Ever wondered what would happen if Quake, your dad’s music collection and a VHS copy of Army of Darkness tried to summon Satan? Neither have I, but the result would probably be DUSK (or some horrific cronenberg-esque monster that would undoubtedly fit in with this games’ cast of characters). A true homage to the olden days of shooters, DUSK throws you into the deep end of the blood pool. Armed with nothing but your wits, a couple commie cutters (or sickles to the laymen among you) a metric shit-ton of guns, and some radical backflips, you have three choices to tickle your trigger finger: Campaign, Endless mode, and DUSKWORLD, the multiplayer mode.

There’s three episodes in the campaign. All of them connect into one continuous masterwork of a story, but the basic premise is the same throughout: kill everything that moves and find the exit. Episode One, “The Foothills”, is the epitome of a rolling start. You wake up in some dank, dark basement, hung up on a meathook like a Tamagotchi forgotten to time. You then fight your way out through barnyards and backwoods while combating hordes of chainsaw toting hillbillies, magic cultists, demonic livestock, rifle-wielding scarecrows, and big-ass rats. Let me remind you, THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST EPISODE! You want possessed soldiers, evil doctors, and Wendigos? Episode Two is for you. Ever wanted to try and literally murder Cthulhu? Episode Three is where you wanna be.

So you finished the campaign, eh? Well slap some fresh batteries in that Gameboy color, ‘cuz we’ve still got a ways to go on this family road trip through hell. Next up, there’s Endless Mode. Pick a level and last as long as you can against endless waves of enemies. It’s pretty straightforward; you don’t have to be Nancy Drew to figure that one out.

Finally, DUSKWORLD. It’s the same balls-to-the-wall, adrenaline-fueled gameplay of the campaign & endless modes but with the added bonus of fragging actual people in arena combat!

This game is a work of art. A perfect blend of frantically fast & fun gameplay, a beautiful art style harkening back to the good ‘ole days, and a bad-ass soundtrack that’s perfect for raising some hell… Literally. I’m giving it a 10/10. DUSK deserves to proudly stand among the giants of this genre as a modern classic, and at only $20, it’s probably a better investment than your Beanie Baby collection.

Before we get to the new build, let’s briefly touch on the build I’m retiring and passing down to my wife.

Driving this build was an Intel i7-4790K, which has served me very well (and with four cores and eight threads, it’s still more than serviceable by today’s standards). Below is a picture of the completed build from June 2014, and it still looks nearly the same today, save for an additional SSD and a newer video card.

Out with the old, in with the new

For my new build, I wanted something with just a little more flair and slightly more cohesive color coordination. I didn’t have a strict budget, so I chose certain components with more of a focus toward performance and appearance (where applicable) than price and value. These personal build choices are toward the top end of what I would typically recommend to someone and don’t necessarily reflect what I would suggest to others with different usage patterns, preferences, and/or budget constraints. Read on for the full part list and a breakdown of each component below.

Full Build List on PCPartPicker

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K

At the heart of the build is Intel’s newest 8-core/16-thread monster, the i9-9900K. I actually don’t think this processor is a great choice for everyone, as it runs very hot, has little thermal headroom for overclocking, and is very expensive. However, for a strong gaming and multitasking build that I want to last comfortably for years to come, this chip was just what I was looking for. While I did consider going with an AMD chip, I settled on Intel because they’re still the top dog when it comes to single-core and gaming performance.

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X72

While I was pleased with the Corsair H100i I had in my previous build, I wanted to try out a larger 360mm cooler. After looking at reviews, 360mm coolers offer largely similar cooling performance to that of smaller units, but they generate less noise, thanks to a larger radiator with more fans that can each run at a lower speed. The X72 looked like a great option, and the customizable RGB LEDs were the icing on the cake. After using this PC for several days, I can confidently say this PC is the quietest one I’ve ever built for myself.

Motherboard: MSI MEG Z390 ACE

There are so many motherboards out there that it can be tough to figure out which one is right for your needs and budget. After doing some research, I ended up going with the Z390 ACE from MSI because it had all of the options I needed, had good overclocking capability, and fit in aesthetically with the black-and-white color scheme I was aiming for with this build. I probably could have gone with a less expensive motherboard, but given that the Z390 chipset is relatively new, reviews on some of the cheaper boards were sparse at the time of my purchase, and I’ve had good experiences with MSI boards on the past.

Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2×16) DDR4-3000

Memory comes in all shapes and sizes, and many kits are very similar, so the choice often comes down to finding the best value from a brand you trust. Corsair memory has always served me well, and this kit had the right combination of price, speed, and appearance I was looking for. In 2018, even memory sticks can have RGB LEDs! I went with two sticks instead of four to preserve the option to upgrade to 64GB down the line without replacing my existing sticks.

Primary Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 1TB SSD

I knew I wanted to go with a NVMe SSD as my primary drive in this build, and the Samsung 970 Evo is one of the best when it comes to the combination of price, performance, and reliability. This was my first build to use a NVMe drive, and I can’t recommend it enough. On top of being crazy fast, the fact that the drive plugs directly into the motherboard means one less power supply connection and one less SATA cable to worry about, making for cleaner cable management!

Secondary Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1TB SSD

I’ve used the trusty Samsung 860 Evo in multiple builds over the years, and the 1TB version was down to ~$0.12/GB around Black Friday, so I opted for a SSD instead of a mechanical drive to use as secondary storage.

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition

NVIDIA launched the RTX 2080 Ti a few months ago, and it’s currently the undisputed king of the gaming video card market by a healthy margin. With a street price in the low four figures, this video card alone costs more than many people spend on an entire PC, but it’s the obvious choice if you want top performance and don’t mind paying top dollar to get it. For someone who cares about keeping smooth triple-digit frame rates at 1440p, this card is ideal for just about any game you throw at it. This Founders Edition card was generously provided by NVIDIA.

Case: NZXT H700i

I’ve used NZXT cases for multiple builds over the years (including my previous build), but the H700i is my favorite case yet. Building in this case was an absolute joy, and it has several features that make for a beautifully clean look for the completed build. My favorite aspects of this case include a removable tray at the top of the chassis for easy top-mounting of our cooler’s 360mm radiator, multiple cable routes with velcro ties on the backside of the case, detachable drive bays that can easily be removed if not needed, and a couple of tasteful LED strips.

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 (80+ Platinum)

These days, you can find a high quality, high wattage power supply without breaking the bank. While I certainly didn’t need 1000W for this build, the difference in price between 750W, 850W, and 1000W was almost negligible, and I wanted to err on the safe side of having plenty of headroom for the high-end, power-hungry components like my CPU and video card. And while I’m not planning to add another video card, this power supply keeps that option available down the line.

The main theme this month continues to be the crazy prices on video cards across the board. Finding a good value in a video card for each build remains a challenge with so few cards to pick from that are both in stock and reasonably priced.

The Essentials ($800)

The Enthusiast ($1400)

The Professional ($2000)

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In the news, we hear that Nvidia predicts graphics card prices will only continue to increase, Metal Gear Survive brings nickel-and-diming to a whole new level, Fortnite’s latest update drops with a host of improvements, PUBG is having a tough time combating cheaters, H1Z1’s player numbers appear to be in free fall, Kingdom Come: Deliverance sells over 1 million copies, and League of Legends reveals its loot box drop rates.

In the viewer questions, we talk Monster Jams and KDZen’s alleged pregnancy. ?

Remember that you can catch an extra special episode of the podcast live next Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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Viewer questions this week include three intriguing emails that cover the influence of AI in game development, the quality level we expect from buffet-style dining, and the next thrilling episode of the KBMOD screenplay.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the viewer questions, we hit on a variety of important topics: picking animals to protect us against other animals, video game cross-over romances, whether melted ice cream can be considered a soup, and the possibility of cutting meat out of our lives.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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Whats up party people its your boy HB25 coming out you with another lighting fast video game reviews, let me take you back to the year 1944 WHERE SOME REAL fucked up shit was going down see there were these people called NAZI they like hated the world it something and then a brave group of hero’s stepped in to stop them and we is were he are IN Battalion 1944 you play as a BIG BAD NAZI or as THE FREEDOM FIGHTING GOOD OL Americanos. This game have a lot of great things going for it,

It’s like Day of Defeat, mix with CSGO , WITH A SMACKING THE FACE oF PROMOD, the gun play is smooth as ice, the sounds CRIPS as a newborn’s cry, The game plays like a Old school shooter and with the feel of the new shooter attitude. I can see myself at a top 1% PUBG PLAY  a 2000 hour CSGO GOD LIKE MAN Play this game for a long time THE BEST part is they got FREAKING SKINS I know skins.

Now I know what you think HB why won’t I just play CSGO or Call of duty well thought game are missing something that the Old schoolers had and that is soul and love for the style games be played with,

BATTLE LIONS 1944 IS A GREAT GAME with some Issues there servers are not flushed out and need some work, random lag spikes in game can make some people mad but for a $15 Early Access game its fine in my book, and runs great I will be playing a lot more of this game and I hope I see you guys on the battlefield

The viewer questions this week have us discussing which video games have surprised us the most, our fourth-favorite video games, our t-shirt storage methods, and the dictionary definitions for our online screen names.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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Our viewer questions ask which game series we would reboot and whether betas have replaced demos in video games. In a podcast first, we asked our listeners which games they’re looking forward to most in 2018, so we finish up by reading and discussing our favorite answers!

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the viewer questions, we talk about the games we would try to speedrun at AGDQ and attempt to create a new national holiday of our choice. Lastly, we highlight a couple of iTunes reviews that surprisingly share a common theme.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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Two main themes continue to make for challenging build trade-offs at our price targets: memory prices are getting truly ridiculous (possibly due to price fixing by DRAM suppliers), and many video cards are sporadically out of stock or higher priced due to strong demand from cryptocurrency mining.

The Essentials ($800)

The Enthusiast ($1400)

The Professional ($2000)

Have a suggestion? Leave it in the comments!

Andrew

Resident Evil 2 is one game from my childhood that I remember very fondly. I played through it numerous times (with cheat codes because I am a trashlord) and I even had RE2 action figures. My love for this game led me to other titles in the series, such as the original and Resident Evil 4. After numerous subpar entries and spin-offs in the RE series that I, along with most of the world, loathed, I was curious to see how the new first-person perspective would translate. Was it even possible for them to convey the same tone and feeling that made the first few titles so haunting?

Fortunately, within the first hour of the game, it became very clear that despite this new spin, this was a game that harkened back to a time when the series was a survival horror series, not “MICHAEL BAY’S RESIDENT EVIL: NOW WITH MORE ACTION AND EXPLOSIONS”. From the puzzles feeling like classic RE puzzles, to the pacing of the story, and a reliance on suspense and tension, rather than action, Resident Evil 7 felt like a near-perfect take on a childhood favorite, and with free DLC dropping in December (which is probably out by the time you’re reading this), I had to pick it as my Game of the Year for 2017. As an added bonus, I had RE7 inspired nightmares for weeks after I finally finished the game! 

Honorable Mention(s): Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Yooka-Laylee

Tubnips

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Doki Doki Literature Club. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of proper visual novel writing most of the jokes will go over a typical player’s head. There’s also Monika’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into her characterisation- her personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of the writing, to realise that they’re not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Doki Doki Literature Club truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in Monika’s existential catchphrase “Only Monika,” which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev’s Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Team Salvo’s genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them. ?

And yes, by the way, I DO have a Doki Doki Literature Club tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for Monika’s eyes only- Nothin’ personal kid ?

Kapsar

Mario Kart Deluxe 8 – Real racing games are for losers. This game is perfect for travel. Super easy and fun

Zumar

Mario kart is for nerds and kids, FM7 is for big boys

Redishblue

I haven’t played a game on console since building my first PC in 2010 and I hadn’t regretted that decision until I played Horizon Zero Dawn. HZD has justified purchasing a PS4 (on sale) all on it’s own – it is literally the only PS4 game I own. The story, graphics, mechanics, and core game elements make for an absolutely amazing experience that can only be rivaled by The Witcher 3 when comparing single player titles. I have been one click away from buying a PS4 pro just to play HZD with better visuals and I would happily pay full price for the game if it was released on PC.

Brad

I’ve played a lot of unreal releases this year – Legend of Zelda, Yooka Laylee, Mario Odyssey, and Mass Effect: Andromeda… Unfortunately, due to my inability to actually finish anything (books, games, shows, etc), I can’t provide a comprehensive review for any of them. Otherwise, it has been a relatively uneventful year for me – I also tried out For Honor (which was a dumpster fire, not worth the money), PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (which is still not finished and is an unoptimized dumpster fire), Fortnite (which was decent but not the best battle royale out there), Rainbow Six: Siege (which has turned out to be an amazing title but not originating from this year) so my game of the year has to go to…

Hand Simulator. Yep, you read that right: Hand Simulator. A $2 cluster fuck of a game. I bought the game yesterday and had more frustrating fun with that game then I have with any other titles released this year. In the game you control three things; your head, your left and right arm. Then you can do silly things like pick up a fidget spinner and spin it, or hold a grenade pull the pin and throw it. Sounds easy, right?

Wrong. It is one of the most infuriating and funniest gaming experiences I’ve had to date – because you have to control each individual arm’s height, rotation, and then your individual fingers. If your character could actually grasp on anything or if rotation of your arm made any sense – it’d be easy! But the challenge of figuring out the system controls along with attempting to accomplish the goal in hand is what makes it so much fun.

There are a few modes in multiplayer, one of my favorites is this mode that sits you up in a room, looking across the room from your other friends – and everyone has a gun and a magazine on the table. Once everyone is ready, the objective is to simply load the gun and then shoot the person across the room. Trying to get your gun loaded moments before your friends did puts this insurmountable pressure on you to succeed – but once you can do it, there is such a huge sense of accomplishment that it makes those 10 minutes of utter frustration worth it.

If you’re at a LAN, hosting a party… Or just bullshitting with your buddies online, do yourself a favor and have everyone pick this up for some night. It is seriously only $2.

I’m a horrible person, and I’m not sorry for my opinion. Don’t @ me.

Hexidecimal

Surprise! I picked The Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild. It’s the Zelda game I’ve wanted for a long time and I’m not going to say anything you don’t already know about it. It’s huge, you can go anywhere, you can climb anything, the combat is great, the world is a joy to explore, the cooking is fun. What made it even better for me however, was the advent of CEMU, the WiiU emulator. Now I can take this game that I love so much, and play it on my PC, with any controller I like. I can scale the resolution up, I can tinker with shaders and mods and graphics packs. I can get a stable framerate over the WiiU version. It’s everything I wanted in a Zelda game, and I have absolutely no idea how they’re going to top this one.

Honorable Mention – Dead Cells

The game I’ve dumped the second most amount of time into this year. I know, it’s still early access, but it does it well. It’s the perfect combo of Metroidvania and roguelite gameplay. With fantastically tight controls, branching paths that change as you progress, unlocks to search out, and a learning curve that’s just the right amount of steep, it entices you to keep exploring. 30 hours in and I’m still discovering new things and testing how much I can take on at once, and dying a lot of the time. It is well worth your time and money if you like concise, fast, and deep platforming.

Fakeghostpirate

This year I had some serious fun with some games, but for new releases it was a bit underwhelming for me.  Forza Motorsport 7 wasn’t nearly as fun as Forza Horizon 3, F1 2017 made a big splash with the official esports series but admittedly I haven’t actually played the game yet, and the most hours I put into a game this year are probably with Diablo 3 on account of season 12 being absolutely amazing.  With that said I’d have to give my Game of the Year choice to Unfortunate Spacemen.  It’s a super fun game that’s best spent with close friends, and I’ve really enjoyed every minute I spent with the game, but the problem is finding groups to play with.  It’s a game that’s best suited to six people or more and it was difficult to find that many people to play, but if I had to pick a game that was released in 2017 that I had a lot of fun with and would like to spend more time with, that’d be Unfortunate Spacemen.

Suros Six

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Yup, my game of the year for 2017 isn’t Destiny 2. It’s a surprise to me too. Breath of the Wild was an experience I just wasn’t expecting, and shame on me for that. It wasn’t because I thought it would be bad, I just genuinely forgot about it and didn’t plan to own the console it would be on. I ended up buying a Wii U two months before BoTW released just so I could play Smash 4 with friends. Then I simply bought the new Legend of Zelda because it was a Zelda game, not because I was hyped. I think that’s what made my time with it so great.

I went into Breath of the Wild’s beautiful open world without a clue about what was going to happen or what I would encounter. I had to figure things out on my own, and while doing that I ended up getting lost in amazement simply exploring the various areas. No game has made me feel that way before.

Almost all of the puzzles were cleverly designed with many different solutions available, making them very satisfying to complete. The story took a bit of a back seat, but that was perfectly fine because the gameplay made up for it in spades. Being able to do things in whatever order the player wanted in some ways gave them control over what their story was, and sharing that story was honestly one of the best parts. Hearing about how a friend got lost in a corner of Hyrule I hadn’t even seen yet made me all the more excited to pick up my gamepad and start my next play session.

There was so much to do in Breath of the Wild and none of it felt tedious. Even the smallest step was something added to your grand adventure. Slap some beautiful music on there, visuals that look amazing even on really old hardware, and an atmosphere so rich that you never want to leave and you’ve got yourself something deserving of Game of the Year.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gave me a whole new world to explore and a journey to write home about. It was a brand new experience that took risks while avoiding treading on old Zelda fans. That meant I got to learn how it felt to truly be worthy of the Master Sword after spending hours doing activities never seem before in the series, AND I still got to feel the nostalgia of sitting at home on cold winter days listening to music that transported me to a place where I could smash as many pots and slay as many beasts as I damn well please.

Seanbutnotheard

Since I know Hex is going to pick Zelda (and because I haven’t put nearly enough time into it yet), I decided to throw everyone for a huge loop this year and pick an indie platformer as my GOTY.  And not only that, but it’s a game that has the word “Knight” in the title, which to my knowledge has never been done before.  That’s right, my GOTY is Hollow Knight, the ~buggy~ bug-infested metroidvania set in a deep, dark, dank underground insect kingdom full of formidable foes and friends alike.

As with many exploration-based games, Hollow Knight was a bit slow to get started, primarily because I had no idea what I was doing. But gradually, as I got to know the characters and enemies, and as I unlocked the main character’s abilities, both the gameplay and story opened up in an incredibly satisfying way.  The game is certainly challenging, and every new area I unlocked stuck fear into my heart.  However, the challenge was never unfair, and there was always a fitting reward after a new challenge –  whether it was a new ability or simply a hot spring where I could recharge briefly and chew the fat with some of the natives (and save the game).

I can’t recommend Hollow Knight enough if you’re into exploration platformers. The art and music are gorgeous, the gameplay is tight and rewarding, and the atmosphere is just so well fleshed out that you’ll keep going back over and over to uncover more secrets and surprises.

Tim

If you follow me on Twitter or watch my Twitch streams then you already know my choice for GOTY. However, since no one does my choice for 2017 GOTY is Horizon Zero Dawn. In an era of gaming where open world RPGs are flooding the market, it is tough to find a game that sets itself apart from the rest. Instead of finding a gimmick to try and sell itself on the developers at Guerilla Games decided to take the best aspects of different open world games and implement them perfectly into Horizon Zero Dawn, with their own take on them of course.

You can especially pick out different influences when it comes to the combat of Horizon Zero Dawn. I got strong vibes reminding me of The Witcher 3 and Monster Hunter, especially when coming up against some of the larger machines. The Witcher 3 because of the planning that goes into each battle with each machine. Monster Hunter, because each battle is a war of attrition, chipping away at the machine’s weak points to take them down as quickly as possible.

The storytelling was what really impressed me when it came to Horizon Zero Dawn. With an open world RPG there is bound to be side quests and activities for players to dive into. The biggest issue that most games have is that these side quests often feel like a chore, and in turn makes the game no longer fun. Horizon Zero Dawn heads off this issue by building up a story that gets the player to care about the conflict the characters are facing. It gives these tasks a sense of purpose. A simple kill quest turns into quest for revenge, taking down a machine that has been terrorizing an innocent village that just wants to live in peace.

Without getting into spoilery details, the main story of Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the best paced campaigns I have ever played. I went into this game asking myself the questions “Why are these humans so primitive, but these beasts are so technologically advanced?” and “What happened to this world?” These questions were methodically answered as the campaign progressed. Revealing just enough to keep me wanting more, all while keeping the mystery until just the right moments.

I could go on and on about all the great things about this game but because this is a shared article I probably should not. I’ll end it with if you have access to a PS4 then I urge you to play Horizon Zero Dawn as soon as possible.

Some of my honorable mentions for the year are Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Tales of Berseria, Final Fantasy 12 Remastered, and Cuphead. All of those titles are fantastic for various different reasons and deserve immense praise.

The viewer questions this week ask about our New Year’s resolutions, the most overrated and underrated meats, and the fourth item on our Christmas lists, which launches one of the strangest and most heated debates this podcast has ever seen.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In other news, the congressman who accused Battlefront 2 of being an “online casino” is working on anti-loot box legislation, an unexpected new Portal game is releasing this month, PUBG breaks 3 million concurrent players and will leave Early Access on December 20, Nvidia releases the $3,000 gold Titan V, and the entire Season 3 roster of Street Fighter V gets revealed at Capcom Cup.

In the viewer questions, we talk about the best holiday gifts we’ve received, our go-to spices when cooking, the resurgence of a classic Respawn Inbox submission, and a callback to a legendary podcast quote from nearly 200 episodes ago. Finally, we finish up with a remarkable iTunes review that is sure to bring out some teenage angst.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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The viewer questions are a treat this week, as we talk about our favorite sports teams, budget tablet recommendations, and the optimal gift-giving strategy. We finish up with the captivating continuation of the KBMOD screenplay that contains a twist that no one saw coming.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the viewer questions, we tackle the delicate topic of bathroom-door-locking habits and whether Microsoft will recoup its money on acquiring Minecraft developer Mojang.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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We have just one viewer question this week, but it’s an interesting dive into our thoughts on the future of automation and advancing technology as it pertains to the games industry.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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Despite my laundry list of complaints about Destiny 2, I still really enjoy playing it thanks to its core gameplay being rock solid. Bungie never fails to remind me that it knows how to make a shooter feel smooth to play, and rewarding to spend time in. If you’d like to hear the specifics, be sure to check out the video linked above.

In the viewer questions, we start off discussing our most pleasant surprises in gaming this year and thinking about which animal hybrids would taste the best. In honor of our 300th episode, we look back on listeners’ favorite moments and look forward to who we might like to have on the cast in the next hundred episodes.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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According to Anandtech, GIGABYTE has officially launched their GC-AQC107 networking card, supporting 100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G and 10G networking capabilities over CAT5e, CAT6/6a and RJ45 connections.

A picture generously borrowed from Anandtech of the tiny networking card (or a giant hand)

The GC-AQC107 boasts the Aquantia AQtion AAQC107 controller – and to battle the heat on this bad boy, GIGABYTE slapped a honkin’ aluminum heat sink on it. Like many other networking cards you may have become accustomed to over the years, you’re going to need a spare PCIe x4 slot to plug this in. In case you needed some clarification on how faster this puppy runs, check out this sick graph GIGABYTE made:

WHOA. 10×1=10. IT IS UP TO 10X FASTER. It supports things faster then anything I even can support over my network so therefor I need it. This is how it works, right?

Shitposting aside, I know this actually would be extremely nice to have during my regular peer-to-peer transfers that I do. As a content creator, nothing is more annoying than waiting for files to finish backing up after a long shoot. Other content creators like video producers, graphic artists, etc, should only benefit to having their whole network setup to handle 10Gb; those that just game and watch an occasional Netflix flick shouldn’t bother, in my opinion.

There is no official price but Anandtech expects this to be around $100, which is not as bad as I expected. You can actually find the card on Amazon but no word on when you can order it. For more info, you may find the product page here.

I received the black and blue version, which together look great, but for those trying to color coordinate their whole setup might opt for the less-intrusive all-black GSP 301’s. There is also a white and black variant (my personal favorite), as well as a “Need for Speed Payback” black and red version.

The build is almost entirely plastic, but it doesn’t feel cheap. Even with a little twist or flex, it feels relatively well constructed and premium to hold. Admittedly, they feel better constructed then Sennheiser’s infamous HD598s. If you didn’t know beforehand who made this headset, I would imagine your first few guesses would land you back to Sennheiser. I am not one to be shy about the fact that I am a little of a Sennheiser fan, and I feel like with the material choices it is very apparent (and in a good way) who made these. The fabric top cushions are comfortable but not obnoxious; after regular use, I felt like they conformed quite well to the shape to my head. It was pleasantly surprising to see after regular use they didn’t catch any of my hair when putting on or removing, stayed relatively clean, and didn’t cause any noticeable headache after extended periods of use.

The ear cups are leather-like, and didn’t feel uncomfortably warm over time. Material was pleasant but atleast with my ear shape, the actual shape was a little too narrow for my liking. They feel like over-ear headphones but they didn’t fit great with my head; I had to almost fold a portion of my ear in to have a comfortable fit. While at first I didn’t mind, after extended I felt the need to take a break from them. I had a few friends try though and none of them experienced similar issues, they all claimed that it was quite comfortable so take my fitting problem with a grain of salt.

The rest of the build is pretty straight forward. The microphone is actually quite large, which you can put down in front of your face or pull up toward the headband when not in use. There aren’t many other movements you can do with this though. I would have like to have seen a little more freedom with bringing it closer or further away from my mouth. Maybe this was designed intentionally for optimal audio reception or maybe this is what took a cut in the budget to meet the target MSRP – who knows.

Furthermore, you get a volume control knob behind the right ear and it connects via two 3.5mm jacks. No software needed (Linux users, rejoice), and those wanting to utilize an adapter can if you’re looking to bridge the connections for your console or mobile device. The cables are rubber and unfortunately not braided. The GSP 303’s, or as I referred to it earlier as the “Need for Speed Payback” variant, have a cool colored cable that matches the rest of the set; it would have been nice to see a blue cable in the GSP 300’s but black will do.

The sound profile is definitely something along the lines of being gamer-y. What I mean by that is that these feel quite engineered to be ideal for those people looking to have some edge over others in something like Overwatch or Counter-Strike; there is fantastic clarity in the sound where I can feel confident on relying on my ears to understand what is happening around me. But the drawback is that it isn’t very natural feeling, almost a little tinny – so when you get listening to music or watching movies, it definitely isn’t ideal in comparison. Messing with your software equalizer can get you some surprising results though.

The microphone quality is decent, something you’d expect from a headset in this price range. I didn’t have to do any boosting in my VOIP software, which is nice considering this is coming in over a 3.5mm jack. I tried this out at a LAN and while they still picked up some of the surroundings, my voice was dominant overall and clear.

For 100 bucks, I’d say you are getting a quality Sennheiser product. You may be paying a little premium price for the brand name, I’d say it is otherwise well spent. The quality of the build is good (and not obnoxious looking), the sound profile is decent and is comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. While I’m still a fan of getting traditional headphones for everyday use, this is a great fit for those looking for that simple plugin-and-go solution that can be thrown in their LAN bag.

Sennheiser sent me this unit to review, I did not purchase this headset. If you’d like to check it out on Amazon, you may find it here.

In the viewer questions, we discuss which video games (past or present) we wish could have a massive esports scene, and we give our thoughts about how games can strike the right balance between accessibility and competitiveness.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the news, EA closes Visceral Games, an Activison patent for matchmaking that encourages micro-transactions gets approved, and GameStop announces a new rental service for used games. In the quick hits, Sonic Forces gets a really short demo, and Traveller’s Tales founder Jon Burton is planning to make big improvements to Sonic 3D Blast nearly 21 years after its release.

In the viewer questions, we discuss the most embarrassing things our children might discover about us on the internet, and we are all treated to another incredible excerpt from the continuation of the KBMOD screenplay.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the viewer questions this week, we talk about KBMOD’s presence at TwitchCon and which movies we would give a sequel or remake.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the viewer questions, we give our opinions on pumpkin spice, round up our favorite music of 2017, and tackle an important bread-related decision that will impact the rest of our lives. Lastly, we finish up with a callback to a question from an old podcast that you won’t want to miss!

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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In the viewer questions, we discuss how we like our coffee, having to wear one Halloween costume for the rest of our life, and how video games have helped us develop certain valuable life skills.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

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This brutal isometric shooter created by Reikon Games and published by Devolver Digital is something I had my eyes on ever since its trailer at E3. All it took was the sound of Sidewalks and Skeletons’ “Sleep Paralysis” coupled with some fast paced action and ominous wording to hook me. Now that it’s finally out, doing a video review was a bit of a no-brainer. I had a fun time with Ruiner, but I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t leave more to be desired.

In the viewer questions, we tackle just one important question about our backpack strategy for an impending nuclear situation.

Remember that you can catch the podcast live every Sunday night at 10pm ET on twitch.tv/kbmod. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
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