Backlog of Power Up! episodes, this catches us up to current with my friend’s works.

I made a recent Woot.com purchase of this headset simply for the fact that it was a Xbox 360  accessory and it was very, very inexpensive.  It was so cheap, at a price of $3.99, that I felt the need to buy two just to justify the $5.00 shipping.  I don’t think I even stopped to really read the description or even the picture.

I eventually received both headsets, or this article obviously would not exist and you would not be reading it.  Upon opening the box I became like a kid at the candy store at Christmas time in Disney Land/World.  I lifted the hefty packages out of the box, I do mean hefty as these seem to be very durable, and proceeded to parade my goodies around the house whenever a room-mate arrived home.

Note: If I had actually researched the product before buying, I would have discovered that these are made to replicate the feel of being on the sidelines of an official NFL Football game.  Do I care though?  No!  Although I do enjoy watching football, I do enjoy playing the official NFL video game also known as Madden.   I am in fact liable to de-brand the headset of its NFL and EA Sports stickers because I certainly don’t want to be in THAT game.

So the headset itself is durable feeling as it is very well built.  The earpiece cups the ear providing an exceptional feel.  The top and side padding are also very comfortable.  I myself did not feel like the headset was too tight, but I have now seen Amazon reviews of those who did.

The big question, How well does it work?  Exceptionally Well, Thank you for asking.  The headset seems to be powered, seeing that it plugs into the 360 controller via a blade connectors, and had a quick switch for the mute and nice volume control.  This does make the headset have a wide range of volume and to be honest, I did not have to crank mine to max what-so-ever.  The cupping of the headset provides less audio leakage and provides more of it directly into my ear which also may attribute to the excellent volume control.

The audio cable that plugs into the blade dongle may occasionally start to come loose, as I have also found on regular headsets, and may crackle when rotate as lots of other things do.  An additional item to note is that during my research (admittedly after my purchase) I found that the mic seems to be noise canceling.  Needless to say, BONUS!

This was a great headset purchase and can still be found for cheap around the ‘net if you’d like one yourself.  My final words are “A+++ Purchase, Would buy again!”

Mad Catz announced several new accessories while at E3.  Now I know what people say about Mad Catz, that their stuff is crap but really over time they’ve gotten better.  Plus it always cheaper than the regular accessories and don’t we all really like that?

First up, to complete my roll joke, the F.L.Y. 9 wireless flight stick for the PS3.  Originally offered as a PC accessory, PS3 gamers now have a chance for complete control in game such as;  Afterburner Climax IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey and H.A.W.X. .  The stick itself offers customization by allow gamers to adjust the handle length, handle rake angle and head angle.  Though, you really have to love flight simulation because this flight stick weighs in with a M.S.R.P. of $99.

Now what I really like to read about are the new accessories coming out for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360.  More specifically, these are for the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops, but as I don’t plan to get that game I think these will work with other games.

Mad Catz has an interesting control  coming out, entitled Call of Duty: Black Ops Precision AIM control.  The 360 version is wired to reduce latency, but apparently the PS3 doesn’t have that problem as it will have a wireless version.  They both will be a fairly standard button layout with a few additions. There are two new button at the rear of the controller that allow gamers to use ‘Precision Aim’ which slows the analog thumb stick down to allow gamers smother aiming.  Also, the combat buttons will allow gamers to re-map the action button or thumb stick commands to swap melee or sprint to the rear button to keep full control of the thumb stick while gaming.  This should really improve aiming in  lots of different shooters other than Black Ops.  Oddly enough, the controller won’t be much cheaper than an actual controller at a M.S.R.P. of $49.99

The last thing that caught my eye are the OptiCOM ProGaming Glasses.  This is basically a combination of GUNNAR glasses and a headset.  The pair are able to separate in case you end up not liking one.  Of course, this isn’t much of a combination, but it ends up being cheaper at $99.99 than the $140 pair of GUNNAR glasses that showcased at PAX a while back.

I love all the ideas that a third party manufacturer comes up with.  The fact that the prices are not as cheap as they used to be gives me hope that the quality has improved.  I do hate that everything is labeled with Call Of Duty: Black Ops, so of course I dropped that while writing this up today.  I wonder how long before Microsoft says that the Precision AIM controller is unfair and bans yet ANOTHER third party product.

One of my fellow Hawty McBloggy Hawty McForums member Rowboat 000 finally finished a montage of his Halo: Reach multi-player beta experience.  Besides the fact that ends up being a pretty cool montage, something weird happens at the 44 second mark.  During one of his headhunter games, he’s given the option to pick up a skull as if in oddball mode.

Here is the montage:

And in case you missed it, here is a screen shot that I took of the occurance.

Nyko just pumped out a full QWERTY chat pad for the Wii .  They felt that there just wasn’t a good enough tool to utilize the full functionality that some games and applications offer.

“Text input on the Wii has been limited to the on-screen keyboard or large, clunky hardware,” said Chris Arbogast, director of marketing at Nyko Technologies. “We are excited to see the Type Pad Pro release and provide a convenient all-in-one solution to type, navigate and control your Wii experience.”

It may look a little funny, like perhaps a Wii-mote with wings, but Nyko states that this setup will be ideal for typing on the Wii while maintaining pointer functionality.  Currently the Type Pad Pro is ideal for the Opera Browser, Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii friend messaging.  In addition, the Type Pad Pro has two triggers on the back that are mapped to the A and B button.

The Type Pad Pro is available now at major North American retailers or directly from Amazon.com for a MSRP of $29.99.  Certainly this product fills a gap between the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3.