Electronic Gaming Accessories
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Playstation Plus
by illusiveman ---------------------------------- When I bought this Product ---------------------------------- I have been using PlayStation Plus since I had a free trial in December 2012 and I have been a paid subscriber since then having found I save a lot of money with the free games I can download each ... month. Subscriptions are available in either 3 months (around £10 - £13) or 12 months (around £30 - £37), I usually buy the PSN money required from a local gaming store such as GAME or over the internet via Amazon or even through the Playstation Store, I mainly buy them through the GAME website though as the code is available to view almost straight away (a few months ago it would have taken a few hours, it now appears to be instant). ------------------ My Experience ------------------ I first bought a PlayStation plus subscription from Amazon which I received through the post. The code came inside a PS3 style game case and contains the piece of card with the silver panel that needs to be scratched off to reveal the code. Once the code has been revealed I then navigated to the PlayStation Network tab of the consoles XMB, I then clicked on the Account Management button and then finally clicked on the redeem code button where I could enter the 12 digit code I received. ------------------------------ Instant Game Collection ------------------------------- With PlayStation Plus you get an Instant Game Collection that allows you to choose from 10 free games to download per month, or 45 per year, the games available to choose from changes once a month to keep it fresh, as an example I have listed the content that is available to download this month, although Sine Mora isn't available to download until tomorrow (8th May) and Velocity Ultra HD isn't available to download until the 15th May. Hitman Absolution, Catherine, Malicious, Sine Mora and Velocity Ultra HD are the current offerings available, there is also Zero Escape: Virtue's Last reward but this is only available until tomorrow (8th May), Thomas Was Alone is also still available but only until the 22nd May. ------------------------ Automatic Updates ------------------------ As a subscriber to PlayStation Plus this enables a feature known as Automatic Updates, this enables you to set a time (within a two hour period, I normally set it for 2-4 am as it doesn't usually wake me up) for the PS3 to switch itself on and check for updates, while it does this it also finishes any downloads you may have started (not downloads that are currently paused), it will also upload your saves to the cloud storage facility and synchronize any trophy information with the server. It will also download updates for any games you have previously played, if you have recently acquired new games you can also insert the disk / launch the game and just cancel any updates it wants to install, the PS3 will then automatically update these games while auto updating which saves you time when you come to play them at a later time / date. -------------------- Handy Features -------------------- Included with a PlayStation Plus subscription is access to the Cloud Storage facility that allows you to backup your save files to the Cloud which could be a very useful if you're still using one of the original "phat" PS3s as they are known, as a plus point if you have automatic updates switched on the saves will be uploaded automatically so would give you one less thing to worry about if your console died. Having a PS+ subscription also gives you additional discounts that aren't given to regular PSN members, for example Batman Arkham Asylum had a regular price of £15.99, it was discount to £7.99 and PS+ member received an extra 10% discount saving an extra 79p (£7.20). There are certain games that will also allow you to download and try out the full game for up to one hour, this isn't great because it allows you to get more out of it than you would by playing a demo and not all games have demos available. ------------ Summary ------------ Good Points: *Free Games *Automatic Updates *Extra Discounts Bad Points: *Only 3 month and 12 month subscriptions available *Games can be as large as 20GB *PS3 can be noisy while doing Auto Updates ------------------ Overall Rating ------------------ I have been a paid subscriber since January 2013 and have highly enjoyed my time as a PlayStation Plus subscriber. I have loads of games downloaded for free that are waiting for me to play when I get the chance and would highly recommend this to anyone as it can be an excellent way of saving money, I will be giving this a 5 star rating as I have highly enjoyed my experience. Read the complete review |
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Playstation Plus
by SWSt I have to confess that whilst I was aware that Playstation Plus existing, I didn't really know exactly what it was until a fellow Dooyoo-er tipped me off recently. As soon as I looked at it in a bit more depth, I realised it was just the thing for me! Playstation Plus is a subscription-based service for the PS3 and the ... Playstation Vita. In return for a payment of around £40 a year (or £12 for a three month subscription), it gives you access to a number of games which you can download for free, as well as a host of other things. When I first heard about it, I have to confess that I thought it would be a dumping ground for the rubbish stuff that no-one really wants. In fact, that's not the case, and some really top quality titles have been made available to Playstation Plus subscribers. The number of titles available at any one time varies, but generally speaking there are at least half a dozen games available to download. These are a mix of full priced commercial releases, as well as some titles from the standard PSN download service that would normally incur a cost, but which are free to subscribers. With this in mind, it doesn't take long before you start to realise what great value for money Playstation Plus is. This month alone, for example, I've downloaded the excellent Limbo, the perfectly reasonable F1 All Stars, Little Big Planet 2 and Square Enix's Sleeping Dog... All for free. Limbo aside (which has only ever been available as a download), all of these are games which have seen commercial releases and in many cases are still retailing at around £20-30 in the shops. Even at a conservative estimate, I've already downloaded around £60 worth of games, so my £40 annual subscription has paid for itself. Nor is it the case that only a limited number of titles are available. Whilst there might only be around half a dozen titles available at any one time, the list changes regularly, with new titles being added (and existing ones removed) on a monthly basis. It's definitely worth checking back on a regular basis to see what's been added since the last time you visited! It would be nice if there was some way of being alerted automatically when a new selection is added, but it's not too much of a hardship to log into the Playstation Store every so often to check for new content. Even if there is the odd duffer, you don't mind too much. After all, you've not paid for it; and surely it's better to download a game for free and find you don't like it than to shell out £30 for something you're never going to play. Membership of Playstation Plus brings other benefits, too. Exclusive demos of games are available as well as a whole host of online badges, icons and avatars that are not available to non-subscribers. You get an allocation of free online storage space for your save game files, too - a real benefit if your PS3 is getting a bit full. And finally, you can enable automatic updates for the PS3 system software so that this is downloaded and installed automatically. Personally, this last bit is not so much of a benefit for me. I don't like things being sneakily installed behind my back, so even though I now have the option to do this, I've got it turned off. Of course, not everything is a bed of roses, and there are a few things you need to be aware of before you race off to sign up. Perhaps the biggest consideration is the size of the game files you will need to download. Since they are all full games of the sort that would normally come packed onto a Blu-ray disk, they are massive - 7GB or more of data is not uncommon. This has two potential implications: time and bandwidth. Depending on the speed of your bandwidth, it's not uncommon for a game to take 4+ hours to download and install. Whilst you can download most titles in the background, it's still going to be slowing your overall internet speed down and possibly stopping you from doing other stuff online. To get around this, I tend to set downloads going just before I go to bed and then leave them to download and install overnight. There's an even more important consideration. Unless you are on a genuinely unlimited broadband package, then you're going to have to watch how much you download or risk extra charges from your ISP. Many of the cheaper broadband packages, for example, limit your monthly download allowance to 1GB and if you go over that, you have to pay extra (or in extreme cases have your internet cut off). Other services claim to be unlimited, but actually restrict you to 100GB of data per month. Even though that's not too bad, if you download 6 games a month at 10GB a time, you've already used over half your allocation before you've even done any of your normal online activities, like watching catch-up TV or looking at hilarious videos of cats wearing clothes on YouTube. If you are on one of these limited packages, Playstation Plus may not be a viable option for you, unless you upgrade your internet. A further frustration I have found is that if a download is interrupted partway through, it aborts the whole process and you have to start again from scratch (where a PC download generally carries on from the point at it was disrupted.) I found this out to my cost when, three and a half hours into a download, my internet connection dropped for a few minutes and I lost everything I'd done up to that point. Very frustrating; and definitely something to bear in mind if your internet connection can be patchy. A final thing to be aware of is the fact that you are effectively "renting". You can keep them on your PS3/Vita and play them as much as you like... as long as you are a Playstation Plus subscriber. The minute your subscription lapses, all access to any titles downloaded via the scheme vanishes; it's not quite the same as having the physical product which you can install and uninstall as you wish. Having finally subscribed, I have to say I feel a bit of a berk for not having investigated Playstation Plus before. It's a fantastic way to build up a collection of decent games without having to shell out loads of cash. Whilst there are still some titles that I would prefer to buy in physical format, there are plenty of games which I'm more than happy to download from Playstation Plus. £40 a year really is an absolute steal, providing your internet can cope with the strain of the big downloads. (c) Copyright SWSt 2013 Read the complete review |
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Ion iCade Core
by SWSt If you look back at iPad/iPhone game reviews, there is a common theme: too many potentially great games are let down by poor controls. Many titles are not well suited a touchscreen environment and the lack of a physical controller has a major impact on their playability. This is where the iCade Core comes in: a neat little device that ... allows you to slot your iPad into it to create a mini arcade machine complete with joystick and buttons. From a design point of view, the iCade is probably not going to win any awards, but it does its job. It looks a little like an old cocktail style arcade cabinet into which you fit your iPad. The flat bottom makes it nice and stable and it's reasonably comfortable to use. It's also pretty well catered for when it comes to control figurations, with a single joystick and eight different buttons making it suitable for pretty much any type of game. A slot at the top of the iCade holds your iPad. The manufacturer's specification say it is compatible with the iPad and iPad 2 but I've used it with the iPad 3 and it fits fine and I've read reports that it will also work with the iPad Mini (although I can't confirm this). Depending on the individual game, you can also use the iPad in both landscape and portrait mode. I have to confess I'm always happier using landscape mode because it seems a little bit more stable; portrait mode seems to make the unit a little top heavy. I was initially concerned that the iPad only sits in the slot fairly loosely and is not secured in any way, but it does actually seem pretty safe. The iCade itself is powered by 2xAA batteries and it doesn't seem particularly power hungry, so a couple of batteries are going to give you a fair few hours of gaming time. It's worth noting that there is no on/off switch, so it's best to take the batteries out when not in use. Bluetooth is used to link your iPad to the iCade and the prospect of this rather filled me with dread. I've had all sorts of problems in the past trying to get Bluetooth devices to play nicely together. I needn't have worried. As soon as I turned my iPad's Bluetooth on, it immediately recognised and paired with the iCade ready for use. Once you've paired the items once, they automatically link up the next time they are both switched on and in range. Of course, Bluetooth is a notorious battery hog for the iPad, but ION have got round this by leaving a space at the bottom of the iCade through which you can feed your iPad charger, so you can keep on playing even when your iPad's power is low. It has to be said that build quality is slightly variable. As already noted, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing item in the world and looks like a great big lump of plastic. It does, however, feel surprisingly sturdy and whilst it wouldn't survive being dropped, neither is it something you're going to have to treat with kid gloves. It's not the most portable of items either since it is quite large (although reasonably light). It's fine to carry to different rooms around the house, or even to take around to a friends', but it's not something you'd want to take on holiday. The main control panel also has its ups and downs. The joystick is responsive and the action on it is good. It springs back into place easily and works very well. For right handed people, it can initially feel a little awkward to be controlling the joystick with your left hand, but you soon get used to this. The buttons are a reasonable size (about the width of two fingers) so when pummelling them, your fingers are not in danger of slipping off. From an ergonomic perspective, the Core is reasonably comfortable, but not perfect. The joystick is fine but the buttons can feel slightly stiff and require a reasonable amount of pressure. This can cause problems for longer gaming sessions and I do sometimes find my fingers are aching after a while. Where the build quality really lets the side down is that the iCade Core is surprisingly noisy. The joystick makes a real thudding noise when moved and the buttons click loudly. On the one hand this is a good thing, recalling the thuds and clicks of the old arcades (remember those?!). However, if you want to play on it when other people are in the room, you might get some funny looks. Let's move onto the important stuff: does it actually work? Can it really turn your iPad into a gaming machine with proper physical controls? The simple answer to this is "Yes"; the slightly more complicated answer is "Yes, but..." Starting with the simple answer, it's hard to over-estimate the improved playability the iCade brings. Every single compatible game I have tried works like a dream and improves the playability by at least 50%. Games that were almost unplayable with virtual controls are suddenly turned into really fun titles. Moving onto the "Yes but..." answer, it's a question of support. There are currently well over 100 titles that support the iCade, but it's not universally supported and there are far more games that don't support it than do. Helpfully, there is a partial list of compatible titles on the ION website and a quick Google search will reveal further compatible titles. It's just a shame that not all developers have the foresight to use it. The iCade actually started out as an April Fools' Joke on a gaming website, but quickly became a real world product when so much interest was expressed in it. Given its impact on playability, it's not hard to see why. It might be a niche product, but if you use your iPad to buy and play games on a regular basis, it's well worth considering. It will cost you a slightly eye-watering £59.99 if you pay its RRP. However, with a bit of careful shopping around, you can get a new one for half that. Whilst this might still sound a little expensive, I personally think it is well worth it for the improved playability it brings to so many titles. © Copyright SWSt 2013 Read the complete review |
Gaming Accessory |
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1 review Brand: Ion / Gaming Accessory / Compatible with ipad |
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25 reviews Genre: Accessory / Gaming Accessory / Video Game for Xbox 360 / Release Date: 2010-08-20 / Published by Microsoft |
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2 reviews Gaming Accessory / Subscription based service for the PS3 and PS Vita offering games for download. |
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2 reviews Manufacturer: Microsoft / Type: Gaming Accessory |
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Gaming Accessory / Nintendo Wii U |
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Gaming Accessory / Nintendo Wii U |
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Genre: Action & Adventure / Gaming Accessory / Accessory for Nintendo Wii / Xbox 360 / Windows XP / PlayStation 3 / Nintendo 3DS / Suitable for 12 years and over / Release Date: 2011-12-29 / Published by Activision |
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Genre: Accessory / Gaming Accessory / Accessory for Nintendo Wii / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Nintendo 3DS / Release Date: 2012-10-19 / Published by Activision |
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Genre: Accessory / Gaming Accessory / Accessory for Nintendo Wii / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Nintendo 3DS / Release Date: 2012-10-19 / Published by Activision |
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Genre: Accessory / Gaming Accessory / Accessory for Nintendo Wii / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Nintendo 3DS / Release Date: 2012-10-19 / Published by Activision |
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