“Cideko Air Keyboard Conqueror” is a long and confusing name for a controller. Nowhere in the four-word-title is there anything alluding to the fact that it’s a sweet multiplatform gaming controller. So, just to make sure we’re clear: It’s a controller. It’s sweet. And you can use it for the PS3 and PC. We’ll get back to the gaming thing in a bit.

At its very core, the “Conqueror” (that’s what I’m unofficially, officially renaming it to) is a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. The USB AIR dongle—which stores within the controller body quite awesomely—just plugs into your PS3 or PC for easy setup and use. The full QWERTY keyboard, complete with function keys and everything else you’ll ever need, works great for web browsing and other light-to-medium typing duties. The motion sensing gyro mouse also works really well and completes a perfect setup for those with HTPC’s or those who like to kick back on the couch while browsing.

For gaming, the Conqueror worked better than expected. Playing through some of the more casual games in my Steam library, like Beat Hazard and Super Meat Boy, the dual analog stick controls, d-pad and face buttons all seemed responsive and even let me beat a few times in SMB—not saying it was the controller, but it surely didn’t hurt me. Not wanting to solely base my review on casual games, I switched over to my PS3 to try out some Battlefield.

You’ll all be very excited to learn (as I was) that the Cideko Air Keyboard Conqueror is compatible with KontrolFreek’s entire range of gaming products. This is good news, of course, and it’s been added to our controller compatibility guide which makes it official.

Things on the Battlefield went well. I was doing my thing and the controller didn’t miss a beat. The build quality and battery life is excellent and it feels really good in the hands. My only (minor) complaint is that the triggers aren’t perfectly positioned—but hey, neither are the DualShock3’s triggers and no one seems to care about that. I didn’t expect it to necessarily be a “performance” controller anyway; so I was pleasantly surprised it performed as well as it did.

For $99.99 the price of the Conqueror may induce some sticker shock at first—but once you take in to account that it’s replacing a mouse, keyboard and video game controller for PC and PS3, it all of the sudden doesn’t seem so high. Combine that with the fact that you can use your existing collection of FPS Freeks, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

People are constantly asking me if we ever plan on making a gaming product for PC gamers. Truth is we already do. Some people don’t know this, but you can use your current Xbox 360 controller for many PC games. Of course, you might not want to use a controller for everything on the PC, but you’ll definitely want it for games like Super Meat Boy, FIFA, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed and any game featuring cars or racing like GTA or Need for Speed.

Setup for using your Xbox 360 controller on a Windows based PC is easy:

Wired Xbox 360 Controller: The same controller can be used for both Xbox 360 and PC. Just plug it in to an open USB port on your PC—Windows takes care of the rest.

Wireless Xbox 360 Controller: You don’t need to purchase a separate wireless controller for use on your PC. All you need to do is purchase the Microsoft Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows. Other third-party versions are also available—but you may as well stick with OEM gear in this case. Once you have the receiver, you just plug it in to an open USB port and sync your wireless controller by pushing the button on the receiver and then the sync button on your controller.

Rumors have been circulating that Microsoft's new Windows 8 OS will introduce Xbox 360 compatibility to PC's. This is probably just a rumor, but if it's not, it could free up some space on my desk, and that would be cool.

It would supposedly work by popping an Xbox 360 disk directly in to your PC's disk drive and letting Windows 8 do its thing. The rumors also suggest that gamers will be able to access their Xbox 360 Dashboard and Xbox Live service straight through their computer—eliminating the need for an Xbox 360 console. And here's where things get iffy. Would Microsoft really be so bold as to undermine their highly successful Xbox 360's value by doing something like this? Mattel's online Magic 8 Ball says: “Cannot predict now.” Thanks a lot, stupid online 8 ball.

Technically speaking, I see no reason why this wouldn't be possible. After all, the Xbox 360 uses an every day DVD drive and isn't very graphically demanding by today's standards. The only real issue would be the aforementioned “iffy” situation.

It's also worth noting that the same rumors indicate a premium fee will be needed to access Xbox Live via Windows 8. Whether or not that is above and beyond the standard Xbox Live subscription remains a mystery.

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!

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.

A couple months after teasing the video game community at large, Bethesda has finally released the first in-game trailer for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim today.

The new trailer comes alongside the launch of the newly redesigned ElderScrolls.com, which features news, support and updates from the Bethesda team. There is also a link to join “The Elder Council” on Facebook, which gives you access to all kinds of cool goodies like wallpapers and videos from the Elder Scrolls universe.

Bethesda is claiming that the entire trailer is in-game footage, a pretty impressive statement considering how spectacular it looks.  I, for one, can not wait until November 11, 2011—when the game finally drops for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC!

Gaming news out of Japan is often a bit strange.  The latest has showed up in a trailer seen sometime this morning at Xbox Japan’s Capcom event…

Apparently, Gears of War heroes Dominic Santiago and Marcus Fenix will be featured in Capcom’s upcoming Lost Planet 2.  Rumor has it that Lost Planet 2 designer Jun Takeuchi has much love for Epic’s GOW and has collaborated with the American developer to feature the two chainsaw-happy characters in his new game.  The big fellas will most likely be available as exclusive characters for the Xbox 360 version of the game and will probably be available via download only.