KontrolFreek Blog

A big hint surfaced yesterday on PlayStation’s official YouTube channel pointing at February 20^th 2013 as the possible announcement date for the much anticipated PS4.

The YouTube video, titled “#PlayStation2013” is a short, 45-second trailer showing the traditional PlayStation hieroglyphics and then ending with the date “February 20^th 2013.” The video description also has a link to a dedicated webpage that shows the same date with a time of 6pm EST.

One thing is clear—there will be a meeting hosted by Sony in about 3-weeks. Of course, the meeting could be for something else entirely, but all indicators point to this being the official PlayStation 4 reveal.

Will an Xbox 720 announcement follow? Or will Microsoft call an audible and beat Sony to the punch?

It’s going to be an exciting year!

It may be old news by now, but there will be no next generation Xbox or PlayStation unveiled at this year’s E3. I have hesitated to talk about this because by tomorrow we’ll likely hear more news that contradicts what we know today—but for now, that’s the story coming from Microsoft and Sony representatives.

Rumors up until a couple days ago have been pretty clear that both new consoles would make some sort of appearance at E3—not as clear, perhaps, as what was said by Microsoft France’s marketing director, Cedrick Delmax to Le Point.fr.

"We're in an industry that talks a lot, that likes to tell stories. I am not convinced things will happen this year.”

"Xbox 360′s cycle is not at all finished. The proof is that we don't see the logic in cutting the price this year. E3 is still premature. What's certain is that there'll be nothing new in 2012."

That last part is pretty clear.

In an interview on the same site, Playstation France’s CEO, Philippe Cardone also made it clear that Sony wouldn't be rushing its next generation console release.

"Wii is pressed for time because it's in decline. In our case, we have a lot less pressure. We were the last to release PS3, and we will probably be the last to announce something."

Life is funny. Sometimes you don’t know something’s broken until one day you get a contraption in the mail that looks like a gadget off of Batman’s utility belt and you snap it on to your controller. Even then, as you proceed to relearn everything you know, you wonder if what you knew was the right way to do things anyway. You savvy? Probably not.

Below is my review of The Avenger controller adaptor by N-Control. The opinions herein belong to me alone and do not reflect those of KontrolFreek.

The Avenger snaps easily to your standard Xbox 360 controller. All you have to do is open it like a clamshell, insert your controller and close until it snaps. The Avenger also comes with a couple foam stickers that you place on both bumpers and the “A” button. I wasn’t sure at first why these were even included (they made the whole package seem hokey) but after playing with them for a while I quickly understood that N-Control has their reasons. They add a subtle yet effective tactile-ness to the remaining “naked” buttons. Nice touch. You’ll then need to make a few small adjustments by experimenting with how you would like to position the levers/rockers. Once you’ve got everything where you want it, you’re mostly good to go. The “trigger skis” feel a tad awkward at first—especially because I normally let my index fingers do the shooting—and the intimidation aspect is certainly something to consider. I’d recommend staying offline until you get a feel for it.

After playing a few levels of Halo: Reach’s campaign, I started to adjust. I was able to reload and switch weapons without ever taking my thumb off the right stick—definitely a plus when tracking those pesky Elites. Actions felt intuitive and fast, however, sometimes during intense firefights my fingers would accidentally do something I didn’t want them to do, like switch weapons instead of melee. Obviously, with more practice and further adjustment of the lever-thingys this can probably be remedied. Even while using the Avenger not as intended (by ignoring the levers and just using it like you’d normally use a controller), the mechanism that engages the face buttons brings the buttons much closer to your Freek-raised right thumbstick and lets you make some ultra-fast actions. Goodnight Covees!

The many positives do come at a cost, though. Every headset will not be compatible. The SteelSeries 7XB that I’m currently using is not compatible; nor will most that use a “puck” style jack for voice chat. Bummer.

Overall, I really like the Avenger. It’s a cool looking attachment that functions well alongside some FPS Freeks. With some more practice, I think I could probably go online and be competitive—I won’t yet—but I think I could. The learning (or relearning) curve is a commitment. It will take some time and patience to get comfortable with it. I have no doubt, though, that in the right hands the Avenger could be a dangerous weapon.

Retail price: $49.99

http://www.avengercontroller.com/

Getting up-close and personal with Nintendo’s new Wii U at E3 was a near impossible task. Nintendo’s security was extremely vigilant and was rumored to “take” people who got too close. Many nerds were lost recovering the photos you are about to see. Thanks to the world’s most elusive ninjas at Ripten for bringing back these shots. Your loss be not in vain.

For 34 more pictures of the new Wii U visit Ripten.

Earlier today, publisher Paramount Digital Entertainment confirmed that Star Trek will be coming to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in the summer of 2012. The plainly titled “Star Trek” will be the first Trek game to ever embrace J.J. Abrams' vision of the franchise—which is fantastic news because of how awesome 2009's Star Trek movie was!

The completely original story penned by God of War writer, Marianne Krawczyk and Star Trek (2009) film writers, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman will cast players as Kirk and Spock in a stand alone adventure battling a legendary foe hellbent on ruling the galaxy.

“Star Trek challenges the boundaries of co-op gameplay with a galactic adventure that gamers and fans have never experienced,” said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Working closely with the Star Trek filmmaking team throughout development, the game is sure to deliver AAA production values, a wide variety of gameplay and all the action you would expect from the hit franchise. This will be the definitive Star Trek gaming experience.”

Development duties for Star Trek will be handled by the very exceptional Digital Extremes, who's previous works include Unreal Tournament, Dark Sector and Bioshock 2.

With as much as Star Trek the game has going for it, it would be a tragedy if it didn't deliver. Here's hoping that this is the game that Star Trek fans (like me) have been waiting for!

Happy E3 2010 everybody!  After seeing Microsoft’s big unveil of the new, Kinect ready Xbox 360 yesterday, we thought, wouldn’t some Stealth on Stealth FPS Freeks look super-tight with that shiny new skin?  We certainly think so!  And that’s why we’ve decided to give you a chance to win 1 of 10 ULTIMATE KontrolFreek GamerPacks.  Each ULTIMATE GamerPack includes a KontrolFreek GamerPack and a NEW Xbox 360!  That’s right, the brand new, glossy black one Microsoft JUST announced at E3!  All you have to do to enter is become a fan of our Facebook page – that’s it.  Oh, and the contest will end in 72 hours; so that should make for some pretty good odds!

All Facebook fans, new and old are eligible to win.  After 72 hours, we will randomly choose 10 fans from our list.  You guys who have been with us for a while know that we love doing stuff like this.  It’s our way of saying “thanks” to all of you KF veterans and “welcome” to all you new fans.

Thank you “I Play COD” for supporting us and good luck to everyone!

Kisses and Headshots,

KontrolFreek

Enter “KFE3DEAL” at checkout for 10% off anything in our store!