If you are anything like us, you probably spend the vast majority of your waking hours glued to a computer monitor, television, or smart phone.  As the hours go by, your eyes can and will become stressed, exhibiting anything from excessive dryness to eye fatigue to even pounding headaches.  As the official tester for Onslaught for Gunnar Optiks, I can attest that a marathon gaming session oftentimes led my eyes to feel dry, itchy, and definitely tired – all of which I surmised might affect my performance.  I ordered a pair of Gunnars and gave them a HUGE test run – over 6 months of play, while charting my in-game performance both with and without them.  Because Gunnars are somewhat expensive, I wanted this review to be rock-solid and not just some quicky review over a weekend.  If you’re like me, before you blow $100 or more, you want to make sure something works.

According to the Gunnar website, their products “increase contrast, comfort and focus while minimizing eye fatigue and visual stress for anyone who spends long hours staring at digital screens. GUNNAR eyewear is powered by i-AMP lens technology comprised of a proprietary lens material in an advanced geometry tuned for intermediate viewing distance and finished with custom formulated lens filters, tints and coatings”.  So what exactly does this mean?

First of all, you’ll notice that Gunnars all have yellow tint lenses.  This is designed to increase the contrast and focus, and counteract the harsh, high intensity blue light and backlighting from your monitor.  I expected the yellow tint to immediately be hard to adjust to, and for the in-game colors to be significantly affected.  This proved to not be the case, much to my surprise.  The yellow tint helped to “warm” the screen, and the contrast between colors, especially darks, got better.  From a FPS perspective, this was a nice benefit because so much is dependent on environmental recognition – straining to see the head poking out from an extreme headglitch, or finding a body silhouette hiding in a darkened corner.  Gunnars will not give your eyes target-finder status, but they definitely do help the make colors more vibrant and distinctive.

A second big benefit Gunnars extend is slightly increasing the size and crispness or clarity of what you are looking at.  Most competitive players use monitors somewhere in the 20-28 inch range.  From personal experience, I can tell you that sometimes, especially when you are locked in a headglitch battle, it can be tough to pick off someone from long range who might only be 1/2 inch tall on your screen.  There is also a limited tendency for dark colors to somewhat blur together in Black Ops 2 in my opinion (although this could be a product of my monitor and backlighting), and by increasing the clarity, sharpness of lines, and slightly boosting the size of objects Gunnars are able to counter these negatives and give you an advantage over playing with just the naked eye.

From a performance perspective, Gunnars are not game-changers.  They are not a simple (albeit expensive) fix that you can throw on and instantly see a 2000% increase in accuracy.  However, after tracking my performance for over 6 months, you absolutely will see modest gains in accuracy.  I saw increases in accuracy initially of 2-3% using exactly the same gun setups and only adding in the glasses.  Over time, this effect statistically waned a little, something I attributed to my eyes adjusting and becoming more reliant on using the glasses.  However, even after factoring in the “bell curve” of initial gains, then somewhat decreased accuracy towards the middle/end of the review session, I still charted out a positive gain in accuracy.  Overall, I gained a little better than 1.5% in accuracy just by using Gunnars – a great benefit that pretty much matched my expectations.

The biggest benefit however to Gunnars is that by protecting your eyes and reducing eye strain and fatigue, you are allowing yourself to maintain effectiveness long-term.  This is exactly why so many pro-caliber players swear by them.  Think about it – most tournaments and even pub gaming sessions are hours-long marathons.  Talk to the pro teams who had to grind out 24-hour sessions on BO2 League Play to secure spots in the CoD championships.  Playing long hours in front a computer monitor or television will absolutely take its toll on your eyes, that is medical fact.  Gunnars help you avoid the short-term fatigue and dryness which allows you to play your best, all while helping to also prevent long-term eye damage.  You only get two eyeballs, make them last.

While I can not comment specifically on this because I do not experience headaches from staring at computer screens or televisions, there are numerous people who have claimed that Gunnars are a lifesaver for them, that they experience zero headaches after wearing their glasses during play.  I can see how this would be true – a lot of tension-style headaches are caused by eyestrain, one of the key elements Gunnars protect against.  If you have to limit your “consumption” of video games due to headaches, it might be a very good idea to pick up a pair to try out.  It definitely will not hurt.

From a product quality standpoint, Gunnars are very solidly constructed.  There are multiple frame styles to fit any type or size of face, and I was surprised by how light mine were.  These are not cheaply-made glasses by any stretch.  Lens quality was excellent, with good durability and resistance to scratches.  I opted to protect mine with an additional case, which I would recommend to protect your investment as well.

Overall, I would highly recommend Gunnars.  Since obtaining them, I have played both with them and without them, and honestly much prefer playing with them now.  I have the empirical evidence that shows that my shot is better with them, and my eyes are much less stressed when I do play.  I definitely suffered from dryness before, and with my Gunnars that problem has improved dramatically.  I love using them so much in fact that I actually wear them at work on many days due to sitting in front of a screen for 9-10 hours a day.  They went from being a gaming luxury item to something that I depend on on a daily basis, which is something I was not anticipating and is a huge selling point for me.  There are tons of styles to choose from, they are comfortable even with Astros or other gaming headsets on over them, and they even come in prescription lenses for those of you who wear actual glasses.  There is quite simply a lot to like and very little, if any, drawbacks.

Gunnars can be picked up either off their website, http://www.gunnars.com or on Amazon and even at your local Best Buy.  For the serious gamer or just those who are serious about enhancing and protecting their eyes, Gunnars are a great buy and are 100% Onslaught approved.

With the announcement that MLG is picking up Black Ops 2 for one of their competitive shooters, Onslaught is proud to announce that it will be sending a team to compete and bring home the trophy (and cash, Badbeat needs a new Raid-esque orange Lambo) at MLG Dallas March 15-17.  Recently sponsored teammates oS Krowd, oS FuXuM, oS Godlike, and oS Zuex will all be representing Onslaught in its first ever showing at an officially sanctioned MLG live event.

With absolutely dominant performance and records throughout the Call of Duty series on Gamebattles, the newest oS members bring battle-hardened nerves and honed quick-twitch, damn-near-aim-bot skills to the table.  Just who are the newest members?  Let’s meet the squad!

oS Krowd began playing GB back in the days of Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow.  After a brief competitive scene break, the release of MW2 in 2009 saw oS Krowd jump back into GB first playing Search and Destroy only and finally moving on to MLG Variant.  After pairing up with oS FuXuM, then the two partnering with oS Godlike and oS Zuex for the remainder of MW3, the foursome was able to develop invaluable in-game chemistry. Testing their skills at UMG Chicago in August, the three (minus Godlike, who was instead dominating school work) and a pickup 4th member placed a very respectable 9th place, losing only to FeaR and DeathwisH.  Krowd with a K is ready to smack the competition for Onslaught in 2013.

oS FuXuM, aka Peter Patrick, entered the competitive scene at the end of MW2, choosing to stick with the shooter even after the release of Black Ops.  After the release of MW3, FuXuM teamed with oS Krowd to run train as team New Era.  Despite MLG announcing a Halo only shooter schedule during the Black Ops, FuXuM stuck to his guns and trained online via MLG’s Gamebattles.  After attending his first major event at UMG Chicago, the man with two names feels primed to prosper in the CoD community.

oS Godlike started playing in 2008 during the reign of CoD 4, and a lot like most of us, with friends from school.  A dominating slayer, Godlike competed via GB and as fate would have it ran into oS Krowd and FuXuM and paired up as a menage a trois of destruction until finding Zuex.  With the announcement that Black Ops 2 will be on the MLG rotation for 2013, Godlike is excited to compete at the highest level of CoD.  Ladies, Godlike also likes long walks on the beach after rainstorms and smooth jazz.  Lucky!

The final man in the rotation, oS Zuex started gaming in 2008 as a competitive halo player with a real life friend.  After starting out as a competitive sniper for a little over a year, in 2010 Zuex made the switch to the CoD series.  Playing mainly with meatspace friends during MW2, Zuex eventually grew tired of backpacking his bros and took his talents to other teams as a gun for hire.  Bouncing around from team to team, Zuex finally stuck with Krowd, Godlike, and FuXuM and is happy to finally have a chance to represent one of the best while becoming one of the best in the game today.

Sniper Tourney!

Who: All oS Members and friends!
What: 3v3 Sniper ProMod Search and Destroy
Where: An Onslaught Staff member Lobby
When: February 2nd, Saturday Evening around 8pm EST

Tournament Rules

*Knifing enemies is forbidden! You are responsible for your teammates actions, any knife kills will be an automatic map forfeit for your entire team.

Search and Destroy

Round Limit: 1.5 Minutes

Round Win Limit: 6 Rounds

Hardcore: Disabled

Search and Destroy Settings

Bomb Timer: 45 Seconds

Plant Time: 3 Seconds

Defuse Time: 4 Seconds

Multi-Bomb: No

Switch Sides: Every Round

Silent Plant: No

General Settings

Scorestreaks: Disabled

3rd Spectating: Disabled

Battlechatter: No

Health and Damage  Settings

Health: 80%

Friendly Fire: On

Pre-Set Classes

*ProMod. Each player on the team will select their desired ‘role’ or class throughout the match. Players may not choose the same class as another player on their team or switch in-between rounds.

**Knifing enemies is forbidden! You are responsible for your teammates actions, any knife kills will be an automatic map forfeit for your entire team.

DSR 50

Attachments: Zoom, Extended Mag, Ballistics

perk 1: Lightweight

perk 2: None

perk 3: Dexterity, Dead Silence

lethal: Tomahawk

Ballista 

Attachments: Ballistics, Dual Band

perk 1:Lightweight

perk 2: Coldblooded

perk 3: Dexterity, Dead Silence

lethal: Tomahawk

tactical: Smoke

Ballista

Attachments: Laser Sight, Extended Mags

perk 1: Lightweight

perk 2: Fast Hands

perk 3: Marathon, Dead Silence

lethal: Tomahawk

tactical: Sensor Grenade

 Map Set

Round One

Standoff

Carrier

Hijacked

Round Two

Cargo

Slums

Meltdown

Round Three

Express

Raid

Standoff

Teams

Team 1

oS Reign

WsK Chaos

Killainteazy

Team 2

oS Retro

oS Legion

oS Glerd

Team 3

oS Vantage

oS Nade

oS Slammers

Team 4

Krowd

FuXuM

ZueXee

Team 5

Rise is DvN

Niatemare

oS H0P

Team 6

FiNNeDY

Slurzzy

NadeAway

Team 7

oS Revolt

oS Zeno

oS Badbeat

]]> http://onslaughtclan.com/2013/01/30/onslaught-sniper-promod/feed/ 0 http://onslaughtclan.com/2012/11/12/black-ops-2-launch/ http://onslaughtclan.com/2012/11/12/black-ops-2-launch/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:04:32 +0000 oS Badbeat http://onslaughtclan.com/?p=2395  

SCUF Gaming (www.scufgaming.com) bills itself as a manufacturer of “tactical gear for elite gamers” and produces Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers designed and trusted by professional and highly skilled amateur gamers alike.  SCUF controllers have a ton of customizable options including sick paint jobs, programmable back paddles, ultra-sensitive aim sticks, and trigger stops just to name a few.  You can literally customize almost everything about a SCUF controller, even down to removing the rumble packs to lighten the controller.

For our review, we looked at both the FPS Competition and the flashier SCUF Hornet.  Both controllers were selected with back paddles configured to mirror to the “A” and “B” Xbox 360 buttons (jump and knife for the COD series), trigger stops, no rumble packs, and were wired to maximize responsiveness.

The Positives

1. Trigger Stops: Don’t overlook what you might think is a miniscule edition…every millisecond counts when it comes to FPS games, and the trigger stops eliminate the “dead zones” on your controllers trigger buttons.  It helps dramatically increase the reaction time of the triggers, and long-range burst firing or using single shot weapons becomes much easier and quicker.

1. Hair Triggers: Along with the trigger stops, hair triggers team up to be a super deadly combo for long-range combat. Whether its ripping faces off those insane head glitches or popping rounds into players quicker than they can, the hair triggers proved to be one of the most useful features during our review. Finding your hair trigger’s sweet spot isn’t difficult either, a quick private match and you’re set to take down anyone.

1. Excellent Aim Sticks: Combines the ultra sensitive aim sticks on the SCUF with The ‘No Slow Turn’ guarantee feature.  What exactly is the ‘No Slow Turn’ guarantee?  Let us ask you a few questions: Do you hate when your character’s aim slowly turns when you’re not even touching the controller? Or when he slowly creeps forward when your trying to be dead still for that search match?  We do.  And SCUF found a simple fix for it by tightening those loose controller sticks up, eliminating this annoyance while simultaneously increasing the accuracy of the aim sticks..

1. Domed Sticks: Onslaught found this addition to be great after a bit of skepticism.  As Xbox 360 players, domed sticks are unfamiliar territory.  However, after using this for just a few rounds, the domed stick just seems to be feel correct compared to the factory concave stick.  Overall, it helps you lock down your controller so your hands move more fluidly when sprinting.  However, Onslaught prefers keeping the right stick (used for aiming) in the traditional concave setting.  This helps not only with dropshots, but also maintains the correct sizing for Kontrol Freeks, which we highly recommend.  Combining a Kontrol Freek with the hyper-sensitive aim sticks almost gives you an unfair accuracy boost.  Both reviewers for Onslaught saw 2-3% gains in accuracy when tracking performance.  To order Kontrol Freeks for yourself to pair with your SCUF or regular controller and save 10%, use special coupon code affOnslaughtClan.

1.  No Rumble Packs: Take these out and you have a featherweight controller, lighter than even your smartphone.  The heaviest part of our SCUFs literally were the cords.  Lighter controllers reduce hand muscle fatigue and can help you during those marathon gaming sessions.

1. Excellent Customer Service: If you have a question, you can talk directly to the people at SCUF to help resolve it.  They provide up to date shipment tracking info, and even in our case upgraded our shipping to overnight at no cost to ensure we received our order in a timely fashion.  When one of our controllers developed a slight buzzing noise audible in party chat, SCUF not only paid for return shipping and fixed the issue quickly, they even called to keep us updated on the status.  Oh, and overnight shipping.  Awesome, awesome customer service.

1. The Back Paddles: We saved the biggest benefit to owning a SCUF for last.  The back paddles are probably the single greatest influence on why most elite gamers purchase SCUF controllers.  Our reviewers prior to testing were split on these, but after extended playing sessions using them, Onslaught is 100% on board.  This feature allows you to map specific buttons to the back paddles, and utilize your unused fingers usually resting on the back of the controller to click these paddles without taking your thumbs off the aim sticks.  In the popular “pro” configuration of “A” and “B”, this allows you to jump, dropshot, or knife (depending on button layout, both oS reviewers play on the “Tactical” button layout) without ever-moving off aim sticks.  With enough practice, this speeds up your jump-shots, melee attacks, and allows you to perform nearly impossible flying dropshots and other crazy-hard moves usually only the best pros can execute.

The Negatives

1. Price: A SCUF controller can run you a pretty penny or two depending on the options selected.  This can be slightly offset by sending in your existing controller to get “SCUF’d Up”.  However, in SCUF’s defense, their products are not considerably more expensive than a brand new generic Xbox 360 wireless controller and are high quality.

1. Skillgap: This isn’t one of those apply now, get-good instantly scenarios.  This controller (along with all the recommended additions) took awhile for even our best members to get used to.  If you’re looking for instant results this may not be the best addition to your gaming gear, especially if your right at the end of a competitive Gamebattles season and your teammates are relying on you.  You’ll have to give it a good 2-3 weeks of solid playtime daily to re-wire your brains instincts on what button is what if using the back paddles, as recommended.  Ultimately, it’s totally worth every second of accidentally jumping to your death or panic-knifing the air in gun fights.

1. Trigger Stops: Wait, what? This is on here twice! We know. That’s because this feature might actually hinder your usage of this controller.  If you only play Call of Duty you won’t have anything to worry about with the trigger stops.  But if you utilize your controller for Halo, or non-FPS games Onslaught found that the trigger stops prevent some in-game movements and cause sporadic non-firing of your Halo weapons.  With trigger stops, charging your plasma pistol or boosting a ghost isn’t going to be possible. It’s an unfortunate downside to such an amazing controller, but that doesn’t mean you have to forfeit this feature entirely.  Although SCUF doesn’t provide the tool to do this, you can actually take out your trigger stops and you’re ready to dominate any game.  Simply put them back in when you’re ready to go back to COD.  Although you can order your SCUF without the trigger stops, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

Recommendations

Onslaught highly recommends SCUF controllers.  After initial hesitation and being forced to re-wire your gaming brain due to the new back paddles, the many, many benefits outlined above are too huge to pass up.  It is saying a lot when nearly 100% of dedicated pro players play SCUF, and with the competitive advantages it offers, any serious COD player should give them a look.  Visit www.scufgaming.com to order yours today!

Follow us on Twitter! The website has most of the big news, but for a more conversational tone or to interact with the Staff, follow us on twitter!

@OnslaughtClan

Spreadshirt is a great company that does all the hard work of creating t-shirts, hoodies, and all sorts of marketing items for you, allowing you to focus on the fun aspects – designing eye-catching designs and growing your “brand.”  Onslaught was turned on to Spreadshirt by the always helpful gaming personality Anna Marie, better known as RxySurfChic (@rxysurfchic on Twitter), AKA The Queen of C4.  As manager of Onslaught, I can say Spreadshirt is a huge, huge asset for us, and regardless of your teams size, it can be for you.

So what exactly is your Spreadshirt shop?  First, Spreadshirt allows you to design a nearly unlimited amount of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other fashion gear (hell, even underwear!) however you and your imagination deem fit.  And oh the possibilities.  Customizable text, a crazy amount of options for colors, the ability to import your own images (say, clan logos) and a really easy to use, yet remarkably powerful editing software package baked right into the website make designing your items quick, easy, and fun.  Since the goal of your shop is to turn a profit, Spreadshirt allows you to see the base cost of your item, then the cost for each addition (say a line of text, or an image) and finally, once you are satisfied with your design, allows you to individually set a dollar amount of profit per shirt sold.  Feel like being greedy and charging $15.00 on each shirt?  Feel free!  Want to lower your profits down to $0.99 per shirt?  Spreadshirt gives you ultimate control over your designs and your profits.

Once you have your designs and costs finalized, Spreadshirt does the rest.  They handle the actual manufacturing of the shirts/hoodies/water bottles/umbrellas/underwear, the billing and invoicing, and the shipping.  Basically, everything that sucks about designing and marketing your own line of apparel.  And to top it all off, they also handle all of the customer service issues, like needing a different size or returns, for you.  All for free!

Free you say?  Yes, the biggest benefit to using Spreadshirt is that it is 100% free to open up your own shop.  For gaming clans, personalities, or just entrepreneurs looking to really expand their brands or make some serious coin on the side, you can’t beat the ability to get started without having to shell out any of your own cash.  And Spreadshirt is not some fly-by-night, shady operation that over-promises and under-delivers.  From experience (remember, this is a review, not just some fluff piece we were paid to do!) I can say that I trust Spreadshirt not to drop the ball (or skull for you Halo players) and tarnish our clans reputation.  I have 100% confidence that when someone orders an oS shirt from us through our Spreadshirt shop (www.osgear.spreadshirt.com) they will get a high-quality product with the backing of high-quality customer service to answer any of their questions.

Spreadshirt works for us.  I have tried other Internet-based companies, but either ran into design limitations or the dreaded minimum order restrictions…which by the way, Spreadshirt has none.  Your customers and fans can order 1 shirt or 100 shirts, which in itself separates Spreadshirt from the competition.  I’ve tried local companies, but they too could not match the design capabilities or control that Spreadshirt offers.  For us and I think for you, Spreadshirt is the best option for growing and promoting your cause or brand.

Go to Spreadshirt to make your own custom t-shirts and other custom gear.  Onslaught highly recommends it!

Onslaught staff had the opportunity to review the much-hyped SquidGrips over the 4th of July holiday, and we came away very impressed. So impressed in fact, we debated even posting this review because we wanted to keep our new “secret weapon” to ourselves…

But if you follow @Squidgrip on Twitter (which we highly recommend), you have undoubtedly noticed a surge in Followers over the past few weeks, which is a testament to how awesomely effective their product is. So effective in fact, Onslaught is giving it their official stamp of approval and recommending it to ALL our members and fans.

So what makes SquidGrips a great product?

• Smooth, yet surprisingly grippy texture is extremely comfortable. EXTREMELY. It makes marathon gaming sessions like the all day pursuits put in during testing by oS Revolt a breeze on your hands.  Click on the SquidGrips logo below for some detailed photos of the grips once they are installed.

• The videos don’t lie, this thing will absorb and wick away moisture like a damn sponge on steroids. I have pretty sweaty hands when I game, especially in the summer. SquidGrips made my hands comfortably dry, which is important. Not bone-dry, where your hands crack and bleed at every twist and turn. Not sorta dry, where you would be still prone to slipping. SquidGrips nails the perfect combination of drying performance. Check out the linked video below.

• For the cost, you can’t ask for a much more durable product. It has survived close to 50 hours of gameplay to date, drops, food and drink spills, and even cat scratches. Pretty phenomenal.

• SquidGrips is one of those products that transcends current skill level. From absolute noobs to seasoned oS vets, EVERYONE can benefit from a more cushioned, dry controller. Even if it doesn’t improve your game as it has for us, it WILL make your gaming experience much more enjoyable.

• Surprisingly, one of the biggest things we were worried about actually turned out to be a huge benefit. Elite gamers like Onslaught members can be a pretty finicky bunch when it comes to messing with the feel of their controllers. There was legitimate concern that even the sightly raised surface would disrupt the “flow” of button movement, especially when it came to switching from the grip to the A, B, X, and Y buttons. But after running it through the gauntlet, the little bit of added height actually made it EASIER to hit the reload and other buttons. Very cool benefit we were not expecting.

• Super cheap shipping, and fast. We placed our order on a Saturday night, and had our package shipped cross country by Thursday morning. And with free stickers and no unnecessary packaging to throw away!

• Customizable emblems are pretty sweet! And they do have options to really customize with your own personal emblems, similar to the ones used by NOS and Frag Dolls.

• The adhesive on the back is quality stuff, and survived my repeated adjusting, re-adjusting, and re-re-adjusting trying to get it just right. I was concerned that especially on a dirty controller (who follows instructions, not this guy…) the adhesive might not perform well after taking it on and off 5+ times. But the tackiness was no joke, and on the 7th try I seemed to have it just right. No slipping, sliding, or adjusting has been necessary since, it sticks and holds well but still will allow me to un-stick without leaving a gummy residue. A++.

Like all great things however, there IS a downside to SquidGrips. For us, its the fact that now that we’ve reviewed them, we are going to be forced to start purchasing them in droves for our members-only tournaments and prize giveaways. We’re that sold.

For more information, or to follow Onslaught’s advice and purchase SquidGrips today, head on over to www.squidgrip.com… and don’t forget to pick out your custom colored emblem. Your hands and game won’t regret it!

A big welcome to our newest Onslaught teammates, oS Skies, oS Zylax, and oS Rise. All three are competitive monsters and will help further extend our dominance over the rest of the COD Community. Join us in welcoming them to the clan!