Roku Express vs NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition. Which Streaming Media Player Is Best? The Answer Might Surprise You.

I picked up the NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition on sale for $159 at Best Buy on Black Friday, regularly $199. I also had a $100 gift card to bestbuy from previous sponsored posts I’ve done for them. This is not a sponsored post. This is me providing my initial feedback of the device as I’ve now had it for five days. My end cost was $59.99

Earlier this year I purchased a Roku Express for I believe it was $29.99. It is the most basic cheapest Roku device, in hindsight I wish I’d purchased one with voice controls which I believe start around $49.99. I’ve had my Roku for about six months.

I thought I’d be “replacing” my Roku with the NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition… but that’s not the case… Roku is superior in almost every single way. NVIDIA Shield is only for very technical people, with very fast internet connections, and the only real reason I will keep and not return the product is because of GeForce Now their cloud gaming Streaming service that lets you play games you already own such as from Steam or Battlenet on your tv and on lightweight non gaming PCs without linking to another PC a direct contrast to solutions such as how steamlink works letting you mirror your screen from your gaming pc, in the case of GeForce Now you do not need an expensive gaming pc or any pc at all.

But the service is not without flaws. Everywhere I’ve read the hype, how there’s no lag, and everything is smooth, yeah sure maybe if you have a good internet connection. I do have cable internet but I live in extremely rural areas where I have no choice who my provider is. I don’t think my internet is terrible. It gets around 15mbps, but let me tell you… GeForce Now is almost unplayable for me… don’t believe the hype! It’s not any different for me than PlayStation Now, another Streaming service I use, in fact, PlayStation Now has far less lag for me than GeForce Now. I had to disable my steam authentication token because it was physically impossible to use the controller and onscreen keyboard to type the code before it refreshed and changed. Games stutter, lag, jerk, and freeze… and I wasn’t even playing super new AAA graphically intense games. The first game I tried was Battle Chef Brigade, a 2d simple indie game.

Ok lag aside, there’s some other flaws:

I thought I could play games from the google play store… I can… sort of… but very very few of my favorites are available for “android tv”. Here’s where being a tech wizard comes in, you can sideload apps from a usb stick. Not included of course. They didn’t even include an HDMI cable. I’m using the HDMI cable from my Roku, cost $250 less and provides me everything I need out of the box.

I’m not tech illiterate but the NVIDIA Shield is ridiculously needlessly overly complicated… every other Streaming Media player on the market just works out of the box in minutes… it took me three hours to set up and troubleshoot my Shield. Mostly due to generic unknown errors and series of reboots and updates…

Games aren’t the only thing missing, several of my favorite tv channel apps are not compatible with android tv, such as TLCGo. Roku has far more apps and a much more intuitive user interface and setup takes only seconds even when needing updating not hours…

Hell google themselves don’t even seem to want to support their crappy Android TV as Google Chrome isn’t even compatible with it!

If you want to spend $200 for hours of updates, then have to find or buy your own hdmi cables and usb sticks, then fart around side loading apps from your pc to the stick to your Shield, and have a laggy choppy gaming streaming experience well that’s up to you…. keep in mind NVIDIA will begin charging for this service soon too and has not released any pricing details. From what I’ve seen, I won’t subscribe.

I would take my Roku any any any day of the week. GeForce Now is an exciting and interesting concept. I became excited and interested reading reviews of how it had no lag and performed perfectly as if you were playing it right on a pc gaming rig, but my experience left much to be desired.

I haven’t tried side loading anything yet. My instincts and speculations tell me that Apple TV has far more compatible apps and a better interface than Android TV.

I tried watching kissanime and TLC on my Shield using Puffin.TV, TLC had audio but no picture, kissanime would play about ten minutes then tell me filetype is unsupportable. I’m now watching the same anime on my Roku using a mirror from my iPad and iWeb TV (to be fair this probably exists on Shield too I didn’t check) and having zero issues, TLCGo and other apps are all at my fingertips the interface looks more pleasing intuitive less cluttered and just works. For a tenth of the cost…

For me, the answer is clear, love my Roku, and shockingly disappointed in my NVIDIA Shield TV.

Roku Express vs NVIDIA Shield TV Gaming Edition. Which Streaming Media Player Is Best? The Answer Might Surprise You. was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Magikarp Jump – Free Mobile Virtual Pet Pokemon Game Review for IOS and Android

Title: Magikarp Jump

Publisher: The Pokemon Company

Genre: Virtual Pet

Release Date: May 25, 2017

Available on Android: https://play.google.com/…

Available on IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/…

Overall: 63/80 79% C+ “Good Game For Girls”

Geeky: 3/5 Gameplay is simple, but production values are surprisingly high. This title is sure to appeal to all Pokemon fans who will see not just Magikarp, but many of their other favorite Pokemon as well.

Sweetie: 5/5 – Adorable 2D colorful monster taming game with everyone’s favorite most useless unloved Magikarp as the main character. This game is full of a lot of heart and charm.

Overview: 10/10 Magikarp Jump is a cute, free, seemingly innocent Pokemon Game for Mobile IOS and Android devices. The gameplay is very simplistic and reminiscent of Monster Rancher in that you take home a pet to train and raise and enter league battles. Pretty basic stuff, right? But actually it is perhaps one of the darkest Pokemon Games of all time, because for the first time ever, your Pokemon can die! There is no going back into their Pokeballs, and no amount of healing from Nurse Joy can bring a KoiKing back after he has become lunch for a wild flying Pokemon.

Gameplay: 7/10 Alright, so being a free mobile game, the gameplay, as you might expect is pretty primitive, but yet, oddly addictive. You begin the game by choosing a fishing rod (your first one will be given to you), and fishing up your very own Magikarp.

The karps come in different colors and patterns, and also have unique stats and bonuses. The main stat that your karp has to worry about is JP (Jumping Points). These determine how high your Magikarp can jump in special league battles where you face off against computer controlled AI opponents.

You can raise JP in one of the following ways:

Feeding your Magikarp by tapping food that randomly appears on the screen

Training your Magikarp, in randomly selected training regimens. You get 3 TP (Training Points) that will refill over time and/or refill when your trainer rank increases and/or refill as a result of a random event.

Speaking of random events, there are lots of them, and they can either make, or break, your karp. You are given a choice here… to try the events or ignore them… If you do try them, and fail, you may lose your karp forever! Or your karp may lose several hundred or even several thousand JP. However, if you succeed, your karp may earn several thousand JP, or you may be given the special currency “diamonds” which are rare and usually only given during league battles or quest rewards (or purchased with real currency).

These diamonds let you buy other Pokemon to come help cheer your karp on and decorate your pond. These Pokemon have time activated abilities that will grant a permanent amount of JP to your karp, as well as appearing at random to give a temporary boost to your karp’s JP in each league battle. I’ve seen as little as a 5% increase, to as much as a 25% increase so far.

Magikarp Jump Game Review

Your time with each karp is relatively short, especially early on in the game. Once they reach max level they are taken to the league battles to try one more time for the hall of fame. They can continue battling until they lose a match and then they are retired. They might float around in your tank in the background from time to time, and clicking on them will show their name and JP, but they serve no other purpose. If your karp dies (yes, this really happens), he will be immediately retired, and of course will not appear in your tank. After a karp dies or retires, you will be tasked with selecting a new fishing rod, and fishing up a new karp.

As you raise your karp your rank as a trainer goes up which in turn, raises the max level for the karps you can fish up. If you do a good job raising your karp, you also get a permanent motivation bonus that allows the new karps to earn JP at an increased rate.

There are many patterns and colors of karps available. As your karp grows, his patterns will become clearer, and new patterns will be added to your Pokedex. Gotta catch ’em all.

Your tank can be decorated with themes that change the background of the tank, or decorations which add stat bonus such as increasing JP from food or training, or increasing coins found from random events, etc.

The Pokemon “friends”, food, training regimens, and decorations can all be purchased from either the coin or diamond shops, and then also “invested” into after purchasing to continue to power and level up their effects and usefulness. As your rank increases, new food, friends, training regimens, and decorations will become available for purchase. Pokemon friends are also sometimes given as league battle rewards.

Magikarp Jump Game Review

The game is simple and addicting and very cute too. However, there are some missed opportunities that could make the game more fun. It’d be nice to have online play with other players to be able to challenge their karps. It’d also be nice to have an online leader board tracking the highest jumps from Magikarps all around the world. And lastly, it’d be really nice to customize the look of the trainer character to make them more personalized.

Despite these flaws, the gameplay is solid, though repetitive, and yet strangely addictive. I spent way too much time this weekend playing Magikarp Jump.

Story: 6/10 There is a story, though I can’t say it’s terribly good. It is a super cute story, with detail and fleshed out at least in the intro. They introduce a new “professor” type character, this time a mayor, who serves as your guide. They set up an intro to the game by describing the town (name escapes me), and explaining that the quiet little town loves Magikarp and that all the residents participate in league battles to see whose Magikarp can jump the highest, but that lately, the Magikarp don’t seem as motivated as they used to be, and so something mysterious must be going on, and maybe you will be the one to raise a Magikarp again who can jump into the sky. I mean it’s brief, and not overly deep, but honestly, it’s about as deep or interesting as any of the actual Pokemon games or anime. Pokemon is not well known for story. I’m not far enough into the game yet to see where the story goes, if it goes anywhere at all, or if it just leaves it as an introduction. I’ll give it the benefit of doubt and give it a 6 instead of a 5 “average”. The extra point because it’s cute, and set up in such a way very similar to the story telling of the actual Pokemon games.

Characters: 6/10 The worst part about the character system is not being able to customize your trainer character. We don’t even get to name them or choose a gender. This is a step back from almost every “modern” Pokemon game over the last several years.

Despite that small complaint, the other characters will all make any Pokemon fan feel right at home, from the “Mayor” who is basically taking the “professor” like role, to the Magikarps themselves, to the “Pokemon Friends” which range from classic favorites such as Pikachu, to more modern Pokemon such as Litten. I’m sure future updates will add more Pokemon Friends as well.

Character depth from a story standpoint is weak or even nonexistent. But the inclusion of fan-favorite Pokemon, in a game where Pokemon are the main characters, is sure to please old and new fans of the franchise alike.

Graphics: 10/10 The graphics, like everything in this game are super cute. Your Pokemon friends may be sleeping or playing on the screen, your loveable, ugly-but-cute, goofy, karps and you will forge a bond as you train them which endears them to you. Your tank can be customized with all sorts of decorations, and the karps come in various common and rare colors and patterns. The animations during training are quite cute as well. Everything is very brightly colored, and surprisingly “detailed” and full of personality for a cute simple 2D game.

Music: 6/10: Like most Pokemon games, the music is cute, snappy, and cheerful, full of fighting spirit and creates an atmosphere of innocence and adventure.

Replay Value: 10/10 – Since your time with each individual karp is so short, and you are forced to start over with your “current” league that your last karp left off in, and the levels and progress of your karps goes up bit by bit, you will have to play through multiple generations. I’m up to about Generation 8 now with the last karp maxing out around 53,000 JP I think. Some of my league opponents have upwards of 60k JP, so it will take me a few more generations before I can claim my next league badge. There’s also the collecting of decorations, Pokemon friends, and different colors and patterns of karps which makes playing more exciting for those who love to collect new things. Hopefully they continue to add new items and karp colors in future updates. Would love to even see some time-limited releases for items/karp colors in the future.

I love Magikarp, and after playing Magikarp jump, you will love him too! Next time, can we get a mobile game for the other underdog Pokemon, such as Psyduck?

 

Magikarp Jump – Free Mobile Virtual Pet Pokemon Game Review for IOS and Android was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Countdown to Black Friday with New Deals Every Day on Amazon

Amazon just launched their Black Friday Pre-sale event. You can check back every day for new items at http://amazon.com/Black-Friday/…

Already they are offering up some pretty sweet deals for geeks and gamers. I recommend bookmarking and checking back as often as possible. I’m hoping for a PS4 Bundle or Console to go on sale. I have enough already to purchase, but since it is that time of year, saving some money never hurts, and I’ve waited this long already to get myself the newest consoles, so might as well hang in there a few more weeks and see what happens!

Last year, amazon had amazing black friday and cyber monday exclusive gaming bundles for all three major game systems including Xbone, PS4, and WiiU. This year the savings should be even greater since the technology continues to age and the market gets even more competitive with new consoles such as the Xbox Scorpio, PS4 Pro, and (soon to be released) Nintendo Switch, which means the standard Xbox One, PS4 Slim, and possibly Wii U will need to discount their inventory to see a strong finish this year.

PC Gamers are not to be forgotten, RIGHT NOW amazon has awesome Black Friday deals on headsets, lightup keyboards, game controllers, gaming mice, and more. There are some great deals such as headsets for 65% off, hot new release games for both console and pc at up to 75% off and many more.

Amazon even has a page set up specifically for gaming deals here: http://amzn.to/2evLcYi

or a general one for Electronics here: http://amzn.to/2evMYZH

I’m also needing a new gaming laptop, and Amazon has a page for PC and Laptop deals here: http://amzn.to/2elLmON

Video Games not your thing? Maybe you want some boardgames, legos, cute plushies, dolls, or figures? If so amazon also has a page for you here: http://amzn.to/2fp9ssJ

And the sales will continue into cyber monday as well and Cyber Monday has it’s own page for deals which will be located at http://amzn.to/2fk9JB3 once it goes live later this month.

 

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Per Amazon’s site:

“Black Friday Deals–The Party Is Just Getting Started!

Black Friday 2016 will be here soon, but we didn’t want you to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to save on Black Friday deals, so we are counting down to Black Friday 2016 with exciting deals today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and…you get the picture. Stop by each day through November 24 for early Black Friday deals, including sales on electronics, low prices on DVDs, magazine subscription specials, toy bargains, and fashionable deals for women, men, kids & baby, and more. You’ll find our best Black Friday deals, and Deal of the Day bargains you won’t want to resist for holiday gifts.

Something else to be excited about–at Amazon, Black Friday 2016 isn’t just a day to us–it’s a whole week! We’ll kick off Black Friday Deals Week early with Black Friday deals and sales all day every day that week, including Black Friday, with those big after-Thanksgiving sales you’ve been waiting for. Trust us, if you love a good deal, you won’t want to miss it!

To continue the excitement, we have made Cyber Monday 2016 a whole week too! We’ll be kicking off Cyber Monday with a week’s worth of cyber deals, just in time for you to get back to work after Thanksgiving … and shop online. Shhh … we won’t tell your boss! You’ll find more great deals every day during Cyber Monday Deals Week.
So stop by any day, or better yet, every day. We’ll be here with great deals!”

 

Countdown to Black Friday with New Deals Every Day on Amazon was originally published on