Microsoft’s Sidewinder line of gaming peripherals has recently undergone a transformation. It initially started with the Sidewinder Mouse and has grown substantially with the release of their X5 and X6 products, not to mention the announcement of the X8.
The X6 gaming keyboard has an ominous, black plastic design with a red back lighting that has to be seen in person to get the full effect. It features two rotary knobs at the back right of the layout: one controls the brightness of the back lighting and the other controls the volume. These rotary knobs actually work a ton better than standard buttons to control lighting and volume as they feel responsive and accurate.
An aspect of this keyboard which I did not find to be at my level of expectation was the keys themselves. I have gotten spoiled by other keyboard on the market with rubberized keys and miss them here. 
The keys are a hard plastic that do not feel like they belong. Thankfully, their action is nice with a good spring-back. If I had to suggest another feature on the next version of this keyboard, it would be to add a USB and audio port pass-through, something that is featured on many other keyboards in this price range.
The numeric keypad can be placed on either the right or left side of the keyboard and is held in place by some curiously strong magnets. At first I did not think this would be a useful feature, me being a right-handed person. However, as I placed the keyboard on my desk I realized I could make my workspace more comfortable by having the alphabetic keys closer to my mouse (instead of the numeric pad). Hence, I swapped the numeric pad and have realized the joys of having such a feature. Its just not for ‘lefties’ anymore!
Aside from its style, the bread and butter of this keyboard are its macro controls. The X6 features a multitude of ways to record and assign macros. The first being the 30 macro keys which are all programmable. These include the six dual-function vertical keys to the left of the alphabetic keypad as well as the entire numeric keypad (yes it does double duty: number and macros). The next is the button which enables to record macros on-the-fly, even while inside a video game. 
You press this button, located along the top of the keyboard and then press the series of keys (up to four) you want it to remember. Finally, there is the keyboard’s ‘Cruise Control’ functionality, where you hold down the cruise control button and press a single key you wish to spam to your PC. Then release the cruise control button and it will go to work sending that key signal as if you were holding it down. Say you would like to auto-run in a shooter which does not feature such a key. Simply press the cruise control down, tap ‘w’ and release. Your character will continue running forward until you press any other key.
Overall, this is a great addition to the Microsoft Sidewinder line-up. While there are still has a few issues that need to be addressed, such as the lack of a USB pass-through, its macro-capabilities and stylish design make it a very viable contender in its weight class. The keyboard retails for $79.95 and is available now.
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The goodies in question are a huge number of weapons, items, and modifications all based on their real-world counterparts. You purchase these items with points garnered from successfully winning games and killing your enemies. Purchasing something from the shop, you are given a choice as to how long you wish to keep the item (it costs more for the longer duration selected). This system of transactions (which will eventually include real-world money transactions) is in the UTMOST state of beta at the moment and is highly subject to change. There is also a chance that Nexon will offer several subscription models as well, but file that in the ‘rumor’ folder for now. As told to me from a company representative, development is firmly set in the realm of making the game as good as possible before they worry about the monetary system.
Combat Arms was the ability for your side to function as a cohesive team instead of getting myred down by complex gameplay mechanics. The gameplay is actually fairly simplistic, much like Dynamix’ Tribes was (and people STILL play that one). However this simplistic design ends up allowing a huge amount of complexity in how squads/guilds/clans will organize themselves and their plans to dominate the multiplayer games. Of course, there are always players who just want to run-and-gun, and that is fine for them. You will get a lot more out of the Combat Arms experience from getting involved in one of these squads.
The graphics in Combat Arms are pleasing, yet not too high-end. These graphics (and in fact the whole game) are made all the more impressive once you realize it is a relatively small client to download and free to play. Quality like this is usually found in retail boxes. 
Design: The 5H V2 features a tough plastic construction with modular ear units nacelles which detach from the headband for easy transportation. Its ear cups are gigantic, enveloping all but the largest ears with a soothing foam the likes of which makes your ears feel like angel babies wrapped in a cloud. The headband is rather rigid and if your head is too wide you could have comfort issues. With my large cranium I was just pushing the limits of where the discomfort would begin thankfully, so I could enjoy the headset pain free. The boom microphone extends and retracts from the left ear unit on a flexible chord. This can make retracting the microphone tricky sometimes as the chord would rather flex than retract. The 5HV2’s cable for the microphone and headset plugs is made of a rope-like nylon, which is so much better than the standard rubber-insulated wires found on most headsets. This rope-cable is stronger and does not get tangled up as easily. Included is a huge extension cable for the headset, but I would have rather seen the base cable length extended by a couple feet instead.
Movies and Music: While you will enjoy this headset for your movie watching and music listening needs, you hardcore folk would probably be better served with a Dolby Digital-equiped multi-driver headset. For the general populace, I am happy to say music and movies both sound good and the comfort of the headset keeps on going through the entirety of the film or album and then some.
When I attend a press conference or private appointment at a gaming convention, I have always preferred to use a regular pen and paper whenever possible. I find that using higher-tech items just ends up getting in the way. As a student sitting in a professor’s lecture, I would sometimes miss an important point in my note-taking and have to scramble in my friends’ notes later to find out what I missed. These problems have plagued note-takers from around the world for quiet some time. Now, Livescribe has a solution to all your ills with their Smartpen Pulse.
Currently the word choices you can write out are limited but again, this feature is in beta and will be expanded upon soon. More of a toy feature, but probably useful for you aspiring musicians out there, is a virtual piano. Simply follow the instructions in drawing a simple nine-key piano keyboard and play music by tapping on the ‘keys’. The Smartpen Pulse is an open platform for software developers out there, and company reps tell me several third-parties are working on additional applications and games for the pen in the future.
The pen also includes a 3.5mm audio jack for your ear buds or headphones at the top of the unit so you can review your stuff without bothering those touchy neighbors.
You play as Baldur, son of the patriarchal Norse god, Odin. The game is set out in a third-person hack-and-slash format mixed with ranged weaponry. You start off selecting one class from five, and these range from the melee-centric to the ranged-centric, with a healer class in the mix as well. This class is the only class in the game that can heal itself. There is none of that Halo or Gears-style ‘stay put to recharge’ business to be found here. If you are not a healer, you will have to depend on mobs dropping healing orbs.
Repeat this pattern until eventually you reach a boss battle. Unfortunately, most of those tend to be uninspired, getting down to a rinse-and-repeat method of killing each one. Outside of the combat, even walking around in the massive (but generally empty-feeling) Aesir city takes forever just to get anywhere. Making things worse is that sometimes while on a mission, a goal area will not trigger from your presence, making you walk some distance away from the place and then back. This work around is not always successful, and then you have to reload your game.
Even as one of the combat-focused classes, you end up dying quite a bit when this happens and your AI squad-mates aren’t worth much more than human shields. The robots will also get abilities that can stun you. This is fine, except for the fact that the stuns last way longer than necessary, forcing you to yell at the screen quite a bit as you sit there waiting to die. The best part is when they stun you and you wait all that time just to be stunned again right when you break free. FUN!
The voice acting is generally alright, but the real problem lies in the script. The dialog is corny, pompous, and cliched. Chances are that you will probably be reaching for the mute button about an hour or so into it. The plot also falls apart somewhat during the middle portion of the game. Thankfully it comes back to the entertaining side towards the end, but the last couple hours cannot redeem the previous seven spent playing it.
The HS-1200 is a modest-looking headset: simple lines, light if not durable solid construction, and spartan overall design. Not saying the design is bad in any way, it is just not as flashy as many gaming headsets out there. It doesn’t feature any gaudy decals or quasi-futuristic curves where it doesn’t need them. In fact, it is easy to underestimate the HS-1200’s capabilities based on looks alone. That is, until you use the headset.
work nicely enough to produce virtual surround sound in the headset.
We found the sound coming from the 40mm Neodymium drivers to be crisp and accurate. In the Creative Console headset surround sound test, I originally had the volume up a bit too high and the sound of the helicopter they use was impressive as hell. Once I heard that, I knew I was in for a treat. While gaming, Creative’s CMSS-3D virtual surround sound is plenty useful in discerning relative direction of effects. OpenAL also comes through well with the headset. Using either of these methods in your gaming will yield good results. We tested the headset in Age of Conan, Crysis, and Battlefield 2142. In all cases we were more than pleased. The surround sound coming from the headset was immersive and enjoyable. We did not experience any strange anomalies, driver issues, or software glitches to speak of.
The quests are definitely in line with your character being a complete evil badass – remember you are one of the chosen by the Lich King himself. You are given several tasks, killing civilians among them until you eventually sneak your way to the Scarlet Crusades docks. You find out that they’re changing their name and heading up North for unknown reasons. Once at the docks, this was the first time I encountered a mounted weapon in the form of a giant cannon. Well, you blow them to high hell and escape narrowly on a skeletal gryphon.
I’m all for mayhem, but there are a few quests that I almost didnt’ want to do – you’ll know them when you get to them. I was eventually sent back to the citadel and then back down yet again. The scenery had changed once more and I was given a skeletal dragon to assault the last remnants of the Crusade. When the dragon was low in health you had to swoop down and eat someone, the dragon swept a random guy up and I flew into the air as I was constantly bombarded by arrows and whatnot. When the dragon was done eating, the body was dropped unceremoniously. Once I was done with the destruction I was decked out in a full set of blue armor – and on a dreanei it looked plain out evil.
Suddenly, the entire zone reset and we were standing in formation with all of the NPC’s from the citadel along with some GIANT elites on our side. When the time came 10,000 – yes… ten thousand – ghouls, ghosts and various other things came out of the ground and we charged the Light’s Hope Chapel. You’re given a buff that basically makes you a god so you can just have fun and experience it. Kicking the crap out of everything in sight was amazing among the battle.
Gameplay with the Knight reminds me of a rogue. You build up runic power to use spells, I liked the ice stuff mostly so I specced in that. During the beginning experience you are slowly (or quickly) given a few talents here and a few talents there so you can get to know stuff as you go along. I found getting used to the Knight fairly challenging, although you can bring some serious pain very quickly the defenses just aren’t there once you get more than one guy on you. This might also be partly because abilities at the level I was didn’t have much in the way of defensive power. That, and having no way to heal yourself effectively of course.