Keeping pace with the insane bass of Guitar Hero Metallica takes nerves of steel, a near unachievable level of speed and a good set of eyes. While Nyko can't legally speed you up or has yet to venture into eye accessories, its new Metal Pedal does offer Guitar Hero and Rock Band players a way to smack down that bass with toes of wanton destruction.

Over the past week, we took the coffin-encased pedal through the paces and discovered several advantages that drummers will enjoy and, at a mere $19.99, a nice upgrade to their default kit's bass pedal.

First and foremost, Nyko's Metal Pedal isn't all metal. It's mostly plastic but a screwed on chrome-like metal inlay sits on the foot pedal along with a raised metal area made to look like spikes (we'd like real spikes but for $20, we'll let it slide). It's also compatible with Rock Band and Guitar Hero: World Tour drum kits via a switch on the coiled cable. An included Dual Pedal Adaptor also lets Rock Band 2 and World Tour players play with their original pedal and the new metal pedal.


World Tour players have the most to gain since the petal is wider than the stock pedal and comes with four rubber pads that should solve the bass pedal drift that World Tour players are used to. Of course, there are cutouts for the Rock Band drum kit's cross bar and with two rubber inlays, players should find less side to side motion.

While it's highly recommended as a replacement for the stock pedal, getting our Rock Band 2 kit to recognize it took several attempts. Once working, the two rubber pads as the bottom of the pedal produce a nice "thock" sound as a smaller pad hits the sensor pad. There's one other issue too. While the metal plate should last quite a while, the plate itself has a chrome skeleton that looks cool but when surrounded by a smooth black surface, so boot wearing drummers might want to put on some sneakers instead.

A new $89.99 PlayStation 3 joystick, the XCM Dominator, that will let you get a leg up (fist up, foot up) in fighting games. Instead of madly mashing buttons on the Sony PS3 controller, this joystick will let you program in combos (up to 20 keystrokes) -- then all you need to do is a hit a button to pull off a complicated move. Isn't that technically cheating? Maybe so, maybe no .... we're not going to judge.



The controller also has a rapid-fire mode for each of its buttons, which might come in handy while sniping the Helghast in Killzone 2 when the game arrives next week. And, this thing will definitely increase your cool factor (or not, depending on who you hang with) with its blue glowing LED lights. You can buy the Dominator now at Extreme-Mods and MoorGames.com. Also check out Mad Catz officially licensed Street Fighter IV joystick we saw at CES.

Fighting game devotees can get arcade style button mashing without owning a high-falutin' joystick/controller. These new Street Fighter IV Fight Pads (for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) from Mad Catz feature six separate buttons, and the ability to assign 'Turbo' to whichever buttons you desire. The controller's directional pad is soft and spongy and floats above the surface of the controller -- making it easier to mash it in the eight directions required to pull off the game's killer combos.



The Fight Pads comes in five flavors -- each starring a well-known character from the Street Fighter Universe, including Ryu, Chun-Li and Blanka. It's hard to say if hardcore Street Fighter IV fans will choose these controllers over the superior Street Fighter IV Tournament Joystick, and at $60, they seem a little too expensive for casual gamers. Also of note, only the PlayStation 3 controllers are wireless. The 360 fight pads are wired, and it feels like a step down from the standard Xbox 360 controller. We'll see whether that matters (or not) when the Fight Pads hit stores on February 29.

OK, fanboys and girls, we know you're very excited (maybe even overly excited) about Mad Catz's official Street Fighter IV Tournament Joystick, due on February 20 just after the game's release. Today we got (the first!) sneak peek on the fully loaded joystick.




The Tournament Joystick, roughly the size of an Xbox 360 comes with the standard joystick and six buttons that feel sturdy enough to take a solid beating. Madcatz worked with Japanese company Sanwa to get the same exact buttons and joystick it used on the arcade versions of the game -- it's hard to get more authentic than that. At the top of the box is a special Turbo button -- once you press it you can assign Turbo to any of the buttons on the box. Just to cover all the bases, there are two types of Turbo -- faster and slower -- so hardcore fighting fans can get the fine-grain customization they're looking for. Once the customization is complete -- hit the lock button to make sure your settings stay put.



Other cool features: the start and pause buttons have been moved from the top of the box to the front -- to avoid accidently hitting them while pulling off multi-button maneuvers. There's even a storage area for the cord in the back. The top plate unscrews from the unit allowing modders to change out buttons and do those things that modders like to do. Of course, that will render the warranty invalid, but that's the tinkerer's curse, right?

The Street Fighter stick is also designed to work with other fighting games -- a switch on the top right hand panel of the box allows you to change the functionality of the joystick -- you can have it serve as a directional pad (a must for SFIV) or you can have it perform like a left-hand stick or right-hand stick on a regular game controller.

As for limited edition -- just how limited will the Tournament joystick be? Mad Catz reps say it's initially shipping 3,000 and "see how it goes from there." The $149.99 game controller comes in extra special packaging -- which includes a note and signatures from Mad Catz and Capcom executives.


Since my Street Fighter skills are, shall we say, lacking -- I talked to the two hardcore SF fans that wandered into the room to try out the Tournament stick. "It's awesome," says one. "I want one right now," says the other. We wouldn't recommend this to a casual gamers (it's not likely a laissez-faire gamer would drop $150 for a supped-up joystick anyway), but we predict this making waves among the hardcore fight community when it rolls out next month.

It's no surprise that when you create a virtual world and give people free reign – that sex will somehow be involved. Sony's brand new home has already attracted pervs as seen in this YouTube video with tons of guys dancing around two girls. We also love how the narrator of the video joins in by saying, "I'm not gay! ... and let's tap that!" Classy.

It's important to point out that while people can say what they want in Home, there's no actual simulated sex animation in the PlayStation 3 community platform. For those shocked by such behavior -- it's nothing new. People have been having virtual sex in MMOs like World of Warcraft and EverQuest for years and the online virtual world Second Life lets you buy nude skins for characters and hang out in special free-love zones where the love is, ya know, free.

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The audio nerds at Turtle Beach know that many gamers can't blast the 5.1 system because the neighbors are cranky. Making amends usually involves the gamer having to wear headphones. Thankfully, Turtle Beach is bringing its popular X1 headphone series for Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 3 as the Ear Force PX1. Plus, they're adding the Audio Advantage USB-based audio card to enhance game audio and online chatting. While the audio card will also work with PCs, the headphones will work with Xbox 360 too. You can pick up the Ear Force PX1 headphones through the Turtle Beach site for a mere $79.99.

Show your love for Guitar Hero by (1) learning how to play all of the game's songs on Expert --blindfolded-- and (2) by buying these Guitar Hero boxers, which were a surprise hit on Black Friday.

Good luck finding them, though. We spotted a single pair of the red boxers adorned with electric guitars (rolled up in a guitar-shaped gift tin) on sale at Kmart. The rock 'n' roll skivvies were priced at $8.99, and there was a single crumpled tin left on the shelves.

We can only imagine people rushing in for "door buster" bargains on flat-screen TVs, then stopping to chuck this novelty underwear into the cart as they race to the checkout counter. We checked for them online later and only found them listed (and sold out) on Kohls and Sears' Web sites.

You'll have more luck finding the other video game-themed skivvies that hit stores this season -- boxers that pay homage to Halo, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii -- each with their own gift tins. Unlike the Guitar Hero boxers, there are still plenty of these other gamer-centric underwear available online and in big box retail outlets like Target and Kmart. We're already rolling our eyes in anticipation of the Nintendo fans who will don a pair just to yell, "Hey, look at my Wii!"

Nyko's popular current gen console cooler, Intercooler, quickly became a "must have" accessory as gamers could easily sense that their Xbox 360 and PS3 gaming machines gave off a massive amount of heat. As newer versions of Xbox 360s featured smaller chips that gave off less heat with improved airflow and as PS3s seemed to still work with the high level of heat, Nyko needed to change its product for the market.

Earlier this year at E3 2008, Nyko unveiled the new Intercooler TS series that innovates the product like with what it calls TempSmart technology. In short, along with more powerful and quieter fans, the new units automatically detect increases in a console's temperature output and turns on fans to cool it down. Past units either required manual activation or the constant rumble of fans added to a room's noise level.

The Intercooler TS clips to the back of the Xbox 360 or PS3 and features a separate AC adaptor that ensures cooling for a few moments after the console powers down. The PS3 version also offers a user-controlled fan speed to turn it on full blast during heavy gaming sessions

"We have taken the concept that made the original Intercooler one of our most popular products of all time and incorporated consumer feedback and our own innovations into that design," said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. "The result is an upgraded cooling solution for today's game consoles."

Whether you're concerned about the heat inside your console or looking to upgrade your current Intercooler, the Intercooler TS for Xbox 360 sells for $24.99 and the PS3 version sells for $34.99. For a little less money but without the automatic TempSmart technology, gamers can also buy the Intercooler EX for Xbox 360 for a mere $19.99.

While PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles face constant attacks by their owners, or error-prone system patches, the one attack both share is based on basic physics, as power hungry systems commonly spit out enough heat to cook eggs. So Nyko, creators of many console peripherals, made the Intercooler EX add-on, which straddled the back of each console and offered bigger fans to help decrease that heat.

At last week's E3, we checked out the company's upcoming upgrade, called the Intercooler TS (TempSmart) and we expect that they'll add new devotees to the Nyko brand. First off, it looks different. While former products used a pass through power connection that piggybacked on the console's own power plug, the new TS uses a two-prong power adapter, so you'll need to have an open space in your already cramped power strip in order to reap the cooling benefits.

Both products, as you might suspect by the name, use a temperature sensor that turns on the peripheral's fans when the temp goes up 3 degrees, and shuts the fans off when the system heat drops down 5 degrees. This is good news for anyone using the PS3 since DVD/Blu-ray playback functions cause far less heat than playing games. On the PS3 version, the accessory supplies four fans in a single piano black unit (the previous version was in two parts) and a dial that users can use to raise or lower the benefits of the fans (since it will be at the back of the system, most people might not use the dial much). When attached, the Intercooler TS does lift up the back of the PS3 slightly if it's laid down horizontally.

The Intercooler TS for Xbox 360 looks a bit different as it's changed from three larger fans to two larger fans and one smaller fan and incased in a semi-translucent casing that is also smaller due to the fan size difference and the lack of a pass-through power connection.

Gamers can expect the Intercooler TS for both Xbox 360 ($24.99) and PlayStation 3 ($34.99) to ship in September (the company plans to offer the older EX models for $19.99. A Nyko rep cited that the extra fan and fan controller and other components in the PS3 version is the reason for the higher cost.

So far, Nyko wasn't talking about how much cooler systems with the TS would run but said that those numbers would come soon from an outside testing group.

Nyko's Zero Wireless controller seems like the result of a company seriously listening to gamers. Inside the $59.99 package is the controller, a rechargeable NiMH battery, an additional battery pack for two AA batteries, a 10-foot hot red USB cable and a USB wireless receiver. Rather than merely offer simple game controls, the Zero is the first aftermarket controller to offer vibration, a welcome addition since our desire to buy a new hand cramping PS3 controller is rather low.

Picking up the controller, you'll notice a slim width and two palm pads adding a rounded spike end. On top, a single d-pad, two analog sticks and the start and select buttons are all available, but the PS button was replaced with a jewel-like button. While it doesn't turn the PS3 on remotely (meaning that you'll have to turn the PS3 on before using the Zero), it does toggle the backlit buttons on and off. Yes, action buttons are backlit red, thanks to transparent action shapes (not stickers so you won't wear them down). Most interestingly, if you add a second controller, the backlit color changes to blue (player 3 gets an orange color and player 4 gets green). Even with the backlighting, Nyko claims up to 25 hours of wireless gameplay with the rechargeable battery pack.

Controls add to the feature list, as the two analog sticks offer concave, rubber-topped surfaces with movements that feel smoother than the stock PS3 controller. They're fast enough that you'll need some time to get used to the change, but it quickly becomes second nature. The L1 and R1 buttons offer a familiar blocky feel, but the L2 and R2 buttons are sharpened triggers, which felt like they made our R2 shots in Haze feel a bit faster. If you care about colors, the controller comes in three shades: black, silver and white. Each pad's surface is covered with a slightly course metal plate that Nyko says improves heat dispensation -- which is nice, but makes the controller feel more solid.


That's not to say that the device doesn't have some negatives that we think most gamers can live with. First, this is not a Bluetooth controller, so you'll have to plug the included USB receiver into the PS3 in order to use (it didn't appear to affect speed in games though). Second, the controller's d-bad is a single piece of plastic that lacks the higher-quality feel of the Zero's analog sticks or action buttons. Third, the included USB receiver features an on light that's brighter than anything in our entertainment cabinet (the wife even asked if the light indicated that something was wrong). We also would have liked the option to change the backlight colors on demand (we prefer blue).


Does that mean we wouldn't buy it? No. Actually, the negatives are pretty minor compared to what gamers get for their money. Gamers with larger hands might find the device cramped, but packed with two battery packs, SIXAXIS motion controls, added comfort for long playing marathons, vibration feedback, backlit action buttons and improved dual analog sticks. Nyko's Zero Wireless controller clearly makes Sony's DualShock 3 the second best choice for playing your PlayStation 3 games.

Rock Band for the Nintendo Wii arrives in about two weeks and Harmonix was kind enough to send us a drum and guitar set to play with. To our surprise, we found a few hardware improvements.

Yeah, it's white. Really, really white. What kind of rocker uses a white drum set?

The most obvious improvement is seen with the pedal. As you can see below, the new pedal features a stronger spring. While they didn't send the game (booo hiss), the new spring adds a quicker response and it doesn't feel like your foot is still attached to the pedal as you drum.

There was also improvements to the construction of the pedal itself. It's a lot more sturdy and it feels like it has a bit more meat to it. Still, you're going to have to put something behind it to keep it steady while you play Enter Sandman on Expert.

The drum heads also sounded a bit quieter, but that might be attributed to the fact that we haven't worn them down with the game yet. I detected less of an echo effect coming from the Wii drum heads, but they're still a little too loud in general. Where are my drum covers Harmonix?!

And for the first time, the Rock Band guitars are wireless! While Harmonix didn't change the look or feel of the guitar, there are few new additions, specifically with the back.

Besides a fancy new Rock Band sticker, the guitar's power switch has been placed next to the battery cover. It's set deep in the guitar body, so you'll have no fear strumming along while you're standing. While we could see where some dude hooks the button on his big belt buckle during a sweet solo, most players will have nothing to fear.

What's that? You don't own a Wii or Rock Band yet? Don't worry. All of the newer revisions from the Wii set have been added to the newer models for the PS3 and 360.

Check out the gallery below for a more close-ups.

We all knew it was coming -- Guitar Hero with a drum set (with two symbols), a microphone and the ability to record and upload your version of classic songs to 'GH Tunes,' a You-Tube like service made just for Guitar Hero, says a recent issue of Game Informer magazine.

See the drums in action in this cheesy trailer for the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour. Sure, Rock Band did it first, but we love playing in a mock band so much, we'll take all the action we can get. The trailer says to look for the game in Fall 2008.

The new DualShock 3 arrived at GameDaily HQ today. We took pictures of the unboxing as well as some side by side shots with the SIXAXIS controller. The new controller looks almost identical to the SIXAXIS, save for the name, which appears in blue on the controller and it feels a little weightier. We have it charging right now and will be giving it a go on some of our fave PS3 games tonight.

The official PlayStation Blog says the controllers are headed to stores today, so expect them on shelves by the end of this week/next week for $54.99.

New PS3 games that work with the rumbling controller will come with a DualShock 3 Compatible icon.




After the jump, find a complete list of games that will support the DualShock 3 at launch:

Blackberry might be the phone of choice for office stiffs, but today Hands-On Mobile announced that its mobile-ready rendition of Guitar Hero III has been released on the pervasive smartphone. Get ready to loosen that tie and rock out!

Similar to the game Wii, PS3, 360 and soon, the Nintendo DS version, play along to a tracklist of 15 songs, which including 'Woman' by Wolfmother, 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath and the Scorpions' 'Rock You Like a Hurricane.' To see if your phone is ready to rock, text 'GH' to 46966*

Source: GameDaily Biz