Jason, Author at Thumb Culture

24Mar

By JasonNo Comments

Gran Turismo 7 Review

Gran Turismo 7 by developers Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment marks the 8th instalment in the GT series. This title has been eagerly anticipated by PS5 gamers everywhere due to its advertised ray tracing and haptic feedback features. Gran Turismo 7 - As Real as it Gets? Does GT7 live up to the hype? Is this the best GT in the series? Read on to see what we made of it! If you enjoy my articles make sure to check out my others here. Gameplay The last iteration, GT Sport, looked and played amazingly well on the PS4 Pro that I had. I remember being so impressed with the level of detail that had been put into it. It's funny how you move on to the next game, see ground breaking changes in graphics and controls, and get blown away once more. GT7 introdu...

17Mar

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

No Place Like Home Review

No Place Like Home is a single-player 3rd person PC indie title from devs Chicken Launcher and published by Realms Distribution. With Earth trashed (literally) and humanity moved onto Mars, it is down to you to begin the clean-up operation. No Place Like Home - Tranquil Farming Fun I really wasn't sure what to expect with this survival sim title in all honesty, let's crack on! Be sure to check out my previous Thumb Culture reviews here! Gameplay In a nutshell, No Place Like Home is all about exploration, crafting, cleaning up and tending to the land around you. Playing as Ellen, you have inherited a farm, or what is left of it, from your grandfather. With piles of trash and muck-like stone columns all around you, you must use your trusty drill and vacuum to demolish and suck up...

Hush: Crane – An Interview with Co-Founder Jack Attridge

17Mar

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Hush: Crane – An Interview with Co-Founder Jack Attridge

Breaking down the boundaries of interaction, for me that is where gaming gets interesting. Something a little different from button mashing or learning sequences of moves. Hush: Crane by developers Flavourworks, gives gamers a glimpse of how immersion can reach a new level. Using amazing-looking FMV and an engine known as "TouchVideo", your touch-screen gestures transition to real-world movements and actions. Each decision affects the story and sends you down a unique path. A taster of what is coming can be found for free on the Samsung Galaxy store, just look up "Hush: Crane" or click here. Having played the available episode multiple times, I was amazed at how many different outcomes there were in just the short time I had to play. Running just like you are in a movie, you can pan and...

The Sims 4: Carnaval Streetwear Kit Review

17Mar

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

The Sims 4: Carnaval Streetwear Kit Review

The Sims 4 recently had a new dlc drop in the form of the Brazillian-inspired Carnaval Streetwear Kit. At £4.99, is this kit a must-have for the hardcore players? Dance Like Nobody's Watching! With the word "Carnaval" playing havoc with my spellchecker as it is Portuguese for "Carnival", let's see what this is all about! Gameplay The Carnaval Streetwear kit has been designed in partnership with Brazilian drag queen and singer-songwriter Pabllo Vittar. Together they have drawn up a wardrobe of clothing and accessories to celebrate the vibrancy of Brazil's iconic Carnaval. With a vivid array of multicoloured neon shirts, tees, crop tops and dresses both for men and women, Pabllo has brought their ideas to life. With a majority of the Sims dlc's, your people can only wear th...

9Mar

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

AnkerWork B600 Video Bar Review

AnkerWork has been at it again. Their R&D department just seems to carry on endlessly seeing how far they can push their tech. Having reviewed the PowerConf C300 in the past, the B600 Video Bar is certainly the beefed-up bigger brother! AnkerWork B600 Video Bar - Beeeeeefcake! Touted as an "all in one" package, can this fulfill all your webcam and conferencing needs? Design The concept of the B600 is to have a peripheral that has everything you could ever want in a webcam. Rather than just a camera, maybe a mic, this unit comes in as a full-blown package, capable of being extremely versatile. Weighing in at a whopping 465g when compared to the C300's 130g, I was a little apprehensive at first due to my monitor bracket being wall mounted on drywall. Ok, the drywall is a coupl...

24Feb

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Model Builder Review

Model Builder by developers Moonlit and Kuba Wójcik is unsurprisingly a model building simulator. Everyone at some time in their life has probably built a model, with varying outcomes. Published by Green Man Gaming, I had the pleasure of previewing this game last year when it was a demo. Model Builder - 100% Calming Fun! Has the full release added anything further to the game? Let's see. Gameplay With the free demo now pulled from the Steam store, Model Builder is now officially launched. While the gameplay has not changed at all, there are some areas that have now been unlocked as well as expanded. If you wish to read all about the gameplay and my thoughts on Model Builder, please check out my preview article of the demo since this has not changed. In this article, I will be ...

17Feb

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Century: Age of Ashes Review

Century: Age of Ashes is a free-to-play online multiplayer PC game available over on Steam. Developed by French indie gaming house Playwing you get to battle in the skies, riding your dragon in team-based games. Century: Age of Ashes - Unlock Your Inner Khaleesi! Well, I must say I don't think I have ever piloted a Dragon before so I am quite looking forward to setting fire to my foes! Let's see what this one is about! Gameplay With a guided tutorial right from the beginning, you are introduced to the basics of how to fly your Dragon and, of course, cause death and destruction. With boosting, hard cornering and taking advantage of specific points to soar high into the air mastered you are led to the weapon/abilities section of the tutorial. Here you discover what your particular cla...

17Feb

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Silence Your Rig With BeQuiet!

With ever more power-demanding PC components, how do you keep up with the cooling while still looking stylish? BeQuiet! kindly sent us some of the new PWM Light Wings and Dark Rock TF 2 CPU cooler fans to show us what can be achieved! When it comes to fans I have had a few various types in the past. With my NZXT H510 case, the temps have crept up when maxing out my GPU and having a long gaming session. As many of you will no doubt be aware, this then causes the fan speed to ramp up and before you know it your rig sounds like a jumbo jet. Originally I had a couple of Corsair AF140s at the front to draw air in and an AF120 at the rear and top to pull out the heat. When the GPU and CPU got warm my PC got a little loud. Ok, headphones can cancel that out however, I game in the lounge an...

AVICII Invector: Encore Edition VR Review

8Feb

By JasonNo Comments

VR Reviews

AVICII Invector: Encore Edition VR Review

If you love rhythm games on the Oculus Quest 2 then you are certainly in for a treat. AVICII Invector: Encore Edition has hit the shop and brings with it the amazing songs of the late AVICII aka Tim Bergling. AVICII Invector: Encore Edition - Live The Rhythm! I have been lucky enough to review the base game back in late 2019 on the PlayStation 4 so I was very excited to see how it has transferred to the Oculus Quest 2! Read my previous review here! Gameplay The basics to AVICII Invector : Encore Edition are simple to learn; press the relevant controller buttons as your spaceship traverses them on the screen! Accompanied by the banging songs from AVICII himself. The Encore Edition also adds extra packs to bring the track total to 35. Each of the tracks is split down into worlds that...

3Feb

By JasonNo Comments

Features, Hardware & Tech

ARGB Lighting For Everyone

Recently I discovered an issue that I was a little naive about after having some new peripherals with ARGB lighting to try out. My motherboard, an ASUS TUF B450m, only had an RGB header. Naturally, my heart sunk. How could I get around this? After all, blasting 12v into 5v LED's is a big no-no. The internet was very vague when it came to resolving the issue and there were not many articles about it. After speaking to the hive mind that is found within the Thumb Culture Discord channel, Welsh Stu came up with a potential idea... ARGB Lighting in an RGB World! The solution is actually not that difficult and relies on two components. What Do You Need? Firstly you need to purchase the Corsair iCUE Lighting Node Pro Lighting Controller. This tiny matchbox device is the portal to powering...