I spent yesterday and today taking the Playstation 3 Combat Wireless headset for a spin. It looks nice, and with few official Playstation headsets to choose from, there's certainly a gap to fill. But is this the one for your in-game chat needs?

Loved
Look: The diminutive Bluetooth headset is lightweight and features a subtle design that hints at Modern Warfare 2 support without screaming that you're all about the military shooter. I'd be OK using this headset out and about with my cell phone without worrying about people thinking that I was a bit too gaming-minded.

Hated
Pain in My Ear: After about 20 minutes of gameplay, the in-ear headset started feeling really uncomfortable. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of these sort of headsets, but I was surprised how quickly this particular one went from unnoticeable to down-right painful.

Clicks and Pops: Not sure what was going on, but during my time with the headset I kept hearing little clicks and pops. Nothing super loud and when people were talking it went away. But it was a little annoying to hear during the often-silent battles fought online in Uncharted 2.

The Bluetooth headset is quite nice looking and, according to those I chatted with, the 2.0 technology sounded pretty good too. But the combination of the occasional noises and the uncomfortable feel means I won't be using this headset for my nights of gaming.

What I came away with after hours spent using the headset is a much greater appreciation for the Throat Communicator that Mad Catz is selling for the Xbox 360. Comfortable and aesthetically pleasing, that's the sort of headset I'd love to make my peripheral of choice for the Playstation 3. I realize there are some issues in trying to come up with a working system for the Throat Communicator on the PS3, but I'd like to think Mad Catz can over come them. Until then, I'll be without a voice on this console.

Modern Warfare 2 Combat Wireless Headset was developed and produced by Mad Catz for the Playstation 3 on Nov. 10. Retails for $39.99 USD. A headset was given to us by Mad Catz for reviewing purposes. Played several games for several hours with the headset.

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The Sun Online (the intertubes version of the popular tabloid) will be hosting an Xbox-themed portal for the rest of the year. "I love Xbox 360" will feature assorted pro-Xbox advertorials, competitions and game features.

Microsoft has also signed a deal with Bluepod, a 'proximity marketing' agency that uses Bluetooth to send ads to the phones of unsuspecting pedestrians who wander too close to transceivers hidden in cinemas, shopping malls, etc. This is why I always leave Bluetooth turned off on my phone...

Xbox partners with The Sun Online to push price drop [New Media Age via Xboxer.tv]

Official Bluetooth Headset for the PLAYSTATION 3 [PlayStation.Blog]

[Thanks Luca & Tyler!]

This certainly won't sit well with anyone looking for a dangle free PS3. If Rock Band is indeed going with a USB dongle for the "wireless" guitar controller, I sure hope it plans on included a USB hub with the PS3 version as future PLAYSTATION 3 owners who are stuck with only two USB ports in the 40GB model will have a tough time plugging in a full band.

Further details on the Rock Band dongle bungle at 1UP.

PS3's Mysterious Wireless Dongle [1UP]

Logitech's new Cordless Bluetooth Vantage Headset is a high quality, noise-filtering device that runs up to 12 hours on rechargeable batteries. That's the length of some multiplayer fests for many of our readers, but Bluetooth sucks the battery power. And besides, it will match your keyboard beutifully. Both peripherals are priced at a hefty $80 and will be in stores this November.

Logitech Accessories [gizmodo]

Joa Ebert and Thibault Imbert are the creators of WiiFlash, a "a project dedicated to the Wiimote and Flash applications" including this one called, Training Sculpture. Although their how-to is a pretty good tutorial on how to do some of their projects in the comfort of your home, some kind of description on what these projects actually are would be helpful to say the least. For most people, dancing around in their living room in a leotard is probably already the norm, but how do they would they know for certain if they were actually creating art. Doesn't mean I won't try this experiment. I'm just saying tall socks are as far as I am willing to go. Kim Phu

Training Sculpture [WiiFlash.org]

I'm still in love with Warhawk, especially the ground combat, and plenty of people still remain unconvinced. Fortunately, you won't have to rely on the differing opinions soon. At this week's Gamers Day, SCEA announced that they will be launching a public beta for the game starting May 24.

The also said that while the game will still be purchasable online from the Playstation Store, if you buy the game on a Blu-ray disc, you get some neat added features. The disc itself will come loaded with developer interviews, behind the scenes stuff and demos. SCEA's Peter Dille said they were going to load up the disc. Better still, the game will also come with a Bluetooth headset, hopefully one that is branded. Its sort of like a Collector's Edition for a downloadable game. Brian Crecente

Bring on the bad dick jokes! Japanese code cruncher kako has whipped up a handful of PC downloads for the Wii-mote, including the ubiquitous Wii Saber and, as a gag, the long overdue Wii-brator. Download to your PC, sink up your Bluetooth enabled Wii-mote and enjoy! Heh. Brian Ashcraft

Wii-brate Your Wii-mote [Forest Impress]

Here's an issue that's been nagging me since I got my PlayStation 3 on Friday. I'm playing Resistance online, and suddenly the map will come up, or the score. I didn't hit the controls to bring these up...they just pop up on their own. Then at times I'll lose control, spin around, or sometimes even fire without wanting to. At first I thought it might be my general suckage at FPS games, but several readers have now complained about similar situations. Doesn't seem to happen when I am plugged in via the USB cable...only when I am wireless, and generally only when I am playing online.

PC-Doc touches on the same issue in his PS3 rant, suggesting it is a problem with the bluetooth screwing up, which makes complete sense. Will I have to just buy a really long USB cable like he did?

Now that eBay is delivering more PS3's into players' hands, is anyone else running into this issue? If so I fully plan on using it as an excuse for my low Resistance rank. If you accidentally get team killed by Fahey, remember it's all Sony's fault. Michael Fahey

PS3 WTF? [PC-Doc]

Over at Aeropause, they spotted this worrying paper submitted by Sony to the FCC. In the paper, Sony claims that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules in the PS3 do not transmit simultaneously. This is doubtlessly meant to assuage some sort of FCC requirement.

But if this is true, doesn't that mean that you couldn't be connected wirelessly to the internet and use wireless controllers at the same time? And isn't that just stupid?

Aeropause is cautioning that people not read too much into this, before explanations have been gathered. And hell, there's a few possible explanations, no doubt. I'd personally be surprised if this were true. But then I start thinking all the other ways Sony has managed to fuck up their sure thing, and I start getting a little bit nervous again. Florian Eckhardt

FCC PS3 Papers, What Does This Mean? [Aeropause]

Edit: Kotakuite Kigian writes in the comments:

It is true that both Bluetooth and Wifi use the same ISM band. However as anyone who has Wifi in their home and who uses Bluetooth too, they certainly do work together just fine. They don't need to be transmitting simultaneously.

And Kotakuite John Doe also wrote in:

Just saw your article on the FCC filing revealing that PS3's bluetooth and wifi do not transmit simultaneously. This simply indicates that they're using Time Domain Multiplexing to interleave Bluetooth and Wifi activity to avoid interference between the two signals (since both are on the 2.4Ghz band). To the user, they'll both appear to be on simultaneously, but technically underneath they're actually each active on alternating intervals (it alternates between the two very very quickly, so that to the user it appears they're both on at the same time, all the time). You can do this because the bandwidth required from Wifi and Bluetooth combined is less than that offered by the 2.4Ghz range.

You guys rule. Thanks for the clarification! So we can all probably stand down in alarm on this one' although if that's de facto the way WiFi and Bluetooth operate together, I'm not entirely clear on why it needed to be specified by Sony.

So here's the list, according to the official press release, to clear matters up.

Both the 20 GB and 60 GB versions of the PS3 will include four USB 2.0 plugs, Bluetooth 2.0 support and wireless controller support.

Only the 60 GB version will have a built in MemoryStick/SD/Compact Flash Reader, though a rep told me that you can just plug a regual reader into the PS3 using a USB plug.

The 20GB will support ethernet, while the 60 GB will come with 802.11 b/g support.

Both versions will support 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p output, though only the 60 GB version will have HDMI out. Both will also have AV multi-out and digital audio optical out.

Both versions will come with a read-only BD/DVD/CD Drive that can read Bluray at 2x, DVD at 8x and CD at 24x.

And for those wondering the device is 325 mm wide, 98 mm tall, 274 mm deep and weighs 5 kg.

The original spec sheet said the PS3 would have two HDMIs out and two ethernet ports, so not that much has been lost.

Hope that clears up at least a few things.

This is kinda cool, a company called Ever-E has come up with a Bluetooth dongle for the Playstation Portable that will allow you to transmit music from your PSP to Bluetooth enabled headphones. I personally don't see myself using something like this, because I still don't see the PSP as a music playing device, but who knows, maybe that will change.

PSP Bluetooth Audio Dongle [Ever-E]