Turtle Beach DPX21 initial impressions

Posted: December 20, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

20111219-175205.jpg
So after not being satisfied with my Tritton AX PRO headset, I headed back to BestBuy and swapped it for a Turtle Beach DPX21. For the same price as the Tritton I got the DPX21 with an added two years service plan in case I have issues down the road. Maybe eventually I can do a full review but for now I just want to give some initial impressions.

Right away I noticed that even though the build quality isn’t as sturdy they are a million times more comfortable and light weight. Not to mention they fold nicely when wearing them around your neck. The mic is not removable it seems but at least it folds up unlike the Tritton. The setup is very simple and worked right away even with my optical switch that the Trittons refused to work with.

The DSS box is much easier to use seeing as how it doesn’t have a ton of settings on it. However the bass boost is on both the remote and dss box. To get the best sound without distortion I turned up the DSS box bass boost up 3/4 of the way and adjust it to my liking on the remote. The remote has an issue. The volume dials are way to easy to bump and change and I prefer the Tritton ones more.

As far as sound quality, it sounds amazing. The only game I have tested was Forza 4 so I need to play other things before commenting on how well the simulated surround works. Not sure yet how well the ability to tell the direction of sound will work out on these yet. Mainly the rear channel but we will see!

My Tritton AX Pro Headset experience/mini review

Posted: December 16, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

B0017IUFAE-ax-pro-headphones.jpg

I have to say, I was so excited to try these! I am a nerd when it comes to technology. I was the first person in my groups of friends to go out and buy an over priced 3-D TV that I still love to this day! So when I started researching headsets I was blown away by the Tritton headset. I mean, this thing has a total of eight speakers for true Dolby 5.1 surround sound from any optical source! I even begged the wife to let me have it before Christmas. Well, the experience started off pretty well. The packaging was almost on the level of an Apple product with how well it was layer out and didn’t involve a razor glad and trip to the emergency room just to open it. It literally came with every cable that I needed to get going as well. Yeah the optical cable was a little on the short side but I made it work. Fired up my PS3 and changed all the settings only to be greeted with disappointment.

No matter what I tried I could get no sound. I was however getting sound some of the time on by Xbox 360. It was then that I discovered that the optical switch I was using was causing me problems. I hooked directly to the console and my issues were resolved. Navigating the XMB on the PS3 I could hear an annoying pop after every sound as I moved through the menus. It was like it was dropping power to the speakers after every sound. Not a total killer but really damn annoying after a while. I played Uncharted 3 with it and 3-D glasses on and it really was decently comfortable for short use. But if you wear glasses it could get annoying over time. The build quality seemed really good with a sturdy feel. But the pure weight of the headset in my opinion seems to grow tiresome after about an hour. The pads were very comfortable and caused no sweating either.

The real deal breaker came when I actually sorted playing some different games. I started to notice that the 4 speaker per ear design was flawed. It was very hard to pin point noises coming from the rear channels because all the speakers are crammed so close together. The sound also did not have a very good quality to it. At $169 I was expecting something on par with a set of Bose headphones I guess! The bass from the subs was amazing! But this only seemed to happen during big explosions and stuff. With little bass to the rest of the sound and equally less highs the sound had a very boring tone to it. I adjusted all the time delays and even individual volume controls for front, rear, sub and center channels on the remote with little success. The while playing PS3 I started hearing a lot of static last night in the dialogue. At this point I have decided to just call it quits and return the headset to best BestBuy.

I plan to exchange them for the Turtle Beach DPX21. It uses Dolby headphone 5.1/7.1 technology and I have read that even with just two speakers the sound difference is huge. It seems you can pin point the direction of sounds much easier with them. I just hope the build quality is decent as I have heard of some issues. I take amazing care of all of my electronics and the Trittons static started after maybe 12 hours of actual use since I bought them. That tells me I should try something else!

Do you guys and gals use a headset? If so what kind? What do you suggest for under $175?

Report: Sony Ships 700,000 Vitas For Japan Launch – VITA News at IGN

Posted: December 16, 2011 in general, PS Vita
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Report: Sony Ships 700,000 Vitas For Japan Launch – VITA News at IGN.

I seem to remember some people saying that a survey in Japan was showing little intrest in the PS Vita? I guess that has changed! But this makes me wonder just how many Vita units Sony must have laying around in warehouses? It also makes me wonder why it wasn’t possible to pull over a world wide release like we have been seeing for a while now? Maybe I am just bitter because I can’t have mine yet!

My biggest gripe about touch screens: Finger prints!

Posted: December 15, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

playstation-vita-.jpg

I can’t stress enough how excited I am to get a hold of the new PS Vita! But my only concern is a lot of the games utilize the front touch screen. If there is one thing that annoys me about playing games on my iPhone it’s the finger prints that accumulate. it just kills the look of the vibrant display it seems. I get annoyed enough when I break out my PSP and there are any smudges on the screen. I am hoping that Sony used a coating to help keep down on the finger prints. I also hope that the controls will be more responsive than a lot of iPhone games and will not block much of the screen. Occasional interaction is ok but it seems like most games on mobile devices make you block a good portion of the screen when you use the touch controls. Any opinions out there?

Xbox Dash Board Metro Update Rocks!

Posted: December 6, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

xbox2011dashupdate12343-1.jpg

So tomorrow December 6, the new Xbox dashboard update hits. I have played with the Beta for the past couple weeks and must say I like it a ton more than the previous dashboard. It is much more simply to navigate and the full Kinect support is wonderful! The bing search works awesome as well. Now If I could just turn on my Xbox without leaving the couch lol. The new TV options are shaping up nice but I would love to see some support from DirecTv! To be honest, the update kind of reminds me of the PS3 x-Media cross bar. It functions in a very similar way but is very nice to look at. Hopefully the themes will look better as we go. All in all I think Microsoft did a great job. I have always preferred the Xbox dashboard to the PS3 setup and now it;s getting even better. Sony needs to step up and release an update for the PS3!

DualShock 3…not a fan

Posted: December 5, 2011 in general, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

dualshock.jpg

Remember when the PS3 was first announced? Horrible looking bat style controller they showed? I honestly must admit that I was not much more excited to find out the controller was going to be almost unchanged from the DualShock 2. When the PS1 first came out I loved the feel of the controller. I was so excited when I first heard of the analog version coming out way back then. It was a huge deal for the time. But when I purchased my first one I found the positioning of the analog sticks odd. It just didn’t feel very natural. And down the road once the Xbox 360 released I was blown away by how awesome the controller was. Now don’t get me wrong, I am NOT a fanboy by any means. I own both a PS3 and a 360 and have owned tons of consoles from other companies over the years.

While the PS3 controller felt familiar right away, it still did not feel very improved. Thought obviously went into redesigning the L2 and R2 buttons, however they are no where near as comfortable as the 360 controller. I find it much easier in racing games to control my throttle on the 360 controller. And the analog stick placement on the 360 controller feels way more comfortable. My hands feel less likely to cramp during long gaming sessions. I also feel like I am way more accurate using the analog stick on the 360 than I am the PS3. I do have to defend the PS3 D-Pad. It’s way better than the 360 version! I know there are new 360 controllers with improved D-Pads but I hate to buy a brand new controller just for that.

But ergonomics aren’t the only issues. I do the way the PS3 controller connects to the system. I can easily hit the home button and reassign the controller number unlike the 360. The battery on the other hand is not very good. They give you a very short cable to charge with and my first PS3 ( non rumble ) controller had the battery stop holding a charge in just a year. And it was not very easy to replace but I managed to do it with a battery pack from eBay. With my 360 controller I simply use some rechargeable AA batteries.

I think the only thing more uncomfortable that sony has ever made was the PSP. I can barely play my PSP without my hands cramping badly. What do you guys think of the controllers of different consoles? What do you prefer and why? Have you used an adaptor to use a 360 controller on the PS3 or vice versa? Let me know!

Xbox 360 Launch Christmas Memories

Posted: December 5, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , ,
0

Xbox 360 launch.jpg

I remember very fondly the MTV special held announcing the Xbox 360. I had been captivated by the original Xbox when it first launched and sunk hours upon hours when traveling the roads working playing the original Halo with my buddy and disturbing many of hotel guests with the loud sound effects! I made a trip to my local GameStop ASAP to pre-order a Premium Xbox 360 SKU. Little did I know till I arrived and put down my money that my local store already had a massive list of people pre-ordering. I can’t remember what number I was on the list but I am quite sure it was around 70. No problem, I thought. There should be plenty to go around! Once launch came and went I found myself calling and visiting everyday trying to figure out when I could get my console! Since I had already payed it off I scrimped and saved until I could afford the cheapest HDTV Walmart had. At the time I was the only person I knew of with an HDTV. It was a Sanyo CRT type widescreen with 1080i resolution and component connections. It looked beautiful and I could only imagine how the 360 was going to look!

The days ticked down closer and closer to Christmas Eve and still no 360! My wife felt so bad that she gave me one Christmas gift early to hold me over. It was a brand new Sony PSP and it was just what I needed to keep my mind off it. The next day was Christmas Eve and my phone rang, it was GameStop! They had just received my console and they told me to come at once! I picked her up in the back room of the store as people watched me like a hawk in jealousy. In my area people were getting robbed and followed home and everything just to get a 360! So I had them bag the console 3 times and my wife and I hauled ass home where all my friends were waiting to experience HD gaming at last! I picked up Need for Speed Most Wanted as my first game and it was epic! Even if it was criticized at the time for being mainly an upscaled game to HD and not being very ground breaking it looked amazing! My friends who had been recently playing the same game on the PS2 were blown away! Racing on Xbox Live was amazing and I even discovered Geometry Wars and waisted countless hours blasting away shapes!

Microsoft delivered an amazing Christmas gift at the last possible second and I was blown away! I was sadly too amazed as I played the console non stop for two weeks finally ending in a empty box coming in the mail to send it off for repairs from over heating! The next one came in and a week later I had killed it too! But somehow this still beats out every christmas memory I have had! Even getting my very first console, the NES for christmas when I was 6 years old! I am on my 5th console today and it finally seems stable as hell and has been throwing around the glorious graphics of Forza 4 without a hitch!

Immersion through technology

Posted: December 4, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

3DCompatibleLogo_InlineImage.JPG

We here it all the time these days, the term immersion. Every time we turn around some first or third party company is telling us all about how we can totally immerse ourselves in our games. Be it with 3D HDTVs or Dolby Digital 5.1 or even 7.1 headsets. But you know what? I honestly can say that I feel technology is finally making this promise a reality.

My wife often calls me a nerd because I always try to have the latest and greatest when my budget allows. About a year ago I was in awe at the Sony E3 press conference about how it would be fully supporting the 3D gaming movement. I quickly sold my trusty Philips Plasma with it’s wonderful refresh rate and vibrant colors. About a week later I found my self at sears testing out 3D TV sets and was blown away. One TV in particular stood out to me. It was a Samsun 46″ LCD TV. It was a lot more affordable than competing sets and even Samsung’s own LED 3D TV sets. Not to mention the fact it could convert any 2D content from any source into 3D on the fly with adjustable depth effects! I placed an order for the sold out TV and bought a couple pairs of glasses and headed out. Making sure to order a huge lot of 50 cell type batteries on Ebay while I was at it so I could game on forever 🙂

After over a week of waiting I found myself excited like a little school boy hooking it up to my PS3! I already had downloaded every 3D game on the PSN and Xbox Live that was readily available. One session with Super Star Dust, Wipe out, Motorstorm and some indie shooter from Xbox Live blew my mind. After careful tweaking and perfecting of the TV’s settings I was in gaming bliss! Yeah the early games had some ghosting and other small issues but it was amazing!

Sony has since limited 3d games to 30fps and 720p if I remember correctly. Showing the PS3 can struggle at anything more displaying duplicate images in 3D. So yeah the hardware will be much better next generation and bigger display will come down in price giving even more of a 3d effects, but the tech is finally here! A long way since those red and blue glasses I used to wear playing Rad Racer on the Nintendo Entertainment System! I now have a Tritton AX Pro headset sitting under the Christmas tree from the wifey that I can’t wait to put on! Four speakers per ear and true Dolby 5.1! I will look like a major dork with my 3D glasses and huge headset on but talk about immersion!

As I get ready to pick up playing Uncharted 3 again I am still blown away by how even in 720p the 3D just sucks you into the game! Motorstorm Apocalypse is un believable! Even using the 3D conversion on game like Skyrim is intense and awe inspiringly beautiful! All I can say is, welcome to the future of gaming! And don’t be negative towards the tech till you have tried it for your self! I have made many believers from non-believers in my very own living room!

Following the industry

Posted: December 2, 2011 in general
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

twitter.pngBack in the days of the NES and other great 8-bit and 16-bit systems, following the gaming industry was completely different. You either hoped to see a commercial for the new games coming out on TV or you subscribed to magazines like Nintendo Power or the late GamePro. There were no twitter feeds, Facebook pages or even websites and forums. These days we can follow our favorite developers or publishers feeds on Twitter and tons of other sites. We have amazing websites like IGN.com and GameTrailers.com where we can get the most late breaking industry news as it happens. E3 press conferences are streamed live over the internet and even people like me can blog about the latest happenings.

I must admit that I love to follow the gaming industry. I start my morning with a cup of coffee and some catching up on twitter feeds and news on my iPhone long before I ever pick up a controller or turn on a console. It’s almost like an addiction for some of us. There are times when I get more caught up in the latest news than even playing the latest games. It’s such a vast and expanding world that you can never fill your need for more knowledge. Even the history of the industry is documented all over YouTube and the web. And with so many new consoles on the horizon I feel like things are about to get crazy all over the web with the latest news and rumors!

FaceBook Fan Page

Posted: December 2, 2011 in general
0

So I decided to go ahead and set up a FaceBook fan page for my blog. Eventually I plan to start adding some extra stuff there that won’t be found on the normal blog. In the mean time I am just making this post to ensure my blog is updating to facebook.

Older Entries