Logitech has unveiled the latest addition to its G-series of mice, the G302 Daedalus Prime MOBA Gaming Mouse. Designed in conjunction with pro gamers from around the world, the G302 features six programmable buttons, on-the-fly adjustable DPI settings, and Logitech's "Delta Zero" technology.
"We built the Logitech G302 to meet the performance needs of the best e-sports athletes in the world," Logitech Gaming Director Vincent Tucker said. "The G302 is the best mouse for MOBA gameplay, combining comfort and durability with some of the most advanced technology available. It withstands the rigors of the highest levels of gaming, and enables extremely fast clicking and precise timing."
The G302 was designed with input from members of Team SoloMid, Cloud 9, CJ Entus Frost, CJ Entus Bale, and Invictus Gaming. Logitech says its exclusive Delta Zero technology, a combination of lens design, illumination geometry, and algorithms, gives it pinpoint accuracy and optimal cursor control, while its lightweight design, low-friction feet, and buttons tested to 20 million clicks—the equivalent of playing for 15 hours a day for two years—makes it durable and easy to handle.
It sounds good, and it looks pretty slick, too—almost understated as gaming mice go these days. Whether or not it will live up to its billing remains to be seen, but we'll find out when Chris 'Mr. Dota' Thursten, the author of our weekly Dota 2 column Three Lane Highway, puts it through its paces. Until then, enjoy some pics!
We only started playing
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare today, so we don't have a review just yet (it seems pretty reasonable that we play it before reviewing it). Our colleagues who have already played it, however, are liking it, which is good to hear. I wasn't a big fan of last year's CoD: Ghosts, but it's a new year and a different studio, so I'll keep an open mind. So far, I do sense that at least some of last year's criticisms will return, but I haven't played a great deal of it yet. And Spacey. There is Kevin Spacey, you can't deny that.
My full review will be up by Friday. In the meantime, here's a video (played on
LPC Jr.) and some commentary on the first couple missions of the campaign. I'll get to the multiplayer later this week when I've played enough that I don't embarrass myself.
As an analytical caster and former coach of North America's Counter Logic Gaming, one of League of Legends' most venerable teams, OnGameNet Champions' Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles' presence on the 2014 World Championship live analysis desk in Busan and Seoul, South Korea wasn't just expected, it was a hotly demanded feature by the community. And as co-host of podcast Summoning Insights, alongside the oft-controversial Duncan "Thooorin" Shields, he's no stranger to controversy and criticism either.
So, as the one caster at Worlds not under Riot's aegis, who better to ask for a professional opinion on the production quality of the year's most hyped e-sports tournament?
"Dangerous, dangerous topic for me!" laughed Mykles. But he was overall impressed by the month-long spectacle. "I think, obviously, there were numerous successes. It was impressive they were able to move the events smoothly between four different cities in a month's time. And also, just the end-spectacle of the World Cup stadium was definitely something e-sports has pretty much never seen before. They did it on a scale which I didn't think should have been possible, given that they only had a few days to install that in the venue and check everything."
But the international undertaking didn't come away entirely free of issues. "In terms of the most disappointing thing: I felt that, because of the schedule, a lot of times the pacing of various segments between the analyst desk and main broadcast—or showing certain promotional videos—was often rushed." The same logistical successes were also sometimes weak points. In his eyes, less travel, less movement and a more stable environment would've ironed out the major wrinkles.
"I think that moving from city to city within the same country was a lot easier than moving from country to country, due to various regulations. Having to train new local camera operators every single time, who spoke different languages... To be fair, I wasn't there for the two legs of the group stage, but that's just what it seemed to me, when the analyst desk had to move to Korea and we had all these new Korean operators."
As for the games themselves: in contrast to last year's seeded format and best-of-three playoffs, Mykles enjoyed the 2014 system. "The only thing I would've changed about the tournament structure was having the quarterfinals be drawn a little more randomly. Having the first seeds randomly draw the second seeds, and not be from the same group. I think that would've made things more random and prevented any possible match-fixing for who the people were going to face in the quarterfinals."
"I think this is going to be a big wake-up call for the Korean scene, where if they want to retain talent, they need to pay players significantly more money."
He was a little nervous of the Samsung White versus Blue match-up as a result, as the two Korean sister teams were inherently the most likely to collude. "Yeah, yeah. It didn't happen, but it could have. Potentially. But, otherwise, I think the format was pretty good. I'm really happy that everything changed for two best-of-fives, and I think it was—for the most part—a very exciting tournament."
The one sour spot on the month-long agenda was the first week of the group stage, back in Taipei, where Group A was all but determined before the games even started. "I think we got a lot better games than last year. I hope they continue to use this format in the future. The one thing that I would change is that, instead of having international wild cards seeded directly into Worlds, I would take the IWC teams and pit them against the fourth-place teams of North America, Europe, Korea and China, and the third place team from Southeast Asia. Then, I would play a separate tournament for the last two slots of Worlds, and if the IWC teams can win under those conditions, then they deserve to go to Worlds. And if they can't, then we get the 4th-place Korean, or 4th-place European teams to Worlds instead, and I think that would've made groups A and B a lot more exciting."
As for OnGameNet Champions, Korea's domestic circuit that feeds into the Worlds stage, "exciting" is an apt description for the turmoil and changes affecting a tournament that's produced world champions two years in a row. Even before the end of Worlds, rumors were flying about a massive exodus of pro players to China, Europe and elsewhere—rumors that were later solidified as KT Bullets' star jungler, Kakao, announced his intent to compete in the neighboring pan-Asian giant.
The exodus of Korean players is unprecedented in e-sports history—even with StarCraft 2, only a few players signed by western teams outright relocated to a new country and new scene. "I think the biggest disturbing point is Rookie and Kakao left, who were on a current reigning winners-of-Champions team," said Mykles. "That's really weird, because if you had to name the top three players who weren't at Worlds, you'd probably say 'Kakao, Rookie and Faker.' Now two of them aren't going off. Ostensibly, it's because the Chinese teams pay better. It is baffling to me that the Chinese teams can pay better than a multi-billion dollar corporation like KT, SK Telecom or Samsung.
"I think that shows that the Korean players are not being very well compensated. Which is also strange compared to the Brood War days, where Flash would be making $500,000 a year. The KeSPA teams are accustomed to paying superstar players superstar salaries, but we're just not seeing that right now for whatever reason. I think this is going to be a big wake-up call for the Korean scene, where if they want to retain talent, they need to pay players significantly more money."
As for Kakao, formerly a teammate of Worlds second-place team Star Horn Royal Club's InSec: "If he does go to China, Kakao is a much more planning-oriented jungler. If he has sufficient ability to communicate with his team, I would expect Kakao to outperform InSec."
I'm kind of excited for The Talos Principle. A "metaphysical parable about intelligence and meaning in an inevitably doomed world," developed by the studio responsible for one of the most joyfully meatheaded shooters of all time? That sounds like my kind of good time. And now the game has a proper launch date, and as is now very much the, a nice little pre-order deal.
For as much fun as I have with the idea of Croteam making a thought-provoking puzzle game, I feel obligated to again point out that The Talos Principle is actually being written by Tom Jubert and Jonas Kyratzes, who between them have created games like FTL, The Swapper, and The Sea Will Claim Everything—somewhat more intellectual fare than Serious Sam, in other words.
But even though The Talos Principle may eschew the "No Cover. All Man." ethos, the preorder bonus does not: Laying down your money now will cut ten percent off the purchase price of $40, and will also net you a giftable copy of Serious Sam 3: BFE. It's a really good shooter, and probably the absolute opposite of The Talos Principle in every meaningful way.
And now, as promised, the release date: December 11 is when the brain-scratching times start to roll. More info can be found over at Steam, and in the meantime you can watch about an hour and a half of the game being played—poorly—right here.
I really like the look of
The Black Glove, even if I (still) don't entirely understand what it's all about. This much is clear, however: The Kickstarter is in trouble. With just four days left in the campaign, it hasn't raised even a third of its $550,000 goal, making success look unlikely. But the developers aren't giving up, and as the clock ticks down, former Irrational boss Ken Levine has taken to YouTube to officially endorse the project.
Levine's support is significant not just because he's designed a few pretty good games over the years, but because Day For Night Games, the team behind The Black Glove, is made up of veterans of the
BioShock and BioShock Infinite development team. Thus, even though he hasn't actually played the game yet, he has a "huge amount of confidence" in the team and expects that the "atmosphere of the game is just going to be amazing."
"We spent years working with Ken, learning how to make story rich, immersive environments like BioShock s Rapture and BioShock Infinite s Columbia, so it means the world to hear he believes in us and our project," Day For Night Creative Director Joe Fielder wrote in the latest
Kickstarter update. Levine also suggested the developers "come up with a simple statement to boil the game down to its essence" in order to better promote it, much like David Lynch did with Twin Peaks. The result, appended to four newly-released screens, is catchy, if not exactly illuminating: "The answer must lie in the past..."
As valuable as Levine's backing may be, I can't help thinking that it would've been a whole lot more useful a month ago. It's still possible that the Kickstarter will achieve its goal and I'd love to see it happen, but with $340,000 to go in just four days, it will be nothing short of remarkable if it does.
We like cheap PC components and accessories. But you know what we like even more? Expensive PC components and accessories… that are on sale! We ve partnered with the bargainmeisters at TechBargains to bring you a weekly list of the best component, accessory, and software sales for PC gamers.
Some highlights for this week: you can grab Titanfall for 75% off, only $10. The XFX Double Dissipation video card is almost $100 off already, but it also comes with three free games of your choice from a list including Alien: Isolation! Today only, you can get a 240GB SSD for only $89.99, and Green Man Gaming is having sales on everything from Skyrim to the Lego games to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Read through the full list of deals below.
— You can get Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare for $49 as part of GreenManGaming.com's VIP sale, all you need to do is make an account to get that and a ton of other game deals.
— Select Bethesda games are 40% off right now, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas, and you can get another 23% off that at GreenManGaming.com with the code: BWG00E-QJP45O-INFGR1
Hardware:
— The XFX Double Dissipation R9 290 4GB video card is $249.99 on Newegg after a $20 rebate, and comes with three free games. The choices include Alien: Isolation, Star Citizen, Sniper Elite 3, Thief, Tomb Raider, and many more.
— Get the Razer Naga Hex MOBA PC Gaming Mouse - Red for $54.99 on Amazon.
— The WD My Passport Slim 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive (WDBGMT0010BAL-NESN) is $59.99 on Newegg with free shipping after using the coupon code EMCWWPG23 (expires 11/4)
A note on affiliates: some of our stories, like this one, include affiliate links to online stores. These online stores share a small amount of revenue with us if you buy something through one of these links, which help support our work evaluating components and games.
Grand Theft Auto games are known for their expansive soundtracks, and Grand Theft Auto V is no exception. For those who'd like to enjoy the tunes even when they're not playing, Rockstar is releasing a limited edition box set soundtrack including the original game score composed by Tangerine Dream, Woody Jackson, the Alchemist, and Oh No, plus new music and tracks featured in the game.
The Music of Grand Theft Auto V will boast 59 tracks in all, with original music from AP Rocky, Tyler The Creator, Twin Shadow, Wavves, Flying Lotus, Yeasayer and others. The CD box set will include three discs, a Grand Theft Auto V-branded USB stick shaped like a gold brick, artwork and a poster, while the vinyl set will be spread across six albums and come with a full-color booklet and an exclusive lithograph.
"Limited edition" doesn't often mean much these days, but The Music of Grand Theft Auto V does seem to fit the bill: Only 5000 copies are being produced worldwide. A price hasn't been announced, but I would expect it to range somewhere between "high" and "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Both the CD and vinyl sets will be released on December 9, while Grand Theft Auto V itself comes to the PC on January 27, 2015.
You may be wondering why we don't have a Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare review up yet. The answer is quite simple: We just got our hands on the thing, so we're still working on it. But if you absolutely, positively must know what to think right now, then here are a few trustworthy sources you can turn your eyes toward in the meantime.
Our pals at Total Xbox give Advanced Warfare an 8/10, saying, "Making COD feel fresh is a tall order indeed, and Sledgehammer has cracked it at the first attempt." Meanwhile, over at the equally reliable GamesRadar, they've awarded the game a score of 4/5, thanks to the strength of its multiplayer action: The campaign structure is "by the numbers," but it "excels in online multiplayer, with brand new mechanics and a complex, loot-filled progression system."
A few others of note:
Videogamer.com: 8/10—"The first truly impressive Call of Duty in years."
GameSpot: 8/10—"Advanced Warfare is a deluge of action-film bravado."
Polygon: 9/10—"Advanced Warfare is the most fun I've had with the series since it reinvented the shooter mold."
Joystiq: 8/10—"It's been years since a Call of Duty campaign was as coherent and fast-paced as this one."
All in all, it looks pretty good for the Sledgehammer guys, I'd say. Our own Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare review will be up later this week, in which you can expect us to drill into the PC-specific aspects of the game.
The AOC U3477Pqu is easily the most dramatic thing I ve had on my desk since we held open auditions for this year s PC Gamer pantomime. That eyeball-filling 21:9 aspect ratio has made me entirely forget about 4K gaming and look disappointingly on the RoG Swift which normally has pride of place. The panel itself is absolutely gorgeous straight out of the box.
AOC have been going through a renaissance of Matthew McConaughey-esque proportions recently. Traditionally they've struggled to match up to their Philips rivals, but sported a lower price point to match their performance. The latest AOC monitors I ve been testing though have been really impressive, both in terms of their image and overall build qualities.
I loved the $550 / 400 AOC U2868Pqu for its 3840 x 2160 native 4K resolution and the fact it happily ran its impressive 28-inch TN panel at 60Hz the entire time too. The chassis was basic, but still well put together and was a full tilt/swivel design and had all the inputs you could need. Bargain.
The $800 / 600 AOC U3477Pqu is rather more expensive, but I d be far happier using this screen full time than any 4K screen I ve used to date. Even the freaky-expensive 32-inch Asus IGZO panel.
For a start that 21:9 aspect ratio really works in this 34-inch
format, mostly because the 3440 x 1440 native resolution offers a third
more desktop height than the 29-inch panels I ve previously used. That
means it offers a great experience just when you re working in
Windows, but the real kicker is how good it makes your games look and
how much more immersive they suddenly feel. Now, I m not talking Rift
levels of immersion here, but sat at your desk the expanse of monitor
really fills your field of view far more than a traditional 16:9
panel.
And that panel is glorious too. It s a lovely IPS
screen, with all the colour reproduction, crispness and viewing angles
you could want. My only slight issue with the screen is that the
black levels are ever-so-slightly crushed at the low end, but some
little gamma tweaks in your GPU control panel will sort that out.
Other than that the white levels, contrast and gradients are spot on.
The only thing I could possibly want over and above this is for AOC to
work out how to get a 144Hz refresh rate and G-Sync into an IPS
panel.
AOC have nailed the build. It s got a very minimal bezel around the outside and the controls are easily accessible, but overall there s nothing standing between you and the screen. It s a classic AOC on-screen display, admittedly, which isn t so great, but thankfully the U3477Pqu came out of the box looking good so I didn t need to mess with the controls. If you want to get a crick in your neck the tilt/swivel stand will allow you to work in a glorious portrait mode.
There is one big problem. If you spend any time watching streamed video of any kind on your PC you re likely to be rather disappointed. Most online video, even if it looks like a 21:9 video, comes with the top and bottom black bars hard-coded into the stream. That means you end up with a huge black border all the way around your video.
Blu-Rays, and any legitimate 21:9 content, look stunning though. I ve played the HD trailer for Interstellar so many times now, mostly for my own edification, but often just to show people how good it looks.
There is a slight issue with game support too. Not a lot of devs are coding 21:9 support into their titles—there simply isn t the install base there yet—which again leaves you with black bars at the sides. Thankfully there is an excellent application called Flawless Widescreen which can fix compatible games at the touch of a button.
Ryse, Skyrim, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Dead Rising 3 and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor—all the games I ve been playing this month—worked more or less perfectly without much fuss at all. Thankfully, Elite: Dangerous just worked without any need to resort to Flawless Widescreen at all.
The only real issue then is one of price. Originally I was told the U3477Pqu would be the same price as their 4K panel, but it s worked out considerably more. That s a shame, but it is still a beautiful, dramatic panel that trumps 4K for me entirely.
If you re going to spend big money on anything for your PC, make it your monitor. That s the portal into your gaming rig, and this screen is still going to be making you very happy long after your current GPU has shuffled off its silicon coil.
The maker of the Hearthcrawler and Warcrawler bot software has shut down its operations after Blizzard banned "several thousand" bot accounts last week. In a statement posted on its website, the developers said they're sad about pulling the plug, but knew that this day would come.
"This is our last official announcement. The recent ban wave in Hearthstone hit a lot of users," the statement posted at Warcrawler.com says. "After discussing this with Blizzard, it s clear we have to take off our services/products now. Please note that we re not going to be commenting further on this."
"Thank you all for being part of our community. We are very sad about this but you also know botting is against the rules and we all knew that the day when our products doesn't work anymore would come."
Blizzard dropped the banhammer on "several thousand" Hearthstone bot accounts last week, saying, "Fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated," but those bans will expire in 2015. Blizzard also recently implemented permanent bans against "win traders," and said that future botting bans will be permanent as well.
