Good afternoon ESH Lovers! I apologize for the delay on this monday...er...day! Had a bit of a rough night but without further ado here is this week's podcast.

First off we hope all you spent some decent time your mamas..especially since they gave birth to you and stuff.

The Sistahs were in rare form this week, as I am sure you'll notice by the their energy level.

Ninja begins with some more Rock Band DLC news, and would have continued with that if Pandalicious hadn't asked her about her progression in Radical's Prototype 2. Ninja did not necessarily spoil anything, so don't fret about that. She also talks a little bit about her latest anime discovery: High School DxD.

Pandlicious briefly addresses her excitement over the EAGERLY-anticipated release of Blizzard's masterpiece, Diablo III.(Which you will all hear about--we assure you!)

Before the fun can start, here's an idea of what goes on in the show. Here are all the the "wish-we-were" titles this week:

So Tell You What You Want, What You Really, Really Want

It Makes You Heller Stronger (Yeah, I Saw What You Did There)

Panda's Birthday Arrives Conveniently the Same Time She Needs a New Game

Looks Like We'll Be Kickin' More Chickens

We Need to Get Back to the Basics in Survival Horror

Here is this week's ESH Podcast Episode # 292: Whose Yore? 'Your Yore or My Yore? Enjoy!

The first game in this month’s veritable avalanche of awesome PlayStation Plus games is platform puzzler Trine 2.  In this game, you play as Amadeus the wizard, Zoya the thief and Pontius the knight as they are reunited once again by the magical Trine to save the world once again.  You control each of the heroes individually and can switch between them at any time to use their unique abilities to solve puzzles and fight enemies.  The thing I love about these games, aside from the amazing soundtrack, is how it really stretches your brain as you come across some of the harder puzzles.  It’s also pretty hard not to laugh at the banter between the characters as you traverse the world.  If you have a heartbeat, PlayStation Plus and love games, there is no reason not to go download this game.

Starting up Awesomenauts on my PS3 was like turning on a television on Saturday morning in the late 1980s.  It’s hard not to fall in love with the campy theme song that very much reminds me of cartoons from that decade.  The game itself is an interesting mixture of online multiplayer and a 2D platforming shooter.  It features an eclectic collection of characters that each have unique abilities that can be upgraded as you gain XP.  One of my favorite things about these 3 vs 3 battles is that you can play either online or locally.  Couch co-op is one of those concepts that seems to be fading away lately, so it’s great to see this game trying to encourage it.  Developer Ronimo Games is promising DLC with new characters down the road, so be sure to check this one out.

One of the best 2D platforming experiences is also made available this month with PlayStation Plus.  Both Castlevania Chronicles and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are free as PSone Classics.  Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, featuring an awesome soundtrack, is easily one of the best in the extensive series.  Leading the series gameplay towards being more open-ended, as opposed to the earlier titles, it also added some RPG aspects and redefined the series.  If you’ve never played this game before, here’s some fair warning: you will get hooked on this game.  Castlevania Chronicles is a remake of the first game in the series.  It features graphical upgrades and some new content.  The thing I remember most about that first Castlevania game is the unrelenting difficulty.  I’m not crazy about the new character model for Simon Belmont, but it’s easy to overlook.  If you were a fan of the original game, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Coming a bit late to the party, on the 15th of May, Rock of Ages is also being offered for free.  This game is an interesting combination of tower defense and a boulder rolling mechanic.  Two players face off against each other, rolling a giant boulder down a hill towards their opponent’s castle door.  As you play, you can put obstacles to prevent the other player from getting down the hill quickly.  You place money farms as well, to earn more cash to spend on traps for your foe.  Rock of Ages, like many other games involving rolling objects, is a very strange game on the surface.  This bizarre, but beautiful, skin adds great deal of character to a surprisingly deep game.  It’s one of those games that takes a minute to jump into, but quite a bit of time to master.

Every time you download one of these games, as long as you hold onto your PlayStation Plus membership, they’re yours to keep.  Each month they add to that list by making more of these awesome games free.  Try it out, but I’ll warn you right now that if you do, you might just get hooked.

I loved the anime series Cyborg 009 A LOT. If you have not seen it, please track it down. My love of American comics like X-men softened me up for a group of cyborgs teaming up against evil forces. That's why I'm glad the Cyborg 009 characters are coming back in 009 Re: Cyborg. The teaser trailer is mostly live action.

009 Re: Cyborg will be released later this year in Japan. This is the official site

Lain doesn't have any kung-fu or gunplay (wait, stay here!) but it does dive deep into the same philosophy regarding the nature of our existence as The Matrix does; I would say that it goes deeper than The Matrix does.

This is the opening to the anime, with one of my favorite OP themes, period.

Lain is available on Funimation's official Youtube channel, which also means you can watch it on Hulu.com or your Hulu Desktop app. The first 2 episodes are available so far.

Being without dish/cable TV is hard. You miss out on awesome stuff like A Game of Thrones, or Doctor Who. Luckily, a cable network like Nickelodeon is happy to offer up full episodes of the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel series-- all for free!  Just go to the Legend of Korra page and go to the video section!

There are 5 episodxe up there, so what are you waiting for? Go there already!! You're waiting for a review? IT'S GREAT!!!

1. Hawk Vs Dude? Dude wins!
It's not easy fighting a Hawk. They're larger and have greater firepower than you, but they aren't impossible to destroy when it's just human(oid) to Hawk. In fact, with your default loadout (your rifle and 3 grenades), you can destroy a Hawk, provided that it is in bipedal form. Make sure to aim those grenades right at its center. All 3 grenades can turn a Hawk to scrap, but hitting a moving target with them is tough. So if you you run out of grenades, finish the Hawk off with your gun.

2. This game is about conservation, so please share!

When building what you need is so simple, you might tend to get carried away. There is a limit to the number of structures your team can build (32), so if you build garages all over the place every time you need a ride, you might be handicapping your teammates!

3. Supply bunkers are an infiltrator's best friend

If you're like me, and you make sabotaging bases a priority, then the opposition's supply bunker is a cozy temporary home to hole up in. The weapons in a bunker are up for grabs to EVERYONE, so you can stock up on a few rockets, destroy enemy turrets through the window, kill unsuspecting visitors, and blow up the bunker when you're done having your fun.

Mean, I know, but this is space war!

4. You want to capture the flag? You know how to ride a Sidewinder?

Certain vehicles are better for the job than others, and for my Rift energy, I'm going with the Sidewinder bike when it comes to being successful in capturing the flag for your team. Obviously, it's a better bet than running with the flag, and you can't fly a jetpack with the flag. The Sidewinder's what you need when you want to be sneaky, jet off, and be a hard target for anyone chasing you.

5. There are weapons that shoot, and then there are weapons that drop.

Besides killing people the conventional way, you can build up your structures while you smash anyone who's foolish enough to get in your way. You can kill someone as you drop down in your pod, or you can drop a structure on them. Either way, you've got a kill!

These tips will get you off to a running start in multiplayer, but there is so much more in store for you as the online war rages on.

Here is our ever-famous Mother's Day episode. ESHMom has been an important part of ESH since it's conception-- both times!

The sistahs like to honor their mother the best way they know how: by putting on blast, calling her out on shit, and putting all that on display for the whole internet to experience.

They love their mom, and if this show doesn't show it, then what show does?

And now it is time for ESH Podcast Episode #291: It's All About Me

Art Style: PiCTOBITS, which is available for 150 points on the 3DS, is a delightful puzzle game which involves clearing pixels in a manner quite similar to Tetris.  The main difference is your ability to do combos which increase your score.  As you clear more pixels, a classic Nintendo character is revealed using the pixels you’ve cleared.  This adds to the challenge, because you have to get the specific colors you need to complete the character before you can clear the stage.  If you like fast-paced puzzle games, this one is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.

Snowpack Park, which is available for 150 points on the Wii, is a game where you raise a pack of penguins.  Do I need to say any more?  Okay, fine, as you take care of your penguins, there are a number of activities you can do.  You can bowl your penguins, shoot them through a basketball hoop and care for your them.  If that’s not enough you can put hats on your penguins.  There are over 90 of them, so you can keep that going for a decent amount of time.  The penguins are wearing hats; I’m just saying you might want to at least check it out.

3D Classics: Urban Champion, which is available for 150 points on the 3DS, is a game that pits the blue-haired guy against the green-haired guy in a 3D street fight.  This 3D remake of the classic NES title involves trying to punch your opponent into a sewer hole; I just call that wednesday afternoon.  The game can be played with one to two players, so long as you have a friend nearby.  Each player has a set amount of stamina and each punch they throw lowers that stat.  If the cops show up, you have to return to your starting position and nasty neighbors drop flower pots on your head to lower your stamina.  The winner is the player that manages to push their opponent the farthest to the left or right before the time runs out or they fall in the manhole.  The 3D is done pretty well and, while it’s a bit simple, you can pick it up and play for just a few minutes each session.

Eco Shooter: Plant 530, which is available for 200 points on the Wii, is the final choice of the month for Club Nintendo.  Developed by Intelligent Systems, of Advance Wars and Fire Emblem fame, this game is about the eventual truth that aliens are going to turn our trash into vicious monsters.  Compatible with the rarely used Wii Zapper peripheral, this on rails shooter has you blasting cans, or cannoids as they’re called, in an effort to save the planet.  You can increase your score by keeping the cans in the air and they’ve included a challenge mode to keep the game going after you’ve finished the story.

While you do have to earn points with Club Nintendo to get these games, if you’re getting the points anyway, it’s free enough for me.  If you regularly buy games for the 3DS, DS and/or Wii, then it’s essential to check in with Club Nintendo each month to see what awesome deals they have going.  Check back here on ESH soon for part two where I’ll be looking at the latest freebies from Playstation Plus.

Just go HERE and enjoy what only beta testers have up until now. The stream starts at 6pm PST today and 5PM on Sunday.

It wont be just the multiplayer, but the single player as well. I can't imagine that you'll pass up buying this after seeing it in motion.

This episode of the ElectricSistaHood podcast seems to be flashing hues of black, white, red and blue? The Magical World of Disney gets verbally assaulted by Pandalicious this week as she drops some "Disney Realness" for your minds to process.

Ninja talks about some recent DLC for Harmonix's Rock Band, briefly mentions the upcoming Rock Band Blitz, and also takes us through her experiences with Radical Entertainment's Prototype 2.

Panda brings up her latest "animeventure" Dusk Maiden of Amnesia.

Do you think Ninja loved what she played--Do you think Panda let a show go by without her talking about zombies?

Here are the never met students at Land of ESH High who are exploring the seven mysteries of the school:

Nobody Explained Where Baby Smurfs Came From

We Can't Have the Goofy-Pluto Conversation

How to Make Donald Duck Sound Racist

This Is Not a Video Podcast, But You Can See My Face

It's the Venus Flytrap of Death!

A Warning to Any Future Husbands

Whatever Is Broken Can Be Fixed With Downloadable Content

In Japan, It's All About Haunted High Schools

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia -- Not to Be Confused With Milk of Magnesia

Grab your spirit camera out and get ready to consume some evolved in this week's ESH Podcast Episode 290: That's Smurfed Up!

"Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt" are here, and they are also English Dubbed! I have zero shame in saying that I love this silly, tasteless, debaucherous show! No, this is not a guilty pleasure for me, but a pure pleasure.

Now all the fans of the show get to enjoy the first (hopefully with at least one more to come) season of Gainax' crazed mash-up of American cartoons, and the dub cast sounds good. Thumbs up to the Garterbelt English casting!

WATCH IT NOOOOOW, YOU $%*&#@*!

The trap that video game movies and movie video games tend to fall into is that they try to retell the story that’s already been told.  The problem ends up being that story was never meant to be told that way.  What happens then is the fans are upset that it isn’t exactly the same and the new folks don’t like it because of the compromises made to appease the fans.  The best way to handle this situation is, instead of trying to retell the old story, tell a brand new one in the same universe.  Thankfully, this is precisely what Telltale has done.

The game focuses around Lee Everett who, while on his way to prison, is suddenly thrust into the chaos of the undead attack.  The one character they included from the main series, Glenn, feels natural as a part of this tale.  Since much of the game involves experiencing the story, I won’t go any further into details about it.  The part of the game I enjoyed the most is, while there is certainly plenty of zombie killing, there are decently large chunks that deal with the drama and difficult decisions involved in a zombie apocalypse.  There are several screaming matches with other survivors where you have to very quickly take sides and your decision will effect how the story plays out.  You’re also tasked with choosing who lives or dies a number of times which, in the heat of the moment, can be a very difficult choice.

The game plays very similarly to the other adventure games in their arsenal.  You can walk around in the environment, pick up items and chat with folks.  There are also several action scenes where you have to figure out how to save yourself very quickly or you’ll get chomped on by a corpse.  If you do end up dying, the game is very forgiving and starts you back at the beginning of that action sequence.  These portions are thrilling and really help to suck you into what’s going on in the story.  The complete immersion was my favorite part of this game as I often found myself sitting on the edge of my chair, mouth wide open, fighting the urge to stand up as I play.

If you’re looking for a mentally taxing, puzzle solving, item combining game, you’re not going to find it here.  The formula is very close to that of the Back to the Future game they released last year.  There is no item combination, at least in the first episode, and the rest of the game mainly involves using the proper item in the right situation.  If you’re a fan of zombies, or The Walking Dead specifically, you won’t notice because you’ll be sucked into the world.  The moody atmosphere is a perfect match for the series and the cell-shaded graphics give it a nice comic book feel.  For those trophy/achievement fiends out there, you may want to give this game a look, because all you need to do for a perfect score is beat the game.  The trophy part of me likes this because it’s an easy platinum and the gamer part of me likes it because it means I can play the game however I want and still get all the glory.

A fine line has to be walked whenever an IP like The Walking Dead is transitioned to a video game.  The process can often be rocky, but when handled properly, you get a fantastic experience.  Telltale has done a great job of walking that line and The Walking Dead game is off to a nice start.  Whether you’re a fan of the series or just zombies in general, I highly recommend checking this title out.  Just make sure not to turn your back to a fence or a boarded up window, unless you want to be lunch for the living dead.

Panda is rocking a new look, and with it comes a topic she has been debating on talking about. Well she did it and here it is. This weeks Frickin' Fridayz With Pandalicious Episode 13: Slowly Sinking into the Mainstream

If the name Raiden wasn't shown a few times throughout the video, you wouldn't be able to tell that this has anything to do with the Metal Gear Solid spin-off. Really, I don't get why it was made. Showing more gameplay would've been more effective.

Take a look at the following trailer, and see what you think about it. Is this a good trailer for Revengeance?

Yesterday Bethesda Softworks announced that Tango Gameworks is working on their latest project, a survival horror game under the codename: Zwei.

Tango Gameworks has come on board with survival horror master and director, Shinji Mikami. Who is recognized for my personal favorite survival horror game series: Resident Evil.

Mikami and his team at Tango Gameworks are committed to making a game that will harbor the realization of pure survival horror.

Here,Mikami further elaborates on his vision:

“A true ‘survival horror’ game is one in which the player confronts and overcomes fear,” says Shinji Mikami, president and creative director for Tango Gameworks. “I've found my focus and once again I'm striving for pure survival horror. I am being very hands-on in the development of this game to ensure that the quality is there. Rest assured.”

Many would feel that the genre has been stagnant and even waning with the releases of Silent Hill 4: The Room and Resident Evil 5. Well it looks like the tides are shifting once again with the tease of this project.

A collage was released to give us a visual representation (found below) of the tone and atmosphere that "Zwei" will have.

So what do you guys think about this? Are your survival horror game senses tingling! I know mine are!

The sistahs are all healed up from their sistahpades at PAX EAST 2012 this year, and you can tell they have been dying to get back to what they do best: talk to each other.

Ninja starts the show with a recap of what happened in the God of War series. Why? Well how else could she talk about the teaser trailer for God Of War 4: Ascension?

They spend a good chunk of time speculating the angles that could make this pre-prequel more awesome than the pre-hype has made it out to be.

With that out of the way, Panda finishes off the episode with her thoughts about an anime Ninja recommended to her called Accel World.

The girls also share some sweet geek chic merch news. Espada Limited and ESH are working on a Contest/Sweepstakes/Giveaway for the masses. (More details to come)

And now here are the titles that didn't make the grade this week:
I've Got Two Hands With Nothing In Them

Non-Aborigines Forming a Band Is a Didgeri-Don't

We Just Want the Blood-Thirsty Kratos That We Love To, Well, You Know What

So buckle in for some podcast goodness in this week's ESH Podcast Episode 289: The Frenemy of My Frenemy Is My BFF!

One of the main things that worried me about Kid Icarus: Uprising was that it would end up being short and shallow.  Thankfully, this couldn’t be any further from the truth.  With 25 chapters, the story will keep you going for quite a while.  Each chapter can be replayed as soon as it’s been finished and the difficulty can be scaled from 0 to 9 for more or less of a challenge.  For anyone worrying about the game being too easy, you can put those fears to bed.  At the start of each level, you can pay some of the games collectible hearts to increase the difficulty.  It also gives you a handy suggestion each time based on how you’ve been performing thus far.  Even at some of the lower numbers, let’s say around 5, I’ve found myself getting creamed.  If you happen to die in a level, it will automatically scale the difficulty down a bit for you.  With each of these chapters being anywhere from a few minutes to around 40, they stack together quite nicely for a lengthy adventure.

The story follows Palutena and Pit as they fight against Medusa and her generals who has launched an all out war on the humans.  One of my favorite parts of the whole game is the hilarious dialogue.  As you progress through each chapter Palutena and Pit are always chatting each other up and commenting on what’s going on.  Often these conversations are very tongue-in-cheek about the game and in one of the earlier levels, they actually have a discussion as to “what kind of boss” the main enemy of that stage is, trying to decide if mini-boss or final boss fit them better.  The story itself takes a lot from the original game and they even will show the sprite of the original character on the bottom screen if it was in the original game.  It’s both a great way to seem delightfully retro while specifically tickling the nostalgia bone in the fans of the NES classic.

Let’s take a second and talk about the music in this game.  I have not had this much fun listening to a video game in a very long time.  Each chapter has its own style and the music represents them all in the best way possible.  There’s a perfect mixture nostalgia and orchestral goodness baked right into each song.  If this soundtrack is made available for purchase, I’ll be all over that faster than you can blink.

Each single-player chapter is basically broken down into 2 sections.  The first is a flying portion where Pit is being flown through an environment automatically and your main job is to gun down baddies along the way.  These portions of the game remind me of those theme park rides where they stick you in front of a giants screen and move your chair so that you feel immersed.  Especially with the 3D effect turned on, these parts of each chapter are some of my favorites both to look at and play.  You can reposition Pit on the screen with the circle pad, aim with the stylus and fire with the L-button.  The second part of each stage is ground-based and controls pretty much the same, with the main difference being that you also control the camera with the stylus.  As you progress though each chapter, killing enemies along the way, you earn hearts that can be used for a multitude of options.

If I had to list one complaint about this game, it’s the control scheme.  Don’t get me wrong, the controls work quite well and I always felt well-enough in control of Pit, but after a while it really does wear down your wrist.  Some of the levels are short enough to have this not even approach being a problem, but some of them go on long enough to make it a real pain.  This is why Nintendo packaged the game with the plastic stand, but I’ve never really managed to find my butter-zone for that either.  Honestly, it would have made a lot more sense for the game to be compatible with the Circle Pad Pro.

Unlockables are a huge portion of this game and help the replay value immensely.  Hearts, earned in each level, can be used to purchase and fuse weapons.  You can also donate them to Palutena and it will show a picture of her that gets closer and closer depending on how many have been given.  There is also a section called Palutena’s Treasure Hunt, where you can complete certain objectives to clears spots on a large grid, revealing a bit more of the picture underneath each time.  Those objectives can be as simple as just clearing a specific stage, to as complicated as clearing one of those stages in a certain time with a specific weapon.  Most of these objectives come with some sort of reward, usually being hearts, music tracks or weapons.  You can also collect the Idols of the game.  Essentially, the Idols are the 3D sprite for a whole bunch of elements of the game.  Acquiring these can be done in multiple ways with some options being collecting the physical Idol AR cards, paying Nintendo play coins for a shot at a new one and there’s even a special power that transforms enemies into Idols.

Even the weapons of the game are collectibles.  You can choose to pay for new weapons with hearts, find them in each chapter, or receive them as gems via the system’s StreetPass feature.  In all, there are 10 different types of weapon, each with different advantages.  Some are better at a distance, others shoot more quickly, and some of them just look really cool.  As you progress through the game, the weapons are what keeps you ahead of the continually progressing difficulty, so it’s always important to experiment and find the right weapon for your play style.  I love the variety of the weapons, not only in how they play, but how they look.  Each design has its own benefit and some are just built to look hilarious bolted to Pit’s arm.

To further customize your play style, there are a set of special abilities that you can find and unlock in each chapter.  These abilities can be anything including healing yourself, temporarily raising your attack, and jumping really high.  Each special ability is represented by a shape and you have a giant square with which you can place as many shapes as you can fit.  You can equip only as many shapes as you can fit inside the square.  This feature adds yet another layer of depth to an already robust system.

As I loaded up the main menu for the first time, I was instantly reminded of the team behind the game.  The developer for the game, Project Sora, is headed up by Masahiro Sakurai, who started the dev team just after the successful launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii.  The menu system for the game very strongly resembles the one from Brawl.  Simple and elegant, the menus are a joy to peruse and make it easy to get where you’d like to go.  The main options you’re given right out of the gate are solo and together.  Hitting solo takes you to the area where you can launch into any chapter, adjust your gear and practice with it.

Hitting together goes to the online multiplayer portion of the game and allo.  ws you to choose whether you’re playing with friends or strangers.  The multiplayer mode of the game keeps it going long after you’ve finished the game by giving you the chance to duke it out with complete strangers online.  The two modes of play, Light vs. Dark and Free-For-All, are exactly how they sound.  In the former, two teams face off against each other and battle and lower each others team health bar until one team has their angel appear.  Once the angel has appeared, if the angel is defeated then the game is over.  In Free-For-All, just blast everyone around you and try to earn the most points.  At the end of each match, depending on how well you’ve done, you receive a reward of hearts, weapons and sometimes special abilities.  The weapons and abilities you’ve earned from the single-player carry over into multiplayer and vice versa.  While I certainly got my ass handed to me on multiple occasions while playing these modes, they were still a ton of fun and add a great deal to the game.

Despite some minor control issues, Nintendo has made quite a hit from Kid Icarus: Uprising.  With a delightful story, amazing music and more to keep you coming back for a very long time, this is truly the best game for the Nintendo 3DS.  If you own the system, then there is no good reason for this game to not grace your collection.  I’m not done reporting on this game though, so keep your eyes peeled for one more surprise I have in store.  Who says you can't teach an old franchise new tricks?  Or was that dogs?

The sistahs suffered facets of PAX POX...so this is what you'll get while they heal. Panda always told Ninja they should have a White Mage go with them to these events. Ninja never listens!

This special episode is very "Ninjasistah" intensive --and it's about time, since Pandalicious has been bulldozing her lately. Ninja talks about her new toy: The iPad 3, and an anime she has watched called: Kampher. Panda joins in on the brief joint topic of vampires.

Only the sistahs could find a way to group, tech, anime, and nerd lore into one show and make it work!

So, get on your comfy pants because these girls are going make your gut hurt with laughter in this week's ESH Podcast Episode 288: We Haven't Quite Put Out Finger On It, but Something Different's Going On Here.

Certified Geek gets a new mouse! Will he like it? Or is it a miniature Deceptacon programed to destroy the human race one mouse hand at a time?

Madcatz is not known for their quality products. Their reputation came from selling cheap replacement console controllers. They still have a rather large presence in that market. In the past few years, they have spun off a couple of subsidiary brands: Satek and Cyborg. These aimed at producing quality, high-end computer gaming peripherals. These brands have attempted to take a fresh look at the high end market and design truly unique products.

The Cyborg series that we are looking at here today tends to be all sharp angles and open areas giving it a fully inorganic and skeletonized look. They look like the T-1000's of mice and keyboards. Surprisingly they are extremely comfortable proving how much material is wasted on most other products with flowing lines designed to make them look comfortable.

The M.M.O.7 mouse is a spin off of the Rat series of mice also created under the Cyborg name. This is truly a mouse created for gaming. It has an extra scroll wheel which is operated by the thumb.  It also has a mouse specific shift button giving each of its thirteen other buttons the option of serving double duty. The mode button triples that number giving a total of seventy eight total programmable options. There are also lock toggles on the primary left and right mouse buttons which can make those buttons be constantly active, even when not being pressed.

The interchangeable parts include: three palm rests,three pinky grips and five removable weights in six gram increments for a total of thirty grams. Each can be independently removed to tailor the weight to the user. Additionally, the thumb and palm rests can be adjusted higher or lower on the mouse giving even more customization. Personally I like the thumb rest all the way up, the tall palm rest half way up, the wing pinky rest, and all of the weights in.

If that wasn’t enough customization the sensitivity of the mouse can be adjusted from 25 DPI all the way up to 6400 DPI in 500 DPI increments. X and Y sensitivity are independently controllable as well. Four settings for sensitivity can be preset and changed on the fly with the push of yet another button. This is handy for me where I like 6400 DPI in games but prefer a slower 4500 DPI in Windows.

With that being said, it is a total bitch to configure. It works wonderfully after it it configured but it took me five hours to get it that way. It doesn't come with an installation disk which really wouldn't be an issue if the web address for the installation files were provided. Once the drivers and the configuration program are installed you can finally read a manual on the mouse, however it is not as clear as it could be. The biggest issue I had was in missing one of the downloads when installing the mouse.  The pre configured settings are really important I couldn't get the buttons to work inside of WoW without them but on the downloads page they just looked like random links that were not needed.

After the installing issues in this mouse, I love it. It is the most comfortable, and adjustable mouse I have ever owned. I switched from a Razr Naga to a Steel Series WoW Cataclysm mouse to the M.M.O 7 mouse, and each has felt like a significant upgrade.

Certified Geek

So let's examine this trailer further:

1. Our Hero

Who is this guy? for one thing, he isn't Wayne, the hero of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. His name is Jim, and he has a lot more personality thanhis predecessor, and definitely more personality than the sequel, which did not focus on a single character. Speaking of personality-

2. The Sidekick

Backing up Jim is some guy (probably younger) named Gale who is keeping him informed on the weather and such, which is actually useful in a frozen wasteland filled with horrible creatures. Gale may wear out his welcome, because it sounds like he's going to say dude A LOT.

3. Unchartified?

Given the lines Jim says and his dialogue with Gale, the attitude is most definitely a similar mix of lax and kick-ass that you usually get from adventurers like Nathan Drake. It looks like someone wised up and said "We need a personality injection for this game, really bad."

4. Bigger Vital Suits?

So Jim's rocking a much bigger VS than I have seen in a Lost Planet game. It's a lot less cozy, but it definitely looks like it gets the job done, and is a smarter solution to the giant bug problems you run into in this world. Capcom refers to it as a Utility Rig. Are there other mechs to use, or will this be the main form of transport?

5. Move/Kinect support?

So how are we going to operate this big VS, if we get to use it? In these days of motion-based gaming, why wouldn't Capcom build in Kinect/Move support? In the trailer, you see Jim smashing into a crab-like akrid with his VS's drill fingers. You're telling me that's not motion controller fodder?

6. Is this a prequel?
OK, so I'm just going to go wild with a theory: this takes place before the previous Lost Planet games. Why do I say that? First, we have Gale, who feels like he would be at home in our times. OK, so that's not necessarily solid proof. Then we have an Easter egg of sorts: a hula girl ornament on the dash of Jim's Utility Rig. Do they have these in the distant future, still? Eh, maybe. It could be just a cute bit of imagery the trailer's creators put in for a giggle. OR, this takes place in the not too distant future.

1) This looks GREAT!

2) Is this based on some kind of boys love novel?

I've found no other information on this show, other than it's by Gohands, who have produced and animated numerous anime, like Amagaami SS and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

The plot seems to revolve around students who go to a school for people with supernatural abilities. There isn't any actual boy-on-boy kissing, but they might be saving that for the next trailer.

As you could tell from Panda's Frickin' Fridayz video, all of Land of ESH's tweets and comments on their respective Facebook pages, that PAX EAST was all they wanted to talk about it. KingBabyDuck and Blueonic join the sistahs along with: Teg from the Boston Bastard Brigade. Robert "The DCD" Workman, CaptainChaos (from the B-team) and DJ Ranma S from Anime Jam Session.

The group did a live broadcast of this roundtable on Ustream. You can find it on the the B3's Ustream Page.

Enjoy our PAX EAST roundtable ESH Podcast Episode 287: Pax East 2012...I HAZ a Happee

When I play a 3rd person shooter I look for 3 things: easy to use – but accurate – controls, characters with a little bit of depth to them, and an interesting plot-line. Ultimately, I want my play-through experience to be challenging, but not impossible. As long as these things are present, you will typically get my money and a smilie/happy NinJa. With these things in mind I sought out the 2K Games booth today to get hands on with SPEC OPS: The Line to determine whether or not this new addition to the old franchise would be worth it.

The Setup

In the game, you [the player] takes control of Captain Martin Walker who is voiced by one of my favorite voice actors, Nolan North. Sandstorms have all but destroyed the once vibrant and affluent city of Dubai, and Captain Walker accompanied by Delta Team Bravo (two NPC support characters) have been tasked with recovering Colonel John Konrad from a rescue OP that has somehow gone horribly wrong.

The Basics

If you've ever played a 3rd person shooter, you'll feel very comfortable playing this game. Expect the standard fare when it comes to weapons and their use in the game. Like any strong 3rd person shooter there is a wide range of weapons you will encounter as you play through the game that will allow you to make mince meat of your enemies as you progress through the story. Players will be able to take advantage of "Squad Commands" that help you focus your support NPC's attacks to a specific enemy targets of your choosing in real time, allowing you additional cover or time to flank an enemy for easier targeting. My demo was on an XBox 360 system, so the Squad Commands button was mapped to the right bumper. I am not sure if it was due soley to the button mapping or simple ease of use when it came to issuing "Squad Commands" but I found myself using Squad Commands far more often in this game than I directed my support team while playing Mass Effect 3.

The tried and true mechanics of 3rd person shooters are also present in The Line, so you will duck walk, run for cover, weapon swap, ammo hunt, grenade toss, and snipe your way through the game. What is different about this game is how much the environment the player works his way through will directly affect the player. The sandstorms I mentioned earlier are actually dynamically created as you play the game, and not only can, but will affect you. The game engine randomizes when and where sandstorms appear, or how devastating they'll be to an area. These storms might open up a path for the player to traverse, or close off a path to the next area they must explore. Storms can even affect a players active firefight. While The Line is not the first game to use dynamic terrain mechanics in their game, use in this storyline adds an addition silent character to the story that makes it more interesting to me.

I've said it before that I'm not a 3rd person shooter junkie, but I'm starting to enjoy them more and more, and SPEC OPS: The Line is no different. Because of previous titles I've played, I jumped right in and was able to concentrate more on the story being told than trying to remember how to crouch or cover. I had 40 minutes to spend with the game today and I have to say, I'm glad I thought about giving it another look. SPEC OPS: The Line looks great, sounds good, and feels balanced.

The game releases in June and will be available on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3