Anyone who maintains a gaming PC for more than a year or two will know that technology changes so quickly that you’re forever swapping various parts out of your tower to continue being able to play the latest games at a needlessly high but awesome 100 FPS or more. With the advent of Solid State Drives (SSDs) that are quickly becoming more affordable, most PC gamers are bound to end up with a 3.5″ HDD or two that have been orphaned or re-purposed for archiving by a shiny new SSD. Instead of having these drives collect dust or be assigned drive letter Q: and be rarely looked at, Newer Technology has come out with a simplified version of its Voyager Q SATA drive dock that drops FireWire 400/800 and eSATA support in favour of a much lower price point and a handy on/off switch. Read on to find out if the Voyager S3 docked us like a hurricane.
Voyager S3 SATA to USB 3.0 Drive Dock
February 12th, 2013 by Logan PredySimCity DRM Disaster: Maxis, EA Learned Nothing From Spore
February 10th, 2013 by ShinyVictini
I’m a big SimCity fan. City building games offer the complexity and strategy that someone like me can truly appreciate. The last authentic SimCity Maxis developed, SimCity 4, was a technical marvel, but with a steep learning curve. Despite its age, I still found myself dabbling in SimCity 4 on occasion for the last 8 years trying to master its complexities. Then, while Maxis focused their efforts on their new project Spore, they outsourced development of the ill-fated SimCity Societies, which unfortunately did not live up to expectations.
This brings us to the present day. Maxis has finally decided to grace the masses with a new, true successor in the SimCity franchise due for release in March 2013. So far, the information released about the game and its new so-called “Glass Box” simulation engine points to a return to form for the franchise, and a modern twist on city building games. SimCity‘s release, however, flirts with disaster by being burdened with the most despicable kind of Digital Rights Management (DRM) imaginable — “always-on” internet connectivity requirements, which there is never a legitimate reason to have in an otherwise offline single-player game.
Ubisoft are Officially Jerks Now
February 9th, 2013 by Logan Predy
Imagine you had a friend whose family made some pretty good… pants. They made one of your favourite pairs of pants that you wore a lot and then he told you they were updating the style and comfort of the pants design, but you’d only be able to buy them from a members-only store that you were probably going to join anyways. You wait in line to buy your membership to the store and are generally enjoying the other clothing it offers, but you wonder where the new pants you were promised are. You ask your friend what happened and he apologizes saying the pants weren’t perfect enough for the store’s launch and that they’ll be ready for sure in a couple of months. To tide you over, he lets you try the current model of the pants on and they’re just as good as you imagined so you figure you can wait.
Wii U Direct – Jan. 23, 2013 Summary
January 23rd, 2013 by Logan Predy
Nintendo streamed a Wii U Direct conference this morning promising to detail the things Nintendo’s been working on for the Wii U and what we can expect over the next few months. I think they gave us even more than we bargained for, so here is a summary on the information Nintendo shared today:
Usagicast Episode 11 – The Future of Gaming
January 22nd, 2013 by Logan Predy
The Game Usagi Krew discusses the uncertain future of the gaming industry with new additions like NVIDIA’s Project Shield, Valve’s Piston, Microsoft’s Illumiroom and the OUYA coupled with foreboding trends like microtransactions, free-to-play games, quick cheap smartphone gaming over handheld gaming, and worn out sequels.
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Usagicast #11 Live Stream
January 21st, 2013 by Logan Predy
We’ll be recording the eleventh Usagicast shortly. If you’d like to listen to us record it live, and maybe even participate on our UStream chat, just head on over to our stream here:
Pokemon X/Y Announced for October 2013
January 8th, 2013 by Logan Predy[cp_youtube id=”VzO6J981nAw” points=”10″ width=660]
This morning Nintendo fulfilled many a gamer’s dream and announced the upcoming 3DS installments of the long-running main Pokemon series, Pokemon X/Y.
The trailer, which you can watch at the end of Nintendo’s Pokemon Direct above, shows off perhaps more Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles-style characters than people were expecting (ie. kind of squat), a properly 3D game environment with properly 3D character and Pokemon models, three new (presumably starter) Pokemon: the grass element otter in a hat Chespin, the fire element kind of lame looking fox thing Fennekin, and the oh boy another water-type frog Pokemon Froakie, as well as a promise of perhaps even more “all new Pokemon” (which smart people should be on the fence about if it is true as explained before by ShinyVictini).
Any way you slice it, Nintendo is sure to sell a lot of 3DSs come October when the new Pokemon game duo is launching worldwide. We’ll keep you updated as new info is announced, but in the mean time enjoy the few screenshots and logos that Nintendo has released thus far:
