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    ButtKicker Review
    Fates
    By Fates,
    Here a real Butt Kickin review we hope you find informational.   by Ruggbutt:   In my quest for a more immersive gaming experience I'm constantly searching for new hardware. We spend money on larger monitors, better video cards and 7.1 sound cards and systems to put us "in" the game. There's always something missing though, tactile feedback. In FPS's (First Person Shooters) I want to feel my feet hitting the ground, the recoil of the rifle or the rounds striking the plate on my body armor. In flight sims I want to feel the thump as the landing gear seats itself firmly into the bays, feel the concussion of a SAM (Surface to Air Missile) as it explodes nearby or to feel the aircraft shudder as I pull G's to turn more tightly.   In the Buttkicker Wireless I've found all these things. The Buttkicker is a powered transducer that vibrates, replicating the low end frequencies that you would find in a powerful sound system with a dedicated subwoofer. The difference is that the Buttkicker gives you all of the movement of the sub without the sound. This is especially good for gamers that live in apartments or housing that is spaced closely together. You can still feel the "thump" without upsetting those that live around you. The Wireless and it's big brother Buttkicker LFE are intended for home theater use. Those of you who know me know that I like to do everything big. There is a unit intended for gamers exclusively, called the Buttkicker Gamer. I own one of these units as well. I fly combat flight sims and play tac-shooters and my Gamer served me well for several years. Until a new combat chopper sim came along and killed the gamer. Between the constant whop-whop of the blades and the age of the unit and the fact that I don't baby my equipment the Gamer gave up the ghost.   So I call the Guitammer company and go thru the proper pushbuttons to talk to customer service. I spoke to a gentlmen named Joe and gave him some background on what I intend to use the unit for. Initially I was going to buy the LFE kit. The high price tag of the kit was going to make this call an information gathering exercise. My intentions weren't to buy anything as of yet. Joe asked me several questions before he recommended the Wireless. It has a 300 watt power amp (whereas my Gamer had 100 watts) and the shaker unit was roughly 3x the size of the one for my Gamer. Joe expressed concern about my dead Gamer unit and I explained my call wasn't to ask for a warranty. I wanted to go bigger. I'd explained to Joe my previous experience with Guitammer was excellent. They'd warrantied a part on my Gamer for me even though my 1st unit was out of the warranty grace period. I told Joe this was why I was inquiring about another (albeit larger) unit. Customer service means a lot to me. It tells me that the company builds a product it believes in and will stand behind it. We chat a bit more and Joe tells me there's a special going on the Wireless and that he can give me a few bucks off a unit if I order. It looks like (for once) my timing is good! It's a great deal and I place my order with a credit card. No muss, no fuss. You can order online as well, but since I had Joe on the phone..................   My unit arrived 3 days later, via UPS.     I cracked open the outer box to reveal the retail packaging.     I unpacked the retail packaging and pulled out the Wireless' sub parts, the power amp, shaker unit, mounting kit and wiring.     I unpacked each of those boxes to reveal the contents. All of the pieces were undamaged and in pristine condition. From left to right are the shaker unit, assorted wiring, remote control, power amp and stand (in back) and the IR transmitter and receiver. The toaster is standard equipment around my home.       The shaker unit has to be mounted firmly to whatever chair (or couch) you want to "feel" the game, music or movie in. Since I bought this primarily for my flight sim cockpit I chose to screw it to the chair itself. I chose the position because it was 1) easy to get to 2) the rest of the chair is tied directly to the steel arm. I drilled two holes and mounted the shaker unit with bolts, screws and lock washers. You'll have to purchase these yourself as I'm using this unit for a purpose not initially intended for.     It's quite simple to hook up the wiring. The instructions are succinct and clear, very easy to understand. Since I was using this for a computer I had to buy a mini jack to RCA adapter in order to use the wiring that came with the unit. This unit uses RCA jacks which you typically see with home stereo equipment. A quick trip to Radio Shack or computer store will net you the adapter you need. The Buttkicker plugs in to your speaker output on your sound card, the subwoofer jack in particular. I plug everything in and now I need to find a place to put the unit that has enough ventilation to keep the unit cool when it's operating. Buttkicker seems to have thought of almost everything with their power amp stand. It allows you to mount the power amp vertically if need be. With my home cockpit the stand was a godsend. I'm cramped for space and had to put the amp on top of a second computer I use to run touchscreens. It fit nicely.     A long shot of my cockpit.     Now it was time for the test! I fired up my favorite combat jet simulation and took the Buttkicker for a spin. I chose to fly the A-10 because it's a ground attack aircraft. Bombs exploding, rounds hitting the aircraft and the cannon should give the Buttkicker plenty of signal to make me feel like I'm really part of the action. I wasn't disappointed. I dove to drop cluster munitions on a convoy of moving vehicles. My chair shuddered slightly as the bombs left the wings. Moments later dozens of bomblets struck the ground and my chair shuddered with each impact, I could feel the blast wave of the bomblets exploding and separate them from the larger explosions of the vehicles themselves. Oh yeah, this thing rocks!   It's time to move on to the new combat helicopter sim. Let's see how this unit handles the constant rotor blade sound. I fire up the sim and adjust the intensity levels with the remote control. The power amp has three built in profiles (Movie/Music/Game). Think of these profiles like you would an EQ for your sound card. Movie is a flat EQ (no enhanced bass), Music is bass enhanced while Game has a bass roll off. After flying my chopper sim for a few minutes I knew that this unit would be able to handle the abuse put forth by the rotor blades. The vibration of the blades didn't stand out above everything else, they actually felt like what it feels like to ride in a helicopter. In the sim when I'd fire a guided missile the chopper jerks a bit to that side when the missile is launched. The Buttkicker gave me just enuf feedback to know that I'd fired a missile with a powerful motor. I waited for the best for last, firing the 30mm cannon. I wasn't disappointed. The aircraft shook as I fired and what I was feeling matched what I was seeing on my monitor. Buttkicker scores another happy customer! You will have to mess around with your sound card settings to get what you want out of this unit, but once you find the sweet spot you'll be pumped. Honestly, it doesn't get better than this.   I'm sure you're saying "hey Rugg, we like tac-shooters, what about us?" The Buttkicker Wireless is for you too. I play GRAW2 and ArmA so I ran the Wireless thru it's paces as well. I had to adjust the intensity down a bit but I was more than happy with what I was feeling. Running footsteps were perceptible. Not too little and not too much. Firing my rifle I could "feel" the recoil. Grenade explosions made me duck down in front of the monitor. You want immersive? You got it. The one thing that still gets my attention is when I'd get hit in the body armor with a round. I still jump after spending 10 hours in the last few days with the Buttkicker.   In closing I have to say that I think I made a great choice with this purchase. Yes, the unit isn't cheap. Neither is that video card you bought to get an extra few frames per second. Or that 5.1 sound system so you can hear the guy creeping up on you from your 5 O'clock. If you're one of those gamers that loves the immersion then you should look into this product. It's the next best step to taking a round without having to bleed out.   I would like to thank Joe and Trish for their help and for the excellent customer service that Guitammer is known for. My remote was DOA and a quick e-mail got me a replacement so quick I hardly noticed it was missing. I'd also like to point out that this isn't one of the typical reviews you see on other websites. I paid for this unit. Therefore you get the unvarnished truth. The only thing I'd like to see changed about the Wireless is that I'd like to see the controls on the remote mirrored on the power amp itself. This isn't a deal killer, it's just a "wish list" of sorts. I'd like to write more but I think it's time to crank up my fave flight sim and blow some stuff up. The best part is I get to feel it as well. Everyone should be so lucky.

    Microsoft Aces Studio is Closed
    Dave
    By Dave,
    http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21981   I do not know about you guys but I flew MSFS for years and years. It been around a long time. Its sad to see it end like this.

    5000 Files Passed
    Fates
    By Fates,
    We have a total of 5006 files in 319 categories A total of 536 unique authors have submitted to our site There have been 2314948 logged downloads to date   2+ million downloads....wow..   Congrats everyone! Thanks to all the modders for supporting the community. If you would like to give your support so we can continue to host your favorite mods, Please check out our Subscription Packages.   --The CA Staff

    Thirdwire Sneak Peaks
    Fates
    By Fates,
    >>>>>>>>>>>> CLICK ME HARD <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

    A Modder’s Diary:
    Dave
    By Dave,
    http://www.simhq.com/_air11/air_364a.html   Outstanding article for sure sums up what a lot of us have been doing for the last 5 years.....and why some of us hate that terrain editor. Good job P!

    Subscription Plans NOW Available
    Erik
    By Erik,
    Hello Everyone;   I'd like to take a few moments to announce some new opportunities and features here at CombatACE.com.   Before I talk about the new features, it is important to outline some history and facts. Just a short year and half ago when MK2 decided to step up and provide for this community, our membership hovered around 3,000. Today it is nearing 30,000. In the early days of our community it was common for us to provide five to six hundred Gigabytes (GB) of data transfer each month. Currently, in line with our continuing growth in the community, our consumption demands have grown exponentially and are now measured not in GB but in Tera bytes (TB) (1TB = 1000GB) each month. We're pleased with the growth of the community and the popularity of all the available downloads and site wide features and assets. We would like to continue that forward momentum with an idea geared toward member support that will work seamlessly with the daily download limits currently in use.   As I mentioned, CombatACE has been solely supported by a single benefactor, MK2, for over a year and half. Our monthly expenses average roughly 500.00 USD and in total over $11,000.00 USD have been invested toward the continuation of the community. That said, it should be no secret that the major expense here at CombatACE is the bandwidth and physical demand incurred by our download section. The download section itself is stocked with releases from the modding community and have a combined download count over 2.5 million transfers.   With that in mind, please take a moment to sign our thank you thread for MK2 ::LINK TO POST::   In the past we provided ad space which in theory should have covered the expenses, but the reality is quite another picture. Internet advertisers, even for the biggest sites, like to barter away exposure instead of paying for it. There are some exceptions but they are far and few between. For this reason our ability to offset costs with revenue generated from ads simply hasn't happened. More recent and for the past few months I'm sure you've all seen ads on the site for American Express, CompUSA, Match.com, and more. Those ads were part of our link share program we tried out as a way to generate some revenue. The basic design of this program allows for advertisers like those mentioned above to pay for actual sales instead of ad space. Using our site as an example we cluttered up the user space with banners in the expectation members would find the content interesting enough to click through to the advertiser's site and buy whatever they were selling. During our attempt at generating revenue through link share we gave away over a hundred million unique impressions, had 9,329 click throughs to advertisers, but $0.00 in sales which generated $0.00 in revenue. We've since discontinued our advertising link share program.   When we rolled out the daily download limits they met with some stern objections from our members. We knew then that as a temporary solution to limiting our exposure we'd need to come up with a plan to allow members the option to upgrade their individual accounts. Our new member subscriptions fill that need nicely in an affordable way to not only give you unlimited access to downloads but provide you with an opportunity to show support for your community.   Subscription Plans offer:   Unlimited access to downloads
    Larger storage limits for onsite images and files
    More flexible member benefits for posting and board access
    More profile features
    Member badges and identification identifying you as a proud contributor and supporter
    Today's new release of member subscription accounts won't affect our non-subscriber accounts. Everyone who has joined or will join our community starts with a free non-subscriber account, and those free accounts will retain the download limits. On top of this, we will now offer paid subscription accounts that will lift all the download restrictions. The new subscription accounts are easy to purchase and are handled through PayPal for secure, private, and convenient access.   Member subscriptions are available in 1 month, 6 month, and 1 year plans. Designed to allow our members access to more site features, more storage, and more downloads it's a perfect fit for the CombatACE in you. Click the banner below to go to your subscription area and sign up for a plan today.   Support the community that supports you!       UNLOCK YOUR DOWNLOADS CLICK HERE

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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