Astro Professional Gaming Headsets & Bags

Our own CEO and Founder, Brett Lovelady, was interviewed by Fast Company to pick his brain regarding creating a performance brand in the gaming space where branding was non-existent. Check out the full article here.

Brett Lovelady started Astro Studios in 1994 with the objective to bring more of a consumer product perspective to technology. But after stints at Frog and Lunar, Lovelady wanted to make “anything that wasn’t technology”–toys, soft goods, sporting goods. They began royalty relationships, translating the value of design into real equity.

Their breakthrough came when they designed Nike’s Triax 250 sportswatches, earning $300 million over five years. The studio got involved with Nike’s concept team, designing the company’s first line of golf clubs and eye wear, then began applying those skills to video games with a redesign of Alienware and the Xbox 360, which remains one of their most visible products.

In 2006, Lovelady spun off Astro Gaming to make actual products. In short order, it has become the Rolls Royce of professional gaming gear. The A40 Headphones, which also make up the A40 wireless system, is where professional-grade gaming meets professional-grade design applied to the marketplace—with headphones that mix voice and game sounds in 7.1 surround simulation and connected with a MixAmp digital decoder. [more ...]

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My solo sojourn through the barren streets of Halo: ODST’s New Mombasa now draws to a close. I’ve actually been able to savor the campaign quite a bit since I’ve been pleasantly interrupted all week to play through the brutal but insanely fun Firefight mode. Playing against AI is usually a welcome relief from playing against the plain-old-’I’ of friends and enemies online, but ODST’s computer controlled enemies have gone back to school and graduated magna-cum-laude in Kick Ass.

Trouble is, my crew actually knows the head schoolmaster: Bungie’s own lead AI Programmer Max Dyckhoff. Commonly overheard epithet’s upon death: “Effing Dyckhoff!” and “Goddamn it MAX!”

Sorry for taking your name in vain, buddy.

– Stormy

As Josh so eloquently wrote above, I, too will be rocking some Halo 3: ODST action this weekend. Playing the Firefight mode with 10 different people each night has distracted me from the campaign way too many times. So this weekend, I just need to sit my ass down and finish it.

Actually, one of my favorite things about the Halo 3: ODST single-player campaign is the voice-acting. You’ve got captain Malcom Reynolds, Jayne, and Wash from the Firefly series, and Caprica 6 from Battlestar Galactica; a nerdcore, all-star cast for sure. Props to Bungie for stuffing 20lbs of talent into a 5lb bag.

So yeah. Lots of ODST for me.

– Stanimal

We asked Corey to give us a few sentences on what he was playing this weekend. This was his enthusiastic response:

ODST and/or COD4MW

– Jam Bacula

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The ASTRO Gaming crew doesn’t just sit around making awesome gaming equipment, sometimes we actually have time to game! Wanna join us? Here’s what we are playing…

Stan
With Blizzcon going on this weekend and two my roommates attending, I get to hold down the fort and only read about all the awesome stuff happening. Blizzard just announced the new Diablo III Monk class and it is making me very nostalgic for some hack n’ slash action. Wonder if Battle.net still has my Diablo II character from last year…

Thanks to everyone’s positive remarks about Shadow Complex on our Twitter! It definitely helped in making the game an easy purchase. Apparently Shadow Complex is based off one of Orson Scott Card’s books so it gives this side-scroller some good story and the voice acting is better than most triple-A titles. Personally, I just want to jump around and blow up bad guys all Metroid/Castlevania style.

Gotta get in as much as I can as next week is gonna be pretty hectic. You know, MLG Dallas and all.

Noah
Because Chrono Trigger DS has been sitting in a UPS warehouse only a few miles for the last 2 days, and won’t be delivered until Monday (Ugh!), I’ll be playing a couple games this weekend, because 1 game is almost never enough to keep my ADD in check.

I’ll be shooting from world to world through space as I make an honest effort (or at least an effort) to finish Mario Galaxy before the sequel arrives. I’ll also be hitting up the final Fallout 3 expansion, Mothership Zeta, which takes place on a giant Spaceship. This is of course after I hit up the sneak preview of James Cameron’s Avatar tonight, set on an alien planet, in space. There’s a theme here somewhere…

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Man, you missed QuakeCon, didn’t you? With all of the kick-ass exclusives, mind-blowing game demonstrations, hotter than hot QuakeCon girls, and epic final matches, this has been hailed as the biggest and best QuakeCon ever. Continue on to see what other crazy stuff happened!

Splash Damage, the guys behind ET:QW and RTCW: ET were showing off their upcoming team shooter known as Brink. It’s another one of your “Earth gone to sh*t” games where you can pick one of two sides fighting over a last refuge of humanity. Don’t let my sarcasm dissuade you from his game as it’s got some crazy new mechanics like on-the-fly class customization and the ninja-like ability to climb up or slide under whatever is nearby. Think Mirror’s Edge meets Quake Wars.

RAGE is id’s new baby is going a similar route with the post-apocalyptic atmosphere with the new Tech 5 engine which will blow your radioactively mutated mind. You get to have fun with RC controlled bombs, walking sentries, and Mad Max-esque racing, the list goes on. Because comparisons are so much fun, think of RAGE as a combination of GTA4 and Fallout 3.

Don’t forget all the fun little things like mountains of free t-shirts, playing the new Wolfentsein game, Doom Resurrection on the iPhone for $2.99 (which genius me missed too), or getting Quake Live to run on Macs and Linux.

The last and best part of QuakeCon are the uber-mega-ultra-ludicrous tournament finals in the main event hall. Because id is so cool, they provided free chili dogs for all attending the finals, only adding to the rocket launching awesomeness. Congrats go to Team EG for winning the Quake Live CTF, Team Dynamic’s Flysher for winning the Quake Live Open, and sk rapha for winning the Quake Live Masters!

For some unofficial recaps of the CTF and Masters finals, go here!

So yeah, it’s official: QuakeCon 2009 rocked. Who knows, we just might be there next year in a slightly more official capacity…

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Our intrepid community manager Stan is off this weekend to Dallas for the biggest LAN in North America: QuakeCon! This LAN is not only the biggest LAN on the continent, but it’s also FREE — as long as you sign up before the seats are filled. As you might have guessed, we signed up too late — but instead of seething with jealousy, we’re going to throw a LAN of our own. To kick things off, we ginned up this little guide to help you get your own party started.

LAN parties are the perfect way to spend a rainy weekend with friends — all it takes is a little planning to make sure that things go smoothly.

Whether you are planning a PC or console-oriented LAN party, getting the right mix of gear together is the first and most crucial step. Console players have it a little easier, since the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are much more portable than their full-sized PC counterparts. However, don’t forget that you’ll need extra monitors, game titles, LAN cables, and a hub/switch big enough to handle as many consoles that you need to connect everyone. Having a buddy with a 16- or 24-port switch is always handy; but an older 10/100 switch is all you need. Spending hundreds on a Gigabit-grade switch is overkill.

What to bring?

When you tell your buddies what to bring to a console LAN party, don’t forget to tell them to haul along their monitor, correct video cables, game titles, wired controller, and networking cable. The A40 Audio System is the ideal solution for a console LAN, so don’t forget your audio gear, even if your friends don’t have ASTRO equipment yet. If your buddies have an extra network cable and wired controller, have them bring those too (after they’ve marked them with initials). Someone is bound to forget theirs. Remember that a wired controller is required — more than four wireless controllers are going to interfere with one other unless you are a fair distance away, which takes away from the fun.

The same advice for a PC LAN applies, with the addition of needing a place to put computers, monitors, and mouse pads — in addition to a spot for everyone’s butt. Beg and borrow every card table, picnic table and folding chair that you can scrounge from relatives, neighbors and friends.

Lastly, whether you go the PC or console route, don’t forget to sort out the power situation well beforehand — using industrial grade extension cords to draw power from multiple circuits in your house is a smart way to go. Nothing is a bigger drag than blowing a fuse or tripping a circuit breaker mid-match. Having your buddies bring their own power strips with surge protectors is always a smart idea.

What to play?

This is the all-important question, and one that will make or break your party. Start with your friends: what games do you usually play? This game — whatever it may be — will be the game that gets the most mileage during your party. Being all together will certainly open up new strategies and new wrinkles to whatever you are playing (if only the ‘in yer face!’ factor of in-person versus play), in addition to the tactical advantages of having a ‘Lag-free’ connection that is only possible when you are on a LAN.

If you have another game that people might enjoy, but haven’t necessarily played yet (or perhaps not for a long time), this can be a welcome break from the main attraction. Mix and match your genres as well: If everyone got together to play an intense first-person PC shooter like Counter-strike or Battlefield, be sure to take it down a notch by starting a friendly pickup game of an RTS classic like WarCraft III or Dawn of War. If you’ve got newer gear and newer game collections, Dawn of War II and Supreme Commander are incredibly fun. Most RTS titles have 2v2 (or even 3v3!) modes that enable you to put noobies with more experienced players, and advanced controls that enable you to balance things to a fine degree — guaranteeing that everyone is enjoying fun and challenging games.

If you are gearing your LAN toward PC play, take a break by firing up a fun, tried-and-true console game. Sure, everybody knows Halo can be a great way to blow off some steam, but after playing PC shooters, a console FPS will seem like it is in “slow motion”. It’s better to fire up Mario Kart, Bomberman, or Boom Blox (try it, seriously!) if you have a GameCube or Wii. If you have an Xbox 360 handy, the Xbox Live Arcade selection should have something for everyone: old school multiplayer titles like Gauntlet and Joust are a riot, while new school faves like Geometry Wars are extremely entertaining just to watch. And of course, fighting games like Super Smash Brothers, Street Fighter, and Soul Caliber are perfect for a quick player-versus-player fix.

For console centric LAN parties, taking a break from the controller is the way to go. If you have a couple of laptops handy, try loading up the LAN party gold standard: Unreal Tournament 2004. 2k4 is a stellar run-and-gun action title that is 10lbs of fun in a 5lb bag — even if you are playing for the very first time. It’s also an older title that even low-spec laptops will be able to handle nicely, and available dirt cheap in most stores’ bargain bins, or downloadable from Steam, at: www.steampowered.com

Once you’ve attended or held a few LAN parties, you’ll start noticing games in the bargain bin that will be ideally suited to a LAN, especially those “forgotten” shooters. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has an amazing deathmatch mode that is wildly popular in places like Russia, but if you live in the West, you’ll need to create a local server — and a LAN party is the perfect opportunity. Likewise, Prey is an ideal PC LAN game if your group is on the small side — this console-centric shooter fared poorly since it was too claustrophobic for 16-32 player servers, but is ideal for 4-8 friends at a LAN.

One last thing: unless you are getting your Guild together for some in-person raid action, it would be wise to ban World of Warcraft during the weekend. WoW has a tendency to divide your group into ever-smaller chunks, and really takes away from the mano-a-mano spirit of a LAN.

Good luck–and save us a slice of pizza!

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Let’s just admit it: licensed content usually sucks. Usually borne out of some boardroom desk jockey’s genius plan to synergize content across the global market, and you’ve got a recipe for epic fail that may or may not involve Uwe Boll.

Today marks a momentous day in history: the upcoming comic book tie-in game Batman: Arkham Asylum demo will drop like a hammer on PSN and Xbox Live. Why is this awesome? Because this comic/movie franchise game probably won’t suck.

The story behind Arkham Asylum is written by Paul Dini, who produced and wrote various DC comics and a boatload of award-winning animated shows like Batman: and Superman: The Animated Series. The guy even consulted on ABC’s LOST so I’m sold on the game’s writing (as long as it was during the first two seasons).

Taking a page from the multimedia master illustrator Dave McKean the dreary and frightening psych ward/prison combo trembles with colorful characters ready to blast out of their cage. My personal fave would have to be Harley Quinn in her hot little pseudo goth outfit. Dayum.

Arkham Asylum‘s ridiculous gameplay variety sucks me in like a black hole. After watching this walk-through from this past GDC, you get to see Batman work his magic with explosive gel, batarangs, cape glide takedowns, and detective mode. The inmates/bad guys all react dynamically to every situation and no two scenarios are the same.

Arkham Asylum‘s story comes from the comic-book mythos rather than the movies, but less so from Grant Morrison’s eponymous enigmatic masterpiece than Frank Miller’s action-crammed beat-em-ups. Pissed off villains from the long-standing comic book series line up for revenge against our caped crusader like some high school reunion gone wrong. Some of my favorites include Joker, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn (<3), The Croc, and Bane.

For our final exhibit, I present: kick-ass voice acting. Kevin Conroy will be voicing Batman (Batman’s voice actor from the Emmy Award-winning Batman: the Animated Series) and Mark Hamill (yep, Luke-I-am-your-father-Skywalker) will be voicing the Joker. In case you think these guys don’t have cred, they’ve both been voicing their respective roles for 17 friggin’ years.

We all know movie tie-in games have a notorious tendency to suck. Thankfully, this game looks like complete and utter fan service and I’m frothing at the mouth to give it a go. Until then, I’ll be watching the Batman: Arkham Asylum trailers and grabbing the demo later today.

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It seems that every other day an ASTRO employee’s heart breaks over yet another video game delay. First, it was BioShock 2 that sent me reeling and crying like a baby. All those love letters to 2K Games went unanswered, further delaying my opportunity to blow #$%* up as a Big Daddy.

Then Sam Fisher went on indefinite hiatus putting Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction on delay until 2010. Our Producer, Josh, took the news especially hard–not everyone can handle that kind of distance. He’s dealing with it the best he can, puttering about the office in his Night Vision Goggles with incomprehensible mutters about ‘polish, smolish’. But we know he’s hurting bad on the inside.

Mass Effect 2‘s launch day was going to be something special for our military-minded Noah. When you spend enough time on the battlefield to gain the coveted 60th level, you get close–maybe too close. He had everything planned for the reunion: roses, champagne, fancy dinner, you name it. Noah just couldn’t handle the uncertainty: “the end of 2009″ or, “early 2010.” Lately he’s been talking about this Scribblenauts game an awful lot, but that ain’t gonna get his ring back.

Walter, our Customer Relations Manager, seems to have the best approach: “Yeah, I don’t give a crap. You can quote me on that.” While being an avid gamer, his laid back attitude towards game releases keeps him out of harm’s way. We had to believe him until we spotted him during his lunch hour blowing a heartbreaking tune into his iPhone Ocarina, Googling fruitlessly for a Battlefield 3 launch date.

In all seriousness, we’re definitely looking forward to a lot of great games coming out soon, and we know that the extra time is sometimes needed to make good games great. STALKER, Team Fortress 2, and Duke Nukem Forever all come out eventually–er, well… two out of three ain’t bad.

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The ASTRO Gaming crew doesn’t just sit around making awesome gaming equipment, sometimes we actually have time to game! Wanna join us? Here’s what we are playing…

Josh
Mass Effect still holds center stage on the big screen — checking off all of the achievements turned out to be a much bigger commitment than I’d anticipated. Sort of like that time I signed up for the French Foreign Legion after being promised free haircuts and all-you-can-eat croissants. Long story.

Anyways, a couple more hours of Geth-mashing for my C-U-next-tuesday protagonist and I’ll be fully prepped for the sequel. The promise of porting my badass character to the next game is extremely compelling, but fraught with plot-twisting peril. If anyone can pull this off, it’s got to be BioWare.

Switching gears a bit, I’m just about to go off to camp — that is, in the Harry Potter IMAX 3D queue. I have to admit that I’m looking forward to hanging out in line with my new DSi since it will give me a chance to continue playing one of the best games I’ve picked up this year: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

Yeah, yeah, super hardcore, I know–AND late to the party. But this little Zelda game has everything: intricate puzzles, great characters, high seas adventure, endless exploration, genuine humor…and at times, pure and simple joy. I really didn’t think that I could ever get back the wonderful feeling of triumph that I had when I was a little kid playing with Link for the very first time.

I was wrong. Dead wrong. Gonna have to wrap my Gryffindor scarf really tight tonight to hide the uncontrollable smiles.

XBL GT: PA Stormy

Walter
Things never happen as planned, especially many of my weekends. This means that my quest for combing through NYC in Prototype finding little glowing orbs didn’t get checked off the “to do” list. I’m planning on hammering out some more of that this weekend for sure.

After that, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to play. As I mentioned last week, I purchased Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield 1943 two weeks ago. I also picked up Mass Effect (since *everyone* at ASTRO won’t pipe down about it) and Assassin’s Creed as well. I figured I should play through both of those before the sequels come out. I’ve also been meaning to finish up Fable II, Gears 2, replay Fight Night Round 3, and finally crack the seal on my copy of Fight Night Round 4 that has been sitting on my shelf all shiny and new. To make matters worse, I started playing Halo 3 again last night.

Too many choices, so little time… I think I’ll load up on Rockstar Fruit Punch, not sleep this weekend, and just do it all.

XBL GT: ASTRO Xarion

Noah
This weekend I’ll be knee deep in Americas Army – The Real Deal. When I get done with that for the evening, I plan on diving face-first into Sega’s The Conduit, for Wii. I’m anxious to see if the much-hyped controls really rival the innovative Metroid Prime 3 – Corruption. After all, someone in the office has to represent Nintendo’s little white love box. I’ll surely get in some Fallout 3 as well, as I’ve still got a quite a bit of ground to cover in the downloadable content, with more coming on Monday.

I largely have Bethesda to thank for my lack of a tan this summer.

XBL GT: ASTRO Sarge

Stan
I may have narrowly escaped the Nerd Flu during PDXLAN and Comic-Con, but something nasty hit me today. My recipe for getting over a cold? Overdosing with the usual: vitamin C, tea, chicken soup, and video games.

Finally, I can get around to a game based off of one of my favorite cartoons and movies as a kid: Ghostbusters. I hear it’s quick, so once that’s done, I’ll be ripping through Mass Effect once more with the difficulty set to “Insanity”. Should be a fun weekend bustin’ ghosts and Geth.

I can do all that in 48 hours… right?

XBL GT: on3nightstan

Corey
Because Friday night is brew night, it will probably contain intermittent
games of Halo 3 or Resident Evil 5 while waiting for the various stages of beer-making to take place. Afterward, I predict a heated round of Streets of Rage 2 will take place until someone passes out or the game is beaten.

Saturday and Sunday will be tough to fit games in, got other stuff going on. However, if you do see me on Xbox Live, it will be a game-time decision between COD 4: WaW, Battlefield 1943, or Bad Company.