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Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a card-driven turn-based tactical game which features RPG elements, containing a single player campaign, survival and PvP modes. Win these battles using the arsenal of weapons, abilities and cunning of the sky warriors.
Now anyone who knows me, knows my love for the all father and being a loyal son of Russ, having played Space Wolves on the Table Top since the early 90’s, so with 25 years under my belt, I’m dubious about anything that uses Leman Russ’ Legion, not only in it’s title but also as the main bulk of the game.
Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolf was initially an iOS/Android release back in 2016, which got rave reviews on the iOS/Android stores and usually the game would be straight ported over to PC (like Fallout Shelter, of course that seemed to work, so if done right, hell, why not), however Herocraft, the Engineseers behind the game, decided to rebuild the game from the ground up for it’s PC (STEAM) release, not only by making the graphics better and more detailed, but making it a one off purchase for the incredibly reasonable £9 and removing all the ingame purchase options that mobile games are well known for.
What we have at heart here is a TCG based tactical turn based shooter, and it works perfectly, using your cards abilities to make your character move, shoot and melee attack the vile chaos scum of the Word Bearer Legion and it’s really as simple as that. Of course it is a TCG at heart, so in typical card game fashion, you build a deck for your main character, in three variations that give him different option, from the standard Power Armour option, which has everything from melee and jump pack abilities, all the way to heavy weapon and wolf companion summoning abilities, through to the Scout armour that gives you more sneaking and sniper abilities, to the Terminator Armour, where everything is heavy, from the melee weapons to the Cyclone Missile launcher. there are some cards that can be equipped on your character too, giving you more options and even Overwatch ability, meanign if an enemy comes into range, your character may take a shot at them (incredibly good if you’ve buffed yourself in the last turn too).
What really struck me early on is the apparent difficulty level, it’s hard, but actually in a good way, I enjoyed losing. As you can see in my first live stream of it below, I just kept going back for more and didn’t realise how long I had been trying just the first level.
As you progress through the levels, you unlock, not only new cards to use, but requisition to make new cards and you can even fuse cards together, for instance, fusing two level 1 cards of the same type into a level 2 of that card. You also unlock new battle brothers aswell, Space Wolves of different squads lost on the planet during planetfall and making there way back to each other.
We all really enjoyed Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolf here at Geek Towers adn would wholeheartedly reccomend it, not only to Warhammer 40k fans, but to other TCG and Tactical Shooter fans too, it melds two game genres together brilliantly and considering it is a massive upgrade from the mobile version, not a straight lackluster port also raises it to exceptional, keep it installed for fun, game levels.
The humble coffee table. One of the most recognised pieces of furniture there is. Everyone’s living room has one, I’d wager; and whether it’s used to put your coffee and biscuits as you watch TV; as a decorative item; or as something to put your paperwork and other junk on, it’s fair to say that they’re not the most inspiring parts of a room or the most useful. Now, a New York-based firm called StoreBound thinks it’s time the coffee table got a 21st-Century upgrade.
"Designed for a digital lifestyle… the furniture of the future." Thus starts the IndieGoGo pitch for Sobro, a smart coffee table designed to support your connected lifestyle, which at the time of writing has already thrashed its modest $50,000 funding goal, raising $838,055 at the time of writing with a month of the campaign still to run. “We’ve elevated the coffee table from a piece of wood that props up unopened large-format books, to an all-in-one center that connects your powered up life.”
So what IS Sobro?
At its heart, Sobro is a coffee table with an integrated refrigerator drawer, designed to allow you to keep beverages chilled and snacks fresh while still allowing you to use it as an actual surface like a regular table. There are also two side drawers, for storing items that don’t need to be chilled. The top surface of this chunky furniture item is tempered glass, which StoreBound claims is durable and easy to clean, making coasters a thing of the past. But Sobro is more than just a glass-covered work-top with a fridge – this is a true techy delight.
To the left and right sides, the Sobro is equipped with dual Bluetooth-connected speakers, allowing you to pump music into the room from any Bluetooth-connected device with a rich bass and high-quality sound. This can be combined with configurable LED lighting on the underside of the Sobro in order to create a real sense of atmosphere, or bring life to a party. Speaking of configuration, the bottom-right side of the Sobro’s top surface features touch-sensitive controls, through which one can control the Sobro’s audio, lights and drawer temperature; and its Bluetooth connections right from the tabletop – no need for a smartphone and companion app.
Speaking of which, do you find that your smartphone or tablet runs out of juice far too quickly? The Sobro has you covered. With two USB ports on its side, the Sobro can charge two USB-powered devices at the same time. The Sobro also contains two standard power outlets, so even traditional electronics can be plugged in – why not keep your laptop plugged in while you use it? The Sobro gets all its power from a single plug which can be plugged into a wall socket and concealed underneath, allowing you to split a single socket into four seperate power solutions.
StoreBound claim the Sobro’s dimensions and stylish appearance will allow it to fit in wherever you might normally find a coffee table.
Unfortunately, because the Sobro uses 110-Volt American-style outlets, the Sobro is currently only planned to ship to America and Canada. This restriction, however, doesn’t seem to have hampered the product’s reach, with the connected coffee table being backed by almost 1200 IndieGoGo users at the time of writing. Currently, a pledge of $649 or more will buy you one Sobro, but slots are already filling up and once 200 people have claimed this perk, the price will rise to $899 for everyone else. Even this, however is still a 40% saving on the product’s expected retail price of $1499 – so if the sound of a connected coffee table appeals to you, and you live in the USA or Canada, don’t miss your chance!
While Solid State Drives may slowly be taking over the world of computer storage due to their fast speeds and lack of spinning parts, if you're looking to store lots of things – maybe you work in a job where regular backups are key, you edit videos a lot, or you're a heavy gamer – or you want reliability, there's still no better than a traditional Hard Drive. And now Seagate is making it easier to get lots of storage for very little outlay – how about 4 Terabytes for $105 (roughly £85.20)?
That's how much Seagate's 4TB Barracuda drive is on sale for at Amazon's US site, and at NewEgg, which claims the price will stick until Wednesday. At a price that equates to roughly 2p ($0.03) a Gigabyte, this price pitches the Barracuda even cheaper than the cheapest SSDs.
Take note that the Barracuda line is intended for "general purpose" storage, and thus doesn't have the highest speed when compared to more performance-focused lines like the Barracuda Pro. That said, when the drive is rated to deliver read and write speeds of 146MB/s on average, with a maximum sustained data rate of up to 180MB/s, in most general situations you're hardly going to complain. The 4TB model also sports 64MB of cache, meaning it should get going quickly for your more regular tasks; and also has a SATA 6Gbps interface.
As of the time of writing, NewEgg is already out-of-stock, so be sure to act fast when the stock comes back if you want one!
Ever since robotic technology became a mainstream thought, people have imagined a future where robots would deal with all of the housework in the home, or even help clean up in the office environment, so that us humans wouldn't have to. LG Corporation wants to make some of these dreams a reality, today unveiling a trio of intelligent robots at CES in Las Vegas, which together offer attendees a glimpse into a future where robots can help you around the house, make sure you catch a flight on-time, mow your lawn, or clean-up trash at the airport.
The LG Hub Robot (Image Courtesy LG Newsroom)
The trio of robots are part of the company's movements in developing Internet of Things objects; and are designed to showcase LG’s advancements in artificial intelligence. Leading the pack is the Hub Robot, a robot designed to interact with a household through voice-recognition technology and an anthropomorphic design. Hub's "face" is an interactive display which can show a wide variety of information; and even express emotions using a digitised face.
The Hub Robot connects to other smart appliances you own; then, using Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition technology, the robot can be instructed using simple voice commands to perform tasks such as turning on air conditioning, setting a washing machine, or any other task made possible by the smart gadgets in the home. The robot can also "speak" to guide you through recipes or provide you with information in addition to what's on screen; and the robot can even respond using simple body language like nodding. The Hub Robot also contains a built-in camera; and can be programmed to recognise different family members and respond to them in different ways, for that more personal touch.
But LG isn’t just interested in building robots to help you around the house; and for the second part of its technology triple-punch, the company has unveiled two robots designed for use in the Airport. The Airport Guide Robot is exactly what the name suggests – already being prepared for deployment in Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, this robot is designed to help travellers by answering their questions in English, Chinese, Japanese or Korean; and can offer directions, provide detailed flight information like boarding times or the gate location, scan a passenger's ticket or escort you to the gate itself. It can even tell you what weather to expect when you arrive at your destination.
Joining it is the Airport Cleaning Robot, which LG describes as "a super-sized robot vacuum". Using a combination of smart light sensors, multiple cameras, and sensitive bumpers, the Airport Cleaning Robot offers enough cleaning power to clean everything from carpeted floors to tiles – all while avoiding obstacles and passengers to provide the most effective performance in crowded airports.
On a very similar tangent, the company's final offering is the Lawn Mowing Robot, which uses the same advanced sensors and bumpers as the Airport Cleaning Robot to map out a user's garden and avoid obstacles, hedges and trees as it trims the grass. According to LG, this robot is ideal for all types of yards and uses its fast-moving blade to trim grass safely and accurately.
All of these robots are now on display at LG's CES booth in Las Vegas, alongside other gadgets such as a smart refrigerator with Amazon Alexa voice-recognition tech and a razor-thin television set. Needless to say, 2017 may prove to be a stellar year for technological advances.
