Last week I mentioned this Golden Tee Golf CrunchDeal and said that I’d even buy it for myself. Well you may have thought, "That Doug, he’s all talk — sitting up in his mansion atop a pile of free gadgets, he’d never stoop low enough to buy a plug-and-play TV game for ten bucks."

I’ll have you know that I did indeed purchase the game and I’m happy to report that it’s a perfect gift to give to someone that you HAVE to get a gift for but want to spend the absolute least amount of money possible while still making it look that you put some thought into it.

So, on to the review…

Price:

It’s $9.94 at Target. You’d spend more than that on a $10 gift card, which is widely thought to be the smallest socially acceptable denomination to give to someone as a gift.

Look and Feel:

It’s solid. Bigger and more substantial than I thought. It doesn’t feel cheap — well, it doesn’t feel $9.94 cheap. It feels more like it should be in the $50-$60 range. The controller is a near-exact replica of the Golden Tee board you’d find in your local bar, just shrunk down to about a fourth of the size. It’s got little hand grooves underneath it on either side and the bottom-middle of the thing is molded perfectly to sit on your leg.

The trackball is quite a bit more stiff than the big-boy bar version but, who knows, maybe it’ll loosen up if I were to replicate some real-bar scenarios like spilling beer on it and rubbing pizza grease all over it. Ewww.

Graphics:

Imagine your Gameboy Advance blown up to your TV screen. Maybe your Gameboy Color, actually. No, it’s better than that, actually. Calling it akin to PGA Tour on the Sega Genesis would be a stretch but it’s a little better than 8-bit graphics. Everything’s top-down, no in-flight ball cam or anything like that. Maybe we could agree on TurboGrafx-16 quality – not actually true 16-bit, but an 8-bit CPU with a tricked-out GPU.

I don’t know. Don’t buy it for the graphics. Buy it for the love of golf.

Gameplay:

The swing mechanics are identical to the bar versions, which is a good thing. You can hit the backspin button before your backswing and apply fades, hooks, draws, and the like by pulling back and pushing forward on the trackball in different directions. You can even pull of the no-backswing swing. Just push the trackball forward and you’ll hit the ball.

You don’t get the behind-the-golfer view like you do in the bar versions. Instead, you get a view of your golfer in a little window in the upper right hand corner of your screen superimposed over a top-down view of the course. It feels a little different, but it’s not bad.

People with no human friends and/or people who are almost 30 years old and still play plug-in TV games (me) will find that, while a table for one can be fun, there’s something missing when you can’t even play against a CPU opponent. You can play together with up to three other human players, so keep that in mind if you indeed foster face-to-face human relationships.

Course Selection:

It’s bad! There’s only one course. It’s nice and varied, but I can see it getting old quickly. My secret is that I bought the game and had it sent to my parents’ house, where I’m currently visiting for the holidays. I’ll leave the game here – brilliant! – and just play it whenever I visit, so it’ll seem new to me because I’ll forget all about it between trips.

Recommendation:

True Golden Tee addicts have so-far scoffed at Radica’s attempt, returning lukewarm customer reviews. But that was back when the thing cost around $50. For under $10, it’s hard to find too much to complain about. These little guys might not last long and, again, they make pretty good last-minute gifts for the marginally-important people in your life.

Radica PTV Golden Tee Golf [Target]

This is the Official PS3 Bluetooth headset that was released with SOCOM: Confrontation earlier this fall. It is made specifically for the PS3 but also works on any other Bluetooth device. Voice quality is great and battery life, build quality and ease of use are good, making this a formidable headset. Click on for the entire review.

In the Box: In the box, you get the headset itself, a spare earpiece ring, a dock, a short usb cable and instructions.

The Good: The unit is built well from sturdy plastic and the earpiece and ear clip are rubberized for a more grippy feel. It has dedicated power, volume up, volume down and mic mute buttons, a connector for the dock on the bottom and a covered mini-USB port on top. The dock is also solid and features rubberized feet to prevent slipping. 

This headset looks pretty good too. It sports a PlayStation logo on the front and has some glossy bits here and there that tie it in well with the PlayStation 3 console and controller.

The battery life is 8 hours in-use and 300 hours on standby, so you’ll probably have to charge this headset as much as the controllers. And while charging, the ring around the mute button blinks red and when fully charged, it glows red. 

Pairing the headset with the PS3 console is extremely easy. Just put it in the dock or plug it in using the USB cable and that’s it. You can also pair it with any other device that supports Bluetooth (including the PS3) using the usual steps of putting it into discovery mode and typing in a passcode.

The really cool thing about this headset is the desktop mic mode. When you place the headset in the dock to charge, it also acts as a powerful desk mic. It supports the high quality voice chat feature on the PS3 and the voice quality is comparable to most headsets out there today. Also, the range for the microphone when it is in the dock is amazing. That being said, it also easily picks up background noise that you don’t want.

The Bad: While the rubber ring that connects the ear clip to the headset makes switching between right and left easy, it does wiggle a little.

Like many other Bluetooth headsets, this comes as one size fits all. There isn’t an included set of earpieces and ear clips of different sizes. This means that people with ears larger or smaller than average might have issues wearing this headset.

The USB cable provided is really short and doesn’t give much flexibility for placement. 

Also, because of the gamer-esque styling, you will most likely look like a tool if you are caught using one of these with your phone in public.

Final Thoughts: If you don’t already have a headset for your PS3 and want respectable battery life and the convenience of a dock and desktop mode, this is probably the one to get.

If you want a headset for your phone, you are probably better off trying a dedicated mobile phone headset.

Check out the rest of the photos below.

What’s worse than having your Xbox 360 controller die during the middle of a game? Not being able to find replacement batteries, of course. Rechargeable batteries are a viable option, but those don’t seem to last as long as we’d like, right? They can be spendy as well.

With that in mind, Nyko has a rechargeable charging dock solution for those with at least one, but no more than two wireless 360 controllers. Nyko boasts up to 25 hours of fun for the NiHM batteries and my testing revealed that to be true. I logged roughly 23 hours in between charging cycles, but that’s not to say I couldn’t get another 30 to 60 minutes out of them. Since I only have one wireless controller, I was unable to test the recharging time for both packs, which Nyko claims takes four hours total or two hours per. Because of my ADD I always missed the two-hour mark, but packs that were recharging were lit green on the charging dock denoting that it was full.

The packs themselves match the cream color of the regular Xbox 360 controllers and take a tiny bit of muscle to plug into the back of the controller. There is a set for those with the Elite, but it’s sans charging dock. It’s a just a charging port for two battery packs. I can deal with mismatched colors. But the secondary battery pack isn’t quite hefty enough to sit in the cradle on its own. I suppose you could place something on top to get the juices flowing. Nyko should add some sort of locking mechanism so that you can recharge without a controller.

Nyko’s charging solution is priced the same as Microsoft’s Quick Charge Kit but that one only comes with one rechargeable pack. An additional pack is $12. The choice is quite clear. Nyko offers a solution equal to that of the official Microsoft kit, but at a better price. Grab one for your gamer (or yourself) this holiday season.

Product Page
Charge Station 360 (Black)

I know, I know. The VGA HD AV cable has been out for three years, but I was in between TVs and only had a monitor to game on. I’ll keep this review short and sweet.

My gaming setup consisted of my Xbox 360 Elite, Razer/THX Mako 2.1 speakers and a Viewsonic VX2240W monitor. The monitor itself has no built-in speakers, so I had to connect the audio to an external system. Luckily, there’s enough separation between the VGA cable and the RCA cable so the speaker system didn’t have to sit on top of the monitor. Perfection.

The kit claims to support video resolution up to 1080p and I have to say that it works as advertised. I streamed Netflix and even hooked up my HD DVD player just to make sure. Viewsonic’s monitor has a 1680X1050 resolution, so I’d say the content was as close to full high def as you can get.

On that note, I might as well give you a run down on the VX2240w. I believe the specs are relatively impressive, but I’m not much of a peripherals guy.

Overview and Features:

• 22-inch (diagonal) widescreen LCD at 1680×1050 resolution
• 300 cd/m2 brightness
• 1000:1 static contrast ratio, 4000:1 dynamic
• 170° horizontal, 160° vertical viewing angles
• up to 2ms gray-to-gray; 5ms black-to-white
• Connections: 15-pin mini D-sub/DVI-D (with HDCP)
• Only 2.4-inches thick (not counting the stand; 8.8-inch with) and 14 pounds (including stand)
• Three year warranty
• MSRP of $450, although it can be found for less than $300 in many places

There’s no visible blur/smear when viewing high frame rate video and the contrast ratio is high enough that the colors are very distinctive. You’ll have to calibrate for a bit to get it right, though. The viewing angle is weak so you’d better be sitting right in front of the monitor for optimal viewing. The round stand that comes with the VX2240w is limiting (ugly) and only offers tilt adjustment forwards and backwards.

Overall, it’s a decent monitor but considering the price and specs it falls into the ‘worth buying’ category. Other monitors with similar specs are priced about the same. You can find it on Amazon for as low as $250.

I already reviewed the Makos this year, but it was nice to get them out of the office and really crank them up in my apartment. I love these things.

Xbox 360 VGA HD Cable

Viewsonic VX2240w Product Page

Razer/THX Mako 2.1 Product Page

Short Version: As music games go, both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour are impressive, fun, and either would make a great addition to any gamer’s lineup. But which one is best for you?

Overview and Methodology

We’ll take a look at Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour, both for the Xbox 360, and break things down within various categories. Both standalone games cost around $60, with full band kits going for just under $200. I have the full band kits for Guitar Hero World Tour as well as the first version of Rock Band – not Rock Band 2. Since the instruments have been updated somewhat for the Rock Band 2 kit, I’ll try not to make too many detailed direct comparisons aside from overall general differences.

Since music is a pretty subjective issue, keep in mind that your tastes might differ greatly from mine. I’m coming from the point of view of a 29-year old who’s formative years consisted of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, AC/DC, Megadeth, Anthrax, Bon Jovi, and bands like that. In high school and college I listened to harder alternative and punk. So the viewpoint for some of the opinions in this guide is coming from someone who likes hard rock, metal, punk, and heavier/grungier alternative music.

As far as instruments go, I grew up playing drums, bass, and guitar — in that order of skill — and I played in 15-20 bands throughout high school and college. I sang, too. So now you know, and knowing is, indeed, at least half the battle. Now let’s get started…

Song Lists

Surprisingly, there’s a rather large amount of identical songs featured between the two games, yet I found the overall experiences to be quite different. Rock Band 2 has 75 famous songs plus nine bonus songs from relative no-namers, while GHWT has 86 famous songs. Here are some of the overlapping songs found in both games:

• American Woman – The Guess Who
• Everlong – Foo Fighters
• Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
• Feel the Pain – Dinosaur Jr.
• Float On – Modest Mouse
• Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
• Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups
• Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
• The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
• Mountain Song – Jane’s Addiction
• One Way or Another – Blondie
• Our Truth – Lacuna Coil
• Ramblin’ Man – The Allman Brothers Band
• Today – Smashing Pumpkins

I personally enjoy the music in Rock Band 2 better than the music in Guitar Hero World Tour. I found most of Rock Band 2’s songs to be songs I liked and if I came upon a song I hadn’t heard before or didn’t necessarily love, I found that most of them fell into some sort of hard rock category, so at least they appealed to me somewhat.

GHWT, on the other hand, had some true musical gems here and there but I found myself agitated at having to play through long songs like Hotel California (which I believe to be one of the worst songs in the history of American music – can’t stand it), The Joker, Sweet Home Alabama, Stranglehold by Ted Nugent, and stuff like that. It’s harder to keep the adrenaline pumping with GHWT than it is with Rock Band 2.

If you’re looking for variety, GHWT has a diverse song list. You’ll find a little bit of everything, which will appeal to plenty of people. Personally, I wanna rock (rock!), which I found to be much more consistent in Rock Band 2. Oh, and you can import songs from the first Rock Band into Rock Band 2. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Presentation

Both games feature an animated group of musicians performing at some sort of venue. GHWT’s presentation is a bit more cartoony and fun, while Rock Band 2’s seems more gritty and semi-realistic. Once you get into a song, though, you’ll be concentrating on the notes far more than you’ll be checking out the visuals and animations.

You start out at small parties and dive bars and then work your way up to arenas as you progress throughout the game. GHWT features plenty of surprise guests in the form of actual musicians – Billy Corgan, Jimi Hendrix, Zakk Wylde, Ted Nugent, to name a few – which is kind of cool, although it seems more superficial than anything. Rock Band 2 has some guests as well, but not nearly as many or as famous.

Venues and locations in GHWT are relatively more elaborate than in Rock Band 2: you’ll play at a frat houses, a state fair, a farm, a church, recording studios, Times Square, AT&T Park, Ozzfest, the House of Blues, and other famous locations, so there’s definitely an air of realism as far as GHWT’s visuals go.

However, I found the actual feeling of playing in a band to be more realistic in Rock Band 2, overall. When you get cranking along on a song, the crowd starts to cheer louder and sing along with the words, which I think represents the feeling of playing an actual show more realistically. Again, there’s more adrenaline with Rock Band 2. The emphasis in GHWT seems to be on the venues and guest stars, while the performance experience tends to be emphasized with Rock Band 2.

Guitar Experience

Hands-down, I find the Rock Band guitar (I have the guitar from the first version, remember – the second version is apparently similar, with the added feature of being wireless) to be much, much better than the GHWT guitar simply because the buttons aren’t separated on the Rock Band 2 guitar. I was having trouble on easier skill levels with GHWT guitar (below, left) until I tried using the Rock Band guitar (below, right) instead. After making the switch, I was able to beat songs on the harder skill levels that I’d been failing before when using the GHWT guitar on easier levels.

Anyone who’s played guitar before knows how much you rely on sliding your fingers along the frets. With GHWT, the buttons are far enough apart that sliding doesn’t work too well. The included guitar does have a trackpad-like section higher up on the neck that’s used for tapping, which is kind of cool, although I didn’t use it all that often. The Rock Band guitar has identical-but-smaller versions of the colored buttons higher up on its neck, which I found useful for soloing and complicated runs.

Drumming Experience

I much prefer playing drums in GHWT — above all, the way drumming is handled and scored, in general. I can’t speak to Rock Band 2’s actual drum kit, as I only have the first version, but my argument isn’t for or against the drum kits of either game, it’s more for how drumming is handled. Allow me to explain…

In Rock Band and Rock Band 2, you’re expected to hit each drum note in order to score – fair enough. Now let’s say you’re playing a song you know really well but you’re playing it on the Medium skill level and there’s a section of the song coming up that contains a certain fill-in or triplet or double-kick in the real-life version of the song but the Medium version in Rock Band/Rock Band 2 calls for a less elaborate fill or a single kick or something like that. If you play the more advanced, real-life rhythm, you’ll be docked points. Play the real, true version of a song but at a lower skill setting, and you won’t make it past the first thirty seconds of the song.

GHWT, on the other hand, lets you flail around to your heart’s content as long as you keep the overall general rhythm between the snare, kick, and hi-hat going. You won’t build any star power this way, but you won’t kill the song either. So it’s more fun for  drummers who know that real-life drumming is mostly about keeping songs popping along in four-four time, while just about any fill-ins, doubles, or triples are fair game.

There’s been a fair amount of discussion about the GHWT drums being faulty, but those issues were apparently linked to some manufacturing problems with early hardware. The drums I got didn’t have any trouble and current kits should be fine.

Singing

Ever done Karaoke? That’s about the extent of the singing experience in both games except your own voice is potted way down, volume-wise. The actual singing part is pretty similar between the two games. I found Rock Band 2 to be a little easier to follow but I found the star power feature in GHWT to be a bit cooler. All in all, though, don’t buy either game based solely on the singing feature unless you check out the each game’s song list first. Then buy whichever game has more of the songs you like.

Online Features, Extras

Online multiplayer is actually pretty similar on both games as well. You can hook up with your friends and play songs together and/or up to four of you can take on another four in a battle of the bands scenario. 

As far as downloadable content is concerned, the Rock Band franchise has a ton of songs right now. Guitar Hero’s list is slowly growing and will likely eventually catch up. If you want to download extra songs right now, though, Rock Band games have the most stuff available (as of December 2008).

Guitar Hero has GHTunes, though, which consists of user-generated songs created with the game’s music studio feature. You can create your own songs and upload them to share with other GHWT players. Rock Band 2 doesn’t have a music creation system but it does have a feature called Drum Trainer, which basically teaches you how to play drums. I’d give the edge on “extra” stuff to GHWT thanks to the music studio, but downloadable content currently goes to the Rock Band games. Both games’ online multiplayer features are pretty much a wash.

So Which One’s Better?

Probably Guitar Hero World Tour. No, wait, Rock Band 2! No, wait… this isn’t working!

If you’re looking for rock, rock, and more rock, you might enjoy Rock Band 2. If you’re looking for a more diverse selection of music, Guitar Hero World Tour is probably more up your alley. If you’ll be playing guitar most often, I prefer Rock Band 2 but if drumming’s your thing, I like how GHWT handles everything. Singing and online stuff can go either way, while there’s more to download with Rock Band 2 but more to create and upload with GHWT.

I happen to love playing the drums in GHWT but I like the music in Rock Band 2 better so, clearly, I’m no help at all. But this isn’t meant to choose one game over the other – they’re both great games. Hopefully there’s some information here that can help you choose which one would be right for you.

Rock Band 2 [Official Site]

Guitar Hero World Tour [Official Site]

Quick Version: Whether you’re new to the Call of Duty series of first-person shooters or you’ve played some or all of the past versions, you’ll likely find World at War to be a compelling and powerful addition to your library of games.

Overview and Features

• Set during World War II, you’ll play part of the game as a US Marine against the Japanese and part of the game as a Russian soldier against the Germans
• Voice acting by Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman
• Single player, cooperative, and multiplayer modes
• Really well-done cut scenes, audio, and gore. The action and violence is very, very graphic without being over-the-top or sensational – it’s got a Mature rating, though
• MSRP of $59.99 as reviewed for Xbox 360

Pros

If you’re a fan of the Call of Duty series, you’re interested in World War II, and/or you like first-person shooters, you’ll want to pick this one up. Some have wondered if Activision’s decision to return to historic combat after the successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would pay off, and I can tell you that yes, it did.

As far as gameplay and presentation are concerned, the game runs smoothly, the graphics are great, and the cut scenes are marvelous. Treyarch, the game’s developer, used historic war-time footage interspersed with quick cuts to various maps and strategic battle plans to move the story along in between levels.

They didn’t pull any punches, either, as there’s some pretty graphic video footage. Gameplay, too, features some of the most graphic and (what I’d assume to be) realistic death I’ve seen in a video game. You don’t just shoot someone dead, you might blow your enemy’s arm off first and hope to finish the job before he grabs his pistol with the remaining arm. The real wartime video during the cutscenes shows people getting shot dead, too. It’s quite jarring and unsettling.

The whole thing – cutscenes and gameplay – is gory and uncomfortable, but not in a “Oh that’s sick” kind of way. It’s more of a “Oh my God, war is even worse than I could have ever imagined,” feeling. Sad as it may sound, it took a videogame like this to give me a whole new appreciation for the shocking brutality of war. If you’re a parent, this is NOT an acceptable game for a child. It’s rated as Mature (17+) for a reason. If you insist on buying it for your kids, turn of the gore in the settings menu first.

Now on to the game itself. You get the standard single player and multiplayer modes, plus a new cooperative mode, which is basically playing through a slightly modified version of the single player game with one other person (split-screen) or up to three other players online. It works well and it’s a nice balance between the single player and multiplayer modes that adds a fair amount of replay value to the title.

I found multiplayer mode to work really well, mostly because my FPS skills have fallen off since college. Instead of being thrown into the middle of a deathmatch with a bunch of advanced players, you start out in “Boot Camp” which is basically made of people like yourself who are playing online for the first time. As you rack up kills and points and whatnot, you get promoted. Once you hit a certain level, you can’t play on the Boot Camp level any more and you’re forced to play against better competition.

Another nice touch that adds a little extra to multiplayer is the inclusion of stuff like air raids and dog attacks. Kill enough people in a row and you’ll be able to call in some bombs to be dropped from above or some vicious dogs to be unleashed against your foes. You’ll pick up points for any remote kills that you facilitate, which is pretty cool.

Single player mode is done well, too, with voice acting by Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman prodding you along as the American and Russian sergeants, respectively. Aside from straight-up shooting, you’ll find yourself behind the wheel of a tank and manning the guns on a fighter plane, both are fun breaks from standard combat. 

Cons

I only have a couple of minor quibbles with Call of Duty: World at War. First, you’ve got a double storyline with little to no warning that you’re about to shift gears. You start the game as Private Miller, fighting against the Japanese and then all of a sudden the next level loads up and you’re lying in a ditch in Stalingrad, faking your own death so a German soldier won’t shoot you. Half of the action takes place out in the open in the Pacific while the other half in Europe is more enclosed in buildings and whatnot.

It’s not bad, actually, it just takes time to readjust to different combat styles. Often I’d find myself having a great time in one storyline only to be kicked over to the other storyline for a while. Some may like it, others may not. I just thought the whole process could have been a bit more seamless, that’s all.

And finally, like other Call of Duty titles, everything kind of moves along on a rail. You have an objective, you complete it, you get another objective. Repeat. No running too far left or right because the hills, bushes, or buildings will keep you moving forward along your predestined track. There were a few instances that I couldn’t figure out what I had to do to progress to the next waypoint, as it were, only to find that I hadn’t used the correct weapon to try to blow up a certain building or I hadn’t moved my player to a certain area of the level that would trip the next sequence of events into motion. It’d be nice to see what could be done with a more dynamic environment.

Recommendation

Despite the few minor, minor annoyances, Call of Duty: World at War is one of the best games I’ve played in a while. If you’re at all interested in the series, World War II, or first-person shooters, it’d be a worthwhile addition to your games collection.

It’s natural that any sequel would succumb to the highest sort of pressure when the original is claimed as a “console-seller”. Gears of War 2 was one game which most of the gaming fraternity waited for due to the unimaginable success of the GOW-original all around.
As it was announced “ it would be Bigger , Better and Badass “ . Well, “SLIMIER” too ;)The limited edition merchandise was definitely a great add-on.

Read more…

Quick Version: Quantum of Solace offers a relatively entertaining single-player experience, but the true power of the game lies in the multiplayer modes. If you were a fan of multiplayer GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, you’ll have a blast with this one too.

Overview and Features:

• Built upon the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine
• Dialogue from the actual film actors used in the game
• Storyline spans both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace
• Multiplayer Features: New “Bond-specific” multiplayer modes, up to 12 simultaneous players. Modes include: Deathmatch, Domination, Bond Versus (one guy is Bond against everyone else), Bond Evasion (one team protects Bond, the other tries to kill him), and Golden Gun (find and use the “Golden Gun” weapon for one-hit kills)
• Intelligent AI in single player mode
• MSRP of $59.99 (Xbox 360)

You’ll like it if…

…you went to college around the turn of the century and spent most, if not all, of your spare time playing GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64. I must have logged about 100 hours of multiplayer before I even played the single player version. The Quantum of Solace multiplayer set me awash with nostalgia.

The single player mode is pretty straightforward and entertaining. It’s linear in the sense that you have objectives that need to be accomplished before you can progress to the next part of a certain mission. How you accomplish those objectives is a little less rigid. In some situations, you’ll need to decide whether you want to sneak up on all your enemies and kill them quietly or if you’d rather start a big, fat fire fight.

Fans of the latest Bond movies will also likely appreciate that the game sticks pretty closely to the storylines of both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. If you’ve seen both films, you’ll recognize plenty of the dialogue and locations in the game.

From a technical standpoint, Activision did an excellent job with the visuals and gameplay. The game looks great, it runs smoothly, and it’s easy to pick up and master the intuitive control scheme. If you’ve played first person shooters before, it’ll be like riding a bike. The game uses the COD4 engine, which works really well.

But not if…

…you’re looking for something completely new out of a game. Within minutes of starting the single player version — and all throughout playing Quantum of Solace — I kept feeling like I was playing Splinter Cell.

There’s a bit more open combat in Quantum of Solace but for the most part the general idea is: get directions from boss, check cell phone for map, sneak around, climb up building, shoot out surveillance cameras, use sniper scope and/or silencer, pick lock on door, quietly kill enemy from behind, repeat. Not to say that Splinter Cell is a bad series by any means. I love(d) those games. This game just felt like Sam Fischer in a tuxedo except that I couldn’t jump up and do the splits between two walls.

Recommendation:

If you’re a big fan of the latest two James Bond movies, get the game. You’ll love it. The characters are there, the dialogue is there, and the locations and plotlines are there. And if you miss the good old days of playing GoldenEye with your buddies, get the game and invite them over or, if you guys have all moved, hook up on Xbox Live and play until four in the morning like you used to. You’ll have a blast.

However if you’re looking for “the next big thing” in first-person shooters, you could probably hold off on this one. It wouldn’t be a bad purchase, but there’s not much here from a gameplay/objectives/features standpoint that you haven’t already seen.

BODIES AS SHIELDS!!!

This won’t be a complete review because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. Like you, I’ve been waiting since I completed the first Gears of War, so instead, I’ll tell you what’s different. Cool?

But I can tell you that it’s everything I could have ever hoped and dreamed for. The reviews that came out earlier this week were spot-on with the scoring. It’s amazing, but there are a few things that are worth noting for the hardcore Gears fans.

I never, ever pay attention to the story the first time I play a game, so I won’t really get into it. However, I will say that Dom’s wife is a MILF and baby Gear Carmine has a gruesome death. He’s not as much of a pain in the ass as I thought he would be, though. He was a good soldier.

Tai (badass South Pacific warrior) and Dizzy (crazy cowboy) are some crazy mofos and a refreshing addition to the Gears cast. The “Cole Train” has one of the most badass intros I’ve seen from any game and/or movie. Baird also makes a return but not till much later in the game. BTW – you don’t ever want to get captured by the locust. They make you do some crazy shit. Tai knows, unfortunately.

I will say that the first 15 minutes of the game are the BOMB (f*cking awesome). I won’t giveaway the ending because that’d be a dick move and I want you guys to enjoy it as much as I did. I’m also fearful that Cliffy B will hunt me down and curb stomp me.

Anyway, remember the story I posted a few weeks back about how the gaming industry was sucking as much as Hollywood and how I thought that maybe there wasn’t any ingenuity left? Well, that’s kind of true, but let’s focus on what Ted Price from Insomniac said,

“The end result is usually a game that’s bigger, more polished and has more innovative features than the original game.”

And that’s just it; Gears 2 is a more polished and refined version of the original Gears. Some of the things I noticed are very subtle differences from the original and most of the changes are great while some annoy me just because.

The AI is much improved and the locusts don’t go down without a fight. They have the ability to revive each other, but so do you. However, the locusts have a new pal that can revive them when they’re near death (crawling) if he/she/it is somewhere within the battle sequence. So, to kill them you’re either going to have to shoot ‘em dead, curb stomp them or use them as meat shields. Going back to the curb stomping for a second. You either straddle said locusts and beat the crap out of them or you flip them over and stomp their brains out. Using them as meat shields when they’re semi-alive is AMAZING. But you’re stuck using a pistol, so it does have its drawbacks. They either die from absorbing all the gunfire or you snap their necks when you’re done using them.

My next point is super nitpicky but in the first Gears your Lancer Assault rifle aka chainsaw gun has a lot of kick to it, which makes it difficult to keep your aim on one target, but this time around it doesn’t have as much kick. The action is much smoother, but it’s easier to camp out and keep the locusts within your sights. Like I said, super nitpicky. Also, when you’re chainsawing an enemy you either saw from top to bottom or you go right into their gut and saw upwards. It’s pretty badass. Another thing worth noting is that when you chainsaw a box or thin membrane, you’re actually sawing through it this time whereas in the first one you just sort of stood there until things fell apart.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the vehicle levels in Gears 1 and I especially disliked the “kill the krill with a spotlight” level the most. The levels with vehicles in Gears 2, however, are way, way better and much more fun to drive/play. The Reaver ride reminds me of the Matrix and Return of the Jedi. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.

Selecting which path you take is much more streamlined this go around. Instead of wasting precious seconds deciding which path to take you simply go that route without stopping gameplay. Thanks for that, Epic. Except the latter half of the game reverts back to the old way. Oh well.

So how’s the Unreal engine? The improvements seem pretty miniscule to me, but I wasn’t paying all that much attention to it. I recall Epic saying that they could bring on thousands of locusts at once, but you never ever come into contact with them when they do show up. It’s more for show. Epic kind of improved the cover system, but it’s more show than go as they say in the car world. Visually, cover begins to breakdown when you fire on your enemies, but it doesn’t actually go away. So, you can’t screw over the locusts by shooting up all their cover.

The graphics have been vastly improved and the new soundtrack by Steve Jablonsky is marginally better than the original. I have my makeshift gaming center (review on that later) rigged to my Razer speakers, so they’re almost at full capacity and it sounds fantastic.

Unfortunately I can’t comment on anything other than Solo Campaign so you may want to hit up the other gaming sites since they clearly had more than one copy and time to have a more extensive review. I can’t wait until my friends get GoW2 tomorrow. It’s going to be a fragtastic time. Nerdy, I know. I’ll have to warn the others about Tickers and Sires. I hate Tickers as much as I hate Wretches.

Epic has improved Gears 2 with subtle differences that make it standout from the original and a much better story (be it a sappy one that focuses on Dom…), but I have to say that everything about the game seems more refreshed and 10x better. Maybe it’s the fanboy in me, but any fan of the first game has to buy the sequel. In fact, go out to your local Gamestop or Best Buy or whoever that’s reopening at midnight tonight and take Friday off. I can’t wait for Gears 3 and whatever else Epic has in store for the Gears universe, but you can damn well be sure that it’s going to kick ass.

I don’t normally score games that I review other than a recommendation to buy or not, but I give Epic’s Gears of War 2 a 9/10. Why only a 9? Because Gears 3 will surely garner a perfect score with an improved Unreal engine and I want to piss off Cliffy B.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to the store and bought a pack of AA batteries. I have a few packs of rechargeable Energizer batteries that I use for my DSLR or other random gadgets that don’t charge over USB. However, three of my four Wiimotes are left in the cold because I don’t have enough rechargeable batteries to go around and often times I’m snatching batteries from remotes so my friends can flail around with me.

The PU station is super convenient and keeps all your Wiimotes in one place and recharges them! It’s only $45 and it comes with four colored straps!

Battery life is said to be 13 hours and I lost track after eight hours (still going though), so I’m sure it hovers around that figure. Each Wiimote takes about four hours to recharge, but, again, I stopped keeping track because I plop them down each night before going to bed and they’re fully charged the next day.

The contest for the PU 4x Quad Charge Station is quite easy. Send photos of yourself in your Halloween costume with some sort of CG signage to contest at crunchgear dot com and we’ll randomly pick six winners. It’s that simple! You have until 12PM EDT on November 3rd to send in your entries and we’ll announce the winners later in the day. Get to it.

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I have before me the Limited Edition Ratchet & Clank PSP Entertainment Pack. And with said pack comes a silver PSP-3000, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo and a voucher for echochrome. Many have wondered if it’s worth the upgrade or if it’s in any way distinguishable from the previous generation. It is and it isn’t, but it kicks much ass.

I can say right off the bat that the PSP-3000 hardware is much, much nicer than my white Darth Vader PSP-2000. It’s much lighter too – by about 100 grams give or take. Aside from a few cosmetic changes on the outside most people wouldn’t recognize that one is newer than the other except for the color by just looking at it.

The buttons on the 3000 are definitely more resistant when pushing down, which I personally like because inadvertently pressing the wrong button during a game can be frustrating. That might not be a big deal to anyone, but it’s something worth noting. The “Home” button has been modified with a PlayStation logo, which used to reside on the upper left corner and a built-in mic has been placed between the volume keys and PSP logo. The Sony logo has been shifted from the right upper corner to where the PSP logo used to be. The silver ring surrounding the PSP logo on the back has been reduced in size and the overall package is much more polished and refined than that of the PSP-2000.

The screen is much brighter and a lot crisper on the 3000 than it is on the 2000. You might not be able to tell by looking at the photos, but it is. That whole interlacing issue exists, but I hold the unit at arm’s length and not six inches from my nose. It honestly doesn’t bother me and the only reason I can tell it’s there is because I have the older model to compare it to. It’s a caveat that doesn’t seem to be easily fixed, if at all, but it’s something to think about if you’re looking to upgrade. I can’t attest to the screen’s readability in the sun because it’s super late in the day here in NYC, but I never play outside.

The built-in mic works great and folks can hear me loud and clear over Skype. Again, who knows what it’s like outside of my office cube or apartment, but I don’t make Skype calls on the sidewalk.

I’ve been wondering about hacking the PSP-3000 and it remains to be seen from what I’ve gathered on the Interwebs if it’s even possible. The Pandora battery doesn’t work with the 3000 and v5.0 of the firmware was only partially decrypted, so we’ll have to give this one some time. Maybe Sony made it hack proof, but only time will tell. There’s a lot of discussion going on over at the MaxConsole forums about it now and PinoyPSP3000 has managed to sort of hack it, but it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s worth the effort.

As Nicholas told me earlier today when I asked about hacking my PSP-2000, he said, “It’s probably not worth it.” And I’d have to agree with him. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it to see what all the fuss is about, but in the meantime I’m ok with what I have.

Battery life: remains to be seen. I’ll update in the next day or so.

So, is the PSP-3000 all it’s cracked up to be? Yes. Is it worth upgrading to from the PSP-2000? If you’ve got an extra $200 lying around and you don’t stick your nose six inches from the screen. I’d take a look at both in person and try out the buttons on both and see which floats your boat. I do have to say that the PSP-3000 hardware pwns that of the PSP-2000, but maybe it’s just me.

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Amazon

My first hands-on with this action/horror shooter from EA Redwood Shores was at E3 where Devin and I were both dumbfounded by what we saw. I couldn’t stop talking about it for hours and Devin eventually told me to STFU. It was dark, gruesome and I had to have it, which is why I attempted to ‘accidentally’ walk away with a build during E3. The graphics and gameplay alone had me sold but it was the soundtrack that put me over the edge. And EA was the last place I expected to find a shooter worth playing in an already saturated market.

The game is set hundreds of years in the future where we’ve ravaged the Earth of all its natural resources and now we’re scouring the far reaches of space to pillage other planets for their resources. For whatever reason the USG Ishimura has cut off all communications with the governing body that manages the pillaging of planets and a small maintenance crew is sent out to figure out what happened. This is where you takeover as Isaac Clarke and begin your lonely mission to find out what happened to the crew and try to find a way off the ship since yours is unfortunately blown to smithereens while trying to keep the rest of your crew alive. As you progress through each section of the Ishimura you’re tasked with little missions to fix what you can and along the way you find clues (usually audio clips) left by crewmembers that give insight as to what happened. Most are cryptic and I eventually stopped listening to them. You’ll find out why in just a bit. The storyline is entertaining, but it’s not something I focused on too much.

Your enemies throughout this space odyssey consist of various Necromorphs that get progressively harder to kill and just scare the shit out of you. The main feature of this game that piqued my interest at E3 was the dismemberment aspect and it lived up to all the hype. You have to dismember these creatures or they will come after you with their scythe-like limbs (hits to the body and head don’t do much, so go after the limbs) and your ammo situation can be limited at times, so you have to get creative. More on this later. I especially liked the curb stomping ala Gears of War that was thrown in and I spent a few minutes stomping dead enemies just to see the rest of their limbs dissipate.
About halfway through the game the Necromorphs are able to regenerate so you’re SOL if you get stuck in a room with a few too many beasties. However, with the click of the left joystick you’re presented with an illuminated path that shows you where you need to go. Kind of like the illuminated path that might show up on a plane if the power goes out. This was extremely helpful, but it’s a crutch that I fell back on many times simply because I could. To be honest without it I would have spent hours and hours just wandering around for no reason. It’s a blessing and a curse, but you do end up backtracking to unlock certain areas of the ship and it can get confusing at times. (This is also why I stopped listening to the audio logs)

Let’s talk about the weapons in Dead Space now. There isn’t any one weapon that’s worth zeroing in on, but my usual rotation consisted of a rifle, line gun, plasma cutter and flamethrower. Each having its own secondary function that I unleashed one too many times in elevator shafts inflicting damage that ultimately lead to my demise prematurely. But my favorite weapons were the line gun and plasma cutters. Each of these weapons can be upgraded via workbenches scattered throughout the ship and I typically focused on upgrading the capacity of each weapon whereas as a smarter player would have focused on improving the overall damage inflicted, but said player must also be savvy with the stasis utility. Remember the low ammo situations where you have to get creative that I mentioned earlier? Well, this is where a more veteran shooter would slow down their enemies via stasis and dismember the Necromorphs with a few pistol whips rather than unloading clips upon clips of bullets. Certain Necromorphs are unaffected by certain weapons so it’s a crapshoot when you encounter new enemies.

I’ve grown quite accustomed to the third-person shooter genre, but DS manages to revitalize the genre, which I feel is getting stagnant, whether we like it or not. The HUD system is like nothing else and I hope to see other developers clone or improve upon this system. You no longer need to pause mid-game or dart your eyes to the corners of your screen to see your vitals. Isaac’s life meter is exactly where you’re looking 90 percent of the time and stopping to look at how much ammo each weapon has or where you are on the map is a risk because the game keeps going even if you’ve decided to take a tiny break.

The zero gravity sections of the game were challenging and frustrating at the same time. It kept things fresh and trying to maneuver yourself while being chased by aliens had me sweating bullets at times. I can sort of imagine what it would be liked based on the zero gravity flight I took the other month and I’m pretty sure I’d be dead within seconds if I ever find myself in a real life space odyssey.

So, should you buy this game? You’re going to need something to keep yourself occupied before Gears of War 2 comes out. Heh. Honestly, I enjoyed Dead Space and it lived up to my expectations. If Bioshock creeped you out then you better wear a diaper when you load this game into your console. Pick it up today for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Looking for a good time-waster? Check out Adrenaline Pool Online for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s just $4.99, easy to pick up, and features online play. You can play four different games: 8-ball, 9-ball, Straight, and Snooker.

The graphics are pretty realistic, albeit with some cartoony effects – see the little starbursts in the photo above – and the game makes solid use of the touchscreen without making things too gimmicky. For instance, you use the touch interface to aim your shot and add English to the cue ball but you don’t actually have to worry about sliding your finger back and forth to shoot. You simply set the power level and tap the “Shoot” button once you’ve gotten everything in place.

If you’re a fan of online flash-based billiard games, you’ll feel right at home with this one. You can play offline against the computer or a second human player or look for people to play online. In fact, if you’re playing the computer alone you’ll sometimes get a little pop-up message saying that a live person wants to play you online.

All in all, Adrenaline Pool Online is a great way to pass time. As a standalone, offline billiards game, the $5 price tag is worth it. The added online component, though, makes it almost endlessly playable.

Adrenaline Pool Online [Link will open iTunes]

So how does 2K Sports’ NBA 2K9 do this year?

General Overview

The game is much improved over last year’s offering and hardcore basketball buffs will come away impressed. The graphics are much better and more life-like. Yeah, I know, but it’s true. 2KS went ahead with some new motion captures for players that will leave you in awe at times.
What I really liked about 2K9 was the overall broadcast style of the game. It’s like watching a game on TBS, which might not matter to some folks, but it’s something I noticed and grew fond of. Cheryl Miller, Clark Kellogg and Kevin Harlan are your commentators for this year and they’re sort of ho-hum IMO, but anyone other than Bill Walton is a plus in my book. That’s more or less the cosmetic changes made for this year.

How’s the gameplay? I’ll be honest, I hate overly complicated control schemes and basketball games fall into this category. But that’s a good thing too. They didn’t just stop at the cosmetic stuff. 2KS made changes where it really matters and that’s on the court.

Here’s the quick and dirty. The defensive scheme is a tad better than last year, but it’s not perfect. These sorts of things will never be perfect when compared to real-life, though. You can lock into your opponent via the left stick, but you can’t seem to do much when they don’t have the ball. Would be nice to keep Lebron from getting the ball, but what can you do? Which leads me to another point worth mentioning. Star players like Lebron or KG will make more buckets whereas last year you had to basically hit that jumper at the apex to score. Basically, shots they would normally make are now money in the bank. The AI has been tweaked to be a little more real this go around as well. You can send your teammates to make cuts to the hoop or set a pick. You can also modify your shots mid-air, which comes in handy when a big tree like Shaq gets in your face.

Another cool tweak that I first saw at E3 was the introduction of player’s Ambitions. It’s more or less a set of things that players are known for or look for from teams they play on. Example, if you want to trade a player that wants to play for a winning team to a team that sucks then it won’t happen.

You can also cut and edit your own highlight reels and show them off to other NBA 2K9 players if you’re into that sort of thing.

Multiplayer

This was probably what stood out to me the most. With Total Team Control you can play online with nine of your friends for real 5-on-5 games. Of course, some of the people you choose to play with can be complete donkeys and screw up the game, but it’s kind of fun to sit back and watch. It’s the closest you’ll ever get to playing a real game of basketball. Heh. Go outside and play for real, fatty. ☺

Living Rosters

This is 2K Sports version of EA’s Dynamic DNA for NBA Live 09. It updates player stats throughout the year, so if a player gets injured or they start doing some funky move then those get updated in the game. It looks good from what I can tell, but we won’t know for sure until the season stats.

Overall

I’ve never been the biggest fan of basketball games, but 2K Sports’ titles usually win me over long enough to play through an entire season. It’s much improved from last year, but the real draw is Living Rosters and it remains to be seen how it will compete with EA’s Dynamic DNA. But I give this one my seal of approval and recommend you pick it up.

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This is the big thing in Lucas Arts’ Fracture and how it differentiates itself from traditional shooters. You’re constantly running around raising and lowering the terrain to kill your enemies, getting to places you can’t reach, and providing protection for yourself. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen and it sort of works.

Update – Multiplayer will be updated and added soon. Our build was Gold and not retail.

Story

If you’ve downloaded the demo then you basically know the premise of the game, so I won’t go into much detail there, but if you haven’t, then here’s the quick and dirty. The year is 2161 and the country is in a state of civil war and is divided among the Pacificans and the Atlantic Alliance. You are Jet Brody and your mission is to defeat General Sheridan and his crazed army of genetically modified super soldiers. But if that’s not good enough for you then just watch the trailer.

Gameplay

I’m used to playing shooters like Halo 3 and Gears of War among the many that are out there and Fracture just can’t keep up. Little Jet Brody is slow to get from one point to another. When he sprints it’s even worse. But that’s about the only gripe I have so far. The graphics are great and the sound effects aren’t too shabby, but there are times when your CO is trying to tell you things and it’s barely audible (or I’m just deaf).

The control scheme is fairly simple. The X-button reloads your weapon of choice; the Y-button switches between two guns; the B-button punches; the A-button jumps; RT fires your weapon; LT launches one of four types of grenades; RB raises terrain; LB lowers terrain; left joystick maneuvers Jet and pressing it downward will make Jet crouch; right joystick pans up and down and side to side, pressing it down will go into scope mode; back button shows you your objective; start button pauses; D-pad selects one of four grenades.

Weapons

The plethora of weaponry in the game is vast, although many of them seem to be direct clones of themselves. But there are tons and tons of weapons, like 30 or so. My favorites were the Black Widow (basically a sniper rifle) and Vortex grenades (sucks everything within a few feet of impact into the ground).

The terraforming weaponry in the game is the biggest draw. Because there are so many weapons to be had in the game, Day 1 Studios threw in a weapons testing mode that can be unlocked by collecting data discs throughout the game. I spent a few hours just playing around with all the weapons in this mode.

Multiplayer

Fracture has it, but my build of the game doesn’t work so I’m unable to comment. We’ll update when we get our retail build.

Enemies

The enemies were a bit predictable and none of them really stood out from each other except for the ones that jumped around and bombed you from above. I hated those guys.

Overall

The terraforming aspect of the game is unique and if you’re into it then I’d go ahead and grab it. Rated against other shooters, I’d probably pass, but to each his own. If you haven’t tried the demo then do so now. Fracture is available starting today for the Xbox 360 and PS3 for $60.

There are six levels, rather, chapters: The First True Test, Closer to Destiny, Senator’s Daughter, Darker Side of Felucia, Against the Empire, and A Hope Reborn. There are two modes: normal and hard. In normal mode you progress rather slowly and earn Force Powers one at a time. In hard mode you acquire powers quicker and the intensity of the game increases and each chapter boss takes a painstakingly longer time to defeat. At the end of each level, you get back onto your ship and go through a training program with droids to learn about your new powers. It gets tedious after a while since you know what to expect.

A Survival Mode is also present wherein you battle through six levels to gain a high score. I didn’t dabble too much into this one, though.

You frantically draw various patterns for various Force Powers to defeat storm troopers, exotic plants, Jedi masters, and AT-ST Walkers among others. Each power or combination of powers help you to defeat said foes and include the following: Force Grip, Force Pull, Force Push, Force Lightning, Force Drain, Force Heal, Jedi Mind Trick and Force Speed. The game actually kind of waits for you to figure out which Force Power to use on your enemies with a glowing blue circle until you figure it out. I have images for everything, but I don’t really want to spoil it for anyone, but you guys let me know and I’ll whip up a gallery.

So, your mission as the Apprentice is to destroy the Emperor, but Darth screws you in the end and you die. That’s the short end of the story. Somewhere in between you have some sort of love interest with your pilot Juno Eclipse, but nothing happens since you die. I actually thought this game was way too short and hardcore buffs will enjoy it if you’re into the story line, which I barely followed. I like Star Wars and all, but I had sitting through dialogue. And I thought the Apprentice looked like an elf or a Vulcan. Would I willingly pay $10 for this game? No. Was it fun? Yes. You be the judge.

Playing video games is hard enough without your console frying every few hours. I get headshot, teabagged, ROLFed, and laughed out of XBox Live with reckless abandon and, in a way, I’m sick of it. That’s why I’m glad I can now be a little bit different and, hopefully, keep the red ring of death from attacking thanks to the Lian-Li PC-XB01, an XBox case mod that almost anyone can put together.

Note: This will void your warranty in ways you don’t even want to think about.

What is the PC-XB01? It’s basically a PC case with a few special stand-offs and inserts to work well with the XB360’s motherboard. If you open the XB360 you’ll find a motherboard, a DVD drive, and two tiny fans. These fans are supposed to cool the graphics chips which, as my buddy recently discovered, are covered by heatsinks with insufficient contact with the chips. The chips are further ruined by insufficient heat paste which eventually dries up over the years. My XBox, for example, was 3 years old.

This selfsame XBox just suffered from the red ring of death. I’ve had it since 2005 and it was running fine until I turned on Force Unleashed and all hell broke loose. So I decided the best solution would be to tear it up and try it in the new case. Either my box would still be broken and I’d have a review or the Lian-Li would miraculously cool it sufficiently to play. It was a win-win, essentially.

The kit includes the case, a SATA cable, and a power cable adapter. The case itself is made of lightweight aluminum and contains little more than the DVD/HD mount and some holes for the XB360 standoffs. There is also a large fan in back and a metal cowling to direct the airflow.

One thing to consider: this case has considerably more air space than the original case and, as a result, is considerably bigger than a standard XB360. Rest assured, however, it is not nearly as noisy as the 360 when on and this thing definitely cools the motherboard – the fan is probably four times as big as both of the original XB fans.

The case includes full instructions for removing the original motherboard and installing the new kit. These instructions suffer from a bit of Engrish but it’s nothing a dedicated hacker can’t figure out. The real problem is that Lian-Li doesn’t include a Torx wrench with the kit. You need 6, 8, and 10 sizes and it’s kind of a pain to go buy them if you don’t have them.

We began by stripping off the top, bottom, and front panels. After that we stripped off the side panels and were left with the original case. A few screws later and we had the bare motherboard exposed for all to see. You then have to strip the DVD drive and the HD drive and prepare the new case with metal stand-offs.

After installing the motherboard into the case you add the HD – connected via SATA – and the DVD drive. It took us about an hour to install the entire thing but a skilled XB hacker could do it considerably more quickly.

The back cut outs are supposed to be multi-purpose and, as a result, are a bit sloppy. There are two rubber holes for HDMI cables if you’re using an Elite version and the front slots for the USB and DVD drive are simple flaps. There is no front button to open the DVD slot, either, so you have to do it from within the XB360 Dashboard. A small button under the DVD drive opens it.

After installing all the parts I plugged the XBox in and cried. Even all my ministrations couldn’t save a fried graphics chip. My recommendation is this: if your 360 is older and out of warranty and you have experienced the RROD once and don’t want to experience it again, feel free to use this case. It won’t, however, solve major problems immediately. This is not a case for novices – I was lucky that my brother-in-law the engineer was working with me or I’d have probably cracked the heatsinks or something. It could be a fun modding project, however, and at $80 it’s almost an insurance policy against future overheating. The case is not for everybody but it could be a fun project for a certain type of gaming nerd.

UPDATE – We fixed the motherboard so I could actually test this thing live. I can say that the modded XBox is considerably quieter than the standard 360 I have. With one large fan and a metal cowling, noise is reduced. This case also makes “getting into” the XBox easier, if that’s what you’re into. As someone asked in comments yes, you could potentially swap out drives and things, assuming you could match the hardware keys. You can also use this case as a base to modify your current 360 in odd ways, adding cut-outs and lights to the wide-open structure. In all, however, the differences are minimal.

It’s that time again, kiddies. Today we take a look at NZXT’s first foray into mouse country. Are they naturals? Find out above in video form or below in plain text and pictures.

NZXT has been on the map for a while, but until recently they were mostly known for their PC cases. They’ve begun getting into other areas and this brand new mouse seemed like a natural thing to check out. It’s called the Avatar and it costs about $60.

First off, you’ll notice its distinctive look. Looks like a cybernetic flatfish or something. It also has LED lighting along its edges, and I happen to like it. The shape of the thing is kind of the opposite of the Razer Lachesis, which had a kind of fat butt. This one has no butt. It necessitates a different sort of grip, but not one I found problematic.

What is problematic, however, is the placement of the buttons. First, I should say, the buttons are nice. They’re light and responsive and give a nice clicking noise. Unfortunately, as the mouse is symmetrical and the thumb buttons extruded (thus a natural rest for your finger) and very sensitive, you’ll often find yourself clicking the “wrong” thumb button all the time when you meant to hit the one under your thumb, or just when moving the mouse around. It’s troublesome although not a dealbreaker since you can just disable that button.

Sensitivity is easy to adjust; using the “hold a button and use the scroll bar” method was sluggish but using the DPI up and down buttons worked like a charm. You can’t customize the DPIs it switches through, which would have been nice, but the ones it had were well-spaced and you can always adjust the overall sensitivity in the control panel.

The actual movement of the mouse is where it failed me. Some mice have a “feature” by which it will “correct” the motion of the mouse into a straight line. This sounds handy in theory, say if you’re selecting parts of a line of text, or trying to draw a line. However, the Avatar seemed to do it in such a strong way that it was interfering with all my normal mouse movements. Slight diagonal movement? Corrected. Slight curve? Corrected. In the SteelSeries Ikari (which you’ll see tomorrow) this is adjustable, but not in the Avatar, and for me it was too much of an inconvenience. If you’re a gamer, the changes it makes maybe be the difference between a headshot and a near miss, and in other applications it’s the difference between “play” and “stop,” “save” and “print” or what have you.

So while the NZXT Avatar has a lot of things going for it — mainly its quality of construction and looks — the button layout is troublesome and the straightening was impossible for me to get used to. I look forward to their next mouse (maybe a little chunkier, and asymmetrical?) but I can’t recommend this one.

Mouse week’s first object of review. This is Razer’s lowest-cost mouse, with the fewest buttons and features. Find out whether it’s worth the forty bucks by clicking above for the video review or clicking below for the plain ol’ text review.

I’ll keep this short because it’s a simple mouse. What we’ve got here is essentially a regular two-button mouse that’s been given the Razer treatment. It’s got a superior sensor, nice build quality, and the satiny finish of Razer mice that is so satisfying.

Of course, it only has two buttons, plus that clicking scroll wheel. This means you don’t have any spare buttons to assign to back, double click, or on-the-fly sensitivity. Bummer, but they at least addressed the last problem. On the bottom of the mouse are two switches, one for switching between 800 and 1800 DPI (low and high sensitivity, essentially) and one for switching the polling rate between 125, 500, and 1000Hz. It felt most natural to me at 500, for some reason.

It has the same great tracking as other Razer mice and of course all the sensitivities are adjustable in the little control panel. It’s a bit small, but I had no trouble topping a server in TF2 even though it’s not my usual whole-hand grip style. It shows things like sweat and grease unbelievably well, so you may embarrass yourself if you have sweaty palms (you pig).

No sense overcomplicating this thing. Bottom line is, it’s a great little mouse and it costs less than $40. If you have small hands (ladies?) or want a good-performing mouse without bells and whistles, this is a great choice.

The Siberia set was designed for both gaming and MP3 players. First thing you’ll notice is the clean high-quality open design. The headset is built using a minimal amount of materials supporting an overall light comfortable feel. Other full-size headsets can get uncomfortable after extended use, but not these. The headset is of the open air type, so if you’re looking for complete sound isolation then look elsewhere.



The set has a short (1.0 m) 3.5mm cord for use with portable MP3 players. SteelSeries provides an additional 1.8 m cord for use with your existing sound card, which includes a unidirectional microphone with an on off switch and separate volume control (pictured). Also included in the box is a 3.5mm – 6.3mm adapter for your stereo and a microphone mount for your PC. It is available in both white and black.

Sound quality is good; bass is not overbearing, treble response is crisp – maybe too crisp. The volume on this set can get loud with little distortion! Overall a good full size gaming set you can take with you.