The Jog, or jOG in hipster screwed-up capitalization 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, as exposing Americans to the product would most likely result in sarcastic blog articles, and we wouldn't want that.

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 analog 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 Adapter. 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 customized 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 analog 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 $79.99, 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 $99 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?

His words make sense, and at the risk of mistaking passion for a strong work ethic, I believe he is completely sincere. The fact is that between the new Rock Band peripherals and the Street Fighter IV sticks we posted earlier today, things could very well be looking up for the company...but that's really not for me to say. The letter that follows, which Alex suggested I print in full, isn't so much to me as it is to you guys.

Hi Mike,

I don't believe we've ever spoken before.

My name is Alex Verrey and I am the Global PR & Comms Manager for Mad Catz. I've been in the job now for around 9 months and came on board from JOYTECH after Mad Catz aquired us last year.

I read with interest your piece on our Fender shipping:

http://kotaku.com/5046651/mad-catz-ships-fender-rock-band-bass#c7658588

First of all, thanks for the story, much appreciated. The Fender Bass like all our Rock Band range is a product we are deeply passionate about.

On a personal note however, it was a shame to read you say that you would "Normally never purchase a Mad Catz product". I guess I can understand your thought process however. We're not naive to what many gamers seem to think of Mad Catz products and I know from my years at JOYTECH that third party products are often thought of as cheap knock offs and not great quality.

Thing is Mike, a lot has changed in recent years. Mad Catz have repositioned ourselves as makers of high quality peripherals and most of our products now come with a 5 year warrenty.

In fact, the 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!). All the products are of course licensed by Harmonix and fender. 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?

I know you may find this all hard to believe but I've always felt that the best way to change a persons mind on the product is to make good product and let them see for themselves. No PR bull, no more talk, just play and see for youself. All I ask is that you give us a chance to prove how much we've grown as a company.

To that end, I suggest the following. Please feel free to print this email on your site, we have nothing to hide. If anyone has an issue with the products or questions to ask, feel free to email me at: averrey@madcatz.com , we're listening and here to help.

So what's your take? Were you moved? Do you believe, or will you run out and pick up the sweet-ass SFIV arcade controller and then returned to your regularly scheduled hating? It's all on you guys.

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 license 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.

As you can see, I wasn't making up the mushroom head thing. In case you were wondering why you would need a shark-shaped light gun for your Wii, the answer is right there, plain as day.

"With lively appearance and smooth lines, shark gun makes you feel comfortable, and give you a strong sense of shark-like invincible force."

Pega Shark Light Gun for Wii [DealExtreme - Thanks Andy!]

"Female gamers have an incredibly high set of standards when it comes to quality as well as design," said Bob Costlow, director of sales, WOLFKING. "You can't just paint something pink and say it's for girls. The Girl Gamer products give women access to fully functioning, hardcore gaming devices, but with an aesthetic touch."

And that's it. They added pink. This makes it for girls.

I was going to go into a lengthy tirade about the differences between girl gamers and guy gamers basically coming down to genitalia and sometimes facial hair, neither of which currently affect your ability to play a video game, but every time I talk about women and men, someone takes it the wrong way and I end up getting lambasted for being some kind of chauvinist. Instead, here's a picture of a pony. His name is Lucky. Incidentally, don't Google Image Search the phrase "lucky pony" without your adult filters firmly in place.

(Update): WOLFKING sent me pictures of the items, seen above. As you can tell it is a more subtle pink. Not sure if that's better or worse.

WOLFKING Creates Line of Custom Designed Gaming Devices

Girl Gamer WARRIOR and TROOPER with Flamingo Pink Accents Available Exclusively Through Dell

(Englewood, NJ) - November 20, 2007 - WolfKing, a world leader in the innovation and creation of gaming input devices, today announced it is customizing its award-winning WARRIOR gaming pad and TROOPER gaming mouse to appeal to female PC gamers. The specially designed gaming devices, which will be sold exclusively through Dell, provide the same high level of quality that consumers have come to expect from WOLFKING.

The Girl Gamer WARRIOR (MSRP: $34.99) features the same 54-key circular layout and USB 2.0 plug-and-play capability as the original WARRIOR, but now features a Flamingo Pink accent gradient on top of a full stealth black matte finish, with polished deep black audio keys. It offers all the functionality of the WARRIOR, but with a feminine touch.

The Girl Gamer Gear TROOPER (MSRP: $39.99) also features the Flamingo Pink accent over a 6.4 megapixels-per-second laser mouse with a dpi range of 800-2200. The sense of style doesn't compromise the high-end gaming mouse functionality gamers expect from the TROOPER.

"Female gamers have an incredibly high set of standards when it comes to quality as well as design," said Bob Costlow, director of sales, WOLFKING. "You can't just paint something pink and say it's for girls. The Girl Gamer products give women access to fully functioning, hardcore gaming devices, but with an aesthetic touch."

Eric Winkler, Saitek's founder, commented: "Joining Saitek with Mad Catz is a truly complementary step that leverages the strengths of each side, gives the combined business a new scale, and strengthens the relationships with both suppliers and customers. I am proud of what the Saitek team has achieved in its 28 years and I thank all those who made it possible.

Mad Catz Acquires Saitek™, a Leading Worldwide PC Games Peripheral Provider, for $30 Million

Strategic Diversification Complements Mad Catz' Leadership in Console Game Peripherals and Further Expands International Footprint

SAN DIEGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that consistent with its strategy to further diversify its products and geographic distribution capabilities, it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of the private holding company that owns Saitek's worldwide operations. Saitek is a leading worldwide provider of PC games accessories, PC input devices, multimedia audio products, chess and intelligent games. In particular, Saitek enjoys a leadership position in flight simulation controllers and has established a strong position in keyboards for PC games. In its latest fiscal year ended February 28, 2007, Saitek generated over $43 million of net sales and its gross margins exceeded those generated by Mad Catz in its latest twelve months. Mad Catz expects the acquisition to be accretive to its fiscal 2008 earnings and cash flow.

Under the terms of the agreement, the $30 million purchase consideration is subject to working capital adjustment and is comprised of $15.5 million in cash from Mad Catz' cash on hand and borrowings under the Company's existing credit facility, as well as the issuance to the seller by Mad Catz of $14.5 million of convertible notes. The notes bear interest at a rate of 7.5% payable at maturity and are convertible at the seller's option into common shares of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. at $1.42 per share. The conversion price represents a 15% premium to the average closing share price of MCZ shares over the last 15 trading days. $4.5 million of the notes mature in two years and $10 million of the notes mature in three years.

Saitek's product lines include PC games accessories, PC input devices, multimedia audio products, chess and intelligent games. In addition to representing a strategically complementary product line to Mad Catz' broad range of console videogame offerings, Saitek's comprehensive range of PC peripherals allows Mad Catz to further strengthen its retail distribution network, particularly in Europe, where Saitek generates more than fifty percent of its revenues. Saitek's 120 employees in product development, sales and marketing, distribution and finance/administration are expected to join Mad Catz. Saitek has offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, United Sates, Hong Kong and the Peoples Republic of China.

Commenting on the transaction, Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz, said, "PC games peripherals is a category closely adjacent to our core console business and we are thrilled to be adding one of the world's leading providers to the Mad Catz family. Saitek significantly enhances Mad Catz' position as one of the world's leading games peripherals companies and provides us an entrée into the businesses of PC mice, keyboards and speakers and electronic chess and intelligent games.

Saitek has world-class product development and sales teams, one of the best brands among consumers in the industry and a diversified portfolio of highly-successful products. Its outstanding vendor operations personnel in China and administrative personnel throughout the company will not only help us grow Saitek's PC businesses, but will also support Mad Catz' continuing growth initiatives on a global basis."

Eric Winkler, Saitek's founder, commented: "Joining Saitek with Mad Catz is a truly complementary step that leverages the strengths of each side, gives the combined business a new scale, and strengthens the relationships with both suppliers and customers. I am proud of what the Saitek team has achieved in its 28 years and I thank all those who made it possible. We look forward with confidence to the success of the combined team in the years ahead, and wish them the best of good fortune."

Mr. Richardson added, "Although we expect to achieve operational efficiencies due to the scale of the combined entity, we believe that the upside is inherent in the future growth potential and not on a cost cutting basis. We intend to identify opportunities to apply Saitek's brands, intellectual property, products and skills in the console market as well as identify opportunities to apply Mad Catz' brands, intellectual property, products and skills in the PC market.

Just two months after our acquisition of the assets of Joytech, joining forces with Saitek is another example of how we are executing on our strategic plan to grow our business accretively, with the mission of increasing shareholder value by leveraging our core competencies in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of interactive entertainment accessories and products."

Europe to Get Zapping Before Christmas [Next Gen]