Everything posted by Halcyon.
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Borderlands 2 reminds me of the Wild West. The one in the John Wayne movies, cigar in the corner of the scornful mouth, bearded unwashed men and many duels. With or without Indians, but with mutant dogs, oversized bats, weird hairy things that get to be hat ornaments or crazy suicidal people rigged with explosives. But our wilderness is Pandora and it has a new bad boy, Handsome Jack (he’s not really handsome, but nicknames do have a purpose) that continues digging in the name of the Hyperion corporation for a new bigger, better and richer Vault than the one in the first Borderlands. The story goes in the same style as its predecessor, many ironies, sexual (or not) jokes, good and especially bad jokes involving huge shotguns. Also, the single-player part continues to feel like a training to get used to the new guns, abilities and the redrawn skill tree. That’s actually the only news in the game, gameplay changes that improve already existing features but don’t really deliver innovations. In a way, Borderlands 2 doesn’t really need them, but on the other hand I have a deja-vu and the things I couldn’t stand in the first game continue to bother me. A matter of taste, of course, that doesn’t make the monster chaos a less pleasant fight to the death. I have my gun, I’m a Gunzerker The 4 characters (or 5 if you have the Mechromancer DLC) make a comeback and the multiplayer cooperatively uses them just as well and even better now, that Steam is used instead of the bizarre weird GameSpy platform. Like before, each hero (Siren and Mechromancer being females) has a dedicated ability and 3 skill trees organized around it. One can’t obviously maximize everything until getting to the 50 level cap, but you can try the True Vault Hunter mode, a new game with fresh kills, scaled to your powers. The Assassin traded abilities and took the Phasewalker from the Siren, becoming a hologram ghost while killing from behind. The Commando can get to creating 2 turrets and throws grenades in critical moments; the Siren now has Phaselock which allows her to catch enemies and ease their kill, then heals at the same time and reprograms foes to kill each other. The Gunzerker is again the nut one, using 2 guns for a short time and comboing weapons for a rain of critical hits, while the Mechromancer can call for Deathtrap’s help. Each character had its perks and something to offer to each type of player, but the gameplay is clearly organized for multiplayer. Abilities work much better together with three friends: you can use it all better and a new player levels up fast thanks to the shared experience and the Badass system, a leaderboard system that ties to the person, not to the character class when offering bonuses. Since there are no armors or other accessories like in the medieval inspired RPGs, Borderlands 2 concentrates 100% on weapons, with a huge variety and all sorts of combos to facilitate a clean a bloody kill. It’s now easier to differ 2 pistols, the stats are visually clearer and the skills take to improving them in general (accuracy, charger, efficiency etc.) or on specific areas, depending on your preference for pistols, shotguns, snipers or other repetition guns. Another big plus is that you are always tempted to look for something else and the special damage guns are even more attractive now, with electricity, fire or toxins to drain the monsters’ life. Careful though on the cooperative side, the loot is common and the fastest players get the better items, which can turn ugly in random online games. Shoot you in the head or in the chest? No matter what, the main or secondary missions always end up with shootings. Even if you aren’t in the mood to do them all, you’d better at least accept them because the difficulty level is no walk in the park; one doesn’t want to get to the end and not be leveled enough to hit the boss, plus all the objectives are fun, not just “kill X and get me his heart on a China plate”. You also get challenges now, independent objectives automatically updated as you kill something using a certain weapon or else in a certain area, for example. Each completed challenge gives you Badass points to improve some attributes that apply to any character you have, not just to the current one. It might be a small thing, but it matters for those that want to experiment with different classes and combos without restarting all the time. Enemies are a little smarter too, even if the AI is still low – no need for advanced tactics, just a decent weapon combo. True, the behavior is different, from monsters with suicidal tendencies to humans that roll and cover, going through exploding baddies and callers for reinforcements or users of drones that repair them on the battlefield. The hordes of monsters quickly transform the fights into a tense chaos and one must be careful not to get critical, at which time one can save himself from a load screen by killing an enemy. Prioritizing targets is most important, especially when there’s a boss around, an action simpler to do when cooperating with three other friends. A desert of frozen lava Pandora has changed a lot, even if the graphics still have the cel-shading (black edges). Po[CENSORED]ted by mad people and monsters, the planet is also home to some cute characters – Claptrap, the megalomaniac robot is back, then Scooter the mechanic, Moxxi, Tiny Rina or even Handsome Jack. Dialogues are very juicy even if they get mixed up sometimes and each NPC comes with a personality and at least 2-3 lines to say. There many areas to visit and admire at the higher than consoles resolution, from the frozen areas in the beginning to the fiery volcanos in the end. The vehicles are back, even if they are still difficult to handle and need to be used to get faster to your destination. The names of the areas also remind of that wild trigger happy West and the secrets in them make you go through every corner of the maps. Borderlands 2 isn’t too much of a novelty for the FPS genre or the first game in the series. But it does it better and nicer even if it will be very familiar to the veterans. It has a better story, monstrous enemies (in a good way), better rewards and the same crazy sense of humor that will brighten your day.
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Former Israeli President Shimon Peres is in hospital after suffering chest pains, 10 days after he had a small heart attack. Mr Peres, 92, underwent minor surgery last week for a constricted artery. A spokeswoman said on Sunday he was readmitted to a Tel Aviv hospital "for observation and testing". He was not due to undergo any invasive procedures, Haaretz reported. Mr Peres twice served as Israel's prime minister and was president from 2007 to 2014. On Sunday, he was found by doctors to have an irregular heartbeat, his spokeswoman said. Mr Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role negotiating the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier, a prize he shared with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He was defeated in the 1996 election by the head of the opposition Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Peres has held almost every major political office since Israel was founded in 1948, and was the architect of Israel's secret nuclear programme in 1959. Despite his age, Mr Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Centre for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
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Bye bye
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Game Over 1- Gta Vice City 2- Mafia 2 3- Cod black ops 1,2 4- Cod zombie 5- Fifa 15 6- Fifa 14 7- Fifa 13 7- Pes 2010 8- Nfs Most Wanted 9- Nfs Carbon 10- Assassin Creed ETC...
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Netflix announced Tuesday that the company reached 75 million active subscribers globally by the end of 2015, and this close an important year for its service known as video streaming. The company has added more than 4 million subscribers by the international markets, a number that Netflix said it expects to be even better in the next quarter. In January, the company's CEO, Reed Hastings announced that Netflix will be launched in 130 countries, and it happened. The service is now available in Albanian states. Netflix expects this growth trend to continue and has designed the 6 million international users in the first quarter of 2016. Then, on roads other than excellent results, Netflix announced that it plans to spend $ 6 billion other in the creation of new and original content in 2016.
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If the Wings of Liberty widely treated as a mercenary adventures of Jim Raynor idealist through space, Heart of the Swarm detail transform Kerrigan's fixed cancer who had escaped. Both games have in common variegated trend graphics, easy approach anime character development and story, as well as interactive elements borrowed from other genres that are crocheted campaign. What I like so much in his story are the characters Hots. Kerrigan is ... Kerrigan and her so-called trend follows the same path of revenge against the Terran Dominion's you always know, cheesy reasons of principle. In orbit around it rather unpleasant characters such as Fancy Valerian Mengsk (this Arthas space, pre-Northrend) and Alexei Stukov something infestation. A trio that would be pretty hard to keep if you had not forced, basically because the arsenal of one-liners, side childish and moral dilemmas about as subtle as a hammer in his mouth consist of both setups, as Disney and Cartoon solutions. Relatively sympathetic characters (or do not have a ficus) occur later and less campaign. Mira Han and Emil Narud for instance roles quite intense and captivating lines, but little appears to leave some emotional crater in us, the audience. At that contributes fully and aesthetics supersaturated and quiet, where the tentacles viscous grohăielile aggressive attitude expansive and Amorim Zerg's Starcraft the original was passed to allies personality sometimes pleasant, sometimes less, aspirations genetic engineering Mario and more than hentai (carapace more than tentacles). Where you put the whole mess is fueled by an argument which seems to dominate Chris Metzen's creative trends for ten years. Specifically, on behalf cliché favorite Blizzard games (revenge) when it comes to motivating fanatic of any anti-hero (Illidan, Kerrigan or King Mukla) girlfriend appellant's Raynor threw all their efforts on window shortly after the beginning of the story . What follows are nearly 30 missions in which we (re) accustomed Zerg infrastructure and frost kept outlet elements of RPG that brings more than Starcraft II Warcraft III. The campaign is dressed in a great production value and the order in undergoing non-linear missions is easy in the sense that we visit a planet before the other and they get attached units before others. Meanwhile, Kerrigan filed in level as a reward for main and secondary objectives, level of passive and active abilities that unlock a pretty bushy tree. Missions were only tangentially related to the strategic essence of the series, and most involve highly customized interactive objects and tactics. For example, some bosses should be treated as creatures of Diablo and not once will have to dance around them, avoiding projectiles and use your skills to succeed to overcome. Other times you must destroy items on the map in a given time, fly a battlecruiser or Zerg and pick bionavă resources on the map for [CENSORED]ure upgrades. At certain key levels, Kerrigan got useful skills that transforms, by the end, a calamity ambulance. Each skill-threshold has several options that can be interchanged from Banelings invoked to Heal or AoE attacks. Meanwhile, some tier sites include only passive abilities that stimulates the economy (extraction do not need drones, two drones coming out of the same larva, more supply per overlord), and skills in the last tier are particularly strong (though start it on cooldown and lasts long enough): Zerg Queen can invoke a block of units, one monstrosity by hook or a devastating area attack. In parallel, the units can be specialized in one of two foreign sites and blessed with a passive bonus between missions. The game tells us how we should go through some "mission evolution" for the transformation of the Pokémon from Utralisk in Torrasque, for example, but the truth is that there are no tasks at all - are just some tutorials vaguely interactive that presents us special abilities of each "strains". From my point of view, it might as well be some gifs, because there is absolutely no challenge in it. As a general trend, the missions are shorter and lighter than the Wings of Liberty, regardless of the level of difficulty. And not surprisingly, if you pick up all upgrades and achievement sites you will have to repeat certain scenarios secondary objectives scroll obtain a better time. Multiplayer What always attracted me to Starcraft (along with many others, I'm sure) was asymmetrical balance of the race. From simple recruiting units to advanced combat tactics, the Zerg, Terran and Protoss your site have fundamentally different approaches that have enabled a dynamic and creative metagame. Further manufacturers understand and exploit synergies units and new units Hots fully prove that. Changes in the tech tree's architecture, new units and maps format tilts the balance towards action rather than to economics, micro prior ranges. Distributive attention has always been a central factor for RTS fast, but I think Heart of the Swarm took this philosophy a step forward. sc2hots059 sc2hots058 Widow's new Terran units are Me and Hellbat. Widow Mine site covers an aspect that stood relatively weak Terrans before without chokepoint sites and ramps that control the map. It can bury and can launch missiles equipped with splash damage, cooldown is an enormous disadvantage. Hellbat site as Hellion is a tougher and slower (in fact, there are two forms of the same toys), quite useful to counter mass units resistant to the zealots. Zerg just got Viper (a devastating flying skills in battles with "mass") and Swarm Hosts, giant cockroaches that releases waves after waves of locusts once they are buried (very good siege from a distance). Important to note not only the individual introduction of these jewelry menagerie Starcraft, but the synergy that it forms with existing ones. If zerg were generally subject to a philosophy of playing aggressive tactics and harassment remote possibilities decisively changed the mentality of ladder games. Finally, the protoss have received reinforcements airline. Oracle and Tempest are new models, each devastating in its own way. Oracle is rather a ship harrass (initially have an ability to halt mining, but the results of abuse and harrass's frustrating based on this ability has prompted Blizzard to give it) specializes in the eradication workers. Then, in a move not surprising given the particularities of race, we have a capital ship obscene called Tempest, whose range it beyond line of sight of the very useful against units like the Colossus, but extremely vulnerable against aerienelor AA, Viking genre. And Mothership Core is making ugly harrass sites directed against Protoss's becoming a bit easier cons. Overall, they have nice rounded game - a pretty large metagame is generated by the capitalization of units which before had moments of vulnerability in synergy with the new additions. Because yes, the old units newly added skills and roles they quite spectacular when used properly. Medevac sites, for instance, received Haste and hyraxes have an upgrade that allows them to go faster when they are not on creep. Other items have been reinvented and simplified - for example, Siege tanks do not need research to siege mode. Some units, such as Infested Terrans, ineligible for upgrades, while others were united minimalism and efficiency. Concrete example: Thor site now has two modes of fire, but was removed Strike Cannons energy bar and sites. Even tech requirements and resources of other races were reduced - Crawlers not need Chamber Evolution, Dark Shrine's costs were low and Hallucination not be researched. But we must also consider that potential newcomers will discover a painful learning curve. Footpaths that, although they were beaten by many others before them, are filled to overflowing with concepts and exercises whose assimilation involves repetition and speed of thought specific competitive games, but very difficult to practicing a sport that is not Starcraft. On the other hand, this is a somewhat natural evolution of things in many years and can be attributed to Blizzard's what solidified over time. Somewhat welcomes those who want to grab the 10th lap of the race divisions are now six in number, and are designed polygon unranked matches. And if you want to get lower and there is always matchmaking site vs. AI. Battle.net has long established as the most efficient, stable and fast matchmaking system and changes, both those related to the mechanics and ergonomics, I have only to optimize further the cornerstone of gamers online. We unranked matchmaking, exchanges of custom maps and excellent channels organized groups. Under Custom Games reviews appear with stars as you can filter the pearls of yeast (in addition to simple and effective additional filters), post-match statistics are more detailed and the players now have a pretty elaborate leveling system. Level-ups are related to race you play, and the experience is made in almost all online game modes (including AI). The support of clan entered did not know how much help, but the people he tickles the idea of an acronym in parentheses before the username guess that's good news. The interface has been improved noticeably, with an emphasis on customization and introducing an array of options for spectators - bars of life can occur only when the units lose health pool, it can be seen from the perspective of each player individually and status bar They can take color faction they belong to. In addition, the entire interface can be formatted as you like, each window can be repositioned or removed completely, allowing livestream sites showing extremely flexible for any game seen, whether "official" or simply a channel random comments . Like The Frozen Throne before him, Heart of the Swarm expansion pack is a more than decent opening new doors and trying to get rid of the stiffness predecessor. If in the series Warcraft, TFT allowed the use of some races quite unpo[CENSORED]r in multiplayer (Orc's pre-TFT had no chance of success), here we have units, tactics and synergies that discourage total turtling site and inclined as many offensive maneuvers. Unfortunately, a gamer who is not already in the boat RTS Blizzard would have little belong in this title (the story is mediocre, and the multiplayer is pretty poisonous to novices), but for everyone else there is Heart of the Swarm .
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Welcome back
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The cat is in the box while waiting for their food formulate their Schroedinger uncertainty principle. Occam's blade cut and hang any unnecessary complication, while the multiverse theory supports the possibility of an infinity of worlds that never meet, but there simultaneously. If you're wondering what this has to stamp cow tail and BioShock Infinite City Hall put up with belly book. Or even the couple with Morgan Freeman Documentary, apparently because Ken Levine rebounded strongly. After the bizarre sunken city of Rapture, imagination led him to own up to the sky where he built a utopia - probably the dream of any society, ancient or modern, a haven of peaceful communion. Built as a symbol of American ideals, the metropolis city of Columbia is the perfect place to live and raise a family to. That if you're white, patriot, leader worship the American Constitution and floating city. The latter - Zachary Hale Comstock - is known as the Prophet; clairvoyant, obsessed with cleaning underneath sins of Sodom and ruler with an iron hand. Essentially, everything is very simple: a former Pinkerton agent, private detective and become buried in debt, looking for a girl to bring it to New York and get rid of all problems so. But if it were only that, we had just a shooter you look at 10 minutes after you've finished. BioShock Infinite is Elizabeth. Booker DeWitt, sent to the rescue is only a pretext for the girl with blue eyes and take full narrative twist to fix what does she want to. Who is Elizabeth? Why he has spent his entire life closed in a proverbial ivory tower, only with books and a giant mechanical bird on the post of friends? What binds her and Booker an adventure and rolling around in luxurious gardens into the depths of Colombia miserable? The answers are all there are many universes, and the player must take into account that the narrated events happened, are happening and will happen; whatever you choose, the result is the same - a constant, not a variable. Those who have already finished the game know that I have eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms sautéed dinner. The whole allegory is strewn with allusions and suggestions, references more or less clear to all sorts of realities, historical and / or contemporary America is exceptional compared to any other people; must be pure breed and those who are not fit to be eliminated (not for nothing pass at a time beside a statue of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln); Columbia itself is a demonstration of the success of an experiment done by a nation blessed by God, somewhat similar to the moon landing demonstration. The founding fathers of Columbia are opposed to a rebel organization, Vox Populi (voice of the people), which fights for equality, an image she utopian socialist and communist theories that animated the early twentieth century when placed action game. The entire universe is studded propaganda images of utopian perfection, and later to be replaced by messages written in blood on the walls and summary executions, politically disturbing picture if we think about how historical and contemporary truth is behind it. Music marşează to triumph over sin down the left, but players will discover and curious pieces impossible in 1912, which further accentuates the character of the multiverse numerous possibilities. True, it takes up action outlines some sense. At first you can only fool to walk through the city and admire the spectacular landscapes, buildings anchored floating like clouds and happy people, living a life of carnivals and picnics. But after finding some Voxophone sites (version 1912 tape), you begin to doubt that heaven is real, somewhere in there substrate and twists yet unknown threats. Paradis firearms FPS Infinite is only after the first meeting with police in Colombia inappropriate, at which Booker realizes that his task is more difficult than I thought. And much to the praise of the game, how well woven story plus gameplay is equally well done. You enjoy a wide variety of enemies, but the need to vary tactics makes each unique in their own way. Most of the people are banal police forces of Colombia, vulnerable to bullets, but Booker's special powers (Vigors). A Motorized Patriot, on the other hand, a giant mechanical figure of one of the founders of America, can be a real problem at the first meeting, but on a Shock Jockey quickly solve the problem. Zealot of the Lady (called Crow Elizabeth) Murder of Crows is immune to (doh!) And would work best traps Devil's Kiss, but only if correctly anticipated this bridge embodiment of the monster; a Fireman offers several tactics (plus heavy weapons Undertow, Buckin 'Bronco or Shock Jockey), while a Mosquito going destroyed every weapon and look how long buzzing in the air after unmistakable and gun and May. And Sirena are two enemies handyman special, first because it comes accompanied by an army of undead creatures, and the second because of huge strength and ability to stop airlines (Sky Lines) with electric shocks. Boy of Silence is a unique encounter during a single level and the ideal approach is to avoid a direct fight would not only lead to a huge consumer of ammunition without much of a reward. Songbird is a special character, a giant mechanical bird, friend and jailer while Elizabeth. The two have a special relationship, friendship and hate at the same time, a kind of Stockholm syndrome Colombia transposed into the virtual world. Booker's first meeting with one type of enemy leaves behind a kind of power that is transferred into the hands of the hero. Other encounters two mysterious NPC gives DeWitt and his golden shield that protect it from direct attacks at all; life, shield and bar Vigors can be increased by finding "infusions" but must rummage seriously if you want to get multiple levels. About the same areas are also pieces of equipment (hat, pants, shirt, boots), each with different bonuses and boost links to various powers. bioshockinfinite055 bioshockinfinite054 Each area of the game contains side missions and secret - a code to open an area hidden keys that open chests located elsewhere and can push you just curiosity to discover because you have no special instructions related to their location. Other rewards are linked to all telescopes watching the game or listening encountered all records (Voxophones). Here it should be noted how in 1999, an extra level of difficulty to the three classics (Easy, Normal, Hard). If you feel challenging at first, there is a special code to type in the main menu of the game; otherwise, you have to go through every story mode to unlock automatically in 1999. The differences are important, primarily because the enemies are tougher, and the life and Booker's shield regenerates much harder. Less ammunition fewer respawn zones (and against 100 Silver Eagles and if you have money you wake up back in the main menu), and specializations weapons and powers are permanent. As Ken Levine says, this is in no way appropriate for casual gamers and not necessarily representative of BioShock. But it is a way to provide an additional challenge and reasons to use strategies to maximize power supply and weapons throughout the game. Chinese sweep and magnetic hook Another essential element of the fighting weapons, plus a special one relatively conventional - Sky Hook. The latter is mainly used to travel as a special aerial tram lines, an interesting gameplay element and, I would say, the unused potential. Sky Lines sites are useful to reach otherwise inaccessible areas, but also to literally fall into the enemy's head, then yanked his head to said hook. Unfortunately, the AI can not speak in particular, much of the "strategy" is the frontal assault ram type or keeping away the enemies who ranged weapons - incendiary grenades, rockets and snipers. As you accumulate powers, effects leap into a group of enemies becomes more impressive, and if you can spare ammunition to try to kill even while traveling hanging line. Various buildings can only be accessed if you jump from hook to hook them and the length jumps is all the more impressive graphic below suggests very good goal. Normal Weapons (names downright cute and age appropriate - Crank Peppermill Gun, Paddywhacker Hand Cannon, RPG Barnstormer, China Broom Shotgun etc.) can be improved at Minuteman's Armory; other machines pay for life and bullets (Dollar Bill), and come! Vidi! Vigor! It provides aid for special powers. Not exactly cheap, which forces you to specialize on certain weapons and to "grow" in particular, while the rest will remain only occasional aid levels where the number of enemies is greater than the bullets in the charger. Elizabeth is very useful in this regard because, unlike girls from subacvaticul Rapture, she take care of themselves. Watch for enemies using your coverage and provide bullets, life or salts (used Vigors), depending on which of them is required. Also, Elizabeth specializes in opening doors and safes, so you want to collect as many skeleton keys to get your hands on all the resources available in these special areas. Sunrise in black and white Even if little old uses Unreal Engine 3, BioShock Infinite can not be accused looks bad in terms of art. Universe of 1912, be it a utopia air is recreated with painstaking attention. Music, scenery, NPCs walking around freely, picnics on the grass, nationalist festivals and fireworks, all reminiscent of a "homeland more important than any" literally above all. "Ruptures" found everywhere are a glance thrown in the [CENSORED]ure or, who knows, in the past, an idea of the events most likely in other realities, but which bring substance of the story and make the concept of utopia Columbia even more bizarre than . The buildings float, flying citizens traveling by gondolas and propaganda posters everywhere remind you how good it is to be white in Colombia. In short, the city and built the universe around him are (relatively) reliable, even if placed in an era improbable theory underlying story. bioshockinfinite047 bioshockinfinite046 Technically I ran into difficulty, although players with NVIDIA had something to suffer and potential game stopping bugs is present (Bossman happened to her on his skin, live). Occasional framerate drops occurred only when the screen suddenly flooded lighting effects, and the PC version benefit from a package of high-resolution textures. Another advantage is the ability to "scatter" powers and other options on the keyboard and mouse, an option unavailable for obvious reasons controller (changing powers forcing players consoles or the PC who prefer the gamepad to enter menus which break much of immersion). The second equally true that the animations are much, models totally unimpressive (except Elizabeth and enemies particular), and the pretext of city flying is ideal for using a coating of clouds to not render much below. Also, the FOV may be a problem even at maximum level, it is designed for screens with high resolutions; often shoot enemies from impossible distances and do not even realize where until you have received some serious shots (especially when it comes to snipers). Even if he lost multiplayer on the road, do not cry any second BioShock Infinite him. The single-player offers plenty and raises so many current issues at the net, he has talked about weeks later with friends all possible interpretations of certain events. Changing the universe of Rapture in Columbia proved to be an excellent move, and the game is impressive narrative level. Which again shows that when it comes to quality, BioShock series is a constant, not a variable.
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Although some commentators Scortoasa will snort, gaming had (and has) a very important role in the extraordinary growth of computing power, be the PC, tablet or smartphone, not any facet of IT industry is not in any way "touched" video games. And they make no exception monitors. If the time count CRTs diagonal screen and how flat it was, it was with LCDs have become more complex things. Response time, brightness, contrast, viewing angles, panel type, all these elements have evolved in pace to try to satisfy (and) appetite players everywhere. The first wave was most important with 120Hz refresh rates and 3D software for because now we round # 2, this time with a 144Hz refresh and G-Sync technology to the fore. Philips is one of the producers who have decided to enter the ring, arms are represented by models 242G5 (which we will discuss below) and his older brother 272G5. Casting an eye on the list of specifications we can see that Philips did not save when it comes to equipping of 242G5: Picture / Display LCD panel type: TFT-LCD (TN) Backlight type: W-LED system Panel Size: 24 inch / 61 cm Aspect ratio: 16: 9 Maximum resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 144 Hz (Dual-link DVI) Optimum resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 120 Hz (Dual-link DVI / DP) Standard resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz (VGA, HDMI, Dual-link DVI, DP) Response time (typical): 5 ms SmartResponse: 1 ms (Grey to Grey) Brightness: 350 cd / m² Contrast ratio (typical): 1000: 1 SmartContrast: 80,000,000: 1 Pixel pitch: 0.277 x 0.277 mm Viewing angle: 170º (H) / 160º (V) @ C / R> 10 Picture enhancement: SmartImage game Display colors: 16.7 M Effective viewing area: 531.36 (H) x 298.89 (V) mm Scanning Frequency: 30-140 kHz (H) / 56-120 Hz (V) MHL: 1080p @ 30Hz sRGB: Yes Connectivity Signal Input: VGA (Analogue), DVI-Dual Link (digital, HDCP), HDMI (digital, HDCP), MHL-HDMI (digital, HDCP), DisplayPort 1.2, USB 3.0 x 4 with 1 x fast charger, Smart keypad x 1 Sync Input: Separate Sync, Sync on Green Audio (In / Out) HDMI audio out Convenience User convenience: SmartImage game / Back, Power On / Off, SmartSize / Up Menu / OK Input OSD Languages: Brazil Portuguese, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian Other convenience: Kensington lock, VESA mount (100 x 100 mm) Plug and Play Compatibility: DDC / CI, Mac OS X, sRGB, Windows 7, Windows 8 Stand Height adjustment: 130 mm Pivot: 90 Degree Swivel: -65 / 65 degree Tilt: -5 / + 20 degree Therefore, resolution FullHD, Wallmount, remote hub USB 3.0 four-port (one with support Fast Charge for faster loading) connectivity galore - VGA, HDMI, MHL-HDMI, DVI Dual Link, DisplayPort, refresh The 144Hz, 1ms response time Gray to Gray. All the good stuff, as they say. What jumps out but before placing the toy on the table is actually the size of the box comes packed undoubtedly the biggest I've ever seen before for a "simple" monitor. The main reason is that the foot and the base are joined, so you need something more storage space in the box. Then come the accessories: Besides the usual CD with drivers and we Quick Start folding USB 3.0 cable, cable D-Sub (VGA), Dual Link DVI, power cord and remote control. Assembly is extremely easy thanks to a system fitting "click on" rear panel, which will surely delight those who used to take your PC back and go to one LAN Party (although, just between us, a monitor 24 "is not even a leaf when it comes to carrying). As a bonus, the foot has a slit through which to pass the cables not to create chaos indescribable office. Once on the table, I can not say 242G5 will astound design, its appearance is one ... functional. Let us understand, is not ugly, finishing is very good, the red line at the bottom that is passed manufacturer's name comes immediately obvious (the red fits very well into a set ASUS Republic of Gamers or MSI Gaming Series) but not much else. True, the look is offset by good adjustment possibilities, as the board may be increased to a respectable height (13 cm) or rotated by 90 degrees if you need plus tilting horizontally. One thing to appreciate here is the feeling of "solid" which gives you a whole building to monitor, never had a feeling that if you give a flip that to make cuts or be moved at the slightest touch. Initially, setup menu (OSD) can be accessed either via the buttons under the frame at the bottom right corner or using the remote. Remote but that seemed a little fragile, especially when using the arrows to navigate through the menu; I still had the feeling that if you push a little harder on the buttons to make a bang indeed. Fortunately, not the case. Admin Panel contains about all the options that you'd expect to see such a monitor, the Overscan, Sharpness and Aspect Ratio size menu itself, its transparency, special profiles (five in number - FPS / Racing / RTS / Gamer 1 / Gamer 2) and color temperature. And while we're at profiles only Gamer 1 and Gamer 2 I found them really useful comparison with the standard settings offered monitor, the other three require too many adjustments after activation to be useful, at least to me ( RTS profile was psychedelic experience in StarCraft 2). The third option is the configuration of the monitor SmartControl application, which involves installing drivers and USB 3.0 interface connection. Its main advantage is the possibility of calibration and helpful pictures for the proper adjustment of the monitor until you get the image you want. One option is to tell funny set a PIN that is required when the monitor is connected to another PC. Just as say those from Philips, this security measure will not actually prevent someone stealing your monitor, but is rather intended to discourage such attempts. Also, for those who value current consumption (get it? Put price ... ok, I'll see myself out now) SmartControl has a special section dedicated to this aspect (EcoPower), where you can set the intensity backlight- site on the light in the room where the monitor. Okay, okay, but the game is good? It ruthlessly. As expected, you need a powerful system to be able to lead the framerate necessary to justify the refresh rate of the 144Hz (where even possible to overcome 144 FPS), but once you get to work you you quickly realize that Philips engineers have done a exemplary. Dota 2, FIFA 14, Ultra Street Fighter 4, F1 2013 Warsow, Battlefield 4 display whatever game was excellent. Fluidity, contrast, color reproduction, no ghosting, it's all Ther. The claim here is that it would be important, however, not advisable to rush straight into the game after the baby monitor fixed on the table, but spend a little time to adjust the settings properly all parameters. To me the difference was even noticeable, especially in contrast and brightness compared to the default settings, so you allocate 10 minutes before the beginning of hostilities. Plus you will not have to do this only once. Okay, you've convinced me, how much and where toy can buy? Eee, that's how we get to the big problem: availability. Despite the fact that is an excellent model that I can recommend to any gamer's performance through the prism that are looking for a more special monitor, Philips 242G5 has obviously taken a Dodo bird footsteps. Only Altex seems to borne in the catalog, at a price of 1400 lei (compared to 1600 normally). Compared to other similar models, only missing important functionality such as 3-D (G-Sync's still not that widespread). But here I think that is entirely personal preference. It is as clear that if you really want 3D, you'll have to turn to other horizons. But if that is not an impediment, you can always buy a Philips 242G5 without remorse.
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For over two decades the Civilization Emperor has ruled on the throne of turn-based strategies. On its squared or (more recently) hexagonal shores many adversaries have gathered over time, some of them very respectable, but somehow swallowed by the mists of history (Alpha Centauri), others resembling many politicians, full of promises, but mostly incapable or full of defects (Elemental: War of Magic). Not caring to try new formulas with which to tackle the greatness of Civilization, Warlock: Master of the Arcane directly targets many of the characteristics of the last game in the leading franchise, even so much as it seems to herald the rebirth of a ’90s trend, when the “Doom clone” category was very close of becoming a genre of its own. What’s striking after the first few minutes of wizardry rule is how much is Warlock… inspired by the last Civilization. The division of the play space in hexagons is not really the most direct clue, in any case no bigger than the very detailed and similar graphics and interface, which comes with some dubiously similar looking elements placed exactly in the same way the source of inspiration has. If I would have seen images from Warlock without knowing its name, I could have sworn on a diplomatic victory that they are from a Civilization V mod. Here, the illustrious ruler is a very powerful wizard, which can originate from three races: human, beast or undead. Although the available units differ for each race, the differences between them are really not that important, regarding mostly the necessary quantities of resources for unit upkeep and they tend to level after enough gameplay time. What’s pleasing is the fact that you can summarily customize your avatar before starting the game, with the help of a few perks (like Treasury, which gives you 100 Gold) and some level-varying spells, this being an aspect that for me is unfairly missing from the last Civilization. Sadly, even with these there is still no essential modification of gameplay, as the effects of the customization options gradually lose their value after some time. On the way to victory you start with an already built town and some basic fighting units specific to your race. The first available buildings are the farms, granaries, two offensive/defensive towers and a building that has the purpose of gathering mana necessary for spells and units. Here we have the second very good idea in Warlock: the buildings are not just placed in the space occupied by the center of the city; all of them must be manually placed in their own hexagon. However, it would have been even more interesting if you could directly attack these structures, because their placement would have been a major element in the administration of the cities. But only the offensive ones and the center of the city can be attacked, and when you lose the latter, you also lose the buildings that were in its boundaries. The neutral settlements don’t have quite the same role as the city-states in Civilization V and are treated very simply. In that they are always hostile. On the other hand, their consistent number (which cannot be chosen before the start) offers a military alternative to the spamming of settlers. In their absence you can “obtain” new cities using only combatant units. The settlements can be captured no matter their race and the race of the conqueror, an element that will although guarantee diversity in gameplay style (especially military) also contributes to the gradual removal of differences which should come with choosing a specific race. The groups of hostile creatures po[CENSORED]te the map in a big enough number so as to allow the upgrade of your units before tackling the wizards that also seek world domination. But their AI seems either extremely simple or heavily scripted, because every time you bring units in their line of action you will be attacked, regardless of their chances for success. This is partially balanced by the fact that those units are sometimes aerial (and in the first few turns you will have to run from them if you lack any aerial attack units) and by the last difficulty level which places on the map, even from the start, very powerful creatures. But even on this difficulty, the AI doesn’t take very good care of them: it’s enough to attack with naval units to see how the enemies dumbly stroll over the same two hexagons while waiting for their demise. The same situation applies when you create towns too close to hostile creatures. The AI will sometimes siege them with extremely weak creatures that you can eliminate stress-free in two turns. There have been moments when I’ve lost towns to a high-level creature, but only because it was placed in the creature’s line of action. Mostly, the low/mid-level creatures migrate on the map while the very powerful ones remain idle until you get close enough, even on the highest difficulty level. I understand the justification for this kind of scripting – the assurance that you won’t lose all your cities to neutral creatures – but seeing two-three high-level beasts just standing there without any semblance of life is not the most interesting sight in regards to the AI. Similarly to Civilization V, combat elements are the most evolved and those of you who favored that particular battle system will get right down to business, helped a lot by the map’s visual familiarity. The positioning of units on hexagons allows for attacks from multiple directions and, just like in the eternal source of inspiration, in the lower left you get an approximate report of a fight together with any bonuses given by unit type or terrain type. Combatant units can benefit from three types of upgrades once on the battlefield: first, the experience accumulated during conflicts (faster regeneration, better experience gain, more move points, etc.), then perks that become available with special buildings (better armor, more powerful attacks, etc.) and lastly they can be upgraded to a new unit type, which must also be available through certain buildings. Although the military victory is not the only one that can be attained, the game doesn’t go to any lengths to make this clear. There is a small (but pretty efficient) tutorial system, which unfortunately doesn’t cover more than the basic combat aspects and the various administrative screens. It’s not the end of the world that it’s simple and short, but an explanation or at least mentioning the victory types would have been welcome. In the beginning I wasn’t sure if all I have to do is throw as many armies on the battlefield as possible or if the end of a match can be attained any other way. Moreover, in the current state it’s not even clear why exactly does an opponent win. What is clear is when it’s not a military victory (because your empire is still standing), but apart from that you get a simple window that says “This or that wizard has won” you don’t get any additional info. You’re not told why exactly he won, let alone being presented with statistics that detail the evolution of the game – after clicking OK you’re thrown in the main menu and godspeed. Meeting the other wizards is also completely devoid of interesting interactions. You can declare war, demand gold or mana, sign a non-aggression pact… and that’s it. Absolutely every time I’ve met one they wouldn’t accept the pact on the first try (again, difficulty doesn’t seem to matter), a problem that supports, to my great disappointment, the idea that the aspects pertaining to combat and military victory have received the most attention. Neither is their range of manifestations any richer. You can wander around a lot on their territory, although it can be said that they remember you for this, because you won’t get any direct reaction from them. I only understood that going through another wizard’s territory can get you in trouble after I saw a number being modified in the Diplomacy screen, number that represents your relation with that particular wizard. Otherwise, they are completely silent. If you’re not a big fan of the military approach, Warlock won’t give you much room to maneuver, if at all. The other wizards operate on a very predictable and boring pattern: they ask for resources immediately after going broke (it would be interesting to know if the AI opponents exchange anything between them), a situation that immediately throws you in an important dilemma. Either you go along or declare war. Not because you expressly desire that, but because you have no choice. There is no other way to refuse their demands except by starting an armed conflict. Sad. And with that came my complete lack of interest in interacting with the other suitors to world domination after so many omissions. Religion is timidly present through eight gods, the gratitude of which can be sought or ignored and that periodically ask for simple favors: the construction of a certain building, the elimination of a stray group of creatures or the creation of a specific temple that also comes with a proprietary unit of that god. Some of these quests don’t have any penalties, others will negatively affect your relation with the gods if they are not accomplished, an aspect that will also modify the relation with your opponents. One of the best ideas in Warlock is the more direct involvement of the leader in conflicts through spells, which also make the subject of research. The number of spells is substantial and covers a big range of attacks, protection, healing and creature summoning. There are a few that will enhance the food production of your cities or sabotage the output of an enemy settlement, but you won’t find too many occasions to use them since the offensive ones are much more practical and the healing ones have a much more direct need. Although the system seems to be intact, I can’t shake the feeling that much more could have been done with it. A more diverse spell system, with options that would be more suited to the administration of your loyal subjects or the mani[CENSORED]tion of neutral and hostile ones could have gone hand in hand with a system of empire management that unfortunately is completely absent. No types of laws or administrative policies are available and apart from the directly usable resources – gold, mana, food and research points – there is no statistic that needs supervision. It’s not an enormous downside by any stretch, but without it, the relation with your empire is very dry and there’s little reason to care about it at all. And speaking of your own empire, no roads or other means of transportation can be built, but your troops automatically receive more movement points while inside your borders. And the naval transport of ground units is automatically done in an “inspired” way if you have at least one dock in your empire (the boats are created automatically). Another poorly exploited idea is the presence of parallel worlds. Besides a map filled (even excessively) with very powerful hostile beasts – dragons are of course present – there is no essential feature to them. They are practically combat arenas for the moments in which you’ve gathered a powerful army and getting bored looking at it. So the portal to these worlds should not be passed if you don’t have very powerful creatures or many units that are ready to enter in the same turn, otherwise you send them to certain death. On the downsides list I can also mention the fact that the audio replies of the units are extremely annoying. With a hand placed on my dictator heart I can declare that after reducing the voice volume completely (good thing it can be done) I enjoyed Warlock considerably more. And then there’s the interface, uselessly colorful and full of all kinds of gradients that reminded me of some personal websites from 10-15 years ago, when burning titles were all the rage. Multiplayer is not present in the current version, but has been promised for a later release. But turn-based strategies have always sported a good replay value, so it might not be that big of a problem until the designers feel it’s ready. Thus, there are two major problems with the game in its present state. It tries to threaten a space that is dominantly occupied by Civilization V (especially after the many updates it has received) but without being able to oppose anything essential, apart from the more direct involvement brought on by the spells. And secondly, it shares with it another very important resemblance: it’s full of holes that predict a considerable number of patches and DLC (a problem that partially plagued Civilization V at release date), as all its systems are lacking some very useful features. I can’t deny that in a few months time, Warlock: Master of the Arcane could become an important pretender in the turn-based space, but right now, the competitor which it tries to emulate is a much more consistent alternative.
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Editor note: this is the translation of the Romanian review that was posted on May 23. It’s three in the morning in my party’s second day of playing and the third Diablo that our heroes just bashed down makes one final pirouette before crashing on a pillow of dust. It’s a morbid picture, seeing the Prime Evil getting bullied like that, left bloody on the cold marble floors of Heaven, after a tirade of clicks, keys and screams that mash together on Skype in a mix of loud shrieks that echo in three lofts spread throughout Europe. Everyone who’s involved has a deja-vu feeling that has been lasting for the past 30 hours – we’ve done this before at one point. It was about twelve years ago – sure, we were different people entirely and didn’t know anything about one another, but we’d been trapped in a similar (though lonelier) experience. Blizzard’s new policy in regard to the offline single-player mode (or lack thereof) brought us to this point, in which even if we wanted to solo the war on (The Lord of) Terror and his many relatives, we still have to stay connected. Many were put off by that – and not just because of its eventual instabilities and problems that their ISP might have, but because we had to put up with the notorious number 37 upon launch. Our group managed to connect after an hour and a half and we got on with it, sporting nothing more than a vague impression from the beta and really excited about what lay before us. Assassin: I too waited for an hour and a half until I could connect to Battle.Net and play for a couple of hours. I was lucky to have other things on my plate at the time, otherwise I might have reacted as harshly as some members on our forum. And when I think about the players who took time off work or called in sick to have enough time to play Diablo III… Bossman: I didn’t have any sort of illusions that I would play on launch day, because I had seen what had happened during the open beta test. Even so, I didn’t expect Blizzard to mess up so badly, especially considering the amount of experience they’ve amassed over the years. Especiallynow that they also enforced their vision that you have to always stay connected in order to play the single-player campaign (a debatable idea to say the least, but more on that at late). Zuluf: What we were about to see can be described through the words of a second act NPC from the previous game: „Some say the taste of [Diablo III] is bittersweet, but I find it to my liking.” Despite the growing tensions (justified by the Error 37 and the irreparable flaw of not having an offline single-player mode), me and Mangodash (a guildmate from WoW and now a co-leveller in Diablo III) were pleasantly impressed by the explosive mechanics, the fluent unveiling of the game’s content and varied decor. Without a doubt, Diablo III is a Blizzard certified game – it has a certain high-end production value that just sweats through its ergonomic interface, the epic fantasy cut scenes and the visual impact that a clever and attractive design will always have while not burning down more modest systems. On the other hand, the story is a pastiche of recycled clichés that Blizzard games love more and more lately, delivered with sometimes sketchy voice acting and with a flavor that’s dampened compared to what Diablo II smelled like. My impression of Sanctuary, formed by previous games and the first published Diablo book (which is also the only one I’ve read) is a desolate one, in which doubts and obsessions in a character’s mind make anyone a possible portal to the underworld. The happenings usually have a more serious tone than the encounters we face in the current game, sporting a Disney outfit, delivering typical henchman lines about her master, Belial, before she proceeds to torturing people like she’s moonlighting in a gulag. Bossman: what I thought was weird about the story in Diablo III, aside from the clichés already mentioned, was the fact that the writers played the „it’s always been part of the plan” card to explain everything. I’m surprised they were so naive (just so I don’t use harsher terms) as to think that anyone would take their explanation that everything that happened in the previous games was actually all part of Diablo’s master plan. Sure, hack and slash games typically don’t have impressive stories, because it takes a very light motivation to get someone to slaughter entire hordes of minions, but we’re not really talking about a debutant studio trying to balance its first title, nor a short production cycle that would justify an excuse such as „there was not enough time for more.” Additionally, I thought there was a visible difference in quality between the first two acts and the last two, not just in terms of pacing. It’s as if from act 3 onward the producers suddenly ran out of time and quickly stitched something together so they wouldn’t get lynched by the angry fans waiting for the launch day. Zuluf: these things used to be found more frequently in Warcraft games. In fact, I’m under the vague impression that the canons got slightly reversed: Warcraft lately seems to be more serious and more in the vein of „save the entire world”, while the new Diablo has all these funny subplots, secondary storylines with puns included and an encyclopedia of creatures described either in a caricaturized oriental voice, or the old man tone that Deckard Cain hilariously spreads his knowledge in. And Leah, one of the main characters, is the flawless girlfriend archetype, with her hair falling over her eyes and the delicate, photographic features of a Final Fantasy female protagonist. Sure, maybe things evolve and it certainly can’t be said that Diablo looks bad, the only discrepancy is in the content of the color palette and lighting, both in the literal sense as well as in terms of symbols. The series’ recurrent theme, hope in humanity, is much more prevalent this time around. I suppose it’s a matter of taste, but I would have wished that the script didn’t have to use cheap tricks to say what it has to say. Even Marius, the cinematic narrator from Diablo II, had a more mature and authentic discourse than the overused expressions that make themselves heard in the new four acts. Bossman: even so, I appreciated that the three followers – the Templar, Scoundrel and Enchantress – alongside the secondary characters, have their own stories waiting for be discovered if you have the patience to listen to what they have to say. Yes, I know, said stories aren’t really monuments of originality, but the way they fit in and the various comments your companions make when following you gives them enough volume to surpass the collective pixels label NPCs from these kind of games usually fall under. Then again, I’m the kind of player who collects everything not bolted to the background and listens and reads everything and everything in the game world. Exploring all of these dungeons, cellars, caverns and so forth, I started to grasp the cogwheels animating the world of Sanctuary. I wonder what the people who finished the game in under 10 hours understood from the bits of story they glimpsed? Zuluf: that deja vu I was talking about at the beginning of this article persisted because of the fact that the monsters you fight are largely cloned after some of the old models (the Fallen and their respective shamans, Goatmen, Quill Beasts, Zombies), complemented by certain new creatures and abilities, but in the end split into the same „classes” of mobs as the ones in D2: normal, champions and elites. The difference between these classes is in the buffs or auras that confer them magical abilities, such as Return Damage, Vampiric, Molten, Waller, Jailer, etc., whose number increases on higher difficulty levels. If on Normal such a monster will only have one aura, on Inferno (the last mode) you’ll be confronted by four of them. Nothing new here – and more than enough for hardcore Diablo fans, to whom farming and trading items is the engine powering the idea of fun. The crafting system fully contributed to formulating a moneymaking strategy on the Auction House, because of the randomness factor items you craft have. It basically works like this: you can use the Salvage option to destroy magical items and get raw materials of multiple tiers, depending on the object’s level. And in return for a monetary cost on top of a bunch of raw materials, you build objects. You only get told how many magical properties an item will roll, not which. It’s more or less the new Gamble, a very volatile trick on Blizzard’s part to reduce inflation (the continuous farming of objects will devalue the game’s coin, a point well made in GreedyGoblin’s article here). Another leash on the market is put by the 10 slot Auction House limit per player, and the equipment you put on sale can’t be recovered once five minutes since posting the auction have passed, a decision intensely criticized by those of us who were sloppy enough to fill up their slots with gear that was too expensive for the qualities it offered to actually sell. And then they had to wait for two days. On top of that, there are functionality issues with the Auction House’s interface, features that would ease navigation, but are missing, such as sorting according to the minimum bid. Things that may yet be introduced with a patch and besides, because no other Blizzard game was ever feature complete when reaching version 1.00. Aside from blacksmithing, the crafting system includes Jewelcrafting, whose role is the same as the Horadric Cube’s in Diablo II, but strictly to improve gems. Basically, for three identical gems (plus a number of pages or Tomes later on) you can get one gem from the next tier. They’re split into four colors and numerous tiers, and you’ll need plans for the more advanced ones. You can also train both your blacksmith and jewelcrafter, but at some point you’ll need to look for recipes to improve their artisan abilities. Assassin: at this point, I think the crafting system doesn’t work as it should. For instance, the gold cost is so high it actually makes more sense to purchase stuff straight off the Auction House. Especially since you can actually see what you’re buying, and the prices are pretty varied at this point, so you have a really high chance of getting excellent items at incredible discounts. The downside is that the Auction House is very primitive in its functionality, and the lack of certain options whose presence is absolutely fundamental (you can’t search for item names, for instance) prevented me from trying various bidding tricks. Yes, using the Auction House is optional, but maybe we’ve got periods in which we feel the need to be traders rather than warriors, especially in games in which better gear and endless supply of gold are more than means – they’re ends of their own. Zuluf: another familiar element was the background – in a way, acts take over from the geographic influence of their counterparts in the previous game, with one notable difference: the new Act 3 resembles Act 5, and the old third act isn’t anywhere to be found. I can’t say I’m really missing the chases through the nocturnal delta, dodging evil pygmies, and the facelift that the new iterations received is very spectacular at times: multi-floor levels filled with traps that can be triggered at the player’s leisure and sensational background elements. The effects – whether we’re talking about the time-slowing bubble of the Wizard or the Seven-Sided Strike that the Monk can cast look fantastic the first time around and don’t become annoying by the hundredth. It’s an old talent of Blizzard’s, to build smart, balanced animations and convince you that a succession of separate moves tie together naturally and to thus build an unveiling of events that would encourage you to be as fast as you can and keep thinking on your feet. Bossman: when it comes to scenery, I really liked the vertical aspect of the levels and the various interactive elements, such as traps, entire bits that crumble down, the small earthquakes, the way that a manor’s tinted windows are lighted when thunder strikes on the other side during a storm, and so forth. The atmosphere and artistic design keep a high bar in Diablo III, although it can’t be said that the engine really impresses through its technical capabilities, despite the fact that luring monsters into traps is always satisfactory. On the other hand, things lost their „desperate” allure that they had in previous titles, something that made them unique, that „dark” style that people kept mentioning once the first screenshots came out. I only realized that when I was watching Tartoru play the Torchlight 2 beta, at which point the first thing that came to mind was „hehe, even this sorry bastard is playing Diablo III”. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was in fact another game. Zuluf: regarding the heroes, stats distribution is done automatically now – something I don’t mind at all, because it makes characters all the more versatile. Builds can now be instantly swapped and you can reuse a tanking character as a damage dealer or support – the only prerequisite is you have the gear for whatever change you expect. Because in Diablo III, once you get to the maximum level and get all the skills and runes, you don’t have any elements distributed in dump stat slots. It’s a pretty ingenious and clear system and despite the fact that I know people who are pretty let down by this format, I really can’t grasp why they feel the need to customize their character in mathematical ways that somehow always get rigid once you want to play competitively. Assassin: I really liked the new skill system, similar to the one in Guild Wars. If I want my character to have a certain set, I’m no longer forced to start over, like in Diablo II. I can just swap abilities and runes without getting penalized (replacing them doesn’t cost gold, and the cooldown is negligible). You only lose your magic find buff after level 60, but you most likely won’t swap anything out during a farm run. Zuluf: normally, every slot out of the six available has a respective class of abilities that you can pick one out of. Using elective mode however (an option I suggest you activate as soon as possible from the options menu), you can choose any skill in your arsenal for any slot. The customization is not only in picking your abilities and spells, but also picking out three passive skills from a total of 14, 15 or 16, depending on your class, and the active abilities each have a set of runes that can be attached for additional effects. The classes are more or less the same as in Diablo II, with small tweaks or merges. Bossman and I played as Monks, a Paladin with melee abilities resembling the assassin, auras and kung fu strikes that get molded together in a Russian shaolin who speaks of discipline and spirit (which dubs as the mana-like resource you charge up with your fists and use up via spells and kicks). In a group, his function is often to heal and extend auras that, depending on the runes you picked out, offer various beneficial effects. Bossman: I really don’t understand why Blizzard had to give him a Russian accent. I always thought I’m playing Rasputin and kept hoping Bartok will show up and help me. Zuluf: The Barbarian is the other melee class, a very efficient tank who brought along a lot of his signature moves from Diablo II: Leap, Cleave, buffing shouts or his Taunt ability. Similar to the Warrior from World of Warcraft, the Barbarian uses Fury to fuel up his devastating attacks, but is somewhat less equipped in terms of crowd control than his Diablo II counterpart. The Witch Doctor is basically the modern Necromancer, loaded with poisons and summoning spells that bring forth exotic monstrosities to rain death on his enemies. As expected, the resource he uses up is Mana, but with a faster recharge rate than before – and pretty interesting combo possibilities thanks to the synergy that certain skills form. For instance, the zombie dogs can be blown up with the Sacrifice ability. Quite a few of his spells have an area of effect, and his end-game damage far surpassed my expectations. The Wizard is a more Asian iteration of the classic Sorceress, keeping the Blizzard spell in her arsenal alongside Hydra or Teleport, armor spells that were somewhat ridiculously strong (as proven by the quick nerf on Energy Armor). It’s one of the most interesting classes you can play, because of its high mobility and glass cannon properties. And finally, the Demon Hunter is more or less an Amazon/Trap-assassin hybrid which uses not one, but two resources – Hatred and Discipline, to both slow down and burn their enemies with traps as their chakrams flutter around burying deep in flesh and bones. Ranged weapons are his specialty, and despite it being such a vulnerable class, its high mobility and obscenely high damage (Mangodash has 37k damage on Inferno Act I) make it a viable DPS class. Sure, there are balancing issues and certain holes in the game were already easily abused (Athene’s group, for instance, did this), which triggered an instant nerf on certain abilities on Blizzard’s part. There’s still a lot of work to do before a decent balance, but it’s pretty late if you check out the content: everything the game has to offer has been killed already, on all the difficulty tiers, sometimes exploiting pretty weird design elements. Such as the ability to resurrect your comrades in a party. The classes that spawn adds which can survive more than two hits can always distract the boss long enough to get their colleagues back on track. Or in the second phase of the Diablo encounter, when, if entering with dead teammates, you’ll face fewer adds. There still are exploitable mechanics – but I do remind you that the situation was similar on the launch day of every Blizzard game. It always took a few patches to tweak the game into ideal functionality and a more fluent gameplay. It’s just that the content has already been exhausted, the challenges have been downed and in the age of livestreams, Youtube and forums filled to the brim with people testing every imaginable limit of the game describing their achievements through screenshots and builds – in THIS age – a videogame bought by millions of people on launch day has no leftover secrets within a week. The mandatory internet connection basically makes it a gimp MMO game that won’t get any content updates, ever. It’s a World of Warcraft afflicted by the Peter Pan Syndrome. Speaking of which, bosses have abilities and phases similar to what World of Warcraft had to show, though at a much more basic level. Some of them spawn damage-dealing pools (or AIDS, if you ask the average WoW raider), others bombard the floor, leaving behind certain safe zones, while others just blink away and spawn adds in alternating phases. What’s certain is that there’s always a positional war to be played and the only group decision you get to make if you face this content in co-op mode is if you stack together or split up for certain events. In many cases, the small heal range, the aura ranges or group buffs force people to stay together, the only points at which you have to „dance” being when you’re forced to do it because of some imminent meteorite. There are certain nice elements that remind of nice old times though. Golden Axe featured these gnomes carrying sacks on their backs, who dropped potions when they were struck. If you didn’t hit them quick enough, they would run out of the game space. The treasure goblins in Diablo III are very similar, leaving behind gold every time you hit them, and triggering a dps race that ends, if you’re not strong enough, with the goblin teleporting out of harm’s way. As for longevity, I really don’t know how long this game will last. What’s certain is that Blizzard won’t constantly add content, which was to be expected, considering Diablo III is not, after all, an MMO. Sure, there will be patches that will solve various bugs and balance out the classes, but that’s about it. The only way to continue the adventure will be an expansion pack, but aside from farming the best gear, getting achievements and maybe doing some business on the Auction House featuring real money transactions at some point in the [CENSORED]ure, there’s not much else to do. Especially since there’s no PvP at this point, either. Assassin: because of some questionable and exploitable design elements, the game was utterly cheesed through in a few hours, and Diablo was killed on Inferno difficulty within the first week. Once time passes, the Internet will feature more and more posts about how you can profit off certain vulnerabilities the game has – from farming gear efficiently to how to skip entire areas to get to the bosses. Furthermore, the real-money auction house hasn’t been implemented yet, as it was pushed back even further. It’s a delay that might extend for quite a while, explained by certain security issues that might affect game accounts. If security can’t be provided to a reasonable degree by Blizzard’s staff, the company might even be sued if certain players get robbed of real money because of faulty account protection. Zuluf: the lack of an offline single-player, despite progressive speeches about how we should all feel so good to be connected and other resounding nonsense, is still a severe handicap to some players’ experience. I have friends who really don’t care about the human interaction and only wanted to go through Diablo III, the hack and slash game, on their own. Yet when the servers are down, these people can’t enjoy features of a gameplay that doesn’t depend or care about Battle.Net being there for the multiplayer. I’m not gonna side with the general hysteria that this can’t fly, but this DRM system is an issue that might as well have not been there. For lots of consumers, it would actually be better off. Back in the day, Blizzard used to sell retail copies because Battle.Net was simply the best, most efficient and lacking in problems online lobby on the market. They sold enough. What happened? A security system affecting their legitimate clientele, born out of the fear/greed of a corporation that basically stamps out money, won’t really serve the corporation once enough people decides they want a divorce. But who knows, maybe they don’t really care about that segment – they can count their losses better than I can speculate, anyway. Bossman: as irony would have it, I’m one of the people who thought the „always online” DRM Ubisoft shipped Assassin’s Creed with wasn’t such a bad idea. Everyone has an internet connection nowadays, so what’s the big deal? That’s before actually playing the game and experiencing it firsthand. And the same thing happened with Diablo III. I think it’s really lame for me to have one more dungeon level to clear before reaching Azmodan in act III, only to get a „Server shutdown in 3 minutes” warning posted in the chat window. If I wanted to get that kind of message, I would have played Runes of Magic, Aion or any other MMO game for that matter. Diablo III is not an MMO. It’s a hack and slash that forces you to stay online in order to prevent piracy. And just off the top of my head, the 20 hours I spent in the single-player campaign can get another 5-6 added to them waiting to log on the servers. Let’s be clear here, it’s not that I didn’t know and was caught by surprise by an „OMG! I have to be online all the time” flu, it’s that when you pay 50-60 euros (which is not a modest sum for a game) you expect such problems to be but distant memories. You expect Blizzard (who are neither broke nor inexperienced) to have enough servers running that the immense overflow of players won’t cause any issues, because you already know from Amazon reports that Diablo III has more preorders than anything else in history. And the „you can go outside and play while the servers are up” attitude I’ve seen on various forums was questionable to say the least. Zuluf: in the end, Diablo III isn’t a bad sequel in the core parts. A messed up launch event, two achievement rollbacks in three days and the notorious error 37, sure, aside from marketing decisions that affect the core gameplay in not so happy ways, but the product is there and it’s all it promised to be. Bringing the same drug for the hack and slash junkie that he’s been bitching about getting for the past 12 years. It’s the same frenzy, the same mind frame, epic battles between good and evil and running after gold, gear and XP. The difference between Diablo III and II isn’t as big a leap as the previous iteration, but again, nobody can say it’s a surprise. The modern Blizzard plays it a lot „safer” and they’ve mastered that art. The final product, however, was lighter than I expected and a lot more shallow in points where I’d hoped for more from one of the biggest juggernauts in the videogame industry.
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Streum On Studio presented new screenshots of Space Hulk: Deathwing, which will be released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One this year. If the name of the studio is not known, you should know that the team has released EYE: Divine Cybermancy in 2011, one of the most ambitious, if not finished, securities RPG / FPS in recent years. Space Hulk: Deathwing will be one of singularele First Person Shooter titles that Warhammer 40,000 universe will present the player characters will be part of Deathwing company of the Dark Angels. Will be available and light RPG elements, with four branches skills. It will be available singleplayer campaign and multiplayer modes.
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Ubisoft will release Far Cry received from February 23 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and March 1 on PC.
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Crystal Dynamics has thus far only minimum requirements for Rise of the Tomb Raider, which will be available on PC since January 28. Today, NVIDIA is helping gamers, announcing the PC system required for 1080p and 1440p with maximum graphic detail and 60FPS. For 1080p, you will need: GPU: NVIDIA GTX 970 CPU: Intel I7 3770K RAM: 6GB 64bit Windows 10 For 1440p, 980T GTX graphics card is required, and the rest of the system is the same. The minimum requirements are: OS: Windows 7 64bit or later CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 or equivalent AMD GPU: Nvidia GTX 650 or AMD HD7770 2GB 2GB RAM: 6GB HDD: 25GB DirectX 11 Steam page is herehere
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South Korean company Smilegate a contract worth $ 40 million with the Starbreeze Studios. Swedish production house will develop further title to Play Free Multiplayer FPS Crossfire, which succeeds only in Asia. Although the name is not very known in the West, a version for Europe is launched without the expected success, he now has 7 million players, and its launch half a billion registered accounts. In 2014, the game has generated revenue of $ 1.3 billion microtranzacţii. When we consider that the figures mentioned only come from the Asian region, it is easy to understand the company's desire to create a new title for the European and American markets. The announcement is available on the official website Starbreeze. Given that the studio is busy developing subordinate Overkill's The Walking Dead (2017), Starbreeze internally will have to produce the game. Since the Swedes have done console versions of Payday 2 have sufficient expertise.
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I don’t know if there could have been a more appropriate main theme for Spec Ops: The Line than Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner. Exactly as the free falling course of its story, Hendrix’s composition is a deformed and “dirty” version of the United States’ national anthem that emphasizes (in analogy with the game’s events) the perversion of some very noble principles. Principles embodied by the character we control, Captain Martin Walker, sent in Dubai to recover a certain John Konrad, a colonel who violated his orders to get an entire military division in the city in the hopes of evacuating those who were still alive after a series of truly apocalyptic sandstorms. Initially, Walker has a very idealistic attitude, believing that the mission could be done without any major complications. He intends to localize Konrad and let the real evacuation teams do their job in regard to civilians. But the situation takes a major turn when he realizes that the 33rd division might not actually want to leave Dubai. And so, finding Konrad is now even more important, as much as this was even possible. But there is another major detail we initially learn from a loading screen: some time ago, Konrad saved Walker’s life, so maybe finding the former is a vital objective for the latter, with the potential to transform itself into an obsession. I was immediately grateful to the story for evading the cliche of Americans who travel all over the world to spred democracy. Although the first soldiers you meet have a clear Middle Eastern allure, we immediately get an American vs. American scenario, with the afferent confusion of friendly-fire situations. I also thought I could be grateful for the lack of cinematic sequences, because very shortly after the start we come to a hostile exchange of bullets accompanied by one of the many classics on the soundtrack, a moment when it could be said that The Line becomes too fancy for its own good, apparently trying to force the atmosphere without a sufficient technical base. And there’s nothing wrong with this type of scene-setting, on the contrary, but the game does not excel from a mechanical perspective, and the artificial intelligence is sometimes a disaster, problems that strongly sabotages the grandiosity of the respective scenes. For those who’ve seen Apocalypse Now, the scene will immediately remind them of it, not exactly surprising seeing as how both of them are inspired by Heart of Darkness. No, the cinematic sequences are not lacking and are numerically on par with other action games, but are also as professional as in other titles. And with this we’ve come to one of The Line’s biggest deficiencies: the fact that as a 3rd person shooter it is completely standard, mediocre even, with an AI that would be better strongly restricted or scripted than free to jump right in your face when you bring down enemies with a turret or incapable of any reaction when you are sometimes three meters distance from a hostile soldier with no obstacle between the two of you. Besides Martin Walker, your team is comprised of two more soldiers that you can order to attack an enemy and also, while in some fights, give contextual commands for using a certain type of grenade. When one of them is down, you can rush over to him for resuscitation or you can order the other one to do it. Sadly, their AI is in a perfect symbiosis with that of the enemy, a fact painfully and comically observed when you are attacked by adversaries that rush you with only a knife. Yes, we have a hostile that rushes in your direction, amidst the gun bursts, with a knife. I think I understand what was intended here, maybe the designers wanted a ninja type soldier, very fast and lethal at close range. And it would have probably worked if he was put in situations where he could unexpectedly jump behind your back, but not when you see him run towards you from a 10 meter distance. And what do your teammates do when they see him? They yell at you to be careful. No shooting, no coming at your side to protect you, just a friendly warning. The cover mechanics are good, but they could have been much better very easily. It takes some time until you get used to it, because it’s not immediately clear when exactly you switch between two objects that offer cover and the vaulting key is mandatory the same as the melee attack one (thank you console controllers), with the priority of the two functions not being perfect by any measure. But these are not the things that generated the hype on which the marketing campaign relied on before launch. It was the story, or more exactly, its refusal to spare the idealistic expectations with which most games have accustomed us, where the bad guys are only bad, just like the good and innocent cannot be anything else. The starting vista is almost surreal. We are somewhere on a highway, filled with cars buried in sand. In the far off we see Dubai at the opposite extreme of what it currently represents, a monument of opulence, but also of technological and architectural achievements, buried under sand dunes that sometimes swallow entire buildings. And surrounding everything is the desert, as far as the eye can see. Although it’s ultimately only the space where the hostilities take place, the attention and detail with which Dubai has been reconstructed and destroyed made me regret that I could not truly explore it, being obligated to manage with the classical, completely linear structure of a shooter. And maybe a city won’t be able to express itself as clear as a human character, but there are moments when its decrepitude and architectural devastation speak more loudly than anything else, when Dubai become as striking as Walker and his fellow soldiers. In any case, you’ll remember it much more profoundly than the anonymous mass of 33rd soldiers. But to the game's praise, The One in Which I've invested the most emotional attachment Also the center around Which is ambiguous Every choice on the way revolves. As I've Said Walker starts the year with mission very confident and apparently clear goal, That of finding Konrad as fast as Possible. But the apocalyptic Almost That state has gotten into Dubai Something else has Prepared For Him and the others captive there, Moments That Will Test Him - and implicitly others, soldiers and civilians alike - Far Beyond the Limits of Their Ideals own. Walker's transformation from idealistic year into the pragmatist of survival starts Slowly, but surely, and after A Certain Becomes Very Clear That moment puts you to the test first, as observer of the events year. The change does not only reflect in the results of His choices - Which ultimately define us, the ones controlling HIM - but Also in the changing visual aspect of the three team members and in the superbly directed Interactions Between Them. All of Them is engulfed in dust and scars Slowly, Walker made himself getting burned half of his tag somewhere after the second half of the story. But one of phenomenons for Which I truly appreciated the way the transformation of the team is represented is the Fact That You'll come to a point Where You Can Trust Him anymore, although He is ultimately your avatar in this world.If, at the start, Walker is very coherent and frequently insists with what must be done, on the way to the end he slowly loses his clarity, appearing dismayed and silent when confronted with the results of his choices. How many games have the courage to treat you like this? Even more, everything that he decides in the campaign is not exempted from the judgment of the rest of his team and with this comes another major achievement. Although the choices he has to make range from tough to „I never thought I could do this”, you’ll be judged in an absolute way only by your own conscience. Yes, the opinions of the others are absolute judgments for them, but the game will confront you with the “valid” and painful arguments of other perspectives; you only need to make up whatever excuses you think make you look better in the respective situations. On the other hand, the choices won’t change anything essential in the story. In certain moments it’s not even clear if you can make some other choice besides the obvious one, other times the result is the same. There are multiple endings to see, but The Line’s merits come primarily from the courage of offering us such a brutal setting in which to test our principles. It could be said that the producers are actually… toying with us on many levels. Not only that the events and choices are hard to swallow, but the game uses other means to force you to question yourself. First, it’s hard not to feel a bit… uncomfortable when orders like “Obey!” and “Run God Damn It!” are slammed on the screen, but one of the most evident of these ways comes through the loading screens, where toward the end you get many messages that act almost as a voice of consciousness. You are asked, plain and simple, if you feel like a hero yet and you’re told, in such a gratuitous way that it’s hard not to feel mocked, that you still are a good person. We could also call these methods gratuitous, but I think it’s worth asking ourselves again how many games have the courage to pass over their own interactive and narrative line to first question us, the ones that actually make the decisions and not some fictitious character from a virtual world. And although The Line is less about impersonal crowds and legions of anonymous soldiers you could barely care about, but more about the personal dramas and painful transformation of a few characters, the game is undermined, mechanically and conceptually, by its genre and the problems of the AI. MINOR SPOILER START In a sequence that starts very promising, with a group of civilians shouting and throwing rocks at a convoy of trucks carrying water, the AI and the bunch of soldiers that literally throw themselves at you without any care, as well as the awkward way Walker’s grenade launcher dismembers them only serve to disconnect you from the rest of the story, turning all its gravity from before and after at 180 degrees. MINOR SPOILER END On one side, we have the story that’s supposed to make you question a lot of things you believe and on the other, the sequences where you need to shoot tens of enemies with which there’s no other way of “negotiating”. You have to care about Walker’s tormented transformation and question your own decisions and then enter into a state in which you’re capable of sweeping a few series of characterless individuals with no remorse. A bit relaxation could be found in multiplayer, if there were any players around. In more than half of my connecting attempts to online matches I had complete bad luck, having to wait for other players in the lobby. I don’t know if the situation if better on consoles, but it’s not completely surprising, seeing as The Line clearly insisted on its single-player campaign as the highlight. Even so, the multiplayer is surprisingly elaborated, miles above what I was expecting from a game that continuously insisted how great its story is. We have two opposing teams with mostly negligible differences, like the ability to gain more experience from melee attacks, an exclusive class for each team – from five – and a consistent arsenal, all this sustained by a considerable collection of perks. From the six online modes, High Value Target is probably the most interesting because it offers the most possibilities for cooperation, the classes also being designed first for the synergy between them and second for Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. High Value Target has some Rush (Battlefield) elements because it implies the progressive destruction of several objectives culminating with a final one that marks the victory of the match. If you have enough teammates with varied specializations, the chances for winning are upped thanks to the classes that offer localized advantages if you’re close enough to the respective soldier: medics will increase the health regeneration rate, the sniper will offer better accuracy etc. But even the classic Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes get a bit more variety thanks to the sandstorms that start periodically in the exterior of the maps and in which, if caught, you won’t be able to sprint and your radar gets blocked. Moreover, the campaign and multiplayer maps come with certain zones where you can destroy parts of the structures (glass, walls), trapping those underneath in a sand dune. With all this said, it’s clear the multiplayer won’t astonish anyone more than any other standard shooter. It is really consistent, decent in its mechanics and of course held up by human intelligences that can do considerably more then the artificial one that plagues the campaign, but that’s it. Even with all the morbid ambiguity of the campaign, I still consider that the stance to take when confronted with Spec Ops: The Line is pretty simple. We are in an era when YouTube can sometimes save us from spending money, especially when we are more interested in the story of a game and are less willing to support a defective or unattractive mechanic and an AI that could just as well be nonexistent. And this is ultimately the breaking point of The Line (pun intended). It truly deserves applause for the courage to confront us so harshly with our own character, even if our choices sometimes seem forced or useless. But if it could have found another way, less tiresome and monotonous, to let us get to them, it would have had substantial chances to become a classic.
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Ubisoft today released the first DLC free for Anno 2205 more will arrive throughout the year. The package is included in patch 1.3 available on Steam and Uplay. Wildwater sector have been initiated Bay, part of the temperate climate region three new ornamental same region and a new headquarters that brings information, security, mobility and entertainment. Also, World Market has received a significant update. All contents described here. End of next month will introduce two DLC surcharge, Tundra and Orbit. The first will be launched by the end of February. Page Steam game is here
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After becoming one of the most po[CENSORED]r PC racing simulators, Italian studio Assetto Corsa will bring Simulazioni Kunos and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. He will be released on April 19 in North America and more than 3 days will be available in Europe. On launch, it will include more than 80 cars, such as Pagani Zonda R, Ferrarri LaFerrari, Sauber Mercedes C9 or Corvette C7R GTE, and 20 circuits built after the actual measurements of the laser. The good news is that all three packs of cars and circuits called Dream Packs, which costs $ 35 per PC, consoles are included free. The game will run at 60FPS on both systems, but only the PS4 will have 1080p on Xbox One will run at 900p. Like the PC version and the console ajutorele pilot may be adjusted. The studio says it has made efforts to be operational as Assetto Corsa on controllers, but a dedicated drive is recommended. Page Steam game is here and information about the consoles versions are http://www.console.assettocorsa.net/
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As I said in the article about Philips 242G5 monitors dedicated gaming are in vogue at the moment, manufacturers trying to attract buyers with all kinds of nice things 3D, 144Hz refresh rate, numerous adjustment possibilities, hubs USB 3.0 even remote controls to access the OSD. But slowly starting to make space for a technology that, although announced nearly a year ago and highly praised, has not yet made too many waves: NVIDIA G-SYNC. But what is it? In short, the desire to eliminate the effect of "tearing" that PC gamers are used from time immemorial. Because the processing power of video cards has grown (and continues to grow) incredibly long, but monitors have not really kept pace about the display frame rate. Which led to a sort of "choose the lesser evil" until recently when they started with 120 and 144Hz models appear: you want the images to be displayed correctly, without the feeling that at some point someone 've cut with scissors and then he stuck fast in the hope that does not catch anyone? Enable Vsync, but that means having to do with what in technical terms is called "input lag". Oh yes, and the fluidity will suffer if your video card can not cope at a time and framerate drops more than necessary. You want to look for input lag and have maximum performance? Disable Vsync and enjoying a sensational framerate. So you'll catch him in action often Uncle with scissors tell you it above. Well, while Vsync is a software solution, G-SYNC hardware enter into the equation a control plate, which is inside the monitor. With its help, monitor and video card are synchronized perfectly every time, and the display is flawless as there is no possibility that the video card to "get ahead". You can have a monstrous framerate, the monitor will always display only as needed for fluidity does not suffer. AOC is one of the producers who want to publicize new technology model that we test it under the name G2460PG. Technical specifications: Monitor Size 24 " Visible Screen Size 61 cm Screen Format 16: 9 Brightness 350 cd / m² (typ) Dynamic Contrast Ratio 80,000,000: 1 Contrast Ratio Typical 1000: 1 (CR) Pixel / Dot / Pitch 0.276 (H) x 0.276 (V) mm Display Area 531.36 (H) x 298.89 (V) Viewing Angle 170 (H) / 160 (V) (CR ≧ 10) Up to 1 ms Response Time Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 144 Hz Video Display port connections Other Features Tilt -5/22, 130 mm Height Adjustment, Eco Mode, e-Saver, i-Menu, Kensington Security Lock, NVIDIA G-SYNC screen +, 2x USB 2.0, 3x 3.0 VESA 100 mm Once you're done admiring the artwork Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag on the box and open it, you'll find just the essentials: cable cord, USB 3.0, transformer base stand, a CD with drivers, clip wire management and very important, DisplayPort cable. Important because G2460PG (like any other monitor with G-SYNC) has no other type of video connector. No D-Sub or DVI or HDMI. Unfortunately technological limitations. Installation is very easy stand and the monitor itself allow a lot of adjustments to bring him to the right, positive step given the money they have to fork out for his purchase. You can leave lower or raise (up to 13cm), you can tilt, rotate or you can set it to operate in portrait mode if needed. As for appearance, not surprisingly, AOC went green as contrast color, logo NVIDIA G-SYNC sitting on throne back of the monitor, but per-all, anything to take your eyes really. Like Philips 242G5, it's not bad, but not the kind of monitor that you fall in love at first sight. At the bottom of the frame we find the buttons to access the OSD (on screen display), with two more special. One of them controls the ULMB (short for Ultra Low Motion Blur), the successor to NVIDIA LightBoost designed to eliminate as much as possible and goshting the blur that arising because of very fast. The bad news is that it only works on ULMB refreshes 85/100 / 120Hz. Which means you can have G-SYNC or ULMB, not both simultaneously. The second button, Dialpoint has drawn over a target, a very significant symbol for their function: when pressed, you can choose from six models of targets remain on the screen. Issues which in theory is very useful for enthusiasts of shooters, but I doubt that any veteran Battlefield or Call of Duty will be used in a serious match. CSD has class settings to which you'd expect - brightness, contrast, color, positioning vertical and horizontal picture timeout, even a reminder that can be set for you twitch from time to time to take a break. And so we reach the really interesting chapter: gaming performance. At the outset I must stress that G2460PG AOC has a TN panel, with all the good and bad things arising from this. Low response time, viewing angles so-so. Contrast and color reproduction are ok, and once you walk through the settings of the monitor + video card, you can reach more than satisfying results. It will not be on the quality of an IPS, but on the other hand this model was not designed for graphics and design. Once you've adjusted, however, the monitor performs very well, with or without G-Sync. That if you naturally and as a system that can give you a very good framerate even the most demanding titles-n. What creates an interesting dilemma: when you have a system so powerful impact of G-SYNC is low compared to situations where the framerate fluctuates significantly and where even seen intake NVIDIA (if you want to see technology Action under "laboratory" You have Pendulum tech demo). At the same time, given the fairly steep price, it's hard to believe that someone with a weaker PC will opt to take a screen with G-Sync at the expense of the processor or video card upgrade. And speaking of video cards, because this is an issue to be mentioned: as G-SYNC NVIDIA's proprietary technology, must have required a GeForce video card. You just got a super plate or in about 3-6 months AMD appears a model produced by its performance that shatter all records? Bad luck, stay with NVIDIA G-SYNC or farewell. So the conclusion we can draw about G2460PG is very simple: the AOC did a very good job and produced a monitor that offers exactly what promises - Specification with excellent games, regardless of genre you prefer, supported a technology that has the potential to become standard in the [CENSORED]ure more or less distant. The great "but" is that besides the technological limitations (G-Sync works only with GeForce, only DisplayPort connector on the job), and it's steep price for monitors with G-Sync, especially in Romania. But if you stay within your target customer segment and the necessary funds may include AOC G2460PG quiet among the options considered.
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NetherRealm Studios has announced that Mortal Kombat Komplete X will receive a version in March 4th in Europe for PS4 and Xbox One, while information about a possible PC version there. This is called Mortal Kombat XL will include the original game and all additional packages launched so far, and [CENSORED]ure Kombat Pack 2. The content in detail is: Predator, Jason Voorhees, Tremor and Tanya, each with three additional costumes per character (Kombat Pack 1) Samurai Skin Pack (Kombat Pack 1) Xenomorph, Leatherface, and Bo'Rai Triborg Cho (Kombat Pack 2) Apocalypse Skin Pack (Kombat Pack 2) Goro, Brazil Skin Pack, Kold and Kold War War Skin Pack Scorpion Skin (Kombat Pack 2) XL Mortal Kombat will be released digitally and retail.
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Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities analyst financial officer and one of the most vocal experts from the gaming industry, discussed in a recent interview about Rise of the Tomb Raider. The game developed by Crystal Dynamics was released on Xbox One and Xbox 360 on November 10, 2015, which was exclusively available until January 28, will arrive on the PC and then on the PS4. At the end of 2015, the studio has confirmed that the title has sold more than 1 million copies, a decent amount, but well below expectations. One reason would be even exclusively on consoles Microsoft and the question arises: Was it worth ?. Michael Pachter believes that the answer is a definitive no. He estimated that the studio Crystal Dynamics Microsoft paid about $ 20 million for the 3 months of exclusivity and advertising cost so yet. Considering that the game costs $ 60, the $ 20 million is equivalent to only 0.33 million copies. This amount would probably come in the first hour of launch day, the title would have been launched on the other two platforms, PC and PS4. Pachter continued, saying that the studio would have refused any offer of less than $ 100 million, and the previous calculation agrees with him. In conclusion, if the amount circulated Pachter is correct, we can estimate that the business was faultless as possible for Crystal Dynamics bad.
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Codemasters has announced that proprietary graphics engine, EGO Engine 4.0, was already modified to have support DirectX 12 and some graphic techniques such as Raster Voxel Based Ordered and Ray Tracing Views are implemented. Codemasters' EGO Engine used 4.0, the newest evolution of its engine, so far only in F1 2015 and F1 2016 title [CENSORED]ure and will use him. Chances are that F1 2015 to receive an update that will bring DX12, and F1 2016 is confirmed as it will use the same API. Unfortunately, Dirt Rally, and he developed the same studio was created with EGO Engine 3.0, and therefore will remain on DirectX 11. Codemasters will present the first implementation of DirectX 12 GDC 2016 at the conference, which will begin on March 8.