umar khan

Humor

Now Robots Can Play Kinect, Too!

When Microsoft announced the Kinect, a lot of people thought that this was going to be just another peripheral gimmick. In reality, they were correct. It really was just another peripheral gimmick and a way to bring in another competitor in motion based gaming. The original intent of the Kinect was to just have some good gaming fun. In the world we live in, though most things that have an original intent get pushed into another direction by an opposing force. For the Kinect, this opposing force is a community of hackers that enhanced its capabilities. I am sure we’ve all seen things that people have managed to do with Open Kinect.

Read More
Blog

Mega Man E-Coffee Mug

Mega Man was a bad ass when I was a kid. He’d go around to different portions of the city to stop Doctor Wily’s nonsense. Shoot a couple of his fellow robots, take their energy and their powers, and then go off and shoot another robot in the face with those powers all while jamming to some of the best NES music.

Read More
Hardware

The HTC Tube Concept

And now something not about gaming so much but cool tech. Antoine Brieux has a grand fixation with HTC as a whole and has been coming up with some rather alarming and amazing designs for smart phones. His latest brilliant idea is the HTC Tube. What makes this smart phone stand out from the rest? It is based on cartridges placed inside to enhance the features and functionality of the device. Modu attempted this awhile back and despite their “best” marketing abilities the idea didn’t fly so well. Despite the past failings of the idea, I am hoping that the dream Antoine Brieux is trying to push out comes to life because the technical specifications and functions of a phone running in this manner are astounding.

Read More
Editorials

Be Thankful, Gamer

On Thanksgiving, many people reflect and remember memories and gather new ones with friends and family. Let us not forget, however, the memories we should be thankful for in games. Umar lets us know what he is thankful for in this special Thanksgiving editorial.

Read More
Editorials

APB. I Think U Dun Goofed

Few may remember APB but many remember the backlash the game received when it closed its doors to players in less than a year’s time. Even fewer may know that APB is having life beat back into it when it was purchased by Gamersfirst under a new Free to Play model. Today, lets look into a little background on the changes the game will be receiving to deem for our self if it is worth our time.

Read More
Editorials

My Unparallel Loathing of Gaming Hipsters

Hipsters.The word alone makes me want to go on a punching jamboree at a local Starbucks. I’d like to point out my disliking for them in detail. Yes, reader, you will become more knowledgeable on who is a gaming hipster and may even come into the realization that you yourself or someone you hold dear to your hearts may even be one of these aberrations.

Read More
Blog

Cataclysm: Inception

Our master of the editorial, Umar Khan sent over this link which has one the World of Warcraft Cataclysm trailers playing alongside the music from the movie, Inception. It’s about 18 seconds of the inception theme before the music starts, but if you mute the cataclysm music and let only the inception music play it matches together in a pretty awesome way.

Read More
Humor

Multiplayer Pranks!

This is where my brilliant idea kicked in. After insisting to my wife this was just, I ran over to the forge and made my portal over the lava pit in Ironforge. Our friend and my wife clicked the portal and the ill begotten fool accepted his passage into hell! I watched as his body entered the zone and pulled a Wyle E. Coyote as he must’ve looked down and then back at me. If there was a /helpsign emote it would’ve fit this moment perfectly. The lighting of the flames below pressed against my pixilated face as I looked down relishing his death at the hands of the forging fires. There was no way out. I saw him attempt to hearth only to have it interrupted. He died and I laughed.

Read More
Humor

Critical Thinking: One Game, One Bullet, One Chance

“You have one chance!”, the man shouts. Your eyes open wide in surprise and air rushes out of your body as if someone knocked it out of you. “My kids don’t like me much and all they do is play games. My wife says I should try to understand them and get closer to them, ya know? I don’t know where to begin. I don’t have patience as you can see with your friend Chuck. Suggest me one game that’ll get my attention right away so I have something to talk to my kids about. Name one fucking game! I’ll go grab it and come back here and play it. If it’s as good as you say it is, I’ll let you go! Promise to God!”

Read More
Humor

Villian Spotlight: Kefka Palazzo

It hurts to hear this kind of criticism about the One Winged Angel but I’m about to open your eyes to a true villain. Someone who’s appearance was comical but their lust for destruction was their only drive in life. There wasn’t a waking moment where this monster didn’t think about the end of the world. Many villains feel this way but he isn’t a Cobra Commander or Doctor Claw replica. Where many villains fail and constantly try again, Kefka succeeds. Here’s a look into the devilish antics performed by the supernatural sociopath known as Kefka Palazzo.

Read More
Humor

Blizzard’s New World of Warcraft Expansion Targeting Their Original Player-base?

Another homage to the old school playing style of World of Warcraft will be the return of Crowd Control! That’s right, Mages! You can start Polymorphing again! It had seemed that during WOTLK, CC had become a thing of the past and players would do the simple thing and just body pull and use Area-Of-Effect spells to burn everything down quickly. Healers would just spam their fastest heal and keep the tank up constantly. In Cataclysm, Blizzard (and something beta tester can attest to) mentions that combat difficulty has increased significantly and just nuking everything that is still moving isn’t going to work anymore. Players are going to actually have to use their crowd controlling abilities to keep pulls safe.

Read More
Humor

Japan, I Left Your RPGs On The Sidewalk And Changed The Locks. We’re Through!

Like a rifle’s laser scope, I could feel the pressure of a presence weighing down upon me. This entity’s gaze was fixated on me, reaching out for a friend. Slowly turning to my left, my heart went a flutter. Behind the plastic wrappings of the case was an unknown creature holding a wicked sword. Its white fur and pink nose were innocent yet it held a darkened tormenting blade that screamed out to me like a van with free candy. My grip on Aladdin loosened as he fell to the ground face down and like a handicapped older woman was unable to get up without my help. That is where Aladdin would remain though, living away his last breaths as I stepped closer to examine the enigma in front of me. My fingers raced against the title as I dared to utter the name, your name…

Read More