Latest News
New screens and conecpt art was released today for Crysis 3. In the screenshots, we see Prophet doing some hunting with his new bow. You can see the power of the CryEngine in these amazing shot. The concept art shows some of the locations from the game, and shows an inter... [read more]
New tidbits are revealed in an interview from 343 industries teasing new info about Halo 4.... [read more]
THQ is having financial troubles, that hasn't stopped Death from riding again in this new Darksiders II trailer.... [read more]
Latest Articles
With the huge success of the Double Fine Kickstarter project that raised over $3 million, game developers flocked to Kickstarter in hopes that their game would become the next crowd funding success story. One such developer is Sandswept Studios with their game, The Dead Lin... [read more]
If you're playing a fighting game for the story, you're doing it wrong.... [read more]
Gamestop settled on a lawsuit regarding the sale of used games that are missing DLC. Is this lawsuit a win for gamers or will this cause more problems for gamers? ... [read more]
Latest Reviews
According to Robert Duvall, Napalm smells like victory. Will you be victorious against your latest foes in Toy Soldiers' newest DLC?... [read more]
Being a side scrolling title, this puzzle based game relies too heavily on awkward controls and cheap puzzle mechanics concerning the combining of various objects.... [read more]
In Toy Soldiers: Cold War Evil Empire DLC, the tables are turned as you take control of the Soviet forces, fighting against American aggression. Is it good, comrade?... [read more]
Latest Videos
Square Enix announced last week that gamers that pre-order Hitman Absolution will get a free DLC called Hitman: Sniper Challenge. Check out O.G. play the challenge, a... [read more]
In the mid 1970s Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood created one of the earliest computer roleplaying videogames, dnd, which also happened to be one of the first "fan games". Although little known today, their work pre-dates much better known series like Ultima, Wizardry and Dragon... [read more]
You might know this game as Secret of Mana 2, but this video is titled by the only name it was officially released as. This was a Japan exclusive game in the Mana series that many people aren't aware existed, but let's change that starting right now!... [read more]
A new kind of star is coming up in the internet world. No, it’s not the game reviewers or the Let’s Play people; those guys have had their time in the spotlight. Instead, it’s the awesome player that uploads videos of them kicking ass in a game like Black Ops or Halo Reach as part of the YouTube channel, namely those people on the Respawn Army Channel. Trying to start the process of being a YouTube sensation with your mad skillz used to require you to purchase equipment for your PC to do the recording. With the AverMedia Game Capture HD, you can now do all the recording without the use of a PC.
RECORD TILL YOUR HEART'S CONTENT
As Simple As It Gets - Having used other capture devices, the AverMedia Game Capture HD is the easiest of the bunch. It works more like a DVR than a regular capture device since it doesn’t connect to a PC. All you have to do is connect it to your console, go through a quick setup process via the on-screen menu, and hit record whenever you’re ready. Once done, take the hard drive out (I would highly recommend using an external drive), connect it to your PC then drag over the files. There’s no worry about issues like software compatibility, if you have enough RAM, or anything else that would commonly cause you a headache if you have a dated computer . All the work is handled by the device making it less of a fuss to deal with.
Instant Replay! - Ever play a match in Call of Duty or Super Street Fighter 4 AE that was so amazing you wish you could watch it again right away? Now you can, with the AverMedia Game Capture HD. After you stop your recording, you can immediately playback what you recorded. This is an ideal feature for players wanting to improve their game by watching recordings of their games right after you played it.
Not a Hint of Lag - Capture devices that require you to pass-thru them tend to have noticeable input lag. This means when you press a button on the controller it takes an extra fraction of a second for the action to happen on your TV. It doesn’t sound like much, but it makes some games, particularly fighting games, unplayable. I can say that the AverMedia Game Capture HD has hardly any lag. When playing Street Fighter, I can pull off the same combos connected to it that I could without using it.
Bring Your Own Memory - Since the AverMedia Game Capture HD doesn’t connect to your computer, all the recordings are done to a hard drive. You can use an internal 2.5 hard drive or an external USB drive with the external being ideal since you can quickly disconnect the drive from the box to PC without having to open up the box. The problem is that you have to supply the hard drive. That means there is at least an extra $50 to add to the cost of this device unless you already have a spare hard drive. I wouldn’t mind except that devices that do the same functions, for the same price, don’t usually need an additional hard drive. If the price was slightly lower, say $130, I would say that the price is perfect for what you get, but at $150 without a hard drive, it’s a little on the pricey side for what you get.
No Streaming - The AverMedia Game Capture HD is strictly a recording device. You can use it to record your “Let’s Play” videos and gameplay footage, but forget about streaming. Being that it doesn’t connect to your PC at all, that makes streaming pretty much impossible. I’m bringing it up simply because other devices in the same price range can be used for streaming which can come into play for some when deciding on a capture device.
Don't Forget to Convert - All recordings use an uncompressed AVI format meaning that every hour of gameplay uses about 7GB of space on the optimal settings. I noticed that when I tried to edit the footage, I was having a little trouble with it. Similar to the Roxio Game Capture, the footage after editing was off with the audio wether speeding up or becoming out of sync. It took me some time to realize that I needed to convert the AVI file to another format. Once that was done, all editing issues were gone. I contacted AverMedia about this and was advised that a AVI to MP4 tool was in the works, but for now, they suggested I use a MPEG encoder such as the ImTOO MPEG Encoder.
Being someone that’s been recording and streaming gameplay for a couple of years now, the AverMedia Game Capture HD is a real wonder. There’s no worrying about the specs of your PC, software that hardly works, or having you PC be completely bogged down while recording. Instead, it’s just a matter of plugging it in and start recording. At a slightly lower price to offset the price of supplying your own hard drive, this device would be phenomenal. However, for the gamer that wants to record gameplay with as little fuss as possible, the AverMedia Game Capture HD is the ideal device for the job.
Here's a sample of recording quality:
