Back at E3 I had a chance to chat with the folks over at Logitech. If you’ll remember they were kind enough to let me have some hands-on time with their G940 Flight System. However, the moment I walked in the door they saw me eying a different piece of hardware. It was under embargo, so I haven’t been allowed to talk about it. Well today that has been lifted and I’ve been given the go-ahead to tell you guys about it.
It’s no small secret that I’ve been a Guitar Hero nut since the game came out. My close circle of friends know just how picky I am about the controllers I use. (Seriously, I modded an original SG controller from the first game to work with my 360 because I hated the X-plorer so much.) Well let me say right now that I’ve found a new favorite, Logitech’s Wireless Guitar Controller. You might stop me and say “Chris, this is old news, they’ve had one of these out for a little while.” You’d be right, but I don’t play on a PS3, this one is for the 360.
This controller is essentially a real guitar with a solid body and a rosewood fingerboard. Yes, it is smaller than your average guitar, but trust me when I say that this is a good thing. I’ve used the Starpex PS3 guitar which is full-size and it wasn’t nearly as much fun to play. (And yes, I do have a real guitar which is a completely different story.) The weight was about perfect, as was the size. I didn’t have a lot of time to play with it, but during the song I played I found that the buttons were positioned perfectly (an area that other “real” guitar controllers have lacked) and were very responsive.
The two greatest features about this controller are the overall look, and the fact that it is an officially licensed wireless controller for the 360. This is something that I would proudly set next to my entertainment center, and would definitely suggest to anyone playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band on their 360. The only downside is that you’ll have to fight your friends to actually get to play with it. The $199 price tag is a bit steep, but if you’re serious about your gaming, it’ll be worth it when it hits stores later this year.
If you were ever curious what was going on inside your Nintendo DSi while you were playing it, this crystal clear replacement shell from XCM will reveal the device’s inner workings. Now granted, seeing the insides of a piece of electronics isn’t as exciting as something chock full of gears and moving parts, but I think there’s still enough eye candy in there to make it worthwhile. Just keep in mind this will require you to completely disassemble and re-assemble your DSi, so make sure you’re comfortable with that idea first. And I have no clue about pricing, though it should be available sometime this month.
Even infants have to be prepared for the inevitable zombie infestation, and I can’t think of a better way to get them accustomed to hideous freaks battling it out with heavily armed commandos than with this adorable Left 4 Dead mobile hanging above their crib. Created by Etsy seller SaltyandSweet the mobile is made from laser cut 1/16-inch black mat board connected with black wire and it takes up about as much space as a basketball when in motion. $36 on Etsy.
This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net
We’ve seen a lot of LEGO video games over the last few years, most of which have been a lot of fun. Well the guys in charge decided it was time to branch out from the RPG games that they’ve been so focused on of late and bring us LEGO Battles. This real-time strategy game for the DS lets you take command of pirates, wizards, spacemen and more. But does it deliver the fun?
The game has several different campaigns to play through, each from a different LEGO theme. Each campaign is broken up into three acts, which get progressively harder. The game is great for those unfamiliar with RTS titles, and walks you through every little step at the beginning. After a couple of battles you’ll be building towers and commanding your men like a pro.
As cool as it sounds to have a wide variety of character archetypes and buildings, you quickly learn that they’re all the exact same thing with a different skin and name. By the third campaign it is rather easy to get bored. Not only do the different battles start to seem familiar, but even as someone who rarely touches a RTS game, I found it to be extremely easy. I’m sure that the younger crowd will find it a bit more challenging, which is alright seeing how it’s a game comprised of toy bricks. (Even if adults do still play with LEGOS.)
Traveler’s Tales did add in a nice feature that not only adds to the difficulty of the game, but really keeps you on your toes. They made it so that the characters you control had a mind of their own and couldn’t navigate even the most simplest of terrain. Seriously, if there is a tree even slightly in their way, they’ll either stop, or go really far around to find a different path. Sure, two steps to the right would work, but why not a hundred steps to the left? The men also seem to be set on auto-attack. It’s really difficult to corral a group of men when half of them want to run off and attack an enemy that’s not even on your screen. Even if you tell them to stop attacking and change directions they’ll still sometimes go back and get themselves killed.
The controls themselves seem pretty straightforward and well laid out. It would be nice to command more than 9 units at once, but it seems to be about the perfect number for the screen size. My biggest concern is that it is too easy to select the wrong target. Each character is rather tiny, so you must be extra precise when tapping on them. Even worse, they can get hidden behind a building, forcing you to select a large area and moving them away.
As with the other LEGO titles we’ve seen in recent years, there are a lot of things to unlock and collect. Each level has 20 blue studs that can be used to buy new Heroes (provided you’ve unlocked them for purchase), there are also chests and orange blocks which unlock different abilities and such.
The multiplayer aspect looks like it would be fun. Essentially you can hook up with someone else playing on their DS and build up your own armies to defeat the other. You’re able to pick and choose different characters and Heroes to use during these special battles, which can add to the fun.
Overall, I’d say that it’s not a terrible game, nothing great either. It’ll keep you entertained for a few hours, but eventually the gameplay gets stale. Kids are likely to get more enjoyment out of it, if they can get past the AI issues.
Accessories like this CYBER Coin Assist are usually reserved for the PSP and its somewhat disappointing directional pad. So I’m kind of surprised to see that this particular doohickey is specifically designed for the Nintendo DS. From my own testing I’ve never had an issue with the d-pad on any of the DS units, and I’ve found that it’s actually been improved with each model. But if you’re a particularly hardcore and picky Mario Kart racer this plastic disc will supposedly improve your handling helping you stay in first place with no hope of ever getting a red shell from a question block.
I have no idea what the pricing for the CYBER Coin Assist will be (it’s expected to be available in late July) but if you spend more than $0.25 for one you can consider yourself ripped-off.
Wii Sports bowling still remains one of the most played titles on my Wii, but even still, I’m not sure if it warrants this crazy bowling ball accessory that CTA Digital revealed at this year’s E3. As you probably suspect, the bowling ball splits in half allowing you to entomb your Wiimote inside, though you still have access to the controls thanks to an extra set of buttons on the outside of the ball. And not pictured are a set of three finger holes allowing you to “mimic all the critical motions a ‘striking’ performance requires.”
There’s no word on pricing or availability, but I can’t imagine there are too many people chomping at the bit to get their hands on this thing.
Foosball itself is rarely boring, but the non-descript plastic players are never that inspiring. So french designer Chloe Ruchon replaced them with Barbie dolls in her Barbiefoot foosball table. Now in France, foosball is more commonly known as babyfoot, so the Barbiefoot name is a bit more clever, but the goal of the table to “stimulate thoughts about different mentalities and the pre- digested everyday ideas we commonly face” will probably have the same effect no matter where you live.
If you’re a hardcore gamer, then chances are you’ve heard of Fatal1ty. This is the guy that everyone aspires to beat when they go to a world-class tournament for FPS like Quake and Unreal Tournament. Well while at E3 we had a chance to sit down and chat with the number-1 ranked gamer in the world. Hit the jump for the full interview, plus a little surprise at the end.
OhGizmo: Lets get down to business, first, we kind of want to know how you got started as a professional gamer. Like how did you switch over from a hobby to a professional?
Fatal1ty: Well basically it started out I just went to a lot of tournaments over three years when I was between 15 and 18. When I was 18 I realized that the guys I was training with were top players. I already knew they were top players but they actually went and won a championship. And I was like wow, I just beat this guy like 8 games in a row. So I must be pretty good too.
So that’s when I signed on to a pro tournament, I was 18 and I had $500 in my bank account and I spent it all on traveling to Texas. I went down there, won four grand for taking third place in my very first world tournament. After that I got the chance to represent the USA and travel the world playing video games. So basically it just flipped one day. I did it for fun, then I went to a pro tournament, won four grand and after that I was a huge hit.
OhGizmo: So how do you keep up on this? I saw the wheel out there, you have to really have some balls to walk out there and play with some massive handicap. How do you prepare for this kind of thing?
Fatal1ty: We do the handicap thing to make it more fair for you know, the average gamer that doesn’t really play the game that much. We haven’t actually used it at all here because most people want to play against the real Fatal1ty. I prefer to play without it, but I’ll do whatever the people want. I’m just doing it for entertainment and fun. I just love playing.
OhGizmo: How did you move from pro gamer into having your own company and your own product line?
Fatal1ty: Well I got sponsored a lot and I realized that the sponsors were making hundreds of dollars off of me using their stuff. So I just decided, you know what, I’ll create my own stuff. So I started my own company selling big mouse pads and it went from there. Then people were coming to me, wanting to sponsor me and I was like no, I’m not doing sponsors anymore, I make my own products. If you want to work with me and make a product with me, then I’ll do it.
OhGizmo: So that’s how you’re able to reach out to different companies and get a collection of some of the best manufacturers in the industry.
Fatal1ty: Yeah, the Fatal1ty brand covers the best products from Creative, OCZ, Fusion-IO and others, and now all of these products are under one name for gamers, Fatal1ty.
OhGizmo: How much creative input do you have on these products? Say something comes to you with your name on it, you test it and you don’t like it. What happens?
Fatal1ty: Well they can’t put my name on it until I like it.
OhGizmo: How does that process work, where do you come in exactly?
Fatal1ty: For the headphones I tell them what fabrics I like, and they showed me the new technology and I was like wow, this is some cool stuff. But I even added a couple of features that I wanted. Like I wanted the microphone to be removable. So basically it allows you to take the headset and play video games and talk to people. But then you can take it out into the real world, on the train, on an airplane and be able to use it without the mic getting in the way. Then you can get home, use it for Skype or something by just plugging the microphone back in.
There are other small things that I added in, like the color and stuff like that. But the main thing I was concerned about was how the headphones worked, how the microphone connected and stuff. With the technology inside of it they came to me and were like “hey, this is the new stuff we’ve been working on, do you like it, will it work for you?” I tested it and was like yeah it works, lets use it.
So I take my input from what I want, but also what everyone else wants too. All the products we make I have to work on it in some form or fashion to see if it helps me and improves my game. My goal is for the gamer to make sure they’re going to be happy with it.
OhGizmo: Where do you see Fatal1ty in the next 5 years?
Fatal1ty: In the next 5 years I hope to be in all of gaming, not just PC gaming but console gaming too. I want people playing on Xbox, PS3 to all be able to use my headphones. I think the quality of the technology we have is far superior to everything else out there. So I think it’s really going to help raise the level of gaming. It’s really important to be able to hear where your opponent is, whether he’s above you, below you, behind you. All of that is so much better to hear through our headphones than from your speakers. So that’s my biggest goal, I want to improve the game and improve the skill of all the players.
Fatal1ty: Have you heard much about the new Fusion-IO stuff?
OhGizmo: A little, what have they got coming out?
Fatal1ty: Well the ioXtreme is a new PCI-Express memory card. You’ve basically got 80GB of memory on a PCI-Express card. It’s not a hard drive, well it is a hard drive but it’s a PCI-E memory card. It’s not a solid-state drive or anything like that stuff. But you’re actually able to boot up Windows in one second using it. It’s super sick, super cool. Other than that you can load up your favorite games, your favorite applications and everything will load up instantly. There’s no more waiting for things to load and so-forth. Everything will be a lot more fresh, a lot more fluid and a lot faster. The coolest thing is being able to boot up windows in one second.
OhGizmo: Wow, that’s impressive.
Fatal1ty: If you have a lot of games like WoW, Quake or whatever, they run really fast and they load up information like maps and stuff so much faster for really fluid gameplay.
OhGizmo: To wrap it up, how do you keep on top of your game? With you traveling around to a lot of places like this, when do you find time to keep up on it?
Fatal1ty: Well really I just play. I usually play 2 to 6 hours a day on average, I do these shows a lot so my game is always pretty fresh, you know. I’ve been doing it for 15 years now so it’s started becoming like second nature. But I’m still always tweaking and tuning. If I want to get into tournament mode I train 8 hours every day and about 2 to 4 weeks in I’m there. So that’s how it works.
OhGizmo: I heard that you haven’t been fragged today.
Fatal1ty: (chuckles) Nope.
OhGizmo: Well thanks for taking the time to talk to us, I appreciate it.
Fatal1ty: Cool, thank you very much man.
Ever wonder what it’s like to take on the very best? Well I got in the ring with him for 3 minutes of Quake 4. I’m pretty decent when it comes to PC-based FPS, but how do my skills stack up against Fatal1ty? Watch the video and see.
We’ve all gotten pretty jaded on video games nowadays. I remember back when I was a kid, my Game Gear kept me endlessly entertained with top notch, high quality games like Tail Spin. They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore. If that’s the kind of game you like (and who doesn’t?) ThinkGeek has a handheld emulator system that’s able to play retro video games from systems like the NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance, Neo-Geo, and even some Capcom arcade systems. And, um, not the Game Gear. Dammit, I want my Tail Spin.
The Pocket Retro Game Emulator has a d-pad, four control buttons, and two shoulder buttons, as well as select and start to make it Konami code compatible. You load in ROMs (which you can find on the internet for free without looking to hard) via a USB cable, and if the 4 gigs of internal memory isn’t enough, it’s expandable with a micro SD card. It’s got a QVGA screen, runs for 6-8 hours on a charge, and also functions as a media player with an FM radio.
All of this awesomeness will only cost you $100, which is dirt dirt cheap considering the amount and variety of games you can cram into this thing. You’d better get on it, though, since ThinkGeek appears to be nearly sold out.
Getting into a closed beta isn’t always the easiest of tasks. Knowing someone on the inside can help, sometimes if you’re a member of a special club you’ll get in. Many times it’s pure chance that grants you access. Well if you’re wanting to check out Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, I might just be able to help you out. I’ve got 5 beta keys for the multiplayer beta, and I’m giving them away.
If you’re interested, here’s what you’re going to need to do. Just start following OhGizmo on Twitter, and sometime in the next day or so we’ll be posting an email address on there. It’s not going to show up in the overflow on the left, so no cheating. Once you have the email address, just shoot me a message. Come next Monday I’ll pick 5 people at random who will get the keys and announce the winners. Good luck!
