Month: February 2013

New Toys

So, I’ve been on the market for a new mouse, gaming mouse, since my regular mouse hurt my hand after a good amount of  playing, and well, it wasn’t just up to par playing MMO’s.  It’s a nice idea to have some buttons within thumbs reach on one hand, just to get an attack or a heal out in the thick of things.  I almost bit the bullet last week on a Mad Catz R.A.T. 7, with full customization’s on the shape and feel of the mouse, the only downside was, that it was wired.  It was also on sale at Best Buy for $79.99 and I had some Best Buy Rewards money, so it would’ve cost me well under what it normally sells for out of pocket.

Mad Catz R.A.T. 7 Gaming Mouse

Mad Catz R.A.T. 7 Gaming Mouse

Well, I ended up procrastinating, and the wired-ness of it turned me off a bit.  I ended up going back to BB today, and check out if it was still on sale, and it wasn’t, BUT the Logitech G700 wireless gaming mouse was, and for a lot cheaper, $59.99.  So I jumped on it.  I just finished installing it, and it is a lot nicer to hold than my previous mouse, and more closer to feel to my old Logitech MX Revolution laser mouse.  (I loved that thing).  I haven’t had a chance to try it on SWTOR yet, maybe later.

Logitech G700 Gaming Mouse

Logitech G700 Gaming Mouse

 

While I was at Best Buy, I decided to pre-order the next Tomb Raider, due out next week.  I have been keeping my eye out for this game, as it’s a reboot, and they made Lara Croft more, realistic per-say.  I also picked up Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on the recommendation of NekkedSnake.  I’m gonna go eat dinner and try this out real quick, and will post up an initial thought’s segment, and let you know how the first few minutes or first hour is of the game.  I want to get it done by next week, so I can have more time to dedicate on Tomb Raider.

My new items

My new items

My game’s list is quickly filling, with SWTOR, Fire Emblem: Awakening, and now Metal Gear Rising, I won’t have much time to do anything else.  I can’t even list the other games I have pending, and I won’t even mention the fact that myself and Cheesecake are still playing RE 6.  But this will provide more content for you, our readers.

Earworm: “Eyes Like Sky” by Frank Ocean

Ah, an unreleased song. Songs that artists maybe intended to place on a prior EP or LP and are/were maybe holding it off till the next album… I love them. I also love being one of the first of the inevitable hundreds of thousands or millions to listen to it.

I follow a blog all about Frank Ocean on tumblr, and late this weekend, I happened to have been scrolling through my dash and stumbled onto this unreleased gem. I downloaded the song, and went to sleep. Little had I known that I’d even heard it before Billboard had heard it! When I woke up, Billboard hadn’t posted anything about the leaked song, and about an hour after I’d awoken, Billboard posted about it.

Anyway, the song. I love it. It reminds me of a lot of his older work (The Lonny Breaux Collection, a conglomerate of songs with a rather unique sound), I wouldn’t be surprised if this were one of the songs that shouldn’t have been a part of the collection but never made it. Maybe it was even a snub from Channel Orange; you never know, because unless you’re the artist or the producer, you truly never know.

Actually, it makes more sense for the song to be a snub from Channel Orange that was actually a part of his Channel Orange Sessions. Most people tend to believe that, actually.

Apologies in advance if you take a listen and the song won’t play; UMG has gone on a copyright tear and actually has taken down several of the videos that had the song. Oh well. This is a good, unaltered version for you all:

A Glimpse At Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

20130223-172833.jpg

Hey all. This will be my first post as contributing editor for this blog and as a first piece for my contribution I’ll be writing a review on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

I just picked up my preordered copy today from GameStop. I’d have gone to Amazon or even BestBuy to cop this game except I was enamored with the Gray Fox DLC that GS is offering. I took a photo of my unopened copy above to show you that I have the PS3 version of the game. I will either update this post or do a whole new write up in the coming weeks when time permits as I am a new father to my 5 month old son, who hopefully will also be familiar with the MGS series in his formative years.

As soon as I get my hands dirty with Raiden (no, not like that) we can talk more about “Jack’s” MGR exploits.

Stay tuned.

Konami code strikes again
Chromebook Pixel

Chromebook Pixel

I read this over on Engadget, apparently a video game geek over at Google decided to put an easter egg on Google’s spiffy new laptop, the Chromebook Pixel.  Input in Konami‘s legendary code, and you will be rewarded with a light show from it’s LED lights.  I have yet to see a video of it in action, but over at Wired.com, they have an animated gif that shows off the light show.  I am in the market for a notebook, and this pixel will seriously be in my short list.

Wired.com article

Related articles

Funny Honda president’s day commercial.

My GF brought this to my attention, and it’s quite funny.  Lyrics are very witty, and it’s reminiscent of Justin Timerblake and Andy Samburg’s digital shorts on SNL.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE-7zxDx22U]

 

I also like the Honda Pilot’s Crazy Train commercial

Note: This is the extended version

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTA2CE8_KLk]

Playstation 4 thoughts

ps4_logo_small

Sony recently announced it’s successor to the Playstation 4 yesterday at their press event in NYC.  On paper it looks like a power house, sporting an AMD 8-core “Jaguar” X86 64-but CPU,  AMD Radeon, Graphics, 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM, the usual array of wireless letters, a Blu-Ray drive, and other goodies usually found in consoles these days. (USB ports, HDMI, etc., etc.).  Sony seems to be making this a social system, meaning it will let you see what your friends are playing, watch them play in real time, post up to FB, and other social features that Sony has planned.

They also unveiled the Dual Shock 4, and I am so relieved that they still retained the classic shape and look of Playstation controllers of the past, but now, it has a touch pad similar to that found on the PS Vita.  Few new features found on the new controller is a headset jack, and a share button.  Absent is the start, and select buttons, but seems to have been replaced with an ‘options’ button.  It appears to have gained some weight also, seeing as it does sport some new hardware, one can only assume that it has.  This was probably my biggest concern, since there were rumors floating around prior to the the press event that Sony was totally revamping the controlling.  I am so glad it still retain’s the old shape we have known to love since the PSOne days.

Sony's Dual Shock 4

Sony’s Dual Shock 4

I’ve been conversing with a few friends about this, and we are all very excited.  The graphics on the tech demo’s and other trailers that have been released just look astounding.  I’m not too fond or keen on the social aspects, but it’s probably going to be pretty transparent.  There are no photos of the actual system itself, though, pictures of the dev. kits has surfaced.  Before today, we were all unsure if there would be a physical tangible disc, as they were really focusing on downloading the game.  Reading some more articles today squashed our fears of not having physical discs.  But another concern is the need to be connected to the internet at all times to be able to play. Now I hope this is just a rumor, because, even if my PS3 is always connected to my router, thus giving it access to the interwebs, my ISP sometimes has hiccups, like if someone sneezes hard in the general vicinity of it’s equipment/wires.  I still would like to play ‘offline’.  Not everyone has blazing fast internet also. So I think it would be a poor decision on Sony’s part to implement this.  Again, this is just a rumor, and hopefully it will stay that way.  Also, it does not have backwards compatibility with PS3, which is lame. Reason, well, the Cell processor which was a power-pc type, is a different architecture from x86.  Coding wise, it’s different, and from what I read, if it can’t be emulated without taxing the system too much, then it wont be playable on the PS4. Another piece of rumor I just came across, is that the system will controllable via smartphone (iOS or Android), and tablet.  It will work similar to that of Microsoft’s Smartglass app for the X-Box. (source: http://toucharcade.com/2013/02/20/rumor-playstation-4/)

Apparently the release date is Nov. of this year.

We are truly excited to see this come to light.  The specs for it will make it seem like a true computing powerhouse, and once the developers get to know the system, and manipulate it like how Naughty Dog made the PS3 it’s bitch with Uncharted 2 and 3, one can only imagine the type of game’s we will be playing in 2-3 years.  We will post up any new information regarding the PS4, as we get a hold of it.  Rumor or not.

For now, enjoy some videos showcasing the PS4’s brawn.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw1l_C4kXrg] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-RsawGjPY] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYY-J3ckeSI] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B26lKK8t9pE] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5VqaNf-gZ4] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRwp6aCWRw]

Related articles

Wild Ophelia 44% Cacao Beef Jerky Milk Chocolate Bar – Thoughts

I was doing some valentine’s day shopping at my local Wegman’s, and while at the candy aisle to pick up some Goetz Caramel Creme candy for my love, I happen to notice this little odd treat.  Beef Jerky Milk Chocolate Bar, the title states, from Wild Ophelia, and, I just had to have it.  Now, on my way home, I was imagining chunks of beef jerky in the bar itself, and getting that nice mix of sweet and salty, but I was going to be disappointed.  It was free and clear of jerky chunks, and I barely tasted the beef jerky itself.  It only had a hint of it in there, and maybe some bit and pieces of what might have been beef jerky.  It is however a nice piece of chocolate, and it’s made here in the US, using locally sourced products, and it’s organic.

If anything it’s a nice conversation piece when you have friend’s over, and it would sure be the topic of random conversation at random times.  I still much prefer Mo’s Bacon bar, but again, it hardly had chunks of bacon in it.  I think this bar, which cost around $5.xx is worth the shot.  Head on over to your local grocery shop and give it a whirl, and tell us what you think.

Here’s a quick video of me un-boxing it.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blf3oTpihco]

My latest addiction…

in gaming has been Star Wars: The Old Republic, or SWTOR for short.  Picked it up right after I built my PC, since it’s been changed to Free To Play.  We’ll I’ve played it for about a week, then ended up paying for a subscription.  It’s been about a month, I have since created 5 total characters, and I have been playing every chance I get.  This is my first MMO game experience, and I have to say, I have been missing out.  I know the defacto standard is World Of Warcraft, but I just never really was into that franchise.  I want to get into Guild Wars 2 also, but maybe after my addiction to SWTOR dies down a bit.

If anyone is on the Ebon Hawk Server look me up, my Jedi is Vamentha (pictured below), and my Bounty Hunter is Gerta’k

My SWTOR Jedi Knigh

My SWTOR Jedi Knight

 

My Bounty Hunter Gerta'k

My Bounty Hunter Gerta’k

 

Pop Culture’s Coolest Cars

Saw this list on Top Gear’s FB page.

http://www.bbcamerica.com/top-gear/photos/popular-cars/#8708

One of my favorite all time pop culture vehicles was The DeLorean Time Machine from Back to the Future, It was a great mix of fantasy and reality.

Powered by a Flux Capacitor, this can take you back in time

(Image Credit – http://bttftimemachine.com/delorean-time-machine-daytime-drivers-side-rear/)

Another favorite, at least when I was a child, was Tim Burton‘s Batman Batmobile.  At the time, I thought it was the coolest rendition, befitting the caped crusader.  I think to this day it still stand’s up, compared to the Joel Shumacher Batmobile’s, and even the Tumbler from Crhistopher Nolan’s series.

Batmobile - Tim Burton's Batman

(Image Credit – http://designstorey.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/batmobile.jpg)

I ask our followers/readers, what’s your favorite pop culture vehicle?

The Batmobile of Batman & Robin.

The Batmobile of Batman & Robin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Earworm: My Life – .50 Cent Gt. Eminem & Adam Levine

I first the heard Eminem‘s distinct rap as I was half listening to the radio a few day’s ago.  I looked at the song title on my SiriusXM and I saw ‘ My Life – .50 Cent, Eminem, Adam Levine.  I was taken aback for a second, and had to rewind the song.  Now after listening to it a few times since, at first I was sort of disappointed with Fitty’s opening rap, but then he did pick it up in his second one.  Em’s is as alway’s good, and I guess, it’s not so weird with Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine doing the hook, as Eminem has done collaborations with Taylor Swift and Dido in the past.  All in all is a good song, and it’s nice to see .50 back.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN4fNaUAMbA]