The People Speak: Firearms and Computers

Welcome to another edition of The People Speak.

This week I talked about how Counter-Strike changed my life, and shared my favorite Final Fantasy games. We had a few analysis pieces, including this overview of how the graphics card market is changing dramatically, and this celebration of Metal Gear‘s 30 year anniversary.

In regards to reviews, we had one of the very first official pre-release New Nintendo 2DS XL reviews to hit the internet, in addition to full write-ups for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age and the Seagate Game Drive Hub.

We’re currently working on reviews for Miitopia, Hey Pikmin!, and Splatoon 2, as Nintendo dominates this July. On Monday, we’ll begin our playthrough of the new MMO Albion Online. We also recently interviewed SteelSeries, and will have full reviews of its new products in the near future.

Be sure to enter our official Destiny 2 beta giveaway before winners are selected on Monday.

Without further adieu, below are the top 10 community comments of the week.

1. bigtruckseriesreview

Article: Teamwork and Technology: How Counter-Strike Changed My Life

Comment: I think Counter Strike may be the most important multiplayer game EVER.

#1 The financial system in the game: is easily the most logical and inventive system ever. The Winner gets more cash…the Loser doesn’t and has to fight harder or steal weapons from the battlefield and stay alive long enough to use them.

#2 The weapon balancing was awesome. I remember so many “amazing kills” I got on surprised opponents. My favorite will always be the M4A1 with Suppressor, The DEAGLE and the AWP. IRL I own a Desert Eagle (because of this game) an AR-15 with a Gemtec silencer and I am saving for a Barrett .50 cal M82 (The AWP doesn’t interest me as much).

#3 The ability to drop in and drop out of games at will was fun.

#4 THE TEAMWORK: people actually COMMUNICATED BACK THEN. Nowadays these stupid games “talk to Goddamn much”. You were FORCED to work together. Nowadays the matches are dead silent beyond the gamespeak.

Counter Strike – I can’t even begin to imagine how much money that game has cost people in internet cafes.

when I lived in China, the kids played it 24/7. I’ll never forget one lucky kill I got in a LAN game when all eyes were on me and one of them ran up to me and I quickscoped him with the AWP.

Everyone was like: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

Counterstrike has probably cost me $3000 in guns and body armor – and more than 10,000 hours in game time.

2. sliverstorm

Article: 30 Years of Metal Gear: Why I’ll Always Be A Fan

Comment: Playing through MGS over Christmas break late into the night in front of a warm fire with my best friend will always be one of my top childhood memories. All of the bespoke mechanics and gameplay were so cool–looking back now, it’s a miracle the game wasn’t a disjointed mess.

3. Master_Craig

Forum Thread: Vote For Your Favorite Final Fantasy Game

Post: I’m probably going to say Final Fantasy VII. It’s the first Final Fantasy I ever played (at nine years old) and everything about it completely blew me away. Being made by Squaresoft (at the time), the same people who made Secret of Mana (one of my all time favourite games) also blew me away. Those two games are the golden era of JRPGs, in my opinion.

Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XV (in no particular order) would be my runner ups.

Final Fantasy X is the first Final Fantasy game that I ever finished from beginning to end and was one of our first ever games for PS2. Admittingly, I did play it a bit late, playing it when I was sixteen (2004). I also really enjoyed the story as well as the characters and its battle system.

Final Fantasy XV, despite its flaws that become more obvious in the second half of the game (especially chapter thirteen) was for the most part, actually a lot of fun, and I spent so much time playing that game, almost a hundred hours in total. I loved how different this game was compared to previous Final Fantasy titles.

4. drathbone

Article: New Nintendo 2DS XL Review – The Most Refined Nintendo Handheld Ever

Comment: This is what I wanted all along. I didn’t care for the 3d capability of the the 3ds, but I didn’t want a big, non-folding paddle that was the 2ds. I don’t understand why this wasn’t just the first 2ds.

5. mcaballero

Article: 5 Reasons You Should Pick Up Pokémon GO Again

Comment: I stopped playing Pokemon Go after a month it came out (like most people I think). The two features that this game is missing and would be total game-changers are:

1. Ability to battle someone in your vicinity directly. Straight-up Pokemon trainer battle.

2. Ability to exchange Pokemon with other players.

If and when they implement that, I’ll consider the game again.

6. Christopher Townsend

Article: LawBreakers Is Struggling to Gain Hype Even Though It’s a Great Game

Comment: Love this game, it fits that empty space in fps games of fast paced unreal/quake games that you dont get from something like Overwatch. I dont think this will replace overwatch instead it will fill a gap in the market that overwatch cant. Play both they are both awesome.

7. StudioTan

Forum Thread: What Are  You Playing? – The Official Thread

Post: PSN had a good sale recently. I picked up a few games; tried out Rayman Legends first. It’s really good! The addiction is already setting in. I particularly like trying to place in the podium on the daily online challenges and competing with my friends’ high scores. It kind of reminds me of Crash Bandicoot, at least in its collectathon menu design. It’s a solid game and perfect for periodic play; a good break from Persona 5.

8. bigtruckseriesreview

Article: Your Graphics Card Just Went up in Value and Out of Stock

Comment: I can so attest. Recently, I’ve met at least two people buying multiple GTX 1080’s and 1070’s for mining. I did in fact ask them if their electric bill would go up – which it would.

The rig I set up is kept at my office.

The smarter thing to do would for amateurs be to mine from college, work or some place that has a high-speed internet connection where you don’t pay the electric bill. Install the computer and let it just run to your heart’s content.

I’d never want one of these things in my house.

I’d rather keep mine at work in the cold room.

On a side note. I bought into Ethereum and I’ve already seen gains.

Bought bitcoin a few years ago and I’m gonna sell during the next major spike.

When I upgrade my entire system to a Core i9 with a newer high-end GPU, I’ll use my old Core i7+titan X to mine if possible.

9. Starling

Article: Adult VR Games Are Benefitting Greatly from Oculus Rift’s Price Drop

Comment: Porn helped cable TV, VCR and Internet get off the ground, now’s VR turn. 😛

10. MattAY

Article: What Was the Last Movie You Watched?

Comment: ^ IT’S sO FlUfFY!!!!!

I watched Alien Covenant at the weekend. Was OK, entertaining for sure. There were a lot of different types of aliens, and each encounter with one was just hack and slash, a bit too action, not enough suspense for my liking. There wasn’t a real “hunt” of sorts that I like to see in Alien films.

Plus you could guess what was going to happen RE the androids the moment they met. 6/10

Upcoming Releases

Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story unfolds on a galactic scale.
The sequel to the award winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Senua returns in a brutal journey of survival through the myth and torment of Viking Iceland. Intent on saving those who have fallen victim to the horrors of tyranny, Senua faces a battle of overcoming the darkness within and without.
Inspired by the beauty of the natural world around us, Everwild is a brand-new game in development from Rare where unique and unforgettable experiences await in a natural and magical world. Play as an Eternal as you explore and build bonds with the world around you.

Reviews

9 Epomaker RT100 Review
Epomaker has gone big and bold with its RT100 keyboard. While other products in the company’s lineup are designed around…
9 Epomaker TH80 Pro Review
The Epomaker TH80 Pro is a sub-$100 keyboard that packs in plenty of must-have features. When it comes to bang…