biteho.com

Gaming monitors the size of TVs have been around for a while now, but there was a significant push in the market last year with the release of the HP OMEN X Emperium Big Format Gaming Monitor. The Philips 55-inch Momentum 4K HDR display doesn’t technically hold the BFGD brand, but at $1,500 it also doesn’t hold the $5,000 MSRP of the HP either. The Philips Momentum has some impressive specs – DisplayHDR1000 certification, FreeSync Premium Pro, 120Hz refresh rate, and an integrated B&W soundbar. So how do those specs hold up to everyday use?

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=philips-momentum-558m1ry-review&captions=true”]

Philips 55-inch Momentum 558M1RY – Design and Features

The Philips Momentum, based on its size, might look like a television, but its DNA is most definitely that of a monitor. This is most immediately evident by the -5 to +10 degree tilt, which can be a bit surprising when lifting it out of the box or if it ever needs to be moved. The monitor comes with its stand and soundbar attached, and it is heavy – weighing in at 58.3 pounds. It’s handy to not have to assemble anything, but be sure to have help to move it. The stand can be removed and there are 200x200mm VESA mounting points on the back for wall mounting the monitor.

Another monitor giveaway is the Momentum’s array of connections. It comes with a DisplayPort 1.4, three HDMI, a USB 3.0 hub (one upstream connection and four downstream, two of which are fast charge), and headphone out. The USB ports can be turned on even when the monitor is off in the user menu. The Philips site boasts that the Momentum “creates a new-level console gaming,” which brings to mind 4K/120Hz with the PS5 or Xbox Series X. The problem is the three HDMI are only 2.0 and therefore restrained to a 60Hz refresh rate at 4K. 120Hz over HDMI is only available in 1440p or less. If you want high refresh rate at 4K you’ll need to use the DisplayPort connection – which is only available on computers and not consoles.

Philips includes its Ambiglow technology on the Momentum, which utilizes a string of LEDs along the top and sides of the back panel. Ambiglow allows you to illuminate the wall behind the monitor with a single color or one that reacts to the images on the screen (the general term is bias lighting). It’s an interesting feature that could help with eye fatigue (especially by implementing a soft white light) while watching the bright screen in a dark room, but with colors I found it to be more of a gimmick at best. If bias lighting is your thing, the Momentum does a good job with it.

The monitor comes with a small, light, black remote with a minimal – although sufficient – amount of buttons. The buttons are slightly on the small side, but spacing allows someone with larger fingers to use it easily without accidentally pushing wrong buttons. Since there isn’t a built-in smart interface (again, it’s a monitor and not a TV), all you need is menu navigation, input select, and volume for the soundbar.

Ah yes, the soundbar. The Philips Momentum comes with a soundbar by Bowers & Wilkins. For the unaware, B&W is one of the more trusted and respected names in premium audio (their Diamond line of speakers are some of the best I’ve heard) and in addition to Philips, they have partnerships with BMW, Maserati, and McLaren. As mentioned above, the 2.1-channel soundbar is already attached to the monitor in the box so it’s a bit unwieldy to move the Momentum around (make sure you have help). It has two tweeters, two drivers for mids, and a 20-watt woofer, and delivers sound far better than any other monitor.

Multiple audio modes with names like “RPG and Adventure” and “Shooting and Action” allow you to choose the frequency response for specific use cases (there’s also a Personal option for adjusting EQ bands). I found “Movie Watching” to be most pleasing to my ear and used that setting for everything. Dialogue came through easily with anything I watched or played. Bass response was decent, but lacking in the low rumble frequencies that let you feel explosions and car engines. It sounded as though the decibels rolled off starting around 80-100Hz, which is where you would generally have a home theater system cross over those low-end frequencies to a dedicated subwoofer. Still, great response for a soundbar.

The Momentum’s menus are just like any other Philips monitor. Menu categories for things like Ambiglow, Game Settings, and Picture are listed along the left side and selecting one opens up subcategory trees to the right. Navigation (especially with the remote) is easy. The Game Settings menu includes options for crosshairs (I never use them, but they’re there if you do), Low Input Lag (this can be left on without any visual repercussions), and Philips’ pixel response overdrive setting, SmartResponse. I left this in the fastest position and didn’t experience any ghosting.

Philips 55-inch Momentum 558M1RY – Performance

There are multiple picture modes listed under SmartImage in the picture menu that are designed for specific gaming situations like FPS, Racing, and RTS. The Momentum supports the DCI-P3 color gamut. Using Calman color calibration software from Portrait Displays, an X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter profiled with an X-Rite i1Pro3 spectrophotometer, and a Murideo Six-G signal generator I determined that the Gamer 2 picture mode had the most accurate grayscale and color measurements with average DeltaE values of 3.4 and 2.3, respectively. (DeltaE values are used to indicate how close to perfect an image is, with 3.0 or under being very good.) sRGB was virtually identical to Gamer 2 in measurements. The other picture modes aren’t nearly as good (mostly adding a blue tint to everything) and one that is meant to improve screen uniformity – cleverly called SmartUniformity – negatively affecting contrast. Performance is almost as good with the SmartImage picture modes switched to off and color temperature set to 6500K or Native. There’s a slightly red tint to light gray and white images, but it was only discernible with test patterns and never when playing games. Either choice is acceptable.

The Momentum is an DisplayHDR 1000-certified monitor and is able to surpass the required brightness to achieve that certification. In DisplayHDR 1000 picture mode it measures 1,118 cd/m2 (or nits), which means highlights in that mode really pop off the screen. DCI-P3 gamut coverage also matched the 95% claim that Philips makes, with green being slightly undersaturated but not enough to cause any visual aberration.

Since the Philips Momentum doesn’t have any built-in TV features, I used my Roku Streaming Stick+ plugged into one of the monitor’s HDMI to watch TV and movies and unfortunately the Momentum showed some of its flaws. The monitor is edge lit and doesn’t have any local dimming feature, which causes blooming around bright images in a dark space. The Millennium Falcon cruising through the Maw before running into the summa verminoth in Solo is a perfect example of this, and it can also be seen during credits. But more of an issue is a strange banding along the sides of the screen, as seen in the above photo, that was apparent on some streaming content. I will note that this was only when watching content via HDMI and wasn’t there with content from my computer over DisplayPort.

Philips 55-inch Momentum 558M1RY – Gaming

Gaming is where the Philips Momentum really shines. Sea of Thieves, still one of my HDR go-to test games, looked gorgeous both over DisplayPort from my computer and HDMI from my Xbox One X. The accurate colors were on display, especially the shades of blue and green in the ocean waves (the colors looked nice and vibrant on Outer Worlds as well). Bright highlights, like the burning sun during the day, practically popped off the screen and when my room’s lights were off, bordered on being too bright. Luckily switching to HDR Movie or Personal was able to cut that brightness a bit without anything else suffering. With SmartContrast turned on, there was also nice depth to the shadows while exploring some island’s caves for treasure chests.

On games like Call of Duty, where motion blur and accuracy are of utmost importance, the Momentum continued to perform well. With the SmartResponse set to Fastest, motion blur was reduced well without any ghosting being added (I left it in this setting for all of my gaming and never noticed an issue). Input lag was imperceptible for me as well. I had no issue getting the FreeSync adaptive sync to work with my Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, and Final Fantasy XV was smooth with no evidence of tearing.

The biggest shame when it comes to gaming on the Philips Momentum is what’s missing. The company says the monitor will “take console gaming to the next level” but that next level for most, if not all of us is with the new consoles. The Momentum only has HDMI 2.0 though, and since the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S don’t have DisplayPort, there’s no possibility of 4K/120Hz gaming with either of them. That isn’t to say gaming on a console is a bust – as I said earlier both Sea of Thieves and Outer Worlds looked amazing – it just isn’t anything I would consider to be “next level.”

Rockstar’s L.A. Noire, a detective game set in 1940s Los Angeles, celebrates its 10th anniversary today, May 17. To mark the occasion, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with the stars of the game for a retrospective, and one topic that came up was a sequel.

Mad Men actor Ken Cosgrove, who played lead character Cole Phelps, said he never heard a peep about Rockstar making a sequel to the game, which was developed by the now-defunct Team Bondi out of Australia. Cosgrove said he wonders where a sequel might go, considering the fate of his character.

“I never heard a word about a sequel,” he said. “If there was another story, I would be curious what they would tell since Cole Phelps died. I do get recognized from time to time from the game, which always makes me think how incredible the MotionScan technology was.”

The MotionScan technology was used by Team Bondi to scan the faces of the actors into the game in a lifelike way.

In 2012, Rockstar Games said it was considering the future of the L.A. Noire series, commenting that a sequel was a possibility. It never materialized over the years, but Rockstar did release the game on a new platform, Nintendo Switch, in 2017, along with a VR edition called The Case Files that came out in 2019.

“We’re all very pleased with how that game turned out and are considering what the future may hold for L.A. Noire as a series,” Rockstar said in 2012. “We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually–see Max and Red Dead for evidence of that. We have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing.”

Michael Gladis, who played Dudley Lynch in L.A. Noire, said in the retrospective that he believes TV, film, and video games will “merge into these immersive alternate reality experiences.” He says he would be up to work on another video game some day, provided the writing is good enough.

The full retrospective feature is fascinating and in-depth; it’s well worth a read.

L.A. Noire sold millions of copies, but fans hoping for a sequel are still out of luck. Rockstar has a number of other franchises that have been dormant for years, including Max Payne and Bully. Rockstar’s next release is expected to be Grand Theft Auto V for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S this year, along with the standalone edition of GTA Online. A report mentioned that Rockstar is also working on Grand Theft Auto VI right now.

Mass Effect 3 had no shortage of romantic partners that you could count, and after a brief fling on the Normandy, your Shepard would have a reminder of their one true love in the form of an artistic framed picture in their sleeping quarters. For fans of the character Tali, this picture was an extra special memento as it showed the Quarian without her trademark mask on. In Mass Effect Legendary Edition, that picture is still there but Tali’s face from the 2012 game has been swapped out for an image that’s more in line with her character and race.

Possible spoilers below

The new image features Tali’s face now only partially uncovered, and her skin tone has lost the purple hue of the original photo for a more greyish tone. Here’s the new picture, from “Maxgoods” on Reddit:

Back in 2012. Tali’s original unmasked appearance resulted in a small controversy. Developer BioWare had used a stock image by photographer Matthew Leete, which was then modified to appear more alien. Some fans at the time pointed out inconsistencies in the image and Tali, such as several of the model’s fingers clearly having been photoshopped off, and the small fact that without her protective suit Tali should have been dead within minutes after the glamorous portrait shot was taken.

For newcomers to Mass Effect, Quarians have to live their entire lives while dressed in a protective enviro-suit as their weak immune systems cannot handle germs and microbes outside of sterile environments. If you’re looking to earn this new photo of Tali, you’ll need to play through both of her character arcs in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 to successfully romance her. Unfortunately, only male Shepard can date her.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is currently doing very well since its release last week, having reached a concurrent player figure on Valve’s PC storefront that has broken new franchise records. This won’t be the last that fans see of Mass Effect either, as BioWare is also working on a new game in the series which still in an early stage of development.

For more on the remastered trilogy, you can check out GameSpot’s Review in Progress for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War have introduced some strange and unique DLC weapons before, but the latest one may take the cake. The new Music Legend Mastercraft bundle is now available in the games, and it adds a keytar gun that actually plays music.

As you can see in the video below, the “Shredder” weapon has a keyboard built into the side of it, with an on/off switch and various knobs also represented for the musical instrument/gun. You can trigger the gun to play a song, which includes an animation of your Operator playing a little jingle on the keyboard.

The Music Legend DLC bundle, which costs 2,400 Call of Duty Points, also includes an Amped Up handgun, the Rockstar skin for Wolf, the Soul Searcher watch, and the Center Stage vehicle skin. The bundle also comes with the Riff vehicle horn, the Super Disco charm, and Battle Shredder emblem, and the Cultural Export calling card.

In other news, Warzone, Black Ops Cold War, and Call of Duty: Mobile are set to expand in a big way this week with a mid-season update on May 20 that adds the ’80s Action Hero DLC. This includes new skins for Sylvester Stallone as Rambo and Bruce Willis as John McClane from Die Hard. The Zombies mode is also getting new content, including its first-ever main quest for the Outbreak mode.

Beyond that, Season 4 is expected to begin in June, while Sledgehammer Games will release its new premium game–rumored to be Call of Duty: WWII – Vanguard–later this year.

Chivalry II, the upcoming medieval combat title from developer Torn Banner Studios, is going into open beta later this month. This is the first opportunity for people to play the game since its closed beta, which ran for just one weekend.

Unlike its previous beta though, anyone will be able to hop in for some head-chopping action this time around. The Chivalry II open beta will start on May 27, 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, and run until June 1 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. Anyone trying to get in on the medieval action can also preload the game starting on May 26 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET.

Chivalry II’s upcoming beta will be available on all platforms and include cross-play. On PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, players will simply have to head to the game’s store page to download the open beta. PC players on the other hand will only find Chivalry II on the Epic Games Store.

It also seems that the upcoming open beta for Chivalry II will include some never-before-seen content. In the game’s closed beta, players could access multiple medieval fighting classes and battle it out across two deathmatch maps and two objective-based maps, which have typically been the stars of the game. However, a third map was shown in an Open Beta Announce Dev Diary from Torn Banner Studios. Called “Coxwell,” the map embodies a classic siege on a town. Attackers run into the town’s outlying village, where defenders play as hastily armed villagers instead of armor-clad warriors.

Another new objective-based map, The Battle of Darkforest was also mentioned in a news post on the Torn Banner website. In it, defenders will spring ambushes and traps on an army marching to kill the Duke of Fogbern Keep.

Customization options will also be present in Chivalry II’s open beta. Players will be able to dress up their warriors in different kinds of armor, customize their weapons, and even change the facial features of their character. Beyond that, players will also be able to change the personality of their character. You can play as an ego-filled demigod or whimpering knave, with each different personality giving you access to different emotes and voice lines.

Chivalry II is currently set to launch on June 8, with two separate editions. The game’s standard edition will cost just $40, while a special edition that comes with some cosmetics will run for $50.

Mortal Kombat 11 is still getting balance patches two years after release. The latest one makes some significant changes to various expansion characters who have been criticized as overpowered, particularly Sheeva and Cetrion. The update is now live across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

The patch adjusts various characters’ health, mostly in the form of reducing them for nerfs. Sheeva, Joker, and Cetrion were all reduced to 950 health (from 1000). Sheeva also got some fine-tuning for the hitbox and recovery frames for Dragon Drop. Meanwhile, RoboCop was buffed to 1100 health (from 1050) and his Don’t Move Creep move has gotten more generous active frames.

Various other changes have been made to Fujin, Rambo, and Shao Kahn. Many of the changes have hit relatively recent characters, leaving the original set included with the base game alone. Sheeva seems to be getting the most attention from fans on the Mortal Kombat subreddit, with many calling her balance changes overdue, while others criticize health changes as an oversimple solution.

A Mortal Kombat movie adaptation recently hit HBO Max, and is still available to stream for a while longer before it rotates out of the service. You can check out the full list of balance changes below.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Balance Changes

• Sheeva – Now has 950 health (down from 1000)
• Sheeva – Slightly narrowed the hit region for Dragon Drop & it now has a set delay time when delayed & 30 more recovery frames on miss or when hit hitting armor
• Joker – Now has 950 health (down from 1000)
• Cetrion – Now has 950 health (down from 1000)
• Cetrion – Slightly reduced the damage when blocked & flawless blocked of Deadly Winds & Deadly Winds Amplified
• Fujin – Adjusted the victim regions of Knee Buckler (Down + Front Kick)
• RoboCop – Now has 1100 health (up from 1050)
• RoboCop – Don’t Move Creep (Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch) now has 2 more active frames & 5 less recovery frames on block
• Rambo – First Blood (Towards + Front Punch, Back Punch) has 3 less recovery frames on block
• Rambo – Diddy-Bopping (Away + Back Punch, Back Punch, Back Kick) has more pushback on block & 5 more blockstun frames
• Shao Kahn – You Will Never Win (Towards + Front Kick, Back Kick) now has 3 less recovery frames & can now be 2in1 cancelled when flawless blocked
• Shao Kahn – Hammer Lunge now has less pushback on block & 10 less recovery frames on block & miss
• Shao Kahn – Hammer Lunge Amplify now has more pushback on block, 5 more blockstun frames & 15 less recovery frames on miss
• Shao Kahn – Ground Shatter has 4 less rec frames & more pushback on block
• Shao Kahn – Ground Shatter Amplify now has more pushback on block, 10 more blockstun frames, & is now a mid block

SNK will release the Steam version of its feudal fighting game Samurai Shodown on June 14, the developer announced. Originally a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store, the Steam version will launch alongside the multi-platform release of Season Pass 3 DLC character Shiro Tokisada Amakusa.

Originally a boss character in the original 1993 game, Amakusa appeared in multiple other games in the series and fights his opponents by attacking them with a gem of power. Amakusa is the third Season Pass 3 character to have been revealed, after Cham Cham and Hibiki Takane. One more character still needs to join the roster, but this brawler will be a guest fighter from Arc System Works’ Guilty Gear series.

Released on Xbox One and PS4 back in 2019, Samurai Shodown earned positive reviews for its easy-to-learn gameplay mechanics and strategic combat. Earlier this year, an Xbox Series X|S version of the game added 120fps gameplay and Smart Delivery transfer options.

“It captures what made the original fun and unique, but also at a time when high-damage, high-stakes fighters like this are a rarity, making its combat feel both fresh and familiar,” critic Heidi Kemps wrote in their Samurai Shodown review. “Its accessibility and easy-to-grasp gameplay belie a lot of strategic depth that makes for very intense, bloody struggles. While the single-player experience is a bit lacking, it doesn’t drag down the whole significantly–Samurai Shodown is a fighting experience well worth taking up the sword for.”

A new trailer for Nintendo’s next big Switch game, Mario Golf: Super Rush, has arrived. The overview trailer shows off what fans can expect when the game debuts on June 25, and it seems the game has a lot to offer across multiple new modes, new swing systems, and more.

Players will need to study the wind and terrain, among other factors, before swinging the club. The swing mechanics in Super Rush are simple and intuitive, Nintendo said, allowing you to adjust your power and spin, among other factors. There are also “curve” shots in the game that you can use to avoid obstacles like rocks and trees. The video also touches on the motion controls that you can use by swinging the Joy-Con like a golf club–this control setup is optional, but it could be a fun approach for people who want a more authentic experience.

There are 16 different characters in the game, and each has their own strengths like increased power or more control. The video also touches on some of the ways you can play together with friends with local multiplayer and online support.

As for the courses, these range from the more lifelike ones to fantastical courses that have lava and other Mushroom Kingdom objects and items to get around.

The Super Rush video also touches on the new game mode–Speed Golf. In this mode, all players tee off together and then race to the next shot with the aim of getting the ball in the cup in the fastest possible time. Players will collect items on the course to boost their stamina, and each character has a unique speed boost they can trigger to zip ahead of opponents or to bash them and delay their own progress. Speed Golf also has special shots that can be activated to do things like wipe out other balls in their path.

Super Rush has another new mode called Battle Golf. There are nine holes on this massive course and players can take on whichever one they want–the first to capture three wins the match. Another new mode is Golf Adventure, which allows you to take your Mii and take part in various challenges–like shooting a ball into a big honeypot–to learn the ropes. The Golf Adventure mode also has boss battles where you fire off balls at enemies. Players get XP for their efforts in Golf Adventure, which they can then allocate to different elements like speed, stamina, power, and so on.

Super Rush launches on June 25; preorders for Super Rush are open now.

It’s a good time to be a fan of golf video games, as EA is reviving its PGA Tour series with The Masters featured in the game, while 2K Sports has signed Tiger Woods to a deal for its own line of PGA Tour games.