Byte-Sized Games

Killing Floor Review

noreply@blogger.com (ChummiestDonkey) — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 04:46:00 +0000

Since Killing Floor 2 was recently announced, I felt it was a good time to put out this review. Killing Floor is a game I hold near and dear to my heart. Now its nowhere near perfect, but it is a classic.

So the basic premise of the game is to buy weapons, survive rounds, and kill everything in your way. This game gets many things right but with few unforgivable blemishes. For instance, connecting to a friend's game should not be as hard as it is. Even if you are on LAN, it's hard. And another thing: any difficulty after Beginner is freaking hard, that or I'm just stupid.

The mechanics in this game are great. Zed time--something similar to bullet time, when everything is in slow motion--is easily one of best features in this game, providing awesome looking kills and situations. Going to the trader is a long and treacherous journey. Just kidding; all of the enemies are dead. But you only have one-and-a-half minutes to get there, so getting there and being able to buy everything you need before the time runs out is a satisfying feeling.

One problem I have with the game is DLC. You only have a choice of about six characters without buying DLC. There is also a weapon DLC but there are many weapons to choose from without buying any DLC.

There are a total of seven perks. These perks give you special proficiencies, those perks being Field Medic, Support Specialist, Sharpshooter, Commando, Berserker, Firebug, and Demolitions. All perks do what you think they would do. The Field Medic heals people faster, the Sharpshooter's good with guns, the Firebug does more damage with fire weapons, etc.

There are many types of zombies, or mutants, in this game, as demonstrated by the picture below.

So, as you may be able to tell, this game is very good, with few minor annoyances. You wont regret picking up this game, especially if it is on sale. The game's minimum system requirements are also not too crazy, so you don't have to worry about it not running on your computer.

This game is different than your average zombie shooter, bringing in new and welcome features that will keep you playing for a while. It is also very easy to lose track of time while playing this game.

I give Killing Floor a 9/10. Go pick up Killing Floor right now, and make a few friends get it too. You'll definitely enjoy this game.

If you do happen to get this game, you can add me as a friend (ChummiestDonkey) on Steam, and we can play together.

DO THE MATRIX! My Friend Pedro Game Review

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Newling) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:55:00 +0000

My Friend Pedro is a hilarious and action-packed Adult Swim flash game that is extremely fun to play. It is like playing Max Payne or The Matrix as a 2D platformer. Although it's not nearly as serious as either of those, it's still really epic. The controls are easy compared to the maneuvers your character can do. One of the best features of the game is being able to slow down time when fighting by pressing Shift or Pause. Another feature is being able to do parkour and stunts extremely easy. You can finish this game in about 30 minutes.

The game starts out with your character on the street, talking to a floating banana named Pedro which is part of your subconscious. Anyhow, almost the entire game takes place in the ghetto, and everyone you meet (except Pedro the banana) tries to kill you. You can also slow down time as a side effect, due to the massive amounts of pills someone made you take. There is no limit to how long or how many slow-mo's you can do. The only downside is not being able to wall jump while doing it, which is a very important feature in this game.

The rest of the game is mostly the same, you do a lot of stunts while killing a lot of gangsters and slowing down time and finding new weapons. The game has cool ragdoll effects when enemies die, especially when using a shotgun. The only thing that made the game difficult to play was when it would have occasional glitches while doing parkour, but other than that, the game was great. I preferred the hacked version because I didn't have to worry about dying, but if you like a challenge, you should play the original. The ending, however, was extremely weird, making me question if this entire game was just a giant acid trip. I thought the game was great. It was very fun and short, so most people have time to play and win the game.

My final score for this game is 8/10.

Look At Them Graphics: 4K Ultra HD and Gaming

noreply@blogger.com (Taylor Duane) — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 04:37:00 +0000

As I was browsing the Internet earlier today, I came upon an article comparing frame rates and resolutions for different titles on the Xbox One and the PS4. While most would be amazed that gaming has come so far in recent years, what with the ability to play such amazing looking games in 1080p or 900p at more than 30 frames per second, others are pissed that they can't play the Xbox One in 4K. Here's a comment I noticed on that article:

I have been hearing from people like the guy above a lot. There are some people who prefer to game at 120 frames per second at 2160p and they think its dramatically different from 1080p at 60 frames per second. Which it isn't. These people may think there is a difference, but there just isn't, and it can be proven scientifically.

The human eye cannot distinguish any frame rate past 100 FPS, in fact, it may even be less than that. As well, believe this or not, after your face is a far enough distance away from your TV, you cannot distinguish between 1080p and ultra HD. This makes playing a console game capable of 2160p absolutely pointless. For you to just distinguish between 720p and 1080p requires you to be less than three feet away from your television. For you to distinguish between 1080p and 4K requires you to be about a foot away from your TV.

Another issue comes to mind when thinking about this: you can't play a game in a super high resolution on a TV that doesn't support that resolution. 4K TVs are an infinitesimal fraction of the TV market. Almost nobody owns one, and they're quite frankly pointless, because, unless if you are putting your cornea on the screen, you're not going to notice any difference between it and 1080p.

If you are playing a game on your console, how far away are you from the TV? I play around five or six feet away, which means I can play a game in 720p and not realize the difference between it and 1080p. I'm sure more people sit even further away.

If the next generation of consoles increase screen resolution at all, I don't think it will be 4K. I think the next logical step is 1440p. Because, right now, almost nobody owns a TV capable of ultra HD. And it's likely that the number of people that own one will still be very low in the next five to ten years. Additionally, there would need to be significant price drops in hardware for Microsoft or Sony to make a console capable of 4K/1440p at 60 FPS and it be $500 or less. It can't be done. Even in the next ten years, 2160p should not be expected.

I know this was more of a rant than anything, but it bugs me when people say they need ultra-high graphics and frame rates when playing games, otherwise they're "unplayable". 30 frames per second is playable. 720p is playable. But, as of right now, 2160p is not.

5 Tips for Speeding Up Your Windows Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Taylor Duane) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 23:03:00 +0000

I own two computers: a laptop with Windows 8.1 and a desktop with Windows 7. The latter computer is very old, and I do what I can with it to make sure it doesn't freeze and crash constantly. I can only do so much until I upgrade its components, but these tips can really affect your computer's performance, in a good way. They did, after all, make my slow ten-year-old computer actually respond and do anything at all.

Tell us if these tips helped you in the comments below.

Tip #1: Turn Down Your Settings

If a game is lagging on your computer, what do you do? You turn down the texture quality and the resolution, and other stuff like that. Believe it or not, there are settings in your Control Panel that allow you to turn off resource-intensive features that can slow down your PC, such as animations, shadows, and transitions.

To get there, first go to your Control Panel and, next to "View by" in the corner, make sure "Small icons" is selected. Then click "System".

Click to zoom in.

Then click on "Advanced system settings" in the left sidebar. A box should appear. Under the Advanced tab, click "Settings..." under the "Performance" heading.

Then, under the Visual Effects tab, you can balance between appearance and performance. Choosing "Let Windows choose what's best for my computer" checks some effects, whereas adjusting for best appearance turns on all effects, and adjusting for best performance turns off all effects.

If you're running Windows 8 or 8.1, I would suggest turning off all effects. On my laptop, the only effect I have on is "Smooth edges of screen fonts", which I think looks nicer. After applying your changes, you may have to restart. Your machine won't look different, but there wont be any animations, shadows, or transitions when you do things like go to the Start Menu or opening the Charm. However, your computer will be much faster.

In Windows 7, when you turn off all effects and you apply your changes, it looks like you took a step back a decade. If you want to keep Windows 7 looking like Windows 7, make sure only these effects are checked:

Tip #2: Increase Virtual Memory

As I said before, my desktop PC is very slow. This is largely because of the fact that it only has 1GB of RAM, which makes it incredibly sluggish and unable to do almost anything without blowing up. I want to upgrade it as soon as I can, but for right now, I have to take measures like these to speed it up temporarily. Virtual memory is basically RAM your computer can use, but the memory is taken from your hard drive, not from a RAM stick. So, as long as you have a big enough hard drive, you can put as much virtual memory on your PC as you want, which, by the way, I don't recommend.

A hard drive is much slower than a RAM stick. RAM is even faster than a solid-state drive. This is why you only need 4GB or 8GB of RAM for a really fast computer. Think of it like this: most DDR3 RAM sold today is at least 1333 MHz, which means the RAM goes through about eighty billion (80,000,000,000) cycles per minute. Meanwhile, most hard drives can do 5,400 or 7,200 cycles a minute. There's a big difference between those numbers.

So, virtual memory can only do so much. If you have hardly any RAM on your PC (2GB or less), I would strongly suggest just buying some more RAM, especially if you're trying to do things like play games or edit picture or video. 4GB sets can be found that are less than $50. 8GB sets aren't that much either.

To add more virtual memory to your machine, go to Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced > "Settings..." under the Performance heading > Advanced tab. Then click on the button that says "Change...".

These are basically the same steps to configuring your visual effects, except instead of going to the Visual Effects tab you go to the Advanced tab.

After you click on "Change...", select the hard drive you'd like to put a paging file on. I have that set to my C: drive, and I have allocated 4000 MB (almost 4GB) from my drive to my file. You don't want to add too much, as you will lose precious hard drive space, so try to allocate the recommended amount. When you're done, click "Set". You may be asked to restart your computer.

Tip #3: Remove Startup Items

Programs opening at startup can be slowing down your computer. Programs that commonly open up at startup include Skype, Spotify, and a lot of other garbage. Here's how you can get them to stop it.

For Windows 7 Users: Press the Windows key while pressing down the letter R. A box called "Run" should open up. In that box, type in "msconfig" (without the quotation marks) and click Enter. Go to the Startup tab and uncheck programs such as Skype and Spotify. Just make sure you don't disable anything manufactured by Windows, as if you are not sure what that program does, you can seriously mess up your computer. Apply your changes. The next time you start up your computer, none of these programs will start up either.

For Windows 8/8.1 Users: Go to the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete > Task Manager), and click the Startup tab. Click on the application you want to be disabled and click "Disable". Then close the Task Manager.

Windows 7 (left) and Windows 8.1

Also remember that uninstalling programs via the Control Panel is also a good way to speed up your computer.

Tip #4: Install CCleaner

CCleaner is a program I use to free up some space on my hard drive and remove temporary files such as cookies, Prefetch data, program data, and browsing history. Running it for the first time will take a while and will also remove a lot of junk files, several gigabytes maybe. However, if you start doing it daily, it will be quicker and remove less each time. You can download CCleaner here.

Tip #5: Get an Antivirus

The reason your computer might be so slow is because you have a virus. If you're using Windows 7, open Microsoft Security Essentials under your Start menu and do a scan. It might take some time, but Windows will tell you if you have anything harmful on your PC. If you're running Windows 8/8.1, open Windows Defender and do a scan. If anything comes back as potentially dangerous to your computer, remove it using either Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender. If you do not have an antivirus on your computer, install one. I recommend Avast Free Antivirus. I like it and it does what I want it to do without it being all in my face like McAfee or Norton. You can download Avast here.

Remember that your computer might be slow because of your hardware and the only way to fix that is by actually opening up your computer and buying some new parts. Like I stated earlier, a RAM upgrade is affordable and a much better alternative to buying a new computer.

No More Console Wars

noreply@blogger.com (Taylor Duane) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 17:22:00 +0000

I have "liked" the IGN Facebook page, and, many a time, as I was browsing down my news feed did I notice the comments on their updates about which gaming platform was better. Their arguments, though, were anything but polite, intelligent, or just slightly rational. The comments would just say like "PC MASTER RACE LOLOLOLOL" or "Xboner sucks", etc. Of course to provide and nurture an argument you need evidence supporting your view, which is never given by these people. It's just these dumb comments, which somehow get a lot of people replying and debating. But this just isn't a problem with trolls on Facebook. Every time a new console comes out, people take sides and just argue about which one is best.

So, this is what I am going to do about it. I'm going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the eighth-gen consoles and other gaming platforms and compare them to see which one really is king.

Xbox One

The Xbox One is capable of running games at 720p, 900p, and 1080p at 30-60 frames per second, which is a level unheard of from any gaming console before, yet, the PS4's graphics are actually superior. Does it matter? I don't think so, as the human eye can barely discern between 720p and full HD, especially if you're sitting further away from your TV. But the increased frame rate in some games is beautiful.

The Kinect is new and improved: more accurate and better at deciphering voice commands. Not to mention the system has USB and HDMI ports and supports a lot of different headsets. A new interface is very similar to Windows 8, and makes navigating your Xbox very user-friendly. As well, you can record your gameplay for up to five minutes in 720p using Upload Studio.

But with all that being said, the PS4 can record up to 15 minutes of gameplay, and has more 1080p titles than Xbox One. And of course, to be able to play online with friends will cost you $60 a year. Compare that to the $50 PS+ annual charge. As well, playing online on a computer using Steam or a Wii U/3DS is free.

PlayStation 4

As stated earlier, the PS4 has many more titles that run in 1080p than Xbox One. As well, the console's specs are even better than the Xbox One. Like the Xbox One, it has an 8-core CPU, however it has a more powerful GPU and memory.

However, playing online costs $50 a year, which can add up. If you buy PS+ for five years straight, it probably would have been better to have just bought a computer with all that money. The PS4 has HDMI and USB ports, as well.

Wii U

The Wii U's specs don't really compare to the PS4 or Xbox One, but the console can still handle games in 720p and 1080p at 30-60 frames per second. However, this can take a toll on some games' performances. For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops II isn't even capable of running in HD for the Wii U (640p). The Wii U can basically be called the Mac of the video gaming world. A lack of support for many high-end games on the Wii U that the Xbox One or PS4 can offer drives people away. Then again, the Wii U is unique in the fact that it's the only console with titles like Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Sonic Lost World, and Wind Waker HD. Mario, Sonic, Pokémon, and Zelda games are all Nintendo. Good luck finding your childhood on an Xbox One or PS4.

The Wii U is compatible with most Wii games, as well, controllers and Nunchuks for the Wii work with the Wii U as well. Not to mention, you can play all of your favorite Wii U games on either a Wii Remote, a controller, or that weird looking GamePad.

I honestly think you can't compare the Wii U to a PS4 or an Xbox One. They're just too different. It's in a class of its own. Because, quite frankly, if somebody wants to play Mario, they're not going to get a PS4 or Xbox One, they're always going to go with that one console that actually lets them do that.

PC Gaming

A PC really is the best way to play a game. However, many computers that you can just go to Walmart and buy do not come close to the specs of a console. Playing the newest Call of Duty at 60 frames per second in 1080p will definitely be next to impossible on a $300 desktop you just got at Best Buy. You will need to put down a lot of money for a good desktop PC, but if you have that type of money and you can still afford to feed yourself the next day, go right ahead and get yourself one.

Some advantages of a gaming computer are that playing online is free (as long as you pay your Internet bill) and that there are a lot of PC exclusive titles. As well, if you are playing games on a computer, you can also do other stuff on said computer, such as edit video, browse the web, use Photoshop, etc. However, to get the maximum power out of a computer, you will have to pick parts and build one. As well, for a computer more powerful than a console, you can end up dishing out more than $500.

Mobile Gaming

Handhelds such as the Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita, Nvidia Shield, and even a smartphone or tablet are great portable consoles that can entertain us anywhere (mostly on the toilet). Yet some of the most popular games ever are only played on these handhelds, such as Pokémon X and Y, which have sold over twelve million copies. And, although they are small, these handhelds can be incredible powerful.

Every gaming platform has its advantages and disadvantages. Making a war out of it is pointless. If somebody prefers one console to another, well... big freaking whoop. All of these consoles are good for their own reasons. Somebody might buy an Xbox One because they want to connect to their friends that own an Xbox, and that could be the only reason that compels them to get one. You shouldn't attack that person because of their decision. That's just my two cents.