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3 friends and myself played Horde/Private for a few hours, got to around Wave 30 with loads of cash stored up / fortification upgrades... we then went out for the night assuming we'd be able to continue where we left off. However, the only way seems to be to start a new Horde/Private match and choose to start on wave 30, but you start from scratch without any money/fortification upgrades putting you at a disadvantage. Is there no way to save a private local horde matches?

No, you dont keep your money or anything. Thats how it is. Yea, its a little harder...but you get more money faster since the enemies are harder and there are more of them . Plus, if you have any of the mutators...that helps A LOT. Like unlimited ammo and super reload. A few friends and I completed Horde on Insane easily with those mutators.

Rar! giant neck muscles! I got my copy today. Idiot in the store put a copy of the original GOW in the case and I had to go back. They changed it without issue, thankfully.

Well, off to kick some ass.

:angry: Well what a gang of ass-fu****g bandits EPIC are.

I love the game and bought the season pass thinking that any map pack releases would be a definite purchase for me.

I now hear the Map Packs are FREE and the "DLC" is already on the disc and I just download an unlock for a mode I never use!

Didn't save me 25% at all. I would never have bought a DLC for Horde mode. I simply don't play it. I tried it, and it is just inferior to TDM or Execution IMO.

Right that's that of my chest. B'stards! :angry:

:angry: Well what a gang of ass-fu****g bandits EPIC are.

I love the game and bought the season pass thinking that any map pack releases would be a definite purchase for me.

I now hear the Map Packs are FREE and the "DLC" is already on the disc and I just download an unlock for a mode I never use!

Didn't save me 25% at all. I would never have bought a DLC for Horde mode. I simply don't play it. I tried it, and it is just inferior to TDM or Execution IMO.

Right that's that of my chest. B'stards! :angry:

huh breath

:angry: Well what a gang of ass-fu****g bandits EPIC are.

I love the game and bought the season pass thinking that any map pack releases would be a definite purchase for me.

I now hear the Map Packs are FREE and the "DLC" is already on the disc and I just download an unlock for a mode I never use!

Didn't save me 25% at all. I would never have bought a DLC for Horde mode. I simply don't play it. I tried it, and it is just inferior to TDM or Execution IMO.

Right that's that of my chest. B'stards! :angry:

The maps for horde can only be selected by people with the paid DLC, but if you don't use it, it's worthless. Plus anyone can play the maps if someone else selects them. It's just silly, especially for on-disc "DLC."

The maps for horde can only be selected by people with the paid DLC, but if you don't use it, it's worthless. Plus anyone can play the maps if someone else selects them. It's just silly, especially for on-disc "DLC."

also ontop of that you also have the other 3 DLCs paid. Ontop of that you have more character and weapon skins.

Tbh, you know the risks of buying DLC in advance. You know they're going to screw you over somehow.

Is it bad that I've left my console running private bot matches nonstop since Saturday trying to unlock Chairman Prescott? <_< Only a few matches to go and I'll have him, seems like an awful lot of stuff to do to unlock him (Silver Allfathers medal = 300 matches in each game type).

Tbh, you know the risks of buying DLC in advance. You know they're going to screw you over somehow.

Is it bad that I've left my console running private bot matches nonstop since Saturday trying to unlock Chairman Prescott? <_< Only a few matches to go and I'll have him, seems like an awful lot of stuff to do to unlock him (Silver Allfathers medal = 300 matches in each game type).

Eh, I know tons of people that do that. Some people are going for Seriously 3.0. I doubt I'll ever play Gears of War 3 even near enough to get that achievement, but if I get close (again, doubtful), I'd do it. But it's a waste of your life trying to get that damn achievement. :laugh:

It's worthless for him if he doesn't play Horde. Gives no discount, and buying on-disc DLC is beyond lame.

I know, I'm just compounding the factors that he can also use in MP. Besides, there might not even be any more Horde DLCs. lol.

Tbh, you know the risks of buying DLC in advance. You know they're going to screw you over somehow.

:huh: No I don't. I have never bought DLC in advance before.

As always assumption is mother of all F**k ups. I assumed that like all the DLC before in this game and in other online MP, it would be centered round new MP vs MP maps. Not MP vs Bots! :|

This game is the sole reason I bought a brand new Xbox 360 and almost sold it within a month. I love Gears 1, Gears 2 was alright. Gears 3 is a great game but they are money hogs now and I'm sad to it like this.

The free DLC does look good though.

Eh, I know tons of people that do that. Some people are going for Seriously 3.0. I doubt I'll ever play Gears of War 3 even near enough to get that achievement, but if I get close (again, doubtful), I'd do it. But it's a waste of your life trying to get that damn achievement. :laugh:

Yeah, Seriously 3.0 is out of the question for me. I might be able to get the Embry Star one day but I'm not going to go out of my way to get it. I just wanted a character no one else had :p

:huh: No I don't. I have never bought DLC in advance before.

As always assumption is mother of all F**k ups. I assumed that like all the DLC before in this game and in other online MP, it would be centered round new MP vs MP maps. Not MP vs Bots! :|

You never understood the risks of laying down money for something you hadn't seen yet? You know there was no time limit on the season pass, you could have waited to see what was going to be included.

They already said before the game came out there'd be four packs: one for campaign, one for VS MP, one for Horde and one for Beast. There was nothing there about umpteen map packs for versus MP.

nice one complex, it's funny.

as for the events, not sure what's going on with the double XP, but the halloween event was hilarious, loved it. this is by far my favorite Gears game, love the MP, but it seems not so many people play it online. not overly interested in the DLC, they need to be more considerate of the user base and not charge too much for those things with so many big MP titles doing the rounds this season.

gotta say the SP campaign is really nice this time around, not just for the twists, but for the overall progression of it. i personally find it actually less emotional than Gears 2, but better written in terms of dialogue and logic.

gotta say the SP campaign is really nice this time around, not just for the twists, but for the overall progression of it. i personally find it actually less emotional than Gears 2, but better written in terms of dialogue and logic.

Even though I knew somethings were coming since they leaked and got ruined for me, I still cried. I had a few good laughs with the jokes from the awesome Baird and Sam. I think it was the best of the 3 in all departments.

gotta say the SP campaign is really nice this time around, not just for the twists, but for the overall progression of it. i personally find it actually less emotional than Gears 2, but better written in terms of dialogue and logic.

I finished it last night so can finally enter this thread safe in the knowledge I'm not going to see something I wish I hadn't.

Think it's a good solo campaign, though am sure it's easier than the previous two. Doesn't quite hit the same level as Gears 2 (Dom finding Maria is a fantastic scene in that game that nothing else has equalled in my eyes, yet) but am looking forward to blasting through it on co-op now.

The emotion in GoW2 and 3 is just too forced for me to take seriously. I ended up laughing when Dom put a damn Boltok to Maria's head in 2, and

his suicide

in 3 was a little OTT as well.

I'm glad that

it was Dom who died in this game and not someone else I cared about. If Cole had died as the rumours suggested I would have been devastated.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • You literally have to do it on a desktop, which is incredibly annoying in our mobile-first world. What???
    • What part of "you can’t really depend on service providers to maintain features forever" is not clear enough?
    • Nope. That lack of surround sound capability (analog) won't fly with me. Sure, I use headphones most of the time, but still.
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
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