Steam Greenlight Spotlight: DreadOut
DreadOut is a third-person survival horror game being developed by Indonesian studio Digital Happiness. It's a modern take on Fatal Frame with an Indonesian horror mythology flare. The first Fatal Frame (Project Zero in Europe and Zero in Japan) was released in 2001 for PlayStation 2 and eventually Xbox, and is widely regarded as one of the best survival horror games of all time. Its main mechanic is using a camera to photograph ghosts in order to destroy them. DreadOut uses this same mechanic, but with more modern devices, such as a smartphone.
You do not have to love Fatal Frame in order to enjoy DreadOut, you just need to want a true survival horror experience. If you have enjoyed the last three Resident Evil games (not counting spin-offs) more than the original three, then walk away now – DreadOut eschews action for tense, atmospheric horror. There's no running and gunning here, and while there is a Sprint ability, you'll more than likely be cautiously moving along, praying that nothing scares the crap out of you around the next corner.
DreadOut takes place in an "authentic local Indonesian setting" where a group of high school students on vacation stumbled upon a deserted town. This being a survival horror game, said town is unsurprisingly haunted. You control one of the Asian schoolgirls named Linda, with the aforementioned smartphone at your disposal, along with a digital camera and digital video camera, according to the game's description. You can see the smartphone in the video below, which is footage from the demo. While the demo is a healthy 500-600MB, depending on your platform (PC, Mac, or Linux), I really urge you to try it out. Nothing I say can fully illustrate the atmosphere and tension you feel while playing it. Lighting is very sparse in the demo and the audio is superbly done, providing a perfectly eerie feel. I do strongly advise that you hit ESC after starting the game to view the Tutorial, which is simply a static screen that explains the key game elements, such as blurred, colored screen borders under certain situations.
If you like what you see, there is currently an Indiegogo campaign with 22 days remaining (as Digital Happiness is an Indonesian studio, Kickstarter is not available). A minimum of $15 nets you a digital copy of the game upon its release, while additional contributions provide you various extras, both physical and digital. While DreadOut is certainly not for everybody, I could not resist choosing it as this week's Spotlight. If AAA developers are going to abandon pure survival horror (we'll see what The Enemy Within brings), at least indie developers are willing to step up to the challenge!
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Thermaltake Reveals New Liquid Cooling Solution
Thermaltake is bringing another all-in-one liquid cooling solution to the market with the Water 3.0 Series, featuring the Extreme, Pro, and Performer models. All coolers in this series feature a copper base plate and pump within the CPU block and dual 120mm fans. The difference between the models is found within the radiator design, offering users options based on their case size and space restrictions. The Extreme has a 240mm radiator which allows for an additional two fans to be installed. The Performer has a 120mm with fans operating in a push/pull configuration. The Pro is also a 120mm radiator design, but it has twice the thickness of the Performer.
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ASUS Announces New External DAC Converter and Headphone Amplifier
ASUS has announced the new Xonar Essence STU, which is an USB external DAC converter and headphone amplifier in one. It is based upon the company's Xonar Essence ST/STX sound cards, which are ASUS' top tier sound cards. The new product is aimed primarily at laptop users, who seek better sound quality and more power for their headphones.
The Xonar Essence STU delivers a 120 dB signal to noise ratio, a 600 ohm headphone amplifier, asynchronous USB audio, and room for three swappable Op-Amps to allow audiophiles to tweak the sound to their liking. To appease HiFi users, the Xonar Essence STU offers precision clock tuning technology. That along with the aforementioned asynchronous audio transfer helps ensuring accurate and jitter-free sound fidelity. It is also possible to use the Xonar Essence STU as a pre-amplifier, if it is connected to a power amplifier.
The user can control low and high gain settings on the device itself to match headphone specifications. There is also dual volume controls for separate speaker and headphone sound levels, so these can be controlled independently. The I/O ports include stereo RCA out, a 6.3 mm headphone jack, two digital inputs, and auxiliary in. So there should be plenty of connectivity options depending on what device the consumer wish to output to.
Source: ASUS
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