Here at ThinkComputers we mainly know Razer for gaming mice and their Mako speaker system. I really never thought of them as a console peripheral maker, but this year at CES most of what they were announcing was all made for consoles, particularly Xbox 360. If you are a console gamer then you are definitely going to like what Razer has in store for you in 2010.
Xbox 360
When I first walked into the Razer booth I noticed many Xbox 360 units hooked up so I decided to start playing. Razer had their own controllers hooked up to the systems and while playing the game the controller felt about this same, but after getting an explanation of the controller it is unlike any other controller on the market right now. Before we get into all the detail the controller looks and feels much like normal Xbox 360 controller. There is a green neon LED light system that goes around the controller and a Razer logo on the right side.
The first thing I noticed that was different about this controller was that on the sticks there were a dial. This is to tighten and loosen the sticks to your desired tension. Razer has worked with many pro gamers and they have concluded that they like booth tight and loose settings so gamers can adjust these to whatever tension they like. When you flip the controller over you will notice 2 sliders on the back. This is to map different buttons to the secondary bumper on the top of the controller. This is really innovative and will make playing games a lot easier. Right now the Razer Onza controller is still being developed we were told that the D-pad design is not final and that they want to change it. When the Onza is available it will retail for $49.99
Next up Razer showed us their Chimaera Professional Gaming Headset. I originally thought this was for PC, but it actually for the Xbox 360. The sleek gaming headset supports 5.1 sound and is wireless and rechargeable. It comes with a base station that you connect to your TV or Xbox 360 console. The only downside is that if you want to use the in-game voice chat you have to connect the headset to your Xbox 360 controller. Razer has a solution for this, which is perfect for team gaming. You are able to daisy-chain headsets to the base station and have your own private voice chat channel, which also is better quality than normal Xbox 360 communication. No word yet on when this headset will be available, but Razer tells us they are trying to keep it under $200.
PC Gaming
Razer has teamed with Sixense to bring motion sensing controls to the PC. Oh many of you are probably thinking, “Oh just a Wiimote for the PC?”, but it is much more than that. You actually get 2 controllers, each are the same and allow you to control your character in-game. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after playing the Left for Dead 2 demo with the controllers it was very easy to get used to and I actually enjoyed playing the game. The system uses sort of a base station that tracks the movement of the 2 controllers. Using it up close there were no connection issues, but I’m not sure how far away you could be from the base station. No word yet on price, but these should be out sometime later this year.
