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MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition Review [year]

MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition Review 2023

December 27, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

There are some motherboards that will be installed inside desktop PCs and then pretty much never see the light of day again. These bare-basic boards will be touched only by factory workers and then sealed off inside their boxes; rarely seen even for cleaning. Then there's the enthusiast breed of motherboards, which are designed to be showed off at every opportunity. They have flashy lights, colourful accents, and of course elaborate heatsinks. They need to stand out in a very commoditised but intensely competitive market.
MSI has done all of that and developed a few new bells and whistles with its Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition model. This is the company's new statement piece, and it's very effective. It's also packed to the gills with high-end features in pretty much every subsystem: audio, memory, storage, expansion, and overclocking. Let's dive in.
Design, layout and features
The Xpower Z170A looks phenomenal. If you're building inside a high-end ..

Asus Strix Radeon R9 Fury DC3 4G Review: AMD’s Big Bet Almost Pays Off

April 18, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

AMD's exotic Radeon R9 Fury series was unveiled with much fanfare a short while ago. It's no secret that AMD's entire product portfolio has been pretty stagnant for years now, but this was the company's – if not the entire industry's – most interesting announcement in a long time. While most were expecting one or two launches, AMD showed off four products: the top-end Radeon R9 Fury X with its industry-first integrated liquid cooler, an air-cooled equivalent called Radeon R9 Fury, a compact variant for small-form-factor PCs called the Radeon R9 Fury Nano, and an unnamed dual-GPU monster that will not be available for some time yet.
The Fury X was the first to launch internationally, followed by the less expensive Fury a few weeks later. However, the latter card has arrived first in India. Notably, board partners such as Asus and XFX will not be able to customise their Fury X cards with different coolers, but they can with the Fury. As a cost-sensitive market wi..

Game of Thrones 2023

February 13, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

The second episode of Telltale Games' Game of Thrones series has released on iOS and now Android. To download it, you'll need to buy the first episode, and then either unlock this episode as an in-app purchase, or buy a season pass that will unlock all the remaining five episodes for the price of four. Each episode costs Rs. 300 (Rs. 307 on Android) and it's also worth pointing out that there is often a long gap between each episode – the first part came out two months ago, for instance.
If you're a Game of Thrones fan, or just would like to experience some interactive fiction with a heavy dose of intrigue, betrayal and bloodshed, then you're going to enjoy this game.
(Also see: Game of Thrones Game Review: Welcome to Westeros)
Telltale Games is a developer that lives up to its name – its games are simple narrative driven experiences that have very little to do by way of actual gameplay. The central mechanic in these games is just to choose what to say next ..

Halo 5: Guardians Review 2023

June 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

No game is as synonymous with the Xbox brand like Halo. If Gears of War led to a wave of third-person cover shooters, then Halo: Combat Evolved showed everyone how a first person shooter (FPS) can work on consoles, and Halo was the reason you absolutely had to buy an Xbox back in 2001.
Fast forward to 2015 and Microsoft's third console, the Xbox One, has gotten its first original Halo game – Halo 5: Guardians. The Xbox One has had its fair share of solid exclusive games such as Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2, but it hasn't had that one must-have title that will convinced everyone to give Microsoft's newest black box a try. Many people have been looking towards Halo 5 to see if this game is the system seller that Microsoft wants for the Xbox One.
(Also see: As Microsoft's Xbox One Turns 1 in India, Is It a Good Time to Buy?)
If quality is any indication, Halo 5 is going to do for the Xbox One what Halo: Combat Evolved did for the first Xbox – make people buy..

Counting Sheep That Won’t Put You To Sleep

February 21, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Divide by Sheep is a puzzle game that requires math, advanced planning, and sometimes just a little bit of luck. That description might sound less than exciting, but the game makes up for this by making you drown the sheep, feed them to wolves, slice them to pieces, and generally have some fun with the cuddly critters. Developer Bread Team has created some of the fluffiest looking cartoon sheep in the world, and then gone out of the way to let you torture them with impunity as you ostensibly try and save a few of them from inevitable death. The game has been released now for iOS and Steam, with an Android version in the works.
There's a bit of a story at the beginning of the game, setting things up, but much like Cut the Rope, the exposition is minimal, and safe to skip. The comparison makes sense – while Cut the Rope was a physics puzzler and Divide by Sheep is a series of math puzzles, the two games have a lot in common, such as fiendishly clever gameplay hidden under a very cu..

Bowling Central Review: Puzzles and Precision

February 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Bowling games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, ranging from realistic fare such as PBA Bowling Spare Challenge to the whimsical Doodle Bowling. There are not too many games, however, that leverage the Apple TV, and this is where the newly launched Bowling Central comes in. It's been developed by Pune-based Rolocule games, and along with AirPlay, also uses the company's “rolomotion” motion-tracking technology.
Rolocule has built a niche for itself by using this combination of technology in the past for other games too, including Motion Tennis and Dance Party. This is true for Bowling Central as well, and if you have an Apple TV or another AirPlay receiver, you can play the game on your television. The combination of motion controls and AirPlay Mirroring means that you can play Rolocule's games to get a Wii-like experience without having to get Nintendo's console.
And while rolomotion provides a slick way to bowl, it's not the only way to play. You can also..

Star Wars Celebration 2023: Ahsoka Teaser, Daisy Ridley Returns, Andor Season 2 Release Window, and More

The Biggest Announcements from Star Wars Celebration 2023

April 25, 2023 Richard Gomez 0

Star Wars Celebration 2023, held on April 7 in London, had a ton of surprises from Lucasfilm’s galaxy far, far away, ranging from new information […]

Resident Evil 0 HD 2023 Review

October 9, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

After the success of last year's Resident Evil HD Remaster comes Resident Evil 0 HD. It's a prequel to the game in a series, that for the longest time, codified the horror genre as we know it. And while it might not have the same sense of uneasiness and tension that typified the first game, it's well worth playing all the same.
Resident Evil 0 HD starts off much like a slasher flick. Except a summer vacation home is replaced with a train, a bunch of naive teens is substituted with special operatives, and a serial killer with a slew of zombies. It's has a corny, almost satirical feel to the proceedings not too dissimilar to B-grade horror flicks. The overall tone harkens back to a time when the horror genre didn't take it too seriously.
The low rent vibe extends to the level design as well. It's rare to find yourself squared up against legions of the newly contaminated. Instead, interactions are limited to just a few enemies on screen at best. With ammo b..

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Review – Almost Great

August 1, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain starts with a long, confusing, and clunky prologue. Once that is finally over, you find yourself wrapped in a world of possibilities and intrigue.
The game puts you in the boots of the series' super solider and mercenary, Big Boss. In the game, Big Boss has been in a coma for nine years and now you're back to claim revenge on those responsible for it. You'll infiltrate enemy bases, build up an army of your own, and uncover a twisted plot that has you playing till the very end. It's everything a grizzled warrior who has been in a coma for nine years can ask for when he finally regains consciousness.
(Also see: Metal Gear Solid Noob? Here's Everything That Came Before The Phantom Pain)
Progressing through Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, you will spend a lot of time skulking around enemy bases. You'll capture resources, manpower, and of course indulge in a rather intriguing story. In terms of core gameplay, every..

Battlefield Hardline 2023

February 15, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Before music transformed itself into a streaming, digital entertainment behemoth, there were simpler conventions that aficionados stuck to. One such term was the B-side. Most artists would stack the A-side – the one you would hear when you first put in the record – with all the tracks they consider strong contenders to be hits. The B-side referred to the second section of the record, one that usually contained tracks least likely to be appreciated by the masses.
What does this have to do with Battlefield Hardline? Surprisingly, a lot. The Battlefield series of first-person shooters (FPS) has been under the purview of Sweden-based developer, DICE for most part. The studio has been responsible for a string of hits in the franchise such as Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 4. All of these were set in modern or near future war scenarios and combined fantastic gunplay, exotic locales – and in Bad Company's case, dark humour -to make for compelling gameplay.
Mea..

Sky Sutra Is Part Shooter, Part Platformer, All Awesome – and Made in India

December 26, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

A corner table of a local bar is hardly where you would expect to check out a brand new, unreleased video game, but that's exactly what happened as we huddled around a laptop and played Sky Sutra. Created by Mumbai-based Yellow Monkey Studios, Sky Sutra has a heavy focus on couch co-op, and is coming to the PC and possibly, the PlayStation 4.
Yellow Monkey has already made a name for itself with high quality premium mobile games such as It's Just a Thought, Huebrix, and most recently, Socioball. Sky Sutra is meant for a new audience, but the developers have made a polished game that makes good use of the controller.
(Also see: Playing It Risky: Meet Socioball, a Premium Puzzle Game From India)
At first, we were skeptical, because Sky Sutra can easily be mistaken for many of the side-scrolling, endless runners we're subject to on Android and iOS. There's a cute looking art-style with colourful backdrops, two boxy characters, and a never-ending carpet suspended in..

Dreadnought Is Team Fortress 2 With Giant Spaceships

April 30, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

With Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft having a gargantuan presence at Gamescom 2015 and grabbing most of the attention, it's easy to forget that the PC can hold its own. One such game that bears testament to this is Dreadnought. It's a space combat flight simulator by Yager, the developer known for Spec Ops: The Line.
The game puts you in the role of a captain of a variety of ships, ranging from nimble corvettes all the way up to the titular dreadnought, which is slow but deathly in the hands of a capable player. We spent some time with Dreadnought's deathmatch mode demo at Gamescom 2015, and came back impressed.
(Also see: Gamescom 2015 Day 5: Super PCs, Dreadnought, Video Games Live, and Retro Fun)
One of the biggest pain points in space games is allowing for vertical movement, and letting the player ascend and descend at will. The first thing that hit us when playing Dreadnought was how easy it is to control the ships. In addition to this, each class of ship is easy t..