Peripherals News - Page 23

If you're a huge Pokemon fan, and you own the Nintendo Wii U, you might want to check out the awesome-looking Pokken Tournament Wii U controller from Hori.

Earlier this month, the Pokken Tournament Wii U controller popped up in Japan, and it looked like it was exclusive to the country at first. Well, it will be pushed out to a much wider audience when it launches early next year, with the Pokemon-infused (as Engadget calls it) fighting game controller is on Amazon for a price of $24.99, and a launch date of March 18, 2016.

Hori's Pokken Tournament Wii U controller features the same design of the arcade version of Pokken Tournament, with the "ZL" and "ZR" buttons on its face, instead of around the back on the traditional Wii U controllers from Nintendo.

While the Steam Controller has only been here for around a month, Valve is adding new features into their peripheral. Valve's Steam Controller is now capable of a touch menu, which will let players consolidate their hotkeys to a single interface.

Valve also added gyro support to make leaning easier in shooters, as well as other games. For RTS games, customizable mapping is now capable on the trackpad, which will make scrolling through menus much easier. An improved HUD will help you operate your controller better, with pop-ups now sprouting up on how button presses and other inputs correspond to the game that you're playing at the time.

The community was a big part of these new improvements to the Steam Controller, thanks to a suggestion from a member on the NeoGAF forums. Valve added the mouse-like joystick feature, where it has the accuracy of a mouse to the peripheral, helping manipulate cameras. Steam users are also wanted to see the Steam Controller include the ability to program specific configurations for non-Steam games, something that will be coming soon.

Quoted as "an improved design inspired by the legendary Microsoft Intellimouse 1.1" in a recent press release, QPAD has announced its first new mouse shape in seven years, coming in the form of this DX-20 gaming mouse.

Featuring multi-surface capabilities, the peripheral manufacturer claims that its new model will work on more surfaces than most optical sensors will, utilizing improved sensor technology that so far remains unstated. Inside the shell is an ARM processor and the exterior features RGB LED lighting strips and scroll wheel, with QPAD ensuring to mention that "beneath the exterior razzle-dazzle of the LEDs is a solid, well-tuned mouse with a balanced and professional feel" - making testimony to QPAD's competitive gaming heritage.

With 128kb of on-board memory to store personal profiles and Plug & Play compatibility with any Windows PC, the DX-20 will be showcased at DreamHack and is immediate available for purchase at around $74.

Announced in a recently issued press release, COUGAR's new 450K keyboard sits alongside the freshly-promoted 450M mouse and is compatible with the COUGAR UIX software system.

Set for release early in 2016, this hybrid mechanical switch board aims to offer users a splash-proof design and tactile feedback. While not a true mechanical, this board is released with three LED backlighting options, macros and function remapping capabilities as per all top-tier products.

The main reason this looks quite promising is because of the chunky nature of the design. Reminding us of the 'keyboards of old', COUGAR has done a good job here making a keyboard look chunky without looking like a space abomination - unlike some others. There's no massive flaps and chunks hanging off the side, there's no fake metal bolts and there's no slew of 90 macro keys. For those who like something study, simple and yet a little fancy, I'm quite interested in seeing the reviews that come out of this product, especially looking at how the keys perform when under pressure.

It wasn't too long ago that we talked about the $350 custom HOTAS controller for Star Citizen, something the developer worked very closely on with peripherals maker Saitek. Well, the first controllers are about to go on sale.

Roberts Space Industries has revealed that the first model of its custom flight sticks would go up for preorder next month, and it will feature a modular design. The throttle and stick will feature integrated trackballs, and it'll be compatible with a matching ten-keyless keyboard and a separate keypad that will sport an interactive OLED display.

Carl Jones, Robert Space Industries' COO, explains: "The idea is that you can split it apart and combine it with other devices". The idea behind this is that gamers will be able to play Star Citizen with a joystick and keyboard, a joystick and throttle, two joysticks, or any combination of the custom controllers.

Corsair has just unveiled its latest peripheral, the Katar gaming mouse. Corsair's latest product is a new competitive gaming mouse for huge eSports titles like CS:GO and League of Legends.

The new Corsair Katar has been created "with the help of top pro-gaming teams around the world" and even goes as far as including a "pro player mode" which lets you "get up to speed with preconfigured performance and tuning settings customized by the world's top players". The Katar has an 8000 DPI optical sensor, a 'zero lag interface' with the Katar polling at 1000Hz, and more. Corsair will be selling the new Katar gaming mouse with an MSRP of just $39.99.

The company also unveiled its new MM300 mouse pad, in three sizes: small, medium and extended. The new Corsair MM300 includes a "Textile-weave surface designed for pixel-precise targeting and low friction tracking" and "Surrounded stitched edges guard against surface peeling". The MSRP on the new Corsair MM300 mouse pads are as follows: Small for $14.99, Medium for $19.99, and Extended for $29.99.

If there's one thing that's going to impress Star Citizen fans out there, it's the custom HOTAS systems from Saitek. The UK-based flight stick manufacturer is now showing off the latest designs it has been working on, which you can check out below.

Saitek is working on an entire suite of hands-on, throttle and stick (HOTAS) peripherals that will be customizable. Roberts Space Industries Chief Operating Officer Carl Jones explains: "The idea is that you can split it apart and combine it with other devices". Star Citizen players will be able to fly around with the joystick and keyboard, a joystick and throttle, two joysticks, or an insane combination of custom-made, Star Citizen branded hardware.

The peripherals maker was teasing the custom Star Citizen hardware at CitizenCon over the weekend, which it had behind a glass cabinet so no dirty mits could touch it. Polygon reports that it "looks a lot like the current Thrustmaster T-Series HOTAS, with an attached throttle to the left of the flight stick". The gaming outfit added that the "Saitek model seems to borrow heavily from the existing X52 frame, with the adjustable grip height, locking Z-axis and similar button configuration. But, if you look closely, they've actually added a trackball to the top of the stick - right where your thumb goes - as well as to the throttle".

BenQ has been all over the competitive gaming scene in the last five years, sponsoring most of the biggest gaming organisations, gaming events and tournaments alike. This strong commitment to the eSports scene has been further extended, seeing this Taiwanese company announce that it has "strengthened holdings in the research and manufacture of gaming equipment by investing in the player trusted brand ZOWIE."

Further stating that BenQ and ZOWIE's passion and mission for business both strongly align with its own, this fact makes this renewed collaboration being only logical. Back in 2010 these two companies co-branded a professional gaming monitor, with this partnership to extend now into 2015, seeing BenQ help out ZOWIE in peripheral research and development.

Said to be further making products for casuals and professionals alike, there is no saying just yet exactly what products these two companies will make together, however the press release does mention First Person Shooter games being a particular focus.

G.SKILL has just released two new Cherry MX mechanical gaming keyboards in the RIPJAWS brand: the mesmerizing muti-color KM780 RGB and the crimson-red backlit KM780 MX.

Both models are ultra-durable and designed specifically for performance gaming, featuring five-level contour keys and raised keycaps that are optimized for ASWD movement schemes. Apart from the color schemes the models are identical in form and function. The keys on G.SKILL's new offerings can all be turned into macros on-the-fly, and sport dedicated macro control keys as well as six extra macro buttons fora huge level of flexibility for optimum gaming.

To help minimize mouse cable interference and keep things tidy while gaming, users can thread mouse cords through the onboard foldable holder clasped to the front end of the keyboard. Plus the models act as a hub for devices thanks to a USB 2.0 pass-through and an audio line-in and mic-out jack.

If you're a hardcore gamer on the go, Razer has a solution that it believes will suit you perfectly. Enter the Razer Orochi, a notebook gaming mouse which features 8,200 DPI through the help of a 4G laser sensor, Razer Chroma RGB lighting and 60 hours of non-stop battery life.

With added Windows 10 support, this mouse is being released with double the battery life of its predecessor and it has Bluetooth 4.0 partly to thank for this. If you're looking to use it wired or need a charge, there is also an included 3.28 foot braided USB cable on offer.

The mouse measures up at only 3.9(L) x 2.64(W) x 1.38(H) inches in stature and requires two AA batteries to operate.