KontrolFreek Blog

I’ve always been fundamentally opposed to taking myself too seriously. It’s a trait that is as much of a curse as it is a “quality.” Those who don’t know me very well think I’m a pretty fun and quirky guy. Those that do know me wonder when I’m ever going to grow up (give it up, mom. It’s not happening).

The new indie movie, Noobz suffers from the same syndrome as I do, as it never takes itself too seriously either. It straddles the line between hilarious and insulting sometimes—perhaps depending on your level of involvement in competitive gaming.

For someone who’s merely a casual observer of the eSports scene, you’ll likely laugh without ever questioning the authenticity. But, if you’re someone who’s really serious about eSports and deeply sincere to the culture, you may think that the parody hits too close to home and/or doesn’t capture the sport appropriately. Either way, you’re offended.

A good friend of mine absolutely despises The Big Bang Theory. He despises it not because of the dry humor of one Sheldon Cooper, but because he’s insulted by the stereotyping of the group of which he’s a part of in real life—the nerds, geeks and freaks. I think the show is great regardless, but I can understand where he’s coming from.

Noobz is kind of like that. From a distance it can bring you a little closer to eSports as you laugh at the characters and at the gaming culture. Right up close, it could burn you if you let it. But, if you know how to laugh at yourself and at the culture you’re a part of, you’ll see that the movie isn’t poking fun at your expense; it’s just having a good time while allowing you to laugh right along with it.

Is the movie a spot-on representation of our hobby? No, it wasn’t meant to be. It’s a parody. And there’s some great material there that we as gamers can all relate to. You just need to lighten up and enjoy the ride.

Noobz hits select theaters January 25th and will be available on DVD January 29th. 

It’s obviously Turtleman’s favorite kind of trailer…

And this time it’s a David Fincher (Alien 3 and Fight Club) produced Halo 4 spot that delves into the origins of the legend himself, Master Chief.

Besides getting to see the starry-eyed boy-version of the Chief and his augmentation and indoctrination, the trailer also gives us a good look at the brand new Promethean enemy type we’ll be facing in a few weeks. Intimidating looking bastards, aren’t they?

Check it out.

The Elgato Game Capture HD is the easiest to set up and most versatile video game capture device I have ever used.

I’ll be honest, coming from me this isn’t saying too much—considering I’m not a professional YouTube director or even an amateur video creator. But let me tell you, I know a quality piece of hardware when I see it and I couldn’t be happier with the Elgato.

In case you’ve been under a rock, let me start with the basics:

The Elgato Game Capture HD enables you to record PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 gameplay to a Mac or PC and share it with your friends (or YouTube subscribers). With advanced hardware H.264 encoding, you can capture gameplay in HD quality while keeping the file size small on your computer’s hard drive. A recent update even adds the ability to record in full HD 1080p at 30fps, making the Game Capture HD the first and only USB capture device to do so.

Your gameplay is passed through from your console to the TV via HDMI and then in to your PC or Mac’s USB port without loss of quality. Elgato Game Capture HD doesn’t require a bunch of cables or a bulky power supply to record your gameplay. With a direct Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 input, you can use a single cable to connect it to your console. Everything included, it literally uses three cables (HDMI in, HDMI out, USB in). You can seriously be recording clips in about 10-minutes. It’s that easy.

The included software is pretty nifty too. Even if you forget to press the record button, the Flashback Recording feature lets you go back in time. So, you can simply slide the slider (did I say slide the slider?) back and hit record retroactively so you don’t facepalm when you miss something awesome. Elgato Game Capture HD’s software also allows you to quickly trim your gaming clips and pass them on to your favorite editing program for easier editing later. Again, easy!

For $179 (Amazon.com price as of this morning) the Elgato Game Capture HD seems like a good deal to me. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do and makes it easy for you to do what you’re supposed to do—create epic gameplay montages! So this is good news for all of you guys and gals looking to make a name for yourselves on YouTube: Elgato did all of the hard work for you so all you need to do is hit the big red button and play.

One of my fondest memories from my early days of PC gaming was fragging my friends in a little first-person shooter called Rise of the Triad. Originally intended to be the sequel for Wolfenstein 3D, the title ended up becoming a standalone IP that shared many characteristics of its spiritual predecessor but was a leap forward in terms of gibs, and in my opinion, fun.

It shouldn’t really come as a surprise since ’95 is the new 2012 (or is it 2012 is the new ’95??) that Apogee is working on a ROTT sequel to bring the good times to a new generation and please us old folks at the same time. The reboot is in development right now with Interceptor Entertainment handling development duties.

Set for release on PC via Steam late this year, “Rise of the Triad” is packed with features that are sure to melt your face off:

• Step into the shoes of the H.U.N.T. (High-Risk United Nations Taskforce) with five unique characters, each with different play styles.
• Blast through over 20 of levels of explosive single-player action.
• Unique multiplayer maps bring back all the fun and excitement of classic ROTT.
• The full arsenal of over-the top weapons is back, including the Flamewall, Firebomb, Split Missile, Drunk Missile and, of course, the Excalibat! 
• The maniacal modes return, too, with God mode, Elasto mode, Mercury mode, Shrooms mode and everyone’s favorite, Dog mode!
• Build your own levels, mods and share them with Valve’s Steamworks.
• Offline single-player and multiplayer allows for instant action.
• Find tons of secrets, collectables, special events and hidden areas to explore.
• Get more than 100 achievements to add to your score, which is tracked on our worldwide leaderboard and stat-tracking system.
• ROTT is bloodier and more ludicrous than ever, with full character and enemy dismemberment.
• The iconic original soundtrack has been completely re-forged in the fires of heavy metal!
• Nostalgia abounds with the option to play with all the original sounds and music.
• Built on fully-licensed Unreal Engine 3 technology, ROTT will run on low-end PCs and push high-end PCs to their limits!

Rise of the Triad is promised to be released “late this year or early next year” for $14.99 and offer all post-launch DLC for free.

Let’s get right to the good stuff!

The six category winners below have been chosen by our judges TmarTn, Juictra, Trout and Trevor (me) to move on to the final round of public voting. These six winners each win a Black Ops 2 preorder:

The Pro – Andrew Sychtysz

Run-N-Gun – Cameron Asselstine

The Racer – James Coghlan

The Sniper – Trent Rose-Anderson

The Knifer – Austin Enos

Freestyle – Marcel G.

To view the winning videos and vote for your favorite visit the voting page now. Remember, the grand prize winner will get an amazing custom gaming setup inspired by TmarTn worth over $1000—which includes a 3D television, Hauppauge PVR, studio microphone, 2 games and a set of Astro A40s.

Congrats to the six category winners and good luck in the public voting!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Up until recently I have always had a difficult time playing first-person shooters. One might ask me why I have this problem, and the answer to that would be that I have a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT). This disease affects my hands, feet, legs, and arms making them very weak. It is also a disease that gets progressively worse. With that said, playing first-person shooters on my controller is very difficult.

Because of my hand weakness, I hold my controller differently in my right hand than someone else would. I have to position my hand a certain way—with my thumb and index fingers “pinching” the thumbstick—so that I can play. I wasn’t aware that there was anything out there that could potentially better my gaming ability and make it easier and more comfortable to play until I came across KontrolFreek.

When I received my package of the Rcade Freek and FPS Freek Snipr, I was very excited and hopeful that these would be the improvement that I needed to play games better. After trying both the Rcade and FPS Freek Snipr, I found both products helped a lot! The height and convex, “dome” top benefitted me greatly and I was able to do the thumbstick "click" a lot faster and more reliably, which was a problem I had before. I noticed from the first time I put them on that my aim had greatly improved as well. The greater range of motion made it easier to snap on to enemies faster.

Another thing I struggled with was—because of the lower stock stick height—I would constantly hit the ABXY buttons by accident, and that was a big problem for me while playing. The added height of the Freeks makes it so that I do not hit the ABXY buttons accidentally anymore.

I’m still trying to decide which set of Freeks I like the most, but I can definitely say that I highly recommend these products to gamers with or without disabilities.

By: Brent "SwiftyKaos" Clayton