The Micro Bit shouldn't be viewed as a competitor to programming products like the Raspberry Pi or Arduino, according to the BBC. The stripped-down Micro Bit is designed to help coders transition to more complex and capable hardware. There will be just 1 million Micro Bit computers given out. Once they've been distributed, that's it, according to the BBC. Enduring Value It's imperative that the technology industry engage youth and help cultivate the next generation of computer scientists, said Charles King, principal analyst for Pund-IT. "You can see the value that an active, engaged, innovative developer culture brought to platforms like smartphones, for example," he told TechNewWorld, "but you can also see where the industry has run into trouble in training staff for legacy products -- such as the IBM mainframe." The public seems to have lost interest in scientific topics over the last few generations, King said. Consumers enjoy the rosy tech picture of sleeker hardware and more robust apps being delivered at increasingly faster rates, but the technology industry still has to cope with a loss of interest in employment in science and technology fields, he said. "I think that the BBC is recognizing the danger of that," said King, "and this what you might call a proactive attempt to engage youngsters and point them in what I think many people would believe is a positive direction."

Good things come in pairs! Today, Dell is offering a powerful quad-core desktop PC and a Samsung 32-inch HDTV together for one low price. If you’re in the market for both, you can use our coupon code to save hundreds of dollars off the sticker price. This is a limited time offer, though, so don’t wait too long. Spec-wise, this XPS 8700 features a fourth generation quad-core 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-4790 CPU, a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 720 graphics card with 1GB of DDR3, 8GB of DDR3 RAM (1600MHz), a 1TB 7200RPM hard drive, a DVD burner, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi support. It even comes with a wired keyboard and mouse, so just add in a monitor (or TV), and you’re good to go. So, what about this HDTV’s details? This 32-inch LED-lit model sports a 1366×768 native resolution, a clear motion rate of 60, two TV tuners, two HDMI ports, a component/composite combination input, a USB port, a digital audio output, an audio line-in, DTS Studio Sound support, and DTS Premium Sound support. A nice 32-inch HDTV like this is perfect for the bedroom or the office, and it’s particularly useful when combined with a PlayStation TV, Steam home streaming, or Plex. That way, you can stream your favorite content to another room anywhere in your house. Typically, the 32-inch TV retails for $319.99, and the XPS 8700 goes for $899.99. Combined, that’s $1219.98, but Dell is selling them together for just $799.99. Even better, you can use coupon code “B?CK0N1KJMTH1P” in your shopping cart to take an additional $60 off. So with Dell’s awesome free shipping, you end up only paying $739.99. Dell XPS 8700 quad-core desktop with a 32-inch Samsung UN32J4000AF 720p HDTV for $739.99 (Market value: $1219.98 — Coupon code: B?CK0N1KJMTH1P) Check out these other deals: Sony KDL-55W800B 55-inch 3D LED-lit smart TV for $798 (Coupon code: RFRH6JT4ZJTFFW) $1 per month website builder with a domain and email at GoDaddy (Plus $0.99 domains & more) Our commerce group sources the best deals and products for the ET Deals posts. We operate independently of Editorial and Advertising and may earn a percentage of the sale, if you buy something via a link on the post. If you are interested in promoting your deals, please contact us at commerce@ziffdavis.com.

Is your monitor starting to show its age? Well, it’s probably time for an upgrade, and today we found a deal that will save you over 25% off a gorgeous IPS 24-inch 1080p monitor from Dell. Kick your old low-res monitor to the curb, and treat yourself to a beautiful new display. From a technical perspective, this monitor has a lot going for it. It has a 1920×1080 resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate, a thousand-to-one typical contrast ratio, a two million-to-one dynamic contrast ratio, an 8ms gray-to-gray response time, an LED backlight, a 178 degree viewing angle, and a hard anti-glare coating. Additionally, it has two HDMI (MHL) ports, a mini DisplayPort, a DisplayPort in, a DisplayPort out, an audio line-out, one upstream USB 3.0 port, and 4 USB 3.0 ports. So not only does this serve as a superb monitor, but it’s a sweet USB hub as well. However, I’d venture to say that the best part of this setup is the flexibility. You can tilt the display six and a half degrees forward or 22 degrees backwards. In terms of height, you can adjust it up and down by about five inches. And if you prefer your screens in portrait mode, you can easily rotate your monitor 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. Typically, this monitor sells at retail for about $340, but Dell is selling it directly for $280. Better yet, using coupon code “8SKPHRWW8N4RV0” during the checkout process will save you an additional $28 off the asking price. Moreover, shipping is free, and you get a $75 eGift card with your purchase. That way, you can save even more with your next purchase. If you need a monitor, this deal is way too good to pass up.

At times, it has felt like I've been leading Charlie Brown's loser team, too. Super Mega Baseball looks arcadey, with its goofy, plastic-skinned players perfectly invoking the kind of bobble-head sports caricatures you can pick up in memorabilia stores, or wherever charcoal briquets and antifreeze are heavily discounted. Its unlicensed line-ups are filled with names like The Sirloins and The Moonstars. And yet there's a beautiful core of serious simulation at the very centre of it all. In short: everything you do matters here, and, true to Peanuts' form, the game is swift to punish mistakes. Whether you're pitching or batting or trotting to first base, you need to be paying attention. The lack of licenses doesn't matter - particularly when you get players with names like Keg Gutterson. (He was a thorn in my side all season, BTW - and he was on my team.) Crucially, both pitching and batting revolve around the same simple choice: press one button for a standard move, or hold and release another at just the right moment for a power shot. Power shots are where the glory is, but they're harder to pull off, and they're riskier, too, as you could be giving the batter ammo for a home run, or giving the fielders an easy catch out of a clear blue sky. Choices like this reveal that while Super Mega Baseball may have reduced the game to its essence, it's sacrificed nothing in terms of intricacy, thanks to the reliance on convincing physics and systems that really measure player inputs. Fielding and running the bases are both equally straightforward. Fielding handles a fair amount of stuff automatically as it has to in a team sport - but still gives you a lovely chugging slow-down when the ball's infield to allow you to position someone for a catch - while long balls can be met with a hop or a dive if you're quick with the triggers. Throwing to a base uses the face buttons, which provides the wonderful flavour of a neat rhythm action title, while going for a double rather than a single when running sees you squeezing a trigger and hoping, as the game plays the scuttling equivalent of the Pac-Man ghost-munching music. It's perfect! Like XCOM, you can rename the members of your team, and the visual customisation options are pretty good too. The handful of stadiums are beautifully realised.

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Blood Bowl, you're probably aware, is football but with Games Workshop races like dwarves and orcs. This is one of the most brilliantly silly ideas in human history, I feel, and it's resulted in two video games since the tabletop original was released back in the 1980s. People seem quite fond of Cyanide's 2009 game, and now they're making another one, using a new engine. It's due for release this Spring, which is rapidly running out, but before then here's a new video showing the Chaos side in action. You'll find it below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=131ti-NpUS0&feature=youtu.be "While human teams are able to adapt to any kind of game—passing, running, or blocking—Chaos teams have a natural predisposition to a certain type of play style when it comes to a Blood Bowl match, favouring one very specific tactic amongst all: crippling, maiming, injuring, trampling, and killing as many opponent players as possible. And, when only few or no survivor is left, finally caring about the ball to score a touchdown."