The console is not without its shortcomings, though. Most notably, the infamous “R.O.D” controversy has plagued the system since its release. The defect can be traced to the system’s lack of ability to properly dissipate heat, which in turn renders some of the vital innards useless. Though Microsoft has remained quiet about an exact fail rate percentage, some analysts have that number as high as 40 percent, with recent reports hovering around a one in four odds of failing within the first two years of ownership. Other complaints vary from lack of built-in Wi-Fi to denying users the ability to replace the HDD like the PS3 offers.

At E3 2010, Microsoft unveiled an Xbox 360 redesigned from the ground up. Officially referred to as the S console or Slim, as we’ve come to call it the latest iteration packs a 250GB HDD, built in Wi-Fi, and a new design that’s about 17 percent smaller than the other models.

The new Xbox 360 certainly addresses most of the concerns we’ve had with the consoles before it, but we don’t think it warrants a purchase if you already own an Xbox 360 in working order with an HDMI-out port and a hard drive.

Xbox 360 Slim ditches the matte-plastic encasing seen on the white and Elite versions and instead opts for the now infamous glossy black finish that covers so many gadgets of today. The console measures in at 2.9 inches tall by 10.6 inches wide by 10.4 inches deep and weighs a bit over 6 pounds , making it noticeably smaller than the others.

There are far less buttons on the new Xbox 360; most notably absent are the disc tray and power buttons from the previous consoles. Instead, both are now touch-sensitive, also a tone is played from inside the console whenever either of the two touch areas is engaged. One flaw of the newly designed console is incompatibility with older Xbox 360 faceplates.

If you have a Xbox and own Halo Reach please visit The Halo Reach Guide for information and tips. Also check out all the different Reach Armor you can unlock.

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Game publishers include copyright protections in video games to make it difficult to burn game discs. Of course there are ways to beat the protections. There is a manual way to beat the copyright protection, and there is software as well that can do it for you. for my money the software is much better because it is simpler and saves you lots of time, but I will write about both ways anyway.

When ripping games manually there are a plethora of complications that you might go through. First you will need to take apart your Xbox 360 to know what type of hard drive it is made with. There are 4 different hard drive types and you must discover which one you have before beginning. Be careful taking your console apart because there are lots of breakable parts, and taking apart your own system voids the warranty. When you see what kind of drive you have, you are able to begin ripping your disk. The issue is that your computer will recognize the copyright protections and will not rip the game. To get around this you must begin ripping a disc that doesn’t contain copyright defense and eject it once it starts ripping, and replace it with the game you plan to copy. When your disc is copied, it will be missing files and you must search online to download the files to patch it with. Now you will have a complete game, yet your Xbox will won’t be able to scan it until you install a mod chip in your console. You can purchase them on the internet, and then install them on your own. But beware that when a mod chip is installed you will not be able to use Xbox live anymore. Xbox does this to discourage xbox owners from putting in mod chips.

The alternate technique to rip discs is by getting a game copying program. These programs work much like DVD ripping software you are likely used to using already. The software allows you to backup your Xbox 360 games without needing to find out your drive type, or trick your computer into copying it. The program works by masking the fact that there are copyright protections from your computer. Using game copy software lets you to burn 1:1 versions of games that are completely playable. This abolishes the necessity to mod your system, and protects your warranty, and your ability to utilize xbox live.

So that’s what I have to say. It seems like its worth it to spend a little money on game copy software in order that that you don’t risk hurting your xbox 360. If you wish to find out more about ripping games, and where to get game copy software, visit this informative webpage Burn Xbox 360 Games.

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Let me get this straight, 360 Download Center is not a free site for games download and yes, you have to pay a little amount to be a member. Then, you can explore the database as much as you wish and download everything without having to pay any longer. The question remains the same, what is the price if I wish to subscribe for a membership? Believe it or not, it is only $39 and you will never be bill again.

Now, lets think more logically and less pessimistically. How many Xbox 360 games that you can get with the same price? Logically speaking, it must be 2 or 3 games, right? That’s why I ask you to think more logically since there’s no doubt that you are doom if you wish to purchase every single Xbox 360 games which you wish to play because you can acquire everything with less price.

If you think really carefully, you ought to know that there will always have some differences between the paid websites and the free one. The most treacherous things are the virus and spyware. The paid website always promises their worry about anything linking with the virus. Free sites will not be worry about the virus or anything which can harm another user because they got nothing to lose.

To assure that their member continuously experience the ultimately high speed download, 360 Download Center use the huge server for their database. They want their subscriber to experience the faster download speed for Xbox 360 games download. You are able to get the high speed download no matter where you live as long as there is an internet connection.

You will never be the last person among your friends to play the newest Xbox 360 games since 360 Download Center update their database daily. Believe it or not, you can be the very first person to play the most recent games before anyone else does. Your friend will envy you every single time you get to play the game and finish it before they even start to play that Xbox 360 games.

To discover more about 360 Download Center, you can go to http://securedgames.com/ as there are lots of other features which will be given out and surely you will be able to be a member anytime you want to.

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So well start off by going over how you get from being an Amateur to a Professional Gamer. The fact of the matter is that everyone never maxes out their potentail, it just doesn’t happen, you will always have something to learn & being open-minded about it and willing to take advice from people is the first step to going Pro. Never deny yourself the chance to gain Knowledge, because when you allow yourself to attain so much information, that’s just that much more you know over the next guy. The point of gaming is to always improve, so why is it that we see these people on XBL always saying, “Oh you don’t know what your talking about, your just a BK, go away you Random!”, some might say. But the fact of the matter is that what that person may have said to you even though the way he said it may not have been the best way to approach you, could honestly be some of the best advice you’ve heard so far. And this is why you should never close yourself off and become defensive or let your Pride take over because you think you can beat this person in a 1 on 1. Because that’s not what this is about & will solve nothing.

Now their are Proper ways to train both Individually and with a Team. To be honest, it’s really beyond me how 99.9% of you do not pick up on these logical ways of doing things. So let’s start. We’ll start with the Team aspect of this first.

The Team

When you first create your team, make sure that you find players that you know for a fact want to achieve something more than just being some Pub-AllStars, because if not, you will go nowhere.

The first thing that your team should do is understand that Competitive Gaming & especially wanting to go Pro is the Equivalent of a Full-Time Job. This is first thing that needs to be Comprehended & Understood by all.

1. When you team of 4 is finally set, the first job that you will have is to go Map out Spawn Points, now this is most easily done by having Map Layouts in front of you(Purchasing the Prima Strategy Guide would most likely be your best bet as it comes fully equipped with everything you will need). If you can acquire map layouts online for free then by all means take the Free route. Then take your team, go into Private Match, run through all the MLG Variant Maps while spawning and then switching sides constantly in order to find all of the Spawn Points for that map. Then move on to the next map. Keep in mind that in FFA gametypes, their will always be more Spawn Points than in any other gametype. So doing this in a Team Gametype would probably be easiest & most efficient. Make sure everyone has a copy of this.

2. You now need to go back over all the maps that you have just gone over and create your own unique Call-Outs for each of these maps together as a team. Now their are already pre-callouts on the Map Layouts in the PSG which are good to start out using and then just fill in any extra spots with your own that need them. Make sure everyone has a copy of this.

3. The next thing is Set-Ups, how are you going to set-up on each Map and each Gametype per that Map. Set-ups need to be done for both sides. Starting your off it should look something like this. Using your Spawn Points that you’ve already done will help the most when it comes down to coming up with Set-Ups, try and anticipate where the enemy is going to run and which routes they will take so you can counter accordingly.


CTF

You need at least 2 Set-Ups & Transitions. This means that you need to have 2 Set-Ups for when you get into these positions, you can then Transition accordingly to cap a flag. The Set-Up is just Part 1 of your Strat, Part 2 is the Transition for Caping the Flag, & Part 3 is for CherryPicking their Flag to where you have them in a Spawn Trap or something close to it where you can continually cap flag after flag, also refferred to as Cherry Picking.

Search & Destroy

You will need at least 3 Strats for Offense & 2 for Defense. Any team who tells you that they are efficient at running the same Strat over and over again to mold it, is wrong. This will never work against Truly Skilled teams who are able to quickly adapt to the first Strat they see your team using. They will anticipate the same thing being done the 2nd time around or test the waters and half-adapt to check if this is how that teams plays. Common Sense & Logical Thinking are the two biggest Mental characteristics that are really cherished and rare to find in players ODB(Off Da Bat), but these are characteristics that you all must have.

Demolition

Now Defense for SnD may apply for Defense in Demo. But for Offense & Defense if may also be wise to explore other alternatives such as playing it out like a Domination game where you control Half Map and force them to kill you instead of directly going for Objective. Demolition is probably the hardest Gametype out of the 3 just due to the fact that you have have to cover the whole map while the Offensive team may plant at either bomb site. In this gametype, whomever has the more efficient Map/Spawn Lock will be the team who will be able to run down the clock the fastest which in turn will get you your win.

4. Positioning & Angling are probably another strong important point for playing any shooter game for that matter. Let’s start with Positioning first, some of you may be wandering, “well this isn’t Halo, so this is pointless”, some of you may be thinking. But the fact of the matter is that this is probably the next biggerst thing that any player can do besides making a Call-Out. Where you place your body is so important in order to block off your Flank or Blind Spot when your pushing up or in your Set-Up. For example: Positioning your body where a wall, box, crate, pole, any object that can be used as a shield pretty much is directly to your left. This allows you not to worry about getting shot from your left or naded, which will now allow you to focus on your target-area. Never get caught standing in No-Mans Land, which is pretty much anywhere not close to the Perimeter of the map. Always know where you going, what you will be watching, & when you’ll be moving. Communicating during all 3 of these tasks is essentially for up-to-date info while in game so your teammates know what’s going on at all times.


Now for Angling. Angling is the next important thing, the first rule of angling is never show more than neccessary, which in turn means that if your in a building looking out a window. You never want to be hugging the window, you always shoot from cover standing up or crouching depending on which window it may be but refrain from crouching looking out windowns if you can. Standing up and shooting from inside the building will always be better because it will be harder for you opponent to recognize you from the darkness inside the building, which gives you the advantage always. The golden rule is to never show more than is needed. Best example is take Highrise on Elevator Side. Now in this situation when you get to the Fence corner, you want to edge out only far enought to see barely in front of their elevator side and always stand a little ways back from the corner, never hug corners. Because by hugging corners even the most perceptive eye can see your gun sticking out of the fence and start pre-firing at you and maybe get lucky. You always shoot from cover. Because now you have the advantage, because he has to come to you or out at least where he may be running with his gun not out right away which will give you the advantage(and of course always be weary of stun & nade checks).

5. Now to talk about Spawn Traps. If you are able to pull off an efficient and sucessful Spawn Trap you most likely will take the lead or be in a position to take the lead somehow. But ST’s are tricky because there is a certain distance between the Spawn Point and you that you have to be farther than in order to not accidentaly cancel out that Spawn Point. Meaing that if you go within 20m of a Spawn Point for example you will cancel out that Spawn Point and force spawn will take effect, where your opponents will most likely spawn in the middle perimeter of the map. This is something that your team must test out.

6. We will now go into Specific Gametype Class Loadouts. This is definitely another important part of the game. Having assigned roles to each player or possibly assinged Loadouts to Objective PLayers & Slayer Players. These are things that you all are going to have to talk about with your team if your going to want Flag Runners or Bomb Planters. Another alternative is that for CTF and Demo, you can just implement a Half Map Lock and then just slowly push up from their after they have 2 down or what not, gradually make their area to work with smaller. Then go in for the grab on the Transition. There are multiple variations and alternatives. Of course some may think it depends on the map, trust me it doesn’t. You can run any strat you want, it’s just going to come down to whether or not that strat is effiecient or not.

7. Understanding The Mini-Map. Being able to comprehend all the great intel that your mini-map gives you is something that 99.9% of players just honestly don’t know how to do. Most of you may think that the mini-map is just for spotting enemies on the UAV and then occasionally opening up your big map to spot the far away enemies. Now where as this may be an important feature of the mini-map, it is not the only one. The next type of important intel that you can get from your mini-map is Positions. Now what I mean by that is that you know exactly where your teammates are posistioning on the map because you can see their green arrows on your mini-map. Not only can you see where they are positioned, but you can also see where they are watching by which way the arrow is pointing. I mean does it get any easier to Set-Up knowing this. The answer is “No” by the way.

By having this information in real-time, you can now accordingly Fill-In wherever a teammate isn’t. The object is to Fill-In to the farthest away positions so that the spanwers and fill-in to the shorter distance posistions, which now creates efficiency in how you save time setting-up. Most of you probably have never thought of using your mini-map as a way to set-up before until you’ve read this meaning that most of you were most likely not using your mini-map to it’s full potential. So I hope this part helps those who were unaware until now.

8. We will not talk a little about Pre-Nades. Now PN’s can be effective if either thrown all together around a certain area where the chance of inflicting damage if not killing an enemy ODB is high. Of course you can always go with the other alternative where you just all 4 throw your own PN and spread out the areas of impact. The only way to effectively find these out if you so desire to is by timing how long it takes to run each route ODB form the spawn in order to calculate at what time to throw it, how to angle it, & how long to cook it(if Symtex, then this doesn’t apply).

9. I would like to now talk about Stun Checks(Flashes just take to long to throw, which renders them inneffective for this tactic). Now using Stun Checking is to overall become fortunate in reveiling where an enemy is hiding. Or to slow them down while reveiling them as well. Now even most of you see SC as purely on offensive manuever, there are defensive tactics for this as well. For example if your about to push or you’ve just killed an enemy, turning to throw a SC at your Flank or Blind Spot which most likely is either behind you or 90 degrees to either side of you. So simply put we can assume that after you killed an enemy, your position has be compromised, so SC your BS is used as a defensive tactic. So you would throw it and then immediately go back to watching your area. Stun gernades are honestly one of the most useful items you are allowed in this game. Cherish them.

10. Now we’ll talk about Quick Shots or ODB Shots. The benefit to this is that if you can find a great angle to use for this tactic you may get lucky in killing 1 person ODB and tilt the advantage in your favor. The best example is the QS on Invasion between Courtyard and Parking Lot Spwn. You can shoot all the way down Mid St. and possibly pick off 1 or 2 ppl ODB using this angle. Works for both sides, but is more in favor of Base Spawn. If you take the time to find these, they may become your trump card.

11. Now we’ll go into Route Times. RT’s are fairly simple to figure out on your own. All you need is a stopwatch or even better, just use the clock in the game when the match starts. Then just run routes that you think your opponents would run and one’s that you would run, then write down times on how long it takes to get to a certain place or point on that map. This information will then allow you to make Pre-Nade selections and coordinate other tactics as well.

12. The Mental Game. The mental game is so important, it’s just ridiculous. Because the fact is that 99.9% of you get emotional and let your emotions show during games and after them. This is not they way to go about handling yourself. I’m not saying don’t feel down that you lost or maybe a little dissapointed, but don’t show it, because no one honestly wants to hear it. If you’ve ever watched any type of MLG Live Streams from Events, you will notice that the Pro’s don’t get emotional. When they die, they keep a straight face and just worry about what their going to do when they spawn. They don’t sit here like a lot of you may do but just won’t admit that you do, where you may say things in-game like, “WOW!!”, “OMG No FU**ING WAY!”, “HOW DID THAT BK KILL ME!”, & my personal favorite “GET SO LUCKY KID! YOUR SO BAD AT THIS GAME!”. These are all so pointless and honestly get you nowhere but put your team in a negative atmosphere and mind-state.

This is not and never will be the appropriate way to act. You have to understand that in order for Competitive to ascend and be considered to be on the same level as other Professional Sports, the attitude of the individual and players has to change for the better. Just in order for our sport of Gaming to be taken seriously.

You must train yourself to remain Calm & Collected. Be positive in every situation, but don’t milk it. Make a list of what to do and what not to do, and just read it every night before you go to sleep to improve your Mental Game. Trust me, you will see changes, & not only on the game but in your life as well, & they will be for the better. Being Mentally Strong is what every athlete wants to achieve at some point in their career & you should want to as well.

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*Note: This review is 100% independent by myself and will be published through public sites’ forums, eg: MLGPro, Halo3Forum, Head-fi.org, avsforums, and Overclock.net. These sites are not involved with this review in any way besides us posting the reviews in their forums, and these reviews do not reflect the opinion of the sites hosting them. This is just a review from an audiophile who wants to help people make a well informed purchase. Also note that because of the review’s independence, there will be absolutely no bias toward any brand or product.*

Grado Sr80($95)

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Intro-
The sr80’s have a native 3.5mm jack (comes with 1/8” to 1/4th” adapter that branches off into 2 cords, each going into the ear cups. The cups themselves are able to spin independently, so you can rest them flat on your desk. With the 2 cabled V design and these free spinning ear cups, I find a lot of times this twists the cables up a lot making them bunch weird, requiring me to unfurl them before I can listen to them.

The comfort is also pretty minimal. These headphones are super aural, which means they rest on your ears instead of over them like circumaural. The pads on these headphones are pretty stiff, and can become pretty uncomfortable after a long listening session. The headband is made out of leather, it is pretty minimalistic, I don’t really find any discomfort there, it’s really just the ear pads that can cause problems, but there are many DIY modifications s that people have come up with that can remedy this.

These headphones are also open, so this allows sound to leak in and out, so if you are thinking of not disturbing someone else in the room by using headphones, these wouldn’t be the wisest choice. But overall the design is effective but minimalistic, the build quality is good overall, and the comfort is well…eh.

Sound-
Well, these headphones were more or less just brought into the review to listen to some music on them. These were brought in with no intentions of being a real competitor for the gaming roundup. These headphones have no real open sound to them, the soundstage is very small. It does not bode well for a gaming headphone, and throwing in the DD on with these headphones made for a weird listening experience, I wasn’t a fan.

We didn’t test these headphones as much as the others for gaming, though we did have some fun bringing out their sound with the Audio-GD compass. To sum up my thoughts on the Grados, I think for music they are a fantastic set of headphones, though the comfort factor can be a turn off to some people, but they really shine when it comes to rock music, which was the reason I bought them in the first place. They have a punchy sound with clarity to boot. Good in the mid to lower registries in my eyes (or ears, you know what I mean), so you’ll have fun rocking to guitar and bass. Most people describe the highs of these headphones as bright, which can go one of 2 ways for a listener.

When the highs are bright, some people find it to the point of shrillness, and it is a turnoff for them. I kind of love that kind of sound. I love it when highs are bright with headphones, and these Grados don’t disappoint. So you can chalk that one up as a pro or a con, I personally consider it a pro, but everyone’s got their own unique sound signature affection.

For gaming, I mean, they would be able to outdo the clarity of stock speakers of your television, but they won’t really provide a competitive edge as far as directional positioning would go. And knowing the gamers of this site and the long gaming sessions they love, you’ll become acquainted to ear massaging.

Turtle Beach HPX($80)

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Intro-

After hearing the praise over the past few months on the HPX from Pat, I was eager to give them a go right away. When I picked it up, I noticed a few things about the design/build. One is the head adjustment. It is sort of like a spring loaded band that basically conforms when you put them on. No clicking or setting the headphones required. It just conforms to your head. The only problem here is. I have a big head. I didn’t really find this method too comfortable, it just felt like there was constant pressure. I guess it’s something that’s able to get used to, it’s just something I noticed right off the bat.

I also wanted to pay attention to the mic to get a gauge of its build quality. It was surprising to me that it was detachable, because it seemed like it was pretty well secured to the headphone. And the flexibility was very good, yet very durable. If you’ve ever had one of the metal flexible desk lamps, you can basically picture this as a mini version of that, it is very nice.

This headset is an open backed headset, and is circumaural, though I found my ears touching the sides of the pad, something I don’t experience with my 595’s or the pc 350’s. All in all the build is quality, though it’d be nice to have a more comfortable fit on the head/ears.

Sound-

So popping on some team death match with Call of Duty 4, I could finally experience the benefits of the Astro Mixamp, and what I’ve been hearing about the HPX. When I popped on the HPX’s, I at first thought the TV we were using became un-muted and I was hearing sounds from the TV’s speakers. Everything seemed so open with the HPX and the Astro Mixamp. When in the game, I was presented with a pretty full sound. I didn’t find anything really too overpowering or too light. The lows, the mids, the highs, they were all present and accounted for. If you were to compare the HPX’s to the 595′s or 650′s, the HPX’s do have slightly more bass, though i don’t think it’s to the point of drowning the other sounds out.

I had no problem with directional positioning. Usually I’m still stuck in Halo 2 mode where I can run around do what I want and still kick butt and take names. So when I’m in a game where you can easily be picked off, there are no shields and what not, it appears that I run around like a chicken with its head cut off. But when I took the time and paid attention to my ears, I could hear the grenades and gunfire and position them to where I could pick up some good combo kills.

For gaming, I was happy with the package you get for 80 some odd dollars. The clarity and the range of sound make for a great headset for less than 100 dollars. This was pretty surprising given the normal nature of Turtle Beach products(This is the only headset I would recommend from Turtle Beach to date) and multi driver headsets in general. This headset has 4 drivers in each ear cup, but it depends on the type of dongle you use that determines which speakers actually function. With the Astro Mixamp, the HPX uses 2 40mm drivers in each ear cup, these 4 drivers in total employing the Dolby Headphone virtual surround from the Astro Mixamp. So it seems like a weird internal setup, but it seems to work, so I’m not complaining.

For music, I’m a bit torn. While it does have the full sound compared to the PC 350 and Astro A40, and it does have the detachable mic, the problem with this headset is that it is stubbornly driven. The devices that it will work with seem completely random. Some TV’s can work fine with it, some you’ll need to really crank up the volume. The Astro Mixamp can drive them properly, but Pat’s Audio –GD compass can’t. It’s hard to tell what hardware this headset would work with and what it wouldn’t work with, so I am personally torn when deciding the victor in the headset music department. If you can get the proper drive, like hooking an mp3 player to the Astro Mixamp (which is funny because the Astro Mixamp doesn’t really do much to drive headphones more than other straight up devices, so it’s just very, very odd.) then the HPX will outperform the other headsets.

Astro A40 ($200)

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Intro-

You’ve all seen the advertisements on MLG and have seen players and kiosks displaying them at MLG events; the Astro A40 audio system. I have wanted to give this headset a go for a while. My inbox (as well as Pat’s) is full of questions regarding this headset. These are truly a premium priced headset when compared to the more affordable headsets players have been used to like the Turtle Beach X1’s and headsets of that nature.

Picking up the Astros, I noticed a few things about them. The design was pretty cool looking, though I wasn’t a fan of the white and black, the all black one seems like a more serious headset(kind of like when you see a high end camera in color ways like this: , straying away from the all black professional looking high end cameras).

Anyways, putting these on, again, I noticed these were not as friendly to big headed people, and the ear pads seemed small like the HPX’s. They kind of follow the grado design where you can lie this headset on a desk by rotating ear pads, but they only rotate one way. And the expanding headband seems very poorly thought of to me. There is an exposed wire that stretches and coils when you adjust the headband, like a pig’s tail. I’ve also been told by Tommyboy, a member of the MLG forums who is no stranger to dissecting headphones and headsets, that the wiring on the insides of the Astros is very “ghetto”.

However, putting even the internals aside, if you’ve ever had a screwed up cable from constant twisting or unplugging/plugging, you’d agree with me that the design Astro has gone for here is not the smartest, and either that, or the internals, could be the cause of all the problems Astro owners have had with this product. It is good that Astro has good customer service; however, I wonder why the inherent problem that is causing the malfunctions with the headsets just isn’t fixed instead of just continuing to repair the ones that are reported.

*Update 1/1/10: After reading a review from Tom’s Hardware on Astro Gaming’s website, it is noted that the wiring inside the Astro’s have improved. While not seeing this firsthand myself, I thought I should mention it. I do not know if this has helped the amount of RMA’s/problems experienced by Astro owners, it is a fairly recent change, I believe it will be that way for all 2010 A40s/Mixamps*

Another thing to note about the Astros is that they are not really that closed. I compared the sound of the headset with the Astro tags on and off. There actually wasn’t much of a difference at all, and the noise cancellation was…well there really wasn’t any. To the naked ear it doesn’t really make a difference if you leave the tags on or keep them off. Finally, we’re on to the mic. The mic seems to be poorly connected to the headphone. It plugs in fine and everything, but when you rotate it, it seems to go to easy. It makes me worried that it could constantly fall if I owned them for a long time. The way it also is flexible seems like it won’t last very long. It’s like 1 thin rod of metal in the rubber mic stem. I remember when I was a little kid I had some bendy toys with that same flexible metal rod, and they didn’t last long before that metal snapped. It’s good that Astro sells replacement microphones in case yours breaks or you lose it, but I’m just not sure how long the mics last with the headset, and how long the mic jack of the headset would last.

Sound-

Going from the HPX’s to the A40’s, the difference was pretty noticeable off the bat. The a40’s are kind of hollow sounding. I found myself turning up the volume to get anywhere near the same impact as I did with the HPX’s. It still performs ok for directional positioning, but the clarity just isn’t fully there. To put it in perspective, for the spectrum of headphones, the headsets we’ve tested place between HD515’s and HD555’s, for clarity anyways. While the HPX and PC350 lean towards the 555 end, the Astros lean towards the 515’s.

All of these headphones and headsets will offer you an advantage over your TV’s speakers, but we just want to bring the thought of price per quality to you guys. Now, with the A40’s with the quality they produce, II’d see them being more worthwhile is if they were a lower price. When they do not perform as well as 100 dollar headphones and have their build problems, a 200 dollar price tag seems out of the question. I could see this headset being worth it for 100 dollars alone, and 200 with the amp. It would then be the decision between the boost in sound quality with the 555, or the convenience of the microphone for the a40 for the same price. Then the incentive to buy the set would be greater because it would have brought the price of the a40’s down to 70 dollars, the same price as 515’s, where these have the same sound quality as the 515’s, with the mic, and not to mention the Dolby headphone technology provided with the mixamp.

Music is pretty much the same story as gaming; kind of hollow. It has light bass and ok clarity. You won’t feel any oomph compared to the HPX or the headphones tested in this review, and you won’t experience as crisp and clear a sound.

So in short, these headphones perform…ok, and when released, they were going in the right direction for headsets where companies like Turtle Beach and Sennheiser improved upon, but the price per quality just isn’t there for me with the other choices of headsets we have out there.

However, I will say that I really like the Astro Mixamp though. I haven’t heard any problems regarding that, and the idea of virtual surround so you have the benefit of clarity from audiophile headphones paired with the directional positioning from the Dolby Headphone technology, it seems like a winner. If you are really into gaming, this is a handy little gadget to put on the Christmas list; I’m considering picking one up as well.

Sennheiser PC-350($130)

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Intro-

This was also an eagerly anticipated headset to try out. The question of Sennheiser vs. Astro has been going on for a while among gaming forums, and now we have our answer. The idea of a headset with the same drivers as HD595’s sounded like a dream come true.

On the forums of Head-Fi, I have had experience interacting with a man named Eric who goes by the name of TheDeliveryMan. He is a representative from Sennheiser who has been answering community questions regarding Sennheiser products, and has been really hands on with helping where needed on Head-Fi. I knew if anyone from Sennheiser would be interested in a roundup like this, he would. So he generously sent us a review unit to test out.

When taking the headset out of its packaging, I’ve noticed that it retains the sennheiser build quality. Though in some instances, it sort of fools you into thinking it’s a bit weaker than it actually is. The headset is actually collapsible, though it still seems sort of bulky when folded up so I didn’t really see the point of that feature. But at the folding points, it makes you think the headset is a bit weaker than it actually is. After testing its durability, I can assure you this headset is quality. This headset is completely closed. This by far provides the most noise cancelling of any headset we tested.

However, one thing I’ve kind of noticed is that a closed headset has one problem in my eyes. So when you have closed headphones, you listen to the music. With a headset, its purpose is communication, so you are talking a lot with this on. When you talk with a completely closed headset on, you still hear yourself, but it’s sort of pressurized. I’ve described it as like I’m underwater while Pat describes it as being on an airplane. You get the picture. I’ve actually been able to get past this little gripe after a while; it’s just something I noticed off the bat.

As far as the mic, it’s pretty solidly built; it’s neither the flexible desk lamp nor the child’s toy metal rod. It seems to hold up strong, but isn’t as flexible as the HPX, and it doesn’t detach. And finally, good news! Sennheisers cater to bigheads like me. The headset is easily the most comfortable out of all of them. The headband doesn’t clamp and it is completely circumaural.

Sound –

After hearing that the drivers of the 350’s and the 595’s were one in the same, I closely compared the 2. It is amazing how the casing can change the sound so much. With the closed back, the sound stage is slightly narrower than the 595’s. For music, it has just a slight tinny sound to it in music. Finally, the bass is very light. Those are the 3 things I’ve found when comparing the headset to the headphone.

For gaming, the 350′s basically beats the A40′s in each category. It is better than the a40 for clarity thanks to the 595′s drivers, but it’s only slightly better in the hollow sound and light bass department. As for directional positioning, it matches the HPX’s and A40′s.

In music you might be able to hear a slight tinny sound due to the closed back of the headset. I haven’t noticed it in gaming however. Then the music of course has the light bass too, but obviously Sennheiser has designed these for just gaming since the microphone doesn’t detach.

This headphone would be good for those who don’t want to be distracted at all at an event since it blocks out noise so well. Also, people have different tastes for sound. For example, Madrok has posted the quote from a guy from AVS, who feels that bass present headphones are a lot of the times too much. None of the headphones I have reviewed in this thread would be in that category for me, but for some, they could possibly want littler bass to pay attention to gunshots and footsteps. I think the HPX’s and headphones are a good balance, with the headphones having a little more balance than the HPX’s, but like I said, sometimes sound is just darn right subjective.

To wrap up, one thing I would be interested in seeing are potential modifications on this headset. The hardware and everything is obviously there. I think a simpler grill mod could possibly do wonders for this headset; but for now, it stands at #2 for headsets in Patrick’s and my eyes. So when they are priced somewhat near the HPX’s, and have the features it has going for it, it’s pretty much a matter of taste

tro-

Now we are into my familiar territory. Sennheiser HD595’s have been my go to headphones for music listening and gaming for a few years by now. There is a good reason they have been a favorite of the MLG Pro circuit for years now.

Design wise, you will see a pretty standard open circumaural headphone, with a leather headband pad, velour ear pads, clicking headband adjustments, and one very long cable coming from the left ear. It is simplistic and stylish. It is natively a 1/4” jack with a 1/8” adapter, though this adapter is huge. Pat brought out his HD650 adapter while we used the HD595s so it wouldn’t wreck the headphone port from its weight. If you get this headphone I would suggest shelling 10 bucks for the HD650 1/4” to 1/8” adapter.

But these headphones are super comfortable. They do not clamp at all, the velour isn’t hard, but isn’t too soft (they will start to get soft after years of hard use, in this case you can buy replacement pads).

Sound-

As I’ve said above, there is a reason why 595’s are a favorite among MLG circuit players. Basically when you talk about the pro’s of the headsets, when you have the 595’s, you take those pros, and just take them to the next level. We went into this review fully expecting the headphones to outperform the headsets. The headphones were a good way of determining the quality of the headsets, since if you just compare headsets to headsets; you merely get a gauge of the biggest fish in the little pond.

So like I was saying, the 595’s just excels at the qualities you want in a gaming headphone; a nicely balanced sound, a huge soundstage for directional positioning, very good clarity. These will have more of an even sound than the HPX in terms of bass. While AD700’s are the top price to quality gaming headphones for the humungous soundstage, the 595’s closely rival that, and aren’t bass light, which makes them good for the grenade blasts, and also for music.

They are very versatile. I can listen to a variety of genres with these headphones, though they really excel with acoustic guitar/piano/vocals. Rock I now leave to my Grados, but The 595’s perform well enough, they could probably use some EQ adjusting, though I will always defer from that myself.

The one problem you guys will notice immediately since you are gamers is that they have no mic. It’s been discussed in this thread even arguing the convenience of a mic would somehow outweigh sound quality, and that’s something that Pat and I just won’t agree with. Especially when using the Astro Mixamp, you have a lot of options for a mic. A Zalman mic is good for home use, though can pick up a lot of background noise if you were at a LAN. There is also a collar mic produced by Califone that is more noise cancelling, but takes effort to attach it to your headphones. For those without the Mixamp, you can use the stock 360 mic, or you can use the Modern Warfare 2 throat communicator. By far the best technique I’ve seen for converting a headphone into a headset is the modification by Tommyboy, linked below, where he installs a detachable boom mic. Or if you are not competent in soldering which not a lot of people are, you can do the method Fragtality uses. There are always options when using straight up headphones, but if you guys still want to go with headsets you at least know how they stack up.

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The only thing to say about the story is that this one is the best of the series.commencing the game as Alex Mason, a soldier being interrogated for information that he can’t remember. You play through Mason’s memories in search for information. Sam Worthington, Ed Harris, and Gary Oldman deliver brilliant performances and really nail their respective characters. There are twists, some of which work better than others, and the plot seems to get bogged down and slightly disjointed towards the middle. But unlike Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops does a excellent job of cleaning everything.


Call Of Duty is not just a linear game, but sometimes feels like it’s on autopilot. Just one example is when you “guide” the takeoff of an SR-71 Blackbird. I tried to not pull back on the flight stick when the game told me to, just to see if there was any other option to taking off, but the Blackbird lifted off on its own.

The artificial intelligence of both your friendly soldiers and the enemies you face is pretty poor. Both friendly and enemy soldiers behave like idiots for most of the campaign. I watched a friendly shoot the back of an armoured car that he was using for cover for in excess of 20 seconds.

In Call of Duty Black Ops there are also a few design errors and annoyances, not least of all was a game-ending bug in the first level that made me restart the entire mission. No one else ran into that one, but everyone who’d played COD Black Ops has run into a major design flaw at the Battle of Khe Sanh. The mission never tells you what to actually do and even misdirects you.

It was a mild bit of fun in World At War, but in Black Ops,zombies mode turns into a whole new distraction. You can choose to play it across two maps; a run down Nazi mansion or the Pentagon. The latter is definitely the best here, as players control secretary of defence Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy as they battle legions of the undead in the Pentagon’s deepest bunkers. It’s a riot, especially the hilarious one-liners where Kennedy talks about ‘Chowdah!’.

Many cheat sites have appeared as a result of the popularity of COD. Many of these cheats use the computer console in the game to logon as different people, add a password and unlock various power ups. However you play it, cheats or not, you will enjoy COD Black ops.

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Here are some other specific aspects of XboX 360.

1) The first one is A.I., which stands for Artificial Intelligence. A.I. allows non-player characters (NPCs) to behave in realistic ways. Your enemies are as evil as real, your friends are open hearted and love you so sincerely that you almost respond them. The sophisticated intelligence offers you an opportunity to command and play with large groups of NPCs.


2) Another specific feature of XboX 360 is the High Definition. Unlike the older versions of XboX, in which game developers could choose whether to support HD graphics, XboX 360 requires that all games have HD options. The resolution settings are in the System Menu on the XboX 360 Dashboard. You can use either the XboX 360 Component HD AV Cable, or the XboX 360 VGA HD AV Cable. The main thing to be put in here, is that XboX 360 offers dynamic high-definition support. If a game is designed with 720p in mind, but the capacity of your TV supports only 480p, XboX 360 complies with the best resolution that your TV offers.


3) The third aspect is Graphics, which XboX 360 is so famous with. All XboX 360 games have been edified to support widescreen formatting and 720 progressive scan. The resolution options are interchangeable. All games are able to run at 480 i -that is the resolution of an ordinary TV. It runs also on 480p, 720p and 1080 i -so no matter what kind of resolution your technology device offers you, XboX 360 can be fitted everywhere.


4) The GPU has a stylish appearance and highly functional design. To serve an example, the texture filtering and MSAA can be done at full rate with no performance penalties.

The other thing worth mentioning is that the full graphics potential of XboX 360 can barely be grazed here. There are many amasing innovations that you will come to discover yourself. So far, XboX 360 is the most advanced leap gaming technology has taken in the sphere of graphics. The other aspects of the XboX 360 are also incredibly developed. XboX 360 is the dream of every game connoisseur.

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Check your budget. Depending on what you can afford, you may start with the very basic core system composed of the light console, the wired controller and the composite AV cable; and when your budget allows you to purchase other peripherals one by one for the enhancement of your total gaming experience, maybe you’d want to change your wired controller with the wireless model, or maybe you’d want to add in the Xbox Live headset for amplification of sound effects to a mind-boggling level far above what your normal TV speakers could provide.

On the other hand, if you are one of those to whom “money is no object,” you may just go ahead and buy the entire Microsoft Xbox 360 system, where everything is all in (i.e., the console with premium chrome finish, a wireless controller, the Xbox Live headset, component hard drive-AV cable, the Ethernet cable that allows you to connect with the other players, and the hard drive that contains an array of original Xbox games and allows you to download even more games. Since the Xbox 360 allows up to four wireless controllers operating on one console, it lets you play with three other players simultaneously for that added fun and challenge in live competition.


The Microsoft Xbox 360 gives you total digital entertainment. You may amplify and enhance your music and movies to a soothingly soft or to a ripping loud volume. Connect to the Internet and instantly stream your music, digital home movies, photographs and graphics or any other files stored in your hard disk, memory and other digital media that are Microsoft Windows XP-based PC that you want to share with others.

When attached to your TV, the Microsoft Xbox 360 takes advantage of the high-definition TV resolution in its full color and size that makes the game movie-like. Its anti-aliasing capability renders the animation flawlessly smooth and non-jerky, and the characters seem as though they are jumping out of the wide screen! When you are connected to the Internet via the Ethernet card, you have the Xbox Live headset, a facility that allows you to voice-chat with other players, thus combining active gaming with socialization.

There are games that are rated “must-have” because they are simply sensational with the Microsoft Xbox 360. These include “Dead or Alive 4,” “Call of Duty 2″ for the best WWII shooter, “King Kong” for great effects and “Need for Speed Most Wanted” for racing fans. For some odd reasons, some games that run with excellent audio and video effects using the first version of Xbox don’t run as well in the Xbox 360; these include “Madden NFL 06,” “NBA Live 06.” This must be given immediate attention by the Microsoft people because it is a source of great disappointment for hardcore gamers and, in some cases, could be a deal-breaker.

Pressure is on for movie makers and game programmers/manufacturers to properly and visibly indicate the appropriate rating of their products on the packaging to provide guidance for buyers. In this regard, it is an added attraction to parents that the Microsoft Xbox 360 has settings that allow them to control how it is used by their children. The box has Family Settings which enable parents to shield their children from unsavory or unwholesome contacts. Family Settings perform two functions on the Xbox 360 console-to allow or restrict access to offline games and/or DVD movies, and access to online contact and content via the Xbox Live environment.


ESRB is the regulating body that takes care of rating the propriety or impropriety of a game or movie based on age. ESRB’s restrictions on games are EC (early childhood) for children below 6 years old, containing no inappropriate materials at all; E (everyone) for children younger than 13, and these have minimal violence and comic mischief but are substantial for character building. Some Xbox 360 games with an E rating include Ridge Racer 6 and NBA 2K6.

The rest of the ESRB ratings are: T (teen), which may also contain minimal violence, mild-to-strong language and/or suggestive themes; M (mature 17+) containing mature sexual themes or more intense violence and language; AO (adults only, for players aged 18+), which may include more graphic sexual themes and/or violence; and RP (rating pending) for games that have not been officially released yet.

With the safeguard placed by the Family Settings of the Microsoft Xbox 360 console, the parent feels safe buying the system for their kids. So, whatever the gaming preference of the child – or the parent! — Microsoft Xbox 360 promises to satisfy them.

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But some gamers may still miss playing some of their favorite games in the past that run on older Xbox models. In order to allow gamers to play their past favorites on their new Xbox 360, developers of the game console has made backward compatibility as part of the newer model’s various exciting features.

Xbox 360 Backward compatibility is achieved through software emulation of the original Xbox game console. Emulated games make it possible for older Xbox games to be played in your new Xbox 360 game console. Doing so would allow the gamer with a few benefits on the side.

For one, the Xbox 360 is able to offer graphical enhancements because the old games are rendered in 720p, 1080i, or 1080p video resolution with anti-aliasing enabled rather than the older Xbox standard of 480p. Graphics become clearer and crispers and may even enhance the way the game is being played with a more powerful processor in store.

Some older Xbox games may also benefit from a great improvement in the rendered draw distance that is due to the newer system’s greater memory bandwidth. But not all older games may be able to display these enhancements. There are some older game versions that do not perform that well in an emulated environment. Such games often exhibit a lower frame rate on the Xbox 360 than on the originals Xbox.

Before one can play emulated games on the Xbox 360, a hard drive and an emulation profile may be needed in order to play original Xbox games. There are updated emulation profiles that can be obtained through Xbox Live. Emulation profiles can also be obtained by burning the profiles downloaded from Xbox.com into a CD. One can also do it by ordering an update emulation profile disc from Microsoft.

There is a full list of Xbox 360 backward-compatible games maintained at Xbox.com which includes over 298 exciting game titles which is about 30 percent of the total Xbox game library. Microsoft intend to release more emulation profiles to the gaming public as they become available, with grand plans to make the entire Xbox library playable on the Xbox 360 game console.

With the backwards compatibility of the Xbox 360 will allow it to be easily embraced by more and more gamers. Not only will they be looking forward to the newest games to be released specially for the Xbox 360, gamers also have the option to go back to some games that they have loved to play in the past.

Not only that, some accessories that come with the Xbox 360 will even be able to enhance the gaming experience. Gamers will be able to take advantage of the Xbox 360′s wireless capability and feature in order to make gaming even more exciting and convenient. Xbox 360 can make use of wireless controllers and headsets that each gamer can use to make game play even more enhancing.

Aside from the clearer and crisper video as well as excellent sounding audio that the Xbox 360 is able to dish out, the gamer would feel that he might be playing a different game when in fact it is a past favorite that is just given the Xbox 360 treatment with the Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility.

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So Just what IS a mod chip? Let me explain. A modification chip or mod chip is a device used to play import, backup, or home brew games. Mod Chips first came into “fame” when die hard, hard core gamers who were tired of the slim offerings that were made available for them in the USA, wanted to get their hands on the often better and more unique Japanese games that were coming out for their game console. This is nothing new, even the Nintendo NES has a device that allowed gamers to plug Japanese Famicom cartridges into their USA NES system so that they could play those really unique Japanese games, or the latest Mario offering that was only available (or came out much sooner) in Japan.

Mod chips are available for all the major video game consoles, including the Xbox 360, Xbox, Sony PSP, PlayStation, Playstation 2 and GameCube. Almost all modern console gaming systems have hardware-based schemes which ensure that only officially sanctioned games may be used with the system and implement regional lockout similar to the scheme used in DVD movies. The specific technical nature of these DRM systems varies by system, and may include cryptographic signing (Xbox), intentionally unreadable sectors (PlayStation, Sega Saturn), custom optical media (GameCube, Dreamcast), or some combination thereof. Modchips are available also for some DVD players, to defeat region code enforcement and user operation prohibitions.


Mod Chips first came into “fame” when die hard, hard core gamers who were tired of the slim offerings that were made available for them in the USA, wanted to get their hands on the often better and more unique Japanese games that were coming out for their game console. This is nothing new, even the Nintendo NES has a device that allowed gamers to plug Japanese Famicom cartridges into their USA NES system so that they could play those really unique Japanese games, or the latest Mario offering that was only available (or came out much sooner) in Japan.

Modchips typically require some level of technical ability to install. Most commonly, modchips must be soldered on to a console’s motherboard, although there are no-solder install kits (which instead rely on the precise positioning of electrical contacts within the case) which work with some revisions of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox hardware.

As console systems got better and better, a whole following of home brew developers starting making their own software for their consoles. Software like the Xbox Media Center (XMBC) as well as their own little games and programs to stream video and audio. But in order to play / run this software, users are required to be able to load unsigned / home brew code onto their system. This is where mod chips come in. Not only do they allow you to play the latest game offerings from Japan, which as stated earlier, are often much better both graphically and in the way of originality than the games that are for the North American market.

As with any new system, and the new mod chips that first come out – we’re always hit with loads of “compatibility” issues. Much like when the ps2 mod chip first came out, they had chips (different chips) for each “version” of the ps2 console. And the Xbox 360 mod chips are no exception. The very first chips that came out were for very specific “versions” of the XBox 360. First it was a mod chip for the Samsung drives .. Which means that if your XBox 360 had a samsung DVD drive, then you needed to buy an Xbox 360 mod chip that worked on the SAMSUNG drive, to bypass the current firmware.

Then the Team Underdog chip came out, this chip had 2 versions. One for the samsung drives, and another one for the LG/Hitachi Drives. So again, you were “stuck” having to find out exactly which Xbox 360 you had, in order to select the right chip for your console.

Now, as with most developments in the mod chip manufacturing world, eventually, some very smart programmers and developers finally get it right. Naturally, it is common sense to assume that customers would be much more likely to buy a mod chip for their Xbox 360 is they could do away with the “version” checking, and buy a chip that they KNOW will work in their Xbox 360 console… Of course, when they take it apart after receiving their chip, they WILL have to find out which model they have so they can use the right installation directions – but they don’t have to fret or worry that the chip they have purchased may NOT be compatible with their XBox 360.

Much like any product, customers want the peace of mind of knowing that what they are buying will simply just WORK, and in the case of mod chips, will work in their Xbox 360 console regardless of the version of the Xbox 360 that they purchased.

In comes the Globe 360 Xbox 360 Mod Chip. The Globe 360 is the world’s First Xbox 360 mod chip that is compatible with ALL DVD Drives currently on the market! Rather than having to figure out which model drive you have, as you do with other chips, the Globe360 Xbox 360 Mod chip works in ANY drive model to date. And the home brew software that is available is outstanding – and I expect it to get a whole lot better. My Xbox already acts as a complete media center, even streaming Google Videos directly from the Internet. And my Playstation 2 has been transformed from just an awesome games machine to a DVD Player, DivX Player, MP3 Player, and streaming content directly to the console from the Internet makes it something that I could not do without.

To sum it up, if you have an Xbox 360, then you should really consider getting an Xbox 360 mod chip. Not only will you be able to protect your expensive investments by making backup copies of your own original games, and putting the originals away for safe keeping, but you’ll also open up a whole new world of games that you simply would not be able to play otherwise. There are truly very unique (and playable) Japanese games that we’ll simply never see otherwise. And if home brew or cool utilities, applications or add-ons are your thing, then having a mod chip is an absolute must.

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