steelseries 6GV2 Keyboard Review

  My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and  I don't ask for much besides my mandatory crab dinner, that's why I was happily surprised when my wife got me a gift that I had only nonchalantly mentioned one time while browsing a magazine. It was a keyboard, a good keyboard that I've needed for a long time. Yep, she's a keeper.
  For 6 years I had been using a Hewlett-Packard membrane keyboard and after 6 years of not being able to reload while running in an FPS or completing certain key commands with out getting a loud shriek from my motherboard (ghosting) I felt that I had learned my lesson for buying such a piece of crap. That's why my wife blessed me with my new beefy and fully mechanical 6GV2 Keyboard from steelseries, awesome!

 The 6GV2 has now gone under a 2 week stress test since it's maiden voyage and I have few if any complaints about it. The keys are very responsive, quiet once you learn how to use them, and have a nice feel to each push. It's a feel that sets the mechanical keyboard apart from the typical membrane board, it's easy to know why once you see the mechanics behind each key.

As far as I can tell this keyboard uses Linear Key Switches.

 There's not a lot to complain about so far but if there could be a complaint it would focus on the stubby right "Shift" button, it's pretty short compared to what most people might be used to. I find myself often hitting the "\" key while trying to mash the "Shift" key, I've been told though that you get used to it fairly quick, we'll see. Another change to my keyboard comfort zone is the exchange of the left "Windows" key for the steelseries Icon key. The right "Windows" key is still in place, so if you prefer that key you probably wont notice the change, but you should have seen my startled bewilderment turn to excessive rage when I attempted to launch the "Run" command in Windows. I hadn't yet noticed the switcheroo steelseries pulled on me and thought I was losing my mind.. how embarrassing.

In closing this is an excellent down to earth, tough keyboard for $100.00. It skips the excessive feature set of the SHIFT and is around $50.00 cheaper than the 7G.

Nifty:
 -Durable Build
 -Responsive Mechanical Keys
 -Clean Design
 -Cheap if you consider the durability and intended lifespan at 50 million keystrokes.
 -Gold Plated Contacts
 -"Shift+W+A+Space+R"




Not so nifty:
 -Short right "Shift" key
 -No left "Windows" key (personal preference)
 -Jordan ""n0thing"" Gilbert, nothing against him, I'm just jealous.

This hit my humorous bone

It starts off slow, but it really had me laughing at the games I used to think were fun. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent on games like these. If your 20+ years old, I'm sure it will make you feel nostalgic.



Here's to the 90's!

Medal of Honor (PC) Muliplayer Review

  Unlike the single player campaign, the multiplayer version of Medal of Honor was produced by DICE, the developer behind the Battlefield series. So it has a different feel to it, it has the same shooting mechanics but seems to be more polished and better outfitted to allow player vs. player combat. Along with the slight combat tweaks you will also notice that the prone position and "peak" moves are also changed, by changed I mean not there. I applaud this decision to eliminate those postures in the name of fair game play,  a sniper in prone is a sniper unseen, and those assholes shouldn't be given such a small body profile!

 Speaking of snipers, this game now renames the class to "Recon" along with "Assault" and "Spec. Ops.". Each class has a very different feel to it, while the Spec. Ops. and Assault characters both posses full auto assault rifles, the former has properly imposed limits to allow it to play a backup roll to the shock troop Assault class and keeps it from taking the lime light in person to person combat. The Spec. Ops class however does exceed any other class in long range vehicle demolition, courtesy of its ridiculously accurate rocket propelled death grenades. When used properly these weapons can be used to sharp shoot medium range targets very successfully, I would almost call it unfair but it's just part of DICEes balancing act. Even though the 2 shot RPGs are very accurate, its assault rifle has a pitiful starting range and seems to allow it a limited chance at taking out distant targets harassing it. So far I would say that this game is fairly well balanced, which can be a difficult task in any multilayer game.

 Even though the game might be balanced, it does have it's hiccups. One of the most infuriating ones is its hit detection, not only can it cause you to lose your (Call of Duty like) kill streaks, it will cause you to kill yourself and your team mates if you don't watch out. This applies to your traditional weapons and also your, for the lack of a better term, laser targeting binoculars. Multiple times in a match I will find myself peaking out of cover in a hail of distant gunfire to attempt to silence my enemy with an artillery strike, only to have it target the wall 3 feet to my right, FUCK RUN! I have gotten into the habit of targeting something and then running away, just to be safe.

  If I was to compare the single player and multiplayer games, the multiplayer would defiantly come out on top.

Medal of Honor Review (PC): Part 2

 There I am, deep in the mountains of Afghanistan, fighting off what seems like hundreds of rebel fighters cascading down a steep mountainside. I can hear the deep meaty burst from my rifle and the resulting flashes of crimson littering the rocky landscape. A sharp contrast to the deep blue of the sky and virgin white snow on the distant mountains. It's moments like this that make a game feel intense, being outnumbered and almost alone, when for the stories sake, I would be proud to see my fighter die defending his last trench. I could not think of a worse ending to this scene then to see a Hollywood last minute ace in the hole save you from certain death. That is where Medal of Honor looses its respect from me and unfortunately it happens a lot.

 The audio and visual work put into this title is beautiful, it serves its purpose to pull you deep into the game. The game play on the other hand is lacking the punch you would expect from a reboot with the title of Medal of Honor. During the game I find myself constantly being pushed down one path to execute a predetermined game plan and waiting for predictable scripted explosions and action scenes. The title itself just appears to be designed from ideas that were innovative in 2001 and lack the appeal one would expect from a FPS built for today.

 With all that is negative about this title though, you will still find a resulting positive characteristic to pick up the slack. The sound detail is excellent, the guns each have a very distinct and powerful punch, the voice acting never once pulled me out of the story and though the graphics are not on par with Crysis, they scale very well while looking up to date, and that gets a thumbs up from me. All in all I would be able to recommend this game with the understanding that it will be short (3.5 hours on normal for me) and you should treat it more like an interactive movie.

 Story mode aside I am still getting the hand of the multiplayer, I will let you know what I think!

Medal of Honor Review (PC): Part 1

  It's been 3 years since the last release from EA concerning their potentially greatest historical FPS, Medal of Honor. For 3 years I have been awaiting the arrival of the next chapter in the series and looking forward to some new, but old, World War throw down with the Germans. To be completely honest I was hoping that EA would learn from their mistakes and use Airborne as a step to reach a more polished game, but alas this is not true.

  Watching me during the summer is like watching a junkie without his fix. I don't know why, but publishers see fit to make people like me squirm during the summer, with no new games and only old multiplayer modes to keep me busy, it's easily the slowest period in PC game production. So when I caught wind of a new multiplayer Medal of Honor closed beta being released I did everything in my power (which includes removing my credit card from my wallet and typing in the numbers) to pre-purchase the new release in order to gain access to the beta. In doing so I was given the mighty access key so that I may partake in their closed beta, what a let down that was. The beta wasn't bad at all for a beta, it was the people playing it that annoyed me, anyway I digress, this is about the finished product, not the beta.

  Work has been pretty slow for me, so when Wednesday rolled around (10-12-2010) I rolled straight out of bed and hopped onto Steam. After a grueling 2 hours of downloading and installing I was granted access. I closed my office door, turned up my new speakers, set the DPI on my mouse and got ready to fight the new exotic Taliban instead of my old familiar German foe. The high mountains of Afghanistan are a welcome change to the farmlands and cities of classic Europe,  high snow covered peaks and drastic changes in elevation set the mood and old wooden shacks and shepherds replaced the cobbled streets of France. Admittedly, this game has a very strong cinematic feel, multiple times during certain action scenes I remember getting that hair raising feeling when being strongly outnumbered or finding yourself in a no win position, but that's where this game starts to reach its limits. Just like a Saturday morning cartoon, I always end up having the upper hand, some how.

 That's it for today, I'm currently writing as I am playing, so stay tuned for more!

Treasure Hunt

 My wife and I, especially my wife, enjoy Fall more that any other season. The vibrant colors of the maple and oak trees, the smell of damp earth, the cold nip at your cheeks and the beautiful fields of corn and pumpkin, it brings out my spirit for adventure. Now since we need some Fall decorating material for our house, we decided to go for a drive out to a pumpkin patch and grab a hay bail and some gourds. The pumpkin patch was great, full of pumpkin cannons that shoot a half a mile and neat animals, this was a great part of the day, but not the best.

As we were pulling out onto the old road to home, the adventures spirit struck me. To my wife's delight I decided to turn towards the mountains and not back home, off we went on a journey through old gravel roads and up through the forests. Since I can remember I have always wanted to live up in this area, it's so quite and alone, dependent on no one. It took me 5 years but I finally convinced my wife to succumb to my dream of acreage and today was no better time to look for property!

We explored a lot of cool things while looking for a house, an old cemetery founded in 1840, an iconic small-town white church (bell included) in the middle of nowhere, great views of sprawling metro areas in the distance, a lot of cool things. While we were cruising down an old gravel road we came upon a sign, "Estate Sale: Today Only", who the hell passes up an estate sale in the middle of nowhere?! Speeding down the old un-kept road we drove for 10 minutes when the tall trees began opening up onto an old, but taken care of house. The house was full of people, "garage sale people", you know, the people that find these sales like geese find the south, some how. My wife and I poked around up stairs and downstairs finding nothing but old lady things, I then stumbled upon a mix match of old computer items and speakers. That's where I saw them, NEW SPEAKERS! They weren't to shabby either, they were Logitech X-230s, surely the old bats running the sale would want $500.00 for them. I began searching around the gently used speakers for a price sticker and, and, only 15 bucks, what? Thats right, this once $200.00 speaker set was only $15.00. I was skeptical so I plugged them into my phone and they burst forth with beautiful ear candy, they sounded like champs.

 After our adventure we sped home, had a glorious meal of grilled roast beast sandwiches, jellied cranberries, potato soup, hot fresh apple cider and pumpkin pie. And now here I am, listening to the meaty guitar of 10,000 Days and happily slapping away at my keyboard with a full belly. That's a day worth writing about.

Stupid Phrases

This is a short list of phrases or words that when I am king of the world, if used, will result in a public flogging. They will call it "Flogging Friday". Now, I know some of these may be petty, but when I hear them it completely distracts me. I start to repeat the word or phrase in my head and try to make sense of it instead of listening to my conversing partner, very counter productive.

Here they are:

"A.T.M. Machine"
Also known as the Automated Teller Machine, machine.

"I could care less"
This wouldn't be bad if it was used in proper context, but it's not. This phrase is used most often to imply that one could not give a shit, when in fact, they are saying that they very much do give a shit.

"Irregardless"
This is a real word, but it confuses me. "Ir" makes the word a negative too regard, but "ir" also implies the same as "less", so are we not regarding what we wouldn't regard?

"Ya know what I mean"
Often used as a statement and not as a question, ya know what I mean? Besides being an over used phrase it also demands as much respect as "Git'r done!".

"Hot water heater"
I'm a plumber, I hear this a lot, please stop it. Let me explain the insanity of this phrase with a simple question; why do we need a device to heat hot water?

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice"
Uh, what?

"Touch base"
Fortunately I don't have the pleasure of hearing this one that often, but when I do, I have flash backs to Office Space. Myredstaplar.


That's all for now, but there will probably be more to come.