By Mat Elfring on Feb 06, 2018 11:17 pm
During Super Bowl LII, a teaser for Solo: A Star Wars Story dropped, and it gave us a look into the next Star Wars film, which takes place years before A New Hope. The solo Han Solo film has been on a rough journey the past year. The original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were fired and then replaced by Ron Howard. It's been a roller coaster of a ride for the cast and crew. This week, during Good Morning America, a full trailer for the upcoming spring film was released. The extended trailer had a few Easter eggs as well as a few new characters that every Star Wars fan will be able to purchase a toy of in the upcoming months. More importantly, we also learned a lot about the new film; here are the main takeaways. Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Emilia Clarke are also featured in the film, which releases in theaters on May 25, 2018. The movie has faced a somewhat troubled production, as noted above. Rumors have suggested more of the film was reshot than initially believed; we know Paul Bettany had to replace Michael K. Williams. It remains to be seen how the film turns out, but the new trailer provides us with our best sense yet of what to expect.
The trailer kicks off with Han starting up the Millennium Falcon. Everything looks shiny and new. Afterwards Han, played by Alden Ehrenreich, says, "I've been running scams on the street since I was 10."
Han Solo and Qi'Ra, played by Emilia Clarke, are on the run in a landspeeder. If you look towards the top of the image, you can see Han's gold dice, which will eventually find a home in the Falcon.
Han and Qi'Ra are being chased by a trooper on a boxy landspeeder. Han says, "I was kicked out of the flight academy." He's referring to his time in the Imperial Naval Academy's flight school, which was brief. Han continues, "For having a mind of my own." The trooper chasing Han runs into something and his bike explodes.
Han's speeder is still on the run and slides across the ground on a watery planet. This could be Corellia, the birthplace of Han Solo. During this shot, Han is being chased by Moloch and Rebolt, which have Lego sets coming out soon. Because Moloch is played by stuntman Harley Durst, he's probably not a big part of this movie.
Han stands in the mountains, on what could also be Corellia, and says, "I'm going to be a pilot." It's possible that this movie starts with Han leaving his home planet for the first time.
Han continues, "Best in the galaxy." We see an interior shot of the Falcon, and it is brand new, not a scratch on it.
There is a quick shot of Han standing in front of the Falcon, during a dust storm, and at the top of the screen are two suns. Could this be taking place on Tatooine?
Tobia Beckett, played by Woody Harrelson, says, "Hey kid. I'm putting together a crew." Again this scene could be taking place on Corellia. Harrelson's character will be a mentor to Han, the person who teaches Han everything he knows about smuggling and being a scoundrel in the Star Wars Universe.
Qi'Ra and a droid exit the Falcon. The droid, whose name has not surfaced yet, will be voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Crashing, Broadchurch). It's very apparent from the trailer that this droid will be the C-3PO of the team, but hopefully a bit more useful.
It's the first shot of Lando, played by Donald Glover. He looks pretty awesome.
Thandie Newton, who you probably know as Maeve on Westworld, was rumored to be appearing in the film, and here's our confirmation. However, we're not sure who she is playing. There is a lot of speculation she's Sana Starros, and she claimed to be Han's wife when she appeared in Marvel's Star Wars comic series.
We have a brand-new alien, and in addition to the cool goggles, he has four arms. He's piloting a ship that has a bit of wear and tear on it.
Han stands facing a room which seems a bit seedy-looking. This could possibly be Stenness, where he first began gambling before the Galactic Civil War. This is where Han and Sana got illegitimately married.
There is a shot of a seemingly high-class bar, which Qi'Ra appears in as well. Inside the bar is a singer in a gold outfit accompanied by a head floating in a jar. It may be a throwaway moment, as the focus quickly went to Qi'Ra afterwards. Maybe she's there for a heist?
Of course, Han will be shooting people across the galaxy. We get a quick look at a shootout that's about to take place. Han is facing these guys.
We get a closer look at the person in the center of the group. His helmet has writing all over it. Do these gang members have any affiliation to the unnamed crime lord of Stenness?
There's a quick shot of someone shooting a blaster, and the outfit, while hard to make out, looks familiar.
From what we can make out, it looks similar to the outfit Lando wore in Return of the Jedi while in Jabba's palace.
In the only other shot with decent lighting, you can see the ridges on the top of the helmet, as well as the shape of it, which covers the side of the face, much like Lando's RotJ helmet.
Back on what seems like Corellia, there'a a large explosion, and the trailer leads us to believe Han is flying the ship.
TIE Fighters chase the Falcon on a gaseous planet, with an Imperial-Class Destroyer in the background.
After escaping the Empire, the crew on the Falcon finds themselves avoiding some sort of Cthulhu-type creature. Could this be a Purrgil, a giant space-whale that can travel through hyper-space? Regardless, this looks like the biggest creature we've seen in the Star Wars cinematic universe, even bigger than the Exogoth from Empire Strikes Back. We'll learn more when Solo: A Star Wars Story comes to theaters on May 25.
By Dan Auty on Feb 06, 2018 06:17 pm
In the year since its release, Jordan Peele's Get Out has achieved a number of things. It was the most profitable movie of 2017, making more than $254 million at the worldwide box office from a budget of just $4.5 million. It was one of the best reviewed horror movies of the year, and has secured four Oscar nominations, more than any other horror film since The Exorcist in 1973. But its well-deserved success also highlighted how few horror movies have been made by black filmmakers over the decades. In fact, Peele himself spoke about this last year, when he reached out to upcoming black directors with an interest in horror to get in touch with him with the hope that that he can get their projects off the ground. Hopefully Get Out's success will see a new generation of black filmmakers get a chance to see their terrifying visions onscreen. That doesn't mean there are no notable horror films from black directors. Here are 11 well worth seeing--some brilliant, some less so, but they all have their place in the history of horror.
11. Blacula (1972)
William Crain was one of the first African American filmmakers to graduate from a major film school--in his case, UCLA--and score mainstream success within the industry. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Crain wasn't initially interested in exploring political and social themes; he just wanted to sell tickets. And he certainly did that with Blacula, a blaxploitation spin on the story of Dracula that was one of 1973's biggest grossing movies. Viewed today, it's a formulaic and dated film, but its impact was considerable, and kickstarted a whole wave of scary movies aimed at black audiences.
10. Ganja and Hess (1973)
Ganja and Hess now stands as one of the finest independent horror movies of the 1970s, but this is a reputation it's only acquired over the past few years, helped by a long-overdue blu-ray release and a recent Spike Lee remake. It's an eerie vampire yarn directed by playwright Bill Gunn and was the only other starring role for Duane Jones, the star of Night of the Living Dead. Ganja and Hess is a weird, atmospheric love story between a rich anthropologist-turned-bloodsucker and the widow of a man he has killed. Gunn was given full creative control by producers who just wanted a black vampire film to cash in on the blaxploitation craze. Instead they got a haunting, oblique, and wildly uncommercial masterpiece and that was as much a study of race, class and religious hypocrisy as it was a vampire movie.
9. Dr Black, Mr Hyde (1976)
While William Crain's Blacula was a straightforward horror comedy, his second blaxploitation horror did attempt to tackle some weightier themes. In this update of Robert Louise Stevenson's classic horror tale, a black scientist is transformed into a rampaging white maniac, killing drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes in the ghettos of Los Angeles. Subtle, it is not.
8. Black Devil Doll From Hell (1984)
Written in three days and shot on VHS by Chester Novell Turner, who took a correspondence course to learn how to make a movie, Black Devil Doll From Hell is sordid, sleazy, and unbelievably amateurish. But there's nothing else quite like it, and it's picked up something of a cult reputation in the years since its initial release. A religious young woman wants to remain a virgin until her wedding night, but unfortunately the purchase of a haunted doll (designed to look like '80s funkster Rick James) transforms her into a sex-crazed lunatic. In more recent years Turner has expressed an interest in making a sequel, but sadly--or perhaps, thankfully--this is yet to happen.
7. Def By Temptation (1990)
James Bond III was a bit-part actor whose credits included the '70s TV version of Wonder Woman, B.J. and the Bear, and Spike Lee's School Daze. In 1990 he gained his sole directing credit with Def By Temptation, which he also wrote, produced, and starred in. It's the story of a trainee minister whose faith is tested when he becomes the target of an evil seductress in contemporary New York. Def By Temptation is very low budget, but it's marked by a smart, subversive script, stylish visuals, and stand-out performances, including an early role from Samuel L. Jackson. It's just a shame that Bond never made a second movie.
6. Tales From Da Hood (1995)
Rusty Cundieff is best known as a comedy director, and his credits include the hip-hop spoof Fear of a Black Hat and a lengthy stint on Chappelle's Show in the 2000s. But in 1995, he directed this horror anthology, which dealt with some pretty heavy themes. Each of the four stories tackled a different contemporary concern--like police brutality, domestic violence, and gang warfare--and placed it in a supernatural horror context. It's an effective, underrated mix of scares, dark humor, and social commentary that feels every bit as relevant now as it did 20 years ago.
5. Demon Knight (1995)
The most prolific black filmmaker to have worked in horror over the years is Ernest Dickerson. Dickerson became known for his work as a cinematographer on Spike Lee's early movies, but while his debut film Fresh (1992) was similar in subject matter to Lee's movies, his subsequent work in cinema and TV has frequently embraced horror. His 1995 film Demon Knight is a wildly entertaining horror comedy, spun off from HBO's Tales from the Crypt series. A drifter holes up in a weird motel after stealing an ancient key, and is soon besieged by demonic forces eager to get it back. It's a fast-paced, exciting, and funny ride that proved Dickerson's love of the genre.
4. Bones (2001)
While most '90s rappers-turned-actors stuck to urban thrillers and comedies, Bones was the exception. Starring Snoop Dogg and directed by Ernest Dickerson once more, this was as much a blaxploitation homage as it was a contemporary horror flick. Snoop plays Jimmy Bones, a well-liked crook who is killed by cops in 1979. 22 years later, Bones returns to--you guess it--seek his revenge. Snoop isn't exactly the scariest of horror anti-heroes, but it's a fun collision of horror, social satire, and some top-notch hip-hop.
3. Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus (2015)
Spike Lee isn't a director known for horror, but in 2015 he applied his talents to a remake of Ganja and Hess. As a movie, the results were a little disappointing. Storywise it's a very faithful remake, but Gunn's unique dreamlike style is replaced by a flat TV-movie look, and Lee adds nothing thematically interesting to this potent blend of horror and drama. But Lee's high profile meant that the original movie received some mainstream attention, and hopefully curious viewers will have checked out Gunn's original masterpiece.
2. Get Out (2017)
It wasn't surprising that Jordan Peele would make his directing debut with a horror movie, given the comedian's fondness of genre pastiches on Key & Peele. But no one could have predicted the huge impact of Get Out. The overwhelmingly positive critical reaction was matched by an amazing box office haul, and Peele prove himself adept at combining highly relevant social themes with a movie that was funny, tense, and scary.
1. Kuso (2017)
Director Steven Ellison is better known as musician Flying Lotus, but even fans who expected his directing debut to be as ambitious and inventive as his albums might have been taken aback by Kuso. A post-apocalyptic psychedelic horror comedy, the movie bombards the viewer with a non-stop cavalcade of gruesome body horror, slapstick laughs, animation, puppetry, musical sequences, bodily fluids, disturbing VFX, and all manner of sexual perversity. It caused numerous walkouts when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year, but if you ever wanted to see funk master George Clinton produce a giant cockroach from his anus, this is the movie for you.
By Michael Rougeau on Feb 06, 2018 02:57 am
For the sci-fi junkies of the universe.
Netflix's Altered Carbon is some heady, intense science fiction--the most hardcore sci-fi on TV in years. The first episode alone is packed with so many cryptic, futuristic terms and concepts it might make your head spin. And you wouldn't want that--who knows what it might do to your cortical stack? Don't worry if you have no idea what that means. We've got you covered with this list of the important cyberpunk and sci-fi terms, phrases, and concepts you'll need to fully grasp exactly what's going down in Netflix's noir sci-fi epic, Altered Carbon, which hits Netflix this Friday, February 2.
27. Cortical Stack
The cortical stack is the sci-fi invention at Altered Carbon's core. It shapes the story's world, and it makes all the show's events possible. Think of it like a USB drive that houses your memory and personality--everything that makes you who you are. It rests somewhere within each person's upper spine/lower skull. If your body dies, your stack can be implanted in a new one, as long as it remains intact.
26. Sleeves
Sleeves are what the denizens of Altered Carbon's world call their bodies. Thanks to cortical stacks, bodies are basically disposable--depending how wealthy you are, at least.
25. Re-sleeving
Re-sleeving is the process of your cortical stack being implanted or "downloaded" into a new sleeve. The wealthy can be re-sleeved whenever they want, sometimes treating different sleeves like changes of clothes, while the poor do it once in a lifetime--if that.
24. Spin Up
Spinning someone up or being spun up is the process of being awakened after re-sleeving. It can be disorienting, especially if your most recent memories were heightened or traumatic (such as if your last sleeve died in combat).
23. Sleeve Sickness
Sleeve sickness is a physical malady that includes disorientation and other symptoms. It can occur when your stack is re-sleeved and can be overcome with the aid of re-acclimation drugs.
22. Organic Damage
Organic damage is the illegal act of damaging or killing a sleeve.
21. Sleeve Death
This is simply the name for when your sleeve gets destroyed or damaged. The mind lives on without the body--as long as your cortical stack isn't destroyed with it.
20. Real Death
This is the real, scary kind of death, when your cortical stack is destroyed or lost along with your sleeve, making it impossible for you to be re-sleeved and spun back up. Of course, the wealthy have secure backups, so the richer you are, the more unlikely real death is.
19. Meths
"Meth" is the somewhat derogatory term for the richest of the rich--and therefore the oldest of the old, the untouchable, borderline inhuman elite at the top of Altered Carbon's society. Meths usually live in decadent mansions above the clouds. They're named after the Biblical figure Methuselah. The exact passage quoted in the Altered Carbon book is "and all the days of Methusaleh were nine hundred sixty and nine years."
18. Grounders
"Grounders" is the derogatory term Meths use to refer to those at the other end of society, especially poor people who live on the world's surface rather than above the clouds.
17. Needlecast
A needlecast is a "tightbeam transmission"--in other words, an extremely precise digital broadcast--of the contents of your cortical stack. For example, Meths can needlecast to different stacks around the globe--or the universe--to attend faraway business meetings or simply go on vacation.
16. Personality Frag
A "personality fragmentation" occurs when a person re-sleeves into too many different bodies. Basically, you go insane. That's why Meths keep multiple clones on ice, often in multiple places; re-sleeving into your own body (even a copy of it) avoids adverse effects.
15. Synthetic Sleeve
A synthetic sleeve is a lab-made body that possesses abilities a normal (i.e. born) sleeve does not, such as some shapeshifting capability to change your appearance. However, synths are limited in other ways.
14. AI Hotels
Altered Carbon is set so far in the future that AI hotels--hotels owned and operated entirely by artificial intelligences--are considered archaic. The AI are programmed to crave customers, and they're often eccentric. In the book, protagonist Takeshi Kovacs stays at a hotel called the Hendrix, themed after Jimi Hendrix, while in the show he stays at The Raven, where the AI proprietor resembles none other than Edgar Allan Poe.
13. Dipper
A Dipper is someone who can hack into a transmission and remove or add information, such as copying your private memories while you download into a new stack. For all intents and purposes, they're Altered Carbon's version of hackers.
12. Trauma Loop
One character in Altered Carbon gets stuck in a trauma loop, meaning her sleeve died in so traumatic a fashion that her backup is essentially corrupted. Her stack can't be spun back up properly without her suffering.
11. Songspire
Songspire is a structure that appears to be part rock and part tree. It grows on Mars, and individual songspires can be small enough to fit on a necklace or bigger than a house. They emit pleasant sounds and fragrances when touched. Their purpose isn't fully clear, but they appear to have some significance in both the book and the show.
10. Extreme Organic Damage Event
An "extreme organic damage event" in the context of the show is an event at which significant organic damage--damage to one's sleeve--will occur, like a pre-planned fight to the death. These require permits issued by the police to be fully legal.
9. Simulspace
Simulspace is simply Altered Carbon's name for virtual reality. However, unlike the VR of today, simulspace is often indistinguishable from "the real."
8. Psychosurgery
A form of mental therapy that takes place in simulspace, often to help people deal with traumatic events.
7. VR Interrogation
VR interrogation is a brutal form of torture that takes place in simulspace. Your interrogator spins your stack up in VR, then tortures you to digital sleeve death over and over in whatever creative ways the simulation's programming can support. Your stack and sleeve remain intact in the real, so you never truly die, but you feel everything in your mind.
6. Multisleeving
Multisleeving is a criminal activity that involves copying the contents of your stack and downloading yourself into separate sleeves simultaneously. Essentially, there are two or more yous walking around. It's highly illegal, and the penalties are harsh, though it can be hard to prove.
5. Neo-Catholics
Neo-Catholicism is a religion whose devotees believe in the "natural order," and that being re-sleeved destroys the soul, even as it preserves the mind. Neo-Catholics' stacks carry special "Neo-C coding" that prevents them from being legally spun up when their original sleeves (i.e. their actual birth bodies) die. It's a big source of the conflict in Altered Carbon. Resolution 653 is a bill that would allow murder victims to be spun back up to testify, even if they have Neo-C coding.
4. Reaper
Reaper is a drug that simulates a near death experience. It's cheaper than actual sleeve suicide, a thrill only those wealthy enough to keep clones and backups on hand can afford to experience. It can also be used in small doses to lower your body temperature and instill a feeling of cool indifference that makes it easier to commit violence. As a result, soldiers often use it.
3. Portable 3D Bio Organic Printer
Imagine a 3D printer that can work bones, flesh, and organs into actual living bodies, A.K.A. sleeves. That's a portable 3D bio organic printer, an extremely expensive gadget that Meths sometimes keep around.
2. CTAC
The Colonial Tactical Assault Corp (CTAC) is a universal police force whose soldiers needlecast to pre-trained sleeves on whatever world they're needed. They fight sleeve sickness by injecting chemical cocktails. Depending what side you're on, you might see them as the enemy.
1. Envoy
The Envoys were a group of soldiers who rose up in resistance against humanity's colonial forces and CTAC. It didn't end well. They had some vaguely defined enhanced abilities (including improved senses, intuition, and physical capabilities).
By Jimmy Thang on Feb 06, 2018 02:18 am
Heighten your skill level with cutting edge gaming hardware and peripherals.
When it comes to online play, nothing gives you the competitive edge more than a combination of raw skill and practice. As the adage goes, "get good." But when you're faced with opponents equally skilled as you, having the right equipment can eliminate variables that may hold you back from performing your best. From high refresh rate monitors to pinpoint accurate mice, we've outlined all the gaming hardware and peripherals that will help give you that slight competitive advantage. Table of Contents - High/Variable Refresh Rate Ultrawide Gaming Monitor - Fast Graphics Card - Fast, Multi-core CPU - Fast, Plentiful RAM - Gaming Mouse With Fast, Accurate Sensor And Necessary Buttons - Mousepad - Gaming Keyboard With Fast Switches And Macro Keys - An Elite Controller - Quality Gaming Headphones - Computer Eyewear - Fast, Wired Internet Connection
High/Variable Refresh Rate Ultrawide Gaming Monitor
When it comes into investing in a gaming monitor that will give you an edge, there are a lot of features to look out for. You'll want a panel that can produce a high, variable refresh rate. Most monitors features a 60Hz refresh rate, but for competitive play, you'll want something higher. For instance, having a monitor that scales up to 120Hz means that the screen can produce up to 120 frames per second; though you'll need a system powerful enough to render at that frame rate (more on that later). This will provide you with more frame granularity to pick your shots. The gaming monitor with the highest refresh rate we've seen is Alienware's 25-inch 240Hz AW2518H. You'll also want a monitor that offers a variable refresh rate. On AMD's side, there's FreeSync; on Nvidia's side, there's G-Sync. These display technologies allow your GPU to control your monitor's refresh rate, which allows you to get the quick response time of disabling V-Sync without the annoying screen tearing. Your gaming monitor should also feature a quick response time. We're talking four milliseconds or fewer. This ensures that there will be minimal delay between your inputs and on-screen actions. The last, and arguably most important, aspect that your competitive gaming monitor should have is an ultrawide aspect ratio. While most monitors feature a 16:9 aspect ratio, an ultrawide 21:9 screen could potentially provide you a wider field of view to display more of your surroundings at any given moment. For instance, in PUBG, it could allow you to spot enemies that might otherwise be outside your peripheral vision. Do keep in mind that not all games support 21:9, however. One good monitor option with many of these technologies is the 35-inch Asus ROG Strix XG35VQ. Not only does this 3440x1440p curved monitor feature a 21:9 aspect ratio, but it has a 100Hz panel and supports FreeSync. It also features a quick four millisecond response time.
Fast Graphics Card
To properly fuel a high refresh rate gaming monitor, you're going to need a powerful graphics card. On AMD's side, the best GPU is the RX Vega 64, which is fast enough to produce high framerates in most games at 1440p. AMD's GPUs also support a wide variety of features that help ensure smooth performance. Radeon Chill, for instance, is designed to save on GPU power consumption, but it can also reduce VRAM buffering, which can result in a more responsive gaming experience. In addition to supporting the FreeSync variable refresh rate standard, AMD graphics cards also support what the company calls Enhanced Sync, which skirts around V-Sync issues that cause random frame rate dips on non-FreeSync monitors. It does this by sampling frame rate at the GPU level. This means that even if you're using a 60Hz display without FreeSync, your keyboard and mouse are able to sample the latest frame rate data that your GPU provides. This can make the game feel more responsive. On Nvidia's side, the company employs Turbo Sync and uses Nvidia G-Sync as its variable refresh rate standard. G-Sync is the company's proprietary technology that's actually built into the monitor. G-Sync monitors typically cost more than their FreeSync counterparts as a result. Nvidia's fastest gaming GPU at the moment is the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, but the company's high-end GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 Ti are also great cards at pushing high frame rates. It's important to highlight that all modern gaming GPUs are really expensive right now due to the recent boom in cryptocurrency mining.
Fast, Multi-core CPU
The most important component of a gaming PC should be the GPU, but if your CPU isn't fast enough, it can bottleneck performance. We recommend at least a quad-core CPU, since many games are beginning to be optimized to utilize quad-core processors. For gaming, CPU speed also plays an important role in maintaining a high framerate. Going off PUBG's recommended system specifications, which is one of the more competitive games with steep system requirements, it suggests that you have at least an AMD Ryzen 5 1600 or Intel Core i5-7600K. These processors carry boost clock speeds of 3.6GHz and 4.2GHz, respectively.
Fast, Plentiful RAM
For gaming, we recommend having at least 8GB of RAM. For most people, 16GB is really the sweet spot as it provides some overhead in case you have multiple programs or tabs running in the background while you're gaming. When it comes to RAM for gaming, more isn't necessarily better; having a ton of RAM won't boost your gaming performance, but if you don't have enough of it, performance will suffer. In terms of RAM speed, you won't generally need more than 2666MHz, though some games like For Honor are optimized to take advantage of RAM speeds that hit 3200MHz. Beyond that for gaming, you won't notice much gains, however.
Gaming Mouse With Fast, Accurate Sensor And Necessary Buttons
While you can game with any freebie or cheap mouse, getting an ergonomically comfortable one with a fast, accurate sensor coupled with the necessary buttons that suit your particular playstyle can provide you superior control. If you're big into MMOs or MOBAs, a mouse like Razer's Naga Hex V2 with its 14 programmable buttons can be of great assistance when you want to quickly fire off abilities. If you're big into shooters, having a mouse like Logitech's G502 with its fast and accurate PMW3366 optical sensor can help you land the best shot possible. Any decent gaming mouse will have a DPI button to change sensitivity on the fly; the G502 allows you to scale from 200 to 12,000 DPI, for example. Features like these could allow you to more easily fine tune your shots when you're sniping.
Mousepad
Even though most modern mice will track on the surface of your table, high-end gaming mice are often tuned specifically to work with mousepads. There are a wide variety of mousepads that encompass hardtops vs cloth pads, but getting one that allows you to glide or provides more grip are the two main factors you'll want to consider when purchasing one. A mousepad that offers more grip will provide more control and allow you to be more precise, but a mousepad that prioritizes gliding will feel smoother and faster. Hard mousepads like SteelSeries' 4HD Professional Gaming Mouse Pad are tuned for sliding, whereas mousepads like the Ripper Gamer Mouse Pad offer more grip. What you choose should depend on your playstyle and what type of games you play.
Gaming Keyboard With Fast Switches And Macro Keys
If you're going to get a gaming keyboard, make sure it's mechanical. The tactile feedback mechanical switches provide ensures consistent keystrokes and mitigates second guessing whether or not you pressed a key. Innovations are also happening when it comes to mechanical switches. For instance, you can get Corsair's K95 RGB Platinum keyboard with Cherry MX Speed switches, which have a 1.2mm actuation distance, shorter than the more common 2mm in many other switches. While Speed switches feel a bit too sensitive to type on as a result, they offer quicker keystrokes. The K95 Platinum also features six programmable macro keys and an optional wrist rest, which could come in handy (pardon the pun) for long gaming sessions. An emerging tech to look out for involves the advent of optical switches, which use light to record input rather than a traditional mechanical solutions. While these switches largely still use the same mechanical parts as something you would see in a Cherry MX equivalent, namely components like the stem and spring, the send-and-receive signals to and from the keyboard theoretically feature a much faster response time. For gaming, you'll also want to consider a keyboard that features macro keys, which will allow you to program a string of button commands to a single key.
An Elite Controller
As great as the keyboard and mouse are, some competitive games are just better suited for a controller. A top notch one is Microsoft's Xbox Elite controller. It's made of high-end rubber material coupled with aluminum alloy components, but it also has a bevy of other useful features that help separate it from the competition. Overall, it provides a lot of customization options. The controller comes with a mixture of concave and convex sticks, which also include a pair of taller convex sticks. You can mix and match these as you please. The Elite controller also comes with an option to swap out the traditional D-pad with the included eight-way disc-like one that's tailor-made for pulling off sophisticated moves in fighting games. Whereas the bumpers on the original Xbox One controller required a lot of actuation force, the bumpers on the Xbox One Elite controller are much easier on the index fingers and feel much more tactile than its predecessor. The Elite controller also allows you to adjust the travel distance on the triggers, so they can actuate more quickly. You can also use Microsoft's software to tweak the dead zones on the control sticks so that they are tailored to your needs. Finally, there are four optional paddles on the back, which can be programmed to be whatever button you want them to be. This can come in handy when you're playing a game and don't want to lift your thumbs off the sticks to press a face button.
Quality Gaming Headphones
Different games incorporate varying implementations of positional audio, but a good gaming headset helps ensure that you won't miss important audio cues. While there are many gaming headsets that offer virtual 7.1 surround sound, games like Overwatch implement Dolby Atmos software for more accurate positional audio and suggests that you turn virtual surround off. As a result, an important thing to look for when purchasing gaming headphones is good stereo imaging, so that left and right audio drivers blend accurately with each other. HyperX's Cloud Revolver does this well and it also offers good sound isolation with its large over-the-ear design that lets you focus on the game. When you're purchasing headphones, it's also important to get one with a good mic so that you can communicate clearly and effectively with your teammates. Last, but certainly not least, you can't overlook ergonomics. Poorly-made headphones can be painful to wear after an hour or so. Again, the HyperX Cloud Revolver does a good job here with its flexible, self adjusting headband coupled with comfortable ear cups that let you play for long periods without much discomfort.
Computer Eyewear
Gaming glasses won't make you a better gamer, but computer eyewear like Gunnar glasses with their yellow tint can mitigate eye strain from the blue light that monitors give off. Considering practice makes perfect, computer eyewear can potentially come in handy if you're constantly cramming multi-hour long gaming sessions. If you don't feel like wearing glasses, you can get a similar effect by downloading a program like F.lux, which can limit your monitor's blue light by pushing more yellowish hues.
Fast, Wired Internet Connection
The last piece of the puzzle to ensure that you're playing with optimal performance is a speedy Internet connection to mitigate lag spikes. For serious competitive online play, you'll want a low ping rate so you can get a quick response time. We're talking 20 milliseconds of ping or less. Considering it's difficult to pay for service that offers a specific ping rate range, however, one guideline we recommend is to use a wired Ethernet connection on an internet subscription that offers at least 6Mbps down.
By Jimmy Thang on Feb 06, 2018 02:09 am
Valve recently released its Steam hardware and software survey for the month of January 2018. As a part of our new, regularly monthly feature, we're going to break down and analyze the latest hardware trends among Steam users. It's important to note that Steam's hardware survey is voluntary, and as a result, it is not completely indicative of real-world numbers. Table of contents - Most popular GPUs - Most popular CPUs - Most popular RAM allotments - Most popular gaming resolutions - Most popular storage amounts - Most popular VR headset - Most popular version of Windows - Most popular Mac hardware and software - Conclusion
GPUs
Nvidia owns 86.4 percent of the GPU market share according to Valve's survey. This figure actually represents a 1.6% increase from the previous month. AMD trails in a distant second with 8.1%, followed by Intel's integrated graphics solutions at 5.2%. 90.9 percent of users reported owning DirectX 12 GPUs, which indicate that most users are equipped with modern graphics cards. The most popular GPU is Nvidia's 2016-released GTX 1060 with 14.2% of the pie. The mid-range GeForce GPU is a great choice for maxing out most games at 1080p with smooth frame rates. It's followed in second place by its 2015-released predecessor, the GTX 960, which has 10.5 percent of the market share. Most users reported having graphics cards with 2GB of video memory, which is what the GTX 960 has.
CPUs
Intel dominated the CPU landscape with 91.9 percent of the market last month. This is up .7 percent despite recent news early in the month that Intel's processors are vulnerable to major security risks. 70.2% of users reported owning a quad-core CPU, which is what we recommend for most gamers. Second place went to dual-core processors with 25.1% of the pie. 30 percent of users reported having CPUs with clock speeds that fall between 3GHz and 3.29GHz. In second place with 23% are users with CPU frequencies between 3.3GHz and 3.69GHz.
RAM
Like last month, the most popular RAM allotment is 8GB, which is the minimum amount of memory we recommend to gamers. It is losing some ground to users with 12GB of RAM or more, however, which is in second place with 39.1%. 16GB is what we recommend for gamers who also like to run memory-intensive applications like Google Chrome.
Resolution
71.1 percent of Steam users reported that they use 1920x1080-resolution monitors. This is up 1.4% compared to last month. In second place at 10% is 1366x768, which is an old, popular laptop standard. In third at 3.5% is 2560x1440, which is the resolution we recommend for most gamers with a GTX 1070/RX Vega 56 or greater GPU. What about 4K? It only has .66 percent of the resolution pie, though it did gain .2 percent market share over the past month. While 1920x1080 is the most popular gaming resolution, 34.8% of Steam users reported using two 1080p panels.
Storage
63.7 percent of Steam users own a hard drive that offers at least 1TB of storage. This represents a 2.3 percent growth in this tier compared to the previous month. 26.5% of users reported having between 100 to 249GB of free space, which represents the largest piece of the available storage pie. It's important to highlight that Steam does not differentiate between SSD and HDD storage.
VR Headset
After barely taking the VR lead for the first time last month, the Oculus Rift falls back to a close second place in January. The Vive leads with 46.9 percent of the VR market, which is only .9% higher than the Rift's share. The more recently released Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets are are slowly beginning to take market share from the Rift and the Vive with 5.1%, which represents a .8% growth from the previous month. While VR is slowly growing, only .4 percent of Steam users reported owning a VR headset.
Windows
While Windows 10 used to be the most popular operating system among Steam users, it has since fallen to second place and now has a 35.4 percent handle on the OS market. The 64-bit version of Windows 7 leads with 56.6%. The rising popularity of Windows 7 most likely has to do with the large influx of Chinese users playing PUBG, which has become the most played game on Steam in recent months.
Mac
OSX only makes up 1.8 percent of the overall OS pie, but that's up .1 percent compared to last month. Among Mac users, 51.7 percent of them use a Macbook Pro. Apple's MacBook Air follows in second place with 23.6 percent.
Conclusion
If you take the most common components from the Steam survey to spec out a build, how would it look? As you'll see in the spec chart below, it represents a fairly balanced mid-range gaming PC. How does your PC stack up to the average Steam user? Let us know in the comments below! GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 CPU: Intel quad-core clocked between 3GHz to 3.29GHz System RAM: 8GB Storage space: 1TB+ OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Recent Articles:
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment