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SteelSeries drops a bag of CES goodies: two headsets, three mice and one mobile controller
It's CES time folks, and that means that companies are unveiling new products by the bundle, and gaming accessory maker SteelSeries is no different. First up is the Ion wireless gaming controller that connects to your PC, tablet or phone through Bluetooth. It'll grant you up to 20 hours of gaming at a stretch when it goes up for sale in Q3 of 2012. The company's also debuting a couple of headsets, the Flux and Siberia v2 Frost. The Flux, scheduled for a Q2 release, is aimed at gamers on-the-go, as its ear cups collapse for easy storage while traveling. It's also got cord jacks on either side that allow you to daisy chain headsets together so more than one person can listen to a single audio source at a time. SteelSeries' Siberia v2 Frost headset is an updated version of the Siberia v2 that still does active noise canceling, but adds some extra flash with blue LEDs that can be set to pulse or dim to meet your tastes. Rounding out SteelSeries CES offerings is a trio of gaming rodents, the Kana, Kinzu v2, and Kinzu v2 Pro. The Kinzu v2 Pro, available now for $44.99 brings four buttons, a 3,600fps optical sensor that supports stable movements up to 65 inches per second. It also has pro-quality Omron switches and brings three color choices (black, silver and red) to your next LAN party. Meanwhile, its sibling, the Kinzu v2 sports the same specs sans the Omron switches and can be had in black, white, orange, or yellow for $39.99. Last up is the Kana, which has a 3,600fps optical sensor that supports stable movements up to 130 inches per second,ups the button count to six, and brings an illuminated scroll wheel to the table for $49.99. Check out a gallery of all the new gaming goodies below.
Greenhouse's KanaSD gets makeover, adds SDHC support
Oh, KanaSD, how you've matured over the years in front of our very eyes. The diminutive DAP from Greenhouse has evolved from a simplistic, lackluster player to one that supported flash memory, and now provides a new level of adorableness to go along with the SDHC compatibility. The device plays nice with both MP3 and WMA formats, handles flash cards up to 8GB in size, lasts about five hours on a full charge, syncs up via USB 2.0, and comes in your choice of black or silver. As if you couldn't already guess, we've no idea how much this wee unit will cost when it hits the Japanese streets later this month, but it ought not be (too) much.[Via AkihabaraNews]
Train your Japanese-writing brain in minutes a day!
Kana DS won't teach you how to translate Famitsu magazine scans for your favorite games, but it will help you strengthen your hiragana and katakana skills. Think of the homebrew application as Brain Age for Japanese charsets, minus the floating, decapitated head. An alpha release of the project has been posted, demonstrating its "number sorting" mini-game. The only other implemented feature is a character reference mode, but we can already see a lot of potential for this polished application. Developer Julio Gorgé plans to include handwriting recognition, progress tracking, and difficulty scaling in future builds.It might not be as mind-blowing as Kanji Ken, but few games are. Check past the post break for a preview video of Kana DS. [Via DCEmu]
Greenhouse intros pocket-friendly 1GB Kana D DAP
Greenhouse is apparently taking a break from TV tuners and USB ashtrays to update its wee Kana-SD MP3 player, this time giving it a more refined look, a (tiny) LCD screen, and removing the "S" from the nameplate. The Kana D touts a 1.12- x 3.27- x 0.87-inch enclosure, USB 1.1 connectivity, USB-stick design, 1GB of storage, about seven hours of battery life from a single AA battery, and six pre-packaged EQ settings. The unit comes in black, white, or blazing red color schemes, plays nice with Windows, and supports both MP3 and WMA. Best of all, the pocketable DAP can be had for just €39 ($52) when it drops later this month.[Via Akihabara News]
Edutainment, language-style
Asuma Entertainment is working on a new language-helper game that will probably not see a release outside Japan, but may be a good import for those trying to learn elementary Japanese. Anpanman to Asobo: Aiueo Kyoushitsu is the DS as a pile of flash cards; objects are shown and the player writes the correct Japanese word for the object. There are already a number of language info-games for the DS, so the concept of this isn't terribly new. However, this game seems aimed at children, and features the pastry-headed Anpanman, and many language students already watch childrens' films and read picture books to help them with language, so why not a kid-friendly DS game?
