Skullcandy has unveiled three new headsets that are geared specifically for gamers with models varying in features ranging from stereo to Dolby 7.1 surround sound. The line of headsets include the Skullcandy SLYR, PLYR1, and PLYR2. I've listed the headsets below with their notable features:

SLYR (Slayer)

• Available now for $79.99
• Wired, stereo sound
• Compatible with Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, PC, and various portable electronics
• Boom microphone that can be stashed in headset

PLYR1 (Player 1)

• Available later this year for $129.99
• Wireless, stereo sound
• 2.4Ghz wireless technology
• Compatible with Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC
• Pivoting boom microphone

PLYR2 (Player 2)

• Available in early 2013 for $179.99
• Wireless, Dolby 7.1 surround sound
• 2.4Ghz wireless technology
• Compatible with Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC
• Pivoting boom microphone

It's worth noting that each of the headsets were created cooperatively with Skullcandy's Astro Gaming division. The headsets sport the signature visual style of Skullcandy, while also containing a subtle elegance with the color selection. I'll be eager to hear how the headsets, especially the Dolby 7.1 surround sound-equipped PLYR2, fair against other comparable audio hardware on the market.

[READ MORE]

The folks at Polk Audio and Microsoft announced today that they are forming a partnership that will result in Polk Audio producing premium audio options for the Xbox 360.  The initial product to be marketed as part of the agreement will be the Polk Audio SurroundBar 5000 Instant Home Theater (IHT), which is a 31” long and 2.25” deep sound bar that sports Bluetooth connectivity and a wireless sub with 6.5” driver for deep bass.  The current MSRP of the SurroundBar IHT (non-Xbox 360 collaborated) is $399.99, but official pricing and availability have not been announced as of yet.

The release also indicated that Polk Audio products will not be limited to just their SurroundBar lineup, as Kevin Duffy, President of DEI Holdings (Parent company of Polk Audio) was quoted as saying “…we're working together with the Xbox Third Party Accessories Team to develop new, groundbreaking gaming and streaming sound solutions for 2013 and beyond."   If you read into that a bit, it sounds like we could see new headsets, headphones and other audio gear announced by next year.

We have reviewed several Polk Audio products in the past, including the Polk Audio SurroundBar 6000 IHT, (which is one model and size up from the 5000 IHT) and were very impressed with it.  Check out the review to get a taste of what the SurroundBar IHT 5000 can deliver.

[READ MORE]

I've used the HD PVR  from Hauppauge for a few video reviews on the site. It's a pretty cool USB recording device and one that has really been reliable. Hauppauge is gearing up for a new version and it looks to have a few nice improvements

The Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition expands on the original one by adding both and HDMI input and output allowing you to record 1080P video at 30FPS. Dropping it down to 1080i will let you record at 60FPS. It's got a nice button on the unit to initiate the recording and the software it comes with will allow you to edit the video as well as upload to YouTube easily.

Check out the unit in action at GamesCom.

The summer always bring lots of annual traditions, such as family vacations and lots of heat.  One other tradition that I always look forward to I the opening of registration for the International CES.  The 2013 version of the show doesn’t take place until January 8th-11 2013 in Las Vegas, but registration for Consumer Electronics  professionals can now register for the event on the CEA website.  Registration is currently free until August 31st, then it will jump to $100 until September 1st and then settle at $200 effective January 2nd 2013 for attendees.

We here at GamingNexus usually have a large contingent at the show and cover many things gaming as well as emerging trends and products in the audio and video world.  You can check out our 2012 CES coverage here, where we covered everything from a hands on with Square Enix to gaming accessories from the likes of Mad Catz and Nyko to the announcement of Vizio’s much talked about entry into the personal computer market.  If you are an industry professional and are interested in attending the 2013 CES, head over to the registration page to sign up.

I'm a bit of a n00b to the audio headset arena but I do know some people who are hardcore into audio headsets and they all talk about Astro in quiet, almost revered tones.  After seeing the new Astro A50's at E3 last week I can see where that devotion comes from.

The team is taking the A50's almost completely wireless so that you no longer tethered to anything when you have the headphones on, the lone wire you will need will be to tether the headset to an Xbox controller for Xbox Live chat. 

Astro's roots in industrial design are evident in every aspect of the A50's.  The new headsets share the look as the company's popular A40's but with a few twists.  The new headset has been designed to reduce the number of visible buttons on the headset so you don’t look like Lobot when you wear them.  To do this they have moved all of the major buttons to the back of the right cup of the headset .  Here you will find the power button, the master volume control, and the switch to move through the A50's three audio levels.   


The three audio levels include one for media, a game tuned setting (similar to the levels from A40), and a tournament setting which lowers the mid and bass levels and boosts the high frequencies allowing you to hear subtle audio (like footsteps, much easier.  Of course if you don't like those settings you can hook the head set up to your PC and adjust them manually through a separate application.

Astro has also cleverly hidden the controls to balance game audio/chat balance in a rocker switch in the outside right speaker cup.  As you adjust the levels the system will provide you with beeps when you hit both ends of the spectrum.  Those settings won't change until you change them so you don't have to worry about them when changing audio modes. 


The first thing I noticed when picking the headset up is how light it is for such a massive headset.  The A50 headset is extremely sturdy looking and feels well built so I was expecting that to translate into a bit of heft but it just wasn’t there.      It's not feather light by any means but I didn't feel like my neck was going to get a good workout by hearing it for long periods of time.

The next thing I noticed was how good the audio sounded.  The team at Astro is using the Kleernet audio chip which allows them to use the full 5.8 gHz spectrum.  This is significant because it allows them to use send uncompressed audio between the base station and the headset, resulting in a spectacular audio from the headsets. 

The headset will feature an onboard Lithium Ion battery which should provide 10 hours of gaming fun before needing to be recharged. 

The final bit of Astro sexiness is the combination stand/recharging unit which you can see below.  You don't have to put the base station in the cradle if you've got to embed it in with the rest of your audio setup but it does look nice when it's there with the headset. 


It looks like Astro has another big hit on their hands.  It comes at a fairly steep price though as the set will cost $299.99.  You'll be able to pre-order the set within the next two weeks and the set should be in the hands of gamers within the next month or so.  

• Turbine releases 5 year anniversary developer diary for Lord of the Rings Online
• Klassic Kombat skins trailer
• Darksiders II Avatar collection on Xbox Live
• New screens of upcoming MMO Line of Defense
• Max Payne 3 system specs and digital pre-order details for PC
• QuakeCon 2012 pre-registration begins tomorrow
• Now Loading for the week of April 22, 2012: Revenge Edition

The big uproar in the gaming community today is Kotaku's post on some rumored information of the next PlayStation console. The big ticket item is the rumor that the console will lock the disc to a single PlayStation 4 and used discs will only feature a trial like game forcing consumers to pay for a fully unlocked experience.

The rumors for Sony weren't the first console to thought of having some sort of feature to cripple used games. Stories of the next Xbox feature that as well, while Nintendo hasn't said anything about the used game market for the Wii U.

First off, let me say I don't agree with this if this is indeed true. We've lived with used games forever dating back to when I would scrape up some money to buy an Atari 2600 cartridge from someone. Even the PC side of things had used games for a bit even though they had some copy protection features such as dongle that came with the package that needed to be plugged into a joystick port for the game to run. But I feel that if a consumer wants to buy a used game, they have every right to.

In fact, I know of many instances where someone purchased a used game and went on to purchase the sequel as new because they enjoyed it so much. It might not have happened if they didn't play a used one beforehand. Demos can only do so much and sometimes the demos don't really convey the entirety of the experience.

To hear folks saying this is the death of console gaming and such seems a little bit far fetched. Reactions are going to be strong, no doubt about it, but I think this is far from the end. You don't have to look far to see that without a used game market, you can still thrive.

PC gaming has done without a used game market for a very long time. Ever since games required serial numbers or some online component in order to play, every game needed to be purchased as a new item. It hasn't done too shabby, and you can see publishers these days coming back to releasing PC ports where before they would not even consider shelling out the money to produce one.

The biggies for PC gaming are anything produced by Blizzard really, but there are plenty of others as well. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a big seller and you still have plenty of folks playing all things Valve.

What's nice about the PC market is that the prices on the games can fall pretty quickly to very affordable levels. It doesn't take too long, even for best selling AAA titles, to hit the $40 or even $30 range.

Yes, you sometimes need a great machine to get the full experience, but even middle to lower spec'd machines can handle some of the titles these days with some great graphics. You don't need the latest and greatest video card to enjoy some of the current hottest games, not like it used to be. So the cost of gaming on the PC has come down to a point where it's actually not a strain on the wallet.

But I digress. If the used market is taken out of the equation, you can still have a successful console and not be a death sentence. It would be really bad for business, in my view, but not enough to take it down to the video game crash in the 80s. I really hope that the rumors of the two consoles locking out used games is untrue, but even if it does happen, gaming on the console will go on.

They do have the portable gaming crowd nipping at their heels though in the likes of iPhone, iPad, and Android users so Microsoft and Sony should take caution in trying to change up the landscape too much, less they lose more and more folks to that area.

Now, before we get worked up over this, let's wait until we get official word. Nothing is concrete yet, but I hope the companies are seeing the reaction to these sorts of news and act accordingly. Calm down, relax, enjoy what you have, and let's wait and see this out.

At first glance LEGO Batman 2 looks a bit like its predecessor and a lot like the previous Lego games. You've got costumed mini-figs running around building and destroying things made of LEGO, collecting LEGO pieces, and generally having a grand old time. Looking closer you'll see some of the major enhancements that Travelers' Tales has put into the game.

The largest and most important feature (at least for me) is that you now have mid-level save games. No longer will you be forced to play through an entire level to save your game as the game will now allow for multiple save points within a level. This should make the lives of parents easier as they no longer have to wait for little Jenny or Johnny to complete a level before they go to bed (it should also save time and prevent late nights for adult Jenny and Johnny as well).

Another new feature is that the mini-figs will have fully moving mouths and dialogue. No more of the random chatter as the characters are fully voiced and will have moving lips.

The final big improvement is that the game features a large open LEGO world for explore. Since you've got this large world to explore (and because walking sucks) you'll be able to take control of the Batmobile, Bat Boat, and Batwing to explore the city which opens up all kinds of cool things to do.

As the developers walked us through the first level of the game I noticed that the backgrounds of the game have gotten a nice graphical upgrade. There's a lot of depth and detail that I don't remember seeing in the previous games. The mini-figs themselves have gotten a small bit of polish but let's be honest there's not much graphical fidelity there to enhance so it was nice to see the backgrounds get all the graphical love.

As with the previous LEGO Batman game you'll use your fists and various suits to defeat bad guys and solve puzzles in the game. Travelers' Tales showed off two of the new suits for the game. Batman gets the new Sensor Suit (allows you to see through some walls and become invisible to sensors) and the Electricity Suit (protection from electricity and controls machines) while Robin gets the Acrobat suit (turns into a giant rolling ball and allows for higher jumping) and the Hazard suit (protection from elements and allows you to put out fires).


The last reveal was that Superman is playable in the game which adds a ton to the game and shows off what the open world nature of the game is capable of. We watched as the Travelers' Tales representative fly Superman from the beautiful looking Batcave to Gotham and then fly around the city. I'm not normally a LEGO game guy but this was seriously cool and I could see players of all ages really getting into the flying mechanism. I also liked that the in-game animations for Superman kind of made him come off like a bit of a self-righteous douche bag but that might have been me projecting a bit.

I have to give some credit to Travelers' Tales for extending themselves a bit with LEGO Batman 2 as they could easily have just cranked out a new series of levels and puzzles and just sat back to watch the money roll in. Instead they are taking some risks with a big open world and all of the challenges that presents.

I had two "HOLY F**K" moments during the demo of MechWarrior Online (MWO) at GDC this week. The first was at the top of the demo when the game world was first revealed and displayed a beautifully rendered waterfall (thanks Crytek engine 3) in the distance. The quality of the render was almost photo perfect as was the rest of the wooded area around us.

The second moment occurred later in the demo as the Hunchback that the developer was piloting faced off against a much larger Atlas mech. As the mech came into range I saw several puffs around the upper torso of the Atlas and watched as a cluster of beautifully rendered LRMS's slammed into the chest of the Hunchback. Immediately the cockpit went red with warning lights and danger indicators. He returned fire and managed to take out both of the arms of the 120 ton Atlas before succumbing to the autocannon mounted on its torso.

As someone who played a lot of the PC MechWarrior games in the past I was looking forward to seeing what was in store for MechWarrior Online and what I saw this week did not disappoint me in the least.

One of the interesting things for MWO is that the folks at Piranha Games are trying to make you feel like you are piloting a Mech rather than being the Mech itself. To do this they are switching the perspective a bit so that you can see your arms and legs as you sit inside the cockpit. If you want you can look around the cockpit and see the detailed instrumentation or you can used the simplified user interface that gives you all the critical data and floats on top of the screen.

Another cool feature in MWO is that there are two targeting reticles. The first is fixed in the middle of the screen and shows where your torso based weapons are aimed at. The other is a floating reticle that shows where your arm based weapons will fire and is controlled by your mouse. Not only is this more a more realistic aiming experience but it also allows you to engage two mechs at the same time.

The game will support 12 on 12 matches with each side being broken into three Lances (a lance contains four mechs). Each mech will be fully customizable by the pilots and each mech will have a role to play on the battlefield. Smaller and faster mechs will be just as important as larger mechs in that they'll be able to locate and spot larger mechs for the rest of their lance. Once you die in a match you're out until the next one starts so there is a bit of an incentive to stay alive for as long as possible.

The game will be free to play but the details of what will be free and what will cost money are still TBD. Players will get a chance to try the game out for themselves this summer during a planned open beta (details are still TBD other than there will be a beta).

MWO was easily one of the most impressive looking games at GDC this year and I think old school MechWarrior fans are going to be blown away but what Piranha is doing with the game. I am interested to see what the pricing structure of the game is going to be as that could be the Achilles heel of the game but given the care and passion I've seen so far I think we're in good hands.
 

A couple of days ago, Jeremy posted that the folks at Penny Arcade and the Massachusetts Convention Center have agreed to keep PAX East at the Boston facility for the next 10 years. While that is great news, the folks heading to the 2012 PAX East event got some even better news today.

Epic Games announced the lineup for their Epic Games: Past, Present and Future panel at the show. In addition to Epic Games President Mike Capps, the company will be bringing some dude named CliffyB to town to talk about the company and how it has survived for 20 years and where they expect to go in the future. If you happen to be at the show, you can catch the panel on Saturday April 7th from 1:00 - 2:00pm.

Earlier today, Verizon and Coinstar, owner of Redbox, formally announced a huge partnership that will bring physical and streaming videos to any consumer anywhere. The company will be 65% Verizon and 35% Coinstar, so there is a lot of clout behind it when it comes time to get those rights for digital and physical content negotiated. While the release doesn’t come out and state it, it is highly likely that the streaming service will be coming to at least the Xbox 360 (Verizon has the FiOS app already on the machine) based on Verizon wanting people to “enjoy the entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the devices and media they prefer, at home or away."  The details were not released, with Verizon citing competitive concerns, but we will know more in the future.

This news is probably pretty disconcerting to Netflix, who has a presence on just about every digital device under the sun for years, but can't seem to get themselves over the top.  However, after several missteps in the last year (1, 2, 3, 4), Netflix seemed to level off (or at least, quit stepping on their own toes) but we still have no idea what direction the company will be going in and how successful they will be at renegotiating their digital rights contracts.

I personally loved this news, as it should make for an interesting battle that hopefully will lead to the consumers getting the win due to the competition.  If anything, maybe the Verizon/Redbox marriage will get us a complete streaming system that includes all movies and television shows that are current.

Probably the most information-intensive visit of CES 2012 came with the visit to the Samsung booth to cover their new line of PC equipment, including laptops and monitors.
 
First off, let’s get this rolling with the Series 5 laptop.  The Series 5 is a solid choice for most any consumer that needs great power from their system, yet great portability as well.  Options will include up to a 1 Terabyte Hard Disk Drive with your standard optical disk drive, and a long battery life that will last over six hours, though that will more than likely depend on the power settings that the user has it set on.  While the general specifications are always eye-grabbers right out of the gate, Samsung has put a direct emphasis on mobility.  The Series 5 will be just .82” thick and weigh just a shade over four pounds, which does include the weight of the HDD.  That’s quite impressive for a laptop, even in this day in age.  The layout of the system itself sports a beautiful 14” screen, a large trackpad for mouse usage, and a fast boot that will take no more than 20 seconds.
 
While the Series 5 is a solid system to start at, it only gets better from there.  The Series 7 Chronos builds upon the power and portability of its little brother by bulking up to a whopping 17.3” display, a dual storage system that features a 64GB Solid State Drive to go along with a 1 Terabyte Hard Disk Drive, a powerful nVidia Geforce GT 650M graphics card that boasts 2 Gigabytes dedicated to the card itself.  The Fast Boot takes no longer than 14 seconds (only with systems that have dual storage) along with a start speed of just one second.  There will be no more waiting around for your system to boot up and seemingly take forever to get to the desktop.  On top of these wonderful specifications comes the addition of premium JBL Speakers with a built-in sub-woofer for exceptional sound quality.  The keyboard itself is back lit with a sensor and the battery boasts a life span of 1500 cycles for three years of performance.
 
If we stopped there, it would certainly be a strong showing for Samsung.  However, we aren’t even close to finishing this off.  The Series 9 laptop is arguably the best laptop Samsung has put out for the consumer market.  Measuring in at just half an inch thickness, this notebook got every possible upgrade to assure that its state of the art.  With a fast boot of just 9.8 seconds, the Series 9 laptop is guaranteed to put the competition on notice.  The 13.3” screen boasts a 1600x900 resolution and is incredibly vivid.  Outside of that, we don’t know specifications just yet, so you will have to wait for more information from Samsung before rushing out to make your decision on your next laptop.
 
These three laptops are guaranteed to offer every possible solution for the everyday computer user, but Dan and I had to ask the question that was obvious to us:  What about a laptop for the gamers?  Samsung answered our question quite easily, taking us to the Series 7 Gamer.  This laptop is nothing short of a beast.  I was able to demo this great system with a test run of Battlefield 3 at its peak graphics performance, which is easily switched to by a knob that is on the hinge of the screen and the base.  There are four modes to switch between for whatever type of usage you need out of the laptop, with the gamer mode giving you great eye candy once the system launches it into the heavy graphics intensive mode.  Sporting a powerful AMD Radeon HD6970M Graphics Card and a second generation Intel Quad Core i7 processor, every gamer will want to at least give this a tryout.  The CPU is optimized not only for heavy game use, but is sure to keep the system cool with a turbo cooling system built into the system.
 
Finishing off our tour in Samsung’s PC world, we come to the Series 9 PC monitors for home use.  While we don’t know a lot of the internal specifications of the monitors themselves, we can tell you that these beautiful monitors sport a top resolution of 2560x1440 and offer a 178 degree viewing angle.  Trust me when I tell you that the picture quality on these monitors was absolutely crystal clear.  The amount of space that they take up is limited directly to the monitor size itself, thanks to the sleek design of the base and support for the unit.
 
Samsung has shown us that they are not only a top player in the television market, but are quite serious about becoming a top player in the PC world as well, and their line of laptops and monitors are certain to make an impact in the coming year.

I took a different tack from my usual planning in that I made no appointments on Thursday, instead using the morning to catch up on writing and recover from the late night at the Monster party. There are just too many things at the show to know everything that is going on and book time with all the people you want to see. [READ MORE]