Gamertell

Product: Sandio 3D Game O2 mouse (aka 3D Motion Controller with Laser Gaming Mouse)
Price: $79.99
Rating: 5.5/10
Pros: A good core laser mouse, comfortable wrist attachment, programmable mini joysticks and cool lookin’ lights.
Cons: Not as plug-and-play as promised with certain programs. Programming interface is not very intuitive. Some ergonomic issues as well.
Overall: As a regular mouse, this works great but the 3D components are more awkward than necessary. Only consider buying if you have forgiving hands, a strong wrist and lots of patience.

Click through for the full review…

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Alienware has just launched its holiday promotion site featuring a few must-have gaming systems for Christmas.

First up is the Area 51-7500 starting at $1,399 or a low monthly payment of $42, the promotion is gearing to attract fans of Crysis offering free wallpaper downloads for the game. But overall just looking at the specs of the system is mind blowing with many possibilities of customization for gamers looking for a new system.

Customizing doesn’t end at deciding which of the four colors to choose from - metallic, green, blue and black, but even how the chassis glows to match your mood if you like with AlienFX and room within the chassis to expand when needed with extra slots, input and space to add hardware. The site promises that you can literally open the case with a pocket knife and won’t take rocket scientists to help you upgrade the system yourself.

Improved thermal design keeps the system cool and lighting mods strategically placed to light up I/O ports, optical drives and power buttons for those who prefer to game in the dark. Did I mention the cool design of the chassis?

With today’s PC games requiring more power and speed, the system up next on the holiday must have is the Area 51 m9750 notebook ($1,699) for the gamer on the go.

This is no ordinary notebook, the Area 51 m9750 takes gaming to the next level with the NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT high performance graphics processor, noted the world’s first DirectX 10 along with NVIDIA SLI technology and up to 1GB of graphics memory. With two processing cores powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processor the notebook will enhance the functions of not only the games but system and multimedia applications as well.

Other options available include RAID 0 which will enable gamers to configure their hard drives for speed and maximized storage or RAID 1 which offers security and back up. The maximized storage space will allow the ability for a user to record television programming directly to the hard drive and take it with them on the road.

Read [Notebook Forums] Site [Alienware]

Circuit City will offer the following specials during their doorbuster sales on Black Friday (November 23, 2007).

Bundles being offered at Circuit City:

• DS Zelda or Nintendogs DS Lite Bundle for $139.99
• XBox360 Premium System with free MS Wireless Controller, Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance games for $349.99
• 40GB PS3 Spiderman Bundle with free Sony Wireless SIXAXIS controller and Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray movie for $399.99 a special being offered with this bundle includes five free Blu-Ray movies with special rebate offer. Note: This may be an internet store only or selected store offer, you should talk to the store in your area for details if your interested in this offer.
• PS2 Slim System with free Sony Dual Shock II Controller $129.99
• PS2 and XBox 360 Guitar Hero II Bundle for $59.99
• Sandisk 2GB SD Memory Card for $6.99 after $13 mail-in rebate

The following games and bundles will come with a free $10 gift card:

• Guitar Hero III Bundle PS2 for $89.99
• Halo 3 XBox 360 game for $59.99
• Assassin’s Creed XBox 360 game for $59.99
• Mario Strikers Wii game for $49.99
• God of War II PS2 game for $39.99
• Rachet Clank Future PS3 game for $59.99

Site [Circuit City]

Take Two Interactive announced that it has sold Joytech to rival manufacturer Mad Catz, including all assets and employees.

A subsidiary of Take Two, Joytech manufactures state-of-the-art videogames, audio visual accessories and offers them to the community at competitive prices. Take 2’s CEO, Ben Feder, said he was pleased that Mad Catz was able to keep the employees of Joytech in the sale despite stating earlier that they have planned to divest all of its non-core businesses.

“The sale of the Joytech assets is consistent with one of the key goals we established in our 100 Day Plan: to develop strategic alternatives for any operations that we determined to be outside our core publishing business,” said Feder in a press release. “We are particularly pleased that we accomplished this goal in a manner that will allow substantially all of our Joytech employees in the US and UK to join Mad Catz, which is a highly respected provider of video game peripherals.”

Read [Game Industry Biz] Site [Mad Catz] Site [Take Two] Site [JoyTech]

Remember when the Commodore computer was the greatest thing in personal home computers? It was much more friendly to use than the Texas Instruments PC and had much more interesting games you could program yourself or purchase on an old floppy disc or tape cassette.

Well, after its growing success in Europe, Commodore is back in the US and it recently opened a new headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Commodore even hired Electronic Arts Bill Sims as vice president of North American sales.

Commodore gaming has been aiming to…

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Product: X-Arcade Tankstick
Price: $199.95
Rating: 9/10
Pros: Easy to install on pretty much any computer and fun to use. Works on Mac and Windows PCs as well as many game consoles (with separate adapters).
Cons: Programming the buttons can be a little tricky. It’s not compatible with the Xbox 360, the trackball does not work on all consoles and it and might not work perfectly on older computers.
Overall: An impressive controller not just to use but to sow off to all your friends. Definitely a great buy - or gift - for a fan of arcade games or a nostalgic gamer.

Click through for the full review.

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Here’s another goodie from E3 2007 to entice the appetites of flight simulator fans. Xbox 360 owners can now download and play a free demo of Namco Bandai’s Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation from Xbox Live. The game will be released on October 23, 2007, and will ship with a limited edition package that includes a throttle and joystick peripherals.

I sat down to play the demo and quickly fell into a fighter-pilot trance that lasted…

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Here’s another PC gaming item from Peter Payne’s site that specializes in all thing Japanese, J-List (and J-Box for the under-18 crowd).

The black 14 Degrees Mouse Pad by Elecom costs only $14 and offers a better angle than the standard wristpad/mousepad combo. The ergonomic wizards in Japan somehow decided that 14 degrees is the optimum angle for positing ...

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Here’s another gaming item from J-List, Peter Payne’s site that specializes in all thing Japanese (aka J-Box for those under 18).

Think of the Variable 3-button 2.4 GHz Wireless Optical Mouse as the second stage in Transformers taking over computers.

At $85, this mouse by Elecom is not just a novelty purchase but a luxury item that bends to your will and to better fit your hand. It rotates into two positions, flat and angled, making for a

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