The Jog, or jOG in hipster screwed-up capitalisation marketing speak, is a device that connects between your system’s controller and the console, requiring that you run in place in order to move your character. It sounds like pure bliss, doesn’t it? Well it should, dammit.

“Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in the Western world, and many sedentary activities are being blamed, not least playing video games,” explains Brendan Ludden, Managing Director, New Concept Gaming. “jOG is a great way to banish those criticisms, and help gaming be both fun and healthy. We want to make video games good for you!”

Right now the jOG controller is only available in the UK.

NEW CONCEPT GAMING’S INNOVATIVE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER jOG ON SALE NOW

To move in the game – you have to jOG!

Liverpool, 26 November 2008: New Concept Gaming Ltd, a company dedicated to the development and sale of ground breaking products bridging the video game and health and fitness industries, today announced that its first product, jOG™ is now on sale. Compatible with existing games consoles and games, jOG is an accessory that enables gamers to enjoy their favourite titles with a fun, immersive control mechanic at the same time benefitting from aerobic exercise – quite simply, if you want to run in the game you have to run on the spot to go.

In the basic mode of operation, the user plays their game in the normal way but with one significant difference. jOG detects when the player takes a step and only allows movement in the game while the player is jogging on the spot. Direction and all the other functions are still controlled by the standard gamepad. Using this simple approach, the team at New Concept Gaming has created a very powerful visual feedback loop bringing players deeper into the game experience and compelling them to take light exercise for the duration of game play without affecting the balance of gameplay.

jOG can be used to enhance most existing video games that feature character movement on screen -adventure games, shooters, children’s games, RPGs, sports games. Significantly, in its basic mode jOG requires no changes to any game console or software to use. Players just plug in and go.

“Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in the Western world, and many sedentary activities are being blamed, not least playing video games,” explains Brendan Ludden, Managing Director, New Concept Gaming. “jOG is a great way to banish those criticisms, and help gaming be both fun and healthy. We want to make video games good for you!”

jOG for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system from Sony is available now from www.ncg-jog.com. A special Limited Edition jOG lite compatible with the Wii™ will also be available in December.

For those of you without my financial limitation, the device does ship with a variety of 3D pinball programs, including a few Gottlieb recreations, and the software is designed to work with all once and future pinball programs, regardless of whether or not they support analogue input. Me? I’m just going to bookmark the page at www.nanotechent.com for random bouts of drooling.

NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT INTRODUCES THE ULTIMATE PINBALL GAME CONTROLLER WITH PINBALL WIZARD

New NanoTech products feature state of the art pinball technology

SAN JOSE, Calif. – November 11, 2008 – NANOTECH ENTERTAINMENT is pleased to announce the release of its highly anticipated Pinball Wizard Controller. In keeping with NanoTech’s pursuit of innovative gaming technology, the Pinball Wizard controller lets you experience video pinball the way it is meant to be played; by using flipper buttons, a real plunger, and the ability to shake the table as well as nudge the ball, through the integration of its MOT-ION™ I/O Adaptor. Pinball Wizard does it all with no special drivers required. The Pinball Wizard is fully configurable allowing it to work with a variety of Pinball software including the state of the art Future Pinball™ engine. The controller ships with a combination of amazing 3D Pinball games including original titles plus recreations from the world famous pinball manufacturer Gottlieb™. With a software configuration program the Pinball Wizard can be customised to work with all current and future PC Pinball games.

“There has really been no input device for the video pinball enthusiast other than the keyboard, mouse or joystick until now.” commented Robert DeKett, founder and CEO of NanoTech Entertainment. “We have come up with a design that will work with any pinball software, regardless of analogue input support. This means we can support all pinball games. Our engineers have crafted a very flexible solution that is designed to support all existing pinball games and is field upgradeable ensuring long lasting support.”

The Pinball Wizard controller incorporates all the elements of a real pinball machine into the palm of your hands. Designed by Arcade Industry veterans and pinball enthusiasts, Pinball Wizard recreates the experience of playing a real pinball machine on your desktop. The Pinball Wizard is constructed with true arcade materials and uses a real plunger and lockdown bar from actual pinball machines assuring the player that real arcade feel.

For more information, go to www.nanotechent.com.

LOGITECH ANNOUNCES PREMIERE EDITION OF WIRELESS GUITAR CONTROLLER FOR GUITAR HERO
Logitech Wireless Guitar, Premiere Edition Features Wood Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, Metal Frets, Gig Bag

FREMONT, Calif. – Oct. 23, 2008 – Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today announced the Logitech® Wireless Guitar Controller, Premiere Edition for the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems – enabling gamers to play like a rock star. The premiere edition of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller is the first in Logitech’s planned line of premium peripherals for the world’s best-selling music-based video game franchise. The guitar is licensed by Activision Publishing, Inc. for all Guitar Hero® games, including the highly anticipated Guitar Hero® World Tour. Featuring authentic materials – including a wood neck, a rosewood fingerboard and metal frets – the Wireless Guitar Controller is for gamers who truly want to flex their Star Power.

“There’s no better feeling than being the guy with the best instrument when you walk into your friend’s house to jam on Guitar Hero,” said Ruben Mookerjee, Logitech’s director of product marketing for gaming. “We designed this guitar for that experience. From the humbucker to the metal frets, the whammy bar to the metal tuners, the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller gives you the credibility you rightfully deserve.”

To provide even more realism for those who love to jam on Guitar Hero, the premiere edition of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller uses the authentic materials you’d expect to see on a real rock guitar. In addition to the metal frets and metal tuning peg handles, the rosewood fingerboard and wood neck, Logitech’s design offers the one-piece contoured shape preferred by many of the world’s leading rock guitarists. To match the wood neck, the Wireless Guitar Controller features a crimson body.

“As the leading producer of peripheral devices, Logitech is delivering on its promise to provide high-quality, premium guitars for our number one franchise,” said Charles Huang, vice president business development for RedOctane. “With this new controller, Logitech is giving Guitar Hero fans the opportunity to unleash their inner rock stars in a new, authentic way.”

To minimize button noise, Logitech uses rubber dome technology on the fret board controls, the same material used in its award-winning keyboards. The guitar controller also incorporates a New Touch-Sensitive Neck Slider, located so strumming is not always necessary to rack up the points. Additionally, the Neck Slider can be used in Guitar Hero World Tour’s new Music Studio to create an even wider away of sounds.

So you’ll be free to go where the music moves you, the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller uses 2.4 GHz wireless technology to provide a range of up to 30 feet from the console. Just plug the USB receiver into the console and you’re ready to rock. In addition, a gig bag protects your guitar when you’re on the road and provides pocket space for your game discs and wireless receivers. Offering hundreds of hours of battery life, the Wireless Guitar Controller gives you enough juice to perform a festival’s worth of hits, encores included. The Wireless Guitar Controller requires two AA batteries to operate.

Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, Premiere Edition is expected to be available in the U.S. in December for a suggested retail price of $249.99 (U.S.).

The first thing you notice about the Fender Bass upon removing it from the package and putting the top bit on is its size. This is a very long instrument, a fact a relatively long person like myself can surely appreciate. It towers over its smaller cousin, the original Rock Band Fender Strat, but that’s not the only difference. The bass lacks a whammy bar, leaving said function to a dial located on the top left of the body. It takes a little getting used to, of course, but after awhile I got so good at grabbing the knob and twisting it back and forth that I completely lost my train of thought as my brain overloaded on sexual innuendo.

Increasing the guitar’s overall knobiness, the effects selector is now a dial, as is the start and select buttons, now accessed via twisting either right or left on the bottom knob, a fact that hammered home the importance of instructions and wasted a good ten minutes of my life.

By far the most important feature of the Fender Bass is the dual strum bar, meant to encourage two-finger plucking, as made popular by bassists since the very first one seeped out of the primordial ooze, grabbed the first groupie, and took it out back for a little hot osmosis action. The face even has a thumb-rest, allowing your fingers to properly hang off the edge for authentic plucking action.
So how does it work? After getting used to playing bass in Rock Band the way I had always wanted to play bass in Rock Band, the dual strum bar is an extremely lovely feature. The action on both bars is very tight, even after a couple weekends filled with gameplay, and I’ve gotten so comfortable with it that playing bass with a standard controller at my local GameStop’s Fable II launch party just didn’t feel right, and that’s my excuse for failing Living On A Prayer.

That really is the main drawback of the Mad Catz Fender Bass. You get so used to the dual fret action that it changes the way you play the game, to the point where I am seriously considering getting a guitar bag so I can carry the thing around with me, just in case.

Completely unintentional pun there, by the way.

So yes, score one for Mad Catz. A bit pricey at $US79.99, but the bass is incredibly solid and adds a functionality that wasn’t present before, making it a step up from standard third-party controllers. Of course I would prefer it wireless, but one step at a time.

Despite all of the large, useless hunks of plastic littering my living room area, I shall not be truly fulfilled until this flightstick rests on my coffee table, buried under a pile of WoW cards, video game wrapper plastic, and Mountain Dew cans. Thank you Namco Bandai.

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES RE-LAUNCHES ACE COMBAT® 6 FLIGHTSTICK BUNDLE WITH EXCLUSIVE DVD

Exclusively at Best Buy Stores, “Speed & Angels” Documentary Included in Bundle with Leading Flight-Combat Video Game and Critically-Acclaimed Flightstick

Santa Clara, Calif., (October 21, 2008) – Leading video games developer and publisher NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that the Ace Combat® 6 Flightstick Bundle is once again available, exclusively at Best Buy retail stores nationwide. Including the critically acclaimed Ace Combat® 6: Fires of Liberation for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, HORI’s exclusive ACE-EDGE™ flightstick and a custom Xbox 360 faceplate, the newly released bundle also includes an exclusive DVD of the award-winning flight combat documentary Speed & Angels.

Speed & Angels follows two young aspiring fighter pilots as they follow their dreams of taking to the skies in F-14 Tomcat aircraft. Providing a behind the scenes look at the extraordinary people that pilot the world’s most advanced fighter planes, the film was the recipient of the Audience Award at the 2008 Newport Film Festival and an official selection at the 2008 Sedona International Film Festival.

Thrusting players into massive living battlefields, Ace Combat 6 lets players pilot cutting-edge real world aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor and A-10 Thunderbolt as they take on screaming enemy fighter jets, ground-based anti-air emplacements and hulking naval vessels. Up to 16 players can test their dogfighting skills online in a variety of multiplayer modes, including objective-based air raids and exclusive cooperative missions. Unanimously praised by critics and fans alike, Ace Combat 6 was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s top 10 games of 2007 and lauded as “bigger, better and even more photorealistic than its predecessors” by USA Today.

The Ace Combat 6 Flightstick Bundle with the Speed & Angels DVD is available exclusively at Best Buy locations nationwide and carries a suggested retail price of $149.99. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is available at retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $59.99 and is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information, please visit www.acecombatsix.com and www.speedandangels.com.

It seems like it would be a bit over-complicated for the average user, but Steel Series assured me that even a novice computer user will be able to easily configure the mouse to suit their particular play style, with over 130 predefined game commands included for easy drag-and-drop macro creation.

While I didn’t get much time to play around with the software itself, the mouse has a very nice feel to it, just as I’ve come to expect from SteelSeries. The extra buttons worry me a bit, but supposedly they will be inactive when you aren’t actively playing the game, functioning just like any other high-quality pointing device.

The only downside I can see, aside from possible button confusion, is the price. I’m not sure how many casual WoW players are willing to drop $US99 on a mouse, even one as lovely as this. Then again, the package will come complete with a loot card from the World of Warcraft CCG, and free in-game items are a powerful motivator.

The World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse should be in stores next month. I’m looking forward to seeing how it handles some hot Death Knight action, as well as having something new to blame for my complete lack of PVP skills.

Rock Band range is a prime example. Take the Fender Bass: We proudly display a sticker on the packaging informing customers that the Strum Bar has been quality tested to 2.5 million cycles (That’s 1.5 million more than official!)…If you still doubt the quality, how about this: Mad Catz will be the ONLY SHOW IN TOWN making the OFFICIAL Cymbal Packs for the Rock Band 2 Drum Kit, no one else will be making them, just us! With a product and a range this important, do you think Harmonix would let us go ahead if they had any doubts at all on the quality?

]]> http://www.kotaku.com.au/2008/09/mad_catz__give_us_a_chance_and_well_change_your_mind-2/feed/ 0 http://www.kotaku.com.au/2008/09/mad_catz_ships_fender_rock_band_bass-2/ http://www.kotaku.com.au/2008/09/mad_catz_ships_fender_rock_band_bass-2/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:40:00 +0000 Mike Fahey http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/09/mad_catz_ships_fender_rock_band_bass-2.html It’s here, it’s here! It’s finally here! Well, it’ll shortly be here at least. Mad Catz has announced that the first in their line of third-party Rock Band instrument alternatives is shipping today, and bassists of the world rejoice. The Fender Precision Bass guitar is an extremely sexy piece of fake guitar-shaped plastic, featuring all the standard guitar features, including solo keys, overdrive mode, and a unique whammy feature integrated into the volume control to give the bass an authentic feel. Probably the best feature of the Fender Precision is the split strum bar, which allows for two-finger plucking in classic bass style. The only way they could capture the bass experience any better would be to include someone to (severely edited) the bassist in between sets.

I crave this like I have craved no other plastic musical instrument before, to the point where I’m completely bypassing my own built-in safeguards against buying Mad Catz products and actively considering making the purchase. Scary, I know!

Mad Catz Ships the First-Ever Rock Band™ Bass Guitar
Fender Precision Bass Guitar Kicks Off a Full Line of New Rock Band Products

SAN DIEGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has begun shipping its Fender™ Precision Bass guitar for the Xbox 360™, the initial offering under its licence with Harmonix and MTV Games to produce and distribute game peripherals and other products for the critically acclaimed Rock Band™ game.

“We are excited to be providing an opportunity for the millions of Rock Band fans to enhance their game-playing experience with our Fender Precision Bass guitar,” commented Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. “This is the first in a series of Rock Band products we expect to release this fall, each of which we believe will add to the realism and enjoyment of this immensely popular game.”

This premium bass guitar provides gamers with a licensed, authentic Fender Precision Bass guitar to complete their ensemble. Compatible with both Rock Band and the upcoming Rock Band 2 games, the Fender Precision Bass can be used to play both lead and bass guitar portions of a selected track. Incorporating all the features of the standard guitar, including Solo Keys, Whammy, and Overdrive Mode, the Fender Precision Bass comes equipped with innovative features designed to enhance the Rock Band experience.

The unique Split Strum Bar allows gamers to strum and pluck notes faster and with more precision, vital for fast tempo tracks. The genuine Fender Precision Bass does not have a whammy bar. To respect the accuracy of the bass, Mad Catz has engineered whammy compatibility by discreetly incorporating it into the volume knob of the bass, providing gamers with essential functionality when playing both lead or bass guitar portions of the track while preserving the timeless authenticity of the original design.

Published by MTV Games and developed by MTV Network’s Harmonix Music Systems, Rock Band is a leading platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music, challenging users to master the lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals as solo artists or cooperatively as part of their own band. Built on deals with the world’s biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in Rock Band spans all genres of rock and includes many master recordings from the greatest songs and artists of all time. Rock Band is currently available for the Xbox 360, Wii™, PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 2 consoles in North America and for the Xbox 360 in Europe. Rock Band 2 will make its debut on Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this September and have an exclusive launch window in North America. Rock Band 2 will be available for the PLAYSTATION® 3 and PlayStation® 2 computer entertainment systems and Wii™ later this year.

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