Innehållsförteckning för July 2015 från New Age Gaming

This is the final issue of NAG magazine. Once this issue has left the shelves, you’ll likely never again see NAG in stores. The reasons are pretty straightforward: not enough ads, not enough sales, constantly climbing printing costs. These all add up to an impossible challenge in a world where being able to pay the bills matters more than most people care to admit. It’s not all doom and gloom, though; the end of NAG in print means we are now forced to fully embrace the world of online media in all its forms, and that’s a good thing. We’ve been lax on that front for too long, and now it’s time to take that NAG level of quality to the Internet. rAge is still on track though (plus some…

Johan Charlier @nagcoza So, from July onwards you guys are going offline, well, offline. Love the editorial style, keep it up online! #BelgianReaderinSA Keenen O'Brien A salute to the best magazine that ever existed. The NAG. I'm gonna be in tears when I get the last mag. @nagcoza it has been an honour. Matthew Arnold Sad to see @nagcoza print coming to an end. A large influence on my love for gaming in the pre-adsl years. #RIPNAG #GameOver Gareth Wilcock So Godspeed, @nagcoza. You did this geeknerddorkwad a huge service above and beyond the reviews and cover disk. o7 Tarryn van der Byl Working with @nagcoza has been like riding a dinosaur, wielding a laser blaster, and commanding an army of battle cats. It's been so rad. <3 Douw Kotzé…

By day a TV producer, by night a mom, a gamer, and a writer. In fact she does too many damn things for her own good. Tell me now you aren’t singing that title in your head… And then mumbling the rest of the words because you don’t know them. I remember the first time I picked up a copy of New Age Gaming. I couldn’t tell you exactly how old I was, or what issue it was, but I remember thinking, “damn, this is pretty awesome. There are people out there who play games and then write about them? I want to do that!” Fast forward a few years (ok, quite a few), New Age Gaming became NAG and I was working in the gaming industry on The Verge,…

MSI is one seriously busy vendor in the component and notebook space. Say what you may about their PC components, but MSI without a doubt makes the best gaming notebooks on the market. With each generation, they push not only the boundaries in performance but in features and technology. The TITAN-SLI notebook may impress you with specifications, but it was adding Tobii’s eye tracking to their high-end gaming notebook that was one of the more noteworthy technology demos at Computex. This technology at its core uses a set of cameras to track your eye movement with pinpoint accuracy, translating those movements into the 3D space within a game. Where you would normally use a mouse to look around, you merely focus your eyes where you would like the camera to…

PLATFORMS / Wii U REVIEWED ON / Wii U GENRE / Third-person shooter DEVELOPER / Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 PUBLISHER / Nintendo DISTRIBUTOR / Core Group WEBSITE / splatoon.nintendo.com Nintendo finally has the traditional trifecta of online games: a racer (Mario Kart), a fighter (Smash Bros.) and now an online team-based shooter. Much like the other two games, Splatoon is a unique way of approaching the genre, bringing with it something quite fresh and appealing if you’re a bit tired of the usual online shootbang. While Splatoon is primarily about the online multiplayer, it also has a meaty single-player campaign that clocks in at around six hours, longer if you go for all the hidden stuff. Everything is wrapped up in a kid-friendly neon 1990s aesthetic so painfully…

PSU CORSAIR AX1500i R5,799 / www.corsair.com GRAPHICS GIGABYTE G1.GAMING GTX 980 Ti Super Overclock R12,699 / www.gigabyte.com OS DRIVE Intel 750 1.2TB PCIe R17,699 / www.intel.com/ssd STORAGE DRIVE WD Black 4TB FZEX R3,199 / www.wdc.com CHASSIS Corsair Obsidian 900D R4, 699 / www.corsair.com DISPLAY Acer S277HK R10,499 / www.acer.com KEYBOARD Razer BlackWidow Ultimate R1,899 / www.razerzone.com COOLER Cooler Master Nepton 280L R1,499 / www.coolermaster.com MOUSE ROCCAT TYON White R2,199 / www.roccat.org MOUSE PAD SteelSeries DeX R599 / www.steelseries.com SOUND Creative Sound Blaster ZxR R3,799 / www.soundblaster.com HEADPHONES HyperX Cloud R1,699 / www.kingston.com INTEL Intel Core i7 5960X R15,999 / www.intel.com MSI X99A XPOWER AC R6,999 / www.msi.com Corsair Dominator Platinum Limited Edition DDR4 3400 R12,999 / www.corsair.com R102,285 AMD AMD FX 8350 R2,999 / www.amd.com ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z R4,199…

SUPPLIER Rebel Tech WEBSITE www.rebeltech.co.za ERP R4,699 SPECS SCREEN / 24-inch TN panel NATIVE RESOLUTION / 1920x1080 MAXIMUM REFRESH RATE / 144Hz INPUT / D-Sub / DVI-D / 2x HDMI / DisplayPort OUTPUT / Headphone out Now that gaming monitors are officially a thing, LG’s thrown its hat in the ring with a new range of gaming-driven displays, among which you’ll find the 24GM77. LG’s website claims that it’s especially designed for FPS games, but that’s typical marketing fluff. In reality it’s just a superb monitor, and you’ll be happy with it no matter how you choose to use it. The 24GM77’s screen can be raised, lowered, tilted and swivelled as needed – and in so doing you’ll discover that viewing the display from almost any angle barely distorts…

This month I’ve decided to do something a little different with the Inbox pages. Instead of answering each letter with some sort of cocky response, we’re filling these pages with letters, comments and messages from our readers only. While I’d love to publicly respond to every letter on these pages, there simply isn’t the space, and right now these pages are all about you, so please accept this universal reply: Thank you. Ed. "When I was that young boy, seeing New Age Gaming for the first time, I knew that I wanted to be a part of that magazine. In a way, I was." Letter of the Month July/August 2015 FROM: BASIL FRANK SUBJECT: A LETTER FROM A FAN As I sit here in front of my laptop, fingers aching…

www.facebook.com/NAGMagazine Matthew De Bie Over two and a half years I've spent 1550 rand on your magazines and to be honest I wouldn't change I thing. I know that my collection is nowhere near as big as those who have been there since the beginning but I feel proud to have been a consumer of your funny, consistent and sometimes brutally honest magazine. I'm sad to see NAG move online only but I do understand. Everything is moving that way books, movies and even our games will eventually become an online product. Thank you to everyone at NAG for keeping me entertained for the better part of my high school career. I will sorely miss your distinctive cover from the shelves but will never forget the laughs and smiles I…

Michael came to planet Earth in 1972. He doesn’t understand people and thinks there are too many of them clogging up the natural system. He waits for the shining return. I’ve always tried to tie Star Wars movie titles to big moments in the magazine. When I took over from Warren early 1999 I titled my first Ed’s Note “A New Hope”, apt because I was bringing in a new era for the magazine (well in my mind anyway). When James Francis took over from me I called it “The Empire Strikes Back” because it felt like a dark time for me. I was giving up something I loved. When James left I called my returning Ed’s Note “The Return of the Jedi” as I fancied myself a Jedi and…

And our local game developers are right on board with that. Gareth Fouche is a Durban-based programmer working on System Crash, a digital cyberpunk CCG inspired by the likes of Magic: The Gathering and Netrunner. Nearly four years in development (with a full release coming soon), the game takes immediate and regular advantage of its own digital nature, pushing for something that’s both familiar and different. Having already sunk considerable time into one of the earlier builds, I’ve found it to be a clever design which produces elegant “deck personalities”. Optimising, building and experimenting feels great too, which is of course vital in any self-respecting game of its genre. But the whole shebang also has a pretty heavy focus on story-telling, with deep single-player experiences full of campaign missions and…

Q What is your favourite NAG memory? Dane “Barkskin” Remendes I have so many. :’( But my favourites are probably the memories of our interoffice Quake III CTF matches, and the many colourful insults we slung while playing Call of Duty. Such good times. CURRENTLY PLAYING The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Brütal Legend, Heroes of the Storm Miklós “Mikit0707” Szecsei A whole lot of firsts. First time seeing my name in the magazine; first review; first overseas trip for first cover feature; first Gamescom trip; first E3 trip. Firsts... just a bunch of ‘em. CURRENTLY PLAYING Batman: Arkham Knight, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Delano “Delano” Cuzzucoli My favourite NAG memory was coming to rAge as a member of the team, proudly representing the magazine and speaking to fans and…

PLATFORMS / PC REVIEWED ON / PC GENRE / Multiplayer online battle arena DEVELOPER / Blizzard Entertainment PUBLISHER / Blizzard Entertainment DISTRIBUTOR / Megarom WEBSITE / eu.battle.net/heroes We couldn’t decide how to write the Heroes of the Storm review like professionals, so we wimped out and decided to instead give you three opinions. Sorry if this seems like a bit of a cop-out, but this is just detracting us from getting back to the game. Now leave us! GEOMETRIX’S OPINION I didn’t like MOBAs. The genre itself is great: tactical, social, competitive – all the right ingredients are in place to make a compelling online game, but the small matter of having to play with human beings ruins it for me. For some reason, MOBAs bring about the worst…

SUPPLIER Megarom WEBSITE www.steelseries.com ERP R1,999 SPECS FREQUENCY RESPONSE / 10Hz – 28kHz DRIVER UNITS / 50mm IMPEDANCE / 35 ohms MICROPHONE SENSITIVITY / -42db The Siberia line of headsets has always been a winner for SteelSeries. Each new Siberia set that’s released features a near-identical physical design to its predecessor, which is why they always boast exceptional comfort and noise-blocking capabilities. The Siberia v3 Prism follows the same trend, but adds a range of customisable colour options into the mix. It’s an attractive pair of headphones for many reasons, and comfort is chief among them. SteelSeries has opted for the same highly flexible, comfortably springy headband, which effortlessly adjusts to the shape and size of whatever head is currently donning it. The large round ear cups generate enough…

SUPPLIER Linksys WEBSITE www.linksys.com ERP R4,999 SPECS WI-FI FREQUENCY / Dual-band 2.4 + 5Ghz PROTOCOL / IEEE 802.11ac ETHERNET / 4x gigabit ports ENCRYPTION / WPA/WPA2 with SPI DLNA CERTIFIED / Yes ADSL routers are generally fairly straightforward devices, but you know you’ve got a fancy one when there are two devices in the box, and three aerials that need to be attached. Such is the case with the Linksys XAC1900, which builds on the manufacturer’s previous AC1900 by throwing in a modem. That modem, curiously, takes the form of the afore-mentioned second device, a “power modem” as Linksys calls it, which doubles as the AC adaptor instead of the more conventional integrated approach. While this configuration is undoubtedly uncommon, it has the advantage of helping to keep down…

Game over, man. Game over. The clock has struck midnight. The rose has withered, its petals fallen to the mantelpiece. The last grain of sand in the hourglass has spilled through to its glassy sepulchre. The crones, hunched in the dark over their dusty loom, have cut the final, ragged threads of a black tapestry. The Shu-Glu GnomesTM have perished of sudden catastrophic decompression, their frozen remains drifting among the broken girders and bulkheads of what’s left of the USG Ishimura, somewhere in a lonely orbit around Titan. It is the end of everything. I mean, that’s kind of what it felt like when Michael told me the magazine was shutting down, but about a week later I decided to stop eating carbs and THAT was the end of everything,…

With the magazine gone you’re going to need somewhere to voice your problems... why not do so at the NAG forums? We’re a welcoming bunch, always willing to greet newcomers with open arms and... oh who am I kidding? We’re an all right bunch at the very least. Maybe not all the open arms stuff, but we probably won’t bite your head off on your first day. Maybe. Join us at www.nag.co.za/forums I always wondered how NAG managed to keep it going for quite so long when most of the other gaming and tech mags couldn't make. You guys did a brilliant job keeping it afloat. - Zoop NAG is the only magazine ive ever bought consistently, and seeing it go breaks my heart. - Acinixys So ends an era...…

When Rodain isn't writing about game development, he's doing it. With years of experience in the local community and the critically acclaimed Desktop Dungeons under his belt, he's at least 50% confident that he's not talking entirely out of his ass. I recently attended a game design salon that looked at a couple of topics relevant to local developers. One was the matter of inspiration for game ideas: brainstorm techniques, models of approach, and looking at designing feelings rather than mechanics. The other was the thought of classifying certain games as “punk”. Punk games are a lot like punk music, or punk-anything-else. They’re “bad”. They’re made by people with no technical skills or very little experience. They focus on a strong message or feeling to carry them along. They’re exploratory,…

Miklós once ate an entire wheel of cheese without telling anyone. He began in the morning with good intentions and a box of crackers, but by the end, there was nothing good left in him. Only cheese. This is the 76th column I’ve written for NAG magazine. I’d always planned on making a big deal about my eventual 100th column, but that’s not going to happen. I guess 76 is still a pretty good run. “Sonder” is the name for that feeling you sometimes get when you realise that every random person is living their own life; even all of us writing this magazine. Because this is the last chance I’ll get to share it with you, let me tell you how I got here. My name is Miklós Szecsei;…

Got a legal boxed game and need some technical help? Before you call please do the following. Update your system software, drivers and have a look online for a game patch. Just these simple tasks eliminate 93% of all problems – it’s a made up statistic but probably close enough. Activision / Blizzard / 2K Games / Rockstar / Ubisoft / Codemasters / NC-Soft / Namco-Bandai / Disney e-mail / support@xtremems.co.za Telephone / 0861 987 363 Microsoft Xbox Telephone / 0800 991 550 Electronic Arts e-mail / zasupport@ea.com EAHELP/324357…

PLATFORMS / PC / PS4 / XBO REVIEWED ON / PC GENRE / Role-playing game DEVELOPER / CD Projekt RED PUBLISHER / Bandai Namco DISTRIBUTOR / Megarom WEBSITE / www.thewitcher.com Here we are. The Witcher 3. It’s strange to think that this once-obscure series has become so effortlessly pervasive. What began in 2007 as a work of mad genius held together by bits of bubble gum and worn string, so emphatically broken that it required an almost complete overhaul to make its scrappy (but brilliantly lovable) visage more approachable, has culminated in this – a big-budget open-world role-playing game that not only competes with the best of the best in the RPG spectrum, but actually surpasses them in many ways. Make no mistake: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is…

PLATFORMS / Android / iOS REVIEWED ON / Android GENRE / Sports DEVELOPER / EA Canada PUBLISHER / EA DISTRIBUTOR / Digital WEBSITE / easports.com/ufc Over recent years, two markets have emerged and ascended to meteoric levels of popularity: mobile gaming, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC, for short). It was only a matter of time before developers at EA brought the two together. Creatively titled EA Sports UFC, this mobile game is a free-to-play sports simulator. Players are given one fighter for free, currently rising star Alexander Gustafsson, and must climb the ranks through a series of progressively more difficult brawls. The graphics are decent – PS2 levels of quality – the animations are superb, and the controls are intuitive. However, there are practically no customisation options. Fighters’…

One would assume that since it’s the last one, I should write something somehow more meaningful than I have previously. Well, that would imply that I never cared about what has been written before and that would not be true. Therefore, you should then know that much like in all other columns before, I’ll stick to what it is that occupies my mind and warrants these 800 or so words. I was unsure if this should be a feature in this issue or keep it here, but then I finally decided it is best kept here. The rest of the magazine should be about what lifts spirits and instills faith going forward in the NAG ecosystem and the tech industry. What I will do though is tackle an issue I…

SUPPLIER Hisense South Africa WEBSITE www.hisense.co.za ERP R2,999 SPECS CPU / Quad-core @ 1.8GHz RAM / 2GB DISPLAY / 8” @ 2048x1536 STORAGE / 16GB on-board OPERATING SYSTEM / Android 4.4 Kitkat The Hisense brand is one you usually associate with TVs and refrigerators, but their line-up of portable smart devices is impressive these days, although not particularly vast. That lack of variety works for the best, though; with just a few tablets currently on offer – including the lower-spec Sero 7 – Hisense is clear about its target at the mid-range of tablets. Despite its modest price, the Sero 8 Pro feels high-end. From the metal rear casing to the high-resolution screen, the Sero 8 Pro looks every bit as slick as tablets that cost twice this (or…