When I ran ReviewCenter.com back in the 90s and early 2000s, I tested out a ton of flight simulators. And I tested out a ton of joysticks and peripherals.

The one I liked the best was the CH Products Fighterstick USB. Long story short, it’s the best joystick ever made. Back then, the 15-pin game port was still the king, though it was lumbering. USB enabled us to easily use multiple devices like throttles, joysticks, and rudder pedals all at once.

More than 10 years later, the Figherstick is still CH’s flagship joystick product.

The three-axis stick controls aileron, elevator, and throttle control, while the built-in eight-direction HAT lets you control point-of-view or thrust vectoring. It works perfectly in Windows, while rotary trim wheels allow you to fine tune control for older DOS games.

Recently I decided to pull my Fighterstick out of the closet and see if it still worked. It was beat up. Dusty, with some of the rubber casing missing from the USB cable, probably from getting dropped, moved, and boxed for about six years. Well, it still works. I plugged it in, Windows 7 recognized it instantly, and the Fighterstick worked just like it did a decade ago.

Just for kicks, I had CH send me a brand new Fighterstick and see if I could tell any differences. I could not. The X and Y axis of the stick feel and move the same. The Z axis throttle is just as tight on both sticks. All buttons work and feel the same, including the HAT.

After 10 years, the Fighterstick, well out of its two-year warranty, still works perfectly. It works as good as a brand new joystick. For something made of plastic and circuit boards, with tactile buttons, only my Sega Genesis controllers have held up as long. Remember Nintendo 64? How’s that analog stick working? Still making head shots in GoldenEye?

So there’s your testimonial for CH Products. Not bought. Not paid for. Just played with, over and over again.

Thanks to the music gaming boom over the last few years, homes have been invaded by cheap plastic gaming peripherals.  The last thing any gamer wants is something else to add to the pile. Luckily, the PlayStation Move Sharpshooter isn’t just another cheap piece of plastic destined for the peripheral junk pile; it’s a badass answer to the “how will motion gaming handle shooters?” question. Thanks to some pretty cool tech and a great layout; the PlayStation Move is a must have for any Move owner — if your arms can take it.

The Sharshooter is set up pretty straight forward, you put the move controller into the front section of the navigation controller into a specialized slot below it. The peripheral itself may look surprisingly bland (coming off as a sub machine gun painted gray), but you can’t deny how cool it looks when powered up with the glowing orb of the Move. The front of the gun features an orange shotgun like pump that serves different purposes depending on the game, for instance reloading. There’s also two triggers and buttons mapped to the side of the gun. Like the shotgun portion, the buttons are mapped for different purposes depending on the game. The back of the gun features a stock that can extend to different sizes to resemble different guns. While as a whole the Sharpshooter feels sturdy, this stock feels quite cheap and I found myself shying away from it in fear of breaking it.

When first using the Sharpshooter, you’re likely to be a little put off by it. Your hands aren’t used to playing a shooter the way the peripheral requires. Stick with it though, it gets better. After roughly an hour of playing Killzone 3 with the Sharpshooter, I became quite skilled at mowing down Helghast with it, in fact, I almost prefer it to the standard controller controls in some ways. The Sharpshooter is a lot more fluid than you’d expect and very precise (though, admittedly, not as much as a controller).  Keep in mind, to get the most out of the gun, you’re going to have to seriously mess with the gun’s sensitivity settings.

One of the issues I did find though was that as impressive as the button mapping was, at times they felt too small, and placed too close together. Now, let me preface that; I’m a rather large man, with pretty large fingers, so it may not be an issue to anyone, but I constantly found myself hitting the secondary trigger during moments when I didn’t want to.  Another issues I had, and it’s a minor one, is that the Sharpshooter isn’t made for long sessions. After a while, holding the gun up becomes a bit taxing on your arms, and you’re likely to either take a break or switch back to the Dualshock.

The Blast Factor: With a surprisingly reasonable price tag of $39, the PlayStation Move Sharpshooter is a great addition to the Move lineup. It’s sturdy, intuitive, well built and incredibly fluid during most playthroughs. While it does have it’s downfalls, like the fact that it’ll tax your stamina and it doesn’t seem to be built for those with larger fingers, I had a great time with the peripheral. Most importantly, I can’t wait to see how other developers can incorporate it into their games.

Note: Check out our reviews of the PlayStation Move and Killzone 3 too!

Ugh.

This review was pure hell to do.

The reason is that I hate Wii Fit.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a wonderfully made game, and I think it can be extremely beneficial for those trying to lose unwanted pounds.

But, that’s not me.

See, while I’m not necessarily overweight, I am lazy as shit. Because of this, the rare times when I DO pop in Wii Fit, all it proceeds to do is make me feel like an out of shape slob (which I am) and give me a bit of a complex.

Yes, I know that if I actually stuck with Wii Fit, and used it every single day all of these bad feelings could be avoided, and I’d soon be much more firm. However, I don’t have that kind of time or patience. Plus, there’s far more fun and awesome games to play,
and stuff to do that doesn’t require nearly as much effort. Like writing smarmy reviews and blogs!

Anyway, for those of you that use Wii Fit as it’s intended, and if you’ve found that you’re either bored with it, or that your workouts have plateaued, CTA’s Multifunction Step Platform is an affordable must buy.

The first thing I noticed while using the platform (after putting it together with minimal swearing) was that it’s additional height really enhances one’s Wii Fit workout.

While doing the aerobics workout as part of Fit Plus, I honestly thought I was going to throw up after about 5 minutes. Seriously, the next morning my hips, legs, and ass were killing me. For bored soccer moms, trophy wives or workout freaks this might be what you’re trying to achieve.

Me? I just wanted to smash this thing with a hammer. I guess that means that it works as it’s intended.

Upon my second day of testing, I did start to notice a problem with the platform. It seemingly causes Wii Fit to read your weight incorrectly on occasion, which is annoying.
I kept getting the message that “my weight is different from last time,” and it was short changing me by about 30 pounds (oh, if only!) Seeing as that continued to happen, I’d recommend that you actually weigh yourself first, and then attach the platform to the balance board. Again, that’s just kind of a pain in the ass, and it reeks of not testing this unit adequately before it shipped.

Once this problem was resolved, I started up another round of aerobics, and really did my best to basically try and break the Step Platform. No, not so much out of frustration of being dizzy and sucking wind, but more just to test it’s overall sturdiness. Well, I can assure you that the Step Platform is very stable, and is built very well. So, if you had any concerns about falling off of it, and breaking your neck, it’s probably not going to happen.

In closing, like I said earlier, if you still use Wii Fit regularly you should buy this thing.
It intensifies your aerobic workout, it’s easy to put together, surprisingly sturdy, and cheap.

Now, let me never have to review something like this ever, ever again.

Now I’m going to go back to playing Red Dead Redemption while sitting on my ass.

The CTA Multifunction Step Platform retails for $26.99, but can be found much cheaper online. Just search around.

I’m somewhat enamored with stage monitors that were developed for use in music video games. But I can’t help but wonder — WTF took you guys so long?

Between the Polk Audio Hitmaster, which my friend Big Jim Murray reviewed a few weeks back, and the Altec Lansing Stage-Gig, we have a few good ideas here that have come out several years after Guitar Hero and Rock Band (and about a year after the games hit their maximum popularity).

At its core, the Stage-Gig is a versatile, 40-watt speaker with strong bass response and clear highs. It plugs in via standard Red/White audio plugs, so it works with PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and anything else that, you know, makes sound.

It’s only about 1/2 as big as a “real” stage monitor. It’s meant to give you some more realism when you (and hopefully your friends) are making fake music in your living room. You can also string together multiple units for added audio power.

The problem is, and the problem was with the Polk product, is timing. This would have been a fantastic product to showcase at all the music game booths at E3 in 2008.

But as a bonus, both stage monitors we’ve tested are just $100. The Stage-Gig is a great speaker, which will sound fantastic at a party with your iPod or stereo. It even hooks up to your computer if you want it to.

If you already have a great home theater setup, you don’t need the Stage-Gig, but if you’re relying on your television’s speaker, this will make everything sound better.

Blast Factor: The Stage-Gig is a great speaker, if you need a great speaker. While it might be more practical for picnic music than for pretending to be the next great American band, the product does what it says it will do without costing much.

The Altec Lansing Stage-Gig is $99. A sample was given to us by the developer for reviewing purposes.

Do people even care about the Rock Band/Guitar Hero genre anymore?

While I do think a firm “no” as an answer to that question would be hyperbole, there’s no question that those games popularity is most definitely not what it was just a few short years ago. And look no further than the sales trending downward and trouble at Cambridge-based Harmonix for proof.

That said, I find it somewhat odd that Polk Audio has chosen now to release their new Hitmaster stage monitor.

Yes, you read that right. It’s a stage monitor.

Something normally reserved for REAL bands with REAL instruments, but, here’s one for use with Rock Band and or Guitar Hero.

First, you audiophiles should know the all important stats.

The Hitmaster comes in at roughly 14 inches wide and 9 inches tall, and is packed with a 6.5 inch sub-woofer and two 1-inch neodymium tweeters housed in 2.5-inch by 5.5-inch horns, and 80 watts of amplification.

Look, I’d be lying to you if I said I knew exactly what all of that exactly means, but I CAN tell you that the Hitmaster does “go to 11″ (no, literally!) and, it sounds pretty awesome.

Especially if you’re comparing that to the sound from your T.V. speakers.

For example, while playing Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” for Rock Band 2, I was pleasantly surprised by the big sound, in this relatively small speaker.

Lemmy’s baseline is immediately much more punchy and bottom heavy with the Hitmaster.

A sound you’re clearly not going to get through ANY t.v.’s speakers, no matter how fancy it may be.

Still though, as much as I enjoyed the obviously better aural experience of playing Rock Band 2 through the Hitmaster, I couldn’t help but feeling that much more…um, dorkier for doing so.

I mean, let’s be honest. It’s silly enough wailing out on the plastic guitar or drums at this point, but to then add a stage monitor to blast music into your face while you’re playing?

It just feels like overkill.

I guess if you were say, a bar owner who still held a Rock Band or Guitar Hero “night,” I’d recommend picking one or more of these up (they can be daisy chained) but I just can’t see blowing a hundred bucks on one for your home.

That is unless you’re without any kind of home theater system.

If that’s the case, well, then the Hitmaster ends up being an incredible bargain.

See, as long as it uses RCA stereo cables (T.V.’s, DVD/Blu-Ray players, your iPod, etc.), you can plug it into your Hitmaster, crank it up, and annoy your neighbors!

Obviously, Polk isn’t advertising this monitor for that kind of thing, but after using the Hitmaster with my iPod out on my porch while grilling delicious meats this past weekend, I came to this conclusion.

The Hitmaster for use with Rock Band and or Guitar Hero?

Kind of dumb.

The Hitmaster for use with outdoor bbq’s and or for people too fiscally conservative to blow money on a real home theater system?

Kind of awesome.

The Blast Factor:Based solely on the fact that you’re getting an all in one three speaker and amp for just 99 bucks, the HitMaster not only sounds better than expected, it’s also a pretty good bargain. The unit is incredibly easy to hookup, and thanks to this, you’re not forced to use it exclusively with your gaming console, solely for RockBand or Guitar Hero. Summer’s coming. So, if you’re the party hosting type who wants to blast their MP3 player outdoors and get things moving for relatively short money, I’d recommend picking one up.

We have glasses of every kind to protect our eyes—sunglasses, ski goggles and swimming goggles. But do we have any protection while playing video games?

According to GUNNAR Optiks at PAX, sitting in front of a television for five or six hours straight will put a strain on the eyes. The eyes were designed to focus on things further away than a monitor or television set, yet many Americans spend more time looking at these than anything else. Most jobs require a significant amount of time staring at a computer screen. Then after work we come home and sit in front of another screen for entertainment, watching shows or playing video games.

GUNNAR Optiks found that the long-term viewing of digital information causes what they call "Digital Eye Fatigue" (DEF). They define DEF as blurred vision, eyestrain, dry eyes, light sensitivity or headaches. GUNNAR claims their performance eyewear will increase contrast, optical resolution and detail.

Like many people, most of my job requires sitting in front of a keyboard and monitor, so I decided to try the glasses they designed for computer monitors. My experience after wearing them off and on for a couple weeks was mixed. I have never worn corrective eyewear and rarely bother with sunglasses. This made the experience of wearing glasses all day particularly odd. When I first looked through them, I could very quickly see that they affected my vision. If I put them on and took them off the computer screen looked very visibly different. I noticed right away how they shift the color spectrum.

When I put the glasses on, the screen was definitely easier to look at—though it leads to my major complaint with the glasses. When I had them on it was fine looking at the screen but doing everything else was requiring me to take them off. GUNNAR claims that you should be able to multitask and do other things with the glasses on, but I found that it messed with my vision if I walked away from my desk. This may turn out to be more or less important for each person.

I do believe the glasses should help with dry eyes. The research GUNNAR used in designing the glasses showed that people looking at monitors tend to blink less. The glasses wrap around the user’s head, which should keep moisture present and trapped behind the glasses. I’ve personally never had a problem with dry eyes before but I did notice that my eyes would blink more rapidly for a short time because of the moisture.

My eyes did feel less strained at the end of the day, and I think that helped me throughout the week. On the other hand, when I took them off my eyes had trouble adjusting to everything else temporarily. I would recommend the performance glasses if your eyes are tired or feel dry at the end of the day. For me, they had about the same effect as taking a break from the screen to get a drink of water or to talk to co-workers.

GUNNAR Optiks digital eyewear retails between $79- $189. For more information, check out http://www.gunnars.com/gunnar_corporateinfo.php.

I got my first taste of this generation of Mad Catz music game accessories at E3 over the summer. two products stood out. One was a $300 real wood Fender Stratocaster, which is basically an actual guitar with video game components inserted instead of strings and pickups. The other wasn’t quite as flashy, but it was still cool in the looks and concept departments.

The Wireless Fender Precision Bass is one of the only (Beatles Rock Band not included) video game guitars that specifically caters to the oft-ignored bassists out there. The most obvious feature will grab you right away in the split strum bar. This allows you to have a certain degree of realism in doing two-fingered bass strumming.

The elongated neck and fret buttons make for comfortable game playing. The guitar is 84 percent to scale, but it actually feels like you’re holding a bass when you hold this guitar’s shape in your arms and start to pick away at your favorite songs.

The two fingered mode is interesting, but I’m still a “thumb strummer” in Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It takes some getting used to. But the bass is well put together.

It’s a Rock Band 2 product, licensed by Harmonix/MTV Games on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $89.99.

Chances are good that if you use headphones with any kind of regularity, you’re hurting your ears. Subway too loud? Crank up the volume. Playing your Nintendo DS or Playstation Portable in the same room as someone watching TV? You’re probably constantly turning things up to block out the noise around you. The same goes for PC gaming; sometimes you’re in a loud environment, and your natural reaction is to turn things up.

Able Planet, as they have always looked to do, is looking out for your ears and your future hearing, and developed the PS500MM headphones for PC gamers. As you can see in the image, these are a small pair of headphones–you don’t have to carry around or store a big, bulky pair like you find in many noise-canceling headphones–and may be a necessary expense for those of you that game on PC’s often.

The noise-canceling effects built into the headphones means that you don’t need to turn up the volume in order to hear over your environment. They work well too–I’ve tested them on my PC playing some old-school games where sound is important to the experience, I’ve used them in my Nintendo DSi, and I’ve even checked them out on a plane, flying back and forth from Seattle to the Penny Arcade Expo. In each instance, I found that you never needed to put the volume all the way up, as you could hear the sounds and music with great clarity. This is nice for someone like me that has bludgeoned their ears with years of playing guitar with their amp turned up to 11, as I can still hear things without damaging my ears any further.

If you plan on traveling with them as I did, they come with a soft-carrying pouch to stick them in. The microphone that comes with the headset is very flexible, so the headphones fold up nice without any parts sticking out when you need to put them in the bag. Additionally, if you don’t need the microphone, it easily bends out of your way.

The headphones are comfortable as well, thanks to their being very light. The adjustment band on top is thin as well, so unlike some massive headsets, you won’t feel these on your head that much when you wear them. The headphones weigh in at 2.64 ounces, and to make things even nicer, the ear cups are leather and made to fit on your ears, not completely around them. I wore them most of the way from Boston to Seattle and back, and unlike when I use ear buds, I didn’t mind keeping them on for that length of time thanks to the way the cups fit.

A pair of PS500MM ships with a USB adapter in addition to your standard headphone and microphone jacks. You can pick up a pair of PS500MM headphones from Able Planet for $99. You can find them through Able Planet’s website, along with their other audio products.

Blast Factor: Headphones can be pricey, but $100 isn’t too much to ask for when it comes to saving your hearing. If you’re an avid gamer for PC titles–or even someone like me who spends a lot of time with a DS or PSP in their hands–then the PS500MM headphones are a comfortable and worthwhile addition to your gaming accessories.

Logitech bills the G13 as a “game changing experience,” and it’s both true and false.

If you are a dedicated PC gamer — an elite WoW player, Call of Duty, Fallout 3, etc. — then the G13 can completely change the way you play. This is especially true online, where the customizable buttons on the G13 can give you a decided edge.

There’s just one thing that you have to get past: A game changing experience means you have to change the way you game. If you’re in your 20s and have been using control to shoot, alt to strafe, and space to open doors for the past 15 years, then the G13 is going to feel like a foreign object for a while. Younger players have the advantage here. Their minds aren’t as hard-coded as ours.

Getting past the difficulties of old age, the G13 has 25 programmable keys that you can set and switch with five savable profiles. You can also customize the backlight to four different colors. There’s also a 160×43-pixel LCD panel that can show messages between players and live game stats. The LCD panel is a bit of a gimmick, and the viewing angle isn’t great since your fingers are right above it.

One of the most useful functions of the unit is the ability to program macros to script commands as you see fit.

The unit is also nicely sized and won’t slide around your desk.

The control profiles are stored in the unit, so you can take the G13 with you with no software reconfigurations to worry about.

Still, a lot of us are used to what we do with the existing keyboard and mouse, but I do like the G13 even more as a laptop gaming solution. The mini joystick on the right of the unit is really handy in that regard.

While I never really got used to using the unit, with PC gaming on the downturn, it might be a blessing in disguise that something totally different has come along. The G13 works with PC or MAC and comes with a free World of Warcraft trial, which is one of the games it’s meant to be used with.

Blast factor: If you’re still an avid PC gamer, the G13 is a great solution with built-in profiles for the top games. The backlit keys and LCD really add to the appeal, too.

Nintendo made a great console with the Wii, but one major mistake made was that the Wiimotes run on two standard AA batteries. This means that they require replacing on a regular basis. It’s a pain if they die in the middle of a game,‚ creating much frustration if there are no batteries to replace them with. For a while I used rechargeable AA batteries but that still requires swapping them each time they die.

There have been multiple companies that have come out with different battery pack solutions to deal with this problem. The thing that they all fail at is working with Nintendo, or third party, “Wii condoms” (the unofficial name for the silicon shells people put on their Wiimotes). In all, newer games Nintendo recommends you use a Wii condom. They have swapped the graphics of the Wiimotes in game to show using their condom. With most charging stations on the market, you have to take the Wii condom off to charge the Wiimotes. This means you either don’t use the Wii condom at all, or you end up forgetting to charge them, and get dead batteries.

Teknocreations has come out with a solution that solves both of these issues. The InCharge uses the same technology that is in some electric toothbrushes. It’s the same technology that MIT was advertising recently to run a light bulb wirelessly across the room. This is same technology that makes electric magnets possible. Surprisingly, it’s actually just basic high school physics behind it. It’s not used regularly because the amount of electricity lost using this method is many times greater than the amount used.

Physics says that a changing electric current will create a magnetic current. An electric magnet just is a wire wrapped around a metal rod so it moves around in the same direction creating a fixed magnetic field. The interesting and important part of this is that the reverse holds true too: a changing magnet field will cause an electric current.

The InCharge uses this idea to have an electric magnet create currents in the base station that cause an electric charge in the batteries. This is not the most efficient way to charge your Wii batteries since electricity is being wasted converting from electrical to magnetic, then back to electrical. Luckily, the batteries in the Wiimotes are small enough that the amount of energy that is required to charge them this way as opposed to the metal contact methods won’t be noticed by most people. To put in perspective, the power adapters for most of your electronics waste almost as much converting from 110 volts to the voltage the device uses.

The batteries held up well under my tests, though they did have the same problems of all other Lithium batteries. If left unused for any length of time they will slowly lose their charge, but only over long periods of time. This would mostly account for the discrepancy that they claimed 24 hours of charge time. I only managed to get a little more than 12 hours over a two-week period. This should be still more than enough when you consider that you should place the Wiimotes back on their charge station when not in use. So the biggest question on battery life is how long you will sit playing the Wii in one sitting, since the charger is able to easily charge them back up for you over night.

I did find that the meter on the Wii wasn’t accurate on these batteries though. The meter seemed to work fine on other batteries I’ve tested in the past. On the InCharge, the Wii still said half charge when they started to run out of power, and shutoff while playing games. So if you don’t place the remotes on their base station, you shouldn’t trust this meter.

The big benefit though is the fact that now you can leave your Wiimotes in their Wii condoms while charging. I tried a couple different Wii condoms to see that they each kept the Wiimote close enough to charge. The Wiimotes will still charge as long as they are within about one centimeter away from the base station. So now you can have different colored Wii condoms to tell your Wiimotes apart and still use a battery pack to charge them.

The other nice thing for families with small kids is the contacts are no longer exposed so you can’t get any gunk on them stopping the batteries from charging. Though personally the worst I’ve ever had from the contacts is a little rust that can be sandpapered off, it’s still nice to have one less thing to worry about.

One concern I’d raise about this is that the InCharge, because it uses a magnetic field, is like a microwave oven. I wouldn’t sit it next to your computer, or any electronics. Teknocreations says that the magnetic radiation isn’t harmful, but a computer too close may still have negative side effects.

Overall, I think the InCharge is a great device. It still has the trouble that if you have‚ three or‚ four people in your family it requires two InCharges since they only charge two Wiimotes each. On the other hand, if you only have two people playing the Wii, which seems more common, there will be no issue‚ and you won’t have extra wasted parts.

Nyko’s Media Hub+ adds three additional USB ports and a media card reader slot that supports SD cards and Memory Sticks to the PlayStation 3. Basically this item speaks for itself.

There are two questions you may ask yourself. First, does the product and all of its ports work? The answer is yes. Second, do you actually need this?

If you are a 20 GB or 40 GB PS3 owner, your console doesn’t have a media card reader or the additional USB ports that the 60GB and 80GB models have. At first this does not seem too important, but with the increasing trend of devices wanting to connect to your console through USB, this becomes a problem fairly quickly. This beautiful little Media Hub+ comes to the rescue with style!

The Media Hub+ is designed to go in first USB port of your console, snapping in easily. It is black and shaped so it fits flush with your PS3 in vertical or horizontal position. This is a nice design choice unlike any other media hub you may purchase, which would give your console odd looking extremities.

Nyko also did their homework, because the package comes with a small adapter that fits snug within the Media Hub+ to ensure it fits with all the different models of PS3s available to date.

Most importantly, the Media Hub+ is powered by the console so you do not have to look for an empty power socket just to make it work.

It does exactly what it is meant to do at and extremely reasonable price, $19.99.

What many present and future PS3 owners do not realize is how much use those USB ports on their console are going to get. The two USB ports on just the 40GB model are just not enough. The PlayStation Eye and charging one controller will fill up those two ports alone. Then there is the PSP connectivity taking a port. Not including if you wanted to add a full keyboard or mouse to make surfing the web and chatting easier. Let’s also not forget games like Rock Band that have multiple connecting instruments. And if you are trying to use a flash memory stick, it is a constant hassle to repeatedly unplug all the other devices just to have an open port to plug in your USB stick.

Sony has constantly mentioned its 10-year life cycle plan for the PS3. Who knows what other devices Sony will unveil that will connect to the PlayStation 3?

On the negative side, it is only possible to connect one Media Hub+ to your console. It is impossible to connect two on a 20 GB or 40 GB, and if you tried using two on the 60 GB or 80 GB model you would be covering over other USB ports rendering them useless in your attempts to get more. So do not get greedy and buy two.

Being the owner of a 40 GB model, my final verdict was that additional USB ports and a media card reader for $19.99 was a good deal. I make this a necessity to own even if you already have model with more USB ports. It never hurts to have more ports.

With Microsoft and Razer joining forces to produce their Habu mouse, that really leaves two major companies fighting it out in the world of computer mice, specifically hardcore gaming mouses.

The Logitech G5 Laser is regarded by many as the best pure gaming mouse on the market, so we decided to take a look at the G9 to see if it’s the next evolution or just a bunch of cheese.

The first thing we noticed about the G9 Laser Mouse was how different it was compared to the G5. It’s a different size and shape, the buttons are different, heck, even the wheel is different.

The second thing we noticed was that it was very impressive in its own right.

The mouse has all the standard gaming bells and whistles including nine buttons, a 4-way tilt wheel, on board adjustable sensitivity and weight and that Logitech hyperscrolling where you flick a finger and the wheel spins and spins and spins.

The wheel lock/unlock button has been moved to below/the feet side of the mouse, which we don’t necessarily mind as long as the laser is off.

The G9 is a corded mouse. Many gamers, this one included, haven’t made up their minds about cords versus cordless. On one hand you have a wire to worry about, and on the other, batteries. We’ll leave that one alone.

The mouse tracks very well, saves gaming profiles via on board memory, and has decent drivers that let you customize all the buttons. Overall, it’s a great mouse and a solid option for PC gamers.

These two products are essentially the same, even though they don’t look it and the PlayStation 3 version uses the original internal battery, and 360 version uses a Nyko replacement battery. They’re both meant to give you an externalized recharge of your controllers.

I currently have Nyko’s Wii Charge Station, and the PS3 and 360 charge stations all sitting next to each other on a shelf.

The 360 and PS3 controllers can each be charged using USB, or with the 360 by removing the battery and sticking it in a separate charge station. The Nyko charge stations are nice because you can basically just store your controllers on them when they aren’t being used.

This is a good place to use Lithium Ion batteries. Even if there’s still some juice left, you can recharge them on the fly, as opposed to older technologies that do better if you let them completely die before charging them.‚  This makes the life of the battery less important since you will have it charging when your not playing, and as long as you don’t do a marathon gaming session the battery will never run out on you.

The problem that Nyko had to deal with when designing the Charge base was figuring out how to charge conveniently the PS3 and the 360 controllers, which weren’t designed with a simple plug in interface. With the 360 they just were able to add their own batteries with convenient contacts for charging, much like the Wii base.

The PS3 since it has a non-removable battery required them to be more creative. They came up with an interesting solution of placing an adapter on the USB port of the PS3, but this method adds a small part to their product that can be easily lost.

My main disappointment with the Charge Base, specifically with the PS3 version, was that it’s not compatible with Nyko’s owns Zero controller. If it was a different company’s part then I wouldn’t be
surprised, but I would have expected Nyko to make sure it works with their own controller, which they were heavily encouraging people to buy when it hit the market as the first rumble controller for the PS3. Unfortunately though the adapters don’t fit on the Zero, so it must still be charged by plugging the controller into a USB port.

Overall, if you use official controllers for your game systems either Nyko Charge Base is a great accessory, especially the PS3 one since the PS3 turns off its USB ports when it’s off, (the time when I
would expect most people to charge their controllers.)

My only real big complaint was that it doesn’t support their own controller.

LOS ANGELES — NYKO was the best peripherals company at E3.

So what if they were the only one there? They rocked. And they had booth babes. In fact, photo credit for the pictures in this story goes directly to a red-wigged girl with piercing eyes.

But enough about my frustrations, back to games.

NYKO has several handy products available that they were demoing at the Media and Business Summit, including a guitar that works with both Guitar Hero and Rock Band in PlayStation 3.

So pay attention to the wireless Frontman. It also makes the transition from Guitar Hero to Rock Band much easier. The Frontman feels natural, responds smoothly, and looks great. It loved it, and I’m buying one. As you can see, I also look great playing it.

Another product you’ll probably buy if you have a PlayStation 3, the NYKO Media Hub+ is a combination USB hub/media card reader. It fits flush against the PS3 and will allow you to plug all your instruments into smaller PlayStation 3′s without as many USB ports.

NYKO also has cooling products available for PlayStation 3 and Wii that turn on when the system gets hot and turn off when the system cools down — they even stay on right after you shutdown the system to make sure everything cools off properly.

As NYKO publicist Quinn Wageman explains, “if you’re watching a DVD, you’re not going to need the fans, but if you’re playing a graphics-intense game, you will.”

Disclaimer: NYKO was the company that invited Blast to E3 this year. Blast appreciates and enjoys its long-standing professional friendship with NYKO, but reminds readers that it has no effect on our reviews or editorial policies. Every media outlet at E3 this year was invited by another company. Except maybe IGN.

Nyko beat Sony to the punch in the US with a Wireless Sixaxis controller that also supports rumble.

The controller has metal on the top and plastic for the rest of the body. The Metal is touted as a way to keep your hands less sweaty, and cooler. The bad thing about the metal is when you first pick up the
controller, it feels cold. The metal is fine once you’ve had it in your hand for a while.

The battery life on the Nyko is great. The Controller comes with a USB cable for charging and a 2xAA battery holder in case you forget to charge the controller. Remember, the PS3 can’t charge the zero when the it’s turned off.

One serious issue with the Zero is that it uses a USB adapter to communicate with the PS3. It is wireless, but it still requires a dongle. The dongle — like most wireless devices — needs to be synced with the controller. Unlike the Sony wireless controllers the controller sync information can not be stored on the PS3 itself. This means that sometimes, when it loses connection, you have to walk over to the PS3 and press the sync button on the dongle. Most of the time though, it only takes a press on center button of the controller to reconnect them. The USB dongle also means that the Zero is unable to turn the PS3 on, since there is no power to the USB ports when the PS3 is turned off.

The controller is heavier than the Sony SixAxis, or the Dual Shock PS2 controller. Though the weight isn’t uncomfortably heavy. The added weight it expected, as the Zero has metal as part of the body, a battery, and motors for rumble.

The vibration works just as you would expect. Many games, even older ones, come with support for rumble already. It’s like a new dimension on your old games. The Zero doesn’t shake as much as the Dual Shock
did, but that is likely to conserve the battery life of the controller.

The controller uses a color-coded number to identify itself and back-lit bottons. Those would be helpful for somepeople if they actually look at the buttons. I think we’re past that at this stage of our gaming development.

The best thing about the SixAxis controll in the Zero is that there really isn’t much to say about it. It simply just works. It feels and reacts just as the original PS3 controller. Despite the need for a dongle, it works great. If you need an extra controller or want to do some vibrating, give the Zero a try.

4 out of 5 stars 

While unknown to many gamers, the name SplitFish Gameware is an important piece of the gaming puzzle. Their line of products range from simple adapters, to 3D gaming glasses, to PlayStation 3 controller replacements.

Many products out there claim to enhance gameplay, but most turn out to be frivolous gimmicks. More than once, SplitFish’s tech has turned out to actually upgrade the way you play.

One of their recent pieces of gameware, recently released stateside after almost two years of availability abroad, MotionFX is a standalone motion-sensing adapter for the PS2 controller. It turns your Dualshock into a Sixaxis.

Out of the box, it’s literally a snap to set-up. The small booklet of instructions shows you how to snap it on, then turn it on. Depending on the amount of sensitivity you’d prefer, you’re able to adjust that as well.

Originally, I couldn’t believe the MotionFX’s claims. The sales people at my local gaming store weren’t familiar with it and didn’t know if it actually worked or not. No one had bought it yet. So I took it upon myself. I splurged. I spent a whole $10.

The thing that first surprised me was the fact that the adapter came with a cord. Which made sense, since this thing runs without batteries. It’s sort of a mixed blessing.

I followed the simple instruction and snapped it on. Running NASCAR 08, I clicked the main button and the blue and red lights turned on, letting me know it had calibrated itself. You can recalibrate and adjust the sensitivity by pressing a few buttons.

You are also able to select which stick you want to substitute the adapter for. By default it assigns it to the left thumb-stick. I started the race and away I went. I found that I had to adjust my degree of tilt to get the controls comfortable. From then on, it was just a matter of getting used to the motion sensing, since I’m a traditional gamer, who just sits back without much hand/body motion.

I made the investment in a second MotionFX and did some PlayStation 3/Sixaxis comparisions. One of the first differences we noticed was the cord — powering the device off the PS2 instead of a battery pack.

You’re probably going to have to adjust the motion sensitivity a few times to get used to the MotionFX, but you’re in for an experience that’s very similar to the Sixaxis, only on a PlayStation 2!

One of the real “wow” factors with this thing is that the MotionFX can be re-calibrated for a desired angle of center. One friend was holding it level, like a normal controller, while another tried holding it like a steering wheel.

The only real downside is the cord, but you’ll never have to worry about recharging or the batteries dying out. Also, when I’m in a menu, as I tilt the controller to navigate, it tends to rummage through the selections out of control. So I just level it off, and use the stick to make my selections.

Overall, I’d say SplitFish’s MotionFX is a must-buy for loyal PS2 owners looking for a new experience without a $400 upgrade. Like a phoenix, the PlayStation 2 just keeps coming back for more.

Download the manual

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars

One of the greatest features on the Nintendo Wii is the Virtual Console, giving players a chance to relive some of the greatest games ever made, including the original Mario Brothers and Zelda games.

But try as you might, many people just don’t feel the Wiimote — or even the Gamecube controller — feels right. That’s because we played these games for countless hours with the familiar two buttons of the rectangular NES controller and the breakthrough six buttons of the SNES. Or, if we really got fancy, we might have had a NES Advantage arcade-style control platform.

The Wii RetroPorts from RetroZone are simple small wire adapters. You can buy an NES or SNES version. Just plug it into the Wii with your original controller and you’re allset. The adapters don’t come with a controller, but you can use any controller with either a NES or SNES plug. The adapters just plug in as GameCube controllers, and you can use them for any Virtual Console games that are configured for the corresponding amount of buttons. (Genesis?)

I tried a few NES and SNES games in the Virtual Console. They played just the same as the original system. I felt like I was playing my original console games without having to blow on the cartridges.

The Original NES controller feels sooo much better in my hands than the Wii-Mote for Super Mario Brothers.

At $19, this is a perfect product.

Quick hits:

Developer/Distributor: RetroZone
Platform: Wii, Gamecube (Uses NES or SNES-compatible controllers, depending on which one you buy)
Genre: Gaming accessory

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

When you turn a PS3 off, it also disconnects the power to the USB ports. This makes me wonder why Sony built the controllers to charge over USB if you can’t charge them with the PS3 off.

Personally I always figured the point of having a wireless controller was so I wouldn’t have to plug it into the system when I was playing. I’m also not comfortable leaving the PS3 on when I’m not playing it.

Luckily Nyko came out with a product for just such an issue. They have the Dual Charger AC, a very simple plug for the wall that provides two USB power sources. It even comes with two USB to mini USB plugs. So just plug it into the wall and then plug in the controller. Very simple, very well built. Since the controllers are just USB, the dual charger charges them just like the original PS3. Not much more can be said about it, it is simple and does what it was designed to do and does it well.

The Dual Charger could also be used to charge any other device that powers itself off USB. So I give it a 10 out of 10 — nothing lacking on Nyko’s part.

5 out of 5 stars

Sony also didn’t put a Infrared Port on the PS3, so to watch BluRay movies it needs to either be controlled by the PS3 controllers, or by the official BlueTooth Controller.

There are a few reasons someone might not want to buy the official one, and instead go with Nyko’s remote solution. The Nyko remote consists of a USB dongle that recieves the Infrared Signals, and a nicely designed remote. The remote has all the necessary PS buttons, and also includes the play/pause and chapter skip buttons.

However, one of the biggest reasons for going with the Nyko remote is that it opens the door to several other devices. If you have a Logitech Harmony remote, or another programmable universal remote, the NyKoUSB dongle lets you use them to control your PS3.

Unfortunately, I had a ton of trouble getting my Logitech 688 to work with the dongle though. So overall I give the Nyko BluWave a 7 out of 10. The included remote is really nice, but it does not work easily with my Logitech Universal remote.

3 out of 5 stars

Nyko released a charge station for the Wii that includes two batteries for the Wii motes, a new battery cover and a base station that can charge both remotes at the same time.

Unfortunately the Wii did not come with a rechargeable battery for its remotes.

This has, however, created an opportunity for 3rd parties to create their own.

This was a good idea since the Wii was designed with many multi-player games, such as Wii Sports that it shipped with. The double remote charge station means that only one is required to purchase for two remotes. The charge station is a little big compared to the Penguin United model we reviewed earlier. Since it was designed for two Wii Motes, it had to be bigger.

The charge station comes with new battery covers. These covers have no-slip plastic. They are nice since they are grooved so that it’s harder to loose them. Everyone by now has heard horror stories of someone throwing a Wii Mote into their big screen TV. The cover is also needed so that the battery can connect to the charger.

Unfortunately, like the Penguin United battery packs, Nyko does not allow you to use third party Wii Mote covers. The charge station is form fitting for the Wii Motes.

I would give the Nyko Charge Station a 9 out of 10. Murphy’s law says that the batteries would run out just as your facing the hardest boss. With a rechargeable battery pack, you’ll always be charged when you want to play.

For people that may not sit their Wii close to their TV. Nyko’s Sensor bar saves them some trouble.

Nyko’s solution is a bar that’s about 4 times the size of the original, and it takes four AA’s.

The Nyko Wireless Sensor Bar has a timer on the back. It can be set to remind you that you are using it–either every hour or every other hour. Since the bar has no way to know when your not using the Wii, it has to be manually turned on and off. This means that it’s very easy to leave it on and forget about it. That’s why it will beep either every hour or every two hours as a reminder that it’s on.

Signal quality seems on par with the original one when the batteries are fresh. As the battery’s get low, the strength of the signal weakens. This can be a hassle if you sit far away from the TV.

Their sensor bar is simple to use it has one button on the top for on and off, three settings for the timer, and a LED to indicate that it is on.

It would have been great if they had made it turn on and off through the Bluetooth signal from the Wii Motes, though that would likely have made the manufacture of it harder, and raised the costs higher than it would be worth.

I’d give the Sensor Bar a 7.5 out of 10. If you sit far from the TV, such as with a projector, or if you just have no easy way to wire the sensor bar to your Wii, it may be a good investment.

If, on the other hand, you play within normal gaming bounds, the wired sensor bar is good enough.

Penguin United–a maker of high quality gaming accessories–sent Blast magazine a sample of their premium and standard component cables for the Nintendo Wii. To test them out, we connected them to three different televisions: one that doesn’t support HD, one that was 64” and one that was about 32″.

We flipped back and forth between the cables on the TVs to see the differences between the original cables, the standard component cables from Penguin Computing, and the Premium Component cables.

Both component cables showed a sharper image and better colors. We couldn’t tell much of a difference between the premium and the standard, though. There may be a slight difference between them if you set up two televisions next to each other and compare the two, but it wasn’t enough to catch our attention.

On the older style television without High Definition support, the cables produced better, brighter colors. On the two High Definition televisions, though, and when switched to 480P mode, they made the images sharper. We found that in many Wii games, however, the images were more blocky.

When using the standard cables, the edges of characters were blurred from the transport, but with the High Definition, the characters had rough edges; it looked more like an N64 or a Playstation game. This may not be desirable to some people.

Another benefit to some of the component cables is that many of them are gold-plated. The gold plating will mostly benefit people who keep their systems for a long time. Copper–though a better conductor than Gold–will corrode over time, as will the signal’s clarity. Gold will not rust or corrode though, so you’ll get the same signal quality ten years from now as you have today. Most of the cables from Penguin Computing are gold-plated, so you can shop from there and expect their cables to last.

Overall, it depends on the personal preference of gamers, since the cables will make some games look blockier, but will give other better colors and higher resolutions. On the Blast magazine tech scoreboard, these component cables a seven out of ten.

Blast Magazine staff reporter David Yue contributed to this report.

Penguin United produces a battery pack for the Wii. It consists of a battery and a new cover to fit in the Wii Remote. The new Cover has connectors for the battery on the inside and the charger on the outside. The design is simple; the Wii Remote is just stuck into the charger and it charges.

The charger is a simple dock that plugs into one of the USB ports on the back of the Wii. The Charger has a light on the front that is steady green when charging, then starts blinking green when it is finished.

Penguin United claims the battery pack will last for up to thirty eight hours. The Wii makes it easy to find out how long the battery lasts. It keeps track of how long people play games on the Wii.

So to test this battery, and the claim that goes with it, out, the battery was entirely charged on a Friday, and then played until the battery died. I then added up all the time playing the Wii. This added up to sixteen hours. This was less than they claimed, but part of it can be credited to battery loss when the Wii Remote wasn’t actually being used or on standby.

Sixteen hours is plenty of time for a Wii Remote since the charger can charge the batteries overnight. I found that from my tests if you put the Wii Remote onto the charger every night that the battery pack will never run out on the user. Penguin United is also now selling packages with multiple batteries this way the charger can be shared between both remotes, and again as long as the Wii isn’t used for more than 16 hours in a row it shouldn’t be a problem.

Unfortunately though, it is not compatible with any of the third party Wii Remote covers. It would be nice if there was a way to still plug the Wii Remote into the charger with a case on it.