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.

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/

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.

Mike Prutchick—that's who! Homeboy really needs to get himself unpacked and back to gaming again. Seriously, we hope you're kidding about being married for a whole year and not unpacking your gaming gear... what's wrong with you? Well, we suppose it all worked out in the end as you will soon be receiving a full-sized arcade cabinet in the mail! Maybe it will even motivate you to reclaim your game room—and possibly even your manhood?

And Mike isn't the only winner. Oh no, we have seven more winners to announce! 2^Nd - 5^th place wins a NOX Audio Ultimate Gaming Bundle and 6^th - 8^th place wins a copy of Mortal Kombat for their system of choice! Are you a winner?

2^nd - 5^th Place winners

Sam Uehling
Talhah Rehman
Brett Russell
Rik Miller

6^th - 8^th Place winners

Mike Maser
Diego Amaury Lanza Betancourt
Robert Grigorian

There you go. If you were one of our winners we will be contacting you shortly. If you weren't a winner this time; don't worry. We'll probably have something else extremely awesome to give away soon! Also, everyone who participated will receive a 15% off discount for anything in our store (like the new Rcade Freek!) on Thursday.

Peace, <3 and headshots!

If you're someone who keeps up with all things KontrolFreek, you may have already noticed that we've decided to extend our “World's Worst Game Room” contest by a full week. We have been getting such a great response from our community and our partners that it seemed like a real no-brainer. In just over a week we have accumulated over 80 entries and over a thousand votes!

Since the start, we've not only had some good laughs from your pictures, we've had a blast reading some of your descriptions. Seriously, what is wrong with some of you?

We've also added some new partners (Destructoid and NOX Audio!) and even a few more prizes courtesy of NOX Audio. The 2^Nd - 5^th place winners will now receive a NOX Ultimate Gaming Bundle featuring a NOX Specialist headset and Negotiator adapter for use with your Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. That brings our total prize count up to meet 8 different winners. Things just got easy!

If you've already entered the contest or are planning to enter, remember: GET YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE! You can vote ONCE PER HOUR and so can your friends—so you could easily come from behind and rack up the votes in just a day-or-two.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank some of our FreekNation sponsors: Kona's Korner, Trumpf, Zeitgeist Rewiew, vVv Gaming, Firerockerzstudios, R0kl0bster and TeemingTubbyEmu. Thanks for your support guys!

Go check out our updated contest page here.

Skip the details and get yourself entered here.

To celebrate our most recent addition to the KontrolFreek arsenal, the Rcade Freek, we've teamed up with HipHopGamer, Mahalo Video Games, Brutal Gamer, Classic Game Room and TheGamersHub to give one lucky person a real arcade machine worth about $2,000. We're awesome, we know.

This is your chance to level-up your lame gaming space and overall standing in the gaming community. Lets face it, chicks (or dudes) dig guys (or girls) with arcade machines. Beginning later tonight you can visit our Facebook page and upload a picture of your wimpy game room by clicking the tab on the left that says, “WIN AN ARCADE MACHINE!” Seriously, the awful-er your picture the better! Then, go tell all your friends and family to vote for your picture. The picture with the most votes when the contest ends on May 13^th wins the grand prize—a Freeking arcade cabinet! Also, FIVE runners-up will win a copy of the new Mortal Kombat game for Xbox 360 or PS3. And EVERY participant will win a coupon for 15% off KontrolFreek products.

If your game room is already perfect but you'd still like to win the arcade cabinet just go take a picture of one of your friends' game rooms (the poorer the better!)—they won't mind as long as you promise to let them play with your new arcade machine.

For more details click here.

To skip the details and enter, click here!

Good luck to all of you!

No holiday is too big or too small for KontrolFreek! So as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the office with all things green, we decided to extend the holiday good fortunes and offer our citizens of FreekNation a chance to get lucky!

How? It’s simple! Just go to our Facebook page and view our St. Patrick’s Day themed picture banner. There are five pictures; and each picture has a special discount attached—10%, 15% and even a 20% discount good for anything in our store! This is the FIRST (and maybe last) time we’ve ever done this significant of a discount, so be sure to take part and tell your friends!

Click on only ONE of the links in the caption of the picture to test your luck. We’ll send you your special discount code on St. Patrick’s Day – March 17th. This code can only be redeemed once and expires on Sunday, March 20th.

So take a chance and play our “Luck of the Irish” game. You have nothing to lose!

*Four leaf clover not included.