This product is ridiculous. Your Kinect is not spying on you. I hate to tell you, but if you're worried about this, try not to look around when you step outside. Cameras are everywhere, this is probably the one you should worry the least about.
People should probably look into other... Read more
High Moon Studios decided to use an element of play that really bugged me about the control in Revenge of the Fallen. Namely, the need to hold down a trigger button to stay in one of your modes. Since they added a "stealth force" mode, that is now your default transformation from robot mode. To transform to a vehicle, you have to keep the left trigger held down. But wait, there's more. To steer, you use the RIGHT analog stick, WHILE holding down the left trigger. To boost, you hold down the right bumper, and to use your e-brake, you hold down the right trigger button. Don't worry too much, because you'll spend most of your time in stealth mode.
Forget spending a whole lot of time in robot mode, as you'll just die faster. Even on easy, this game is no picnic. To artificially lengthen play time, swarms of the exact same Bayish Decepticlones (to borrow a term from the Transformers Armada game) keep coming at you. Along the way, more Autobots will join your fight, but you'll hardly notice them having any impact. The most use you'll get out of any Autobot is Ratchet, who will heal you when your health meter is low. As per usual in a Transformers game, if you can find a safe hiding spot, your health will regenerate automatically.
Unlike previous games, there are not two separate campaigns. The game assigns you a character; you can't even pick from a roster. You'll start out as Bumblebee driving through generic earth environments.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is First-person Shooter rooted in a fictional, but ultra realistic near-future conflict of mostly American forces with those of the Russian Federation around the globe. The third installment in the Modern Warfare branch of the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3 features a heavy focus on multiplayer gameplay which includes innovative new functionality that encourages multiple gameplay combat strategies, a new 2-player co-op option, new play modes, weapons and more. The game also includes a gripping single player campaign that picks up where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 left off, and game integration with the Call of Duty: Elite online service.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a direct sequel to the previous game in the series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. In the game's single player campaign Russian Ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov continues his manipulation of Russian Federation forces in their invasion of the United States and Europe. In their way stands characters like Task Force 141 Captain John "Soap" MacTavish, former SAS Captain John Price as well as new playable characters from Delta Force and the British SAS. Engage enemy forces in New York, Paris, Berlin and other attack sites across the globe. The world stands on the brink, and Makarov is intent on bringing civilization to its knees. In this darkest hour, are you willing to do what is necessary.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 delivers a multiplayer experience that continues to raise the bar by focusing on fast-paced, gun-on-gun combat, along with innovative features that support and enhance a large variety of play-styles. Now, you can truly define your approach with a toolkit more expansive than any previous title.
Continue the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the third release in the series.
Killstreaks, benefits and abilities awarded for stringing together multiple kills, have been transformed into Pointstreaks, creating a system that rewards players both for landing kills and completing objectives. These rewards have been broken up into three different categories, known as Strike Packages:
Assault - Pointstreaks within this package chain together and deal direct damage. It includes classics like the Predator Missile and Attack Helicopter. Your streak resets on death.Support - Pointstreaks within this package do not chain, focusing instead on surveillance and disruption. Your streak does not reset on death meaning they will respawn with you. Specialist - Pointstreaks within this package are designed for advanced players. Rewards come in the form of additional perks for optimal performance. These perks last until death.Just like your player, weapons now rank up, unlocking additional attachments, reticules, camos and the new proficiency category. Weapon Proficiencies not only allow you to get better with weapons, they also allow you customize your weapons with helpful attributes such as "Kick" for reduced recoil, "Impact" for deeper penetration through hard surfaces and much more. Many proficiencies are specific to their weapons class. And all are geared towards enhancing a certain play style and can allow for efficient use of your favorite weapons in maps and game modes in which they might not otherwise be the best choice.
Along with the return of the fan favorites Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 introduces several new game modes. Collect dog tags from killed players, including those on your squad while you prevent the opposing squad from taking yours in Kill Confirmed mode. In Team Defender mode, grab the flag and protect the flag carrier for as long as you can to increase your team's score. In addition players will enjoy user generated match mode functionality which allows you to configure any mode how you want it and then share these over the Call of Duty: Elite online service.
Special Ops cooperative action returns with a bevy of additions, including 16 new objective-based missions and the all-new Survival Mode. Team up online, locally, or play solo and face endless waves of attacking enemies throughout every multiplayer map. Purchase and customize your weapons, air support, equipment and abilities to stand up against increasingly difficult forces and land a spot on the leaderboards. Earn experience and rank up with the newly implemented progression system. The higher the rank, the more weapons, air support, and gear armories you will have available to customize so you can change your tactics on the fly. In addition to the action packed battle for freedom, the cooperative Survival Mode also serves as an effective training tool for competitive multiplayer action.
Call of Duty: Elite is an online multiplayer oriented service launched simultaneously with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The service offers both free and subscription based levels of access and is dedicated to the game franchise, featuring lifetime statistics across multiple games, social-networking options, competitions, a mobile app, Facebook integration and more.
GAMEPLAY - 7/10
As I mentioned, climbing, combat and moving with the crowd is mostly the same as prior games, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. There are some new movement features, such as the grappling claw and (by proxy) the zipline. Nothing to write home about. Combat and crowd have the added factor of bombs, but as some have already pointed out, they are not exactly essential to Ezio's arsenal. 1-2 recipes are all that you'll need for most of the game. It can be interesting to use some of the other bomb types in various scenarios but again, in terms of combat experience, they aren't that fascinating.
The new gameplay additions come in the form of a tower-defense minigame as well as contracting recruited assassins and remotely controlling territory (I believe it's called the "Mediterranean Defense" minigame). These, honestly, I could do without. I liked the mission-style usage in the past game as a way to level up your recruits and score a bit of extra cash while you collected flags/chests and whatnot, but the new minigames just put too much pressure on you to keep up with what's going on. Tower defense is pretty lame; honestly I'd rather just go down on the ground and melee combat my way through attackers. Overall, I can appreciate UbiSoft wanting to expand their game but I would have done without the new minigames.
STORY - 8/10
I don't want to give anything away. You'll have needed to play Brotherhood to really understand what is going on. The actual pacing of the story depends on your playstyle, but I myself found it adequate and in the same overall tone and style of the previous 2 games.
SOUND - 9/10
Sound quality stays at the usual levels of excellence from the prior games. In my experience the voice actors do a good job all around, and the game's sound effects are solid too.
REPLAYABILITY (SP) - 5/10
A low score here shouldn't be unexpected. Replayability from the single player perspective is mostly the same as it was with the prior games. You're free to roam the city, cause chaos, do the minigames and side missions as you please once the campaign is finished. Is it as fun? In my opinion, not really. I'd rather move on to another game, but that's just me; to each his own.
MULTIPLAYER - 9/10
Here's where the game moves from a 3/5 star to a 4/5 star. The multiplayer is a great experience. Unless you've played Brotherhood, I guarantee you will not have tried something like this before. The multiplayer is completely unique and mostly involves trying to trick other players. Reflexes and coordination is almost secondary to how strategy and deception in this multiplayer; can you make other players think you are just an NPC (a computer controlled character), while figuring out which of the characters walking around on your screen is your player target? That's the gist of multiplayer and, while I can understand it's not for everyone, I find it to be a blast.
The good news here is the MP is MUCH more streamlined than it was in Brotherhood. There is an XP system much like most MP games these days (MW3, BF3) allowing you to level up and spend points unlocking and upgrading abilities to suit your playstyle. I'll admit there's a bit of a learning and leveling curve; high level players will have significant ability advantages over starting players, but the game can still be a lot of fun.
New MP game modes like Deathmatch, Assassination, and Corruption add even more depth to the multiplayer experience. I bought this game mostly for the multiplayer. If it sounds like it's something you're into, I'd heartily recommend giving it a shot.
OVERALL - 7.5/10 (4 stars)
As I mentioned I bought this game for $35. November and October had heavy hitters in the video game world, and this game not only warranted a buy in my mind but the multiplayer has it as the #2 or #3 game that I'm playing now (behind Battlefield 3 and Skyrim depending on my mood). The fact that it can pull some of my interest and playtime given the other games out there should say something about Revelations.
However, I realize that the appeal of this game to me, personally, may not be something shared by all gamers. Would I pay $60 for this game? No. I would, myself, be happy to have paid $45, maybe even $50. For someone unsure about this game, I would wait until a $40 price point. For fans of Brotherhood, particularly of the multiplayer, however, you are probably like me and would be content with a $45 price tag.
I hope my review was helpful. Feel free to ask me any followup questions in the comments section. Thanks for reading!
Pairing to the wireless controller communicator was done at the factory, so it really was a matter of: charge the headphones, plug in the receiver to the 360 (I used optical and replaced the X41 receiver), plug the headphone puck into the controller and power up the headphones. Powering up the headphones also turned on the wireless puck.
You can control the volume of game chat with buttons on the right headphone, mute is also on this headphone as is the Bluetooth pairing for cell phones. Being able to pair via Bluetooth is also how this headset also works with the PS3. PS3 chat isn't bad, but not as nice for me as the 360 chat, for which these headphones seem to have been designed. I paired this to my phone and made a few calls - everyone thought I sounded OK, just a little tinny.
Another nice feature is the mic gain control. This is what changes the mic sensitivity. With it turned all the way up, I hear a near constant hiss and those in my party commented that they could hear a lot of background noise, such as the heater running and family members talking in the background. I dialed this down, which eliminated most of the hiss, if not all, and my chat partners all commented that I was then quite clearly heard, however, I was still described as sounding "tinny."
One feature I really liked about the X41s was how no matter what volume I had the game volume set to, I could always clearly hear my party's conversations because they had some algorithm to figure out and volume match in game audio and raise chat volume when explosions and other loud audio is heard in game. The XP400 do as good a job as the X41s, which means it's quite a solid experience to hear conversation clearly as well as in game audio. The 7xBs had a similar feature, but it would actually audibly turn the volume down of game volume, which was kind of distracting, which was another reason I went back to the X41s.
The detachable microphone is nice, and seems to be about the same as the X41, though the XP400 is a bit thicker and beefier. The connection seems to be the same, though I haven't yet tried swapping mics between the two. I preferred the 7xB due to the retractable mic, but that feature alone wasn't a big enough reason for me to use them all the time.
In terms of sound quality, since the XP400s can use digital audio output from the 360 (and it can also take analog, that red and white connection), you get very clear audio and darn good surround sound as well. In terms of the X41 vs the XP400, I think the XP400 has a little bit of an edge in terms of sound quality. In game surround just sounds better with the XP400s to me. The XP400 also has the ability to change the surround configuration to 4 different presets, all changing how it mixes each "channel" of audio in headphone. I've tried all 4 presets and each does change surround configuration subtly. I find the original surround mode works best for my ears.
Another nice feature is the preset "equalizer" modes. You can enhance nothing (what comes from the 360 is what you hear), you can enhance just bass for bigger explosions, you can enhance just treble for some dialog enhancements and other higher pitched sounds and then you can enhance both. I find I prefer the "both" option as it makes the audio sound a bit richer. All of these settings sound better, to me, than the 7xBs.
There is one feature, however, that I am completely not happy with on the XP400s. The battery is rechargeable, which is good, however it is built into the headset. It is NOT user replaceable! This means that in 2 years or so, after many recharge cycles, I'll either be forced to buy another pair of headphones or send these to Turtle Beach to pay a fee to have the battery replaced. I absolutely hate this about modern day electronics. Absolutely detest it - built in obsolescence so that people have to spend more money with the company releasing the product. iPad, iPhone, many Android phones, other MP3 players, etc. It's a huge load of horse patoot in my opinion. I like the X41s because I can field replace the AAA batteries on my own. 7xBs, same thing, replaceable batteries. Not so with the XP400. Thankfully you can still use the headphones while they are charging, however this means they aren't always wireless. Nothing is more annoying than having the headphones die mid game and then have to plug in. Of course, this isn't a completely different experience over having to replace the batteries mid play either, just different. I understand the need for a more powerful battery given the added features - Bluetooth eats battery, being completely wireless eats battery and so on. Just because I understand the need for more power than a few AAAs, doesn't mean I like having to have planned obsolescence and not being able to purchase and replace the battery on my own.
One thing that is an improvement is the XP400 actually gives you beeps to tell you the headset needs to be recharged. There was nothing more annoying with the XP41s to have them just die mid game, especially during multiplayer fighting as you stop hearing game audio AND chat when this happens. At least now I have about a 10 minute warning before the battery completely dies.
Turtle Beach claims 10 hours of battery life on a single charge for "normal" use and 15 for "optimal" use. What I've found is I can actually pull off about 12 - 13 hours if I turn off the Bluetooth function and just use it for game audio when I'm playing on my own. Adding BT and chat all the time and I'm down to around 11 hours.
Over all, the XP400s are a great improvement in every way to the XP41s in everything except for the battery being non-replaceable by the end user. Of course, the MSRP on the XP400 is about $20 higher than the X41s so there is that to remember.
Pros:
Great surround sound
True surround sound, not simulated when using optical audio
Chat and game audio equalization (chat isn't covered up by in game sounds)
Completely wireless
No interference
360/PS3 compatibility
Can be paired to your cell phone and used while gaming - no fumbling to put headphones down to answer a call
10+ hour play time
Can be used w/ third party controllers (see Con below)
A step above the X41s
Adjustable microphone gain - if you want to hear yourself louder in the headphones, turn this up. If others in your chat can't hear you clearly, turn this up
BT pairing to cell phone
Cons:
Tinny chat sound during party chat on 360 according to those in my parties
Battery isn't user replaceable
Third party (or 1st party wheels) require a cable for chat, which is NOT included (THOUGH THOSE w/ THE X41s, the cable that came with those headphones DOES work)
Pricey
Why 4 stars? That battery thing does really annoy me. IF you don't mind not having the ability to replace the battery and don't mind the price, these are a solid 5 stars.
The NICE thing is the cut scenes (cinematic events developed with the game engine) include your character in them. It includes what you look like, what you're wearing, and everything you have chosen as features when you develop your character in the "Character Creation" mode. The story line (without spoiling anything) is in my opinion gripping enough to keep you occupied and involved.
-The Bad: The game gives you the ability to play "some" of the story missions with friends. In order to achieve this the User Interface allows you to "group" with friends in the game and play that mission when launched together as a team by the "group leader". This function is constantly broken and constantly members of your group cannot see you, see eachother, and end up in an identical environment but in a separate world. This leads to people not being able to play mission together despite the menu having a "Join Phase" option that when selected will re-spawn your character hopefully in the same world as the player you cant see... more times than not just completely failing to function. This also fails to function in Episode Missions AND Side Missions.
--CHARACTER CREATOR---------
-You can pick from: Human Male, Human Female, Alien Male, Alien Female.
-Hair and hair color, Nose, Eyes, Facial structure, Mouth/Lips, Facial scars, Facial/Body tattoos... are all included in the character generator. The options available are enough to distinguish who you create, but are not vast enough to keep people from all picking the same "cool looking" hair style or "cool looking" tattoos. So keep in mind when creating your character that the one or two tattoos for the class your considering... alot of people may pick that too. There are four classes. Veteran, Survivalist, Machinist, and Outlaw. Picking one does not appear to have any "huge" impact on the storyline, nor does it appear to differentiate your in-game skills which develop later from a skill tree of WELL OVER 80 skills. The skills you pick can be leveled up more than once to increase their effectiveness. The skill tree does offer the ability to reset and rearrange it, although I have not done so yet.
-The Bad: A character class is relevant to nothing but the gun you start with in the game.
--WEAPONS-------
The Good:-Pistols and magnums, shotguns and sawed off shotguns, assault rifles and light machine guns, submachine guns and high magazine auto pistols, grenade launchers and rocket launchers and MORE... can all have up to 4 attachments IF you find the attachments for the weapons you like. Those attachments are: Scopes, Stocks, Magazines, and Barrels.
-Weapons also can be found or bought in the world WITH "synergy bonuses".
-Attachments go on weapons into Slots. Attachments can be found or bought in the world WITH "synergy bonuses".
-Both weapons AND attachments can be found or bought with elemental damages which apply to weapons.
The Bad: -Slots can be placed on weapons when you reach the required level. That required level changes based on Trions currentlt running hotfix or patch version. So if you have a weapon with no slots you can place slots on that weapon by paying a form of in-game money (Ark Salvage). This has become a problem, because through various updated patches the expense of placing slots on weapons has gone from more than double what it use to cost, on top of the fact that as you level up in the game, the costs to place slots goes up as well. The base stats on all weapons remain static and don't change no matter your level. The more you level, the more salvage is required to modify a weapon, the more you modify it the more it requires to BE "modified", and after achieving the max modifications of a weapon the changes made are literally and mathematically so small that they would go unnoticed if compaired to another weapon never modified at all. So the bottom line is the weapon modification system is completely a waste of time.
The WORSE: - the items in this game known as "Orange Items" which would be considered as the "Most rare" are primarily obtainable by paying REAL money into a roulette reward system. Whether you are on the official forums, youtube, wherever... Trion Worlds has designed the game to clearly benefit those willing to pay real money and reward them with items in game that have "Bonus Statistics". These purchases are made with "Bits". "Bits" are bought with "Microsoft Points", "Microsoft Points" are bought with real money. These bonus statistics are so small and minute that when compared to weapons in game without those bonuses you would never know they exist. Im talking differences that are 1 tenth of a whole number. A simple example would be a gun with a firerate of 10. If you pay Trion real money you may get a gun that has a fire rate of 11.2 at most. The longer the game has been out, the more expensive Trion has made in-game costs. The higher the costs, the less you can do, the less you can do, the more inventory you have to carry, and for that they sell space via BITS so you can carry more. Its disgusting.
--GAMEPLAY--(Was fun, until Trion clearly stopped caring and got greedy).
-During the game dynamic events called "Ark Falls" transpire. Ark Falls are when pieces of major objects orbiting the planet fall to the Earth carrying with them technology that upgrades your weapons. Trion has INCREASED everything it costs in the game to "play" the game, and DECREASED the ratio at which what you need to pay in the game is obtained via their patches.... unless you buy it using real money.
-During gameplay you will regularly get kicked from Trions servers with notifications stating "Your connection to our servers has timed out".
-During gameplay you will regularly lose your ability to see your friends IN the game. The option/s in place to resolve this issue has not resolved it since launch day.
-During gameplay the current patches have devised a system by which you are forcibly stuck with an extremely poor UI and an overwhelming amount of items that are designed to clearly take up your inventory space, only providing you with an option to pay real money to buy that space via microtransactions.
-There is no ability to play the game "IF" you cannot SUCCESSFULLY achieve updating your console with the most current patches from Trion Worlds Inc. Normally a patch takes 2-3 HOURS to download (regardless of your connection speed Trion has set pre-set speeds at which your download is achievable from them). These patches, taking 2-3 hours each, transpire at minimum every 2 weeks. That's not including random server down times from server crashes, server maintenance, server resets, and randomly scheduled hot fixes for their servers that despite saying "will not interfere with your gameplay" on their main web page, disconnects everyone from their servers for up to 12 hours at a time.
This game "WAS", and Im saying "WAS" playable within the first 30 days of its launch date. But as of now, this game is regularly dysfunctional at best. I severely recommend you NOT buy this game. It was a purchase worth making when it first came out, but due to the current IP laws and how this developer has changed the functionality of this product POST-launch it is NO LONGER a game worth recommending. It saddens me when Developers take advantage of IP laws and manipulate a consumers purchase post-sale in an attempt to trap them into paying more money in order to utilize their purchase. Not only do I not recommend the game, I don't recommend the developer for any game they will ever make.
When i first put the game in I found it used UT soundtrack, but i love that music, so it does not effect me. Still it has been a year since the last dbz game so a new soundtrack would have been nice. All in all this game is just like UT only you use your body. The animations are the same and so is the voice acting. A lot of stuff was recycled from UT, I can not stress that enough. The Story is the same from UT and the voices too.
One the positive side, Punching,kicking, and ki blasts work great. I have not had one problem with the kinect sensor or using super attacks. Its really fun to do a kamehamha or special beam cannon. WIth over 50 characters there is good amount of re play value.
The special movie is the story of bardock after he was killed by freeza, included as a special subbed movie, which was a mistake i made after i said it was dubbed. Its about 20 min long. The true fans of dbz have already seen the movie in japanese, Its a nice addition, but it can be seen on any website.
Overall I highly recommend this game , even its UT with your body as the controller. Fighting game fans might not like it, but bandia games made a great game for dbz fan and im glade they still care unlike toei animation. Weather you played UT or not, loved it or hate it, or like kinect games. Dbz for kinect is a great way to jump back into the dbz universe. JUST KNOW THAT THIS IS UT WITH YOU AS THE CONTROLLER, BUT THIS IS NOT A BAD THING, ITS AN IMPROVEMENT!
Edit, oct 15 : A good game still.
The Base Station looks like a futuristic Rocket Launcher, and the Warhead itself has a "New Gen" appearance, with curvy lines, embosed "Tritton" Logo, and Glossy finish. There is a magnetic faceplate on both the Base Station and the Warhead for the batteries as well. On the Headset you will various buttons. On the left side, you have a Stereo to Optical button, a Volume Switch for Voice Chat, and your Selectable Voice Monitoring Button. On the right side, you have a EQ Option to four pre-set Options (None, Game, Music, Movies), a Volume Switch for Game Volume, a pairing button on the left side and a power button on the right side.
All in all, everything worked properly and there were little to no problems. The only complaints I do have is the Optical Cable being a bit flimsy, the Warhead's finish a fingerprint magnet, and while the button's are tactile and responsive, they do feel cheap.
Setup and Layout:
The Warhead is easily the most simple headset I have ever used. Just simply plug your A/C adapter and Optical Cable (or RCA Cable) in, put in those rechargeable batteries (one in the Warhead, and the other in the Base Station), turn on your Xbox, pair your controller, and you are good to go. This Setup took me about 1 minute, 10 Seconds, and for setup, that's fast. As stated above, all of your controls are at your fingertips, so changing various settings on the fly is simple. The Base Station also has an indicator telling you how many Warheads are hooked up. If your friends have a Warhead, then it can be paired up with your own Base Station, and up to four are allowed. As for the Layout, it saves space. No Cables running out to me, and no tethered cord, which works very welk with the Warhead. Even better, those two Rechargable Batteries are 3.7V, 1,800 mAh. Let me repeat that, two 3.7V, 1800 mAh batteries. Now the manual says 12 hours, but I got up to 18. This beats both the A50 and XP500 hands down, the former getting 9-10 hours, and the latter getting 9 on the dot.
Overall, very pleased with the setup. No issues here, pretty much everything worked fine. The battery life, though, is just icing on the cake, and it is something ASTRO Gaming and Turtle Beach should pay close attention to.
Comfort:
The Warhead does not feature Memory-Foam Padding, but there is a great amount of plush in the earcup. The Earcups themselves are removable, but no secondary padding was included. The stock faux leather padding was more breatheable than in the older AX Models, and your ears will not get as sweaty, keyword being "as." I had gotten on average 3-5 hours, which is not bad, but is not great either. To give a comparison, the XP500 and A50 had much better padding materials. Continuing on with the Warhead, the Earcups do swivel for breaks, and the Earcups can contour with larger or smaller heads. The headrail is also adjustable for larger and smaller heads. The Flexibilty of the Warhead is good, but not great. It does feel stiff compared to the Astro A50 or Turtle Beach XP500, but it can get the job done. Inside of the earpads though, is no padding at all, so those of you who have bigger ears, all I can say is "OUCH!"
In the end though, the Warhead is good to wear for long sessions, but there is somewhat of an anomaly. The Warhead is so comfy, but is comfy enough that I noticed the Warhead being there, which is not a bad thing, but not a great one either.
Sound Performance:
Well, it is all what you have been waiting for, the Audio Performance. The Warhead solves the usual wireless problem by going up to a 5.8Ghz wireless frequency. By doing so, 2.4Ghz devices, such as Wireless Routers, will not interfere with the Headset. In my testing, I did not experience any static or hiss, unlike the XP500, which, in my case, is appearent. For the Stereo Setting, the sound was surprisingly underscored. The sound was good, but for the $300 Pricetag, its underwhelming and a bit dissapointing. The low end was good but it lacked some definition, the mids were warm but vocals could not be heard clearly or blended in too much in music, and the high end was clear, but dark and mildy squashed at times. Listening to songs like "I am all of Me" by Crush 40 or "Higher Ground" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers shows off how good the Warheads are for music Overall, for stereo, it is good, but not as good as the A50, and to an extent, the XP500. Thankfully, you have Dolby Digital options so here are the results, but before we get into that, let me explain how Dolby Digital works:
Science of Dolby Digital:
In order to recreate a 5.1 Surround Sound Setup, Dolby Headphone is mixed with Dolby Digital. Dolby Digital then uses 5.1 Channels of audio in a Surround Sound Setup, then uses various DSP's (Digital Sound Processors) to Simulate 5.1 Channels of audio to the Headset. For 7.1, Dolby Pro Logic IIx is added in as two rear filler channels with the 5.1 signal to get Dolby Digital 7.1. One important note though. Although the Warhead says "7.1", the Xbox only Outputs 5.1. The EQ Settings change the Dynamic Range and Compression of Audio
Now that you know how exactly the Warhead works, take a look at the results:
Music:
Definitely the worst of the three EQ settings. The low end does get kicked up a notch, and even though it (thankfully) did not drown out the mids and highs, in games like Call of Duty: Black Ops, it can be a problem. Footsteps were easier to track, but gunfire did not give me a realistic feel. Other games, like Hydro Thunder Hurricane, or Split Second, did have a more natural feel. Overall, though, this option is not what I recommend. The highs and mids are great, but amplifying bass can be a bit of a problem.
Game:
This option tones down the bass so that mids and highs have a little more breathing room. This can be good for games like Black Ops and Halo Reach, but the bass does not suffer as much as one would think. Still, this is a solid option. While playing Black Ops or Reach is fun, you might wanna play something else, and that is were game falls a bit short. Unlike a bit too much bass for the Music EQ, Game EQ does have good bass, but not enough for me to hear the roar of the engine or hear footsteps. Overall, the Game EQ setting is solid. Not having enough bass just could not cope with me, and sometimes, the highs were a bit too bright.
Movie:
*Hallelujah, Hallelujah, HALLE-LUU-JAH*
As you can see, you can guess which one was my personal favorite. Movie EQ lowers the mids but highs and lows stay the same. Madden 13's Demo definitley showcased how well the sound was. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms were clearer, audibles could be heard more easily, and crowd's did feel more expansive. Other games like Call of Duty and Hydro Thunder sounded better overall. Footsteps were easier to hear, and the roar of the engines were more smooth. Overall, Movie EQ was fun to listen too, and my recommended setting for the Warhead.
Overall, the Sound Quality is deserving of the $300 Price Tag, but the A50 definitely is a superior choice, and, to an extent, the XP500 (Emphasis on "extent").
As for the Microphone, it performed well. My teamates could always hear me and there was little to no static during playback or testing. When using the Selectable Voice Monitoring, hearing myself saved me from shouting into the mic, but it does pick up some background noise. Thankfully though, it was not appearent to my teamates or me. Although SVM does not have a volume ruler for it, it is not much of a deal breaker.
Ratings:
So, with all of these categories done, it is time for the ratings.
Out-of-the-Box and Look
Result: 3.5/5
The Warhead feels like $300, but certain elements, along with standard fare packaging, keeps this Headset from earning anything higher, but the look of the Base Station and Headset definitley is its saving grace.
Setup and Layout
Result: 4.5/5
I did enjoy myself with the Warhead's setup. It is the best Wireless Headsets to setup, and boasts the best battery life. Nothing even comes close.
Sound
Result: 4/5
While it does haven some quibbles here and there, the Warhead's 50mm provide a very spacious feeling. Not as good as the A50's, but usually better than the XP500. Mic quality is the same story, although it is better than the XP500. (Again, High Emphasis on "usually").
Closing Comments:
Is it safe to say Tritton has finally done it? After so many backfires on the old AX Series, the Warhead just might be Tritton's long, lost answer to their enemy, ASTRO Gaming. While it does not have Cross-Compatibilty like the A50 or XP500, it is the World's First "Truly Wireless" Headset, and major headphone companies better take notice quick, as Tritton has a commanding lead. If you only game on the Xbox 360, and in dire need of a headset, Tritton's Warhead will make sure you are satisfied.
Overall, I am giving the Warhead a four out of five stars rating.
Well, this has been D-Day1944, and thank you for reading. I hope you join me next time were we will take a look at the Astro A40 Gaming Wired System. Personally, I think this review is long overdue.
Again, this is D-Day1944, signing off.
It's fair sized, with an integrated array microphone, infrared camera, and normal RGB camera. Still, I'm able to set it on my fireplace mantle beneath my LCD TV, no problem.
What does it do? Glad you asked! Hook this up to your xbox, and you can use it to control some of your xbox menu's and experiences. For example, on my 360 I use it sometimes to navigate menu's. There's also a bunch of games you can buy which are controlled by you standing up and making gestures - no physical controller needed! My favorites so far are the Kinect Adventures and Dance Central, I haven't tried many others.
Some warnings:
- you need space to use this thing. It seems to like you to be between 6' and 10' from the sensor.
- You use it standing up, and it needs to be able to see your whole body. So, don't try to play with a table between you and the kinect.
- Make sure you have room to flail around. It's easy to get into a game and forget how close you are to that priceless ming vase.
If you are a programmer, you can also play around with the kinect on your PC. There's an SDK which lets you get the depth and RGB video streams as well as audio. Works great! You can see lots of videos on youtube too if you look for 'kinect windows' or 'kinect demo' - look at the more recent stuff. You can find the SDK by searching for 'kinect sdk download'
The kinect uses a USB port. On the newest XBox-360's, there's a dedicated port with enough power on the back. You can use the kinect with older XBoxes and PC's as well, but you have to use an optional power adapter that comes with it.
Obviously if you want to know more about the game, check out gaming review websites for more in depth reviews, but from my perspective this is an amazing game that you will be consumed in for hours upon hours.
The reason I love Assassin's Creed is because of the beauty and open-world feel of the game. There is no doubt that the AC series has some of the most amazing and quality graphics out of any game - and AC II shows this exceptionally. Also, it's not just a game where you go from point A to B, you have the option of doing the main storyline, or many side missions on the way.
All in all, one of my favorite games of all time, you will love it as well.
Fits Securely to the Top of your Flat Screen TV
TriMount is the all-in-one solution for the ultimate gamer. The TriMount
fits the Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor, PlayStation Eye and WiiSensor Bar firmly
and securely on top of your flat screen TV. This specialized mount includes
an adjustable screw that allows you to fit flat screen TVs up to 4 inches thick. In addition,
an optional wall mount is included to allow maximum flexibility to stay
organized. Keep the top of your TV from being cluttered with all the
cameras and sensors. Have a clean look with the TriMount by dreamGEAR.
• For use with Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor, PlayStation Eye and Wii Sensor Bar
• Sits securely on top of your flat screen TV
• Easily adjusts to fit flat screen TVs up to 4" thick.
• Keep the top of your TV from being cluttered
• Padded with foam to protect your TV
A major selling-point to me was the decreased size of the controller; I found it to be a bit more comfortable to hold and play with for extended periods of time. My hands aren't tiny, mind you; nor are they fatigued by long hours of gaming, but the difference was noted. Ergonomics-wise, the Mini Pro is shaped nicely; it doesn't feel alien in the slightest and I didn't spend much time having to get used to the thing. Comparing it to Microsoft's default game pad, the EX is much slimmer and thus isn't as taxing to grip. In terms of length they're nearly identical, and the same goes for weight -- the device has a pleasantly solid feel to it.
Getting to the important bits: the analogue sticks are excellent. They're tight, responsive and produce a satisfying click when pushed in. The same can't be said for the digital pad, unfortunately; while precise enough for switching between items or various other simple functions like menu navigation, I can't recommend it for fighting games.
Moving onward: the face buttons work well but lack tactility; they sink in without either resounding audio cues or physical ones. They're not bad, but they're not particularly good either. The left and right bumpers are the exact opposite, having a nice give to them and responding with a little click.
The triggers are a bit weird for me, however: the left is perfectly fine and sinks-in without issue; but, the right has a bit of the before mentioned mushiness to it. It in isn't a fluid motion, and the difference between its counterpart can be distracting. Despite this the trigger still functions, but at the cost of sometimes breaking immersion for me.
Lastly, there's a button on the back of the controller that makes the face-buttons and bumpers glow, for whatever that's worth. There's also a slot for the 360's headset, and the 10-foot cord has a break-away portion to it in case its tripped over.
If anything takes a turn for the worse, I'll be sure to update the review. As it stands, the Power A Mini Pro EX is a less chunky alternative to Microsoft's own wired controller and a less expensive one to the wireless variety. Is it better than those two? No, but Power A has closed the gap between first-party and third-party controllers, at least a little, and that's much more than what I had anticipated.
Los Santos: a sprawling sun-soaked metropolis full of self-help gurus, starlets, and fading celebrities, once the envy of the Western world, now struggling to stay afloat in an era of economic uncertainty and cheap reality TV.
Amidst the turmoil, three very different criminals plot their own chances of survival and success: Franklin, a former street gangster, now looking for real opportunities and serious money; Michael, a professional ex-con whose retirement is a lot less rosy than he hoped it would be; and Trevor, a violent maniac driven by the next big score. Running out of options, the crew risks everything in a series of daring and dangerous heists that could set them up for life.
The biggest, most dynamic and most diverse open world ever created, Grand Theft Auto V blends storytelling and gameplay in new ways as players repeatedly jump in and out of the lives of the game's three lead characters, playing all sides of the game's interwoven story.
All the classic hallmarks of the groundbreaking series return, including incredible attention to detail and Grand Theft Auto's darkly humorous take on modern culture, alongside a brand new and ambitious approach to open world multiplayer.
Developed by series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto V will be available worldwide for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Los Santos and Blaine County - The largest open world yet in a Grand Theft Auto title, spanning vastly diverse cultural and geographical areas - the entire world of Grand Theft Auto V is open from the very beginning of the game to explore. Visitors to the greater metropolis of Los Santos and the countryside of Blaine County will encounter faded celebrities, party people, hikers, bikers, and every other manner of colorful denizen. You'll be able to traverse everywhere from the tops of the mountains, through the streets of Los Santos and to the depths of the ocean floor.
Michael, Franklin and Trevor - Three playable protagonists - Michael, Franklin, and Trevor may live in different parts of town, have their own issues, attitudes, lifestyles, desires and goals - but they do know how to work together. They also each have their own unique skillsets to bring to the table when it's time to get the job done.
Heists - Petty crimes, hustling, and stealing cars can only get you so far in Los Santos. To score big, Michael, Franklin and Trevor will work together to pull off grand Heists - big, multi-part missions that require careful preparation, recruiting, and precise (and often explosive) execution. Cash is king in GTAV and while there will be plenty of ways to acquire and spend it - heists are the way to earn the big bucks.
'Recreational' Activity - The open world of Grand Theft Auto V is not just massive in scale, but will offer more to get into than ever before. For recreation, play a bit of golf or tennis, zen out with some yoga or cycle through the countryside. For adrenaline heads, parachute over the city, or customize your Cheetah and take it to the streets to race suckers for money. Or earn cash the old fashioned way, by taking it - whether by ripping off liquor stores or by buying and taking over businesses that will earn you dividends. Even minding your own business having a stroll you may meet one of Los Santos' weirdos or starlets and find yourself off on a wild misadventure you never expected.
there's no movie characters like janemba, cooler, bojack, or broly, so that pretty much sums up the game besides that you can get super sayian for the characters that can use it, but the only character that can go past that is teen gohan due to the cell fight he can go super sayian 2, goku's is kind of ridiculous because you have to go kaokin (sp?) x5 then x10 then x15 then x20 to turn super sayian.
Dragon ball z budokai 2:
THERE IS NO BUDOKAI 2 IN THIS GAME!!
Dragon Ball z Budokai 3:
ahhhhh now this game brought me back some fierce nostalgia, put plan and simple it was awesome, controls are so much easier than the first, (i least i thought so) and the graphics look amazing. Now it doesn't really have a set storyline, you can be goku and go through his major points like vegeta, frieza, cell, and buu, but then you have krillin which will go through vegeta and frieza, and other characters like vegeta, tien, yamcha, kid/teen/adult gohan and a couple others, you fly around a map and go to each destination and fight whoever you need to fight, you can also go looking for dragon balls and unlock new content on your second playthrough of a certain character, so say you're goku, you can go through the main story actually you have to the first time, the second time you can kind of go off track, like instead of fighting frieza you can fight cooler, instead of buu you can fight broly, but you have to explore the areas that aren't regular destinations. all while leveling up your character, there's health, attack, ki, defense, etc. that's how your characters get stronger. After you beat the story with all the characters (Uub and broly included) you can unlock all the characters and fight in the martial arts tournament once again, same levels and same amount of matches as the first budokai, only difference with this one is that they included the cell games as the tournament after the advanced, i personally like it better because there's no ring out, you need to get your opponents health to 0. They also have the red ribbon tower (forgot what it was officially called) where you can put you leveled character and just fight against opponents of multiple levels, you have to go here to unlock 3 main things: Cell games, saibamen, and cell jr, granted the characters aren't very good you still need them to unlock everyone to get an achievement. The part i absolutely love about this game is all the characters, now they don't have janemba or bojack or android 13, but they have all the main characters from each saga, including goku, vegeta, piccolo, gohan kid teen and adult, frieza, cooler, cell, androids 16-20, majin buu fat skinny and kid, broly, uub, trunks kid and future, supreme kai, omega shenron, and a couple more i didn't mention, you can get most of the transformations of each character, goku can go all the way to ss4 as can vegeta, all forms of cell and frieza and majin buu, and you even get fusion for gotenks, vegito, ss gogeta, and my favorite ss4 gogeta. Budokai 3 reminded me of how much i loved dragon ball z and i'm very happy i bought it.
There is no multiplayer for this game but i honestly don't think it needs it, call a friend over and play together, not everything relies on online multiplayer, if there was the achievements would be way harder to get.
These in-game bonuses range from things like increased coins per FUT games, "financial takeovers" where your club in manager mode is bought and you get a large sum of money to spend, etc. The `selection was awfully disappointing and I'm hoping they add throughout the year.
New Teams = Basically all of the same leagues and clubs from last year with the exception that they added the Saudi league.
New Stadium = They added White Hart Lane and King Fahd Stadium but lost Nou Camp
International Manager = This is built into the manager mode where your performance at your club will attract offers from many National teams. You would then be manager of a club and an international team simultaneously. As the IT manager you get to select your 25 man team from the entire pool of international players and then play all the friendlies, qualifies, and tournament matches.
Manager Mode= They added in fake World Cup, Euros, and other tournaments. Also you can now play their fake Champions/Europa league in the first season rather than wait until the second.
Transfers = The transfers system is given a face lift. The transfer screen is now a note book where you are given new options when buying and selling players. When attempting to buy a player, you may "enquire" about them from their clubs as to whether they would sell the player and also how much you would have to offer them. You're also allowed to include players when trying to buy.
When selling/buying a player, you are told a range of how much the player is worth or how much you should offer depending on the player's form. I read that they tried to cut back on the ridiculous transfers, especially in the first transfer window of each season... THEY DIDN'T. There is still massive movement between big time players; for example, Higuain to Inter, Ozil to Chelsea, Prince-Boateng to Man City. Every transfer window afterwards continues the trend.
Match day = A nice addition. If you're not into playing season mode or ultimate team.. then whenever you play a match day game.. commentary and players ratings will be affected by their real life counterparts. I always hated hearing the same commentary for a year and I think that with this new addition it will lessen the game from getting stale.
Animations = They added a few new player celebrations which I didn't really care for but they did include more realistic player celebrations, albeit, only between two players where they will embrace like they did in real life.
Impact Engine = This was a great addition to Fifa 12 and in this year's rendition they improved the physics and removed the comical flopping.
Skills Games = They added 8 "mini games" with a variety of objectives ranging from chip shots, penalty shots, passing, dribbling, etc.
Layout/presentation = They changed the presentation this year but I could not have cared less. The presentation now includes a soccer ball in the background that opens and closes whenever you select things; also when you start games the opening presentations include the clubs badges on these soccer balls that open and close, etc. You have to see for yourself.
Conclusion: I think that EA was especially conservative this year. They opted to "perfect" (or at least try to) rather than innovate with another truly new feature. Gameplay is more fun with the "one-touch" because mistakes can become costly or rewarding and it adds another variable onto the pitch. The improved impact engine makes the player collision look very life-like and because they took out the crazy flopping makes it that much more realistic. Although with yet another yearly game, I find that EA has either given up or been too cheap to add new leagues to the game. They also need to add more stadiums. How can they go through each year and add one league or 1-2 new stadium? My biggest gripe is that I'm a shoe buff and to see only 4 pairs of Nikes and only 5 pairs of adidas (albeit in several more colors)? This is why I like 2K sports more than EA sports, they is no stone they leave unturned. With that all said, if you are playing Fifa 12 and completely satisfied with it, you probably should not fork over another 60 bucks to get Fifa 13. There are no game-changing new features that will make you throw your money at them. However, if the gameplay from Fifa 12 left you annoyed or unhappy, then Fifa 13 is worth getting because EA tried to fix the rough patches. Personally to me, this game is Fifa 12.5. But at least EA is making their Fifa franchise better every year and not letting them regress like NCAA and Madden. Cheers.
Pros:
-1st touch control +++
-Better manager mode ++
-More realistic Impact Engine ++
-Skills games +++
-Match day games +
Cons:
-Lack of new teams, especially South American leagues and the Turkish league
-Lack of boots
-EAS FC catalog was a huge disappointment in the selection available
-Still no licenses to major tournaments
-No innovative new features
UPDATE:
-The more I play the Skills challenges, the more I enjoy them. Each of them: the penalty shootout, passing, dribbling drills, etc help a certain part of your game that you would not really have had a chance to PRACTICE otherwise. What did Fifa have before? The practice arena where you're literally mashing buttons to try moves and ultimately just fool around? Not every one is a pro when it comes to this game and EA actually came up with a good idea to help newer and less experienced players become BETTER at the game they made. Kudos for that.
-I find it especially annoying during Manager mode when a robotic British voice reads off the scores of games that are not my own, but simply the ones in the same league. I don't really care to hear a creepy voice talk when I'm playing.. I haven't found a way to disable this.
-Resigning players has reverted back to before Fifa 12. By this I mean your players will NOT accept your offers no matter how much money you offer if you do NOT offer them the years they "want". So if you want to lock up your stars, you're not going to be able to. This minor detail annoys me because when you offer them extensions and they don't sign, then the fake news reel goes BALLISTIC and says, "oh, Xavi is refusing to resign with Barca"...... SMH like that crap would really happen.
-I take back the whole "EA removed the comical player collisions". They DIDNT. It does happen RARELY but I just saw Messi get KNEED and fly 10 yards in the other direction.
Graphically speaking, the game looks pretty good. Granted, it surely won't win any awards for its visuals, but it's a pleasant enough looking game overall. I like how you can see Deadpool's mouth animating under his mask, which is a nice touch. It's running on the Unreal Engine 3, so it looks similar to the Cybertron games made by High Moon.
As for voice acting and the overall production values, Deadpool nails it. This game is hilarious and has a lot of nice little touches.
The story, however, is the star of the show; it's just a really funny game that reminds me somewhat of The Mask. This game has a lot of potty language and humor, but it totally nails it. Sure, it's a bit immature, but that's what's so fun about it. It's goofy and doesn't take itself seriously at all.
The gameplay is serviceable. While it's certainly not the most polished and refined action game that would rank up there with the smooth action of a Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden, both the melee and gun combat work well enough and can be seamlessly combined to make for a fun gameplay experience. The best thing here is the variety in the gameplay. There are bits of the game where you're jumping around like in platforming games, playing in what resembles NES Zelda, etc.
Deadpool is rarity. It's not often that we get games this absurd. I honestly prefer Deadpool to both of the Cybertron games, which I also really enjoy. But Deadpool is fun and ridiculous in all the right ways.
This ebook is considered our blueprint for starting a successful clan based on years of experience and all of the time we have invested in developing exceptional gaming clans.
The ebook covers;
I. History of Clantacular
II. Will You Make a Good Clan Leader?
III. Types of Clans
a. Competitive Clans
b. Recreational Clans
c. Hybrid Clans
IV. Creating a Clan
a. Creating a Clan Name
b. Creating a Clan Logo & Choosing Clan Colors
c. Creating the Clan’s Code of Ethics & Rules
V. Clan Websites and Online Groups
a. Free Clan Website and Group Resources
i. Clantacular.com
ii. Enjin.com
b. Building Your Own Website
c. Registering a Domain and Hosting
d. Promoting your Clan Website
VI. Recruiting staff and clan members
a. Importance of Recruiting Staff
b. Selecting your Recruiting Staff
c. Choosing the Right Clan Members
VII. Clan training and schedules
VIII. Creating Strategies
IX. Playing Clan Matches
X. Pitfalls, Rebellions, and Drama
Vista reacts a bit strangely to it with requests to "insert media", but if you ignore that (like you ignore most of Vista's overkill granny messages), it works fine as a removable drive. (I don't swap cards when it is in the laptop, so don't know if that in fact works.) Mostly use it with the same card in it.
Seems to be quite fast and reliable.
However, like others, I'm a bit queasy about the construction: the plastic case is extremely thin; if you even lightly pinch the case in the middle over the circuitry, it gives and "crackles". The edges where the caps fit and card is inserted are also very thin and look like they'd be easily chipped.
The caps are easily lost/misplaced (I've had to search through the covers when using laptop in bed and absentmindedly put cap down on the bed instead of night table. Thankfully, I don't have a cat, which would probably think the cap was a great toy.) Also the caps pull off very easily; I keep the device in a small pocket in my laptop case, and sometimes the cap comes off when I pull the device out and it happens that I've only got hold of the cap.
I also tend to try to insert it in the port upside down half the time.
And it was just shipped in a light bubblewrap envelope, little protection considering how the thing probably wouldn't survive much pressure on the sides. Like other reviewers, I'm not impressed with the shipping practices.
I might get another if it were a freebie again, and the shipping & handling weren't outrageous.
