“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.

We often get questions about third-party controllers and their compatibility with our products. With a ton of these controllers on the market today, things can get confusing. Don't worry—we've got you covered. Our products were designed for OEM Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers but do fit many third-party versions. Here is a list of known controllers and their compatibility:

PS3 DualShock 3 OEM – YES

Xbox 360 OEM – YES

Xbox 360 (New D-Pad) -- YES

Razer Onza -- YES

Razer Onza TE -- YES

Power A Pro EX/Elite – YES

Evil Controllers Evil Sticks – YES

PDP AfterGlow PS3 – NO

PDP AfterGlow Xbox 360 – YES

Wii Nunchuk -- NO

PS2 DualShock OEM -- YES

Xbox Controller S – YES

MadCatz Call of Duty: Black Ops PrecisionAIM Controller – YES

Datel Turbo Fire 2 Xbox 360 – NO

OnLive Controller – YES

This list is by no means a comprehensive listing of controllers and their compatibility. We try to test all controllers that we get questions about but due to various things we can't test out everything that comes to market. If you know the compatibility of a controller and would like to share your knowledge with us and the community, please add it here.

I can’t resist a good Minecraft video.  The multitude of things you can do within the game world seems about limitless—as long as you do them with 8-bit blocks, of course.  Well, Youtuber Tritex989 has recreated Portal’s iconic “Still Alive” theme song with Minecraft’s new musical note blocks.  This video ranks right up there with some of the best Minecraft fanfare that I have seen so far.  Granted, some of the notes are missing because of the game’s 2 octaves restriction, but it’s still pretty awesome regardless of the imperfections.  The project took 5-6 hours to complete and features plenty of cake.  Enjoy!

Nerd cocktails like this make me proud to be Still Alive!

Our list of affiliates here at KontrolFreek reads like a who's who of Youtube personalities.  With guys like Trumpf, Muzzafuzza and B3NDRO among the ranks, our affiliates consist of the best of the best, and that's why they're part of the family.

Since early December our affiliates have been participating in our "Ultimate Affiliate Contest."  We challenged our top affiliates to battle it out for thousands of dollars worth of cash and prizes (like a sweet 3D TV and gaming headsets!) by seeing who could generate the most sales for the month of December.  All of our affiliates did a great job and the competition was close up until the very end.

The winners for the Ultimate Affiliate Contest are:
1. Taylor Pierce - IAPP (3D TV valued at $1,000)
2. Robbie Kennison - Muzzafuzza ($250 bonus + gaming headset)
3. Ben Davis - B3NDRO ($200 bonus + gaming headset)
4. Jonathan Trumpfy - Trumpf ($100 bonus)
5. John Cummings - Boohoodman ($100 bonus)

Our winner, Taylor, built a pretty awesome Black Ops iPhone and Android App called Black Ops Virtual Coach Pro that everyone who plays CoD owes it to themselves to check out.

Thank you to all affiliates who participated!  We look forward to doing more stuff like this in the near future.  If anyone has any interest in becoming part of KontrolFreek's extended family of affiliates please complete and submit the form here: http://www.kontrolfreek.com/affiliates.asp

From Dorkly.com

We made our list and checked it twice, most of you were naughty and five of you were nice.

Remember the other day on Facebook when we asked you what was on your holiday wish list for 2010?  You probably thought we were just making conversation.  We weren't.  We were picking your brains; but in a good, non-zombie kind of way.  And though it was a bit concerning to learn about how badly you all want $200 hookers, we still want to make your holiday dreams come true (Editor's note: Remember to re-write that last part about dreams before you post this!).  So, as our last good deed of the year, we are going to buy you guys a bunch of Microsoft Kinects; because we love you and you seem to really want them... and also Kinect is super-awesome fun-times.  In addition, we will throw in a KontrolFreek GamerPack for every winner--because you'll want to go back to your controller once you get tired of dancing.

Here is all you need to do to be entered to win one of the five Kinect prize packages up for grabs:

1. Sign up for our newsletter at http://www.kontrolfreek.com/newsletter-signup.asp

2. (Optional) To get additional chances to win a Kinect prize package you can tell us what you love about KontrolFreek products (or why you deserve to win some) on either Facebook or Twitter (Just don't forget to tag us with @KontrolFreek so that we see it!).  You can do this once per day for a total of nine extra entries!

3. We will randomly select 5 winners on Friday, December 17th at 5:00pm ET.