Category Archives: Uncategorized

What does Virtual Reality Need to Succeed

For the past year Virtual Reality, or VR for short, has been a very hot topic within the gaming community.  It has been an especially popular topic for PC hardware providers such as AMD and Nvidia. VR headsets have to hit a frame rate of 90 frames per second minimum or the user can suffer from motion sickness and no one wants that. Great graphics at that frame rate can require serious hardware. A year ago, a VR computer could cost around $1000, not counting the six hundred to eight hundred dollar headset. In the past 3 months AMD and Nvidia have both released VR ready graphics cards that were cheap and promised high end card performance. AMD released the RX 480 that promised performance rivalling the R9 series  but for only $200 dollars.

In the community of VR, hardware is a topic that comes up often and is one of the bigger prerequisites for VR. However, the argument of this post is that VR will stay in the realm of enthusiasts until it is embraced by major studios. Steam has a section dedicated to VR games full of games that look like tons of fun. A majority of these games are small and based around the HTC Vive, which requires the player to move around a space. For VR to elevate from enthusiasts to a serious video game platform major studio needs to make their games compatible with VR. However, HTC Vive-”move around the room” style VR will not be the VR that takes off for the masses.

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At E3 this year, Bethesda showed off Fallout 4 in VR. But these open world games would shine with an Oculus Rift-sit down style VR because they have large open world environments, walking around/teleporting around would get old and can be clunky for larger environments. Now would also be a good moment to mention that, like myself, not everyone has a 15ft by 15ft room laying around for a VR experience. VR is still a new technology for gamers and the stand up and move around experience is the most exciting for us right now, but the sit down VR is what will break into the main-stream for gamers.

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PC Gaming is hard

Recently, I was browsing the interwebs in search of a memory upgrade for my gaming rig. I have upgraded parts in the past, graphics card, CPU, even my motherboard. I would stand proudly and say none of them went as planned. When I say that PC Gaming has one hell of a learning curve I am not lying. For those of us, like myself, that do not have a friend that has already gone through the stresses of upgrading or building a rig, doing it ourselves is full of unexpected and not so pleasant surprises. As I was browsing memory for my rig, I had to check that the frequency was compatible with my motherboard. Was the voltage too high? Was it the correct type of memory? Could my motherboard overclock it if I wanted to? This is when I realized a simple truth: PC Gaming is, in fact, hard.

Now, do not get me wrong. For those of us that demand the highest performance for the very best experience, PC Gaming is the only option. It is more flexible than console gaming. You can upgrade individual parts as often as you like, and trust me, there is no cap to the amount of money one can spend on PC gaming rigs. This is because PC gaming is a black hole of money. You can always buy a graphics card that is a slightly better or a CPU that is a bit faster. Hell, you can throw money at all the storage you want. In half a year, it is all obsolete anyway. The newest, bestest, shiniest, fastest, coolest thing is always around the corner. Now, as you spend more money on the super gaming rig of your dreams, the price to performance increase slowly dwindles. Most modern video games only utilize four cores at a time so spending $2000 on a 10 core CPU really won’t get you that much of an approvement. Unless you are developing games, video processing, or password hashing, you really don’t need a super CPU. Oh, but those sweet sweet bragging rights.  

Compatibility can be a harsh mistress. Luckly for those of us that have not quite aquired the talent, there are helpful websites like pcpartpicker.com that only matches parts that are compatible. However, I always take these websites with a grain of salt. I still have a liquid CPU cooler on my dresser from half a year ago because everything told me it would fit. Unfortunately, I have a weird tower that places the power supply at the top.

Sometimes I do envy console gaming. The safety of buying a game and knowing it will work must be nice. But I demand better performance than consoles cannot deliver. Risk it for the biscuit.
I, personally, love PC gaming. After all the stress and research is done it can be fun and satisfying.

The College Gamers Podcast Ep 49 (Feat Garrett Weinzierl)

On this extra awesome episode of The College Gamers Podcast: We have a release window for Titanfall 2. Do you know what World War 1 was? Lionhead might still be alive and kicking. Injustice 2 may be in the works but it is whispers in the wind. We know when Overwatch is getting a Competitive Mode. Are you interested in playing Watch Dogs 2? Plus an awesome interview with Garrett Weinzierl. And more on this episode of The College Gamers Podcast!

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The College Gamers Podcast Ep 47

On this extremely extravagant episode of The College Gamers Podcast: Ex-Ubisoft developers are making a cool fighting game. Mike is sad that No Man Sky is getting delayed until August but Taft doesn’t really mind because he can’t play and Mike forgot. Oops. Lego Star Wars’s Season pass is packed with goodies. Now Taft is sad with Mike because Kingdom Come has also been delayed. We will not get Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 this year. Fallout 4 is finally getting mods on consoles. New rumors about additional Xbox consoles. What are Mike and Taft playing. And more on this episode of The College Gamers Podcast.

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The College Gamers Podcast Ep 46

On this wickedly delightful episode of The College Gamers Podcast: Homefront experiences some day one issues, specially on consoles. Rockstar has some announcements for us. How much plastic do you need to make a life size action figure? Where is my Battlefront story mode!? Mike is pumped to play as sentient corn. We would watch a Nintendo movie, would you? We are sad to see Geralt but it is for the best. If you have $1200 why not preorder some Assassin’s Creed movie tickets? And more on THIS, yes, THIS episode of The College Gamers Podcast!

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The College Gamers Podcast Ep 42

On this superbly premium episode of The College Gamers Podcast: We know when the Legions will be coming. Seven looks great and not just the number. Alright Mr. Whiskers, I will need to read you your Feral Rites now. We cover the PS4.5,PS4K, and NEO. What is Microsoft’s answer to all this? Batman games are getting Remastered. Mafia three gets a release date and a trailer. We final get The Elder Scolls: Legends game play. What are we playing. And more on this episode of The College Gamers Podcast!

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Show Is Doing Well!

Hello everyone!

Just a heads up, the show is now up on the Google Play store! Go check it out all you Android and Google people!

Just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who listens to the show! Stay awesome!

The College Gamers Podcast Ep 41

On this dangerously addictive episode of The College Gamers Podcast: Mike watched Heroes of the Storm on the tele! Traces is coming to the Storm and she looks dangerous. Fable Legends has gone offline for good. Doom has some cool customization. Activision is making a Ghostbusters game set in New York. In the next Witcher Expansion you might be spilling wine and drinking blood, or vise versa. Studio Wildcard and Trendy games settled. Taft is addicted to a mobile game and Mike talks about the DOOM and Battleborn betas. And more and this episode of The College Gamers Podcast!

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The College Gamers Podcast Ep 40

On this oddly hysterical episode of The College Gamers Podcast: Mike has no idea when the BAFTA awards were. Ark Survival got a patch on Xbox One with some new Dinos plus a frame rate increase. Heroes of the Storm is getting an Overwatch hero. God of War might be getting a new game set in Norse Mythology… Maybe. Sony is being an sketchy about cross-play and we demand answers. Doom Open Beta next weekend and it looks awesome! Not so final Final Fantasy 7 is getting a full game remake. Heroes of the Storm is celebrating Heroes of the Dorm with a weekend of awesomeness and a week of XP bonuses. And more on this episode of The College Gamers Podcast.

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The College Gamers Podcast Ep 39

On this seriously spicy episode of The College Gamers Podcast: Rocket League is getting another game mode. Will Final Fantasy 15 come to PC? Fallout 4 is getting a serious survival mode. Metal Gear is also getting a survival mode but it’s not what you think. Mike is excited for the Heroes of the Storm update. A California University is the first public university to offer an eSports scholarship. Rumor has it that Sony might be making a Ultra-Definition PlayStation. And more on this episode of The College Gamers Podcast!

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