As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (5/20) @ 9:30pm EST - The Grind w/ Dan: World of Warcraft (Night 10)
Monday (5/20) @ 11:59pm EST - Late Night w/ Nikon
Tuesday (5/21) @ 1:00pm EST - Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Bioshock (Day 2)
Tuesday (5/21) @ 9:30pm EST- Metro: Last Light followed by the KBMOD AMA
Wednesday (5/22) @ 9:30pm EST - The Bearded Gamer w/ Hex: Grim Dawn Alpha
Thursday (5/23) @ 9:00pm EST - ?????? TBA
Thursday (5/23) @ 11:59pm EST - APLFisher Presents Swag O Vision
Friday (5/24) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station
Saturday (5/25) @ 11:00am EST - AjayLikes: Alice: Madness Returns (Day 3)
Sunday (5/26) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Arkham Asylum (Day 3)
Sunday (5/26) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 94 LIVE

The video above contains the game review proper, but Ajay has taken it upon himself to delve deeply into the PC port features of the game below.  Enjoy, KBMOD!

PC Port Details

Before we get into the extra details that I didn’t have time to fit into the video, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has shown my content such great support over the past few months. KBMOD and its fans have been fantastic and I really hope you continue to enjoy the reviews!

As I mentioned in the video, Metro: Last Light is a PC game through and through. It features some of the most advanced effects in gaming such as tessellation, advanced PhysX affecting cloth and destructive environments; huge amounts of volumetric effects such as fog, steam and smoke. It also includes the highly intensive supersampling anti-aliasing (SSAA) that will future proof the game for some time. It is full to the brim with detailed character models and textures and the shadows on ‘Very High’ sport a resolution of above 9 megapixels. It is incredibly hard for me to think of a game that looks as good as this.

Let’s talk performance. The preceding game in this series, Metro 2033, was infamously un-optimised. Metro 2033 was one of the first games to implement these new effects and as such the performance suffered greatly. They simply didn’t have the knowledge nor money to really make it a feasible option for users at the time to use (unless they had extreme specs). Luckily for us, it’s 2013 now and these types of graphical effects are popping up all over the place. With the support of NVIDIA, Last Light has been well optimised and I’m happy to say it works well (at least with NVIDIA cards). AMD cards have indeed had issues, but turning PhysX off (which was on by default) solved this for some people. Newer drivers should help alleviate issues as well. As for graphics setups, single cards won’t be able to make use of the highly intensive SSAA option (akin to the ‘ubersampling’ option in The Witcher 2) but a single GTX670 and 680 and AMD equivalents will have absolutely no issues maxing this out. For those still running high end 500 series cards, you have nothing to worry about. From the 560ti to the 580, you will still be getting playable framerates on ‘high’ to ‘very high’ settings despite not being to use the advanced PhysX and tessellation options. There are some strange performance hits at times, however. I found myself dipping from 80 to 30 frames when walking through a seemingly bland room. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what the issue was – it may have been the game loading in the next area in the background or perhaps there were some extreme cases of tessellation on items around the room that I failed to notice. Regardless, it was an incredibly rare occurrence but I felt it should be mentioned all the same.

The negatives of the port are mostly arbitrary. The sound options feature only an option for master volume or music volume. However, by navigating to your user.cfg in your installation directory, you’ll find the options for SFX, Voice and Music all separated out to change at your discretion. Personally, I found the developer’s mix to perfect with the music only overpowering voices when heavy gunfire was present. The main issue and the real elephant in the room is the FOV options or lack there-of. Metro 2033 had a field of view of around 65 (not to be confused with the vertical FOV of 45). Whilst Last Light has raised this to what seems to be 70, it is still quite uncomfortable. It certainly wasn’t a distraction nor did it cause any major headaches or nausea but I understand that there any many who are very sensitive to FOVs lower than ~80. The method used to change the FOV in the original game does not work with this game strangely, however, being that it is built into the engine, it would seem highly likely that someone will find a fix in the oncoming weeks. Whether or not 4A Games decides to patch this issue remains to be seen so until there is guaranteed fix, if you suffer severely from playing with a low FOV then you may want to wait until on a purchase.

The next issue is the lack of a full PC options menu. Whilst there are all the basics that you’d expect for a PC title, for a game so packed full of effects, it’s strange that they’d leave out the ability to fully customise them to suit your tastes. The options from ‘low’ to ‘very high’ include a whopping total of 14 settings. For many users, this isn’t an issue but for those who really need to tweak their games to get them running, this is a bit of a disappointment as the only way around this is to manually edit values through the config.

Despite the one major FOV problem, Metro: Last Light does a fantastic job at pushing modern hardware to its limits. Enthusiasts will rejoice at seeing their card’s usage in the 90% realm and those with weaker PCs, despite potentially having the delve into the config, will find a game that scales fantastically and still looks beautiful even on its lowest settings.

Episode 92 is here and it smells delicious! The cast this week consists of Dan, Hex, John, Nick J. and of course APL. We start the cast off talking some Neverwinter (which has slowly taken over most of KBMOD) and other games we played this week. The news begins with a very interesting discussion on games as ways to experience the lives of others. We discuss games like Papers, Please, Actual Sunlight and That Dragon, Cancer. We move on to talk about EA grabbing all Star Wars development rights, the new Wolfenstein game and more. Viewer questions touch on gaming quotes, Lil B, the end of the world and anus inspired death metal bands.

Enjoy!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (5/13) @ 9:30pm EST - The Grind w/ Dan: Neverwinter
Monday (5/13) @ 11:59pm EST - Late Night w/ Nikon
Tuesday (5/14) @ 1:00pm EST - Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Bioshock (Day 1)
Tuesday (5/14) @ 9:30pm EST- Launch Night: Metro Last Light
Wednesday (5/15) @ 9:30pm EST - The Bearded Gamer w/ Hex: Neverwinter
Thursday (5/16) @ 9:00pm EST - The Church of Chezzus: CS 1.6 with Viewers
Thursday (5/16) @ 11:59pm EST - APLFisher Presents Counter-Strike
Friday (5/17) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station
Saturday (5/18) @ 11:00am EST - AjayLikes: Alice: Madness Returns (Day 2)
Sunday (5/19) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Arkham Asylum (Day 3)
Sunday (5/19) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 93 LIVE

I don’t even know how to intro a cave like this one. This week, Barnacules puts previous caves to shame, and has enough monitors to make even me drool. Add in a complete racing simulation rig, a Hex Core 3930k and SLI GTX680s and you can push any game you want to its limits. Not only that, but with a 3D Printer in the mix there is little you can’t do in this office.

Whats up fellow nerds

My name is Jerry (AKA: Barnacules) and I am the producer of the Barnacules Nerdgasm channel on YouTube. Today one of my Twitter followers mentioned this site and said I should put my Bro Cave up on this forum and it sounded like a lot of fun. Well here I am and I hope you guys enjoy what I have done with the place. I look forward to reading your comments and making some new friends!

Main Computer Details

The main machine is a hex core i7 3930k on liquid at 4.7ghz per core with 32gb DDR-2366 and twin 256gb SSD in Raid 0 with 4 720 WD Blacks in Raid 5 for content. It has duel 680 GTX FTW+ graphics cards in SLI and a ASUS Xonar STX sound card piped through a Mackie 802-VLZ3 into my Logitech Z-5500′s and Beyerdynamic MMX-300 headphones. The build is in a CaseLabs M10 case with extended top for twin 360 black ice radiators with an external reservoir on the front just to look different.

Peripherals

I have a dasKeyboard Model S Silent mechanical keyboard with cherry MX brown switches which I absolutely love. Once you go mech you never go back! I use a Razor Imperator BF3 edition mouse since it’s very light weight and I love the feel. I also have a Belkin N52te I rarely use and a Connexion 3D Space Navigator which I use when I’m 3D modeling. I also have a Microsoft Surface RT tablet positioned in front of my keyboard for chatting when I’m live casting and as another display when I’m in games.

I also have an XBOX 360 w/ Kinect sensor and a XIM edge with a USB switch to connect my keyboard and mouse to the XBOX for playing FPS games, it works really well. For broadcasting and recording I have a Audio Technica A2020 microphone hooked to a ART Tube MP microphone amp which then goes into my Elgato Game Capture HD to merge the audio with video (only the center screen). I have tons of other little peripherals but nothing else really worth mentioning, if you see something in the pictures just ask about it.

3D Printer

I recently have really been getting into 3D printing so I purchased an Ultimaker 3D printer that can print in PLA or ABS and I have tons of videos on my YouTube channel showing it printing stuff. I also had a 3D scanner but I returned it because the resolution was horrible and it had too many problems. I’m in the market for a better 3D scanner if anyone knows of one? This printer has a 9x9x9 inch build volume and is actually pretty fast by 3D printing standards (which means it’s still very slow).

Other Computers

There are 2 other towers in the Man Cave. One is a server I used for hosting hyper visors for various tasks and the other computer is the music/video station from the picture above. They range from first generation I7 to Core 2 Duo and have good specs but nothing compared to the beast machine at the heart of the cave. I also have a netbook and a home server in the cave for keeping data backed up and I also have another home server under the staircase with a 14tb redundant array on it. I didn’t post a picture of that since it’s technically not in the cave.

The editing station has two KRK-Rokit 5 studio monitors connected to a ProFire 610 Firewire audio interface which I really like. I also have some peripherals for audio editing, etc so if you want more information just let me know!

Gaming Stuff

My simulator setup for racing is an Obutto R3volution game cockpit with a Thrustmaster T500RS wheel and Fanatec Clubsport V2 pedals. I also have the TH8 shifter mounted for both sequential and H-pattern shifting. I modded the wheel to have a real Sparco steering wheel out of a car to make it feel more realistic.

For flight simulators I have a Logitech G960 flight system which I use with Flight Sim X when I have time to play it. I also have the T500RS original pedals which I no longer use but I keep on hand as a backup in-case I have problems with the Fanatecs.

Printing

For my little print center in the man cave I have an HP LaserJet 5MP that is older then the hills that I absolutely love and will never give up! And next too it I have an all-in-one Epson 610 Workstation.

Other Stuff

I also have a fully stocked mini fridge with booze and energy drinks, however I don’t drink the energy drinks anymore (kidney stones). I have a comfy reclining love seat on the far side of the cave for friends to hang out on or if I just want to watch a movie or play some XBOX with a controller. The heat generated from all the computers and power requirement of the room required me to install 2 additional 20amp circuits to the Man Cave and a 15,000 BTU dedicated window A/C unit to keep the room at a constant 68 – 70 degrees even on the hottest day in summer.

I’m sure I missed tons of stuff but I wanted to get this posted since I’m having a lot of fun taking the pics and doing this write up. It’s hard sometimes to find other like minded individuals that understand why someone would do something like this. But I have a feeling I will be calling this place home moving forward since I’ve seen some other amazing setups on here!

Thanks for reading my post guys and I hope you get a chance to check out my videos on my channel and also come find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter : http://twitter.com/barnacules
Facebook : http://facebook.com/barnaculesmancave
YouTube : http://youtube.com/barnacules1

We debuted a new show last week. The theme is that of a Reddit AMA, but it will involve 2-3 of the KBMOD crew. It seemed to be very well received so we are doing it again this week. Tune in at Midnight EST tonight for Episode 2 of our AMA series.  You can also post questions for tonight here.

If you missed this one last week, you can watch it above!  Enjoy a slight departure from the norm around here.

Dan and Scott are out of commission this week, so we bring in Nick Jenkins and Hex to fill in! In what we’ve been playing, we talk ARAMs, Guild Wars 2, TF2, and a rare entertaining stream from Hex. The news is plenty this week as we discuss an ESEA Bitcoin mining scandal, a rumored launch date for the GTX 780, one indie dev’s creative approach to combating piracy, an unfortunate decision by Respawn Entertainment, and more! The Twitter questions go off the rails in a hurry as we talk about our favorite sounds and stick Lego blocks in places they don’t belong. Enjoy!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

This week we start with Dan and the continuation of his World of Warcraft playthrough. Nikon occupies the late night viewers with some Team Fortress 2 with Blackliteattack. Tuesday brings Tim in the afternoon with a glimpse at the Neverwinter open beta. In the Tuesday late night slot, the crew is back with Episode 2 of the KBMOD AMA with APL, Dan and Blackliteattack. The Bearded Gamer, Hex, returns Wednesday and is trying out some new class mods in Torchlight II with Dan.

For the latter half of the week, Thursday brings the Church of Chezzus and some Black Ops 2 with the KBMOD crew. Late night Thursday brings you APLFisher Presents Scary Games and Shit . Friday Blackliteattack is back with the Emulation Station as he plays Baseball 2020 and continues Ocarina of Time.  Saturday Ajay is here for all the EU bros with Alice: Madness Returns. Sunday brings Arkham Asylum with Dan in the morning and Episode 92 of the podcast that night.

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (5/6) @ 9:30pm EST - The Grind w/ Dan: World of Warcraft – The Journey Begins Again! (Night 9)
Monday (5/6) @ 11:59pm EST - Late Night w/ Nikon: Team Fortress 2 w/ Blackliteattack
Tuesday (5/7) @ 1:00pm EST - Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Neverwinter MMO
Tuesday (5/7) @ 11:59pm EST- We are KBMOD AMA w/ APLFisher, Dan and Blackliteattack
Wednesday (5/8) @ 9:30pm EST - The Bearded Gamer w/ Hex: Torchlight II Mods
Thursday (5/9) @ 9:00pm EST - The Church of Chezzus: Black Ops 2 w/ KBMOD Crew
Thursday (5/9) @ 11:59pm EST - APLFisher Presents Scary Games and Shit
Friday (5/10) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station: Baseball 2020/Ocarina of Time
Saturday (5/11) @ 11:00am EST - AjayLikes: Alice: Madness Returns (Day 1)
Sunday (5/12) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Arkham Asylum (Day 3)
Sunday (5/12) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 92 LIVE

Our resident KBMOD reviewer (and broadcaster!) Ajay has a new review out.   This time he takes on Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. Check it out above to see what he thought of this crazy ode to the ’80s from Ubisoft Montreal! If you want to see more or missed his launch stream of the game, go check it out on Twitch.

Subscribe to Ajay!

Episode 90!  We are ten away from the century mark and we have a guy from Sweden on to prove it.  Joel aka IncredibleOrb talks PC gaming, FPS and more with us this week.  This podcast almost didn’t happen, but within minutes to go we got Scott, John, Dan, and Bob to join Joel.  We talk about what we’ve been gaming this week, Joel’s history with competitive FPS games as well as Counter-strike and Call of Duty. The news delves into more on the new Xbox and EA laying off a large part of its workforce.  Twitter was all over the place with eSports FPS questions and genital related super powers.

Enjoy!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

We are back again with a week chock full o’ awesome.  Monday kicks off with Day 8 of Dan’s World of Warcraft playthrough. Nikon follows up with some Bioshock Infinite.  Tuesday is TBD as of right now, we will keep you updated with the possible debut of a new show!  Wednesday is launch night for Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon.  Hex and Dan are dual streaming this one, discussing the game and giving away a few copies to viewers.  Thursday Chezz brings War Thunder to the Church of Chezzus and APL plays scary games, including the new Slender title.  Friday Blacklite continues his Ocarina of Time playthrough but leads off with a classic, Road Rash.  Ajay starts up Day 3 of Arkham City on Saturday. Sunday brings Day 3 of Arkham Asylum and then that evening episode 91 of the podcast is live.

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (4/29) @ 9:30pm EST - The Grind w/ Dan: World of Warcraft – The Journey Begins Again! (Night 8)
Monday (4/29) @ 11:59pm EST - Late Night w/ Nikon: Bioshock Infinite
Tuesday (4/30) @ 1:00pm EST - Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Evoland (Day 1)
Tuesday (4/30) @ 9:30pm EST- TBD
Wednesday (5/1) @ 9:30pm EST - Launch Night: Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon w/ Hex and Dan Dualstream
Thursday (5/2) @ 9:30pm EST - The Church of Chezzus: War Thunder
Thursday (5/2) @ 11:59pm EST - APLFisher Presents: Scary games, Slender and more!
Friday (5/3) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station: Road Rash/Ocarina of Time
Saturday (5/4) @ 11:00am EST - AjayLikes: Arkham City (Day 3)
Sunday (5/5) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Arkham Asylum (Day 3)
Sunday (5/5) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 91 LIVE

You can take the APL out of Counter Strike, but you can’t take the Counter Strike out of APL. It is in his blood and over the last two weeks we’ve had the pleasure of seeing the man in his natural element, live and on stream.

He has even shoutcasted several thrilling KBMOD community pub matches and we have captured those in live highlights. Enjoy all 3 of these hype esports moments!

Episode 89 sees a return to almost normalcy on the cast. We have the original crew, minus LAN hopping John, but we get Blacklite to fill in. We discuss what we’ve been playing this week including going in-depth with Just Cause 2 Multiplayer. The news section is diverse as we discuss UK ISP debacles, Bethesda’s new game The Evil Within, Razer honoring a coupon glitch and much more. twitter dives into topics like KBMOD themed League skins, the overall quality of games, and our thoughts on stand alone expansions.

Enjoy!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

We were blacked out against CISPA yesterday, but today we’ve got the stream schedule up. We start with Tim’s stream at 1 today. He will possibly finish out Metro 2033. Tonight Dan is leading viewer night on Just Cause 2 MP beta with Chezz playing Black Ops 1 with viewers Wednesday.  Thursday APL is rocking out with League of Legends with (you guessed it!) viewers! Lots of community stuff this week.

Friday Blacklite continues with Ocarina of Time and his retro madness. Saturday Ajay is back with more Arkham City. Sunday is of course the morning stream, followed by the podcast at 10 PM EST with guest IncredibleOrb!

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Tuesday (4/23) @ 1:00pm EST - Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Metro 2033 (Day 3)
Tuesday (4/23) @ 9:30pm EST- Viewer Night: Just Cause 2 MP
Wednesday (4/24) @ 9:30pm EST - Viewer Night: Call of Duty: Black Ops w/ Chezz
Thursday (4/25) @ 10:00pm EST - APLFisher Presents: League of Legends w/ Viewers
Friday (4/26) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station: Random Retro Title/Ocarina of Time
Saturday (4/27) @ 11:00am EST - AjayLikes: Arkham City (Day 3)
Sunday (4/28) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Arkham Asylum (Day 3)
Sunday (4/28) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 90 ft. IncredibleOrb LIVE

This week’s brocave comes to us from forum newcomer Ostrich. He’s rocking a heck of a rig with the Intel 3770k clocked up to 4.2 Ghz. Cooled with what appears to be a small car, or possibly a Noctua NH-D14, an impressive sound card and a an HD6950. It’s a very clean and tidy build and we’re more than happy to feature in the hall of BroCave legend.

What’s up dudes, I’ve been lurking for a few months but some people in Irc motivated me to clean my desk and make a post. I don’t have the most amazing rig with a nice water cooling loop or much of a gaming background but here a recap of my story.

I wasn’t allowed to play video games, aside from occasional flash games, until I was about 12. However, the first game my father did allow me to play was CoD 4 which he had bought but never really played. I still fondly remember the night he let me load CoD 4 onto the family laptop which consisted of an i3 with integrated graphics. I played through half of the campaign in a single sitting at a really choppy frame rate and loved it. After playing CoD 4 on a laptop for a while I started to tinker with pre-built computers and was given a 7800Gt by a friend which made me want to build a computer from scratch.

The next year I was able built my first rig with a 955BE and a 5770. From that build I upgraded to 6950s and bought some used monitors to run Eyefinity for a while. However now I sit with my current rig saving the money from my job to purchase a new card at the end of this year.

RIG:
CPU: Intel i7 3770k @4.2Ghz
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
MOBO: MSI z77A-G45
RAM: G.SKill Ripjaws 8GB DDR3-1600
GPU: PowerColor Radeon HD 6950
PSU: OCZ 750 Watt Fully Modular
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX
Case: Corsair Vengence C70

Peripherals:
Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M50s
Keyboard: Dell AT101W Black Alps Switches
Mouse: Razer Lchesis
Mic: Blue Snowball Ice
Monitors: 2x Acer 23″

If you want to have your cave featured, be sure to post it in our forums!

We once again have some esteemed guests for Episode 88 of the podcast: Max aka Gassymexican and Renee aka lolrenaynay. John was too busy winning all the Esports to be on the cast, but Hex fills in admirably. We talk gaming, YouTube and internet history with Max and Renee to lead off the cast.  We then move into news stories such as Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the mass appeal of Dark Souls II and promised improvements for that game, and the dangers of social media as we saw an X-box higher-up fired over some tweets.  We also hit up some upcoming releases and our thoughts on Phil Fish. Finally, your twitter questions range from lube for cats to giant mammal genitals to the best ways to impress the ladies. We also have some truly laugh out loud moments this week, so don’t miss it!

Enjoy!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

The KBMOD streams are once again in full effect this week. We are even introducing an 11th show on the channel! Monday brings Night 6 of World of Warcraft with Dan. Following directly after that, Nikon ushers in the late night with 5v5 Smite with viewers. Tuesday, Tim picks up Metro 2033 where he left off last week at 1 PM EST. That night we are playing Torchlight II w/ subscribers. Hex is once again bringing in the community Wednesday with a Team Fortress 2 open lobby. Thursday Chezz continues his 30 days of Smite with APL following up with community Counter-Strike: GO and Source. Friday Blacklite brings the emulation station hype for another lengthy late night stream.

Saturday we introduce a new EU friendly stream with AjayLikesGaming. He’ll be continuing an Arkham City playthrough he started when filling in for Dan on April 14. Sunday brings the morning stream with Dan and Arkham Asylum and the podcast with the normal crew is that evening.

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (4/15) @ 9:30pm EST - The Grind w/ Dan: World of Warcraft – The Journey Begins Again! (Night 6)
Monday (4/15) @ 11:59pm EST - Late Night w/ Nikon: Smite 5v5 w/ Viewers
Tuesday (4/16) @ 1:00pm EST - Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Metro 2033 (Day 2)
Tuesday (4/16) @ 9:30pm EST- Viewer Night: Torchlight II w/ Subscribers
Wednesday (4/17) @ 9:30pm EST - The Bearded Gamer w/ Hex: Community Team Fortress 2
Thursday (4/18) @ 9:30pm EST - The Church of Chezzus: Smite
Thursday (4/18) @ 11:59pm EST - APLFisher Presents: Counter-Strike
Friday (4/19) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station: Random Retro Title/Ocarina of Time
Saturday (4/20) @ 11:00am EST – AjayLikes: Arkham City (Day 2)
Sunday (4/21) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Arkham Asylum (Day 2)
Sunday (4/21) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 89 LIVE

Besides franchises like Starcraft, we haven’t seen an honest to god stand-alone expansion in a long while.  Everything is labeled DLC or map pack now, tries to flesh out the universe of the original game and most of the time is not worth your 10-20 dollars. Ubisoft has decided to take a different route with a stand-alone expansion for Far Cry 3.

So just what are you watching above? Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is what would happen if Miami Vice, the A-Team and Far Cry 3 had a baby together and that baby was fucking awesome. It even has Michael Biehn (of Terminator fame) voice acting the bad ass hero of the game, Sergeant Rex Colt. Just think Heavy Metal, but in 1080p. The game is available for pre-order on Steam at $14.99 and you don’t need Far Cry 3 to play it. Until May 1, just sit here and watch this trailer on loop.

Welcome to the April version of our PC build guides. As with before, we have implemented hard price limits ($500, $800, $1300, $1800) on ourselves and have had to make tough decisions with each build. Your personal budget will likely be flexible, but we hope this article will give you a baseline. You can of course spend more or spend less, but you run into a case of diminishing returns at either end. Please keep in mind that pricing information is immediate and may not necessarily reflect real prices by the time you have read this article.

This month, the big story is the surge in memory prices across the board, which keeps the us from being able to do much to improve the rest of our components. However, we did manage to get a GTX 660 Ti back in our $800 build, which continues to exhibit a truly extraordinary value for a machine under $1000.

The Starter ($500 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PTxL

• CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 ($113.99 @ NCIX US)
• Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 ($89.99 @ Newegg)
• Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($62.68 @ NCIX US)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB ($109.98 @ Newegg)
• Case: Apex SK-393-C ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
• Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 500W ($27.99 @ Microcenter)

Total: $499.61

The Sweet Spot ($800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PTwV

• CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K ($219.98 @ Outlet PC)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)
• Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 ($104.99 @ Microcenter)
• Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($62.68 @ NCIX US)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB ($259.99 @ Newegg)
• Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
• Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 600W ($29.99 @ Microcenter)

Total: $797.60

The Enthusiast ($1300 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PTBv

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($309.99 @ Amazon)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 ($134.98 @ SuperBiiz)
• Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($62.68 @ NCIX US)
• Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5″ SSD ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB ($369.99 @ NCIX US)
• Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
• Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1296.59

The Professional ($1800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PTEC

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($318.99 @ NCIX US)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 ($134.98 @ SuperBiiz)
• Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1866 ($115.06 @ NCIX US)
• Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5″ SSD ($159.99 @ Newegg)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
• Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB – 2-Way SLI ($369.99 @ NCIX US)
• Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB – 2-Way SLI ($369.99 @ NCIX US)
• Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
• Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W ($119.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1798.96

Have a suggestion? Leave it in the comments!

I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m craving some serious zombie killing and survival gaming in my life ever since I stopped playing DayZ. I’m sure everyone and their grandmother’s cat heard about and played the DayZ mod for Arma 2 last year and perhaps still do today. But the last time I played it was when Brandon and I spawned in Komarovo and Kamenka respectively and met up near the Balota air field after half an hour of running from zombies only to be teleported to a camp and shot execution style. Hackers are what ruined DayZ for me, although white listed servers take care of this problem. I miss patiently waiting in a bush while my heart beat rises and can’t wait for the standalone game.

I’ve been keeping up with their blog and videos on Dean Hall’s youtube channel and here are some of things you can expect in DayZ standalone that are different from the mod.

In a nutshell, they’ve made changes to,

Zombie spawning

All zombies will spawn on the server side now, which means there won’t be any zombies “popping” in front of a player. This also means that zombie presence and player presence will be unrelated. When zombie spawning is on the client side, experienced players deduce the presence of another player nearby. This is no longer the case, which makes it harder for you as the player because you have to be vigilant constantly. It also makes it harder for your doctor, because he can’t figure out why you have high blood pressure.

This also lets the devs control the movement of zombie groups, meaning there won’t be (as many) empty grasslands to run around and frolic in.

Inventory

We’ve seen some clothing they added in the first standalone video they showed off but the most important thing to note from this video is Dean mentioning how they plan to add a drag and drop system for player inventory (right before the 8 min mark). They’ve also added a Minecraft style hot key bar to quickly access items from your inventory instead of actually having to go into the awful inventory menu to apply bandages while zombies are chasing you. You can apparently use up to 9 hotkeys, as mentioned by one of the playtesters Dean is talking to. This is a huge improvement in user experience.

Pathfinding

A big problem in the mod is zombie paths when they’re chasing players. They typically move where players “used to be” instead of where they currently are and this caused them longer to get to you. So you could run around in circles and they would never catch you. They’ve implemented a “best path” mechanism to correct this and the end of the video demonstrates how well this works. Zombie pathfinding will also be processed on the server side, thereby improving some performance.

Miscellaneous

• They’ve redecorated interiors and the look of trees and grass. They’re working on making the grass look like Arma 3′s grass.
• Cars will have loot in them and you’ll be able to open and close the door to access its interior.
• They’re working on new skeletons for zombie and player models which will likely improve animations further.
• Helmets protect you from melee blows.
• Your trash may be used to track you with dogs. Yup.

So there you have it, DayZ standalone looks to be in decent shape especially with those UI improvements and certain functions being moved to server side. And now we wait for the game’s release, just like we wait in game to make our next move.

Are you prepared for the podcast that awaits you? I don’t know that you are.

In what might be our most insane, hilarious and informative podcast yet, old friend Jared Gerritzen (creative head of Zombie Studios) and Brett “Hundar” Hundley of Machinima Realm join us to talk games, life, drinking and everything in between. We start by talking about what we’ve been playing (which includes some surprising titles from all parties). After that, the news touches on some rather big stories this week. The closing of Lucasarts headlines our discussion, but we also touch on the troubled Doom 4, EA’s abysmal response to another worst company nomination, Blizzard’s Titan and more. Finally, your Twitter questions touch on the phenomenon of twerking, defining the Grind and crying during sex.

Seriously don’t miss this one!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

The streams this week are plentiful as we add two more streams to the schedule.

Monday takes us back into World of Warcraft as Dan continues his journey at level 18. Nikon will follow that up with some late night Smite. Tuesday we debut a new stream with a new broadcaster! Tim aka @Stafunoob will be doing playthroughs on Tuesday afternoons from 1pm-4pm EST.  He is starting out with Metro 2033. That evening we are doing a launch stream for Age of Empires II HD and giving away two copies of the game to subscribers! Hex is busy moving so Dan is taking over on Wednesday with a special night of Torchlight II with subscribers. Thursday Chezz is continuing his 30 days of Smite with the KBMOD crew and viewers. After Chezz, APL is heading back to his roots with some Counter-strike: Source action. Friday Blacklite will start with Megaman X and then continue his Ocarina of Time journey. After Nicks 5 hour marathon stream last week this could be amazing! Sunday there is no morning stream as Dan has a personal engagement, but the podcast will be at 10 PM EST with guests YouTubers Gassymexican and LoLRenaynay!

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (4/8) @ 9:30pm EST - The Grind w/ Dan: World of Warcraft – The Journey Begins Again! (Night 4)
Monday (4/8) @ 11:59pm EST – Late Night w/ Nikon: Smite
Tuesday (4/9) @ 1:00pm EST – Tim’s Tuesday Tomfoolery: Metro 2033 (Day 1)
Tuesday (4/9) @ 9:30pm EST- Launch Night: Age of Empires II HD w/ Dan and Hex (Giveaway!)
Wednesday (4/10) @ 9:30pm EST - KBMOD Special: Dan plays Torchlight II w/ Subscribers
Thursday (4/11) @ 9:30pm EST - The Church of Chezzus: Smite
Thursday (4/11) @ 11:59pm EST – APLFisher Presents: Counter-Strike: Source
Friday (4/12) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station: Random Retro Title/Ocarina of Time
Sunday (4/14) @ 10am EST - NO STREAM
Sunday (4/14) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 88 ft. @Gassymexican and @lolrenaynay LIVE

Walking the expansive section of indie booths at PAX East, one has unique access to game developers. Speaking to these developers, it’s easy to find yourself sorting them into two categories: those who are excited to talk about their game, and those who are not. Why someone would not be excited to talk about their project is beyond me; maybe they’ve gotten a bit full of themselves and are determined to give off a “Phil Fish” vibe. Maybe they’re just shy. Who knows? What I can be sure of is that as I approached Yacht Club Games, developers of Shovel Knight, it was apparent that they were very excited to talk about their game.

I originally clicked a link to Shovel Knight’s Kickstarter page after reading the title and seeing the promo art. “Ha!” I thought. “A knight with a shovel instead of a sword! Hilarity!” I’m a sucker for silly premises. What I didn’t expect was that the trailer would hit me right in my 8-bit console childhood. Those graphics! The tight-looking gameplay! That music! I needed this game. As soon as I got to the  show floor on PAX East’s opening day, I was immediately on the hunt for Shovel Knight. It took me a good while to find too, as it was nestled in a corner behind Hawken and the loud, clanging bell of the strongman game at the Popcap booth. Once I had found it, game on! The game played exactly how I’d imagined.

Shovel Knight is actually built around the concept of the sword-drop attack made famous by Zelda II: Adventure of Link. In fact, this concept was what made the creators decide on a shovel rather than a more ordinary weapon. The controls are wonderfully nostalgic, having been designed as if for an NES controller. Aside from the 8-directional movement afforded by a d-pad, there are only 2 buttons to concern yourself with: Jump and Attack. Shovel-dropping is accomplished just like in Zelda II, by holding down while in the air. Secondary weapons, which can be picked up during the course of a level, stay true to the Castlevania franchise and are activated by pressing Up + Attack.

Yacht Club Games describes Shovel Knight as their love letter to 8-bit gaming. The game features tight controls, colorful and distinct bosses, toenail jumps, and a quirky sense of humor. All of Yacht Club’s representatives were friendly and eager to talk to us about their game, but I spent most of my time speaking to Nick Wozniak, Artmancer at Yacht Club.

Nick guided me through the demo at PAX East which showcased an early stage of the game named Proudmoor Keep, home to a boss first revealed at PAX East: King Knight. When I laugh about a knight that is also a king, Nick corrects me: “He’s more of a kingly knight.” “A knight that fancies himself a king?” I offer. He laughs and nods in agreement. A comedic approach like this is a large part of what draws me to Shovel Knight. Both the titular hero and his foes all feel like something you would come up with while joking with friends, with everyone trying to one-up each other on outlandish concepts. One enemy that impedes S.K.’s progress through the Keep is simply a rat tied to a propeller that drifts lazily through the air. Nick points to them and remarks, “Notice there isn’t any sort of control mechanism. The rat is sort of clueless and has no control over where he’s going. We thought that was funny.”

In practice, the game plays beautifully. The controls are responsive and tight, well-armored enemies and difficult platforming sections offer a good challenge, and the level design is callback to a day long past, when visual cues were the only tutorial anyone would need. Platforming sections with the shovel are easily the most challenging, and rewarding, part of the game. Shovel Knight can’t get a lot of air on his own, but by shovel dropping onto an enemy’s head, he can propel himself skyward and reach new, previously unattainable heights. In one room, a shiny diamond glitters tantalizingly on an unreachable platform. As S.K. enters the room, an automated horse with an attached lance charges him. This is easily dodged with a simple jump, but another, identical enemy waits in the wings, ready to follow suit with its predecessor as soon as S.K. walks within range. This shows players that they’re meant to use this enemy, which will charge just like the last, to shovel bounce up to claim their prize. Cues given this way not only provide a fun challenge in getting the correct timing down, but also help the player feel more accomplished, as they solved the puzzle themselves with only minimal, subtle guidance from the game. As I point this out to Nick, he nods and confirms that the design of this room was all intentional.

Speaking of diamonds, those will play a major role in Shovel Knight. In the demo at PAX East, since it was only a single level, diamonds collected served only as a score. Top-scoring players were allowed to enter their initials, arcade-style. We’re promised that, upon release, diamonds will play a much more important role. Shops will be available between levels, allowing S.K. to spend his hard-earned dosh on things like subweapons. Interestingly, during the demo, diamonds also served a secondary purpose – a reason to stay alive. Shovel Knight does away with the antiquated Lives of yore and instead simply removes half of your collected diamonds upon death, respawning you at a close checkpoint. I found this to be quite a compelling system, and one that I hope makes it into the final game. During the demo, dying only ruined your shot at the scoreboard, but if the system stays in place when the game is launched – that’s plenty of reason to play and play well and stay alive. Lives are an outdated system, one that probably should have been abandoned when games left the arcade and developers were no longer after our hard-earned quarters. If anything, running out of lives and falling back on continues are nothing but an unnecessary annoyance these days. But Shovel Knight’s method of punishing your virtual wallet does away with troublesome continues while still keeping players from simply jumping into a bottomless pit for a free reset on their life bar. Yacht Club says the final downside to death is still in the air.

After battling through wizards, propeller rats, gryphons, and an enjoyably difficult platforming section involving disappearing platforms (something that would feel at home in Mega Man 3), we reach King Knight. His attacks live up to his kingly splendor: trumpets appear to herald his coming and shower the battlefield with deadly confetti, his ground pound stuns Shovel Knight so that King can “coronate” him (read: bash him about the head with his scepter), and his kingly strut knows no equal. Being a seasoned veteran of classic Mega Man titles, and more recently Zelda II, I have no trouble dispatching the would-be monarch. Yacht Club seems to agree with the fans: King Knight needs a bit more buffing before he’s ready. No one’s looking to condemn him to a life as Shovel Knight’s Chill Penguin. No worries though, Yacht Club has a lot of development to look forward to.

“Nobody on the corner got swagga like us.”

And speaking of Yacht Club, those fine folks just recently blew through their Kickstarter goal, which means Shovel Knight is officially funded. They did it with almost 2 weeks left on the clock, an impressive feat that shows how much interest there is in the game. They have also detailed a list of tantalizing stretch goals since many folks are still donating. Go check ‘em out if you haven’t already. This little slice of old school gaming bliss is looking hopeful for a Holiday 2013 release, and will be available for PC (most likely through Steam), WiiU, and 3DS.

This week we have what may be one of the prettiest builds we’ve featured. Sadly, Pexon from our forums hasn’t told him much about himself or his gaming habits. The rig is so beautiful though we have to feature it anyways. Utilizing a rarely seen Sandy Bridge – E Quad core processor, a custom watercooling loop and a custom paint job, this one is going to make you jealous.

Hey everyone, here’s my rig.

Lian Li PCA70F (BMW Topaz Bue/ Sparkling Graphite)
Intel i7 3820 @ 4.8
MSI X79 GD45
Mushkin Ridgeback 16GB OC’d @1866Mhz
ATi 7970 @ 1150 clock/ 1575 memory
Silverstone Strider 750W Gold
Samsung F3 1TB
OCZ Agility 3 60GB

Laing D5 w/ Alphacool top
2x XPSC 240mm rad
1x Alphacool 240m rad
Alphacool 7970 block
Alphacool NeXXXos CPU block
Enermax Cluster fans
Alphacool rotary fittings and barbs
Mayhems Oil Black Coolant

[Show as slideshow]

Hopefully Pexon will see we’ve featured his rig and reach out with a little information about himself and his build! We’ll be happy to update the post once he does.

Remember Me was a game I really wanted to play at PAX East – just not enough to endure the three hour line.  The game is a little Devil May Cry beat ‘em up style combined with Cyberpunk titles like Deus Ex and even hints of the far off CD Projekt RED title, Cyberpunk 2077.  This new trailer details alot the enemies you’ll be fighting along the way, including a few bosses. The game releases June 4, just before we got bombarded with E3 news. Check out the trailer above!

In part 1 and part 2 of the Safer Surfing Series, we shared what we feel is an important collection of software for keeping yourself safe and your information protected on the internet. In this third and final instalment, we’ll discuss some good personal habits to form to achieve the same ends.

Software can only do so much

The usefulness of the software we’ve touched on  can only go so far; you will only be as safe as your everyday habits make you. By far, the most important step to be safer on the internet is to think. Scammers are everywhere, and you can’t afford to let your guard down. Don’t blindly run programs without knowing where they came from, and always be suspicious when things look a bit different on your favorite download sites than they did during your last visit. Here’s a tangible example that I ran into at work recently: One of our staff members went to download a copy of VLC media player by searching for “VLC” in her browser. The site that came up first in the search results was an almost-legit looking 3rd party site where, yes, you can download VLC player, but it came packaged with several spyware programs. So when possible, get software directly from the original vendors. To this end, what I typically do is rely heavily on my browser bookmarks rather than search engines whenever possible. (For future reference, VLC’s real home page is videolan.org.)

Here are a couple of other habits that will contribute to the safety of your internet experience:

• Hide yourself. Once you’ve secured and encrypted your internet traffic, you’ll want to make your online presence harder to find. There is no real secret to hiding your information from Google searches: just be careful about what information you put on the internet. Use the following sites to dig up dirt on yourself, and take action to remove anything that you might not want others to find: Spokeo and Pipl.
• Obfuscate your accounts. A good rule to follow to ensure a dichotomy between your online presence and your real-life presence is to avoid using the same username/email for different sites unless you want the same people to find both accounts. For example, if you have the twitter handle of @twitter123 don’t make your Facebook URL /twitter123 unless both accounts have the same target audience. This is also true of pictures: Never post the same pictures via your online persona and your persona that directly interacts with your real life. It’s very easy for anyone (such as potential employers) to perform a reverse image search and find the same pictures linked to multiple accounts. On a related note: many websites do not scrub EXIF data (i.e., embedded metadata; potentially including GPS coordinates) from photos you’ve uploaded to their website. The iPhone, in particular, embeds this GPS geotagging information within the photo itself when you use its camera. A nice piece of software which will remove the EXIF metadata from your photos is XnView. To remove EXIF data from a photo using XnView, go to Edit > Metadata > Remove EXIF data.
• Ditch the privacy-invading social networks altogether. I don’t care what the terms of service or the privacy policy says. If your data is on someone else’s server, you aren’t in full control over it. The moment a site’s privacy policy changes to suit advertising partners, or if some piece of legislation gets passed that allows a government access to that data, your privacy is in danger of being invaded. Even if you create different online personas, information about your “real self” is still out there. The only way to truly protect yourself — short of going completely off-grid — is to stay away from services you can’t trust. Shifting completely away from the big social newtorks would certainly be a daunting task, and I realize that most people can’t or won’t ditch them on a whim… but I’d encourage you to keep an eye on some of these growing, decentralized, open-source alternatives, and try them out in the future:
  • Diaspora – a Facebook alternative (find a Diaspora server, or pod to join here)
  • Identi.ca – a Twitter alternative (not itself decentralized, but runs decentralized software called StatusNet)
  • Yacy – a peer-to-peer powered search engine
  • DuckDuckGo – not open-source or decentralized, but they don’t track your search data
  • Bitcoin – a peer-to-peer digital currency
  • Jitsi – One of many open-source Skype alternatives, utilizing SIP or XMPP protocols for secure VoIP communication.
• Encrypt your Hard Drive.  What’s the use of keeping your information secure on the web, if a thief can just come take it from your place of residence?  Encrypting your hard drive using a utility such as Truecrypt will help ensure that even in such an event your valuable data stays out of intruders’ hands.  We’ll post our own how-to here in the future but for now there are plenty of guides out there already (like this one for example).  However even with your data encrypted, you still run the risk of physically losing that data, which makes it all the more important to…
• Always have backups.  It’s essential to run a backup utility and keep separate physical copies of all of your data, preferably on a separate computer, or better yet, a removable drive that you can take with you.  Many people use Dropbox or a backup service for their offsite storage, and while that’s one way to do it, both your storage space and the security of your data is limited when you’re using someone else’s servers.  If you do use Dropbox, or any other service, make sure you store anything sensitive in an encrypted container.  Another option, which we’ll detail in a how-to guide the future, is to set up a SparkleShare server.  SparkleShare is  a host-it-yourself alternative to Dropbox that you can set up in your own home (for backing up files on your laptop while you’re abroad), or in someone else’s house.

Help Us Help You

That’s it for our safer surfing series, at least for now. Our hope is that this series will serve as a launching point into a future stream of tutorials and updates about the changing state of internet security. We also hope that if nothing else, we’ve encouraged you to start learning more about the technologies that make the web work.

And of course as before, we want to hear what you do to keep your information secure. Let us know here in the comments, or jump over to the appropriate section in our forums for a more in-depth conversation.

Hello everyone, Brandon W. here, your KBMOD graphic artist!

I recently did a little poll on twitter to see if anybody would be interested in some KBMOD mobile wallpapers. The response was overwhelming and I’ve made 5 different versions to start. I’ve included 2 versions of each wallpaper, one for your lockscreen (with the logo) and one for your background (without the logo). I don’t have an Android device so I’m not 100% how those wallpapers will turn out, I’d appreciate your feedback through my twitter: @oo7plasma. Desktop versions are coming very soon, enjoy!

Download Links:

> iPhone 4/4S & iPod Touch 4th Gen – Lockscreen | Background

> iPhone 5 & iPod Touch 5th Gen – Lockscreen | Background

> Samsung Galaxy S3 (Or any 720×1280 phone) – Lockscreen | Background

> Nexus 4 – Lockscreen | Background

> Nexus 7 tablet – (fixed versions are being created)

Although John joins us late, the original gang is back for episode 86.  We take 20-30 minutes to go over some details of Bioshock Infinite (no spoilers, but if you want to go in blind, skip the first 20 minutes or so).  After that we dive into the news which includes Diablo III’s auction house, the strange Xbox rumors of always online DRM and EA and Maxis pointing fingers.  We also dive into the crazy pre-order packages for upcoming ARPG Marvel Heroes and rumors of Battlefield 4 and Watch Dogs being in the next AMD GPU bundles.  We then go over your always interesting Twitter questions.

Enjoy!

KBMOD Podcast Direct Download
KBMOD Podcast Direct Download Mirror
KBMOD Podcast on iTunes

PAX is fully behind us and the stream schedule almost resumes normality this week. We start off with two straight nights of Dan’s dangerous entrance back into the World of Warcraft. Nikon, however, is off this week as it is his wife’s birthday. Wednesday brings the continuation of Hex’s Bioshock Infinite playthrough. Thursday, Chezz continues his 30 days of Smite to try and learn a MOBA. Blacklite is back this Friday with more emulation madness.  Sunday has the morning stream and then the podcast with special guest Zombie Studio’s own Jared Gerritzen.

As always, you can tune in to all these streams on our Twitch page. Make sure to follow our channel to get notified the moment we’re going live! If you enjoy our streams and want to show your love for KBMOD, you can also become a paid subscriber to our Twitch channel! For $4.99/month, you get a completely ad-free experience on our channel and a special subscriber icon and custom twitch emoticons next to your name in the chat.

Monday (4/1) @ 9:30pm EST – The Grind w/ Dan: World of Warcraft – The Journey Begins Again! (Night 1)
Tuesday (4/2) @ 9:30pm EST- World of Warcraft – The Journey Begins Again! (Night 2)
Wednesday (4/3) @ 9pm EST - The Bearded Gamer w/ Hex: Bioshock Infinite
Thursday (4/4) @ 10pm EST - The Church of Chezzus: Smite
Friday (4/5) @ 11:59pm EST- The Midnight Emulation Station: Random Retro Title/Ocarina of Time
Sunday (4/7) @ 10am EST - The Sunday Constitutional w/ Dan: Random Games, Q&A
Sunday (4/7) @ 10pm EST - KBMOD Podcast Episode 87 ft. Jared Gerritzen LIVE

While this weeks brocave isn’t technically from a bro, and isn’t a blow the doors off it $4,000 rig, it’s proof you don’t need to have the all brand new tech to play some amazing PC games. Running Sandy Bridge, and rocking that MSI 7870 this is a rig more than capable of hardcore gaming, at a less than hardcore price. With 2 monitors it should be easy to start streaming on twitch and interacting with viewers. All in all, a solid machine.

As much as I’d like to say my first build is super awesome and badass, I know it’s still missing things and is about 90% badass enough for me. I’ve been playing video games ever since I was younger and had my heart on my xbox up until I saw the amazing graphics that PC can offer. I still love my xbox, it’s been faithful for 3+ years, but it’s kind of been pushed aside since I built this.
After my boyfriend’s computer failed us, I decided that I’d have a go at building my own PC even though I had absolutely no clue what to do. Luckily, being a woman and all, I read the instructions instead of watching YouTube videos, and built my baby.

Specs are below, and if you wanna give me advice on how to improve it, it’d be appreciated (:

Also, I refuse to show the inside at the moment because it even makes me cringe.

Case: Rosewill Blackhawk Mid Tower
CPU: Intel i7-2600k @ 3.40 GHz
MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
RAM: G. Skill Value Series 8GB (2 X 4GB)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
PSU: Corsair CX600M 600W
Video Card: MSI Radeon 7870
Monitor 1: 23″ Asus VS Series VS238
Monitor 2: 24″ Asus VE245H

Headphones: Astro A40s
Keyboard: Microsoft Sidewinder x4
Capture Card: Blackmagic Intensity Pro
Webcam: Logitech C525