11/11/11, it will only happen once in our lifetime. So, what better way to immortalize that date than by playing video games with friends? WeTheGamerz and KontrolFreek (along with some other really awesome people and companies) will be hosting an Xbox Live Community Playdate online from 8-11 PM EST this Friday, November 11.

The game we will be playing is Modern Warfare 3 (duh?!?) and is open to anybody who wants to join. All you’ll need to do to participate is send an invite to the following Gamertags and start playing:

• TG Fireflex
• Sogo01
• MollyPopGirl
• Rondeau04
• Kelky 111
• Uo1drama
• MRPINK310
• KF Trevor

There will be prizes awarded for completely random happenings. All prizes are Call of Duty themed and include our FPS Freek Prestige and FPS Freek ELITE controller attachments. You have to play with us to be eligible to win.

WeTheGamerz is a fantastic community to play with and we are really excited about killing everyone involved. Seriously, you’re all going to die. See you there!

Atlanta, GA – October 11, 2011 - KontrolFreek, the leader in creating performance gaming gear for the active gamer lifestyle, today announced it has been awarded a new patent, US Patent # 7993203, by the US Patent and Trademark Office for its gaming control stick adaptors. In addition, KontrolFreek anticipates the future approval of additional patents related to its performance gaming gear.

KontrolFreek’s ergonomically designed controller add-ons were created to provide improved comfort, grip and maneuverability to gamers playing on Xbox and Playstation consoles. In 2007 KontrolFreek introduced its first product, the Speed Freek® controller add-on for racing games, followed soon after with FPS Freek®, designed to serve the needs of the large and rapidly growing First Person Shooter audience. KontrolFreek now produces and sells more than 10 controller add-ons individually designed for shooter, sports and arcade game franchises.

“This patent highlights important key differences in our products and validates the unique contributions KontrolFreek is bringing to the console gaming market,” said Ashish Mistry, President & CEO KontrolFreek. “KontrolFreek’s commitment to innovation is demonstrated through our continued efforts at improving the gaming experience for hundreds-of-thousands of enthusiast, competitive and professional gamers worldwide.”

In addition to the patent award, KontrolFreek has continued to achieve top-line business growth, surpassing 400 percent year-over-year sales growth, and expanded distribution into key retailers via partnership with Microsoft Stores. 

In addition to new products that will be announced before the end of the year, KontrolFreek’s continually expanding portfolio of gaming controller accessories currently includes:

First-Person Shooter

• FPS Freek – KontrolFreek’s flagship controller accessory was created with the sole purpose of better precision and accuracy in first-person shooters via greater leverage, better control and less force.

• FPS Freek EPIC - Created as a tribute to the Gears of War franchise, with a crimson emblem and concave thumb surface designed for optimum comfort and grip.

• FPS Freek LEGENDARY - Extended controller thumbsticks let Halo players make smaller adjustments to track and hit targets faster and more accurately.

• FPS Freek PRESTIGE - Aim is dramatically improved and thumb-fatigue alleviated while playing games like Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Sports

• Football Freek™ – The convex, Euro-style football design is intended for maximum grip and superior ball control in football games including FIFA 12 and Pro Evolution Soccer.

• Speed Freek - This “U” shaped attachment allows for tighter turns and faster lap times in racing games.

• Speed Freek APEX - The racing controller has been updated with improved design features and ergonomic comfort to ensure maximum control across tracks or terrains and at high velocity. 

• Tee Freek™ – Golf ball-like thumb grip and added analog stick height increases range of motion for straighter drives and more accurate short games.

• TD Freek™ - The convex, laced thumbstick grip virtually eliminates thumb slippage. A must-have for fans of Madden and NCAA Football.

• Hoops Freek™ - Basketball-textured thumb pad increases accuracy through a 40% increased range of motion.

Arcade

• Rcade Freek™ – Retro-inspired analog stick enhancements are perfect for side-scroller, platformer, shoot 'em up or classic 2D arcade games.

Good afternoon FreekNation! Yesterday, we held our big “Modern Warfare 3 For Free” (#MW34FREE) Twitter giveaway. The response from you guys was insane! We thought you’d be stoked about the opportunity to nab some copies of MW3 but we had no idea just how excited you’d get. After sifting through, literally, thousands of tweets, retweets and mentions, we’ve finally got our list of winners. Each winner will receive a preorder for Modern Warfare 3 from Amazon.com and some KontrolFreek gear. Congrats to the winners!

@jonnhatch

@DaBigCheesy

@FTBkid

@TheOnlyMastrx

@M88ESIr

If you were not one of our winners this time, don’t worry. We have an even bigger Twitter giveaway coming next Thursday—so be sure to register for that here.

Thanks for playing!

Game retailer, GAME announced recently that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be playable for the first time ever in the UK at GAMEfest. Taking place in Birmingham NEC on September 16^th to 18^th, GAMEfest will offer UK gamers the opportunity to get some hands-on time with MW3 about two months ahead of its official UK release date of November 8^th. This comes, of course, as good news for those living near Birmingham—but it’s really only mild fan service—since Call of Duty XP takes place a little more than a week prior in L.A. and attendees get actual copies of the game to take home. What’s up with that, GAME?

Tickets for GAMEfest are available now in both GAME stores and online via the GAME website for only 10 pounds. You will need a GAME Reward Card to purchase a ticket.

Welcome!

Good afternoon, evening, morning and night! Wherever you are in the world, we’d like to welcome you to the place where time is irrelevant and rare zombie codes wait patiently for redemption. We are pleased to meet all of you new fans from Facebook and we welcome back all you original Freeks who have been with us since the beginning.

What we’ve got here is…

About a month ago we got our hands on a couple of those rare Call of Duty: Black Ops zombie maps and avatar outfit cards that shipped with the Prestige and Hardened editions of the game (thanks, @NuckFuggets!). People went crazy! Over the past few weeks we’ve noticed a bunch of you asking for “moar zombie maps pweez,” “I can haz zombie maps nao,” and “gimme zombie maps kthnxbai.” Silly internet memes aside, we heard you.

Rapid fire!

Here’s how it’s going to work: throughout the day we will be firing codes out at you over Facebook. The first one to redeem each code will be the winner. To make things more challenging, we’ll be replacing one or more of the code characters with a question mark(s) and you’ll need to guess the missing character(s) to win. We have a total of six codes to give out—three map packs and three avatar outfits. Two avatar outfits and two map packs are for Xbox 360 and the other map pack and avatar outfit is for PS3. We’ll say what the code is for when we post it. Good luck!

FAQ

Q: Where do I redeem the code?

A: For Xbox 360 or Xbox.com. While signed into Xbox LIVE, go to the Marketplace blade, then select “Redeem Code.” From there, use the keyboard to type in the code. On Xbox.com, go to this page (after you sign in) and enter the code. Hint: Pasting the code will work with some browsers.

A: For PS3. Go to the PlayStation Network tab, select “Account Management” and then “Redeem Codes.” You can also redeem codes while accessing the PlayStation Store.

Q: What are the question marks (?) I see in the codes?

A: To make it more challenging we have replaced one (or more) of the code characters with a question mark. You need to guess the missing character(s) to win.

Q: I entered the code, but I get an error that the code is not valid! I know I entered it correctly.

A: You probably did enter the code correctly, but someone has already redeemed the code.

Q: What do you mean someone entered the code already?

A: Each code is only good ONCE. That means that the first person to correctly enter the code will get the item for free.

Q: How do people enter the code so quickly!

A: They may own a chat pad, or be using a USB Keyboard. It is much quicker to enter codes using one of these methods.

Q: I was working / sleeping/ eating/ taking a test/ stuck in traffic when you posted the code. Can you send me one?

A: No. Sorry.

Q: It’s my birthday! Can you send me a code?

A: No. Happy Birthday though!

Q: When will you give them out? Is it a certain time?

A: Nope. Your best option is to keep checking Facebook throughout the day.

Q: Are the codes good where I live?

A: Probably. There may be some restrictions but we’re not aware of them.

Q: I live in (insert country here) can I participate in your code give away?

A: Sure. Anyone can participate.

Q: Do you have any more codes once these are gone?

A: Nope.

Like a bunch of people, I got really excited about Homefront.  The marketing surrounding the game was great and the premise of battling the Koreans in an alternate reality San Francisco sounded outstanding.  The fact that the makers of the above-average Frontlines: Fuel of War were handling development duties didn’t hurt either.  Yes, Homefront had a lot going for it.

Well, we all know how that turned out.  A little over a week has passed since its release and the overall response has been pretty “meh” at best.

The very average (and that’s being nice) Homefront raises a much more important question, though, about the video game industry and our buying habits: why do they continue to make average games, and why do we keep buying them?

My short answer is, “hope.”  Yes, Obama used it, and yes, it’s a bit cliché—just work with me.  It’s the only explanation that makes any sense.  No one sets out to make an average game—just like nobody sets out to buy one—it just happens.  Developers hope their final product is a good one and we hope our $60 purchase gives us hours of quality entertainment.  But, developers run in to deadlines and certain features need to be axed and quality issues don’t get the time they deserve to be fixed.  And I’m sure it’s just as annoying to the people that pour their hearts in to game development as it is for the end user.  But, it’s a shame that the developers and publishers know about a game’s shortcomings prior to release and ignore them.  I get it; they have made a large investment and must stay the course that their game is good.  So they leave it to us and our $60 to find out of the disappointing dysfunction that lies ahead—and that can leave quite a bad aftertaste.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Three more months of development could have really helped a game with as much potential as Homefront and Kaos and THQ could have saved some serious face.  Also, a $60 price tag on a budget title like Homefront is crazy.  Yes, I called it a budget title.  You can fool yourself all you want and try to justify your purchase of Homefront—but deep down you know it’s trash.  The campaign is short (not that it bothered me because I prayed for it to end), the graphics are ugly, the server issues are infuriating and the fact that when I sell or trade it without that multiplayer code that shipped in the box, the next guy will have to suffer too is insulting.  At $40, Homefront would be looking a whole lot better.

So, now I’m scared.  I’m definitely venting about Homefront, since it was the last game I had this experience with, but it’s certainly not an isolated incident.  There are so many shooters released every year and I keep waiting for that “next great shooter” to come along but continue to be disappointed.  Will somebody please step up and dethrone Call of Duty sometime soon?  I’m counting on you Battlefield.

The opinions reflected here are those of one Freek and KontrolFreek.com is not responsible for the things he says.  In fact, no one here even likes him.