steelseries 6GV2 Keyboard Review

  My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and  I don't ask for much besides my mandatory crab dinner, that's why I was happily surprised when my wife got me a gift that I had only nonchalantly mentioned one time while browsing a magazine. It was a keyboard, a good keyboard that I've needed for a long time. Yep, she's a keeper.
  For 6 years I had been using a Hewlett-Packard membrane keyboard and after 6 years of not being able to reload while running in an FPS or completing certain key commands with out getting a loud shriek from my motherboard (ghosting) I felt that I had learned my lesson for buying such a piece of crap. That's why my wife blessed me with my new beefy and fully mechanical 6GV2 Keyboard from steelseries, awesome!

 The 6GV2 has now gone under a 2 week stress test since it's maiden voyage and I have few if any complaints about it. The keys are very responsive, quiet once you learn how to use them, and have a nice feel to each push. It's a feel that sets the mechanical keyboard apart from the typical membrane board, it's easy to know why once you see the mechanics behind each key.

As far as I can tell this keyboard uses Linear Key Switches.

 There's not a lot to complain about so far but if there could be a complaint it would focus on the stubby right "Shift" button, it's pretty short compared to what most people might be used to. I find myself often hitting the "\" key while trying to mash the "Shift" key, I've been told though that you get used to it fairly quick, we'll see. Another change to my keyboard comfort zone is the exchange of the left "Windows" key for the steelseries Icon key. The right "Windows" key is still in place, so if you prefer that key you probably wont notice the change, but you should have seen my startled bewilderment turn to excessive rage when I attempted to launch the "Run" command in Windows. I hadn't yet noticed the switcheroo steelseries pulled on me and thought I was losing my mind.. how embarrassing.

In closing this is an excellent down to earth, tough keyboard for $100.00. It skips the excessive feature set of the SHIFT and is around $50.00 cheaper than the 7G.

Nifty:
 -Durable Build
 -Responsive Mechanical Keys
 -Clean Design
 -Cheap if you consider the durability and intended lifespan at 50 million keystrokes.
 -Gold Plated Contacts
 -"Shift+W+A+Space+R"




Not so nifty:
 -Short right "Shift" key
 -No left "Windows" key (personal preference)
 -Jordan ""n0thing"" Gilbert, nothing against him, I'm just jealous.

Medal of Honor Review (PC): Part 1

  It's been 3 years since the last release from EA concerning their potentially greatest historical FPS, Medal of Honor. For 3 years I have been awaiting the arrival of the next chapter in the series and looking forward to some new, but old, World War throw down with the Germans. To be completely honest I was hoping that EA would learn from their mistakes and use Airborne as a step to reach a more polished game, but alas this is not true.

  Watching me during the summer is like watching a junkie without his fix. I don't know why, but publishers see fit to make people like me squirm during the summer, with no new games and only old multiplayer modes to keep me busy, it's easily the slowest period in PC game production. So when I caught wind of a new multiplayer Medal of Honor closed beta being released I did everything in my power (which includes removing my credit card from my wallet and typing in the numbers) to pre-purchase the new release in order to gain access to the beta. In doing so I was given the mighty access key so that I may partake in their closed beta, what a let down that was. The beta wasn't bad at all for a beta, it was the people playing it that annoyed me, anyway I digress, this is about the finished product, not the beta.

  Work has been pretty slow for me, so when Wednesday rolled around (10-12-2010) I rolled straight out of bed and hopped onto Steam. After a grueling 2 hours of downloading and installing I was granted access. I closed my office door, turned up my new speakers, set the DPI on my mouse and got ready to fight the new exotic Taliban instead of my old familiar German foe. The high mountains of Afghanistan are a welcome change to the farmlands and cities of classic Europe,  high snow covered peaks and drastic changes in elevation set the mood and old wooden shacks and shepherds replaced the cobbled streets of France. Admittedly, this game has a very strong cinematic feel, multiple times during certain action scenes I remember getting that hair raising feeling when being strongly outnumbered or finding yourself in a no win position, but that's where this game starts to reach its limits. Just like a Saturday morning cartoon, I always end up having the upper hand, some how.

 That's it for today, I'm currently writing as I am playing, so stay tuned for more!

Plantronics GAMECOM 777 Headset Review

 An hour ago I was sitting at my computer pondering about what to write about next, when I hear a large crack! It's the sort of crack that makes geeks cringe, the sound of hard plastic being snapped, the sound your Game Boy makes when it gets run over or the sound your game controller makes when you whip it against the wall in a blind fury. It didn't take long to realized it was my 7 month old headset, as I type I'm still trying to get the super glue off of my finger tips. Now before this review turns into a hate story I intend on going over the positives first, because there are a few.

  I want to start out this review with an admission of a novice, I know my way around headsets but I am not an "audiophile". Headphone reviews can be tricky, because not everyone has the same sense of hearing and although I think mine is superior, I am sure that you think the same of yours. For this reason I am going to focus more on the features than getting gritty with pitches and bass.

 This is what I expected from the GAMECOM Headset from Plantronics, I expected it to last more than 1 year, have decent surround sound, be comfortable and have a quality mic. That's not to much to ask for a $60.00 headset and it so far has met 3 out of 4 of my expectations.

 The headset, though tight at first, is reasonably comfortable. I can go into 8 hour gaming sessions without much discomfort to my head, the sound variances on the other hand can make your ears ache a little. Now that I think about it, most of the features on this headset follow the same outline of providing a decent experience but having little nagging issues to bring it all down. The in-line volume control in the form of a circular adjuster provides quick and accurate adjustments but causes static when moved. The mic has a fold away feature which has been designed well, enabling it to disappear into the head support, but the input quality is average at best. The "Dolby Headphone Technology" selling point does a decent job of providing surround sound when it works, but can be extremely buggy. Each perk seems to have an evil twin dashing this Sets hopes of performing with the big boys.
 
 When I purchased the GAMECOM 777 I had read all of the user reviews and knew most of the issues before I went in, even the possibility of early plastic fatigue, but I though that I was more gentle than the average bear. As an example you should see my original Game Boy screen, it looks as clean and unscratched as the day I took it out of the box! Anyways, my point of being gentle with this headset in the hopes of prolonging its life was simply misguided optimism. The design is flawed where the head adjustment and phone arm meet and there is not much you can do to help this headset along. I'm just hoping the super glue holds until I scratch up enough cash to upgrade.

 To sum it up, if you can't afford Audio-Technica ATH-M50 headphones or need a mic that the Ear Force HPA2 provides then the GAMECOM headset will give a decent experience for a sub $100.00 price point.

R.A.T. 7 Review

 Even though I consider myself a high end PC builder, it's very rare for me to spend the extra money on any of the peripheral items. Keyboards, mice, headphones/speakers and monitors have all taken a back seat to my large case fetishes.  Recently however I have been purchasing all of the above, probably because my 6-7 year old gear is kicking the bucket. It started with new headphones, which are good, then a new ASUS monitor that I absolutely love and then finally my topic for today, the R.A.T.7 "mouse".

 The R.A.T.7 takes on more of the appearance of a gimmick to lure in feature crazed fanatics then an actual, useful, item for every day use. But appearances can be deceiving, especially for this flashy item. With 5 programmable buttons, adjustable palm, thumb and optional pinky grips, this mouse fits even my long freak fingers/stubby thumb combo. I was sort of secretly hoping it would also help with my early stages of CTS but some how I think its actually making that worse. For it to fit the easy access weight system it has installed, MAD CATZ raised the palm rest just a tad bit to high for my hands which affects my wrist, but I'll admit that I have bad wrist posture anyway.

 Along with the varying degrees of customization, this mouse has great DPI (5600 DPI @ 6 mps). You might say "who the hell is going to need that?", and your right. That's why it has 4 customizable DPI modes that are adjustable on the fly. The R.A.T.7 also has one other secret little button that I'm sure you haven't seen before, it's a little red delight. Now, if your like me, you hate FPS snipers with a passion. I know they have their place, and I have even been accused of staring down a 50 cal.'s scope a few times, but if your one of those sniping ass-hats you will love this button. Located on the thumb rest, this red button drastically lowers the DPI while pressed to adjust for scoping. Although I'm sure this was designed with Pvt. Jackson in mind, I've found this very useful while sighting a pistol or assault rifle. BOOM, HEAD SHOT!

  Like I mentioned before, I dont buy a lot of mice, but over 18 years I have used my fair share and this one takes the cake. I must stress though that this is an enthusiasts toy and if you spend your day surfing.. well actually, if you get creative you can set it to perform any function on your browser that you can also assign a hot key to. Like setting the thumb scroll (up) to refresh and (down) to go back a page or close a tab, so never mind.

 Overall I have been very impressed with my new gadget, but be warned, before you go out to grab one be prepared to drop at least $80.00. This isn't a Microsoft mouse.

Nifty:
 -Beefy aluminum chassis
 -5600 DPI
 -Adjustable grips
 -Contains an actual laser, not a cheap L.E.D. tracker
 -Braided cord
 -5 Programmable buttons
 -"Sniper" button
 -Optional pinky rest
 -Neat weight and gear case
 -Soft "velvety" body texture

Not so nifty:
 -Tall palm grip
 -Heavy (I only use 1 weight out of 6)
 -EXPENSIVE
 -Finicky programmable user modes
 -The forward and backward buttons along with the palm rest have a cheap "plasicty" feel.

As a side note; this mouse comes in a very beautiful package and case, I can't help but feel that the price could have been $20.00 cheaper if less was spent on the extra items.