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.

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.

Life would be easier if your Xbox 360 controllers were fully charged every time you played. That's the idea around NYKO's Charge Base 360 (MSRP$29.99). The package comes complete with a heavy charging base and two NiMH battery packs that fit right into the bottom of each Xbox 360 controller. Once placed, they look and feel similar in weight to the conventional battery pack. To recharge, you simple plop the controller onto the base unit. A big red light lets you know that it's charging and when it turns green, you're ready to go in about an hour.

NYKO says that each battery pack lasts up to 25 hours of playtime be recharge. Real-time testing got us about 12-18 hours per charge but we suspect that the batteries lost a bit of charge even when not playing. The base/charging unit is incredibly sturdy with an Xbox 360 white style and a rubber-like pad on the bottom makes it so it won't slide around. Apart from lower than reported battery life, we had two other issues. First, the charge light is really too bright. If you plan to add this to your bedroom, it's nearly nightlight bright. Secondly, the charger only charges battery packs while they're in the controller. So if you don't have two controllers, you can't charge the second battery pack by itself.

Overall, the drop-in design makes the Charge Base 360 a great solution for those looking for an attractive battery charges that looks and feels as sturdy as the Xbox 360.

Nyko's latest cooling device for the Xbox 360 seems to have learned its lessons from past mistakes. Rather than a pass-through power connector that caused a few 360 to go haywire, the new Intercooler TS for Xbox 360 (MSRP$24.99) comes with its own power cord. Rather than just turn the thing on when you played, the new device now senses temperature changes and turns on three fans to draw out the hot air.

Ingeniously, the Intercooler TS uses the ventilation holes on the back of the Xbox 360 to secure itself. Plug in the included 10-foot-cord and you're ready to go. While we assumed that our systems were running cool, the unit turned on almost immediately. Once we fired a game up, we didn't hear any change of speed with the fan. Apparently "sensing" means "sensing when the system turns on."

As the Xbox 360 doesn't report its internal temperature, it's hard to tell how effective the Intercooler TS really is. It does feel like its drawing a great deal of heat out of the system. If you live in a warmer climate and lack air conditioning, it could help reduce the temperature. But there's one negative -- it's noisy. A unit with bigger fans (80 or 120mm) might have achieved the same airflow but without all the extra noise, yet it might not look as nice.

Also, newer versions of the Xbox 360 sport smaller chips, better heatsinks and create far less heat than the original. For gamers who still have original Xbox 360 systems, the Intercooler TS might help avoid the eventual heating issues that plague the early units. If you have a new system and you're worried about heat, this might help alleviate your hottest fears.

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!"

If something seems a little different when you log into your Xbox 360 today -- it is! The New Xbox Experience launches today with new navigation system, new design, Netflix connectivity and Xbox Live Avatars. Much like the Nintendo Wii's Miis, these cartoon representatives help deliver a more personalized presence on Xbox Live.

Four GameDaily staffers joined an Avatar party early this morning, but after discovering that none of us had images or videos to share or games to play together, we disbanded.

If we weren't rushed to get into work on time, we would have discovered that our Avatar party can follow each other from game to game. So the four of us should be able to play a round of Horde in Gears of War 2 then hop into Left 4 Dead multiplayer with ease.

Avatars will also be incorporated into games, the first being A Kingdom for Keflings,a city-building simulation game. KoK rolls out on Xbox Live today, and can be downloaded for 800 points (or $10).

So, if you haven't already -- head online to download the New Xbox Experience update and then customize your Avatar. Then show it off to your pals by filling in your Xbox Live name in this link: http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatarmyxboxlivename/avatar-body.png. (See mine on the right, which is pretty dead-on if I do say so myself).

Related: New Xbox Experience Hands-On Preview

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.

Seeing red? It's not a side effect from living without Xbox Live for an entire 24 hours -- it's the new limited edition red Xbox 360 controller that hit stores today "just in time for the holidays."

Outside of the rockin' red color (with black accents), it's still just your standard 360 wireless controller. Speaking for myself, I'm a total sucker for packaging (the pink Xbox controller, aka "Lucky," is my weapon of choice), so we're already on bended knee, asking Microsoft to send us a 'review' unit. The new controller costs $65 and is available at retailers everywhere starting today.

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.

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.

Just a friendly reminder to do your chores when your mother asks, otherwise you might find yourself out of a video game console. Gizmodo reports on an ungrateful 13-year-old Xbox 360 gamer who'd rather break the family vacuum cleaner than do a bit of honest work around the house. What a slacker!

All is well, though. Moms got sweet, sweet revenge on the little weasel by not only selling his Xbox 360 on Craigslist, but also sabotaging his MySpace page AND busting him for his internet porn stash.

Lesson: Mess with Moms and you get pwn3d.

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