Home Gaming Gear

Saddleback Leather Company just got game


Saddleback Leather Company is very well known for their “they’ll fight over it when you’re dead” leather bags and gear. But you probably would not have guessed that one of their newest products is a set of dominoes. Unexpected? Yes. But not unexpected is that the dominoes are made of leather. 

This full set of 28 dominoes is made from thick vegetable tanned carbon black bull leather that has been cut so the dominoes can stand on end in either orientation.

Pounded into the center of each domino is a metal spinner. I’m not a domino aficionado, so I don’t know if there is a significance to the center spinner, but it sounds cool.

The set of leather dominoes is housed in a box made from one piece of thick leather that is stitched with boot cord.

Like most of Saddleback Leather’s products, the price will make you catch your breath, but also like Saddleback Leather products, you’ll need need to replace this set because it will last longer than you will.

Head over to Saddleback to check out their leather domino set which is priced at $189.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged:

Saddleback Leather Company just got game originally appeared on on July 5, 2017 at 10:07 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Atari makes my childhood dream come true 40 yrs later

When I was a kid, I spent countless hours sitting on my bed gripping an Atari 2600 gaming controller while playing Centipede, Missile Command, Breakout, Pong and other games. I’d go to bed at night still seeing blocky game graphics animate behind my eyelids. The Atari 2600 was my first taste of video games and I was hooked. The only thing better than the Atari 2600 in those days would have been a version that I could have carried with me. Now I can relive those days the Atari Flashback Portable.

The Atari Flashback Portable is a version of the iconic Atari 2600 gaming console but in a pocket-friendly handheld form factor.

The Flashback Portable features a 3.2″ color display, a rechargeable battery, a built-in gaming controller, and 60 classic games built into the device. But wait, there’s more! The Flashback also has an SD card slot that allows you to load other game ROMs. And for those times when you want to enjoy the games on a larger screen, you can connect it to a TV.

The Atari Flashback Portable is priced at $49.99 and can be purchased through Amazon.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, News

Tagged:

Atari makes my childhood dream come true 40 yrs later originally appeared on on April 15, 2017 at 9:46 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Creative gets creative with gaming speakers

Creative is known mainly for SoundBlaster sound cards and speakers. I’ve reviewed their wonderful Roar wireless speaker series. Creative’s newest speaker is the BlasterX Kratos S5 is a 2.1 gaming speaker system with Aurora Reactive lighting system. It comes with powerful 4” satellite drivers and a 6.5” subwoofer in wooden enclosures, delivering clear highs, detailed mid-range and deep bass. When connected to a PC or Mac it’s capable of high-quality 24-bit/96kHz digital audio playback.

The full-range satellites are designed with large volume capacity in mind. The custom-tuned, down-firing subwoofer pumps out deep bass for gaming, movie and mega bass music playback without distortion.

The Kratos S5 has immersive virtual 7.1 surround sound and fully customizable BlasterX Acoustic Engine Pro software for PC.

Control volume through an easy-to-access audio control pod. This pod provides hassle-free gaming connection for a headset and microphone.

The Aurora Reactive lighting system provides ambient lighting to accompany games with fully customizable 16 million color LED lighting with six presets or customizable colors and patterns to match other peripherals or fully integrate with other Creative Aurora Reactive lighting system-enabled products.

The Creative BlasterX Kratos S5 is a 2.1 gaming speaker system is available now and sells for $159.99 US. Visit Creative for more information.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Gaming Gear, News

Tagged: ,

Creative gets creative with gaming speakers originally appeared on on March 29, 2017 at 8:53 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

PAX East 2017 trip report

This past weekend I attended PAX East 2017 in Boston at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. PAX is a gaming convention held at different venues and times throughout the country. PAX truly is a celebration of all things gaming and loads of fun.

What is PAX?

In 2004, the creators of the webcomic Penny Arcade decided to create a convention exclusively for gaming. That first gathering in Bellevue, Washington had about 4,500 people in attendance and focused on board, tabletop, card, arcade, console and computer gaming culture and community. Each year since its inception the convention has doubled in size and in 2010 the show expanded into Boston for PAX East. The PAX shows in Seattle and Boston now represent the two largest gaming events in North America.

Game creators, computer manufacturers, toy makers, gadget purveyors and the like all gather at PAX to show and promote their latest wares. The booths range from a single table to city-block-long sets complete with light shows and MCs.

Several huge sections of PAX are cordoned off just for networked gaming. There are a number of competitions throughout the weekend and gamers are encouraged to bring their own PCs or use one of the hundreds of high-end units supplied by manufacturers like Intel.

Tabletop gamers are also given their own specific areas on the floor to compete in tournaments or try out some of the many new and up-and-coming games being promoted.

There are demos for everything from VR car-racing rigs to PC cooling systems. New PC games are frequently debuted at PAX and it gives game lovers the chance to try the latest games before they hit the shelves.

Of course, there are gadgets at PAX! For some reason, mechanical keyboards seemed to be VERY popular with the PAX crowd and there were a number of customizable keyboards that had some amazing features as well as very high price tags.

Not to be outdone by the digital game industry, a huge portion of the vendor area was reserved for tabletop gaming paraphernalia. Dice, dice towers, gaming mats, spell books and all sorts of tabletop gaming apparatus were on display.

Several vendors displayed very high-end luxury furniture designed specifically for tabletop gaming. The design, quality, and functionality of some of these tables were amazing. Some of the more intricate designs take as much as a full year to design, customize and build to a customer’s specifications.

Besides the exhibition floor, the convention center’s meeting rooms were jam-packed and scheduled with a number of panels, discussions, and presentations all having to do with gaming culture, personalities, and industry. I attended a fascinating discussion on real scientific theories present in current game titles.

PAX East is great fun for people even mildly interested in gaming. The community, attendees, exhibitors and PAX volunteers are all very enthusiastic, helpful and just nice in general. This was my first time attending a PAX convention, but it won’t be my last. I would love to attend PAX West in Seattle or PAX South in San Antonio and enjoy all those conventions have to offer as well.

Find the news PAX convention at paxsite.com

Filed in categories: Articles, Gaming Gear

Tagged:

PAX East 2017 trip report originally appeared on on March 19, 2017 at 8:36 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

dreamGEAR Retro Arcade Machine X review

Back in my day, we didn’t have fancy schmancy handheld gaming devices like the Nintendo Switch. We had 1000 pound machines that we had to feed quarters and stand up to play. And we liked it! If you’ve ever wanted to relive the golden age of video games, the dreamGEAR Retro Arcade Machine X has that covered. Or does it? Let’s find out.

What is it?

The dreamGEAR Retro Arcade Machine X is a miniature replica of a classic arcade machine with a built in 2.5 inch LCD, joystick, buttons and 300 games!



The dreamGEAR is less than 6 inches tall, making it the perfect desk toy. It has black and red plastic case with a built-in joystick and classic A / B buttons on the top.

The dreamGEAR is powered by 3 AA batteries that are not included. The batteries install into the back of the device and it requires a screwdriver to remove the cover.

Also on the back of the device is the power switch that has 3 settings: off, on and on with lights.

There’s a self-centering joystick, A and B buttons, a reset button, start button and a volume button that has 4 settings including mute.

After you load the batteries and flip the switch on the back of the dreamGEAR, it’s immediately ready to go and presents you with the main menu.

You can choose between sports, shooting, puzzle and arcade style games.

Each category has a LOT of games that you can scroll through. As mentioned at the start of the review, there is a total of 300 different games but there’s no list of what’s included or any type of description. There’s also no easy way to search for a game if you have a favorite.

The biggest bummer is that there are none of the classic games that I grew up with are included. There’s no Pacman, Centipede, Space Invaders, Gauntlet, Donkey Kong, or Asteroids. There are some clones, like Pro Sweeper which is sorta of like Pacman, but a really lame version of it.

The fun factor of the dreamGEAR wore off for me in less than a couple of minutes due to the fact that the screen is only 2.5 inches and the games are all boring.

So, there are 300 games that you won’t want to play… at least I don’t want to play them…

Final thoughts

I was excited to try the dreamGEAR, but my nostalgia bubble burst a couple of minutes after I loaded the batteries and switched it on. Save your money folks, this little gaming device really isn’t worth it because the games are not fun – at all. If you want to relive the days of classic arcade games, you’d be better off loading a MAME emulator on your phone or tablet. You can also head over to http://my.ign.com/atari and play some games right through your browser for free.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by dreamGEAR. Please visit their site or Amazon for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $43
Manufacturer: dreamGEAR
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Nostalgic
  • Easy to play
  • 300 games
Cons:
  • Games are lame
  • Tiny screen

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, Reviews

Tagged:

dreamGEAR Retro Arcade Machine X review originally appeared on on March 9, 2017 at 5:39 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.