New Star Soccer (NSS), a series that left me with much fond memories. I remembered reviewing the previous game a few years ago; NSS 4 was brilliant and so was NSS 3. NSS is a soccer/football simulation game where you play the life of a footballer. Whether you become a legend later solely depends on your skills and the way you manage your career and life. Back then the game offered something different from your bigger developers such as EA Sports and Konami with their FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) franchises respectively. Both of those games didn’t have a player simulation mode then. However in their recent few releases, Be a Pro (BAP) and Become A Legend (BAL) are modes that are well polished and provide much fun. With that said, how does NSS 5 fair against the big guns?

To see the game in action, I’ve recorded a short live commentary and video footage to showcase it:

I’ve went back and read over my previous review of NSS 4. Indeed, what NSS 5 offers over FIFA and PES is the options and depth in player life simulation. BAP and BAL focus mainly on the football side of things, overlooking the minor details such as relationships, lifestyle etc. This doesn’t equate to bad in any way, it just lacks that little depth and choice that would be gladly appreciated. With that said, the player life simulation and even the football simulation in NSS 5 felt way too simplistic and overly straightforward. There isn’t much improvement over the years and I have to admit I am greatly disappointed. Many if not all of the different things of the player’s life are based of mini-games and simple mouse clicks. I was hoping for more complexity and diversity rather than a shallow implementation of it.

Even the aspect of contract negotiation is a mini-game where you have to guess if the next number is bigger or smaller than the current one. To put it nicely, it is plain stupid. I may be harsh but seriously? Why, in my opinion, many independent developers manage to excel is because of their ideas and concepts behind the game. They often provide something special, something out of the norm that wows people. NSS was a series that made me excited. It touched on football simulation that no one did (then at least). Now with the big developers slowly exploring such an idea, it is to their advantage that they exploit the foundations that are already there and improve on it. Sadly, that didn’t happen at all.

The match game engine felt familiar. AI is still as basic as ever but it is fine. NSS 5 is developed by independent developers that lack the budget and manpower that EA Sports and Konami have. The engine for what it is now is fine. It is a simple engine that requires user to use the directional keys and 3 different other keys to press. You basically have the option to execute a pass, a lob or a shot. There is also the option to choose the beginner or easy mode where actions are executed with just a key press. When defending, you have to option to slide. Holding any button when you do not have the ball will make your player chase the ball. After an action is executed, you have the ability to apply after touch, basically to apply curl and spin to the ball. The match engine takes some time to get used to. It is a rather steep learning curve even for a player like me who has played the previous games before. However, once you start getting a grip over the controls, the game plays fine.

Character development is tweaked from the previous game. It is neither an improvement nor is it worse in any way. From the various different stats you had in the past, the developers decide to split the attributes into two main categories. One of which is the core attributes of a footballer player; you have things such as heading, passing, shooting, tackling etc. The other is called Player Ratings. These basically affect your overall value of your players and can be increased by playing well in matches. The core attributes can no longer be increased during matches, instead you have to play a mini-game where you have to perform a particular drill successfully to increase it. The drills are pretty fun and the difficulty increases according to your particular skill level.

Player life simulation has been pretty much the same as the previous game. You have to manage your relationship between different parties such as your team mates, boss, friends, fans and sponsors. There are the occasional events where you have to choose between two different parties. Relationship between career related parties can be improved by performing in matches. You too can choose to spend some energy and play a matching mini-game to improve the relationship. It is disappointing that there is only one main mini-game to play in terms of improving relationships. As shallow as it is, some kind of variety would definitely make it more interesting. Else, maybe the developers could have spent some time exploring a deeper and more meaningful system.

There is also the casino and horse betting mini-games that you can play with as well as different items to buy to increase your lifestyle. There doesn’t seem to be anything new added to the game. There are, however, some major revamps in the way the game works. Firstly, instead of progressing by days, you simply progress through the game by weeks or matches. Every time you end a turn you a brought to the very next match. For me it works fine as it helps increase the pace of the game.

There is also the new implementation of an online system. The whole world now consists of player created footballers. As much as it is a rather interesting design choice, I would prefer and like the option of having real life footballers existing in my game. There is much fun when you can pretend to be playing alongside your favourite footballers but with the new implementation, all of such hopes are lost. In NSS 5, you cannot view different teams and the players in it. Players in your team will be occupied by other characters should they be in the same team but else they will simply be nameless footballers.

Graphics and sound effects are about the same as before. You now have graphical indications whenever you make a good move. Your manager will shout from the bench to either praise or scold you. The background music at the menu screens can get quite irritating after hearing them for prolong periods of time. Thankfully you can mute it in the options screen. For a one man team I don’t really expect much changes or improvements to the graphics or sound. But with the gameplay showing not much improvement or freshness from before, I really wonder what exactly has been done to the game for all these years.

Overall, NSS 5 seems to have taken some steps back from its previous game. There isn’t many, if not any, improvements over the previous game. Minor additions are easily overlooked and there is the major disappointment that comes from the lack of development or exploration in the aspect of personal life and out of field activities. The design choice of involving user created players in the world seems to be interesting but isn’t exactly beneficial in any way. Yes, it is developed by one guy. And yes, he had made a fantastic game before. What exactly happened between NSS 4 and 3 to NSS 5 leaves me much to wonder. With the FIFA and PES franchise catching up in the player career simulation, I don’t see how the NSS games can compete should it continue in such a direction. If you’ve yet to try out the New Star Soccer series, do give it a go. It is free to play for the first few matches while allowing you to play 3 matches every day thereafter. If you want to play more, you have to purchase a premium account, similar to that of purchasing the game. If you’ve owned NSS 4, there are not many reasons, if any, to get this version.

P.S: Do note that this review is largely influenced with NSS 4 and 3 in mind. I’ve played those games and I’ve enjoyed them a lot. Throughout the review I’m constantly having those games in my mind and constantly making comparisons.

Hauppauge Colossus is an internal PCI Express HD-PVR. In simpler terms, it is an internal card that is fixed within your computer that records high-definition footage from a video source. As such, the name HD-PVR stands for, High Definition Personal Video Recorder. I am mainly using the Colossus to record gameplay footage from my PS3 as well as my PC. This review will thus revolve around mainly my experience in using the Colossus for gameplay recording rather than other types of recording such as TV footage and others. If you’re in the market looking for a new capture card, read on for my review and some test footages of the Colossus.

If you’re more interested to be visually and aurally pleased, you can see my very brief and short video review of the Colossus (contains test footages as well. For a more detailed review please read on. The video does not cover in depth and simply gives an overview):

To start off, here are some technical specifications of the Colossus:

• H.264 AVCHD video encoder
• AC-3 recording from AC-3 source
• AAC audio encoding from PCM source
• Recording datarate: from 1 to 20 Mbits/sec (user selectable in the ArcSoft ShowBiz application)
• Recording format:
• up to 1080i from component video (YCrCb or YPrPb)
• NTSC: 720p60, 1080i60, 480i60, 480p60
• PAL: 720p50, 1080i50, 576p50, 576i50, 480p50, 480i50
  Note: the video input format determines the recorded format. For example, 1080i input records at 1080i, 720P records at 720P, etc. Any other format conversions needs to be done with the MediaConvert program (supplied).
• NTSC or PAL supported

Here are the input and output of the Colossus:

• A/V cable input adapter with:
  • Component video input
  • Left/ Right RCA audio input
• A/V cable output adapter with loop through audio and video:
  • Component video output
  • Left/ Right RCA audio output
• Optical audio input and loop through output
• HDMI input (Note: for use with un-encrypted HDMI video sources)
• IR Blaster output

Let us talk about the specifications of the Colossus. Firstly, since this is an internal PCI-E card you will have to open up your computer to fix it in. Now, that can be a problem for some mainly because of warranty reasons (warranty for some prebuilt computers are void should the case be open) or simply because you don’t really know how to. Well for the latter, I will say that it is pretty simple. Obviously if you own a custom built (that perhaps you have built by yourself or have some knowledge in building one) computer you should know how to plug in the card rather easily. However, if you are still unsure, there are several tutorials and help online that you can read or even watch (on youtube) that will show you the process. To put it simply, open the case, find the correct slot (PCI-E X1) and slot in the card. If you are still worried and not willing to learn, I suggest that the Colossus as a capture card is not the right option for you.

Do note that since this requires a PCI-E X1 slot (Or X4, X8, X16. They are all theoretically compatible but depending on how your motherboard implements the different slots results might vary), you must have such a slot available on your motherboard and you should anyways. To check if your motherboard does have this slot, simply do a search online for your motherboard’s model and read its specifications. Otherwise, you can simply open your computer case and see inside for any available PCI-E slot. If you’re not sure how it looks like just do a google image search, it is basically the shortest PCI-E slot. Another thing to take note is that this is a full height PCI-E card and thus this can have compatibility issue with your cases especially if they are of the smaller form factors (e.g mini-itx, matx). They do not have any low-profile brackets available so do check first before considering the Colossus.

Putting the technicalities aside, the Colossus input options for recording is versatile. The ability for recording either via HDMI or Component covers almost all kinds of devices. Do note however that the HDMI input only accepts un-encrypted sources, meaning you cannot use the HDMI input to record PS3 that outputs via HDMI. It is not so much so of a problem as Component output do support up to 1080p. However, because of the protection stuff put into place, the device output may be of resolution of 1080i or lower. This also brings us to the point that the Colossus only accepts a maximum resolution of 1080i, not 1080p. It isn’t so much of an issue as the quality difference between 1080i and 1080p can hardly be differed. The Colossus also accepts optical audio in and has a slot to allow for the use of the remote.

The Colossus output options are less desirable though. You only have the choice to output via component and optical audio. Now this can be a huge problem especially if you’re using a computer monitor as a display. Most computer monitors do not have any component input, and by logical reasoning most people use a computer monitor with a computer rather than a television set with a computer. Of course if your display does accept component inputs then you have nothing to worry about. However, if your display doesn’t (like mine) have component input, you may have to get an additional signal converter (the most common one being component to hdmi). This can set you back by roughly $30 for a cheap brandless one and can go up to $100 for a more competent and higher build quality one. The price may vary from country to country so do consider this additional cost should you need to spend. The audio video pass through requires that the computer is turned on so say if you’re using a PS3 connected to the Colossus, you must have your computer powered on as well even if you don’t plan on doing any recording. There is no input lag whatsoever by using the pass through. However, there is long unplayable delay should you want to view the display through the software that does the recording.

Input wise the Colossus is on par with the rest of the products in the PVR market. Its output however, disappointingly lacks a very important HDMI option which their direct competitor, the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro (another internal HD-PVR), delightfully provides. It can get really troublesome especially when the availability of the converter and pricing vary in different countries. There is much to consider in order to ensure that the Colossus is fully compatible with whatever setup you have in mind. Sad though that such a minor issue can cause that much problems, and no I’m not making a mountain out of a molehill. However, overlook that and everything else is great.

The softwares that come bundled together with the Colossus are WinTV and ArcSoft Showbiz. Both are adequate enough for both TV and gameplay recording. For me (and most of you probably), I’ve used Showbiz to do most of the recordings and will continue to do so. It is a simple little program with sufficient enough options to ensure quality recording. Setting it up is fairly straightforward if you’re recording from your console or another video device. It gets a bit more complicated should you plan to record from your PC (Will have a series of How-To in future to explain more of my setup should you need additional help). Otherwise the software does its job well. There are some video encoding options that you can play with for example the aspect ratios and more importantly the encoding bitrate. Playing around with that will allow you to balance between file size and video quality. So far I’ve left it at default settings and everything seems to be working just fine. It is important to take note that recording at higher bitrates will result in larger file sizes. The HDD that you are writing to (saving the video recording) should have sufficient sequential writing speed to allow smooth recording.

The quality of recording of both the video and sound is great. I am unable to tell you the difference between perhaps recording via the Colossus as compared to perhaps say the Intensity Pro as not only do I lack the different devices for comparison, I also lack that awesome photographic eye to tell the difference. What I strongly believe though is that with similar settings (say same bitrate encoding etc), the quality will be pretty much the same. Anyways here are some recording of PS3 and PC footage with the default settings. I simply plug in the Colossus, installed the different drivers and went on to record the different footages:

The thing about uploading to youtube is really complicated when considering the quality before and after. Videos uploaded to youtube will undergo their very own encoding and compression. It is thus vital to find the optimum settings for your original footage before uploading to youtube to ensure that quality is maximized. I have yet to dwell much into that but will experiment and research more in the near future. You too can read up the various discussions over the internet about what contributes to the best final outcome after uploading to youtube. Should you plan to upload to other sites or merely use it for personal use, you too can read about the different encodings and compressions to optimize the quality.

There is just one problem that I have encountered when recording 1080i footage from my PC. There is this blue line at the left side of the video. Not sure if you’ve noticed it in the youtube video but it seems to be a common problem when recording 1080i footage through HDMI input. Did a simple search and came across various people with such a problem. Not sure of any solutions or any workarounds besides not using HDMI input to record 1080i but if you do find or know of any please do contact me and let me know.

Overall, the Hauppauge Colossus is a fantastic product and serves its purpose well. The lack of HDMI output is rather disappointing but other than that it is one of the better HD PVR in the market. Specifically for gameplay recording the Colossus does a fantastic job. The only problem is that since it is an internal PCI-E card you might have a little trouble installing it into your system. Get past that and you have one great solution to start your gameplay recording.

I will be writing several other articles (and perhaps videos) explaining the setup I am using, the benefits of using a capture card to record PC footage and whatever that comes into mind. Do let me know if you want me to discuss any other things that you might be confused or concern with.

Skyrim is the fifth instalment to the well acclaimed The Elder Scrolls series and is set in a time roughly two hundred years after the previous game Oblivion. Skyrim is not a direct sequel to Oblivion but do have some references here and there as it takes place in a similar world but at a different part and time. The land of Skyrim is facing two major problems at this particular time. Firstly, the dragons seem to have returned and secondly, there is a civil war between the Empire and Stormcloaks. How exactly does Skyrim fair in terms of it being a game, a product of Bethesda Softworks as well as being part of the Elder Scrolls series? Read on for my review of the game (based solely on experience on the PC version)

The main story behind Skyrim is not too complex but is enough to keep things fresh and interesting. To put it simply without any spoilers, you play as a Dragonborn, a legendary breed of man that has the soul and blood of a dragon but the body of a mortal. At this very time, there seems to be a crisis. The dragons have returned! As the story develops you learn of the greater evil and it is your duty to stop it. The main story is set in a time of a civil war between the Stormcloaks, the rebels, and the Empire. With that, you do face some complications here and there with choices to make. It is these choices that make the story even more enjoyable and interesting as it challenges you to think for yourself and make your very own decisions. Besides the main plot you do have several other sub-plots that you can dwell. You have your regular guilds and other mini-stories that you will come across along the way. All the different stories that you will be engaging in are backed with the rich lore and history of both the land of Skyrim as well as the very world that it takes place in.

Skyrim, as all the previous Elder Scrolls games, is an open world non-linear RPG. What this means is that you are free to explore and embark on your very own adventure without giving a damn about the main story or anything else. It is practically a game where you can do whatever you want whenever and wherever. If you’re into exploring you can just go ahead and wander off, no one will stop you. There are some very minor restrictions put into place in order for you to not accidentally break the game. For example, there are some characters that are vital in the main quest and thus they are practically immortal. There are also some areas that I have passed that you cannot access unless you proceed on with a particular quest as it requires a particular item to unlock the area. With that said, the game is still extremely opened and allows you to play it as you want to.

It is this aspect of a very open world non-linear gameplay that attracts much attention and interest. Rightfully so as the enjoyment and fun that comes from being able to choose what you want to do is immense. With the genre being a RPG, the open world non-linear gameplay accentuates the point about role playing. It is all about who you want to be and what you want to do.

There are several different types of quests. There are the main storyline quests, sub-plot quests and the infinitely generated miscellaneous quests. Let me explain: Main storyline quests are simply quests that are directly related to the main story of the game. Sub-plot quests are those that are related to mini stories that you can embark on for example the thieves guild, the Companions, Dark Brotherhood and the civil war. There are also short mini storylines that you can encounter as you are exploring and adventuring for example the daedric quests. Lastly, the infinitely generated miscellaneous quests are often the most boring and pointless and it mainly gets you doing stuff like going to a location to kill the leader. This is supposedly the “Radiant quest system” but seriously it gets boring and tiring real fast. There are also other types of miscellaneous quest such as finding a particular item for a person. On a positive note, it brings you to locations that you may not have yet explored. All the sub-plots are fairly interesting and fun to play with. There is also no need to worry that your character “class” doesn’t fit the particular guild. At most you will face a little bit more challenge at times but other than that it is all good. For example, I’ve completed the mages guild without spending a single point or effort in any of the magic skill trees; same applies to the thieves guild. My character was that of a head on warrior using melee two handed weapons and yes I’ve completed most if not all the different factions quests.

Level design is fairly simplistic in the sense that almost all places you go to work out in a similar fashion. It works in such a manner: You will first face several weaker enemies in various rooms. You have a few rooms that are locked with hidden chests. Before the end you will usually meet a “boss” or a much stronger enemy as compared to the previous ones you have already disposed. Kill the boss, grab whatever treasure left behind and head out. There is usually a shortcut out of the place which I really like as it keeps the pace of the game moving fast. There is an occasional simple puzzle that will never ever require much thinking and that is about it. Indeed, when compared to the exploration and free roaming, the level designs are that linear and can get a little dull. However, the combat and backing story (if available for that particular place) makes up for the lack of creativity in such an area of the game. With that said, most quests have you go through such a sequence with the exception of a few other unique ones such as placing items into people’s inventory to frame them or to stealth around and steal something. Else, it will be pure hacking and slashing (or magic, or stealth, or shooting whichever applies) your way through and then turning in the quest.

Moving on to character builds. This has been one of the most discussed and debated aspect of many of the elder scrolls games (or rather many RPGs). There is always the problem of balancing the game in the sense that perhaps for example melee is often more powerful than magic. It is amusing seeing all the different people debating over how the different stats stack and how in the later part of the game some builds are often always more overpowered than others. For Skyrim at launch, what I’ve seen most people talked about is mainly how magic users are at great disadvantage as their spells do not scale according to the level or something like that. Well, I have to admit that my one playthrough was just purely melee with a bit of stealth and ranged combat so I do not have much ground to make any comments. However, from my observation of magic players they are doing just fine in the normal difficulty. Perhaps some of the skill traits under the melee category can make it a little be less favourable to the magic users but nevertheless the fun is still there, trust me. Using magic is awesome looking and seriously, the higher level spells simply look and sound brilliant. Stealth is more of the one hit KO and melee is the more common standard combat. Each has its own gameplay style so simply choose one that suits you the best. Do not worry about whether being melee will be better or not. It is more of choosing something that you will enjoy rather than choosing something that is more powerful. Come on, it is an offline single player game! Why get overly frustrated and worried over such things? Oh and yes, whatever you choose will do well.

Each skill has a skill tree that you can place trait points in. When I say skill I mean for example Two-Handed, Destruction Magic, Ranged etc. Each of these various skills has their own separate skill tree. You improve the skill simply by applying it in the game. For example using destruction magic will increase your destruction skill, using a one-handed weapon will increase your one-handed skill. An increase in each of this skill will contribute to the main level of your character. A total accumulated level of several skills will result in your character levelling up, giving you a skill point to use as you see fit. There are some skills that are more useless than others but all in all they do have an impact on the game and the way your character turns out to be. Each time you level up, you get to choose from adding Health, Stamina or Magicka. Yes they’ve dumbed down the attribute system but it still works great.

Skyrim introduced a more in-depth crafting aspect to the game. You have Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting. All of these are individual skills that you can improve and by doing so you can make really good items for yourself. For example, improving your smithing will allow you to create and improve weapons and armor by quite a bit. Enchanting allows you to put several skill and damage modifiers that will make your life in Skyrim so much easier and much more fun. Alchemy will allow you to make potions that will help you in all aspects of the game whether is it health potions or potions that buff a particular skill. They do add another dimension and depth to the game and is certainly great fun to have them available. This time around you too have other activities that you can perform such as mining, cooking, cutting wood, grinding the wheat etc. Cooking isn’t much of a skill and the bonuses you get from consuming food are pale in comparison to what potions can do. And of all honesty the rest of the activities seem pointless (besides mining) but nonetheless, it is these little things that make the whole game and world so much more believable and engrossing.

The combat system works great whether is it ranged, magic or melee. The combat system is action based, meaning it isn’t like your typical MMOs where you click an enemy and wait for your character to kill it. Instead, you have to time your swings, aim your shots and charge your spells at the right time in order to effectively and efficiently dispose your enemies. With all such combat systems we always have people finding ways to beat it. Oh yes, the usual hide in a place where it is inaccessible to the enemy while slowly shooting them down with a bow and arrow is present in Skyrim. Still it is great fun and is easy to pick up whichever style you are looking to play. You will get the hang of it quickly and you will find yourself destroying your enemies soon enough. Oh and do look for more ways to exploit the system as I strongly believe that such an activity is also part of the fun in the game.

For all characters whichever class you choose to play as have the ability to use Shouts. As a dragonborn, you can use dragon shouts (called Dovahzaan in dragon language) after you learn them. They are fairly interesting and they can be found and learned throughout Skyrim. To learn these words you have to find and go to specific locations where they have a particular word that you can learn to use. After learning the word, you have to unlock it with dragon souls which can be acquired after killing a dragon. Each Shout have 3 words to it and by knowing all 3 words and unleashing all of it can result in unleashing a devastating power. The abilities are very interesting for example you can Shout at time to slow things down (with the third word allowing you to move at normal pace) and then strategically charge a spell or start swinging your weapon before they can even retaliate. Shouts do have a bit of a cool down time especially when using all 3 words of it. They are cool though both in terms of the visual effects and the effect in game.

There are several different kinds of enemies that you will face in the game. The strategy to deal with each type does vary, making combat much more interesting and fun. For example you have mages that can do real damage should you let them hit you with their spells. They can hurt especially if you’re melee facing a mage that uses ice spells that can slow you down and prevent you from reaching them. They do hit hard as well in the early stages so do be sure drink the right potions or wear the right equipment as you see fit. There are also some bosses at the earlier parts that can be quite difficult to kill. However, by poisoning your blade or arrow with a paralysis poison and then hitting the boss with it can make the battle a whole lot simpler. To put it simply, there are many ways to go about with dealing with your enemies and the variation keeps things fresh and engaging. There is just one main problem about the game though. The dragons are way too easy to kill. In fact, enemies get way too easy when you’re supposedly reaching the end of the game. Maybe it is the difficulty that I am playing that resulted in this (I play at Adept, the “normal” difficulty. You can choose from 5 different levels of difficulties). I guess there needs to be some balancing of the enemies for instance perhaps making some bosses way harder as compared to the other normal enemies and perhaps some rarer monsters to be as hard to kill as they are to find.

Travelling around Skyrim can be done in mainly two ways. The fast travel or the conventional walk/ride a horse. The fast travelling helps to keep the pace of the game moving at a considerate pace and the conventional walking and riding allows you to explore and find new places to adventure into. Each has its own merits and they blend together perfectly to allow you to fully enjoy the game. On a side note, I strongly suggest you get a horse as it is way too useful to be omitted in any adventures.

Getting around Skyrim is really easy with the fast travel as well as the presence of the compass and map. The compass will notify you of any nearby point of interests and the map ensures that you will never ever be lost. It might take a little realism away from the game but I strongly believe they are there to improve the general player’s gaming experience. You can choose to disable the compass if you want a more immersive and realistic playthrough. It should be fun and much more exciting to find places purely through exploration and experimental adventuring rather than following the compass and a map. Yeah so go ahead and disable it if it should make your playthrough a much more enjoyable one. My recommendation to most gamers though is to simply leave it there and use it; less hardcore but equally satisfying.

Major cities all have a distinct unique feeling to it. The only problem however is that the ratio of land to population of people is appalling. There are simply too little people to make the cities feel believable. As much as they look great, feel great and are all filled with their own personalities, a denser living population will top everything off. Putting that aside, there is opportunity for you to own a house in some of the major cities. Houses are great places to store all that loot that you have acquired through your adventures and to rest and relax. It is also unsurprisingly satisfying to display all that epic weapon and armor that you’ve got by putting them up on the display stands. It is a nice touch to the game and the main function of these houses in my opinion is simply a place to store stuff.

The freedom you get in Skyrim is accompanied by stunning visuals and amazing sound. The visual effects and the general look of the game in terms of its environment simply make exploring and adventuring in Skyrim a joy to behold. Weapons and armors are done in great detail and you can really feel the power of your character as you equip the end game items. The way weapon glows when they are enchanted and how powerful the spells look when casted simply creates a sense of satisfaction and achievement. The ability to choose either first or third person perspective to play the game is welcomed as each has its own benefits. Playing in first person view allows you to admire and adore the beauty of your weapons and for third person view you get to drool and go crazy over your characters outfit.

The sound effects in the game are fantastic as well. Voice acting is very much improved as compared to Oblivion with not only more voice actors but of higher quality as well. You can feel the character’s personality oozing out from the way they speak. Other sound effects such as the way the waterfalls sound, enemies’ growl and how your Shouts shout is just brilliant. The backing soundtracks are a treat to the ears. It fits in perfectly with the theme and genre of the game, making everything feel so epic. The visual, sound and gameplay simply complements each other and blends in so well to make Skyrim such a complete game.

With all that said, Skyrim isn’t perfect. It does have some negatives mainly with the glitches and bugs that come with it. You may experience crashes to desktop at times or weird things such as dragon bones popping out all of a sudden and then sinking back into the ground and all that nonsensical stuff. It happens, and it isn’t to anyone surprise. Putting all the glitches and bugs aside there are too some minor irritants in the game for once people butting in when you’re having a conversation. It is fairly disturbing to have your main conversation be drowned with some miscellaneous nonsense that another NPC is saying. The level design as mentioned previous could do with a bit more variation and complication. Other than that Skyrim is just great.

It gets even better though once the mods start flooding in. The creativity and intelligence of the modding community is simply fascinating. The fun simply never stops. If you want an even better looking game, do wait for some high resolution texture packs that I am sure would come out soon enough. New weapons, armors and all kinds of amusing stuff will be released no doubt. It is just a matter of time. As such, do keep hold of your game as you will want to get back to it whether is it having another playthrough in vanilla version or another playthrough with additional tweaks and toppings on top the already tasty game.

The bottom line is, if you like RPGs you must give Skyrim a try. For all the issues that people are pointing out, fret not as the positives simply outweigh them by a huge margin. Come on, the complainers are probably enjoying Skyrim as much as they are complaining. As mentioned, nothing is perfect so there are surely molehills to make mountains of. For everyone else, do give Skyrim a go as it is one of those titles that are to be remembered in the times to come. For now, have fun and be prepared for even more fun once the mods start being released.

Always Win is a simple iOS app that allows you to, always win. It is a game for two players. Simply draw a card (virtually on your iOS device of course) for each player and the player with the higher card wins. Simple? Definitely and very so especially when you know the secret behind the game.

Basically the secret behind the app and for you to always win is to know where to press to draw the card. There are three regions that you can press, the top, middle and bottom of the deck. Simply press top to allow the top player to win and bottom for the bottom player to win! If you think you’re lucky, you can attempt to press the middle which randomizes the cards drawn (to play fair in other words). So what exactly is the point of the app? Well not much really unless you can find someone and something to bet with. Say for example you and your younger sibling are deciding who does the dishes, the app now comes handy if the other party is agreeable. Or maybe, you can attempt to earn a dollar or two by simply betting with a friend. There are endless possibilities with the app as long as your friend (or not afterwards) don’t doubt your intentions and the seemingly innocent looking app.

Be sure to open the app first as letting the other party know the name of the app isn’t too appropriate. Also, try not to let the other person press the question mark to see the mechanics behind the app. When they ask, simply close the app and make an excuse to run. So yes, perhaps the developers can do something about that and make the help screen appear only with some special gestures or placing the icon somewhere less prominent. Additional features can also be added to make it more tricky and awesome perhaps tilting and pressing or whatever to result in different outcomes. I mean the more tricks the better to keep the secret hidden right?

Always Win is out in the iTunes app store for the price of $0.99. Do feel free to get it and earn the dollar back by always winning. Happy winning!

Rage is a first person shooter game which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, a world similar to the likes of Fallout, Metro 2033 etc. You play as an unknown protagonist with almost no background knowledge or information about your past except that you are an Ark survivor. The Ark is basically a movement which took significant people and froze them underground so as to rebuild a new world. You being a survivor merit yourself with special attention from everyone, and that of course place you on course of an adventure and quest to help save the world.

The story is average at best. The whole idea about the creation of a new world isn’t that new or unique. Rage doesn’t do much that sets itself apart from the norm. Within this world that the game takes place, you have several different groups of people. They are mainly the Authority, the Resistance and various other bandit groups. Of course you have the other normal people that make up the population of the world. What the Authority is trying to do is to create an “ideal” world as defined by the Authority leader named General Martin Cross. This ideal world doesn’t benefit anyone except Cross himself, and can you guess what you’re supposed to do? Stop him. Simple. In order to do so, you come in contact with a rebel group called the Resistance. Together with them, you join hands to stop the evil from further spreading and controlling the world.

With the lack of any twists or anything different, the story of Rage is well, average as mentioned earlier. Yes, it is an acceptable and believable story to keep the game moving, however it doesn’t do much to engage the gamers or do anything to surprise them. At least for me, it felt simply passable. The world however, is well constructed and formed, the different bandit factions all have a unique attribute to them and along the way you meet some interesting characters as well. The different major cities and areas all have a distinct feel and theme to them. They are beautifully crafted and varied to give each of them their own character and personality.

The characters that you meet are well designed to be believable and likable. Both the minor and major characters are well voiced and the way their scripts are written, it gives each character their individuality and uniqueness. Due to the length of the game as well as how the story progresses, it is a shame that the major characters met are a hit and miss. In the sense that before you can even start liking them or as you get slowly attached and engaged with the interactions of a particular character, it is time to move on and say goodbye as you proceed further into the game.

There are two major components to the game, the driving and the shooting. Each of them are complemented with some RPGish elements such as upgrades, looting and items. Rage plays fantastically well as a shooter. The different guns feel great, sounds powerful and everything else is well polished. The pure shooting action and fragging of enemies is fun and rightfully so since that is the major part of the game. There are several different kinds of guns, some more effective them others and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. However with the level design of the game, some weapons are definitely much more favoured as compared to the others. You can basically get through the entire game with just 2 weapons out of the whole range of arsenal that you can choose from; sniper rifle, rifle, pistol, crossbow etc. There is also the ability to use a melee attack in the form of your fists. Each of the different weapon have different types of bullets that you can choose from. For example the shotgun has the normal kind of bullets, explosive bullets and pulse bullets. Each to its own effectiveness with the normal bullets dealing the least damage of the rest but is the cheapest and easiest to obtain. The different bullets do help you as you progress through the game as the different enemies require different styles of treatment. With that said, the enemies that you face are smart and varied enough to keep things interesting.

There are several different kinds of enemies that you will face throughout the game. Each of them has their own style of fighting. For example, we have the mutants who will rush towards you to kill you while on the other hand we have the Authority soldiers hiding behind covers shooting you from afar. All the different enemies’ movement and way of fighting feel and look great; fights do get interesting and the challenge and difficulty is there to keep you engrossed and engaged. The enemy AI, when working well, is great. The human type of enemies seek cover and if you camp for too long they will start tossing grenades at you. The mutants run around mindlessly, jumping here and there to keep your crosshair aiming and body moving. Each of the different categories of enemies consists of different types within them to keep things varied and exciting. For example, the Authority have heavily armoured soldier that holds machine pulse gun and also the normal armoured soldier that holds a normal rifle. The variety is there and is significant because of the need to respond accordingly to the subtle difference that is present. All in all, the enemies are well designed and do their job in making Rage an entertaining shooter. In addition, there are occasional boss fights and in order to not spoil your fun, I can only say that they are all fantastically fun. The only problem though is that there are way too few of such encounters.

The driving part of the game takes place mainly when travelling between locations or if you’re taking part in the different races. The races are mainly side missions that don’t really matter. The vehicles that you drive all handle well. Controls are simple and effective, keeping the driving portion not too simplistic yet easy enough to keep the action going. There are races that you can take part, most mainly are side missions that can be overlooked if you’re not interested. Vehicles in the game are installed with weapons that allow you to kill any enemy vehicles along the way during travel or in a race should it permit weapons. The vehicle fights feel like mini games but do take up significant portion of your game time as you will find yourself travelling from mission to mission using your very own vehicle. Each vehicle has several upgrades that you can purchase using racing tickets (they are awarded in missions or completion of races). Vehicles are given to you as you proceed throughout the game. There isn’t much of a choice except to use whatever is best that is given to you at that point of time. The driving does give some diversity to the game and is welcomed especially when taking breaks in between the shooting and fire fights.

It is great that the focus isn’t so much so on the driving and is more emphasized in the shooting. The balance is just right for me and together, both components do give a sense of completeness to the game. They are both well thought out of and smartly executed. To keep things a little more interesting, there are RPGish elements that I mentioned earlier on. Though subtle, it does give a sense of progress and improvement to the player. Weapons have upgrades that improve their performance, you have the ability to buy armour upgrades to make your character much more secure and vehicles have upgrades to make them faster and stronger. All of the different upgrades weapons and items are purchasable at shops within the different cities that you visit.

There is also a small crafting part to the game where you can craft yourself some useful items such as bandages, adrenaline boosts and so on. Different parts and materials are obtainable either through buying them or looting them throughout the different places you visit. That brings us to the looting part of the game. Though minor, looting enemies provide you with necessities such as money and bullets that are vital in surviving in the game. You also have special collectible cards that are littered around the different locations. As small as these different RPG elements are within the game, they do blend well with the rest of the game and by doing so takes the game to a higher level of enjoyment.

There are side missions within the game and there are only three different types of them. One of them is to drive around destroying bandit vehicles. Another is to escort or oversee a particular deal from a vantage point, sniping any intruders and threats. Lastly is to visit places to basically kill a bunch of enemies due to whatever reason they tell you. The first few feel alright but as you proceed it gets dull and boring because of the way they are. The side missions within the second city are basically a replica of the missions within the first city, just with different locations. There are no real benefits other than the additional money that they reward upon completion. If you’re thinking of perhaps better weapons or special items, you will be thoroughly disappointed. This applies to the main missions as well; there is the lack of variety in missions and they are all simply killing all enemies then press the action button to perform a particular action and return.

There are several other mini-games present within the game that severs nothing more than distractions that you will overlook very quickly. There is the gambling mini game where you can do nothing more than you choose the amount of money you want to bet and leave it to luck as you roll the dices to see if you can clear a wave of mutants or something. There is the stabbing finger game where you have to press a key (spacebar I believe) at certain intervals in between your fingers. There is also a simon-says game. And lastly you have the card game which is the most interesting among the rest. All of the mini-games are there for you to earn some extra cash but other than that, it is just plain distraction that is fun for just the first moment you try it. The card game though is alright. You have several different kinds of collectible cards that are scattered across the lands and locations. The different cards have certain attributes. There isn’t so much so as a strategy to the game as cards are pre-picked (each card has a point value to determine its value. Different match allow a different total amount of point value of cards) and the way the cards come out is totally random. The only strategy is to have some of the best cards for its point value and pick them, hoping they come out in a way favourable to you. It is fun in short bursts, and it is also kind of exciting whenever you find new cards along the way. Other than the card game, the rest are just meh.

The game being somewhat open-world is true only to a certain extent. Yes you get to drive around and do stuff, but the stuff you can do as you drive around the place are very limited. Most locations require you to activate a certain mission so as to allow the scripted events to take place. Other than that, there are no real benefits in exploration. In fact there isn’t much to explore in the first place. Not a big problem though since the game isn’t supposed to be a Fallout type of game or GTA style of sandbox open-world. It is very linear and there isn’t much of a choice or any form of morality system put in place. One ending and that’s it. Just play through and follow whatever is instructed of you to do so. Kind of like old school shooters where you go level to level, just that this time you have more modernized elements (or gimmicks if executed poorly) implemented in the game.

The presentation and graphics of the game is great when working well. Many people including myself face graphical glitches and bugs that are somewhat fixed with a patch but not completely. Textures pop in and out almost always whenever you enter a new area or rather view a new area. Textures look horrible close up but are fine when viewed in a distance. High resolution textures can be enabled with a simple modification to the game and definitely makes the game look sharper and of course better. You do need a decent graphics card to play at full HD resolution with the mod, but it sure is worth it. Overall, when omitting the glitches and bugs, the game looks great. The different environments and locations have a distinct and unique feel to them. Character models are well designed and all look good. Enemies are distinguishable not only by the way they behave, but also the way they look. For example, the different factions of bandits can be identified from the way they look. Graphical effects such as explosions, bullets etc do add to the overall feel of the game in a great way. There are some minor details as well such as leaking pipes that livens up the game especially during fire fights. Character animations are fantastic as well and the quality is most noticeable when you face the mindless mutants.

As for the sound aspect of the game, it is decent enough to complement the game as a whole but not to the point that it stands out from the rest. The weapons sound great when firing, explosions do sound powerful and enemies give out the occasional battle cry or tactical commands for the mutants and humans respectively. It does help make it more exciting especially when you have guns firing all over. There is also the presence of exciting background music at times when fighting and they all sound decent and appropriate for the situation at hand. Voice acting as mentioned earlier is decently done.

With all that in mind, there is also the multiplayer side of the game. There are a two main online modes that you can play with. Firstly there is the Road Rage mode which plays like a racing game with objectives such as capture the flag and all your other common game types. There is the presence of a levelling system which allows you to unlock other cars  as you proceed higher in level. The other online mode is Wasteland Legends which plays like a co-op mode. You and another person will take on different levels and points are awarded as you kill the various enemies. Try to get as much points as possible to win your partner. It is simple pure fun, especially so when the shooting elements of the game is so well polished and executed.

Overall the game is average and is certainly so thanks to the fun shooter it is. The driving aspect of the game does give some variety and the graphical prowess the new engine provides is definitely worthy of mention (besides the fact of the glitches and bugs). The story is sadly huge let down with nothing new or interesting to help complement the old but fun shooter formula. The gameplay is well polished and the new game engine shows huge promise for future developments. Rage being a pure shooter will certainly fair well but in this generation of games being a pure shooter itself isn’t going to cut it. Rage is a highly action packed and fun shooter but if considered as a game in a whole package, it feels lacking of that punch line to make it memorable.

[Show as slideshow]

The Prime SD1484 is one of the newer CPU cooler offering by Xigmatek. The Prime SD1484 implements the Heat-pipe Direct Touch technology and promotes a new type of fan blade design that apparently allows more air to be pushed at a quieter rate. With the already saturated CPU air cooling market, we have seen fantastic performers such as the Noctua NH-D14 and Thermalright Silver Arrow dominate in terms of cooling performance so much to the point that some people believe that such performance is the limit to air cooling. How well exactly the Prime performs? Read on for the full review.

Specifications

The Prime is currently priced at roughly around $64.99 USD (according to newegg) and is available at all your major online retailers I believe. In Singapore, the SRP is $79 SGD and is available at most of your local hardware retailers. For more details of the fan that is provided with the CPU cooler, read my review of the Xigmatek XAF 140mm Fan Series. They are pretty good fans in the tests I’ve done. This cooler supports all Intel LGA 775/1155/1156/1366 sockets as well as AMD AM2/AM3 sockets.

Video Unboxing & Review

Like all my latest few reviews, I’m leaning more towards an approach of combining both videos and written text together hopefully to provide a more entertaining and informative experience. So yeah if you’re more into hearing someone speaking to you rather than reading, go ahead and watch the video. Oh and of course you can watch it for the unboxing too.

The Xigmatek Prime SD1484 CPU Cooler

Here are some different angled shots of the Prime for your viewing pleasure:

And here is the base of the Prime which you will see the 4 x 8mm heatpipes and the heat-pipe direct touch concept whereby the heatpipes will come in direct contact with the CPU chip itself:

Installation of the Xigmatek Prime SD1484

If you’re interested, I did a video about the mounting mechanism. Just a rough overview of how its done:

The accessories provided with the Prime are pictured below:

The backing plate is for both Intel and AMD and there are labels on the plate itself that tells you which side is for which platform. For my Intel 1366 system, these are the following procedures taken to install the Prime SD1484:

Firstly, you have to insert the screws into the correct holes and position according to your system:

You then insert it to the back of your motherboard with the screws protruding out. You then secure the backing plate by slipping in the stand offs.

The lower half of the mounting system is then placed and secured by tightening the nuts.

You then apply your thermal compound and the cooler is placed on the CPU. The cross bar then goes across the heatsink and is secured into the lower half of the mounting system by tightening the screws at both ends of the cross bow.

Using the rubber mounts, you then hook on the fan.

Overall the installation process was simple and easy to perform. The rubber fan mounts work surprisingly well. However, working within the case proved to be quite a difficult task especially when mounting a push pull config. There simply wasn’t enough room but with some improvisations it still can be done. From using the rubber fan mounts, I felt that they were surprisingly well built and probably could last for quite some time. It should be able to take the heat from the heatsink without the rubber degrading quickly.

Test System and Methodology

Here are the specifications of the test system:

Testing Method

Testing procedures are as follow. The system is left idle at the desktop for roughly 20 minutes and temperatures are recorded (idle temps). I will then run it at full load with Prime95 small FFT test for 30 minutes and the temperature will be recorded (load temps). The room temperature is recorded using a room thermometer and is kept as constant as far possible throughout the running of the test. There are two levels tested mainly the stock settings and a mild overclock of 3.6GHz. All temps recorded are with Real Temp. The temperature reading from all 4 cores are recorded and averaged. This will then be subtracted by the ambience temperature to give the delta temperatures as seen in the graph below.

The coolers tested are (pardon the lack of comparisons as I am new in hardware reviewing scene):

NZXT Havik 140
Xigmatek Prime SD1484
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B.

Each of the coolers are tested in both a push and push-pull configuration. The fans used for each coolers are kept constant namely the Xigmatek XAF 140mm fans.

Test Results

Performance Evaluation

The performance of the Prime is well, average for its price I guess. In stock settings the Megahalems shine tremendously but considering the price you pay for and the lack of fans it provide, it might just be in a different market as compared to the Prime. As for comparing the Prime to the Havik 140, they certainly do have very similar performances. This comes with no surprise with both heatsinks so seemingly similar (and yes the stock fans provided for the Havik 140 are the Xigmatek XAF fan series).  Nevertheless, it does seem to perform relatively well just losing out to the Megalems by roughly 2°C when OCed. By investing in a push-pull configuration, you can certainly shave off a few degree Celsius.

Conclusion

The Xigmatek Prime SD1484 does what most CPU coolers in the market already do. Perhaps what stands out most is how well the stock fans perform both in terms of being a heatsink fan as well as the quiet operation at which it does its job. The very problem however lies in the fact that with the cooler so similar if not almost identical with NZXT’s first ever CPU cooler, Havik 140, the price point of $64.99 [$79 SGD] (Prime) compared to $67.99 [$98 SGD] (Havik 140) does not seem to be justified. In fact, the Havik 140 comes with 2 fans as compared to the 1 given by Xigmatek.

Overall, the Xigmatek Prime SD1484 is a decent enough CPU cooler by itself. However, considering all the other options and competition lying around, it sadly falls short both in terms of price and performance to its competitors.

Pros

• Great stock fan provided. Basically the Xigmatek XAF series of fans are fantastic.
• Easy installation both mounting the heatsink and the fans
• Stock fans are PWM fans.

Neutral

• Stock fan not sleeved. Why Xigmatek? Why?

Cons

• Many other similar priced coolers that perform almost similar if not better.

MSI Afterburner is one of the few softwares that computer enthusiasts often must have. In fact, almost anyone that builds their own rigs will definitely have it or a similar type of software whether is it simply to monitor the temperature of their graphics card or is it to overclock them to achieve more power and juice. What we have here today is the Android version of it. Yes, now you can overclock your computer on the go. Read on for the video walkthrough or if you want, the lengthy wall of text about the app.

All you have to do to get everything working is to have MSI Afterburner on both your computer and  your Android phone and in addition you need a remote server application running on your computer to allow the syncing of information between your phone and the computer. All of these are available both on the android market and MSI’s official website. Once you have gotten everything up and running, you can then set the ip address to connect to. This obviously meant that you can access your computer as long as it is running and you have allowed your computer to be accessed from outside your network (through port forwarding etc).

Once the devices are connected, you can immediately head onto the monitor section to see what you would often see on your computer screen on your android phone! What is lacking though is the fanciful graphs and charts. You simply have all the information such as GPU temperature, fan speed, usage etc in words and numbers. You can then head onto the overclock menu to, overclock and tweak the settings of your graphics card. What you will be able to tweak using your android phone is similar to whatever you can do on your computer. Once you have adjusted the values accordingly, all you have to do is to simply hit your phone’s menu button and press apply. Magic then happens.

Besides that you have the option to only enable monitoring of your graphics card status and disabling the overclocking functionality of the app. The usefulness of the app depends on your usage and for me it sure is awesome to be able to monitor my graphics card temperatures and so on without having to tab out of my game or to have an ugly HUD displayed on my screen.

The app is not all that perfect though, in my usage I have encountered some minor bugs that though do not totally disrupt the functionality of the app is quite irritating. For example, the fan sliders do not work all of a sudden and also after applying a certain fan setting it does send the correct settings across but it displays wrongly in the overclocking menu. Nevertheless, the core functions do work well and it is certainly a pleasant little app to have. What I would like to see in future is the inclusion of profiles setting like the PC version. It will definitely be much faster and more convenient rather than always constantly adjusting the different sliders and stuff whenever you want to overclock or go back to normal.

If you’re interested you can watch the video walkthrough that I have recorded that basically shows what the app has to offer.

Android marketplace link: MSI Afterburner APP

The Xigmatek XAF series of fans features a new wave like blade technology that is promoted and claimed by XIgmatek themselves to be able to push more air while still maintaining a relatively quiet operation. Is this new technology simply a gimmick or does it really work? Read on to watch a video unboxing and review or to simply find out how the fan performs!

If you are interested in watching a video review and unboxing instead of reading the wall of text below, you can do that here:

Fan Specifications

Fan Features

There are a few features of the fans that are worth mentioning. Firstly, it has the ability to mount both 120mm or 140mm fan holes, allowing great flexibility for users. It uses this rather interesting mounting mechanic that is used to convert the 120mm mounting holes on the fan to that of 140mm. It works great and is easy to implement, so kudos to Xigmatek for such intuitive design.

Another feature of the fan is that it comes sleeved with PWM support. This adds to the aesthetic appearance of the fan and with the PWM control it works fantastic for a CPU heatsink fan as it will automatically adjust itself accordingly. It is also noteworthy that Xigmatek is pushing out several different colours of the XAF series of fans, allowing you to get whichever suits your rig’s theme.

Performance Evaluation

Here is a simple performance test of the XAF fan I have with me on my CPU Heatsink. Instead of simply recording test values (which I lack the proper instruments to do so), I opted for a more real life performance kind of test. A prime95 small FFT test is run for 30 minutes and the temperatures are recorded. The recorded temps are then subtracted by the ambience temperature to give the delta temperatures.

Here are the specifications of the test system:

CPU: Intel i7 920 D0 @ Stock Settings
Motherboard: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 1.0
RAM: 3 x 2GB Kingston DDR3 1333mhz
CPU Heat Sink: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B with push-pull config. (pull fan is fixed)
Graphics Card: MSI GTX 480 Lightning with auto fan settings
Hard Drive(s): 640gb Western Digital Caviar Black
Power Supply: FSP Aurum CM 650w

Phantom casing mounted fans:
Front: 1 x 140mm fan (Intake)
Side: 2 x 120mm fan (Intake)
Rear: 1 x 120mm fan (Exhaust)
Bottom: 1 x 140mm fan (Intake)
Top: 1 x 200mm fan (Intake)

Here are the test results with a varying push fan:

As seen above, the Xigmatek XAF series of fans have simply superb performance in the test done. I have to admit I was kind of shocked by its performance especially with the extremely low noise it gives. I do not have any professional audio equipment to measure the sound level it produces but from hearing with my ears, the XAF fans are as quiet as the Noctua P14 which is the quietest among all the other fans that are tested. Yes, that means if you compare the results between the XAF and the NZXT FX 140mm, the XAF has similar performance but at a much quieter operation.

Whether or not the wave like blades of the fan helps in the performance I cannot really tell. However, whatever that Xigmatek has done with the XAF fans are certainly producing impressive performance. There is just one thing that I would like to point out is that the air the fan pushes from simply feeling with my hands are not that amazing to be frank. However, as the test is done with a heatsink, it probably meant that the air pressure the fan pushes the air is relatively high, thus the given performance.

Conclusion

The Xigmatek XAF fans are great for its performance and the low noise it produces. Its attractive design and bountiful colour options simply make it a fan that is irresistible. It is currently priced at roughly $30 in Singapore while apparently going for around 14.90 euros online. At such a price point the XAF fans are within the region of fantastic fans such as Scythe’s GentleTyphoon AP-15. Nevertheless, for the aesthetic appeal as well as the great performance that accompanies with it, the Xigmatek XAF series of fans are certainly a worth considering.

Pros:

• Great aesthetic appeal with several colour options to choose from
• Great performance especially as a heatsink fan
• Low noise production
• Sleeved cable and comes with PWM support
• Intuitive 140/120mm mounting mechanism

Cons:

• If going purely for a case intake fan, there are many other cheaper alternatives.

Shmusicup, shoot music up, is an indie music rhythm game that fuses the classic shoot’em up top down shooters with music rhythm based games such as audiosurf. What kind of fusion? Basically, it analyses the music pattern of whatever music that is fed into the game and generates a shootingpattern based on that. What players will have to do is to destroy the boss while surviving in such a shooting pattern.

That basically sums up the whole game and the concept behind it. It is a top-down shooter (with all your usual weapon powerups, health and bombs) with an enemy that has a shooting pattern that is based off any music that you feed to it. There are free tracks that come along it or you can simply load up any mp3 you have and they will automatically generate the patterns itself. The game also features a scoring system accompanied with a highscore board which you can use to compete with others or your friends. The scoring system is based on combo multipliers and mainly you shooting and hitting the enemy. Score multipliers can be increased in various ways depending on the shooter you have chosen. For example, you can have one that increases your multiplier as long as you are closeto the enemy (closer to the top of the screen) and on the other hand there is another one that increases your multiplier every time you are closeto the enemy’s projectile.

That sums up the core gameplay components of Shmusicup; a top-down shooter with your music playing in the background and that the enemy’s shooting pattern follows your music. Besides that, it features selectable shooters, bosses, game modes and difficulties, some of which can be unlocked by performing different objectives such as defeating a particular level or difficulty so on and so forth.

The gameplay is fun and the variety seems to be there as there is always a different shooting pattern to face. It is even better with your music playing in the background and how sometimes you can actually feel the shooting patterns follow a certain beat and rhythm. However, the fun doesn’t last that long at all. After trying out the various difficulties and bosses so to speak, the major difference is the density and difficulty of the shooting patterns as well as the aesthetic appearance of the bosses and projectile. This subsequently results in the game feeling old after playing for a long period of time. In bursts however, I find it amusing and funtastic. It is gaming and hearing music at the same time, pretty awesome.

The major problem (noting that it is still in beta) is the collision detection between your shooter and the projectiles. It seemed as though most projectiles can touch part of your shooter as long as it is not the center point or at the head or something. I cannot really identify where exactly the point of detection is but as far as I know of projectiles can simply touch you and go over you without damaging you. Maybe something that will be corrected when the final game is released.

The game features retro style graphics that bringsback memories of classic top down shooters of the past. Bullet effects have a variety to it, all looking bright, colourful and powerful. The detail that goes into the different bosses and shooters are fine and it blends in perfectly with the retro feel and style. I love how they have the graphical effect of the bosses having a booming effect that represents the bass of the music. The sound effects within the game is practically absent (though there) because your music will probably drown it. I cannot really comment how good the sound aspect of the game is as the game basically wants you to play your own songs and sound tracks. The provided ones are fine as well.

Overall the game is great. For lovers of games such as audiosurf, this is yet another game that concept bases itself on the generation of a specific pattern according to the music you provide. For fans of top down shooters, Shmusicup is a refreshing take on the genre and gives you a chance to have fun with your very own music and sound tracks. Though as mentioned before that the game becomes kind of dull after playing for long, in short bursts the game is great fun. Currently, you can head on to their site to try out the flash version or have a go at the demo version as well. It is free and if you enjoyed your time playing those free tracks provided and enjoyed the concept and overall gameplay of it, feel free to get it once it is out. For the beta version as it is now, I would give it a 7/10. Some polishing still needs to be done and additional innovative gameplay elements will definitely spice the game up.

Tzai Entertainment Shmusicup Official Game Page

NZXT is a brand that is a brand that often is associated with sleek design and simply eye pleasing stuff. Don’t judge a book by its cover right? Exactly, not only does NZXT produce stuff that are great on the outside, the inner performance of their products shine as well. Take for example the recent NZXT Phantom as well as their other great cases such as the Lexa S, simply gorgeous and not at all lacking performance wise. Today I have with me a rather new product from them, the NZXT FX Enthusiast Fans. If I’m not wrong this is one of the few reviews out there at this point of writing. Read on for my take on the fans.

Introduction

If you do like not like reading walls of text, you can simply watch the video below or scroll down for the simple benchmark I’ve done on the fans. My bad for stuttering so much as I’m just not too experienced with such unboxing and video reviews. Nevertheless I hope to ride on this and gain more experience and confidence for future video related stuff. So yeah go ahead and watch the video, it covers everything this review would cover plus some live action of the fans as well.

Okay, so if you’re the reading type of person, let us move on. What we have here is the contents of the NZXT FX 120mm and 140mm fans. Both have similar accessories provided, but one of the packet of black case screws is missing most probably accidentally being left out by my local distrobuter or something. Nothing to fret, what you will receive will be a 3pin to 4pin molex adapter, double sided rubber mounts and 4 black case screws. But before all that, here are the specifications of the fans:

FX 120LB:

FX 140LB:

Packaging and Contents

The fans have an amazing look to it with its beautiful and clean white blades screaming for attention. There are not many white colour blade fans out there so this is one of the few that will stand out when used in a case. I’ve noticed recently that many NZXT products follow a white colour theme (their power supplies, cases and heatsink fans) and it sure looks refreshing. You can simply go with a whole range of NZXT products for your rig and it will simply look gorgeous. The fans also come with a sleeved cable that is of rather high quality and is certainly a nice to have.

What is really interesting of this fan is the integrated fan controller within the fan itself. You are able to select between 3 different speeds; low medium and high. It is something unique to fans as you seldom see such integrated speed controllers even in your highest ends of fans. Although it is nice of NZXT to implement such a feature within their fan, one have to question the practicality and functionality of it. The cable for the fan controller is way too short for it to be routed out of the case for external controlling and there is no other way of controlling it other than opening up the case to switch it to the desired setting. It thus defeats the purpose of controlling the speed, an external fan controller would be preferred. But of course if you don’t mind the hassle and don’t want to spend the extra money on a dedicated fan controller the integrated fan controller works as it should.

Performance Evaluation

I don’t have any professional instruments for measurement of the specs of the fans so all I can do is provide some really simple benchmark that I have done. I’ve basically kept everything fixed in my case as well as the pull fan of my CPU heatsink and varied the push fan for comparison. Don’t have many fans to choose from but I do have one of the better premium fan to say that performs great as a heatsink fan, the Noctua NF-P14.

Here are the specifications of my system:

CPU: Intel i7 920 D0 @ Stock Settings

Motherboard: Gigabyte X58-UD3R Rev 1.0

RAM: 3 x 2GB Kingston DDR3 1333mhz

CPU Heat Sink: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B with push-pull config. (pull fan is fixed)

Graphics Card: MSI GTX 480 Lightning with auto fan settings

Hard Drive(s): 640gb Western Digital Caviar Black

Power Supply: FSP Aurum CM 650w

Phantom casing mounted fans:

Front: 1 x 140mm fan (Intake)
Side: 2 x 120mm fan (Intake)
Rear: 1 x 120mm fan (Exhaust)
Bottom: 1 x 140mm fan (Intake)
Top: 1 x 200mm fan (Intake)

Here are the results (varying push fan):

As you can see the NZXT FX 120mm and 140mm does extremely well, beating the likes of the Noctua NF-P14, Aerocool shark fan and the Arctic Cooling F12. The catch? The noise produced. Yes, the fans are rather loud at the max RPM for both the 120mm and 140mm fan. They push a huge amount of air to be fair but for those people that are allergic to noise, you might want to decrease the speed of the fan else you might have to look for other alternative. I haven’t try out the medium speed (set by the integrated fan controller) on the heatsink but the amount of air pushed is reduced rather significantly. Yes I know static pressure is more important blah blah, but you cannot deny that there is still a relationship between the amount of air push and the pressure of it. With the drastic decrease, I’m thinking that it will perform rather badly to be honest, but the good thing? The noise is almost totally gone. So in terms of noise produced, from loudest to softest to my ears is: 1. NZXT FX 120/140mm 2. Aerocool Shark Fan 140mm 3. Arctic Cooling F12 4. Noctua NF-P14

Conclusion

So yeah for highest performance to noise ratio the Noctua NF-P14 wins out hands down. For best performance the NZXT FX is a clear winner. The NZXT FX series of fans will work well both as a case fan and as a heatsink fan, with the case fan being a more preferred choice. The amount of air pushed is simply fantastic and will definitely help in bringing that cold fresh air into your case from the outside. I was told that the fans will be sold at roughly $25 and $28 SGD for the 120mm and 140mm fans respectively. Internationally it should go in the range of perhaps $14.99 USD. For this price range these fans do pack a lot of performance to go with it. Perhaps it is a tad bit on the higher side but they are great fans, certainly good enough to fight with fans of the premium pricing range.

Pros

• Great aesthetic appeal
• Pushes a huge amount of air
• Sleeved cable
• Decent performance as a heatsink fan. Great as a case fan.
• Integrated fan controller

Cons

• Integrated fan controller is too short to route to the outside of the case and thus hinders the practically of using it.
• Quite a bit of noise produced when set at max RPM.

[credit and thanks to Hydra Distribution for the fans]