Price, Power, and Portability: Buying a Gaming Laptop - Gaming Thoughts

Buying a new computer, no matter the purpose, can be a daunting task. With dozens of manufacturers putting out endless models with various changes, whether you are a newcomer or veteran, it can be an imposing task. For those like me, who grew up building computers, I have found that these days I simply do not have the time or patience to custom build one. With the incredible dedication that many manufacturers have shown the gaming industry, buying gaming machine can still be daunting. This can be especially true for gamers that want to be portable, like new students or those out there that travel often for work or pleasure. Laptops are the answer to challenge, and with the continuing support by manufacturers for portable gaming, laptops are better than ever for gaming.

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Legends of Pegasus - PC Review

Kalypso media has released some good, ambitious games in the past.  Sometimes however, their ambitious outstrip their resources I think.  Dungeons was a title that I thought had a great premise, but a fairly poor execution as I said in my review.  When I read about the 4X strategy title Legends of Pegasus, I immediately liked what they were trying to do - but I also was a bit worried that the game itself might come out a bit lacking in the end.

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Warlock: Master of the Arcane Demo

I'm a bit of a sucker for strategy titles and I have had more positive experience with Paradox than negative.  I've been curious about Warlock: Master of the Arcane for a bit now.  Well, now that a demo is available to play, it may be worth a peek.

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Sid Meier's Civilization V - PC Game Review

Civilization has a pretty long history in my house - and not with the usual gamers!  Where as my son and youngest daughter are the two biggest gamers in my household aside from myself, my wife and oldest daughter hardly play games.  That said, I got Civ II from a friend back in college and loved it.  My wife gave it a try on a whim and she also got hooked on it.  We played that game like crazy, but then skipped the next couple of iterations, not playing III or IV.  I did pick up Civilization: Revolution for my Xbox 360 a couple of years ago or so.  My son tried it, but did not really seem to care for it.  My oldest tried it, and took right to it, much as her mother had years before with Civ 2.

Well, a few months ago I picked up Civilization V for my PC through Steam.  For the uninitiated, this is a simulation title where you take control of a culture set way back at what is essentially the beginning of time.  All kinds of different cultures are represented, from the Romans to Americas to the Greeks - so clearly historical accuracy is not a concern.  What is important is the depth of strategy as you try to balance your resources, your armies, the land you occupy and how you interact with other nations.

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Gyromancer - PC Review

I have always been a fan of puzzle games.  I had Tetris and Dr. Mario on my NES, was extremely good at Columns on my Genesis and sunk countless hours into Bejeweled.  They are a good, often semi-mindless way to kill some time.  RPG's are probably my favorite video game genre, however.  The blending of puzzle and RPG in Puzzle Quest was a lot of fun when I first gave it a shot on my PSP a few years ago, and I have enjoyed a lot of similar titles since.  Of those, Gyromancer has been among my favorites.

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Hoard - PC Game Review

It's fun being the bad guy.  A lot of people who get a chance in games with moral choices go to the dark side in Mass Effect or Fallout.  There are some titles completely designed around this idea such as Dungeons and Overlord, though their degree of success can be debated.  Hoard embraces this role though as you play the part of a dragon who spews fire and collects gold and princesses every chance you get.  I picked this particular title up off of Steam fairly cheaply awhile back and have enjoyed it for the most part.

Graphics - 7:

This is not a pretty game.  The top-down graphics do a good job of showing you everything you need to see, but the world itself is fairly dull and lifeless unless there are a lot of moving units active on the map at once.  It looks like some sort of an old board game as you soar around the countryside looking to cause trouble.  That said, at times there can be several things happening at once on the map and I never experienced any glitches or slowdown.

Sound & Music - 5:

Not a real big fan of the music to be honest.  It does not fit the game very well, much like I felt Record of Agarest War's metal music was a bad fit with its medieval fantasy setting, the music in this game seems out of place as well.  The sound effects are simple, but effective.  To be honest though, this is a game you can just as easily play with the music turned down and something else playing on your computer in the background.

Gameplay - 8:

Your dragon handles pretty well once you get the hang of things.  Blazing knights and thieves, burning down towns and terrorizing princesses is a lot of fun and the controls work well.  Getting around the game's menus is easy enough as well.

Intangibles - 8:

The multiplayer is a lot of fun, and there are enough varied objectives to give you something to do as you move from map to map.  If you are a fan of achievements, there are a ton of them if you are playing this game through steam.  Adding to it is a leaderboard that I will never be at the top of, but for fans of the game it gives them some definite goals to try and attain.

Overall - 7:

This game is a lot of fun in quick, short bursts.  It would be perfect on a handheld.  The graphics, sound and music do disappoint, but they don't actually take anything away from the gameplay itself.  That said, once you play it for awhile, there might not be a lot left to do outside of the multiplayer.  I played this game very heavily at first, but scarcely since.  The same can be said of my son, who seemed to enjoy the premise for awhile, but after about a week hasn't touched it.

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Bit.Trip Beat & Runner - PC Game Review

I acquired both Bit.Trip Beat & Runner some time ago on Steam.  Neither was a title I had paid much attention to and simply acquired them as some sort of addition to a sale or deal, though I cannot clearly recall which one(s).  Though these are two fundamentally different games, I find that my feelings on them are fairly similar so I figured I would just write about both at the same time, scoring each one separately as I talk about them.  The titles are both so short that writing a review on each separately seemed silly.

Bit.Trip Beat:

In essence you control a paddle on one side of the screen as pixels or blocks stream from one side of the screen to the other in varying patterns.  Your job is to simply use your paddle to block the pixels from falling off of the edge of your screen.  This is all done to fun, upbeat custom songs that match the pace of the flying pixels.

Graphics - 7:

I love the style.  They're blocky, old-school colors that just really appealed to me overall.  That said, sometimes in the course of flight you can lose track of what you are doing because there is so much happening on the screen.  There is a particular part with a comet or asteroid early on that really illustrates this point to me, because if you have not memorized the pattern of blocks incoming, it is very easy to lose them in the bright, colorful background.

Sound & Music - 8:

I mean, this is what the game is really all about.  You are combining songs with strong beats with a block-striking mechanism that makes this something of a rhythm game as well as a paddle one.  Integral part of the experience that works quite well.

Gameplay - 7:

This can be a tough game at times as there is a lot going on.  Each level feels just a tad long, truth be told, but the patterns blend with the music beautifully and create an almost relaxing experience - at least until you reach some of the later, tougher levels.

Intangibles - 6:

There really is not a lot new to do here over time, unfortunately.  You do the same basic thing, moving up and down to knock back these large pixel blocks in tune with the background music.  The songs are fun, and the visuals are interesting but over time it got pretty repetitive.

Overall - 7:

My oldest likes this game, and she doesn't like a lot of titles, so that adds a bit of value for me.  I played it a fair amount when I first acquired it.  Considering it was a game I had little to no interest in at the time, I would say it held up better than expected for me, but I would probably not purchase it at full price on Steam.

Bit.Trip Runner:

Simply put, you are going to sprint along an obstacle course that is in perpetual motion.  Mistime a jump and you're dead.

Graphics - 7:

Much like Beat above, the colorful visuals appealed to me.  Sure, there are better, more detailed titles out there, but the aesthetic at least works well in my opinion.

Sound & Music - 9:

I am even more impressed with this soundtrack than the one provided by Beat.  It is the same kind of catchy, quality music that times itself to your gaming experience, but this one feels more tied into what you are doing with your character, which adds to the appeal.

Gameplay - 5:

Ouch, here is our major misstep, but quite simply the platforming is not real good in my opinion.  It's a hard game, and none of my kids wanted anything to do with it after a few minutes.  The bright colors and sounds drew them in, only to frustrate them almost as soon as they started to play.  I didn't fare much better than them, truth be told.

Intangibles - 5:

From what I have seen, this is not a long game.  There are apparently only 3 worlds, not that I ever got to them.  I plugged through the first one after a lot of trial and error and had little interest in the second after a handful of deaths.

Overall - 6.5:

On the technical side, some things got done right here.  If you don't mind the tough platforming aspects, or even really enjoy those kinds of challenges, you might find something to sink your teeth in for at least a short time.  This title though was really not for me or my kids, though the budget pickup price I got it at takes some of the sting out of the experience for me.

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Saitek Cyborg V5 - PC Review

Okay, this isn't a game review, but I got a very cool new keyboard from my dad for my birthday back in May. Now that I've had some time with it, I figured I'd share my thoughts on it.

Saitek Cyborg V5 CCB44026N002/06/1 Black USB Wired Game Keyboard

Pros: Keys look good, quiet keyboard, good button layout
Cons: could be a bit brighter, kind of smallish space bar
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent illuminated keyboard. Even with heavy use, it works perfectly.
 
I picked this keyboard up about two months ago for a few reasons. One, the keys on my factor HP keyboard were starting to lose their spring, and the letters had all but rubbed off on about a quarter of the keys. One of my co-workers uses a back-lit keyboard at work, and it occurred to me that an illuminated keyboard would probably be excellent for me as well. I do most of my computing in a den where I keep the lights off and do not get much light from the windows - I prefer the dark room for seeing my monitors.

Most of the time, this is not an issue - I type very quickly and effectively, but there are times when I struggle to find some of the less commonly used keys, like the function ones, delete, scroll lock, etc. This really only comes up in gaming, which I do quite a bit of as well.

I did quite a bit of searching for illuminated keyboards and while the majority are blue or white, I found an image of this Saitek Cyborg V5 and noticed the glow was red - which happens to be my favorite color. After keeping an eye on the keyboard for a few weeks, I happened to catch it while on sale and decided to order it.

The keys feel very good - they're soft-press ones, so for those who like click or clack sounds from their keys, they will be disappointed, but I prefer the quieter keys. The only one that makes any significant sound as I type is the space bar.

It is a USB keyboard, so it has the somewhat standard volume up/down/mute buttons, which all work just like you would expect. This is a full size keyboard, which I use on my lap and fits very comfortably. The shape is a bit odd when you look at it, with elongated, rounded corners, but they don't really help or hurt how I use it since it is on my lap. If you use the keyboard on a desk, this is where the rubber pads are at for traction and as a test I tried it out and it seems to hold its position quite nicely. There is also an option wrist-rest snap-on piece that you can attach to the front of the keyboard and that I do use for wrist support. It is nothing special, but matches the rest of the black keyboard visually and is comfortable.

The real highlight however is the illumination. For starters, the keys show up great in daylight, which is one complaint I've seen for similar keyboards in the past. The letters and numbers show up as an easily visible white with no glare on them. Using the illumination at night works exactly as I had hoped. There's a single button that has 3 modes: bright, dim and off for the illumination and it is in the upper-right next to the audio control buttons.

The keys show up very well in the dark when lit, and help me to find those slightly lesser-used keys easily. The biggest cons I can think of is that I thought the keys would be a bit brighter than they are, and that the space bar is just a bit shorter than I'm used to - both both are very easy for me to overlook

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OnLive - console-less gameplay?

I've been hearing about OnLive for about a year now, right after it was first announced. The idea was certainly interesting - but like many people I had my doubts that it would work as well as advertised. Yahoo! just ran an article on it, talking about some of the pros and cons they found with it. What is OnLive? In short, it's a way to play top end computer games without having a console system or top end computer. The games are actually run on their servers and the video is streamed back to your screen. Basically, it does all of the work behind the scenes for you. It apparently supports Mac computers too, so they would have access to some cool games they might not normally.

The good from what I've seen? No consoles, no top-flight computers needed, it's easy to purchase stuff and it seems to run pretty well.

The bad? Well, for me these stand out - you buy the games and pay for a service. Decide to quit paying for the service - you lose access to your games. As someone who does a lot of used game purchasing and selling, this makes me a bit twitchy in and of itself. The graphics are not as good as having a top end machine (I'm sure there's some scaling done to help smooth out the transfer of data) - and I am a bit of a snob with my graphics and sound (isn't this one of the main reason we traded in our Xbox's, Playstation 2's and Gamecubes for 360's, PS3's and Wii's?).

Another downside the article pointed out, and a primary concern for most people in general, has been the potential for lag. Game lag is frustrating, and by the very nature of the service there is going to be some. A lot of people won't care. Some, like me, would probably find it rather annoying. One thing the article didn't touch on is if the lag gets even worse than 'normal' when playing online matches or you get to a very graphics intensive part where even on a console you experience tearing or dropped frames.

The last deal killer for me? You have to be on broadband with ethernet. No dial-up, no wireless. My 360 and my wife's computer are the only wired systems. My laptops? My desktop? Nope - and I don't sit anywhere near our router, so that would be a a major shortcoming as well.

It's an interesting idea, and with console costs being rather expensive, but I think this is an idea that would have gained more traction a couple of years ago when the costs were higher. Now that there's been price cuts to the big 3 consoles and a decent computer doesn't really cost too much to build - it almost feels to me like OnLive may have come out a bit too late for its own good - but time will tell I suppose.

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