• Madison Review

    With an elaborate set of puzzles to solve and no shortage of jolting jump scares to shock you with, unraveling the morbid central mystery of Madison is a bit like trying to evacuate an escape room while simultaneously struggling to prevent the vacuation of your bowels. Taking clear inspiration from Hideo Kojima’s superb 2014 Silent Hill teaser demo, P.T., Madison layers on the clever use of a Polaroid camera for puzzle-solving and exploration with consistently compelling results. It might not be as expertly structured as the spiraling, psychological horror hallways of Kojima’s much revered concept, but Madison’s haunted house is certainly scary enough to be situated somewhere in the same neighborhood.

    In Madison you play as Luca, a teenage boy who wakes in his family home covered in blood and haunted by a malignant presence. Luca’s only chance to escape is to puzzle his way through a sequence of increasingly taxing riddles and complete the distressing steps of a demonic ritual, in a structurally unsteady homestead that shifts and recalibrates around him in frequently disorientating ways. It’s a hair-raising residence that I found consistently absorbing to explore, since I could never be sure if the basement I was descending to would suddenly morph into the hellish hallucination of a murder scene, or would merely be a basement that was creepy for… Well, regular creepy basement reasons.

    Armed with only a Polaroid camera, Luca’s plight is one that strictly favours flight over fight. Although there are supernatural nasties to encounter at times there’s no real combat to speak of, and instead the only thing that Luca has to battle with is the growing realization that there’s more than a few alarming truths buried amidst the roots of his family tree. Actor Jacob Judge delivers a panicked portrayal of Luca that comes across as a bit too whiny at times, but I was happy enough to endure his hysterics since they at least seemed more in step with each disturbing revelation than the oddly apathetic performances of certain other horror game leads (looking at you, Resident Evil Village’s Ethan Winters). I was compelled by Luca’s journey all the way to its bleak conclusion, even if the increasingly predictable events of Madison’s final hours didn’t quite have the same surprising twists and turns as the contorting corridors of its setting.

    Snap Decisions

    Madison’s puzzles may seem initially straightforward, like finding triangular-shaped keys to fit triangular-shaped locks, but they quickly grow into more complex riddles that demand a considerable amount of lateral thinking. In one standout section you have to use the supernatural powers of the camera to blink back and forth between three distinct time periods as you explore a maze of art exhibits in the darkened corners of a creepy cathedral, which requires a particularly methodical approach. It rarely repeats the same type of puzzle twice, and more often than not each brainteaser it springs upon you successfully manages to generate some head-scratching without ever resulting in hair-pulling.

    The Polaroid camera can often be used to reveal puzzle clues in the environment that are otherwise obscured to the naked eye, and it was always rewarding to shake a freshly snapped shot and see a hidden message slowly come to light, typically smeared in blood. But the camera doesn’t just provide satisfying “A-ha!” moments – it also has its fair share of spine-chilling “Argh!” moments, too. I frequently found myself in pitch-black environments with the camera’s flash as my only means to briefly light up my surroundings in order to find my way forward. Not knowing whether a quick snap would expose a dull dead end or a dead-eyed demon made me hesitate every time my finger hovered over the camera’s shutter release, which kept my anxiety levels high.

    The Polaroid camera isn’t the only piece of retro tech at Luca’s fingertips; in the absence of any other human characters to interact with a lot of Madison’s plot is delivered via audio recordings found on cassette tapes. I reveled in the disturbing details drip-fed through each recording, although such is the surreal nature of Madison’s surroundings that I couldn’t tell if the curious way Luca listened to cassette tapes by holding them in his hand while the spindles spun was by abstract design or just an unfortunate graphical bug that rendered the tape player invisible.

    [Madison] inflicted enough sharp spikes to my heart rate to make my smartwatch wonder if I'd suddenly started a workout.

    One thing I am confident of is that Madison’s ambient audio design is extremely well done, particularly when experienced through headphones. Each tentative step taken through this foreboding abode is accompanied by a nerve-scraping symphony of rusty door hinge-squeaks, demonic whispers, and distorted TV news bulletins flickering on and off, which kept me constantly checking over my shoulder. The actual musical score itself is minimal, but its sudden orchestral stabs are used to reinforce each jump scare to startlingly good effect. On that note, there are a lot of jump scares in Madison and they really ramp up in frequency towards its end, but they’re conjured up in so many creative new ways that I never became immune to them. Channeling everything from Layers of Fear to the sinister storybook imagery of The Babadook, it inflicted enough sharp spikes to my heart rate to make my smartwatch wonder if I'd suddenly started a workout.

    Hallway to Hell

    While Madison regularly trapped me in environmental loops of the intentionally unsettling variety, it also occasionally forced me to retrace my steps for all the wrong reasons; namely to ferry items back and forth thanks to the needlessly restrictive inventory management. Luca can only carry up to eight items at a time – although practically speaking it’s more like five since his camera, notebook, and collection of photos can’t ever be discarded – and everything else must be stored in a stationary storage container a la Resident Evil. Being pressured to decide whether to carry pistol ammo or extra medkits might be an effective way to maintain tension and risk in survival horror games, but here it just feels like an arbitrary inclusion that made solving certain puzzles more cumbersome than it could have been. Having to slowly backtrack from one end of the house to the other because you opted to carry the crowbar when you actually needed the bolt cutters just adds unwanted padding to the overall sense of progress – particularly since Luca’s running speed is relatively sluggish.

    Similarly, while many objects in your surroundings tend to shift around when your back is turned to often terrifying effect, Madison also introduces crucial new items in the same manner, which means they are often easily overlooked. As a result I found myself completely stuck for a handful of lengthy stretches at a time, trying and retrying every item in my inventory on a puzzle and wandering around snapping photos of everything in sight to see if I could uncover some hidden clues, when it turned out what I actually needed was a tiny object sitting on a door sill somewhere that simply wasn’t there the first dozen or so times I walked past it. That’s not creepy, it’s just annoying. I remained thoroughly engrossed more often than not throughout my six-hour stay in Madison’s manor, but I can’t help but feel that ditching the inventory management and progress-halting pixel-hunts could have knocked an hour or two off its runtime and kept its tension levels even tighter.

    Posted in Games, video game | Tagged , | Comments Off on Madison Review

    The Best Amazon Prime Day Storage Deals: Hard Drives, SSDs, and Flash Memory Cards

    Whether you own a PC or laptop, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, smartphone, or pretty much any other computer-based electronics out there, you're bound to benefit from additional storage. Amazon Prime Day is offering a wide selection of high capacity hard drives (both internal and external), blazing fast SSDs, and tiny flash memory cards at dizziyingly low prices. Many of these prices are the best we've seen, ever. These deals run now through July 13 midnight PST unless they sell out earlier, so don't hesitate.

    Amazon Prime Day Hard Drive Deals

    Even with the advent of SSDs, traditional disk-based hard drives are still widely used, primarily because the price is so much more attractive. An 18TB hard drive still costs less than a 4TB SSD. There are many instances where storage capacity and reliability are far more important than raw speed. NAS optimized drives can store away terabytes of data for years, even when run 24/7 in a server type environment. Performance optimized hard drives offer a nice boost of speed thanks to the faster RPM and bigger cache and still offer a good value per terabyte of storage. Portable hard drives are similar to SSDs in that they are smaller, more portable, and don't require additional power beyond the USB cable.

    Amazon Prime Day SSD Deals

    SSDs offer several benefits over traditional hard drives. They're significantly faster to the point where loading screens, bootup times, and file tranfers are measured in mere seconds instead of minutes. They have no moving parts for increased durability and they have lower power consumption. Their ideal use is as a boot drive or a drive that holds your regularly accessed applications. They are not a good drive for long-term low-use storage.

    For those of you looking to upgrade your PS5 internal storage without compromising on speed, make sure to select one of the "PS5-compatible" SSDs. You'll want to pick up an PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD with a minimum 5,500MB/s read speed. A heatsink is also highly recommended. You could either get one without heatsink and add it yourself, which is very easy to do and only costs about $10 on Amazon, or you could buy one with one preinstalled.

    Amazon Prime Day Memory Card Deals

    Micro SDXC cards are used in most smartphones, cameras (including the GoPro), and portable gaming consoles like the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck. Even if your device requires a larger SDXC card, it's not hard to find a Micro SDXC to SDXC card adapter (sometimes they're even included in the packaging). A "U1" card has a minimum sustained write speed of 10MB/s and a "U3" card has a minimum sustained write speed of 30MB/s, An "A1" card has a minimum 1500 random read IOPS, 500 random write IOPS. "A2" requires a minimum of 4000 read and 2000 write IOPS.

    Amazon Prime Day Gaming Drive Deals

    Note that functionally, gaming drives are essentially fancy enclosures with slick aesthetics and fancy RGB LED lights that house a performance oriented hard drive (like the WD Black) instead of a slower hard drive you might find in a standard external hard drive. That usually means there's a bit of a price hike, but the deals today speak otherwise.

    Looking for More Amazon Prime Day Deals?

    Posted in Games, video game | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Best Amazon Prime Day Storage Deals: Hard Drives, SSDs, and Flash Memory Cards

    Better Than Prime Day: Walmart Has the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 PC Speakers for $49

    As part of its Amazon Prime Day Counter Sale, Walmart is offering the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 multimedia speaker system for a low, low price of $49, a whopping $50 price drop from its original $99 price point. The Promedia 2.1 has always been a strong contender for best computer speakers under $100, and having the price marked down by 50% makes this an unbelievable bargain. This would make an excellent speaker system for your gaming setup.

    Klipsch Promedia 2.1 PC Speakers for $49

    The Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers have been around for over two decades, and even today it's still considered one of the best 2.1ch dedicated computer speakers you can get. The new model with wireless Bluetooth streaming has a few changes on the spec sheet in order to keep the price down, since the MSRP has dropped from $140 to $100, but for the most part it remains very familiar. The set consists of two satellite speakers, each featuring a .5" Klipsch Micro-Tractrix horn tweeter (replacing the old .75" soft dome tweeter) and 3" long-throw fiber composite cone woofer for crisp sound definition and clear mids and highs. The 6.5" 100W powered subwoofer, down from the 200W rating on the older model, rounds out the bottom end by providing more than enough oomph for those bass heavy beats. This particular model has also been recently updated with wireless Bluetooth streaming but the THX certification has been removed. No big deal there.

    I owned a set of these speakers through college and well after I graduated, a period of 10 years or so. It performed superbly up until it was stolen one day. I don't need another pair of PC speakers in my life right now, but even so it's hard for me to pass this deal up.

    Posted in Games, video game | Tagged , | Comments Off on Better Than Prime Day: Walmart Has the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 PC Speakers for $49

    The Best Tablet Deals on Prime Day

    Tablets are versatile portable computers that can be used for virtually anything, which is a huge part of how popular they are. If you are looking to pick up a new tablet, there are some fantastic discounts on some premium tablets during the Amazon Prime Day sale. From kids tablets to higher end tablets for professional artists or technical workers, there is something for everyone.

    For more great sales, check out all the best Prime Day deals, our Walmart deals mega-post, our Best Buy mega-post, and if you like free money, check the link below.

    Get $12.50 Free When Buying a $50 Amazon Gift Card

    The best deal of Amazon Prime Day is a little bit of free cash, easy as pie.

    Amazon Prime Day 2022 – Best Tablet Deals

    Looking for More Amazon Prime Day Deals?

    Brian Barnett writes reviews, wiki guides, deals posts, features, & more for IGN. You can get your fix of his antics on Twitter (@Ribnax), Twitch (Ribnax), & YouTube, or check out his weekly video game talk show on Twitch (The Platformers).

    Posted in Games, video game | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Best Tablet Deals on Prime Day

    13 Best Prime Day Deals Under $50

    Amazon Prime Day 2022 is in full swing and there are a ton of sales across, games, tech, entertainment, and much more. If you don't want to get carried away on Prime Day and are looking to stay within a tighter budget, we've rounded up some of the best Prime Day deals for $50 or under to consider below!

    13 Best Prime Day Deals Under $50

    1. Buy $50 Amazon eGift Card, Get Free $12.50 Amazon Credit with Coupon Code: EGCPRIME22

    This one fits right in at our $50 limit, where you'll get $12.50 in credit just for buying a digital gift card. As long as you're an Amazon Prime member, you're eligible for this deal. This "free money" deal only comes around once a year, and usually on Amazon Prime Day. There is absolutely zero reason for you to not jump on this deal, unless of course you hate money or you never see yourself purchasing anything at Amazon ever again.

    2. Prime Day Deal: Get 3-Months of Audible Premium for Free

    This is one of our favorite Prime Day deals of them all, and we've been gushing about it in the days leading up to today's big sale. Prime members can currently get 3-months of Audible Premium Plus absolutely free. It's an outstanding deal, and well worth getting considering it's free. Audible Premium Plus is normally $14.95 per month, so in total, you're saving almost $45 overall on the service. Moreover, with the 3-month membership, you're getting 3 audiobook credits, plus unlimited access to the Premium Plus library at no extra cost (without having to use any of your credits as well). This is our favorite Prime Day deal, so what are you waiting for!

    3. Book Sale: Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off

    There are a ton of books on sale for Prime Day, and these choices are just some of our favorites. Tons of other novels and books of nonfiction are included in the deal. You can check out the full sale to see what else might be up your alley.

    4. Grab a Kindle Kid Edition eReader

    Looking at the features of the Kindle Kid edition, we're not exactly sure why you wouldn't just want to buy that one instead of literally any other Kindle. It has a the same screen, a better warranty, and comes with a case all at a cheaper price point. And the case isn't too kiddy, either, making the Kindle Kids version the better choice, by a pretty wide margin.

    5. Get an Echo Dot (4th Gen) for $19.99 (Save $30)

    Echo Dot smart speakers are consistently one of the more popular Prime Day deals, and this year is no exception. You can grab a 4th gen Echo Dot smart speaker for $20, which is a very affordable option to bring a smart home device into your daily life.

    6. Amazon Prime Day 2022 Fire Tablet 7

    If you're looking for a budget tablet for Amazon Prime Day 2022, you can't do much better than the Fire Tablet 7 Prime Day deal. The 7-inch 16 GB tablet is on sale for just $29.99, while you can grab the 32 GB version for just $32.98. If the storage seems low, you can add to it with a MicroSD card. The tablet has up to 7 hours of battery life and is great for reading, web browsing, streaming, and more.

    7. The Best Card Game Deals During Amazon Prime Day

    We all could use a break from screens once in a while, so we've rounded up the best card games, dice games, and board game expansions for under $50. Check out games from your favorite franchises like Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and more.

    8. Card and Dice Games on Sale During Amazon Prime Day

    9. Board Game Expansion Sets on Sale for Amazon Prime Day

    10. Razer Anzu Glasses On Sale for $50

    One of our favorite deals of the years is back for Amazon Prime Day. The Razer Azu Smart Glasses are down to just $49.99 for Prime Day 2022. Razer's Anzu smart glasses normally retail for a premium of $199.99, and honestly, it's not worth that. But for $50, you definitely have our attention.

    11. PS5 Prime Day Deals

    PS5 owners have a lot to be thankful for this Prime Day. Not only are you among the lucky relative few to have snagged a sought-after game console, but you have plenty of discounted PS5 games to choose from. If you missed out on Far Cry 6 at launch, for instance, there's no reason not to try it out with this killer deal.

    12. Nintendo Switch Prime Day Deals

    The Nintendo Switch has no shortage of Switch games. In fact, game releases are more like a tidal wave on this system, in part because all of Nintendo's first-party developers are putting games out on a single system. Check out deals from franchises like Mario Kart, Kirby, Splatoon, LEGO Star Wars, and more.

    Nintendo Switch Accessory Deals

    Nintendo Switch accessories like controllers, carrying cases, and headsets are on sale right now as well. It's a great time to pick up whatever you could still use!

    13. Xbox Prime Day Deals

    Prime Day deals on games for Xbox Series X, Series S, and Xbox One are also easy to come by. Even newer releases, like Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, are on sale, often at substantial discounts. Not too many big games are scheduled for release this summer, making now a great time to catch up on any titles you passed up before.

    Looking for More Amazon Prime Day Deals?

    Posted in Games, video game | Tagged , | Comments Off on 13 Best Prime Day Deals Under $50