Logitech launches g9 laser mouse custom grips

Choose from a gallery of Logitech gaming related images, or you can even upload your own artwork, and Logitech will create a custom, fade/rub proof grip for your g9 laser mouse. The custom grip is $19.99 + shipping, and the images are subject to Logitech’s approval, so anyone with dreams of getting your own goatse mouse might have to find another way. Visit http://www.logitech.com/idgrip to order.

Microsoft BlueTrack Explorer Mouse Review

The new Microsoft Explorer Mouse with Blue Track is said to be one of the best mice ever, but does it actually hold up to the title. The new Blue Track Explorer Mouse is simply put a great product. The Blue Track technology is nothing more than a better form of a laser mouse. Here is Microsoft’s definition:

“BlueTrack™ Technology Microsoft BlueTrack Technology combines the power of optical with the precision of laser for remarkable tracking on more surfaces*.”

When trying out this mouse you will see that it will work on every surface you throw its way including everything from carpet to tile. This is great if you cannot afford a computer desk and a mouse pad, but 99% of the time this is not going to matter. The truth is though this mouse works great all the time and is always responsive to a mouse movement.

The design of Explorer Mouse is excellent. It looks great with silver plastic in the front and sides with a nice matte black surface on the back that provides an excellent grip. The size excellent being 3.18” wide and 4.58” long. The size is perfect for fitting just right in your hand and there is also a miniature version of the mouse for laptop users. The blue led’s on the mouse are a great design feature of this mouse. There is a blue led under glow and a blue led logo on the back of the mouse that really look great with the lights off.

Some more nice features about the Explorer Mouse is it is wireless. For those of you who do not like wireless mouse because you have to replace the battery there is no need to worry because the Explorer Mouse comes with an adapter to charge the mouse and it the battery is said to last up to 3 weeks on a full charge. The wireless is running at 2.4GHz and has a range of 30 feet. It also comes with three fully customizable buttons and a scroll bar.

Overall this mouse is a great buy. It is a little expensive with a cost of $80 and it is a right handed mouse only and it only comes wireless. The simplicity of this mouse is what makes it great though. The sleek design and the blue LED’s make it look amazing, the BlueTrack technology is perfect for every surface and the perfect overall feel of this mouse makes it one of the best mice ever.

Worlds.com patent enforcement would destroy MMO games

NCsoft, the owner of GuildWars, City of Heroes, and Tabula Rasa, is currently being sued by Worlds.com for patent enfringement. Their patent states “The present invention provides a highly scalable architecture for a three-dimensional graphical, multi-user, interactive virtual world system.” Worlds.com began hiring lawyers in December to begin enforcing their patents.

As any gamer will tell you, most MMOs (and many other multiplayer games) contain a “graphical, multi-user, interactive virtual world system.” How this patent got approved goes to show how flawed the patent system is. Enforcement of this generic patent could drive other game developers out of business, and give Worlds.com a monopoly on the MMO game.

Diablo 3 may use a subscription plan

Jay, a Diablo 3 developer working for Blizzard Entertainment was recently interviewed by ablegamers.com. One of the questions that came up was if Diablo 3 was going to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, and provide free battle.net online gameplay. Here is the excerpt from the interview:

Mark, AbleGamers: is the online play still going to be free?

Jay, Blizzard: We have not decided on a financial model yet. We are kicking around exactly what were going to do there. Every region is a little different, so it’s a little hard for us to say, “oh, well. We’re not going to do a subscription-based game.” For example in Korea, most of their games are paid to play, including their traditional boxed products. So it’s hard for us to decide right now and say something would be universal for all regions until we’ve actually got a full model. We do intend for Diablo III to be primarily a boxed product though. We don’t see it as a primary subscriber base game. But beyond that we can’t say exactly what our plans are.

Will Blizzard try to cash in on subscriptions or pay for play like they have with World of Warcraft? For the time being, Blizz is keeping its lips sealed.

Netbook gaming

Most netbooks are lacking in the GPU department. That doesn’t mean that netbook owners are out of luck when it comes to gaming, though. Here are some games that have been tested on an MSI Wind netbook. Most of them are older games, but if you are on the road and need to get your gaming fix, these netbook compatible titles will whet your appetite.

Savage 2 is now free

Savage 2: A Tortured Soul, the FPS/RTS hybrid and sequel to Savage: Battle For Newerth is now available to play for free. It is a fun game with impressive graphics and gameplay mechanics.
Savage 2 basically takes class-based team vs. team FPS combat a la Team Fortress 2 and mixes in some heavy RTS elements such as having a commander (one per team), having various structures and research options, etc. There are also RPG elements like purchasable items, lots of different abilities and spells, buffs and debuffs, farmable NPC’s (think Warcraft 3-style creeps), etc.

If you’ve ever played Natural Selection for Half-Life 1 or the Empires mod for Half-Life 2, you’ll probably be pretty familiar with this style of play.

The main goal in any Savage 2 match is to destroy the enemy lair/stronghold structure (aka their main command structure and spawn point) before the enemy team can do the same. How to achieve this is up to the team, but generally it comes in the form of attacks from the normal player classes, siege units, and occasionally hellbourne units.

Here is a gameplay video:

This game deserves more attention than it got. This indie developer is brilliant and they can churn out a better game with a dozen employees than most big name software companies can do with 100. Create an account and start playing by going to their website www.s2games.com.

NVIDEA finally allows users to download Laptop Graphic Drivers

NVIDEA has finally decided to step up their game this Christmas by now allowing laptop users with dedicated graphics cards to download the drivers straight off of their website. There is two reasons why this is so great.

1. Before this update if you reformatted your computer and you did not have all the disks for the drivers you had to go to whatever manufacturers website you bought the laptop from and pray that they had the Graphic Card Driver available for download. If this did not work then you had to scour the net for an unofficial “hacked” driver download.

2. NVIDEA’s website offers the latest driver updates so anyone who owns a gaming laptop should hop on over to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/ and download their latest driver. In many cases you will be able to see a 5-10 percent performance increase.

To download these drivers now just follow this link to NVIDEA’S website and select your video card and click search. After searching a brief description page will pop up about your video card and all you need to do is accept the User Agreements and click download.

What Video Card To Get For Christmas

Well it’s that time of year again and you still do not know what you want for Christmas. Well with giant titles like Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 on its way this spring don’t you think it time to upgrade that old video card you have sitting in your computer. Well if you are there is very good news for you. Video Card prices have started to drop like never before, bad for NVIDEA and ATI, good for you the consumer.

Well after asking around I found that on average most people have about $200 to spend on their Christmas present. So at this price range, the way I see it, there is really only one real good hoice and that is EVGA’s NVIDEA GTX 260. This card is everything you could ask for and then some. Here it is a couple a couple reasons why it is so great.

2x Winner of Customer Choice Award – Desktop Graphics / Video Cards on newegg.com. If you have not heard of newegg I highly recommend you go check out their site if you are ever interested in building or upgrading a computer. They have the best prices on the net by far and can always be trusted.

Limited Lifetime Warranty- This is a great benifit. Also EVGA is one of the most trusted manufacturers on the market today so you can almost guarantee any problems you have will be taken care of.

Customer reviews on this card are amazingly high.

Price is also a great plus at only $219.99. I know it is a little over $200, but the extra $20 is really worth it and more than likely the price will drop to the $200 sweet spot just in time for Christmas.

This card is a huge upgrade for anyone with a card that is only 6 months old. Seriously that is how fast prices drop on video cards. With the GTX 260 you will be able to play every game at high quality settings and expect a very smooth frame rate of around 60fps. The only card that is truly better than this right now is the GTX 280 and that costs $375.

Quick points to remember before buying:
• Make sure your power supply can handle this card (recommended 500 watts)
• See if it will fit in your case (11 inches long!)
• It will not cover anything important that you need to get to on your motherboard
• Make sure your power supply has two 6-pin connector(Any new PSU will have these)

Also this card has all the same connection as a normal video card including to DVI outputs and 1 S Video output. I really recommend this card to anybody who is looking for a guaranteed good card at a great price with a lifetime warranty.

i7 – Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

More Powerful Than A Locomotive
No, we are not talking about Superman but the new Intel® Core™ i7 processor. Turbo Boost and Hyper-Treading technology gives the Core i7 processor the crown as most advanced. The Core i7 processor is the first of a new group of Nehalem processor designs capable of performance on demand.

The Core i7 processor provides faster video editing, games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption. Wow, what a way to save energy!

Intl doesn’t disappoint, and is everything Intel promised it would be. The Lost Circuits Web site refers to the Nehalem as a masterpiece. The Tech Report calls it “one of the most consequential shifts in the industry.” So what is it about the Core i7 that everyone is raving about?

The launch of the Intel® Core™ i7 processor doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel “Extreme” platforms, offering 40 percent more speed and even though it has multi thread capabilities, the Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep modes usually found in the Intel-based notebooks.

The Intel Core i7 processor speed allows the user to engage in immersive 3-D games – over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors. The Extreme Edition uses 8 threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence and physics to practically bring virtual reality right to your PC.

The Intel® Core™ i7 processors and Intel® X58 Express Chipset-based Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are available from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.