Magic Cable

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If there’s one thing that becomes apparent as a fan of gaming in general, it’s that you collect many cables.

Cables for controllers, cables for power, cables for video, audio, obsolete aerials, cables for what seem like no purpose at all. And that may well be true.

But I’ve found a new cable. My favourite cable. It’s a MAGIC CABLE.

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It may seem like just some kind of USB cable, but it is in fact a USB on-the-go cable (or OTG for short). It allows for certain USB hardware to connect with certain devices – imagine plugging a USB keyboard into your phone for easier typing, or a mouse into your tablet for some quick graphics work. Not much internal storage? Connect a USB hard drive or memory stick for a boost. Or plug in a powered hub for all of the above.

But there’s one real reason why this is good for UCHG readers. Got a ps3 controller? I’ve got good news.

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Plug it in to your android device and it just works.
So let’s knock it up a notch with a blast from your spice weasel and extrapolate that up to 10 inches.

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Emulation is now awesome. I’ve heard this may work with Xbox360 pads too – and if you want to get a little more involved, you can root it and it’ll work wirelessly via Bluetooth. Get yourself yet another cable today, about £3 online.

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Routine – horror with a retro spirit

I love a good survival horror FPS, especially one set in a ‘future-80s-era’ with floppy disks, jerky robots and scary monsters.

Check out this early gameplay footage from upcoming indie game ‘Routine’ – look out for the scary stompy robot at around 2 mins in… and I especially love that low frame-rate aiming reticule. How is it that indie developers do scary games so much better than the big studios?

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[1001] Overkill: killed

And so another of the 1001 bites the dust – this time in the House of the Dead.

1001 No.79: ‘House of the Dead: Overkill’ (2009)

Unlike most House of the Dead games, which took place on ferries to France in the 90s, Overkill is quite unique – almost a reboot of the series, but a prequel at the same time.

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Starring Agent G (before he suffered in HotD2 of 1998), along with a ridiculously offensive cop straight out of blaxploitation movie named Issac Washington, it’s basically a piss-take of itself – a parody of the whole series, making fun of the sillyness of House of the Dead in a grindhouse style. The bad acting, the stupid cutscenes, the ridiculous plotlines – it’s all there.

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Strippers, guns, and zombies – and surprisingly good fun. We played it on the Wii with some funny shaped bits of plastic, but since then it’s on PS3, and more recently even ported to iOS and Android. Grab it, shoot some zombies, and step back in time to when games where slightly less polished…