Gaming - Page 2118

I thought piracy was only big on the PC? Oh how people are wrong...

There are many music games on the market today with offerings like Rock Band and Guitar Hero at the top of the market. There are other smaller and lesser-known music games though and some of them have some awesome controllers. Power Gig is a music game that works sort of like Guitar Hero in that you have a wireless guitar controller to play with, but Power Gig uses a real six-string guitar.

The gaming world has many iconic characters that have been part of some of the most important video games around. A few of these iconic characters include fan favorites like Pac-Man and Mario. Nintendo has been celebrating the 25th birthday of Mario all year long and has offered some cool facts about the game and is offering up some cool new bundles of hardware for Mario fans.

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The latest hardware bundles include special edition glossy red Wii and DSi XL game systems. The red Wii bundle includes a glossy red console, the new Super Mario Bros. Wii game, a red Wii Remote Plus controller with built-in Motion Plus capability, a red nunchuk, and the Wii sports game that typically comes with the Wii. The coolest part is that the special edition console has a price that is affordable at $199.99 while supplies last.

The red DSi XL bundle has Super Mario Bros. themed graphics, includes Mario Kart DS game and a pre-loaded Brain Age Express title. The DSi XL bundle will also be offered only while supplies last and will sell for $179.99. Nintendo has also unveiled a new FlingSmash bundle that has a game with pinball action and the new Wii Remote Plus controller inside for $49.99.

Popular gaming brand SteelSeries has saddled up with GUNNAR Optiks to release a range of gaming glasses.

First off Blizzard flexed muscle by banning roughly 5000 players for using hacks in Starcraft II. Now they've taken it a step further by filing a lawsuit against three programmers, accusing them of creating and selling hacks for Starcraft II - which is a direct violation of the EULA, Battle.net terms of use and copyright law.

There is certainly no shortage of Wii controllers on the market today. Most of the accessories that we see for the Wii tend to be holders that you put your Wii remote into to allow control of games with more realism. Some controllers out there have all of the hardware needed for controlling games and interacting with the Wii on the inside though like the new Shinobii ping-pong controller.

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The Shinobii controller is called the TT Champion Bat. I had no idea that the real name for a ping-pong paddle was a bat. The controller is sized and designed to look just like a real ping-pong paddle and is designed so the player doesn't need to put a Wii Remote into the controller to play. The hardware for interaction with the Wii and MotionPlus compatible game sis all integrated into the paddle.

The TT Champion Bat XtraMotion technology inside allows the player to control the paddle movement, torque, spin control, and more directly from the paddle. Power for the controller comes from a rechargeable battery. Shinobii will offer the controller in the EU and America "soon" for $69.99. That is a lot of money for a Wii controller, but serious Wii ping-pong fans might not be able to resist.

SteelSeries has been making gaming peripherals for a long time now. The company bought the rights to one of the coolest gaming keyboards on the market that has interchangeable keysets a while back. SteelSeries is supporting that keyboard with new keysets that are specifically made for certain game titles like the Medal of Honor game from EA that is coming soon. EA has announced a keyset for the Shift along with several other peripherals.

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The MoH keypad for the Shift keyboard will sell for $24.99 alone or with a bundle including the keyset and the Shift keyboard for $99. If interchangeable keysets isn't your bag, a special version of the 6Gv2 keyboard with MoH images printed on it will be available for $99.99 as well. If you like your current keyboard and mouse, but want some MoH bling there will be a version of the QcK mouse pad with artwork from the game for $14.99.

A special edition of the Xai gaming mouse with imagery will be offered for $89.99 with all the features of the standard Xai mouse in tow. The final MoH gear from SteelSeries includes a couple different sets of headphones .The 5Hv2 headphones are designed to be travel friendly and can be broken down into three pieces and have a retractable mic. The 5xb headphones are specifically aimed at Xbox 360 gamers. Both of the special edition headphones will launch in January at undisclosed prices. All of the other gear will land along with the game launch.

For a long time if you were a gamer in the US and you had a Wii you could only get white controllers and consoles. The color options are a bit better today with a black console available and you can get official controllers in blue or pink colors as well as aftermarket controllers with different colors. A new controller is up for pre-order at Toys R Us for the Wii that is the coolest one I have ever seen.

There are many categories of video games that spawn some very hard core gamers. There are hard core MMO gamers, hard core FPS gamers, and hard core flight simulation fans. Perhaps the group that has the most expensive hobby are the flight sim fans where controllers and systems can run hundreds of dollars each.

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Thrustmaster has launched what may be the coolest flight simulation controller ever called the HOTAS Warthog. The Warthog is an exact replica of the joystick and throttle from the A-10C fighter jet. The joystick has a heavy metal base and uses construction that is mostly metal. The base can be removed and the joystick can be placed into a cockpit. The controller uses magnetic sensors for accuracy and has 19 action buttons with a 4-way POV switch.

The buttons on the joystick take the exact same pressure to operate as the buttons on a real airplane. The throttle is a dual throttle system and also uses magnetic sensor tech. The throttles have a push and pull system with detents for idle and afterburner. The detents can be disengaged as well for aircraft without afterburners. The throttle has 17 action buttons and its own POV controller. A control panel is also built onto the throttle with multiple toggles and the whole works is backlit. Warthog will ship this month for $499.99.