One of the coolest items to come out of the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany has to be Razer’s ‘Maelstrom Audio Engine’. The Razer Maelstrom is a highly upgraded virtual surround sound system found in the Razer Megalodon™, Razer’s latest 7.1 surround sound gaming headset. These bad boys process positional audio 800% faster than comparable products. For $149.99 they may seem like a steep purchase for gaming, but any audio enthusiast will see this as a pretty good buy.

Headphones
• Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz
• Impedance: 40 Ù at 1kHz
• Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): 105 ± 4dB at 1 kHz
• Max. Input Power: 200 mW
• Magnet Type: Neodymium

Microphone
• Frequency Response: 50 – 16,000 Hz
• Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): -37 dB (user adjustable)
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 50 dB
• Pick-up pattern: Unidirectional
• Cable: 3.3 meters

Here’s an image of the system (click on it for a larger view):

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: audio, Convention, coolest, engine, frequency, gaming, Germany, headset, kHz, Leipzig, Maelstrom, Max, Megalodon, Razer, response, Sensitivity, sound, system

We recently talked with the Game Dame and decided to include links to her best stories every Friday here on the site. You may be wondering who the Game Dame is. She just happens to be one of the coolest gamers we know. We thought it would be a great idea to add a little female perspective to our blog. She has her own blog called “The Game Dame” that’s always full of interesting articles, posts and opinions of hers. Check out the links below and leave comments! Be warned that “MY EYES!!! THEY BURN!!!” may be something you don’t want to see. I’ve been trying for about an hour to get the image out of my mind.

Frag: A Gamer Documentary Worth Watching
MY EYES!!! THEY BURN!!! (pic)
Podcastic: Game Dame Level-Up News
Never Ignore Fido While Playing Your Wii (video)
Dave’s Sweet Home Arcade
Legos Meet Double Dragon
Kid Stages Abduction for a Wii: Epic Fail
Mario: Game Over (video)
When Bowser’s Minions Revolt

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: blog, BURN, coolest, Dame, Dave, Fido, Friday, game, hour, idea, image, Mario, MY EYES, Nintendo Wii, perspective, site, something, video, Week

The much anticipated release of the coolest firmware to date will be released on Wednesday July 2nd.  To go along with the in-game XMB will also be PS3’s Trophy System.  Here’s what we can expect and what game we can expect to see the Trophy system in use:

Super Stardust HD, a PLAYSTATION Network-exclusive released in June 2007, will be the first game to leverage Trophies and will offer a variety of trophies. Trophy support in Super Stardust HD will be available for first-time users who purchase the game soon after firmware v2.40 is released, while those who previously purchased and downloaded the title will be prompted to install a free patch.

PS3 users can expect to see additional games bringing Trophies support to their feature sets through 2008 and beyond, providing even greater opportunity to showcase their accomplishments and compete with friends. The following first-party games are also slated to offer Trophy support:

• BUZZ! Quiz TV
• LittleBigPlanet
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift
• NBA 09 - PS3
• PAIN
• PixelJunk Eden
• Resistance 2
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation
• Warhawk

To further emphasize the community aspects of this system software update, the amount of people you can add to your PSN friends list has been doubled, to 100.

I will be really impressed if Sony goes back to previous first-party games.  Resistance would be a great reason to blow the dust off the cover and slide that bad boy in!  Anyone interested in Pixel Junk Monsters Trophies?

Image Via Kotaku

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: 240, coolest, date, Features, firmware, firmware 2.40, game, July, Pacific, Playstation, ps3 2.40, ps3 firmware update, release, Stardust, Super, support, system, Trophies, Trophy, US, Wednesday, XMB