Blackwatch. I don’t know what you’ve heard, but they’re nothing but a sack full of lying paper-pushers. They claim to want to save humanity, to try and make this virus go away. Do they think we’re stupid? Alex Mercer got away with spreading this disease across the entirety of New York City. He took my wife and child. He’s the reason I can’t sleep at night. I’m heading back to the Red Zone. I’m headed back for Mercer. It’s time he pays for what he’s done.

A riveting story isn’t it? That’s Sergeant James Heller speaking, and he’s out on a vendetta. Prototype 2 follows this soldier on his path for revenge against Alex Mercer, the main character from the first Prototype game. Activision and Radical Entertainment have expanded upon the storyline filled with disease, death, and conspiracy for a second round at taking back New York City. As a fan of the first Prototype, when this sequel was announced I was a bit lost, though through playing it I’ve come to understand a bit better just how serious the plot really is in the series. There are some changes to the gameplay of the first title, and a new protagonist changes up the storyline we thought we knew.

Story and Visual Presentation

If you’ve kept up with any of the marketing campaign for Prototype 2 then you’ll know the basic plot of the game. Sergeant James Heller returns from his tour on duty to find both his wife and daughter killed by those infected with the Mercer virus. Following the media, Heller suspects that Mercer purposely spread the virus that swept the city, thus he is the one responsible for the death of his family. He becomes obsessed with the thought, begging the military to send him on any mission into the Red Zone, just so he can track down Mercer and exact his revenge. After some time his request is met and Heller leads the pack right into Mercer’s playground.

The company’s chopper takes damage and eventually crashes from the sky, leaving Heller the only survivor from the wreckage. Heller pulls himself to his feet as he spots Mercer walking away from the crash site. Though he finds himself in shambled condition, he chases Mercer through alleyways and run-down streets in a dilapidated New York. In his obsession Heller manages to sneak up on Mercer, cutting his throat. Of course, we know Mercer won’t go out like a punk, and Heller’s nightmare gets even worse. Mercer slams Heller against a brick wall, stabbing him with his mutated claws. Soon after, Heller fights consciousness as Mercer walks away in the distance.

The lights come on, revealing some sort of lab test chamber after Heller’s body is carried away by soldiers.  Heller has been placed on a slab, with pieces of bandage strewn all about him. Through some dialogue we find that he’s been experimented on, as Mercer has chosen to infect him directly with the virus. Before he can think, Heller finds himself surrounded by groups of the infected citizens who once lived in a happy New York City. He must fend them off as a test for the scientists above to watch.  This comes as a proving ground for Heller’s newly-found strength.

Soon the scientists believe Heller has become too powerful, and they throw the switch to “burn him,” or set the place on fire. Set ablaze, Heller falls to the ground in a scorched mess. Once soldiers enter to look upon their failed test subject, we learn that Heller has a way of absorbing creatures/people to regain health and take on their traits. Heller makes use of this immediately, and his anger boils over. He jumps through the testing window and then sets out to take his fury out on those scientists and soldiers involved in his testing. Outside, Heller runs into Mercer who is enjoying the night breeze. This is where things get really sketchy. Mercer explains to Heller that Blackwatch is behind the entire outbreak, and he didn’t have any choice in the matter. He persuades Heller to help him fight Blackwatch and take them down, pitting it as the only way to get revenge for his daughter and wife. Heller seems to obey Mercer’s command, but decides to stay in the dark until he gets things figured out. After this encounter, the real story begins.

When compared with the previous Prototype, the sequel doesn’t differ too much. The city looks pretty much the same, even with the mutations and virus spread throughout its streets. A few new enemies show their faces in the game, such as the Brawlers, Juggernauts, and tons of new soldiers you’ll face. The detail has been streamlined a bit, as for some of the animation detail and close-up features. There’s not really much more to say.

Heller receives calls in video format, so facial features are tightened, though they’re not exactly realistic. People still look like people, monsters look intimidating, and soldiers all look like soldiers. The city still exhibits detail when slamming on the concrete and climbing up walls, which is a nice detail that’s somewhat overlooked when it disappears after a few seconds.

The animations for Heller’s mutation powers look similar to those of Mercer’s, and other “Evolved” you come into contact with share those same attributes. Heller isn’t exactly set out from the pack by anything except for his jacket which holds a red accent mimicking Mercer’s. The lairs and mutation signs look the same as well. This is basically the same setting, with a new face.

Not saying there’s anything really wrong with that, though. I like being sent back into an old setting with a new look on it. After all, this is the same New York City, though 14 months later, still ravaged by a virus outbreak. If you liked the look of the first Prototype, you’ll like the sequel.

Gameplay and Progression

As an action game, Prototype 2 carries over the controls from the first. Players will have Heller running up buildings, jumping across city blocks, gliding across rooftops, and combating enemy creatures just like before. Prorotype 2 gives Heller five mutations for combat which can be set to two different face buttons. These powers are the claws, whip fist, blade fist, tendrils, and the good old power fists. One thing that the gameplay in Prototype 2 does well is let players wreak havoc across the city.

Players can switch powers on the fly, which makes tackling different types of enemies a bit easier and a whole lot more fun. Using a radial, players can assign two of the unlocked powers to two different buttons for quick use.  You’re able to jump into the air, leap down on an enemy, and either slice them to bits or devour them for personal gain. Simply put, you’re an extreme badass.

One thing that I felt was cool when starting the game was that Heller starts out with some of the powers that it took Mercer a while to obtain in the previous game. Powers like the air jump and glide are immediately available, which makes getting around much easier. It’s cool to think that Mercer is so evolved at this point that when he passes on the virus to create Evolved, some of the higher powers are already transmitted.

As you roll around town on your vendetta you’ll take on missions given to you by some sketchy people. Completing these missions helps Heller get stronger through evolution level-ups. Consuming DNA and defeating the infected creeps will result in XP that goes toward a higher evolution level. Once leveled you gain the ability to place a stat point into one of Heller’s attributes. These points can be used to gain extra health, move faster, gain extra health from consuming, or remain in stealth longer while shapeshifting.

Missions, though, while they help make Heller stronger they aid him in a different way. Completing missions allow you to choose a specific upgrade from a specific category. These categories are such as Predator, Movement, Power, and so forth. Skills in these categories either allow you to do more damage with certain attacks, widen the range of certain attacks, or take less damage while performing. Choosing wisely with these upgrades and completing more missions will make Heller become a definite force to be reckoned with.

You’re presented with a very open world in Prototype 2, much like with the first game. Collectables are scattered throughout the three zones of New York City, waiting for you to come along. There are lairs to clean out, Black Boxes to pick up, and a whole number of side missions to take on that lead you to knocking out the chain of command at Blackwatch. You’ll be consuming pilots, learning secrets from scientists, and murdering soldiers who all had a hand in what’s happening around you. There’s always something to do in Prototype 2.

There were a few hiccups with the game that got under my skin a bit. While there are plenty of missions to do, the 50th mission looks just like the 5th. Each mission has you running into a base, consuming an officer, running inside a facility, killing someone/stealing something/releasing subjects within, and escaping. They aren’t repetitive enough to make you tear your hair out, but they do have you wanting to do side quests for a break. In some cases Heller moves to slow, allowing him to be overwhelmed in battle. He’ll also have the tendency to jump when you try to evade, which has caught me clear out of range of attack when fighting. Another issue is that the collision detection is a bit off in the animation. Heller absorbs victims through him rather than into him, and in the beginning his knife doesn’t seem to really have an impact on Mercer at all. Finally, the language in the game is really rough. I mean, I’m no saint when it comes to speech, but throwing a curse between every other word that spews from Heller’s mouth is a bit much. It sort of detaches you as a player. When you look at it as a whole, Prototype 2 looks just like Prototype with a new skin.

Conclusion

I really got into leveling Heller and setting the streets red with blood in Prototype 2. I mean, ripping a helicopter’s payload off and sending it to the ground with it in flames of hulking metal is extremely fun. However, the game had little impact on what it was advertised for. I feel like the game could have been more, though it’s not a title that is robbed of fun. It’s worth picking up if you’re into the Prototype story, and it does deliver on the promise of making Heller a force that Mercer couldn’t have ever imagined. And if you’re looking for a senseless reason to create a living hell in New York City, this is a perfect game in which to do so. Just don’t expect it to stand out like it promised to do.

There comes a time in every gamer’s life when he/she will, undoubtedly, play a pirate game. There’s just something about swashbuckling, plundering treasure, and capturing a maiden’s heart that speaks to all of us. In Risen 2: Dark Waters, each of these aspects comes to light in a story that’s weaved feverishly. Developer Piranha Bytes has teamed up once more with Deep Silver to provide a game that will keep players on-deck with playability, all while changing the Risen title as we knew it. Glaives are swapped out for rapiers, crossbows are replaced by muskets, and combat takes a new turn for the scurvy sea dog in all of us. The previous Risen title suffered a few hiccups, though it remained a game that many swear by. Let’s set sail on this review to see if Dark Waters follows suit.

Storyline and Presentation

Risen 2 takes place many years after the events of the first game. The world is yet again in peril, though that seems to be the norm with these RPGs. Our protagonist, Carlos, awakes from a drunken stupor to find himself being called to the guard tower by his commanding officer. You see, he’s with the Inquisition. The “old world” as they call it has found itself swallowed up by hideous creatures taking refuge in the dark depths of the ocean. Speaking to his superior, our fearless hero finds out that his task is to set sail across this new world in search of a way to defeat this monstrosity. This means you’ll be scouring the tropical jungles, dank caves, and murderous tribe and pirate-infested lands of the new world to track down some ancient relics for some do-it-yourself assembly that will send this giant problem back to its watery grave. It’s time to grab the rum and put on your fancy tri-pointed hat – we’re going on an adventure.

You’ll team up with an old friend, Patty, who is always in search of her missing father, the infamous pirate Gregorious Emanuel Steelbeard. She claims that she has found a way to sail the assaulted seas safely, and a partnership is created. Together the duo makes an attempt not only to complete the quest set before Carlos by the Inquisition, but to find Patty’s father and help those wherever needed, no matter how rude they may seem to be.

Now we’ll move on to the presentation. Risen 2 looks really good. Piranha Bytes always seems to do a nice job with making environments feel realistic, even when incorporating elements that seem to be those of a fantastic dream. Characters are well-rounded, each with their own detailed look. The garb and décor in the game syncs up perfectly with those in the time of pirating and swashbuckling, and attitudes of characters follow suit. The forested islands are bound with growth, rocky terrain sifts across the landscape, and delving into ancient tombs of fallen warriors becomes especially chilling. That is, the first time around while you explore. One of the visual downfalls in Risen 2 is that these types of scenes are reused, and quite often at that. With a world that looks like the developers took time to craft, it becomes a bit dull and drab when you spend time sailing to a new continent, and entering a brand new tomb that looks just like the one you left an hour ago.

The immersion doesn’t stop at pure visuals, though, which sets up as a saving grace. The developer set to work to reinforce their realism through NPCs that are outspoken and lively. Pedestrians will complain, laborers will offer their thoughts on the everyday struggles of working life, and political talk is abundant across the land. This is a nice change, because why it may look like you’re on the same island that you just conquered hours ago, these inhabitants bring to your attention that things are different.

One pet peeve I had with the characters in Risen 2 is that, when just standing around talking, they seem to over-exaggerate their movements and gestures. For instance, when speaking to Patty, most of the time she’ll flail her arms around like a wannabe Jack Sparrow. I don’t know if this is a way for the developer to poke fun at the Pirates series, or if this is legitimately a flaw in the character design. The problem goes further, as it doesn’t stop there. It seems like most of the characters in the game follow this same direction. When the game is set to present its world as a real, breathing place, these characters really make you think twice and cause a laugh or two out of you. The immersion then stops.

As for the game’s enemies, there is some differentiation between them. You’ll mostly be fending off enemy pirates or looters, but there will also be the occasional monster crab or voodoo tribesman to defend against. Some of the enemy models are reused, but thinking about who is indigenous to each area, I can see where that makes sense. It’s not like we’re fighting alien pigmen.

Gameplay and Combat

The gameplay and leveling system in Risen 2 is quite unique. Instead of a traditional RPG leveling system where players create a character, select a class, and level each skill, there’s a defined path to follow in Dark Waters. Players earn Glory points for defeating enemies, discovering locations, and completing quests. These points can then be invested into different attributes that attune to stats and skills. It really reminds me somewhat of Fable, as there seems to be attributes such as toughness, cunning, and such. IF you toss some points into toughness, you can take more damage and learn new skills pertaining to combat and weaponry. You can learn new skills from trainers, but beware; the amount of gold needed to learn such skills comes in at horrendous costs.

Sword fighting is where the main charm of this game plays out. Though in the beginning it’s extremely dull and frustrating, it gains much depth after you’ve learned some defensive pirate tactics to protect yourself with. Dueling with renegade pirates requires much focus and tactical skill, much that we’ve not seen in an RPG like this before. It almost plays out as a turn-based battle, with each contestant choosing either to block, kick, parry, attack, or riposte in quick succession. This makes finding people to tussle with much more exciting and not so much a frustration like with other grinding titles.

Sword bouts against creatures, however, are far less interesting. The combat doesn’t work so well when fighting crabs or monsters from the deep. Creatures will charge at you, knocking you backwards, and let me tell you this is bad news. It takes forever to get up from a fall, or at least it seems so. If you’re fighting more than one enemy and this happens, it almost always spells death. These enemies will also sometimes jump right into combat flurry sequences that go on and on, making standing your ground with them nigh impossible. The way I’ve found to deal with these is simply run around (which can also be difficult, and I’ll get into that in a bit) and just chip away at your enemy’s health when you can. This can make battles long-drawn out, but it’s a system that works.

Alternatively you could take the time and spend the gold to learn muskets, and attack from afar. Doing this will not only give you distance, but have you inflicting massive damage to whatever stands as your target. The fire from muskets has the capability to completely destroy enemies at long range, which makes the weapon useful throughout the game. The only drawback is that it’s expensive and becomes monotonous the more you play. Pistols work somewhat the same way, but they add flavor to combat as they can be used while dueling with your sword.

The final way to deal with enemies is to learn the dark forces of voodoo. This is for fans who want to get the most out of their RPG experience by relying on something mystical. The system in a whole, though, will most likely disappoint many of you. Through the use of voodoo you can paralyze enemies in fear, weaken them with curses, or make them fight against one another. The mechanics of the voodoo system fall short of being notable, and they remain useful only when you feel like doing something other than fighting it out with sword and strategy. There are few abilities to take advantage of, and they become more and more repetitive as the game progresses. I feel like something really cool could have been done with the voodoo system, especially given the time and place that makes up the game’s setting. Sadly, I was let down.

When it comes to exploration, Dark Waters is much different than the Risen title before it. Large open-ended maps have been swapped out for smaller-scaled areas. This means it’s harder to get lost and isolated, but takes away some of the vast exploration abilities players once had. This title is extremely user-friendly, and seems to follow suit with the release of games that have the “handholding” dynamic that most developers are catering to. Does this make the game bad? Not at all, though Risen veterans will find that some of the general “awe” has been stapled down a bit. You can now fast-travel between points of interest, and game progression is much more clean and straightforward compared to the other titles produced by Piranha Bytes.

Now we make it to my issues with the gameplay. When it comes to controls, Dark Waters presents a clambering effort to match players with character. The movement is slow and when Carlos begins to run, it’s almost as if he needs to charge up first like he’s in an old cartoon. During duels and sword fights, if you’re not on your toes at all times, you’ll be hearing the ghastly death groan and seeing your “I’m dead” screen far too much. The character movement that I mentioned earlier is a drawback, and rather annoying, though it doesn’t force me to stop playing.

Conclusion

At first, I was a little off-put by the sluggish gameplay presented in Risen 2: Dark Waters, but as I maneuvered through the game things got better quickly. There’s still some issues with combat that bother me, and I would have liked to see some elements given more detail. Risen 2 can be beautiful at times, urging the player to set out on a journey to explore the elements contained within a world of wonder. Piranha Bytes did a swell job of incorporating accurate décor, costuming, scene design, and dialogue to make a game that is exceptionally marketable as a pirate RPG, though disappointments in character progression, a faulty magic system, and recycled locations make the game seem a little bit too run-of-the-mill in the end. Overall, I did have a lot of fun playing through the game, and I do say it’s worth checking out.

Many times, when a gamer decides to get a brand new mouse, they want more: more buttons, more settings, more customization. If this is what you want, if you want to be able to finely tune a mouse to fit your exacting standards, then this mouse is not for you. However, if you’re looking for a mouse that does a few things, but does them well, then keep on reading.

First Impressions

The thing you might first notice about this mouse is the fact that it’s very plain. The top is a shiny plastic material that comes in red, white, or black, surrounded on the sides by the black rubber grip to give you a good grasp of this mouse. As steelseries markets this mouse as featuring an ambidextrous design, you only get four buttons, all on the top: the two regular mouse buttons, the scroll wheel button, and the CPI button. In other words, this mouse is mostly like any other standard mouse you’ve purchased in the past, except of course for the inclusion of the CPI button.

Functionality

Place the mouse in your hands, however, and you’ll see why it’s not just another mouse that came with the Compaq your parents bought. The thing I noticed about this mouse once I started using it was that it’s very responsive, even at the lower CPI settings. The mouse, with its Teflon feet, allows it to glide on your mousepad without any undue effort. Along with the fact that it weighs only 77 grams means that it doesn’t take much at all to move your cursor across the screen if you’re not careful. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does take a bit of time to get used to the weight and responsiveness. It fits my rather average sized hand comfortably, though I would say that if you have larger hands, you might find it to be a bit tiny. The plastic top feels smooth but not too slick, though I’ve found that after a small amount of time dirt and smudges will appear, so if you’re concerned about looks be prepared to do some cleaning fairly often. An oft-overlooked feature that I’m always a fan of is the braided cord. The Kinzu v2 has this very feature, which is something I appreciate as I’ve had problems in the past time rubber cords dragging on the edge of my desk.

If you want to tweak the CPI settings themselves, or anything else for that matter, you’re in for a bit of a letdown. Though steelseries has done a good job of using just one program to let you change the settings of their products, in the Kinzu v2’s case it doesn’t do a whole lot. Yes, you can add macros to your buttons if you want, but when you only have three buttons that are able to make use of it, and those buttons are normally used for other commands anyway, you’re not likely to make use of this feature very often.  If you go into the settings you’ll notice a couple of things: First of all, you’re only able to select two different settings for your CPI switch. The other thing you’ll notice is that in each of your settings, you can only select from 400 CPI, 800 CPI, 1600 CPI, and 3200 CPI. This is a bit disappointing to me, especially since 1600 CPI is a little too slow for me and 3200 CPI is too fast. The fact is, there’s no way I can set the setting anywhere in the middle. For most pro gamers, this is a problem that’s going to prevent them from wanting to buy this mouse.

Final Thoughts

In the end, though, most people are not pro gamers, and if you’re looking for a no frills mouse, this one isn’t a bad way to go, especially if you specialize in games that only require 2 or 3 mouse buttons like Starcraft II or DotA. However, the thing that might prevent people from buying the no-frills Kinzu v2 is its price. At $45, it’s a bit steep for what’s essentially a 3-button mouse. If steelseries were to drop the price to $35 or even $30, though, it could be a huge seller because this is a very solid mouse.

A while back I got to review a brand new mouse pad from an upcoming peripheral company called PureTrak. I was lucky enough to hear from them again at this past weekend’s LANWar XXII event, and while there I picked up the new Special Edition White Talent mouse pad. I’ve been putting the new pad through the paces, and I’ve got to say it’s just what I expected. It’s super large like the original Talent, and comes packaged the same way.

The White Talent comes packaged in the same cardboard tube as the original, which makes it perfect for packing back and forth between gaming events. It’s also handy for when you need to store it. Since I have the original pad as well, it’s nice to be able to just pop it into the canister and store it on a shelf for when I need it, or a friend comes over and is in need of a pad to use.

As for the look and feel of the pad, it doesn’t differ too much from the original. It still feels smooth and slick, though it’s white. It also sports the Talent logo across its entirety, which I did like. The original pad was a cool blue, but when you look at the white Talent it jumps out at you a bit better. Through the logo the pattern on the pad changes and shifts. Overall, it just looks better in my opinion.

It’s still a large mouse pad, and takes up half of my keyboard drawer. I don’t have a problem with that, as I feel better knowing I have more room to slide the mouse when I need it. There’s something about constantly needing to pick up the mouse to move it every thirty seconds that gets really annoying. With the Talent, that becomes obsolete all together.

When it gets to the bottom line, the Special Edition White Talent mouse pad performs just as the original Talent does, and the only real change is in the aesthetics. The white color is new, and honestly looks better than the original Talent. You can pick it up for $29.99 on PureTrak’s site, and it’s definitely worth the buy if you’re looking to upgrade your current mouse pad.

Many of us out there, myself included, happen to like spending a little bit more money on their hardware. From gaming mice, to mechanical keyboards, to big fancy cases, we don’t mind spending an extra fifty to a hundred bucks on a good piece of hardware. However, what about the people who don’t have a ton of money to spend on keyboards and mice? Are there any keyboards out there that combine a cheap price with good gaming performance?

The RK-800G is Rosewill’s attempt at giving a positive answer for that question. And, I’ll admit, when I first got this keyboard, I didn’t have high hopes for it. However, it has surprised me a little bit. For starters, it feels like it has some pretty good action, where you don’t need to press too hard to get a key to register, and returns to its regular position in a timely manner. The keyboard also came with a key-cap remover and silver WASD keys, so that you can easily switch out the regular black WASD keys with the silver ones. The key-cap remover also makes it easy to get most of the other keys off of the board, in case you need to clean out the keyboard in case you spill pop or food stuffs on it. And despite the fact that most rubber-dome keyboards usually only support 6-key rollover, this one does up the ante a little bit by the fact that 11 certain keys (Q, W, E, A, S, D, Space bar, and the arrow keys) can all be pressed at once and the keyboard will register all of the presses. However, with that being said, how often did you use the WASD keys AND the arrow keys at the same time?

It’s definitely not perfect. The plastic construction feels a bit cheap, in my mind, and as far as button placement is concerned, I find the fact that it uses a large reversed “L” shape Enter-key and a short Backspace-key pretty annoying. Also, in an age that seems to find many old ports of yesteryear being replaced with USB ports, it’s a bit archaic to see that this keyboard only comes with a PS/2 port. And if Rosewill was trying to impress us with its packaging, it failed. With sentences like “It is equipped with a rarely used integral rubber dome as an internal part. Whereas the ordinary keyboard is designed with an independent rubber done for each utton” it looks like whoever created the packaging for the keyboard just used Google Translate to do the translation. With this being in mind, I feel like in the end the RK-800G keyboard is a lazy attempt by Rosewill to cash in on the gamer market. However, if you’re just looking for an ok keyboard for under 20 bucks, this one will work, as long as you have a PS/2 connector.

I’ve switched between many a mouse in my gaming day, and through all of them I’ve only found one that’s proven consistent throughout my career. This proved true until I went out browsing for a new mouse one day for my laptop. As I perused, I came upon the Razer Naga Gaming Mouse, and little did I know it would be the mouse that changed my perspective. I’d heard much about Razer, and they’re a company that is well-known for their gaming peripherals. As an avid MMO player, I’ve found that the Naga is a perfect tool for any arsenal you could think of, but it doesn’t stop there. I got the chance to dig my claws into the Naga, and it didn’t disappoint me.

First Look

The first obvious feature about the Naga is its one-handed keypad on the left side of the mouse. I was surprised to see something like this, and at first it seemed a little off-putting. I couldn’t conceive how this mouse would be comfortable with those keys jutting out the side, but using the mouse proved me wrong. These buttons didn’t get in the way of feeling comfortable, and they became very useful, but I’ll get into that a bit more later.

On from the keypad, the Naga sports a sleek ergonomic design, which can be misleading at first. The top of the Naga is treated in a rubberized coating that is gentle to the touch. The coating helps prevent sweating while you’re gaming for long hours, and there is very little slip. From a distance, the mouse looks small, which really worried me due to my having huge hands. When I palmed it, however, the mouse felt near-perfect in size for me. It’s not too large, though it’s not entirely small.

The Naga features a lighting system that helps illuminate each of the buttons when all is dark. It certainly is bright enough to light nearly an entire room, but it won’t blind you or anyone else that’s gaming near it. The Razer logo is inset on the top rear of the mouse and it shines bright, adding some style to an already great design.

Comfort and Performance

Though the Naga seems small, and I have giant hands, there was no feeling of discomfort when using it. When I say I dug my claws into it, I meant it. My monstrous grip fit around the Naga comfortably and without slip. Going back to the keypad, none of the buttons got in my way when I set out to game. Some players complained that these keys were easy to mis-click, but I didn’t have this issue at all. On the contrary, actually, once I learned the keypad layout they each came very much in handy. These buttons were utilized mainly for MMO gaming, as they correspond easily to the number keys, which mostly serve as your spells in-game. I had no problem popping off spell after spell, and hitting my rotation while playing, and it actually made my casting quicker. The keypad is the shining star of the Naga, though it singles it out as mainly an MMO mouse. In FPS games as well as strategy titles, the keypad did little to nothing.

Sliding across the mouse pad was like slicing through butter. The Naga comes equipped with Zero-acoustic Ultraslick feet that allow it to move with very great ease. I didn’t have to force it around, and when I needed to pinpoint stop, it stopped. When you consider that this mouse is one without a weight system, it really knocks out the competition. The Naga simply doesn’t need a weight system. You use your own finesse to make the Naga work for you, not the other way around.

The Naga’s movement makes it a competitor in the FPS genre, though it’s not the top of its class. Aiming is sleek and without delay, though this can be achieved with many other mice of its kind. There isn’t anything special about it that would offer the edge in firefights, which is why at the end of the day the Naga is best used for MMO players. Some action titles can be swept up by the mouse, using the keypad for macros and abilities, though it still loses some of its touch. In MMO titles is where the Naga shows its flair.

Software and Programming

When it comes to software, Razer has included their own unique system with the Naga. The software is called Synapse, and it’s pretty easy to use. You need only install it, and register an account. By registering an account with the software, it allows you to take all of your macros on the go. No matter what system you use, as long as you have the software installed and the mouse, you can pull any of your profiles down for use.

There’s no limit to how many profiles you can create, so the options are plentiful. You can assign different buttons to the keypad, as well as the two extra buttons on the top left of the mouse. These can come in useful for when you switch games, or characters within a game. There are also some add-ons available, and with being able to take your profiles with you, Synapse is an amazing counterpart to the Naga’s performance.

Conclusion

While the Naga isn’t the perfect all-rounded mouse, it’s still a great tool for hardcore gamers. If you’re an avid MMO player, I’d say the Naga is a must-have for your tool set. With the useful keypad, ergonomic and comfortable design, and software that tailors to the player, Razer has found a way to make a peripheral that easily sweeps the competition. Not only does the Naga out-perform many other MMO mice on the market, it does so while looking amazing. You can pick up one of these right now for around $80, which is a perfect price for something that performs this well. Some players were reporting that the mouse was ridden with bugs, but Razer updated the drivers to correct a lot of these issues. I didn’t experience any random shut-offs, dying, or resetting while I was using it. I’ve decided to make the Naga my primary mouse, which is a big jump for me. Seriously, it’s just that good.

That little screenshot up there are some of the stats of my computer. At this time, with it’s GTX 560 Ti graphics card, I can play most, if not all games on the maximum or near-maximum settings. And, mind you, this computer is a good 3 years old, with only a few tweaks here and there to it. So, despite the fact that we live in a world with i5’s, and i7’s, featuring upwards of 8 cores in a chip, why is it that the minimum requirements for a game like Diablo III only require an old Pentium 4 2.8 GHz chip, and 1 gig of RAM? Mass Effect 3, which came out earlier this year, hardly requires any more power out of your system compared to Mass Effect 2, even though ME2 came out over 2 years ago. And, if you look at “Moore’s Law”, (which isn’t really a “law” and more of a rule of thumb, but that’s a different story), it says that the number of transistors that can be placed cheaply on an integrated circuit doubles roughly every two years. In computer terms, that means that the average, inexpensive computer built will be roughly twice as powerful every 2 years, and so far, the average computer itself does seem to be following this path. So, why is it that ME3’s requirements are roughly on par with a game that came out 2 years earlier? Why does Diablo III only require a Pentium 4, a chip that came out well over 6 years ago? Is this reflective of a larger trend?

Using the website Game Debate, I decided to find out. For the purposed of the research, I took five different mainstream games from each year between 2005 and 2011 and tried to come up with a rough baseline requirement for the year as a whole. I also tried to include sequels, in order to get a rough estimate of how much the requirements have gone up for a similar game. However, for the most part, I avoided expansion packs, as they are usually tied in to a game that can be much older, and thus bring down the hardware requirements.

In 2005 and 2006, which were the first years that we saw the current generation of consoles, the requirements as a whole were on the low side. Minimum requirements were listing Pentium 3 processors, 256 MB’s of RAM, and GeForce 2 MK 400’s. The recommended specs had Pentium 4’s running at nearly twice the speed as the Pentium 3’s, 512 MB’s of RAM, and GeForce 6600’s and higher.

Starting in 2007, however, we see a huge jump in requirements. Pentium 4’s running at 2.4 GHz and higher started to become listed as the minimum requirements to run a game, while Core 2 Duos were starting to show up in the recommended specs list. A year earlier, if you had 512 MB’s of RAM, you’d be set to play a game on some of its best settings. Once 2007 hit, though, you wouldn’t even be likely to make the minimum requirements, as they jumped up to 1 GB, and the recommended amount went up to 2 GB’s. Graphics cards in this time also saw a jump, as the GeForce 6800 GT you were using in 2006 to run your game with the best graphics was all of a suddenly finding it difficult to run a game on the lower quality settings. Instead, you were looking at having to buy a new higher level 7000 or 8000 GeForce card to run those games at the best settings.

So what prompted this sudden increase? Well, remember that the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 both came out in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The previous generation, the PS2 and the Xbox, had come out in 2000 and 2001, and it’s my theory that developers were developing games in ’05 and ’06 under the assumption that at some point they may want to port those games to the console. However, once the PS3 and Xbox 360 were released, and the developers started to develop new games after receiving development kits, they had room to jump up the specs for their computers. Add in a resource hog OS like Windows Vista, and the development of the Dual Core CPU, and it’s no wonder that we saw a spike in requirements.

After 2007, another trend emerged. The requirements for games started to level out a bit. There hasn’t been a big jump in requirements for games since that time, but rather, it’s become more gradual. In 2008, more Core 2 Duos were making up the recommended CPU line, but the RAM and GPU lines stayed about the same. In 2009 there was not much change, despite the fact that it had been 2 years since the last big jump.

When 2010 hit, you could see that the requirements were trending upwards, but not that much. The only main difference this time was that you started to see low end Core 2 Duos make up the minimum requirements line, and you started seeing Core 2 Quads in the recommended line. RAM stayed around the same at 1 GB for minimum and 2 GB for recommended, and amazingly, they still had GeForce 6800’s as the minimum requirement, despite the fact that you could see those cards in stat lines over 5 years earlier.

In 2011, only at this point do you see any sort of growth in the requirements in general. The minimum levels of RAM started to average out at 2 GBs, with the recommended levels going at around 4 GBs. The CPU levels are still remaining about the same, and even though you don’t see the GeForce 6800s listed anymore, you can still find GeForce 8800s being listed under the recommended cards, despite the fact that those same cards in 2008.

With all the games being developed to include PC’s and consoles as their platforms, it’s not surprising to me to see that the overall requirements of games have not gone up very high for over 5 years. In fact, it seems to me that the reason why requirements have gone up at all has to do with developers being able to fully exploit what the consoles are capable of. So, with that in mind, I am going to make a prediction. Whenever the next big consoles come out, where the developers will have new platforms to work with, look to see a huge jump in the requirements for games. You’ll start to see Core 2 Quads under the minimum requirements, when just a year earlier that same chip was well over the recommended level. The i5 chips will start to become commonplace in the recommended CPU slot. We’ve seen this jump before, as developers stopped developing on the limited hardware of the PS2 and Xbox, and started developing for the relatively unlimited PS3 and Xbox 360. Now, at this point in time, those consoles with their 6 and 7 year old hardware are what’s limiting developers from going hog-wild with what they can do in a game. Once that limit has been eliminated (comparatively speaking), don’t be surprised to see the developers take advantage of it.

Start saving your money, because that high end computer you’ve had for a few years isn’t going to do you much good once those new consoles are out. I know I’m saving mine.

As a fan of the MMO phenomenon World of Warcraft, I’m always looking for ways to keep my gaming interesting. Tons of people log on to World of Warcraft each day, and some even take their game outside of Azeroth. Developer Cryptozoic game together in conjunction with Blizzard to make an epic trading card game based on the MMO, and it’s captured the attention of plenty of the game’s fans across the world. Just recently the company released new themed decks for the card game called Champion Decks. With these new sets players can assume the roles of champions of Azeroth, putting their abilities to the test. I decided to grab a couple of these to see what they’re all about, and set them to the test. Here’s how it turned out.

Out Of The Box

For the sake of the review, I picked up two different decks: Jaina Proudmore (Alliance Mage), and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde Hunter). I wanted to see the variety between the decks, and take a look at what they were all about. Opening the box, I found that both were very different in their own way. Though both contained the same ingredients: a Crown of the Heavens booster pack, hero card, pre-built deck, and rulebook, the packaged parts were vast. Taking a look at Jaina’s deck, it was primarily built around a central theme. Jaina, being a Frost Mage, had plenty of allies in her deck to support her ability. When it came to Sylvanas, however, the table was quickly turned.

In Sylvanas’ deck were allies that did little to help her overall ability. Unlike Jaina’s deck in how it was built around a central theme, this deck was more scattered and built on chance. Sylvanas had a special bow that allowed her to create Undead tokens, but there was only one in the whole deck. This put the main theme of the deck out of reach, and solely based it off of drawing the card at the right moment. The allies supplied didn’t help create chains or anything of the sort.

At this point, right out of the box, I felt some unbalancing going on between the two. I felt that Jaina’s deck was much better suited for battle, due to the fact that the cards seemed to bounce off of each other. There wasn’t anything special in each deck aside from the heroes and weapons, though they were each branded specifically for the decks.

Putting The Decks To Use

When it came down to it, there wasn’t a way to officially judge the decks until they were put to the test. I sat down for a session with each deck, and came out with different results for each.

I started off with Sylvanas, mainly because I’m a fanboy and I play Horde. Off the bat I was surprised. The deck was built to play quick, as most of the abilities and allies were low-cost. There are also plenty of Quests to complete, which meant I was never left without resources. By my fourth turn I had a long-range weapon, a pet, and a couple of allies ready for battle. As most Hunter decks run, this was set for efficient and quick kills. There weren’t a lot of Protectors, and success weighed heavily on my hero to pull off damage. Overall, the deck didn’t do too bad.

The second round I switched it up. I ran Jaina, and the experience was totally different. Jaina’s deck played slower, and more methodical. I ran low on resources, and ended up using a lot of actual cards to substitute in. This left me with holes, leaving my defense open to attack. Once I got some resources under my belt, though, I was sitting nicely. Jaina has a lot of Protectors under her ranks, and it became difficult for my opponent to hit her. She is very much aggro control, and works on stopping opponents before they get across the line. She has a lot of abilities that control opposing allies, as well as damaging with direct spells. The only drawback to this is that eventually these spells will get all played out. Once it got to this point, I was left helpless with nothing else to do. My allies got taken out, and I was a sitting duck. Needless to say, I lost this match. With more strategy and patience, I think I could have pulled it out in the end.

The Bottom Line

All in all both of the Champion Decks were a lot of fun to play. Being able to control a powerful force of Azeroth was very interesting, and added a new phase to the game. The decks, while not built perfectly for a tournament, are fun to play. They are tournament-ready, however, so if you felt bold you could run them. There are five total, so there’s three more that I haven’t picked up. I will say, though, that if you’re a fan looking to get started in the card game, or if you just want to have a new experience with the existing game, picking up one of these would be a great idea. Each deck is priced at around $12, so they’re not going to break you. Well, at least not in the wallet anyway. So if you want to switch things up, grab one while they’re available.

Before I started writing for GamerFront, I never gave a serious thought to the case that my system would be stored in. Don’t get me wrong, whenever I would buy a case, I would do some comparisons between different cases, to see what kinds of accessories they contained, and how much they cost. However, I never thought that an expensive, $100+ case could possibly be worth the money. Why should I spend $169.99 on the Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 when all I really need is a box to throw my stuff in?

Initial Impressions

I was wrong. I was convinced that a case that cost that much could not be worth the money, but I was wrong. The biggest thing you’ll notice about the case when you first see it is its sheer size. This case is absolutely huge, standing 22.4 inches high, 9.3 inches wide, and 22.9 inches from front to back. This means two things: First, you’re going to have a lot of room to hold all the different components of your system. Second, and more importantly, you’re going to have lots of breathing room to help keep your system cool. A computer exposed to hot temperatures over a long period of time is going to wear down the different parts of the system much more quickly, so the more room in your case for air to flow the better.

Luckily, this case will not let your computer get hot. On top of the massive space inside, Thermaltake has added many different features into the case to help keep your system cool. On both the top and the front of the case you’ll notice a huge Colorshift 200mm fan. Throughout the rest of the case you’ll notice that there is space for another three 120mm or larger fans. Every fan has a mesh filter on the outside of it, as well, so you won’t need to worry about dust entering the system and killing it that way. A fan controller allows you to set the speed of the fans to a high or a low speed. However, the cords that go to the fans themselves are not very long, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to wire them directly to your motherboard if you wanted to. The PSU slot receives a bit of this special treatment, as well. In this case, the PSU rests on the bottom, with a cutout so that the fan can suck in cold air from the outside instead of sucking in hot air from the system.  You won’t need to worry about sucking in dust and debris into your PSU, in part because of the mesh filter covering the bottom (which can be removed easily for cleaning) and also in part because the case has 4 sturdy feet which lift it off of the ground.

If we go back to the top of the case, you’ll see on top of the fan controller, you’ll see the fan color LED switch that changes the colors and flashing patterns of the LED fans. You got your standard reset and power buttons, your headphone and microphone ports, a couple of USB 2.0 ports, an E-SATA port, and most interestingly, 2 USB 3.0 ports and also a full on hot swappable SATA hard drive dock. Unfortunately, I was unable to test out the USB 3.0 and hot swappable dock because my motherboard does not support either of those features, but it’s great to know that they’re there if I decide to create a new setup.

Thermaltake did a great job on the construction of this case. It’s hefty, but never at any time do you feel like it’s going to collapse on itself. Plastic is prominent in the case, but it never feels flimsy. Really, the plastic helps make the case, as it integrates seamlessly with the black paint job of the metal parts of the case. On the left side of the case a clear window lets you look into the case, and also on that door is a mount for you to hold your headphones on. I will admit, however, that this is the only part of the case that I feel is a little flimsy, so I don’t normally keep my own headphones in case I hit it with my leg and crack the mount off. All the thumbscrews in the case tighten easily yet firmly into their holes, so there’s no need to worry about something falling off. The case also has holes built into it that allow you to install a liquid cooled system inside of the case easily, if you want to. The holes are covered with a thin rubber, so even if you don’t want to put a liquid cooler system in you won’t have to worry about dust getting into the system through those holes.

Installation

The nice thing about this case is its tool-less entry design. Anything needing screws use these nice, large thumbscrews that easily come on and off. The power supply, which sits on the bottom, has this nice adjustable bar that can accommodate the largest and smallest of PSUs. If you’re a person who hates cables strewn about your case, then you’ll love the fact that the case has a false back, where you can string your cables behind the board and bring the connectors out of different rubber ports, minimizing the amount of cabling that you’ll actually see. With fewer cables crisscrossing the system, you can get a really good airflow going on.

This case is also hard drive friendly. You pull out a hard drive bay by pulling on a lever on the front. To install a hard drive, all that you need to do is take out a set of prongs on each side, and slide the hard drive into the bay and replace the black prongs to keep it anchored to the bay. Then, all that’s required is for you to pop it back into its slot and hook the wires up. It really couldn’t get much easier than that. After dealing with screws and space and other issues with other cases, I instantly fell in love with this design. However, there is only support for the old regular 3.5 inch hard drives, so if you have a 2.5 inch SSD you’ll have to find a work around.

Disc drives are also pretty simple to install on here. The front of the case pops off easily enough, and from there you can just gently squeeze on the blue tabs to pop off the front protector. Then, just slide the drive in, and screw it to the case. Simple enough, eh?

Final Thoughts

As you can probably tell, I love this case. It’s a solid design, and I’m not going to be ashamed to show this case off to people that I meet. Now, with that being said, there are one or two minor things that I can find wrong with this case. The mesh top, with its exhaust fan, is both a blessing and a curse. While it helps a lot with the air flow and aesthetics of the case, it also caused a bit of a noise problem for me. Before I installed a new cooler on my CPU, and switched out my GTS 250’s for a single GTX 560 Ti, the noise level was through the roof, and with the mesh roof, it allowed for the noise to escape that much more easily. However, I’ll admit, that’s a really minor issue, because after I installed that new cooler and graphics card my system is actually quieter now than ever before. However, just keep in mind that you might have to makes some improvements to some of your other cooling systems. Another issue with the case is the fact that it’s absolutely huge. Now, while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, if you have limited space you’re going to have a hard time getting this case to fit. But, again, this isn’t really a negative, but rather it’s just something to consider before purchasing this case. After using this new case for just a short amount of time, I know now that I’ll never go back to a boring old aluminum box again. Unfortunately, that means I’m going to have to fork out some money from here on out, but after working with this case, it’s totally worth it!

When it comes to console games, you don’t usually need a special controller to enjoy the game. Just grab the official one that came with it, and you’re good. However, if you’re playing a racing game, you can’t get the same immersive feeling with an analog stick. What you need is a wheel with a shifter, and a set of pedals. Mad Catz has you covered with their officially licensed Wireless Force Feedback Wheel for the Xbox 360, which we’re taking a look at today.

First Look

We’ll start with the wheel itself, which looks beautiful. While it is mostly plastic, the hand grips on the wheel are textured rubber to help you get a better hold. The inner part of the wheel is solid metal, as are both paddle shifters and the top of the shifter knob. The shifter can be positioned on either the left or right, to accommodate your preferred location. On the rear you will find a sync button, DC jack (for the included power cable) RJ-45 jack and a spot to plug in your 360 headset.

One of the things you’ll notice about this wheel is that it is heavy. You could actually play with this sitting on your desk or table, without the need for a clamp. The only downside is that most of the weight is in the wheel, which means it would have a tendency to lean forward. The clamp is pretty basic, and keeps it locked firmly in place.

If you don’t have room for a table in front of your TV, you do have the option of leg supports. These attach to the bottom with four screws (they don’t come all the way out, so you won’t ever lose them) and have a rubber coating. This layer of rubber provides a bit of padding, and helps keep the wheel from moving around.

Remember how I said that I loved how heavy the wheel was? This is most definitely not the case with the pedal unit. It is very light, and almost cheap feeling. There are rubber feet on the bottom, which are there to keep it from sliding around. The design of the pedals is nice, as they are suspended. This should give a more realistic feel than other pedals which are mounted at the base. The only other thing you’ll find on the pedal unit is a single cable, with plugs into the RJ-45 connector on the wheel.

Setup

Just as with their Primer headset we reviewed yesterday, this wireless racing wheel is a breeze to setup. All you need to do is attach either the leg rests or clamp to the wheel, set your pedals in place and connect the two cables (one for the pedals, and one for the power). You’ll need to press the sync button on the wheel and the 360 the first time you connect it, just as you would with a regular 360 controller. Once that’s done, you’re ready to go.

Comfort

I talked a lot about the solid construction of the wheel earlier, and it makes a difference. When you sit down with this for the first time, you’ll think you’re holding something that’s worthy of being in a car. I think my favorite part is the metal paddle shifters, which are leaps and bounds above any plastic ones I’ve used.

I was most surprised by how well this particular wheel worked in my lap. The sheer weight of the unit was enough to keep it in place, but at the same time wasn’t so heavy that it hurt my legs. Of course, I still preferred using it with a table, and the simple clamp was extremely effective.

Just like the weight and construction made the wheel a superior product, the cheap feel of the pedals left me wanting. Since they pedal unit weighs so little, I found that on a hardwood or tile surface, it is virtually impossible to keep the pedals in one spot. You’ll need to have something heavy sitting behind them to keep them in place.

Performance

The main draw to this particular wheel, (aside from the wireless capabilities) is the force feedback. Let me tell you, it works, and it works well. Nothing adds to a racing game like struggling against the wheel when you’re trying to make it through a tight curve. Overall, the wheel handles like a dream. The paddle shifters are quick and responsive, though the stick shifter felt a little more gummy than I would like when shifting.

While I hate how light and cheap the pedals feel, they still work quite well (if you can keep them in place). The suspended placement of the pedals does provide a more realistic-feeling experience, and I had no issues with the responsiveness. I think if Mad Catz had given them the same metallic treatment that they gave the wheel, they’d have solved both of these issues at the same time.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to racing wheels, this Wireless Force Feedback one from MadCatz is difficult to top. Its quality and performance is marred only by the light and cheap pedals that come with it. My only other complaint is that you’re forced to plug the wheel into the wall, which defeats the purpose of making it wireless in the first place. I would say that overall, it’s worth the $250 price tag, but only for enthusiasts.