Now before you read any further, you must know that we do encourage creative endeavors, but only if you’re not going to hurt anyone with it. This DIY Assassin’s Creed Arm Blade is some serious business, and breaks concealed weapon laws, so if you decide to make one with this information, make sure you keep it in your home and never, ever take it out in public. This is a really awesome project, but don’t spend time in jail over it.

Now that all that cautionary stuff is out of the way, let’s look at a sharp and pointy craft time project! I believe I heard his name of the creator of this awesome weapon is Eric Erlong, but if I’m wrong, you can call him by his user name, which is angelegend. He has crafted a sort of “rough draft” version of a spring-loaded arm blade, and has posted some instructions on how to make one at home.

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of cost, and quite honestly you could probably find most of the parts lying around your home. Well, that’s assuming you have throwing knives just sitting around. It does look rather difficult to build, but if you’re up to the challenge, then go for it!

There are a lot of differences between consoles and PCs. Some gamers will choose the former because of the low cost, while others might choose the latter because of the better graphics. But one of the most fundamental differences between the two is what you use to play the game with. PC gamers can use controllers, if they choose. However, those with a PS3 or Xbox 360 are generally unable to use a keyboard and mouse.

Over the last few years, different devices have come onto the market that will allow console gamers to experience the same controls that PC gamers have enjoyed. I’ve spent a couple of weeks with one such gadget, the Eagle Eye 3.0 from Penguin United. The version I’ve been using works with the Xbox 360.

First Look

In the box you’ll find a 22-page instruction guide, a CD, and the device itself. The device is a small box with a 13′ USB cable, two USB ports and a number of switches. Eight of the switches are for “turbo” and correspond with the buttons on your controller. The other two are for programming the box and switching between one of two different profiles.

Setup

Remember were I said that there was a 22-page instruction guide? There’s a good reason for that. Every page is in English, so you’ll be reading each and every page. To be honest, this is one of the most difficult and time-consuming devices to setup that I’ve encountered. There is good reason for this, as you’re trying to translate key presses and mouse movements into something that your console can recognize.

First thing you’ll need upon setting up this device is an official wired Xbox 360 controller. When they say official, they mean it. I tried using our Batarang controller from Power A, which is officially licensed, but it was a no-go. If you don’t have an official wired controller from Microsoft, you’ll need to add that to the cost of the device.

To program the box, you’ll need to plug it into your computer, and run the software on the CD. You’ll then map each button, trigger, and analog stick to your desired keys. I’d recommend pulling out the manual for the game you intend on playing, as it will help greatly. Once you’ve done that, you can export it to the device. If you have another game you plan on playing, you can flip the switch to “Key Map 2” and setup another profile.

Now it’s time to hook it up to your 360. With the console powered off, you’ll plug in the box, and hook your wired 360 controller to it. Power on the console, and once your controller has been assigned a position on the console (it should be the first and only controller), you can unplug it, and plug in your keyboard and mouse. Now these too, must be wired. Also, neither of them should specifically require a driver to run, as for obvious reasons, you can’t install one. Most wired keyboards and mice will work.

If you’re really lucky, you could start playing your game straightaway, and have fun. However, that isn’t going to be the case most of the time. For this, you will use the F1-F8 keys to modify your deadzone, X-axis sensitivity, Y-axis sensitivity, angle correction, and rotation speed limit. Going through each of these can take several minutes, adding significantly to your setup time. If you’re doing this for the first time, I’d set aside 30 minutes for setup, bare minimum.

If you want to knock off some of that time, you can try going to the Penguin site and downloading a keymap that another user has already uploaded. You’ll still need to calibrate everything for your particular keyboard/mouse and specific tastes.

Performance

This is obviously the most important part. Is all of that setup time really going to improve your game? My answer isn’t exactly a definite one. I’m a PC gamer at heart, so I tend to do better with a keyboard and mouse, rather than a controller. So was my performance better while using this device? I can answer that with yes.

What’s interesting is that playing console games with a keyboard and mouse didn’t feel as natural on my 360 as it does on my PC. After countless hours of playing, I couldn’t ever quite put my finger on it, but something about it always felt off. The mouse was responsive enough, and I was able to make shots that I’d never have pulled off with a controller. However, I feel like I didn’t perform up to par, when compared to how I played on a PC. Overall though, I enjoyed being able to use my favorite keyboard and mouse while playing with friends on my 360, and my kill/death ratio was generally higher than when I’d switch back to my controller.

Final Thoughts

Setting up the Eagle Eye is a pain in the ass, no doubt about it. However, if you have the patience to get through that, it can certainly provide the desired results, to a degree. My personal experience was that I performed better than with a controller, but not quite as good as I normally would on a PC. So is it worth the $60 price tag? That depends on how much you plan on playing with a keyboard/mouse, and how good you are with a controller. Also, if you don’t have an official wired controller from Microsoft, that price just jumped up to around $100.

There’s a good chance that your goal in life is to make everything you own geeky, or gaming related. For some that may be an easy task, but if you are a musician, and your instrument of choice is the ukelele, then having a themed instrument might be difficult.

The people over at celentanowoodworks know this hardship all too well, which is why they have crafted the Pacman Ukelele, or the Paculele. It seems as though they’ve really put some thought into the design as they’ve included not only Mr. Pacman as the body, but Blinky as the headstock.

Obviously you’re going to want to be pretty serious about both playing the Ukelele and Pacman to add this to your collection, because it costs about $600. It is a rather astonishing price, but it’s handmade, and themed, both of which mean that it’s going to be a bit pricey. Just getting a handmade scroll on a stringed instrument could cost you hundreds. Not to mention this guy isn’t keeping them in stock, he’s making them when you order, so when you purchase it, he is making one just for you.

If you remember back to last year, we reviewed one of the craziest-looking headsets on the market from Psyko Audio. What made this stand out so much were the five speakers located on the top of the headset, with copper pipes running to each ear cup. At the time, I said that the were “probably the best thing you can do to change your gaming experience.” My only complaints were the high prices, and less-than-stellar performance when listening to music and movies.

Psyko listens to their customers, and when they sat down to design their next generation of headsets, they took both of the issues I mentioned into consideration. The result was the Psyko Carbon 5.1 headset, which I’m reviewing today.

First Look

These look remarkably similar to the original 5.1 that was released by Psyko, with some minor changes. This time around you’ll find a more discreet color scheme, consisting primarily of black, with red accents. You’ll also find that the majority of the headset is covered in rubber, which gives it a more durable feel. Finally, they have chosen to use braided cables and gold-plated connectors to give it a more high-end feel.

Comfort

Other than the cosmetic changes I noted above, the headset has remained largely unchanged. So rather than simply repeating myself, I’ll just defer to my previous review. The short of it is that while they are a bit on the heavy side, I can wear these for hours without any real discomfort.

Audio Quality

When playing games, I would say that these new Carbons perform roughly the same as their predecessor. And to be perfectly honest, that’s a good thing. The patented Psykowave technology comes through and delivers true 5.1 surround sound. This means I know exactly where bullets are coming from, or where someone is running before I even see them.

I’ve tested a number of 5.1 headsets, but all of them merely simulate the effects, except those from Psyko. I will say that there is a real difference between having a couple of drivers in the ear cups, and having the audio piped down to various parts of the cups. I feel like the directional sound is more accurate, which is what matters most when you’re immersing yourself in a game.

One of my big complaints with the original 5.1 headset was that it didn’t perform well with music and movies. This is one of the areas where Psyko has worked on, and it does show. While I still wouldn’t put these in the same category as a pair of audiophile headphones, I’m more happy using these as an all-around device, rather than only gaming.

Conclusion

This review is a bit shorter than usual, but in most respects, these are almost identical to Pysko’s first headset. It’s really a case of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” The things that they did fix, were necessary. I’m happier being able to listen to music and movies through the headset, and not feeling like I need to keep a second one around just for that. The other issue they worked on was price. $300 for a headset that was only good for gaming seemed a little salty for most people. But $200 for the new Carbons is perfectly reasonable for what they provide. This brings it closer to other high-end headsets that are on the market.

Any and every console player who owns an iOS device will often get games for their iPhone, iPad, or iTouch. The only problem that we face is the difficulty of switching from a controller to an awkward, thin, glass surface that has no real button definition other than visually on the screen. Not only will this cramp your hands if it’s all you have to play for a few hours, but you also have to cover up part of the screen to hit buttons. This can inhibit you from seeing oncoming obstacles in the midst of playing, which will frustrate anyone.

These reasons, among others are why the 60beat GamePad looks so awesome. Not only does it give you the comfort you know and love from a regular controller, it’s also plug-and-play, and means you’ll never have to cover the screen with your thumbs again. The controller looks like the love child of an Xbox and PlayStation controller as it has the bumpers, D-pad, and analog sticks, but the only real difference is having buttons labeled 1-4 instead of shapes or letters. The real icing on the cake is that this thing plugs into your iOS sound jack, and has no need for batteries.

Is it worth the $49.99 price tag it carries? I have no idea. Not needing batteries is pretty awesome, but that does mean more power from your device being drained, so having a charging station nearby may be a necessity. However, the plug-and-play factor is still pretty sweet, and having almost zero latency makes it a pretty tempting accessory.

Fans of the Metal Gear Solid series will appreciate the new accessories for Nintendo’s 3DS from Hori. The company is releasing a new themed set of accessories for the handheld in celebration of the Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D title. With these items you can help prevent yourself from lying naked out in the field.

The accessory set comes with an olive collectible carrying pouch, a “Protect Cover” for the outside of the 3DS, a stylus, lanyard, and a set of camouflage stickers for the inside of the system. It’s a perfect set for anyone looking to grab some collectibles, as well as those who want to take their camo skills to the next level.

Players can pick up this set for ¥2,981 in Japan when the game launches on March 8th. Hori releases their accessories here in the states as well, so you can look out for them on Amazon. If you’re looking to pick up some of these sweet accessories yourself, you can start looking for them when the game releases.

Christmas may be over, but that doesn’t mean that the season of gift-giving has come to an end. In fact, Riot Games is getting into the spirit, and has sent out an email to many League of Legends players, letting them know of a little surprise in their stocking.

This may not come as a surprise, as it was announced last week, but those League of Legends players who have been good should be receiving an email awarding them 450 free Riot Points.. What qualifies you as being “good,” exactly? You just need to have a character that’s over level 6, and hasn’t been banned in the last two months.

Additionally, Riot games put together a thank you video, which shows off a bunch of the fan art that they’ve received. Take a look below. Who knows, maybe some of your artwork is in there.

It wasn’t very hard to get hooked onto Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, but it is proving rather difficult to keep myself from buying every new figure that I find on the market. Seeing as there are 32 of them, and they run about $8 a pop, it’s kind of an expensive habit to have.

To make matters worse, there are now some limited edition Skylander Champions on the loose, in random packs. These characters will have different colors, but will appear normal color in-game. Obviously, the point of getting these is to keep them in the packaging as they’re collector’s items. So make sure you already have the the regular version of the creature you’re buying if you want the fancy silver one as well.

Now to be quite honest, there’s a good chance that these were just mess-ups, because they weren’t really announced, and the metallic silver is not particularly attractive on them. However, they are rare, and we can buy them, so we may as well get overly excited about it, and hunt them down like blood hounds. Well, at least I’m going to anyway.

If you haven’t tried playing this game, you have no idea how wonderfully addictive Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure is. You can check out the review here, but this game has stolen several days worth of my time. To add to my dismay, there are 3 new characters hitting retail stores, which means I’m going to say goodbye to another $30.

Keep your eyes peeled for Hex, Dino-rang, and Wrecking Ball. Hex is a female addition to the undead class who has a Wall of Bones to keep the baddies at bay while she hurls ranged attacks at them. Dino-rang is a alligator-looking creature that is in the earth element who uses boomerangs. (go figure) Wrecking Ball is about to become a must-have for me, because he is a hungry little blue party animal from the magic element who uses Tongue Whap and Power Belch. He’s so cute!

We’re all obviously going to have favorites, and my top two when I first saw the list of 32 were Hex and Wrecking Ball, and now I’m enamored. I think we’re all going to be wishing we had more money this month aren’t we?

It’s amazing how having good audio can affect your gaming sessions. Not only does it add to the immersion factor, but it can be the difference between making a kill and being killed. Your two options for audio are a set of speakers, or a headset. If you decide on a headset, then you have to figure out if you want a wired or wireless one. If I’m at my PC, I don’t really mind the wire, as I’m sitting right next to my computer anyway. However, I have no desire to run a cord all the way to my couch if I want to quietly play a game on my 360. Today we’re going to look the SteelSeries Spectrum 7XB wireless headset, which was designed specifically to work with the Xbox 360.

First Look

The 7XB has two major parts: the headset itself and the receiver. The headset is fairly lightweight, and features plenty of padding both at the top and around each ear cup. The leather ear cushions can be swapped out for a pair of cloth ones, but those have to be purchased separately. It is primarily black, with some gray accents and a SteelSeries logo on each ear. You’ll also find a white LED light that lets you know when the headset is powered on and connected.

On the left ear you’ll find a retractable mic. The mic can be moved around and positioned any way you like, rather than being stiff like you find on other headsets. There is also a port to plug into your 360 headset jack. On the right is a set of five buttons for power, volume controls and sound mixing. You’ll also find a compartment for your two AAA batteries hidden in the top of the ear cup.

The receiver itself is pretty simple. The back has a USB cable built-in, and a 3.5mm audio jack. There is also a volume dial. (You’ll want to keep this as low as possible, while still getting good sound through the headset. After the initial setup, you’ll use the volume buttons on the headset for adjustments.) Two LEDs on the front let you know when the device has power (from the USB cable) and when it is connected to the headset.  The audio cable has 2.5mm jacks on each end, with an adapter for standard red and white RCA cables. Both RCA jacks have male and female plugs, allowing you to still connect them to your TV, if you wish.

One excellent feature that you’ll find is that the headset itself breaks down quite easily. Just below the top padding on each side is a release button. This detaches each ear cup, and a part of the band. You can toss these in a bag, and not worry that it’s going to snap because of poor positioning.

Performance

During my testing, I use the headset with an Xbox 360 at a range of between 4 and 10 feet away. The 7XB is rated for use at up to 30 feet away, and I was able to still get a signal at that distance, though when I approached the 30-foot mark, I did start to experience some audio loss. However, I found that as long as you were less than 25 feet away, the audio remained the same quality as when you’re right next to the receiver.

Speaking of audio quality, there are three different modes that you can select from. These are described as such:

• Performance: for directional sounds footsteps and gunfire
• Immersion: for optimized environmental sound and game music
• Entertainment: for increased bass levels and environmental sound when watching movies

For gaming you’re going to want to go with either Performance or Immersion. I found that most FPS seemed to work better with Performace, while other games I was more happy with the Immersion setting. Overall, both of these provided excellent audio. The 50mm drivers provided good clean sound, with just enough bass to make me happy. The only complaint I have is that they do only function in stereo, as opposed to delivering surround-sound.

One other feature I should make note of is LiveMix. If you’re playing a game online and want to chat with your teammates, you’ll want to hit the LiveMix button on the headset. This tells the headset to automatically adjust mix between the game and the voices of your teammates. When someone talks, it will immediately drop the volume of the game a bit, and increase the chat volume. Once it detects that the speaking has stopped, it will slowly bring the game audio back up over the next 1.5 seconds. This feature worked really well, and while the initial audio change wasn’t immediate, it helped immensely.

While these are not technically sound-canceling headphones, I will say that they do a great job of blocking out most other sounds. In fact, when you talk to your teammates, you’ll find that you can barely hear yourself talk. This can take a bit to get used to, and is only a minor annoyance.

Conclusion

Having a wireless headset for your 360 is a must. And from the others on the market I’ve seen, this would be my pick. The audio is nice and clean, with the ability to tweak it for different game and play styles. Also, being able to break them down and toss them in a bag is great. I do wish that they could have used the optical output, as I don’t like dealing with the hassle of connecting both the AV cables and HDMI to my 360.  With a retail price of $180, they are salty, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything better on the market.