Motherboards include more onboard features than ever before, GPU's are crazy powerful, internal sound cards are only making a moderate comeback in a niche market, and mobile tech has prioritized peripherals such that desktop computers depend on them almost as much. The builder market is more focused on gaming than most other use cases, including well-rounded and complete builds. Virtually everything else is just packed onto a nice - yet EXPENSIVE - laptop. Oh, and let's not forget that the vast majority of those aren't upgradeable enough to be futureproof. Seriously, let's think about that...The amount of e-waste that's produced by our modern buying habits and practices is insane. We buy so many new parts each year that production can't meet demand. When a new opponent enters the arena [crypto miners], we lose our minds because it's a real struggle to fight through the new competition. We aren't just trying to beat other gamers to the stores, we now have to battle PC users with financial interests in mind. And consider, if you will, what our idea of recycling is. We simply resell parts that aren't yet spent or ruined. That's pretty much it. Doesn't this look like more of a scam to manipulate the market for profit to you??? Isn't that strange? Are you an audiophile? Here! DON'T buy that feature-rich, clearly superior internal sound card! Buy this audio interface that takes up more space and requires that you buy more cables and / or converters! Running out of space on your 4ft desktop? How about buying this 5ft desk! Buy this motherboard with MORE DIMM slots for RAM for $80 - $120 more! But DON'T use all four slots! No! You have that gigantic cooling block to worry about. Just buy faster, higher capacity RAM for $80 - $100 more than it would cost to buy four sticks of lower capacity RAM! Run out of outlets for all of the powered peripherals we sold you? No problem! Buy one of these $30 - $50 power strips! Come grab this GPU that can chew through the highest settings of your games! It'll be obsolete next year!
Aside from loading it up with lights and toys, what is anyone going to actually use it for? We discussed how we can no longer have nice things. We're stuck with this prefab model. You know what's hard to find? Information about whether or not a motherboard's onboard audio will color the frequencies during processing. Know what else is hard to find? A good modern GPU that doesn't block PCIe lanes. Wouldn't it make sense to produce a larger class of motherboards to fill the space inside of that case? We'll tell you something else that's hard to find: a reasonably priced motherboard that does exactly that. Shoppers will instead have to invest up to several thousand dollars in a workstation motherboard [read: server motherboard]. And you can't just put any current CPU on it, you have to use a specific product line. Why does this gaping whole in the market exist? Why isn't there something here? Why do we have to choose between having a multiple GPU setup and adding that AI card? Why do we have to buy the part with onboard audio, that has virtually no information about how it will handle the sound, instead of choosing our own audio solution? Why do we, as an entire community, have to live in this box? That's not fair! We need more options and better products. We wanted to do a second build with a full tower case, but can't even justify it. It's just a useless product with a lot of wasted space. The larger desktop motherboards have all been done away with in favor of more compact versions that are better suited for mid and compact builds. That sucks. Why not just use riser cables? That'll involve more work and cost to properly anchor the component that we want to add - assuming that there's enough space to even make the connection near the giant GPU(s). In closing...This is a mess. Why do we listen to these people? They don't care for order and customer satisfaction, just profits. They don't care how clumsy this is. They don't care about the waste. They don't care about the cost. They don't care who's hurt by this. Why do we play by their rules? Where are the environmentalists who can come up with a viable recycling solution? Jobs, anyone? Isn't that a common complaint? Where are the armchair product designers who complain about every new card that comes out because it's not a total solution? More product, anyone? Isn't the chip shortage a major concern? Where are the audiophiles and musicians who want superior audio? Aren't you tired of wasting money on a device you can't use for your purposes? Where are the innovators who can imagine new parts to fill the void in a full tower case? Don't you have big ideas for new layouts and parts? This makes sense, doesn't it? The obvious counterargument is the less popular E-ATX motherboard. Yeah, we're stopping you there. The E-ATX motherboard isn't a solution. For starters, just look at that cost! Does that look reasonably priced to you? And most of that extra real estate is dedicated to extra RAM - that it's recommended you don't even install to get better cost for performance. And if that's not enough, on average, you'll only get one extra PCIe lane. Does that solve the problem for additional internal components? Nope! Not even close. An ATX motherboard averages 12" x 9.6", while an E-ATX motherboard averages 13" x 12". But a full tower PC case averages about 6" taller than a mid tower PC case. What are you doing with the remaining extra space? That's right, adding decorations instead of useful components. So, that counterargument has been quickly and thoroughly dismantled. The E-ATX motherboard should be even taller to fill the void and, therefore, should have even more PCIe lanes than currently on offer. GPU's are only getting larger. Have you ever seen the ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition in person or in video? It's enormous! Clearly we need the extra space AND PCIe lanes. Let's address that. Stop following and start leading. Now it's your turn. Sound off below, and don't forget to share. We're looking forward to feedback about this. Thanks for reading!
Peace! The Not So GoodWe tried the Philips Wired Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo because it looked so good, however, we ended up a bit disappointed. The problem was that all of the impressive angles and beautifully edited photos sold this product as something that it isn't: a gaming and office keyboard. It's purely a gaming keyboard - and that's fine. But it shouldn't mention anything about office use. Does it occupy less game area than many full-sized keyboard competitors? Sure. Is it technically slim? Well, yeah, technically. Is it RGB? Of course. But is it good at being an office keyboard? Absolutely not. This keyboard does an excellent job at being a flat gaming peripheral. We have some issues with the mouse, but this short review isn't about that. Still, we will highlight that the RGB on the keyboard doesn't match the color profile or brightness of the mouse. It's MUCH brighter and far more vivid. That's a good thing. However, there's no option to change the color position, change the color pattern, or change to a specific color. You can make it blink or pulse, or turn it off, but that's it. As for the soft type feature? What soft type feature? By comparison to a traditional mechanical keyboard, it's quiet. But compared to a traditional office keyboard, it's still quite loud. In fact, we could only hear the difference when comparing to a mechanical keyboard. The keys are also pretty tall, like a mechanical keyboard, and that warrants changing the angle of approach to get good presses. If not, it'll miss presses quite regularly and feel pretty uncomfortable. We could feel the keys sliding against the chassis. If you really need to do a lot of typing, this isn't the keyboard you'll want. We'll keep it just for the sake of gaming, but we won't use it for anything else. It's quality as a gaming keyboard saves it. Rating: 5 / 10Now For the Good StuffWe also tried the Seenda Multi-Device Bluetooth Backlit Keyboard - keyboard manufacturers need to come up with shorter names - and had a grand ol' time. Now THIS is an office keyboard! They really packed a lot into a small package. For starters, it's a compact mid-sized design. They took out all of the wasted space and focused on utility. That's just a good idea. They took it a step farther by including a tray to hold mobile devices. That works quite well. And to add insult to the injuries of their competitors, they allow four Bluetooth connections, it connects QUICKLY, there are indicator lights for each channel that double as key lock indicators, and it's compatible with multiple operating systems. We've got it connected to a Windows PC, a Chromebook, AND an Android phone! It works very well with all three. Pairing is quick and easy. We're typing up this review and switching to hold a text conversation with it right now. It's a wonderful experience because it only takes about a second to connect to other devices. It charges with the included USB Type C cable, but it doesn't have a pass through. Not a favorite but definitely bad. We had to choose our battles with that. It also provides battery stats so that the charge can be tracked on the devices using it. If THAT'S not enough, it conserves power by turning off the RGB backlights when it doesn't detect a keypress for a short while. This thing is QUIET and feels just like a laptop keyboard. It's the slimmest keyboard that any of us have ever owned, it's quite attractive, the backlights are bright enough to be seen clearly, the brightness can be adjusted, the color can be set [though it doesn't do a full spectrum or pattern], and the keys have this satisfying tactile feel when pressed. All of the buttons work, the support is stellar, it can be switched off for faster charging and power savings, and it's fully functional. Does it hit every mark? Well, no, nothing is perfect. We only wish there was a corded version, or one with a pass through, but that's about it. Check it out, then buy it. Rating: 9 / 10We took a couple of weeks off to check out more older titles that we never got to finish before. Now it's Mafia 3's [Mafia III's] turn. But before we start, many of you may be wondering why we also tend to give attention to games that have been out for a while. It never hurts to take an honest look at things that we used to enjoy and check our biases. Was it as good [or bad] as we remember, or does it require further review after the initial release? Those are questions that we like to answer. Let's get down to business. Aesthetics: 7 / 10It's not a bad looking game, but it's not the best looking game. It's pretty clear that some shortcuts were taken when putting together most of the character models in this game. The chief concern is the hair. Much of the males have thin, translucent hair that's awfully off. In most cases, the scalp of a character shouldn't be so visible. Even playing at 1080p with high settings didn't fix the issue for us. Beyond that, the very present NPC's appear to be lower resolution and lower poly, so they don't look as good as the main characters, and the vehicles have this sort of blurry visual. Many modern mobile games have beat this in the looks department, and have for a while now. It's a bit concerning when a mobile game has better light reflection, contrast, more vivid colors, more polygons, higher sharpness, better white balance, less highlight burn, and comparable frame rate. We're playing on Stadia and a 4K TV, a cloud PC gaming platform. With all of that power, it's really difficult to blame the aesthetics on the equipment.
Settings: 4 / 10Eh...they left very much to the imagination here. It's actually pretty disappointing. We put our Stadia graphics settings in line with our tastes, and that's what carries this game the most in our review of the visuals. Inside the game, however, it's kind of barren. The team seized too much control of the player's overall experience, something that we'll go into more detail on later. Anyway, they exist...barely.
trial by fire just to get places. Combat and vehicle controls are just too loose. This isn't a sports game. These controls need to be tight, precise, and highly responsive. We also weren't fans of not being able to change our camera sensitivity, causing the rotation to feel like it's dragging and leaving us exposed. The pressure sensitivity is inconsistent, so it's hard to maintain a good speed while cruising. Just half a millimeter can mean the difference between being a speed demon and driving like a 90 year old.
Interjection...The combination of these things is extremely frustrating. We HATED being right up on an enemy and being shot to death because Lincoln missed punches that he was too close to miss. In one situation, he's close enough to hit, though our stealth kill should've been available. In another situation, he misses FROM EVEN CLOSER and gets caught. It feels arbitrary. That's poor execution. Shooting would feel awesome if there were more situations to do it in without having to flee the cops. There are tattle tells even where there shouldn't be, which isn't logical, and victims of the ops would rat us out after we help them. Intel view commonly misses targets, the vision cones vary in unexpected ways, there aren't enough places to hide bodies [totally preventable], and taking off in a vehicle literally slows down when the police come after him. Lincoln will take more steps and slow his movement when stealing a car to escape police. He's then shot to death in an instant, and more bad decisions from there will induce rage. Balance: 2 / 10We feel like we have to stress this too frequently: balance is integral to a good game, and bad balance doesn't make a player bad at the game. If mowing everyone down indiscriminately isn't a problem, then the game is quite easy. If going about things logically is the player's objective, this game is arbitrarily and insanely difficult. This team set up some impossible situations, and instead of fixing it, they stayed the fake difficulty course and completed the missions for us in exchange for 50% of our carried cash. That's an insult. There are high barriers in some locations that Lincoln can actually get over, physically speaking. But he's simply not allowed to get over or around these obstacles. There's one train stop in the Bayou that he can get into but can't get out of without swimming through croc infested waters. That's certain death, so players will have to restart the game to go to the nearest checkpoint. That's bad. Can't get in to assassinate a target? No problem! Just drive through the only available entrance, get killed by the cops, and the target will be dead [with your pockets 50% lighter] when you respawn! That's trash. The team even went as far as to disable the pause when Lincoln's death sequence starts so that players can't reload from the last autosave, and there's no manual save. The autosave is constant, so there is no going back to retry. This is the most anti-player practice we think we've ever seen! They don't even have a cash incentive to do this! It's just unchecked sadism.
Narrative: 9 / 10The story's pretty good. This is an accurate, well written period piece. Though some of the character development is lacking, it's not enough to break the immersion. Players will know what they're doing and why they're doing it. It's easy to understand everyone's motivations. Even NPC chatter is good. Advancement: 6 / 10There's no multiplayer, so we replaced it with Advancement. Though the level progression is present, it's not very well fleshed out. Leveling up is a calculated process of doing all kinds of favors for recruited racketeers. They come as favors for doing what they ask. These bonuses are also not all that effective and cost a TON to buy. This system is confusing. What's the point in increasing earnings to get meet the requirement if the earning potential is capped at half of the cost of the upgrade? It takes too long to figure out and isn't worth the time. Replay Value: 5 / 10Aside from narrative players, completionists, and agents of chaos, this game doesn't have much to offer insofar as replay value. Once it's done, you'll be happy the suffering has come to an end. We really wanted to love this game, and it started off pretty good, but it's plagued with technical issues and strict limitations that weren't at all necessary. So many shortcuts were taken. The started sequence was pretty awesome, with the AI using different and more robust tactics. After that, it's pretty boiler plate. It feels rushed and incomplete, and the support wasn't present either. We first grabbed this on PS4. It constantly crashed because it caused the console to regularly overheat. It was unplayable. We claimed it on Stadia and we now see why there wasn't much talk about it. The gameplay gets stale, the narrative is the only thing motivating anyone to return to it, NPC drivers are a pain to deal with, there's no multiplayer, and the broken mechanics just made us want to quit. Verdict: 57 / 100We really wanted to LOVE this game, but it's the turd that didn't have to be a turd. We feel cheated. For all of the hype, the effort that went into it was quite lacking. It's not even as richly designed as the first Assassin's Creed game. With heavy budget cuts and refusal to support the game post-release, what's to be so proud of? It's just bad, and it shouldn't have been.
Mafia 3 [Mafia III] had so much potential, however, it was so clumsily put together that it's forgettable. An honest mind can even pick out the points in development when things went south. It all went to hell from the moment that Lincoln woke up [no spoilers here]. It would have been better to just cancel the game at that point. Obviously the interest in doing it properly was no longer there. The execution here is a perfect example of something that we have a great disdain for: corporate wokeism. Don't involve yourselves if you don't want to see it through, 2K Games. But what do you think? Are we being too harsh? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and don't forget to like and share. Thanks for reading. Peace! |
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