This week, KontrolFreek announced worldwide availability of its latest controller accessory, Speed Freek APEX, designed to lock in better car handling, generate faster lap times and exploit the car’s performance to the max on Forza Motorsport 4, which will launch October 11. Designed with a patented “U” shaped controller attachment and tailored to provide extra thumb grip, the updated design allows players to take longer turns with ease as Speed Freek APEX enables the player to keep up on any track or terrain at high velocity.

Speed Freek APEX features:

• New and improved version of the Speed Freek for all racing games
• “U” shaped design prevents thumbs from slipping and reduces thumb fatigue
• Makes accurate and precise movements simpler
• Each package comes with 1 Speed Freek Apex and an extension adapter
• Extension adapter raises height and increases sensitivity for sharp turns and quick maneuvering
• Tournament Legal
• Also works well with racing games and simulators including Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, Burnout, F1, Blur, Forza 4 and many more
• Available for $9.99 USD online and in Microsoft stores

Hardcore Minecraft player and "coolest" guy in school, Roman DeNu unleashed this masterpiece a few days ago as a Christmas present to the world.  You may have seen this via Kotaku already but it's worth mentioning again here, since many of you can appreciate what a project of this magnitude in Minecraft entails.  Roman has recreated the entire over-world from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on this 512 by 512 by 104 block canvas.  He spent 109 hours creating the map and plans to continue the project by adding a complete reproduction of the Dark World and all of the buildings, caves and dungeons.

I'll let the awesomeness speak for itself:

Natividad Salcedo

Peter Ho

Matthew Lai

Michael Pacheco

Jerry Leewright

You 5 lucky individuals will be receiving an email from us very soon.

We want to thank the rest of you for entering, especially you crazy people who had such creative things to say on our Facebook wall (thanks for the entertainment, Dennis and Dan!), and to all you Freeks out there on Twitter--you guys are the best!  Keep your attention locked on KontrolFreek in 2011.  We have many great announcements and giveaways already planned for you guys for the new year.

Kisses and Headshots,

KontrolFreek

Luckily a diamond in the rough has revealed itself that not only does what it claims, but exceeded expectations. The FPS Freek, from Kontrol Freek, is an analog stick enhancement designed to offer gamers a greater degree of control and motion sensitivity to improve a player’s accuracy. Sitting atop the standard analog sticks for either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, the adaptor snaps into place with a bit of pressure minus awkward or obtrusive changes to the appearance of the controller.

At the most basic level the controller has taller analog sticks. With this simple adjustment the controller has more sensitive analog sticks that either lessen or remove many of the complaints commonly levied against first person shooters on console. The extra height decreases the amount of force a player uses to push the sticks, thereby limiting the amount of overthrow a player could experience in a heated firefight. The greater degree of accuracy can be appreci ated by any serious  first-person shooter player, but  the improvements aren’t exclusive to that genre alone; FPS Freek also works well with any game that makes use of the right analog stick.

Due to added height the FPS Freek adds to the controller there is a definite learning curve players will experience when they first adopt the product. It took about three hours before we really became comfortable using the device and another three to when shots had markedly improved and surpassed prior FPS prowess. This becomes all the more evident when the FPS Freek is removed. There was an immediate decrease in performance. Shots were less accurate and we regularly overthrew our reticles and required quick adjustments. The Freek was quickly snapped back on.

Players looking to step-up their performance quickly and efficiently need look no further than Kontrol Freeks’s FPS Freek add-on.

I used to be good at Halo.  So when ODST came out I decided to plug in the Halo 3 Multiplayer disk and relive some of my former glory.  Sure, I figured that I’d be bit rusty from not playing for a while, but I never thought that I would still be getting straight-pwned after multiple hours.  Ouch!  This concerned me.  So after a lot of frustration—and maybe even a few tears—I decided to get to the root of the problem.

My first thought was the obvious: I suck.  Then, right before hanging myself, I decided that I wasn’t really as bad as my stats were demonstrating.  I mean, I’m not god’s gift to gaming or anything, but I do have nearly a 2.0 kill/death ratio in Modern Warfare.  My conclusion: everyone must be cheating (well, maybe not everyone--but you can see what I'm getting at).  I have certainly fallen victim to cheaters in the past but it was usually something relatively obvious.  When you are constantly getting shot from outside the map in Call Of Duty, Ghost Recon, Halo, Gears of War, and every other popular game in the history of multiplayer gaming, you know when the C is O (“cheat is on…” stay with me).  But this was different; I was being outgunned—by the same guns that I was using!  I decided that I was being beaten by hardware mods (rapid fire controllers, specifically).  Had this exception to the rule become an epidemic?

Now, I’m all about obtaining advantages (that’s why I use FPSFreeks, after all) but when does this lust for the upper-hand become cheating?   Where do you stand on the issue?  Where do you draw the line in your quest for that tangible edge?