Marco's RTG : gaming

The Best Gaming Notebook Money Can't Buy

Marco C — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:10:00 GMT

I'm a bit of a Left 4 Dead addict. I have been a PC gamer for close to 27 years now, if you count those myriad hours spent banging away on my first Commodore 64, and I've come to the decision that Left 4 Dead ranks in my top three all-time guilty pleasures. I can't even fathom how much time I spent scrambling through levels in Impossible Mission on the C64. The first Unreal Tournament probably cost me my job at the time. And now, whenever I can squeeze in a few minutes of carnage, I fire up Left 4 Dead. It's just the kind of mindless fun that gets me fired up. I neither have the attention span nor time for a MMORPG and strategy games just don't do it for me. Plus, the camaraderie that develops over a round of L4D can be awesome--I've played with soldiers deployed in Iraq, young kids playing hooky from school, grouchy old, bearded bikers, you name it. Cooperative multi-player gaming is where it's at. Wouldn't you agree?

There is only one thing that would elevate my L4D experience to a whole new level--being able to play it wherever I can flip open my laptop...

Read the rest of the article here.

Left 4 Dead: I Prefer The Auto-Shotty, But The Assault Rifle Will Do

Death By Rocket Launcher. Sort of.

Marco C — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:34:00 GMT

Every once in a while, something happens in a gamer's life that sticks out in his or her memory. I had one of those moments tonight playing a little Unreal Tournament 3. I was just taking one of my usual 20 minutes breaks for a round of Vehicle Capture the Flag on the Suspense map, and just as the match was ending (my team won 2 to 1), I got clipped while standing near the red flag. This was the position I died in...

"You using the whole rocket launcher there, doc?" -- Fletch

I knew folks from all walks of life loved to game, but a proctologist with an affinity for rocket launchers I would have never of guessed. I'm not the only one that sees the humor in this, right? Is that rocket launcher in an unfortunate position, or do I just have a sick mind and am seeing things that a "normal" gamer wouldn't?

Cool Gadget: Zotac's Hardware OC Controller

Marco C — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:50:00 GMT

Due to the fact that the vast majority of NVIDIA’s partners sell graphics cards that are all essentially identical, save for their clock speeds or perhaps a custom decal, they all look for creative ways to differentiate their products from the competition. They usually do it by including a hot new game, offering a really long warranty, a low price, or maybe bundling in some other type of value-added software. But once in a while a company will take things a step further and do something a little more innovative.

Take Zotac for example. Zotac has developed a cool little device called the Nitro Hardware OC controller, which gives users the ability to monitor GPU temperatures and over- or under-clock their graphics cards on the fly, using a few buttons and a simple menu. The Nitro hasn’t been offered with any Zotac-branded graphics cards just yet, but the company is contemplating the prospect of including it with select AMP! Edition products at some point in the future. In the meantime, the Nitro is also being offered as a standalone product with an MSRP of $99.

I recently had the chance to play with the Nitro and have to say it’s a pretty cool gadget. Understand that this product isn’t for everyone. All of you uber tech-savvy HotHardware readers already know that NVIDIA’s nTune application already offers a host of overclocking tools for GeForce graphics cards--for free. But that doesn’t hinder the coolness factor of having a desk-bound gadget that lets you OC on the fly, from within any game or application without having to access the driver control panel. Would I buy one for a hundred bucks? Probably not. But we all know a geek or two that would love to sport one of these things on their desk.

The Nitro works in conjunction with Zotac’s Firestorm utility. Firestorm is a relatively simple, streamlined application (<400K download) that features sliders for GPU engine, Shader, and memory frequencies, and fan speeds. When the Firestorm application is installed and running, and the Nitro is plugged into an available USB port, the Firestorm utility itself or the buttons on the front of the Nitro can be used to alter frequencies or fan speeds on the fly--even if a game is already running. Profiles can be saved as well, and a graphical representation on the Nitro’s VFD gives a real-time temperature readout. I found the temperature read-out particularly interesting. Watching temperatures increase or decrease during game play was an intriguing way to monitor the load being placed on the graphics card.

Zotac includes a hefty stand, driver disk, user manual and USB cable with the Nitro. And it currently supports all Zotac-branded GeForce-based graphics cards. If you’re the type that likes to tinker though, there is a way to get the Nitro working with any GeForce. Simply hold the shift key when you launch the Firestorm app and ignore an error message (while still holding shift) and it will work with non-Zotac branded cards. Shhhh. You didn’t hear that from me though.

Still Looking For Input

Marco C — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:31:00 GMT

My recent blog post "Always Looking For Input" generated quite a bit of feedback from readers and even a few manufacturers. In that post, I wrote about my pseudo-obsession with input devices and why I burn through so many of them on a regular basis. (Hint: It's because I'm a bit OCD)

After reading what I had to say about Enermax's swank Aurora Premium and Caesar keyboards, the folks at SteelSeries--well, representatives of SteelSeries at least--thought I'd like to give one of their keyboards a try, namely the SteelSeries 7G. With its traditional design and supposed high-quality construction, I thought the 7G would be right up my alley, so I decided to give it shot.

If you're unfamiliar with the SteelSeries 7G, it's a standard looking 104-key keyboard, designed specifically for gamers. The stand-out features of the 7G include no-click, mechanical Cherry MX black key switches rated for 50 million keystrokes, 18K gold-plated connectors, a 2-port USB hub, microphone and headphone jacks, and an advanced buffer system that prevents ghosting. SteelSeries says this about the buffer system used in the 7G, "By utilizing the most powerful PS/2 buffer-system ever created for a gaming keyboard, SteelSeries 7G redefines 'anti-ghosting' by supporting as many simultaneous key presses as there are keys on the keyboard." Most definitely overkill, but better than what most other keyboards offer.

Having used the SteelSeries 7G for a couple of weeks now, I think I have gotten a pretty good feel for its good and bad points. First the good. The anti-ghosting buffer works really well. After writing a number of articles and playing more than my share of UT3 on the 7G, I found that its buffer system handles multiple simultaneous key-presses (whether planned or accidental) very well. I also noticed that the keys "activate" when pressed down only about 20% of the way, which may sound strange, but actually makes for some quick input once you get used to the keyboard's layout. Key feel is excellent, with firm resistance and quick response, and the keyboard stays put wherever it's set down thanks to its weight and oversized rubber feet. The 7G also seems to be very durable, as it hasn't exhibited any "shiny-ness" on its keys even after some heavy use.

Now for the bad. The 7G has no height adjustment and its wrist rest is nothing more than a plastic shell that sits around the keyboard--it doesn't even snap into place. SteelSeries also decided to inexplicably replace the left Windows Key with a proprietary function button that activates some basic media controls on the first six function keys. And the backslash and backspace keys are normal sized in favor of an oversized L-shaped enter key (some of you may actually prefer this). Finally, I also found that the built-in USB hub is only USB 1.1, so fast transfers to a flash drive are out of the question.

Overall, I'd rate the 7G very highly in terms of quality and feel--this is a great keyboard for writers and gamers--but I question a couple of the design decisions. If the left Windows Key was still there (or the custom key was switchable) and the built-in USB hub didn't downgrade my ports to 1.1, the 7G would be darn close to perfect. I'm going to stick with the 7G for a while anyway, but am thinking that I may have to plunk down some cash for a Deck or a Das Keyboard Pro out of curiosity...

I am full of Rage. But in a good way.

Marco C — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:11:00 GMT

So, late yesterday a couple of in-game screenshots landed in my inbox of id software's upcoming game Rage. Normally, I don't get overly excited when news of a hot, new gaming title first hits. Maybe it's because I've been a computer gamer since the early days of the Commodore 64 and I'm somewhat desensitized to the whole thing after all of these years. Or maybe it's because I get to see so many A-list titles during their development cycle working here at HotHardware that I immediately begin to compare one to another. Whatever the case may be, I have to admit Rage has me intrigued.

Acutal In-Game Screenshots from id's upcoming game Rage

I am the type of gamer that can't get into games that are overly cerebral. I will make exceptions for some of the more outstanding titles, but generally I like to fire up a game and get into the action right away--with as little thought as possible. Just to give you a bit of insight, most of my current game time is filled with short spurts of Unreal Tournament 3 mixed in with some GRID here and there for good measure. Call of Duty 4 also sucked me in right away and I tried to get into Crysis, but it crashed on me too often when it was first released and I haven't given it another chance yet.

I think I'm excited by Rage because it mixes my two favorite types of games, first person shooters and racing simulations. In addition to that though, I'm also anticipating this title more than many others because even at this relatively early stage of its development, it's obvious that id has put an extraordinary amount of effort into the finer visual details. And I'm not talking about John Carmack's obvious gifts when it comes to developing game engines. I'm talking about the team of talented folks behind him that pick up on the myriad of subtle details that enhance the realism of imagery that is obviously out of the realm of reality.

Source: Shacknews

If you haven't already done so, check out the extended trailer for Rage that was posted over at Shacknews. Forget for a second who is coding the game, or its genre, and just try to pick out some of the subtle details throughout. At the :32 mark, listen to the sound of the engine revving in relation to the buggy's motion. Note the high quality, cinematic use of Depth of Field effects during the FPS sequences, the realistic skin tones of the character at 1:13 mark and the subtle, tentative movements of the creature right after. Also note the physics properties employed at the 1:47 mark and the excellent explosions and dust trails. Those are the types of little things that really help suspend reality in my opinion, and suck people into certain games. Of course, the actual game-play is of the utmost importance, but I have confidence in id's abilities in this area as well. Perhaps the only part of that video that struck me as being a bit off are the lip movements and synchronization of the woman in the bar at the :55 mark, but even then they are still pretty good.

id hasn't given an expected release date and has only stated that Rage will be out "when it's fun and when it's done". Some have speculated that it could be released as far out as the 2011 time-frame, but I think that's pushing it. And id's Tim Willits has stated the game "isn't that far out" anyway. If you remember, the Doom 3 multi-player demo was featured at QuakeCon 2003, and the full game release came about a year later in August '04. If we use Doom 3's history as an indicator and consider that we first saw a trailer at last year's QuakeCon, and that this year id showed off an extended trailer and released the first set of actual in-game screenshots, we suspect the game is probably a year away, give or take a few months. Perhaps id will release the game in time for next year's QuakeCon. Or if we can speculate a bit, maybe the next QuakeCon will feature a Rage Demo with the full release to come just in time for the holidays. With so much of the game being shown off already, we suspect Rage is closer to release than id has let on.