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Horizon shipping their cheap fuel cell

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 05:52 AM PDT

Now this is good news – provided there isn’t a fuel cell hydrogen spill somewhere off the coast of Nova Scotia tomorrow. Horizon has been promising their liquid fuel cell for years but now they’re actually selling them. It costs $100, comes with two fuel cartridges, and offers as much power as “1,000 AA batteries,” allowing you to charge almost anything using add-on adapters.

The MiniPAK portable electronic device charger is a palm-size universal portable power charger and power extender for ANY electronic device requiring up to 3W of power. Devices compatible with the MiniPAK include cellphones, but also smartphones, gaming devices, GPS handhelds, small lighting devices and MP3 players. The MiniPAK device integrates a passive air-breathing fuel cell and a “solid-state” hydrogen storage unit. The MiniPAK DC power output is 2.5W (5V, 400mA), delivered through standard micro-USB port and a multi-choice cable. The device is supplied with 2 refillable and ready to use solid state hydrogen cartridges and a highly innovative home refilling station set to eliminate past concerns over fuel availability and cartridge replacement infrastructure. The MiniPAK is positioned to address gaps in providing energy “on the go” to power-hungry device users, as well as a low cost energy storage option for emergency and long duration off-grid power users.

I honestly can’t wait for fuel cells to be common. Add in some solar and some biogas generators and we’ll be living in a whole new world.

You can buy it here right now although the website seems to have been hit by an Internet blizzard.
via Giz


DotWar: Twitter-based strategy game

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 05:01 AM PDT

It’s certainly not the first Twitter-based game out there, but DotWar, a made-in-Japan strategy/action title is a pretty satisfying time waster. The game is bilingual (English/Japanese) and actually to be played outside Twitter, on a separate site. Gameplay is pretty straightforward: Simply enter your Twitter handle to send out hundreds or even thousands of battle “units”out against another player/Twitter user.

You can control the movement of your units with the mouse. As it’s not necessary to register or sign up, you can basically let any Twitter user battle it out against any other, for example in the “versus mode”. The goal is to destroy three crystals each player has in his or her possession within a certain time limit.

DotWar was created in Flash by a Japanese software engineer called “Sipo” [JP].

It’s pretty popular at the moment, so it’s possible you have to reload the site a couple of times before you can actually start playing (it’s pretty hard, too).

Via Asiajin

Winnie The Pooh, Stitch, Alien: Super-cute digital photo frames

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 04:21 AM PDT

Tokyo-based gadget maker Greenhouse announced [JP] three super-cute, Disney-themed digital photo frames today, the GH-DF35TV. Buyers can choose between three characters: Winnie The Pooh, Stitch or Little Green Man (one of those green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story 1 and 2).

Not too surprisingly, the frames aren’t anything special from a technical standpoint. Expect a 3.5-inch LCD TFT screen with 320×240 resolution, 400:1 contrast ratio, and 250cd/m2 brightness. Each frame comes with an SD/SDHC slot (32GB max.), allowing you to play Motion JPEG/Xvid/MP3/JPEG files. The GH-DF35TV also features an FM radio tuner, a 1W×2ch speaker, and an alarm clock/calendar function.

Greenhouse will start selling the photo frames in Japan next month (price: $98). If you're interested but live outside this country, I'd suggest contacting import/export specialists Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya.

Daily Crunch: Facility Edition

Posted: 16 Jun 2010 12:00 AM PDT

The Parrot AR.Drone iPhone-controlled drone finally gets a price

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 09:59 PM PDT

The Parrot AR.Drone might be the coolest iPhone accessory ever made. It’s a four-propeller drone equipped with two cameras controlled by the movement of an iPhone. But is it worth it’s $300 price tag? Yeah, it actually is. We played around with it at CES and have to say that it’s an awesome device with so much potential for fun and profit. [Parrot via Gizmodo]

Portal 2: bigger, better, and definitely more insane

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 09:49 PM PDT


I just got out of my Portal 2 meeting a little while ago, where Erik from Valve went through a few of the game’s new features and themes. It’s nothing particularly new if you read the Game Informer article, but seeing it in motion started my brain juices flowing again, just like the old days. And there are a few new details in here.

As for the PS3 surprise, it turns out they’ve been working on it for quite a while; it’s not some new idea they just had. Erik referred to it as the “most open of the consoles” — I don’t think he meant open like open source, but rather in accessibility for developers to create and update their games. Their major issue (with the 360 as well) was that it was a pain to push out the updates that Valve so loves. 120 updates to the PC Orange Box, he said, and 5 to the console ones. Not exactly fair to the console kids, and they didn’t want to go big until they could do it right. The big break was the ability (presumably a concession on Sony’s part) to bring in Steam-like functions, though which ones exactly aren’t confirmed right now.

It was confirmed that Portal 2 is not being made for 3D or motion control and there are no plans at the moment. There will, however, be online and local multiplayer and as we knew before, a whole separate campaign (which Erik described as quite complicated) that fits within the story of the game.

The game itself, Erik explained, is essentially like the first one in that you build up a set of gameplay tools and then use it. The main difference in Portal 2 is that the set is much bigger. Here are a few of the new gameplay items; some of them were mentioned briefly but he showed how they worked in motion. I’ll link to a video of the presentation as soon as I find one, but in the meantime please enjoy these pictures of the screen. I encourage you to open up the big version and read the text if you haven’t encountered these already.



Your pal with the blue eye there is one of the personality spheres you’ll encounter. Lots of fun to be had here with different voices and characters. It was mentioned as being a major part of the story.



Excursion Funnel: they refer to these internally as tractor beams, and they slowly move you along the path of the beam. You can direct the path with your portals, and the trippy part comes when you erase the path you’re on by moving the portal, only to be caught by it again from a different direction. Luckily you move pretty slowly, so reflexes aren’t as much of a factor.



Thermal Discouragement Beam: It’s… a laser. It’s fatal to touch, but can be manipulated using prism cubes, which catch and redirect the beam. It was demonstrated burning up a few turrets, which complain bitterly while being roasted alive. The beam will also enter and exit portals at the correct angles, which results in some pretty crazy shots, like the one above. (sorry for the blur, I caught the display between frames)


Pneumatic Diversity Vent: These vacuum tubes create a huge suction directly below them, but if you place a portal on them you can use them to suck up turrets indirectly and otherwise affect the environment. In a scripted event, we saw one tube strip the wall of tiles, which were quickly replaced by pneumatic tile-replacement devices.


Propulsion (orange) and Repulsion (blue) Gel: these two substances drip or pour from tube structures, and the flow can of course be redirected with your portal gun. The Repulsion Gel acts like rubber, bouncing you up and away in the direction you were heading. Propulsion Gel accelerates you and can be used to fire yourself off surfaces much faster and farther than just by a running jump.

That’s all there was. You can find videos of the demo on YouTube and the trailer is here, but I figured you guys might like a blow-by-blow and some shots of the frames with lots going on. I suppose it’s not really necessary to say so, but the game looks absolutely incredible (and despite their assurances, it also looked very hard). Their plan of expanding and reconfiguring your brain is definitely going to work. I’m just sad it’s not coming out till 2011.

The top five unanswered questions about the Nintendo 3DS

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 09:27 PM PDT

The Nintendo 3DS is real — we know that. The 3D works well — we know that, too. But that’s where our 3DS knowledge stops. Nintendo isn’t talking-up 3DS details right now and we have so many questions about the handheld 3D gaming.

1. Price

This is the obvious one along with the release date. Nintendo conveniently didn’t mention anything about the 3DS’s price at today’s press conference. It doesn’t matter how great the 3DS works or how many publishers are already on board if the 3DS has a high starting price.

The PSP is a great example. It was worlds past Nintendo’s offering when it launched a few years back. The graphics were amazing and it was a true portable media device with the capability to playback all sorts of media. But yet it came to market at $249 and had a rough start while the cheaper and less-capable Nintendo DS took off like a rocket. Nintendo has a slight advantage with the 3DS this time around as the major game publishers are fully backing the device. That’s important, but not as much as a the price.

Hopefully Nintendo is targeting the $200 price point. $199 would be great, but something about how Nintendo didn’t mention it at all during the presser makes you wonder if it’s going to be more like $249 or even higher.

2. Hardware

Nintendo has never, ever been one to talk about hardware capability. It’s like they think the whole world doesn’t care, and while it might be a smart move right out of Apple’s playbook, some of us really do care. We might understand that the user experience is more important than getting into a pissing match over hardware numbers, but we still want to know what’s driving the graphics.

It was clear within the first few second of playing with the 3DS that the system is more powerful than the current Nintendo portables. The graphics are nearly on par with early Wii games. That said, it doesn’t take much to best the DSi’s ARM9 133 MHz CPU and 16 MB of RAM. It would just be nice to know what’s pushing those nice graphics in the 3DS.

3. Battery Life

Okay, so, how long will the lithium-ion battery power the 3DS? The DSi is a champ in this department, easily getting more than 10 hours of life on a single charge. We would expect nothing less from the next-gen model. Nothing less, Nintendo. Did you get that?

4. Hollywood’s involvement

There’s a slight twist about the 3DS. It can playback 3D movies on its 3D glassless screen. The company mentioned a couple quick details like there is a few deals with a Hollywood studios in the works, but we wanna know more. How are we going to get these movies on the device? Is is going to be through a digital download to an SD card? Will it require a special cartridge in the name of anti-piracy? What type of cost is involved? What does James Cameron think of watching Avatar on a 3.52-inch screen?

5. What about the DSi and DSi XL?

No matter how much we wish, chances are the 3DS isn’t going to be inexpensive at first. It will likely be a premium product for a while which means Nintendo will likely keep around both the $169 DSi and few months old $189 DSi XL. That said, the 3DS might not come out until 2011 meaning the DSi and DSi XL have plenty of time to increase their profit margin and drop in price. By that time one of the current models might be phased out.

The 3DS media coverage is really just beginning. Nintendo carefully releases its products and times the media coverage to make the biggest impact. They knew what they were doing by announcing these items. Nintendo knows we would have baulked at the price, made fun of the CPU and battery life, talked-down the 3D movie stuff and then complained that the beloved DSi and DSi XL’s death. Maybe, just maybe, Nintendo wanted people to enjoy the 3DS for what it is and so only announced the strong points today.

iPhone 4 Already Sold Out? FML

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 09:10 PM PDT

Well this comes as a surprise. After fighting all day to order the new iPhone, I gave up, and decided to wait until tomorrow. That is, until I read that the entire pre-order allocation was already sold out. How was anyone able to buy the phone much less buy up every single one?

Either the supply was low due to the manufacturing of the retina display or the machining process of the stainless steel frame, or Apple sold a crap load of phones. Most likely the latter.

If you’re like me, you just got owned by Apple and AT&T. Apple for not having enough supply and AT&T for not allowing my order to go through earlier. Now the wait is until July 2nd and I cannot wait that long. I guess I will have to stand in line at Walmart or try to get an order in at Best Buy as soon as possible. I guess its not that bad..I wanted white anyways.

Clean out my junkbox day

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 05:19 PM PDT

Hey, guys. I need to get rid of a bunch of junk up here. I don’t even know what I have. I’ll pick a bunch of people at random and send them stuff. Comment below.

Hands-on: 3DS hardware and gaming impressions

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 05:13 PM PDT

We got our hands on the 3DS this morning at Nintendo’s press conference, but it wasn’t exactly a proper hands-on. It was just a simple demo to basically show that it works. Well, I just waited in a huge line that snaked around Nintendo’s E3 booth for over an hour to spend some quality time with the 3D gaming platform. Simply said, it works as advertised.

Hardware impressions:

  • It’s a similar shape and size as a DSi Lite.
  • The top 3D screen is bright and high-resolution (800×240 resolution)
  • Surprisingly good 3D viewing angle, +/- about 30% on the vertical and horizontal axis
  • The analog stick is on a nearly-flat plane, rather than on a convex shape like a Dual-Shock but works very well
  • No would say anything about battery life, screen maker, CPU or anything technical

Gaming impressions

  • Nintendogs – Nintendogs in 3D. That’s about it.
  • Kid Icarus: Uprising- Could be the must have title, engaging and fun
  • Mario Kart 3DS – Some of the best 3DS graphics
  • Star Fox – Born for the 3DS, but the demo wasn’t that impressive
  • Metal Gear Solid – I don’t know, I couldn’t see the 3D
  • 3D camera – just a 3D camera

The  last point is important. I sometimes have a hard time seeing 3D effects and I guess the 3DS’s screen isn’t any different. This was the only game/ demo where the 3D stereo image didn’t converge properly like a Magic Eye poster that doesn’t want to come into focus. Mark Wilson from Gizmodo apparently couldn’t see Star Fox in 3D. Our issues probably aren’t isolated incidents. It’s likely a common occurrence but hopefully the bugs will be worked out before launch — whenever that is.

Overall though, I must say the 3DS is impressive. The view angle is great, the graphics are a lot better than on the current DSi, and the 3D works like Nintendo said it would. What more can you want?

Video: Portal 2’s E3 2010 trailer

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 03:15 PM PDT

Do you want to see the same Portal 2 trailer that Matt and I saw a few moments ago during Sony’s press conference? Of course you do! Also: the game’s official site isn’t live yet, but it’ll be here when it is.


The Playstation Move vs the Xbox Kinect, may the best motion controller win

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 02:56 PM PDT

It’s officially on. That is the motion control wars and, don’t hate, but Nintendo isn’t one of the combatants. Nope, this war is clearly between Microsoft and Sony. It’s the Kinect vs the Move. Full body tracking vs 1-1 controller tracking. This is going to turn out great for you, me, and both Sony and Microsoft.

Nintendo really deserves some recognition here. They blazed the path in this field, educating and showing consumers why motion control deserves a spot in their living room. Millions and millions of people have used and feel in love with the Wii over the last few years and now both Microsoft and Sony are ready to steal a lot of consumers into their world.

The two camps are radically different. Kinect touts full body control of up to two people at one time. Tracking is accurate and seemingly lag-free. But the games are virtual Wii-clones. It’s clear the market that Microsoft is primarily targeting even though there will be some more adult titles like Star Wars and Metal Gear Solid.

But there are no buttons. Games need buttons. That’s where Sony Move comes in.

The Playstation Move controller is just like you would imagine how Sony would make a Wii Remote: dark, industrial, but solid and smart. There’s also a second smaller controller that helps complete the experience for some games.

Yeah, it sounds like the Wii, right? It kind of is, but so much more powerful. There isn’t a cable connecting the two controllers, the controller doesn’t wobble on-screen, but more importantly it has 1-1 tracking in 3D space. That means you can move the controller side-to-side, forward and back and every which way. The Playstation 3’s powerful core allows the games to take full advantage of this system.


Simply put, the Playstation Move is all about games where Kinect feels like something more. It feels like Microsoft is on the verge of something really big and is using its Xbox 360 gaming platform as a sandbox for the motion tracking system. Kinect is built into the Xbox 360’s dashboard and users can fully interact with the gaming console with nothing more their hands and voice.

It’s important to note that Sony and Microsoft are distinctly different companies. Sony is a hardware company first where Microsoft has primarily been in only software. Sony wants to sell you your whole entertainment system from the TV to the speakers to the gaming system and media playback devices. Microsoft wants to connect your world with Windows, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Both Sony and Microsoft have developed their motion control system with these goals in mind.

To quote the outspoken Playstation spokesman, Kevin Butler,

“I say we focus on what really matters, the games.”

That pretty much sums it up in the end. Sony is about the gaming first where Microsoft isn’t. They are about the user experience. But the real winner in the end is, well, everyone. Both systems will provide awesome gaming experiences that Nintendo showed us could be possible.

But there’s a problem. Gaming add-ons don’t sell. They never have. There has never been a blockbuster gaming add-on unless you count the Gamecube Wavebird controller. Sony and Microsoft will have the tough task from here on out convincing current system owners — and Wii owners — that they should drop some hard cash down for these systems. It’s going to take hit titles and heavy media coverage for them to even get off the ground.

Don’t think for a minute that either of these systems will be an instant hit. Yeah, sure, fanboys and pundits will proclaim their system of choice, but it’s your parents, non-techie friends, and Wii owners that will decide this one. It’s going to get bloody and that's awesome.

It’s now Sony’s 3D world

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 02:13 PM PDT

Sony's future isn’t motion control, but yet the other current home entertainment gimmick, 3D. Oh sure, Sony is fully embracing motion control as well with the Move and it works great, but let’s not call these two flavor of the weeks anything more than they are. They’re not revolutionary, groundbreaking, or really innovative. Both are nothing more than gimmicks but only one is here to stay.

However Sony might be in a better position than even Microsoft when it comes to marketing and selling consumers on their latest features. Unlike Microsoft’s $150 Kinect add-on, 3D is built directly into every single PS3. Many pundits talked down the expensive PS3 when it launched four years ago, but the system was and still is the most powerful gaming system on the market, which is how Sony is able get away with this.

All this power is allowing Sony to build items like 3D gaming right into the system with nothing more than a firmware update. Of course users will need a 3D-ready TV and glasses and those aren’t cheap. Sony is looking to the future, though. The company has been touting the PS3’s 10 year life cycle all along and we’re just four years into it. 3D is being adapted by many TV manufacturers soon the system will be built-into most TVs, eliminating a consumer's buying decision and making the PS3's capabilities look so much more enticing.

Content is king, though, and there are some major titles headed for 3D on the PS3. Some are Move-enabled, but most use a tradition controller showing that Sony knows not everyone wants to get off their couch and swing a sword.

Killzone 3 hits early next year, then there’s the new Mortal Kombat, NBA 2K11, Grand Turismo 5, Crysis 2 and Tron The Video Game to name just a few. It’s safe to say that most of the upcoming PS3 hits will be 3D-enabled.

3D is Sony’s next big thing. We saw it at CES 2010 and it’s just as big here at E3. Ready or not, 3D is the future of Sony.

Infectious presents community-designed iPad skins that you’ll actually like

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 02:12 PM PDT

Infectious ran a contest for cool, community-designed graphics and came up with a set of iPad skins the I actually like. My fave? Probably the Gameboy model, shown above, or the pink Vader model that proves your manliness without being too overbearing.

Infectious runs a number of design challenges, asking great designers to come up with skins, t-shirts, and deck decals for a young, hip audience. While I am not part of that selfsame audience, I do know fun design when I see it and this stuff is pretty great.

We’ve been all over Infectious for months now and this latest crop is pretty cool. I’m trying to finagle a giveaway right now so check back here shortly. They launched in 2008 and have basically made it their mission to make you cool.

Tim from Infectious just offered us 10 iPad skins. Comment below with the name of your favorite skin to enter and we’ll pick 10 winners tomorrow at noon Eastern.

“Playstation Plus” – in which you pay Sony so you can borrow demos and PS3 themes

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 01:38 PM PDT


There’s always a hardcore market. But $50/year may be too steep for what they’re offering. Early access to demos, special themes, and a handful of mini games? I don’t know. And it all disappears when your subscription ends. Sketchy! It’s like a Zune Pass except you don’t get access to like six million tracks, just the same stuff as everyone else a few days early, plus WipeOut HD and a few other perks. Ehh!

Oh – the first three months will be free if you sign up quick. But remember, it all turns back into pumpkins if you decide you don’t want to shell out.

And it seems you’ll get to keep themes and avatar stuff after the subscription runs out. Extremely generous on Sony’s part.

Portal 2 coming to PS3, does not appear to be in 3D or use the Move

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 01:30 PM PDT


Gabe Newell arrived unexpectedly on stage at the Sony press conference to announce that Portal 2 will be coming to the PS3 — he says it will be the best version on any console. I was kind of hoping for more of a surprise.

But hey, nice.

Improve your memory with Memorize.com

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 01:30 PM PDT

Check out the online memorization tool at Memorize.com. You ought not have any problems remembering that URL. Built on Ruby on Rails, with a CouchDB backend and some JQuery magic, Memorize.com doesn’t do a whole lot, but what it does do it does pretty well. No signups required, easily shared and edited pages, and a variety of useful wizards to walk through creating a page make Memorize.com extremely easy to use.

The first iteration of Craig Muth’s memorization tool was simple lists, like the vocabulary tests from our middle school days. Recently added were map and diagram wizards to help memorize, for example, states and capitals, or parts of the human body, or whatever. The wizards walk the user through the process of creating a page, and the entire layout is pretty intuitive.

To get started, simply select what kind of thing you want to memorize:

You can easily link to any image on the web to help you memorize. For demonstration purposes, I chose this color wheel:

Then simply click in the image and the JQuery-based wizard will fill in the left portion of the table with the coordinates of where you clicked in the image. You assign text to these coordinates in the right side of the table. When you’ve filled everything in, click “Save”:

That’s it: you’re done and you can start memorizing. Click the “Share” link and you’re presented with your page’s URL that you can send to peer or colleagues:

Here’s the link to my color wheel page.

The underpinnings of Memorize.com are based around the wiki mentality of easily editable pages, and shared editing. If a group is working together, they can quickly modify your work to save a new version. For example, take a look at the Memorize.com page for U.S. presidents, and its list of other versions. The first version was created in late 2007, and the most recent version was created in March of this year.

Obviously Memorize.com is a great tool for students, and Craig confirms that the majority of their users are, in fact, students. But the tool is handy for a variety of other use cases, too. Craig suggested that sales reps would do well to use Memorize.com to keep up on a rotating list of stock items, for example. A restaurant could use it to help wait staff keep up on weekly specials; and a large company could use Memorize.com to help folks learn the company org chart faster.

Craig suggested that a hosted version of Memorize.com is in the works, because many companies that might benefit from it have an aversion to keeping their proprietary information on a public site. For example, a pharmaceutical company might want sales reps to memorize the latest batch of drugs to discuss with physicians, but that information is confidential. A dedicated mobile version of memorize.com just launched today, too, which makes this even easier to use.

Memorize.com fills a pretty interesting niche, and it does it pretty well. It’s free to use, so if you have a need to memorize something, give it a shot!

Playstation Move: September 19, $50 for main controller

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 12:57 PM PDT


At Sony’s press conference here at E3, the Playstation Move controller has finally been priced and dated: the wand/ice cream cone/lollipop will cost $50. The “Navigation controller,” which everyone will probably call a Nunchuk anyway, will cost $30. US release is September 19, Europe September 15, and Japan October 21.

There will be bundles, of course: if you have a PS3 but nothing else, you can get a controller, Eye camera, and Sports Champion for $100, and if you’re totally without Playstation hardware, you can get all that plus a PS3 for $400.

Pricing seems competitive with the Wii, as the Wiimote has been ~$40 for a while, and the whole Natal Kinect package is $150. They’ll face the same criticism the Wii did (you have to buy so much!) but people will probably shell out for at least two main controllers and one nunchuk. I’ll put a bunch of launch games in this post in a moment.

Hands-on with the AT&T HTC Aria

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 12:17 PM PDT

June 20th. That’s when AT&T gets the HTC Aria — a phone which, at least in my mind, is AT&T’s first to be powered by Android. What’s that you say? The Motorola Backflip was the first Android phone on AT&T? Sorry, I guess my mind has a tendency to block out tragic events.

With past sins forgiven, I was pretty anxious to check out AT&T’s second venture into Android territory. Our friends from HTC just so happened to be making a trip through my part of town. One quick jaunt over to their hotel lobby later, and I walked away with an Aria in tow. Expect a full review within a few days — but in the mean time, pop behind the jump for my first impressions.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

SteelSeries announces Spectrum 5xb and 4xb headsets at E3

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 12:00 PM PDT


SteelSeries announced at E3 today three new peripherals for the XBox 360: the Spectrum 5xb premium headset, the Spectrum 4xb entry-level headset, and the Spectrum AudioMixer which “allows any headset with a microphone and 3.5mm jacks to function with Xbox 360 gameplay and Xbox LIVE chat”. The Spectrum AudioMixer is included in the box with both the 5xb and 4xb headsets.

Here’s the whole press release:

STEELSERIES INTRODUCES NEW AUDIO PRODUCT LINE AT E3: STEELSERIES SPECTRUM FOR XBOX 360® GAMERS

Three New Products Will Expand the Xbox 360® Line – SteelSeries Spectrum 4xb, SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb and the SteelSeries Spectrum AudioMixer

LOS ANGELES – E3 – June 15, 2010 – Kicking off the Entertainment Electronics Expo (E3), SteelSeries, the leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories introduced a new audio line specifically created for Xbox 360® gamers. Since 2001, the gaming peripherals from SteelSeries have been used by competitive gamers to win world championship tournaments and millions in prize money, all thanks to the extensive testing and product development exclusively done with the best gamers on the planet. It's with this knowledge and expertise that SteelSeries introduces the first three products of the SteelSeries Spectrum line. The SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb, a premium headset with refined gaming audio designed for both comfort and convenience; the SteelSeries Spectrum 4xb, an entry-level priced headset packed with outstanding sound quality and functionality; and the SteelSeries Spectrum AudioMixer, an accessory that extends Xbox 360 gameplay and communication to any headset with 3.5mm jacks.

"For more than a decade, SteelSeries has created peripherals to meet the needs of the most discerning PC gamers and provide a competitive advantage based on comfort, technology, and design," said Bruce Hawver, SteelSeries CEO. "With the new Spectrum line, we're leveraging what our award-winning PC headsets are known for, which are superior levels of comfort and sound quality. We’ve added unique features, specific to Xbox 360 gaming, in order to meet the demand for premium console headsets."

SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb and 4xb headsets present players with an advanced soundscape, providing the ability to pinpoint the directional sounds of footsteps and grenade drops without them being drowned out by deep bass sounds from explosions or in-game chat. Comprised of new features intended to enhance a gamer's audio experience, the headsets include:

  • Easy access to independent audio and voice controls provides players with complete and intuitive control of volume levels for in-game audio and Xbox LIVE® communication.
  • SteelSeries LiveMix offers players the quick-button option to improve the balance and mixing of Xbox LIVE chat and in-game audio, so that voice communication is mixed perfectly with or over the sounds of gunfire and explosions, without having to increase the volume of the headset and risk hearing damage.

SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb
Designed as a premium quality, wired headset for Xbox 360 gamers, the SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb has XL-sized, hear-through cloth ear cushions that fit comfortably around the ear. With the custom-built soundscape via 40mm SunDancer (SCS) units, gamers can pinpoint the direction and locations of noises and movement throughout the game. The SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb features a durable double-braided nylon cord and dismantles into 3 separate parts, at the headband and at each earcup making it compact and easy to fit into a carrying case for storage and/or travel.

A retractable, unidirectional microphone is featured on the entire SteelSeries Spectrum headset line, making the voice communication for Xbox LIVE users adjustable, convenient and clear. As a familiar SteelSeries feature, the microphone can be stored in the left earcup when not in use, while a control on the included Spectrum AudioMixer independently adjusts in-game audio and microphone volume.

SteelSeries Spectrum 4xb
As the entry-level, wired headset designed for Xbox 360 gamers, the SteelSeries Spectrum 4xb is a lightweight headset featuring XL-sized, cloth covered foam ear cushions that surround the outside of the ear for long session comfort. The circumaural design enhances the gaming experience through carefully adjusted sound reproduction. Similar to the Spectrum 5xb version, the Spectrum 4xb also features the signature retractable microphone and an optimized soundscape for gaming.

SteelSeries Spectrum AudioMixer
SteelSeries introduces a new Xbox 360 mixer alongside the introduction of the Spectrum headsets. When sold separately, the Spectrum AudioMixer allows any headset with a microphone and 3.5mm jacks to function with Xbox 360 gameplay and Xbox LIVE chat. The mixer is also included in the box for the SteelSeries Spectrum 4xb and 5xb headsets.

The new SteelSeries Spectrum product line will be available in Q3 2010. Be sure to check out SteelSeries.com and follow us on both Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on retailers that will carry Spectrum, as well as promotions, giveaways, and who in professional gaming will be using SteelSeries Spectrum headsets to help them win tournaments.


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