Hi everyone,
This might be a bit different from what we’re used to here at Gamer Splash. However, it’s gaming-related!
I’ve decided to review the Super Mario Cereal, a fun collaborative cereal from Kellogg’s and Nintendo! It’s a bit like Lucky Charms, but with a fun Mario Twist, and even an amiibo built into the box! I really liked it, though the amiibo on my box didn’t work.
Watch the video for the full review:
Hope you enjoy it and find out if the cereal is for you!
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has long been held as the mecca of gaming events around the world each year. Since the very first E3 back in 1995, it has been the place for game developers to show off what they have been working on the past year, meet other developers, and invite the media to cover all the biggest gaming news the industry has to offer. While E3 was never the only outlet for companies to share their news, since its inception, E3 has grown to become the largest event, becoming the time for the biggest names to show off and make the biggest announcements while everyone is gathered together. Taking place each June, E3 takes place right in the middle of the year, also making it a good time to promote products coming out for the Fall, but also to tease new products or services which may come out beyond this time.
E3 has long been the place for companies to share their biggest announcements, but in the past few years, this has started to wane. There are several reasons for this. The first reason is the changing landscape of technology and how the ways of communicating have changed. In the past, before the internet became mainstream, the way news was disseminated was different. Exhibitors would come to trade shows such as E3 to share their new announcements and products, and they would then rely on professional press to record, review, and disseminate the information to consumers through traditional media channels such as magazines, newspapers, and television broadcast. Now, with the advent of the internet, companies can directly disseminate their own messages through online channels such as their own websites, social media, and through media such as press releases, social media posts, and video broadcasts. With the advent of online influencers taking prominence over and becoming just as important as professional press, consumers have stopped listening to just the media for information, but their favorite influencers as well. YouTube stars like iJustine, Lamarr Wilson and Pewdiepie, Twitch streamers such as Dr. Disrespect, have all become go-to channels for gaming fans to discover new games through their gameplay, and also to make informed decisions. The general gaming public is also more likely to trust some of these influencers more than professional gaming publications, since they appear more personal and personable than the lesser known writers at publications like IGN, Polygon, and GameSpot. This has not directly affected media coverage or attendance to E3, but it has affected how consumers have come to expect to get their media and when. With more and more influencers reviewing games more and more throughout the year, there has been less of a reason to invite as many professional journalists and have them come to a central event in person.
Another central reason E3 has become less prominent recently, is companies starting to host separate events to dissemninate information to target audiences. Since 2011, E3 exhibitors have realized that E3 is no onger the end all, be all event for gaming. In 2011, Nintendo started this trend by hosting its first digital media event, titled Nintendo Direct. In the Nintendo DIrect, hosted online to viewers around the world separately from E3, Nintendo proudly claimed that they were going to use the platform to communicate with fans, “Directly!” By utilizing Nintendo’s website and YouTube to stream presentations, Nintendo was utilizing a new platform to dissemninate information directly to its fans, completrly bypassing initial media review, and allowing Nintendo to completely cntrol the message and presentation. In the Nintendo DIrect, Nintendo announces exciting new products, games, and services, and also uses it to announce more information about upcoming projects, such as release dates and availability. E3 and a handful of other trade shows used to be the best place to share information with consumers, but now Nintendo has realized it is no longer necessary. Nintendo has now given itself the capability to announce new information to consumers at any time of year, multiple times of year, at the time that works best for the company, and can control the message in doing so, letting fans have the privilege of being the first to know when new products come out. Nintendo still values E3, saving some of its biggest announcements of the year, and reserving a large amiunt of floor space for the event. However, it is no longer the only place to share all of its biggest announcements. Now it can do so, and share other smaller announcements, together at other times during the year, in a way that works best for the company.
Other companies have stafrted to realize the same, and have also started to host their own separate events outside of E3. One barrier that companies have realized they wre facing was that E3, being a closed event, meaning the public is not able to attend. In the past, gamers used to dream of coming to E3 to play all of the latest games and try out new products, but only media were allowed, thus making it a prestigious event in the minds of consumers. Electronic Arts saw the opportunity to share the excitement with the gamiung public, and decided to bypass E3 and host its own separate event outside of E3, called EA Play. With this event, EA decided to follow Nintendo’s lead, and host their own public event, where gamers could attend and interact with the new products at the same time as the media, thus eliminating the need for information to be shared by the media, and simultaneously allowing EA to control its message more, as well. EA Play has been a huge success, with the event being largely overbooked each year, and has shown the effectiveness of brands hosting their own events in today’s climate. SInce hosting EA Play outside of E3, although EA plans its event to cooincide with the special week of E3, EA no longer has an actual presence on the E3 show floor. Other companies such as Ubisoft and Activision have also followed suit, hosting their own presentations and events for fans at E3, and bypassing the media to directly target these consumers.
WIth the success of events such as EA Play leading large companies to abandon the restrictions of the E3 event itself, E3 has been left with less and less attendance. This has become a large problem for the organizers, as less attendance to the event means less funding to host the event each year. So the organizers of E3, in a move seen by some as desparate, but many as exciting, have decided to open E3 to the public. In a convention center already crowded with over 10,000 unique professional individuals registered each year, the expo halls were already very crowded. However, in an effort to retain its prominence as the premiere event for gaming, and to reinforce in gamers minds that it is also the premiere event for gamers, E3 has decided to open its doors to 15,000 members f the public. The beginning of this push to shift its image from media-centric to gamer-centric, came in the form of E3 Live, a new public event that aimed to give gamers a taste of what E3 offered in the LA Live square. I personally attended this event, and was somewhat disappointed. The event only offered a handful of companies, with a few notable experiences, like a new LEGO videogame and VR experiences, but I was still left missing what I really wanted out of E3. The reason gamers envy E3 is to experience the exciting new game and products offered only behind closed doors, and it felt as though E3 Live played it much too safe, offering no experience as important or exciting as what was still behind closed doors. I would have been just fine staying home, and that is not what you want to hear as the host of an event.
Thankfully, next year they opened the doors to the public for the first time. Of course, with 15,000 extra attendees, it was very crowded. I attended, which you can read about here. However, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. There was some disorganization because of media and fans mixing too much. So in 2018, E3 has learned and created a new approach, further evolving the rules. Whereas previously, the show ran from 10am to 5pm all 3 days, with fans being able to attend at the same time as media, in 2018, likely in response to complaints, E3 has taken a new approach and changed the schedule. Now, at E3 in 2018, the show will run from 10am-7pm all 3 days, and will host the first two hours for media only. This allows media the time without extra fans before the show, which will be much appreciated by them, with less crowds and fans taking up their deserved spots for demos. However, some exhibitors have taken issue with the extra two hours being added. Presumably, the extra two hours are added so the public doesn’t lose any time compared to before, which is good for the public, but according to a Nintendo employee who regularly runs the shows, it will add extra logistical issues and stress to 3 days that are already the longest days of the year.
One way to improve this is to just keep the schedule the same as last year, but lessen the time the public gets at the show. However, it is likely there are many factors which influenced this decision.
Overall, the fact that E3 has changed over the past few years is undeniable. It makes sense that the Entertainment Software Organization who runs the show is accommodating the public more to keep the show relevant, and it is definitely a win for fans. However, with ticket prices for a 3 day pass at $250, it begs the question of the shows worth. Surely the show will still sell out, as the amount of gaming fans is enormous and the show still offers good value, and maybe it will cause more companies to come back now that E3 is open to the public. but I foresee that more and more companies, may also see the value in the benefits of hosting heir own show and leave the exhibiting table itself. Now make no mistake: I believe the week of E3 will remain a mainstay for a long time, as will the name referring to it. The k E3 is cognized by gamers as holiday of sorts, and gamers have come to expect the great announcements from all companies we see each year. It’s too much good marketing and press to give up. But as more companies leave the show floor and host their own exhibits and presentations elsewhere, I do believe when we talk about E3 in the future, it may become more about the week of events, and not the show itself.
What do you think? Is the E3 show here to stay? Or do you agree that the industry is ever so gradually moving away from the show for more freedom? Leave us a comment below.
Today, we are reviewing the GeChic On-Lap 1305H Portable Monitor.
Before we begin, let’s talk about how I came across the product. Upon getting the Nintendo NES Classic (and later the Nintendo SNES Classic,) I loved the item. It lets me play classic retro games I played in my childhood, and discover new ones I hadn’t played before. A crisp high definition resolution and nifty saving features make the game experience even better than the original.
However, I hadn’t played the mini-consoles much since I got them, because part of the concept just… didn’t make sense to me. A tiny, palm-sized console displaying 8-bit retro games didn’t beg to be played on my large-screen 4K TV. I already have several consoles and other devices taking up precious space in my home AV setup, as well. I’m the type of guy that tends to be much more willing to play games if they’re portable, rather than needing to be tied down to my TV to play them. So I decided, I wanted to play these portable consoles, well… portably. So the search for a suitable portable screen came up. After looking through several wonky and sub-par solutions on YouTube and Amazon, I have finally come across, undoubtedly, the best portable monitor available on the market.
Read on my for my detailed impressions and review.
Introduction
The GeChic 1305H is a 13.3-inch portable monitor designed to be taken anywhere. It is thin and light, with a spacious screen, and runs on mere USB power, meaning it can be powered by a portable battery bank, like the ones commonly used to charge phones and tablets on the go. The screen is a novelty in the market, being one of the only ones to boast full HD resolution, and FFS screen technology.
GeChic is an interesting company. Based in Taiwan, the company specializes in making portable monitors. When a company’s entire product lineup is composed of portable screens, you expect them to be of good quality. Thankfully, the screen did not disappoint. This review aims to cover all of the bases necessary for one to make an informed purchase decision.
Visual Appeal
First off, we need to discuss how good this thing will look when you’re using it on your desk. No one wants to use something that just sticks out like a sore thumb. With this screen, you’re in luck. The GeChic 1305H is sleek, thin, and light. The screen measures only 7mm thick, with bezels at 1.3cm, and weighs in at only 1.51 lbs (or 2.01 lbs with stand). With a matte screen texture, fairly-sized bezels, and a gunmetal gray finish, this screen fits right in to a modern room setup. When on the go, the screen doesn’t make you feel like the geek in the room, so to speak. You’ll feel comfortable taking this one to your local coffee shop for a meeting, and feel stylish doing it.
Product Features
This product is unique in the market, in that it is one of the few portable screens to actually feature a full 1080p resolution. Most other portable screens in this market segment, from the likes of Asus, GAEMS, and Hori, run at a meager 720p HD, barely passable in today’s market where 1080p is the standard and 4K the new king. So, with a sizable 13.3-inch screen, you expect 1080p. Here you get that and more.
In addition to a stellar true 1080p resolution, you also get a FFS display (no, not that FFS). If you’ve heard of IPS, you know it is the display of choice for non-HDR displays, because of its wide viewing angles and great color accuracy. FFS, being an improvement to IPS, takes things a step further, and improves the contrast of colors even more (1000:1), along with 178 degree viewing angles, so images look even more vivid and lifelike on the screen.
In terms of connectivity, the screen is stripped down from the company’s previous models, offering just two HDMI inputs (one for horizontal and one for vertical placements), and a headphone jack that supports optical audio and 5.1 surround sound. Neat.
The product does not offer built-in speakers, so the audio output jack is the only option for outputting sound from the screen. Bring those headphones if you need to listen to your content on the go.
In previous models, there would be separate ports for USB power and HDMI inputs. The 1305H does away with these and instead introduces proprietary ports which combine HDMI and USB into a single cable port going into the screen. It certainly helps keep the screen looking sleek, without too many cables getting in your way.
On the other end of the proprietary cable are a standard HDMI connection and USB-A connection for power. Also included in the box is a USB to AC adapter for plugging directly into a wall, if needed.
The screen features a detachable back cover that doubles as a kickstand, allowing you to adjust the angle of the screen. The kickstand uses a unique proprietary mechanism involving a magnet, which you can remove and reposition, then slide up and down to achieve the desired angle for the screen.
All of the physical features are very well thought out, from the size of the screen, to the visual aesthetic of it, to the layout and design of the ports and included kickstand case. This design is testament to the company’s experience developing portable screens, culminating in a very evolved and well-thought out product design that is easy and intuitive to use.
Once using the screen, you will find standard TV options in the software menus, such as brightness, contrast, color saturation, color tint, and sharpness. Other nice options are also included, like color temperature and multiple viewing modes.
The viewing modes consist of options such as “Standard,” “Sports,” “Cinema, “Photo,” and “Game” modes.
Navigating the menus was not so fun. Have you ever lost a TV remote and had to use the buttons on the TV itself to navigate the menus? Remember how frustrating that was, and how much you missed having that remote? That’s exactly the experience GeChic opted for to control the menus on this screen. Once you learn how to navigate with the Settings, Volume, and Up and Down buttons, it’s fine, but you wish they would have included a remote or smartphone interface to control the screen settings. Luckily, if you’re like me, you will just set it and forget it, not needing to touch the settings again for a long time.
Overall, GeChic threw a lot into the package here, and it all works cohesively, which is not to be taken granted in the world of tech.
Performance
What good is a product if it doesn’t perform its intended functions well? Thankfully, this product not only does the job, but exceeded my expectations.
The screen’s buttons feel solid to touch, and are well placed. The detachable back cover works well, and is easy to attach and remove quickly. The movable locks are a great feature, making sure the screen doesn’t fall out when being moved. The kickstand’s design takes some getting used to, but once you’ve learned how to reposition it, it makes changing the screen angle a piece of cake. I do wish the tilt angle was more, given it only offers 40 degrees of variability, but it is sufficient for most cases.
Using the cover stand with the screen in vertical mode works, but not as well as in the horizontal mode. Taking the screen out and putting it back into the case vertically makes it stick out, which not only looks a bit awkward, but doesn’t offer the same stability as in the horizontal mode either. Most people don’t need to use a screen vertically, but for those that do, this may be a letdown, as the included kickstand only works horizontally. At least, the cover stand case can hold the screen vertically if you remove and replace it vertically, but I think the company could have done more and incorporated a second kickstand that works vertically into the design.
Once the product is set up properly, powering up is quick and simple. A press of the power button boots up the screen and displays whatever HDMI signal is being fed to it. If there is no signal, the screen will automatically turn it’s display off after a few seconds, but the screen will remain powered on. Turning the screen on for the first time was pretty awesome. The screen was actually exceedingly bright, so once I turned the brightness to my ideal level, all the settings were perfect from the get-go. The color settings were already perfect as they were, so after messing with other settings, I found I didn’t need to change any other settings.
I tested all of the settings on the Nintendo Switch, and found the only picture mode options that looked accurate were the “Standard” and “Game” modes. The other options, surprisingly, left color tints that were too saturated, or made the image look too blue or orange. However, testing on the SNES Classic, other screen modes actually looked better. Likewise, your preferred screen mode may depend on the input source.
Adjusting the other settings also yielded unsatisfactory results – not because the options didn’t work, but actually, because the screen was already most accurate with the default settings.
This is a testament to the quality of the product, in my opinion, as it appears the screen’s colors are already most accurate (and perhaps calibrated) out of the box. The only setting I had to change, then, was Brightness. Once I adjusted the brightness to my ideal level (around 40 for me, down from the default of 50,) I was set and the screen was ready to go.
Once the screen was set up, the viewing experience was great. Coming from a high-end 4K HDR TV, the black levels don’t get as deep, meaning you can still slightly notice the backlight in dark scenes. However, the black levels are still better than most laptop screens I have seen, minus exceptional screens such as Microsoft’s Surface line.
The colors were very natural and vivid, and actually made me enjoy playing my Nintendo Switch more than I ever have before in such a short period of time. What was initially meant to be a short testing session turned into a few hours of me playing Breath of the Wild on my Switch, and then watching a few episodes of TV on Hulu. It may be that the native 1080p presentation of the Nintendo Switch with no upscaling makes the Switch content look better, or maybe the smaller screen size, but even without adding any sharpness to the screen, the Switch looked better than it ever had on my high-end TV. That’s saying a lot.
The viewing angles were also great, as promised. I could look all the way to the side of the screen, and the image was still highly visible. The anti-reflective screen texture also helped, as even with my bright studio lights, there was only a small reflection.
Testing the headphone jack yielded decent audio quality. Not as good as my dedicated headphone DAC/amp combo, but just fine if you’re used to standard headphone jacks in any other product. The headphone jack also doubles as an optical audio jack output, which is very nice if you have some compatible audio hardware to use it with.
Input lag on the device seemed minimal, even with the HDMI input going through two adapters and several short cables. The stated response time (different from input lag) is 12.5ms, so that is better than the average screen, and very snappy. Once I was playing my games, everything seemed very snappy and playable. This screen gets a solid A in the input lag department, so pro gamers or anyone sensitive to input lag/latency on screens should rest assured the screen feels very responsive.
Price
All of these features come at a cost, however. The screen is currently sold for a retail price of $299.99 as of this writing. Is it worth it? To me, you’re getting the best portable monitor on the market, so I believe the price is well justified. For those on a tighter budget, however, it may be worth checking out the company’s cheaper options.
Final Thoughts
Overall, GeChic has put together a very compelling product here. The possibilities with owning a portable screen are endless. Portable screens offer a wide array of use cases, whether it be for portable photo or video monitoring, using them as second computer screens, presentation screens, or for portable video or gaming uses.
Once you see the need for having a portable screen to complement your devices, you need one that’s the best quality. After using the screen extensively, I can safely state that the GeChic 1305H is the best portable screen on the market. With great functionality, an attractive design, and excellent image quality, this screen not only matched my initial expectations, but exceeded them. I can’t imagine myself needing another portable screen again, as it pretty much ticks all of my boxes in terms of functionality and image quality. If you’re in the market for a portable screen, look no further than the GeChic 1305H.
Link to purchase:
Other Recommendations
If you need a cheaper option, with a similar screen size, GeChic is still selling the previous model of its 13-inch screen, the On-Lap 1303H.
Alternatively, if you need a touch screen option for making the screen a Windows or Android tablet, GeChic sells the On-Lap 1303i.
If you need a larger or smaller screen option, GeChic sells 11-inch and 15-inch versions of their screens.
Keep in mind, if buying another of the company’s screens, you will be getting a standard IPS display over the 1305H’s slightly superior display. However, if the 1305H does not fit your needs, the other options still offer very good quality on their own.
Did you find this review helpful? Consider subscribing to our blog for more content like this, as well as news and discussion in the world of gaming.
-Noah Sanchez, Gamer Splash
Gamer Splash! 