Both PredatorARMAMENT and PredatorBDU are holding end of fiscal year clearance sales. If you haven’t checked these sales out in the past, you are missing out on deals like Adventure Tech Gore-Tex pants for less than $40 and BCM GUNFIGHTER Compensators for $81!
I have been following the folks at G3 Blog for some time now. I can’t always read what they write (I don’t speak French) but their videos and photography are excellent. Apparently, their design sense is also excellent because they recently announced some awesome t-shirt designs that made the camo nerd in me go weak in the knees.
The shirts feature the name of various well-known camo patterns like Woodland and AOR1 along with swatches Pantone colors that the camo patterns contain. Its appears that these shirts started as a project by G3 Blog to apply the Pantone color matching system to several camo patterns. It is fascinating how different the colors look when displayed in this simplistic way. These shirts are fascinating, attractive, and kind of nerdy all at the same time. I think they are awesome.
As if the shirts aren’t cool enough, check out their care tag (shown below)!
Check out G3 Apparel.
There have been several important inventions in the history of man – the wheel, the printing press, the personal computer, and the koozie. JAVRAN just took the koozie to the next level.
The JAVRAN Koozie Wrap is a simple wrap design that can be adjusted to a wide variety of cups, cans, and bottles. The interior is lined with non-slip material so it grips whatever it is wrapped around. The exterior is covered with loop material so you can affix patches or ID (because no one likes a drink thief). There is a layer of metalized insulation sandwiched in the middle of the non-slip material and loop material to keep your drink cold.
Check out JAVRAN.
I am not much of a gamer but I have followed the development of the iOS/Android game Breach & Clear with great interest on Lightfighter.net. I purchased the game for iOS and I have been having a blast working my way through it.
Breach & Clear (B&C) is a turn based strategy game that puts you in control of a special operations unit as they breach and clear locations around the world. B&C currently features 2 different types of game play: Terrorist Hunt and Bomb Defusal. Terrorist Hunt consists of straight forward structure clearing while Bomb Defusal also has you clearing structures with the added dimension of having to locate and defuse a bomb. There are additional modes in the works.
The game contains real gear from manufacturers like Tyr Tactical, Crye Precision, Surefire, First Spear, and more that can be purchased with in-game currency that is earned from successfully completing various missions. You can outfit your squad with various weapons, weapon accessories, uniforms, plate carriers, and helmets. All of these items vary greatly in cost and have an effect on the performance on the individual character.
The game also contains various in-game purchases that must be purchased with real money. These paid upgrades are minimal and not necessary to progress through the game (which I like). Two of the paid upgrades are patches that your characters can wear on their uniforms that give performance upgrades with the money from the purchases of these patches going to actual veterans charities: Operation Ward 57 and Yellow Ribbon Fund (which I also like).
The B&C experience starts with choosing a unit (Rangers, SEALs, Green Berets, Canadian JTF2, and British SAS). Each unit has strengths and weaknesses that will affect gameplay later. You can also pick 4 characters and specialties for those characters. Each specialty has various perks and special abilities that will affect gameplay later.
You start with very little in game currency so your ability to customize your units gear will be limited but cash adds up fairly quickly as you complete missions. I appreciate that the in game currency adds up quickly enough that I didn’t feel like I had to spend real money on in game currency packages after already having purchased the game. In game currency adds up quickly enough to equip your team with a reasonable amount of work but slowly enough that it is satisfying to save up for the gear that you want.
Each mission starts by choosing the entry points and how each point will be breached.
Once you are in a mission, the gameplay consists of moving your characters through a map in such a way that they can clear it safely and quickly. The user interface that is used in the missions is very easy to pick up. The map is basically broken up into a grid with each character moving through the grid in the way that you map out at the beginning of each turn. This grid approach is relatively simple but still allows an impressive amount of depth in how you move your characters. For instance, instead of just moving from point A to point B, you can set waypoints and actually tell your characters which direction to look at each individual grid point along the way.
The game is satisfyingly smart. Characters will automatically utilize cover if you move them to it. If you have them approach low cover, they will get down. If they are shooting around a corner, they lean out. B&C rewards sound tactics and makes you pay for poor tactics. If you leave character without cover, you will pay. If you stop in a doorway, you will pay. If you move recklessly, you will pay. This is amplified at the higher difficulty levels.
There is some typical gamer silliness in the B&C. Shorter barreled carbines generally do more damage than their full size counterparts. Flimsy objects like cubicle walls seem to provide cover. Some of the weapon additions don’t make a lot of sense in how they effect performance. However, none of these things ruin the game and at least there isn’t anything that is too over the top like dual wielding.
It is a little frustrating that the game still feels a little incomplete. There is more than enough content there that it feels worth what you pay for it but there are still locations listed as coming soon and a game mode that is not available (this was improved recently with the release of an update but still not entirely corrected). There are also still a few glitches that have not been corrected with the most recent update like characters inexplicably stopping along their routes (rare) and a broken feature (Facebook sharing). The Android version may not share these issues.
The mission closes with a cinematic sequence of the final shots.
A rating and experience points are applied after the mission.
Breach & Clear has delivered more than a $1.99 (what I paid) worth of fun. It feels smart enough to be challenging, offers a satisfying rate of progression, and has a ton of cool gear to mess with. It is not without issues but it is so good as it stands right now that I have high hopes for how it will progress. Check out Breach & Clear.
I can still remember the feelings that washed over me as I watched United Airlines Flight 175 fly into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on live television. It is something that I don’t really like remembering but, at the same time, something I don’t ever want to forget.
Take a moment today and remember those who were lost in the attacks, those who were lost in immediate response, and those who were lost in the continuing conflicts that resulted.
