Mozilla’s mobile operating system appears as though it’s almost ready to meet the public. ZTE, a Chinese phone manufacturer, would like to escort the new OS along the way. The first stop is Europe, where ZTE and Mozilla hope to have phones available this year.

2012 saw the continued success of Apple and the significant rise of Android. 2013, it appears, looks will be the year of the Davids as they come to take down the goliaths. One of the leaders of the alternative operating system movement is Mozilla, and its new mobile OS will have a happy home in the European zone. ZTE, the second-biggest phone equipment maker in China, has agreed to introduce a smartphone based around Mozilla’s software before the end of the year.

ZTE is looking to European wireless carriers to strike up a deal that will bring a Mozilla-powered phone to market in part of an effort to shrink the market share currently held by Android. While starting in Europe, expansion isn’t out of the question before year’s end. ZTE’s CEO Cheng Lixin stated, “If that is ready and if consumer studies support that data, then we may launch one in U.S. also this year,” during an interview at CES this week.

Deutsche Telekom, along with Sprint and Telephonica, has been working with Mozilla to start a line of cheaper smartphones built on the open OS. While part of a bigger movement, including a possible Linux-powered mobile OS and Samsung’s home-built Tizen OS, it looks as though Mozilla will have the jump and could claim the early share of the alternative market. According to a Strategy Analytics report cited by Bloomberg, Mozilla and ZTE could snag one percent of the mobile market in 2013.

Keeping the same sleek style, Vizio adds touch and AMD processors to its all-in-one desktops.

In addition to Vizio’s new Thin and Light laptops that we checked out today at CES, the company also showed off its new desktops: the Vizio All-in-One Touch PC in both 24-inch and 27-inch models. These all-in-one models aren’t entirely new. Like many of the other laptop and desktop releases we’ve seen at CES, these guys were announced in October during the Windows 8 launch. However, they did not have touch at the time, but Vizio is adding touch to the name and the display – which we’re assuming means a higher price as well. 

The interesting thing about Vizio’s releases at CES is that they come in both Intel and AMD flavors. The 24-inch AiO is available with an Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, or a quad-core AMD processor, whereas the 27-inch model is only available with an Intel Core i7 quad-core processor.

Both sizes offer a beautiful 1080p HD LED touchscreen display with 10-finger gesture capability. If you’re still not swayed by the promises of touch, Vizio also includes a touchpad. We know some PC users prefer a regular mouse to a touchpad, but since the touchpad is included in the box, buying a separate mouse isn’t a huge deal. We’re also slightly concerned about the keyboard, which appears to be quite similar to the Vizio CT14-A4 laptop’s keyboard that we reviewed back in December. With that model, we noticed a lot of dropped letters, and we’re hoping that’s not the case with that of the AiO. 

Vizio also includes a 2.1 audio system with a standalone subwoofer and SRS Premium Sound HD. We didn’t get a chance to test out the sound when we saw the AiO Touch, but we’re looking forward to seeing how the subwoofer enhances it when we get it in for review. We liked that the subwoofer also acts as the power brick, combining two things in one. All three peripherals – the keyboard, trackpad, and subwoofer – are included in the AiO Touch’s package, as is a remote control. 

As you can see from the photo above, this all-in-one desktop has a sleek design. All of the hardware rests in the base of the computer. Even though we’ve seen this design already from Vizio, we still think it’s rather attractive. It definitely isn’t the type of computer you want to shove in the corner. The monitor rests on an aluminum stand that allows it to pivot for different viewing angles. The AiO Touch has two HDMI inputs, meaning you can use this with your Xbox  and other entertainment devices. Along with the remote control, you can use the AiO Touch as a dedicated monitor for your entertainment needs. It also has your standard 3.5-millimeter headphone/mic port, a gigabit Ethernet port, an SD card reader, and eSATA. 

We were impressed to hear that the AMD version has discrete graphics (AMD Radeon HD 8750A). Combined with the two HDMI inputs, this could be a decent option for a budget gaming desktop. The Intel model also feature a 32GB solid-state drive, which is used to to increase speed by caching the operating system and frequently used files. With 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive, this is one powerful machine.

Though we may not be crazy about the keyboard and trackpad that come with the AiO Touch, at first glance, we like what we see. This is one sleek looking machine, and we’re interested to see how the Vizio AiO Touch compares to other 27-inch all-in-ones we’ve reviewed like the Dell XPS One 27 and the 27-inch iMac. Vizio plans to release these in mid-February, but we’re still in the dark on pricing. Stay tuned for a full review.

Qualcomm helps home networks make the most of their bandwidth with a router chip that can balance network load based on the needs of every connected PC.

If you’ve ever tried to play an online game or watch a video while downloading a large file you’ve likely noticed a reduction in performance. And then you may have wondered – why? A file doesn’t need to download at maximum speed, so why is it greedy even when other programs are demanding the same bandwidth?

The answer is load-balancing, or lack thereof. Most of today’s network adapters are quick, but not smart. They will consume as much bandwidth as possible no matter the demands of other programs connected to the same network. Dealing with this is a minor annoyance for  a single user, who may have to alt-tab out of a game to pause a download, but it can be a huge headache for multiple users on a home network. A file download on a single PC can hurt performance for everyone else on the network.

Qualcomm Atheros has the solution with its new Streamboost technology. This feature, which is built into its latest 802.11ac router chip, can balance load between multiple systems by detecting usage per system and program. It can balance load automatically or do so on the basis of user-specified settings. Is someone causing problems with torrents? Just restrict that system’s bandwidth to free it up for others.

These functions are pieced together with an intuitive router backend that uses icons instead of text. It updates in real time so a network’s owner can see how bandwidth is being used while it’s being used.

We took a look at this technology in action at Qualcomm’s CES booth. The company sat us in front of an Alienware laptop to play Team Fortress 2 while a high-definition YouTube video looped on a separate PC. With load-balance turned off the streaming video caused occasional lag spikes that briefly, but noticeably, reduced performance. Turning Streamboost on eliminated the problem entirely.

Want it? We do too. Unfortunately the tech is slated for an unspecified high-end router from D-Link that will come out later this year. Other routers will probably follow but, since Streamboost is associated with a high-end 802.11ac chip, these too will no doubt be expensive products.

Mauz brings gesture control technology to the mobile arena with its app and dongle accessory. The duo combine to turn your smartphone into a versatile way to interact with your PC, mouse, keyboard, and even hands-free.

Gesture control technology continues to gain traction thanks to our increasing comfort going without the mouse and keyboard. Touchscreens have taught us to do without and we’re getting more and more familiar with eschewing these accessories.

Technology like The Leap and Kinect (and the many apps leveraging it) continue to push our progress here by giving us motion-based interactions with our PCs and TVs – and now, a new product called Mauz we spotted at CES will transform your smartphone into a gesture-friendly tool.

Mauz is a dongle that plugs into your iPhone, and then launches its own app to make your smartphone an incredibly versatile device. You can connect it to your PC and use it as a trackpad, dragging your finger across the phone’s screen to control your PC. You can right click and left click – all from your smartphone. The idea is to evolve how we control our electronics, allowing users new, intuitive, natural ways to use applications like PhotoShop or Google Earth.

Replacing your traditional mouse with what essentially becomes a multi-function trackpad isn’t all Mauz does. Within the app, you can also decide to enable gesture control, so the dongle and app partner to work as a sensor and you can wave your hand over the smartphone to navigate and control your device. Creator Gilad Meiri says this is intended to “simulate a Kinect-like experience.”

There’s also its Wii-like functionality, where you can pick it up and use it to remote control your device by waving it around as need be.

Meiri says the team just launched a KickStarter campaign to gauge interest – which might be a good goal, given the fact that they’re trying to raise $150,000 toward Mauz’s development. Regardless of the crowdsourcing campaign, Meiri says he expects to offer a beta version of Mauz (which he currently calls a “production-ready prototype”) in March or April and release the first iteration in June. He tells us this is a consumer-facing product – it’s not exclusively being shopped around to OEMs.

“Cost is an issue that still needs to be resolved,” Meiri says, although he figures it will cost “between $60 and $70.”

This market continues to grow while simultaneously becoming more and more accessible to the average user – and the simplicity of Mauz is both ambitious and exciting. We’ll have to wait until spring and summer to see if Mauz breaks onto store shelves. 

Last night, I had my first introduction to T-Mobile’s new CEO John Legere. He’s crazy, hilarious, and may just have the vision to help T-Mobile take on Verizon and AT&T.

I wrote T-Mobile off a long time ago. In my mind, it was a last-place carrier going nowhere fast. Last night, I changed my mind. I hobbled to T-Mobile’s CES press conference with a groan and a grumble, but I left with a smile and sense of loyalty. In less than an hour, T-Mobile’s new CEO John Legere made me laugh repeatedly, stunned me with his honesty, and convinced me that T-Mobile might just have what it takes to become the kind of wireless carrier we need in the United States … really badly.  

Last night, Legere trashed AT&T’s network repeatedly, said Sprint botched its LTE rollout, blatantly admitted that Verizon’s network is amazing, and said that shared data plans won’t work because porn takes too much data to stream. He was so blunt and so honest that he completely took the crowd of 70 or so journalists by surprise. And his jokes had the crowd of mobile nerds (and me) laughing so much a stand up comic would get jealous. Several times, he even repeated how little he cared about us. Baseball legend Joe Torre, who was in attendance, was the real reason he was there.

“I just wanted to meet Joe Torre. I could give a damn about all of you, but they said I had to say something if I wanted to come up,” he said to a laugh as his Q&A session began, informing the crowd that he would be around about two hours to take questions because, well … there’s free alcohol.

“Anybody want to taunt me into saying something inappropriate so you can put it in the media tomorrow?” he challenged with a smile.

And that’s all it took. What followed was something I haven’t seen anywhere else at CES. A real person answering real questions, unafraid of anything or anyone. Legere told us exactly where T-Mobile is and where he wants to see it go in detail, all while prodding his competitors with jokes and jabs – especially AT&T. 

“We didn’t even get started on our network, and right now, proven, our network is faster than AT&T and Verizon in New York City,” said Legere. “Anybody here from New York? Any of you use AT&T? Any of you who use them, are you happy? Of course not. Their network’s crap. We’re faster than they are in Chicago, and Minneapolis. We’re faster than them in, you know, I could go down seven or eight cities.”

The jokes didn’t stop as Legere described a bunch of ads he wished T-Mobile would run. 

“This is not an ad …. but [imagine a] picture of a 7-year-old boy holding a little toy and he’s pouting and the caption says ‘Do AT&T executives make their children wait two years to open their presents?’ So, you know this is not where we’re headed, but we’re going to go into, well … how about ‘If there’s that many strings attached, how can it be called wireless?’”

In between the zingers, he also laid out an amazing vision for T-Mobile. Admitting that his carrier lost its mojo since its failed merger with AT&T, he explained what he meant by T-Mobile’s new branding as an “uncarrier.”

“It’s going to be about solving customers’ pain points. Customers who can’t stand opaque billing, lack of transparency, surprises, being locked in, lack of flexibility, lack of ability to control their own destiny, and being treated like second-class citizens because of the length of their terms of service.”

To do that, T-Mobile is turning its back on a number of the money-grubbing practices that have, sadly, become standard in the wireless industry. They will no longer require two-year contracts, people can bring devices from any carrier, and he’s going to end hidden charges. Instead of secretly building the cost of phones into a two-year contract, T-Mobile will sell phones for their full (expensive) prices. He unveiled a $70-a-month unlimited talk, text, and data plan with no throttling – a price and option we haven’t seen for years – promised the iPhone, and said that this is just the beginning. You know what? I believe him.

U.S. carriers like Verizon and AT&T are ripping us off and finally someone has smartened up to the business opportunity. By becoming everything that Verizon and AT&T aren’t (honest), but matching their network speeds and reliability with a rapid LTE rollout in 2013, T-Mobile could become the carrier I’ve dreamed of.

I’m a Verizon user. I have been for two years. Before that, I had AT&T. But after attending T-Mobile’s press conference last night, I may soon take my number purple. Last night, John Legere joked that T-Mobile improved how the public perceived its network quality by 10 percent “because we ran 25,000 ads saying that our network was really great.” He might be full of crap, but after an hour of listening to the new CEO, I can’t talk enough about T-Mobile.

In a world where Leisure Suit Larry and Wasteland can come back to video games, it was only a matter of time before Shaquille O’Neal made his way back too. Here comes ShaqDown, as iOS spiritual successor to ShaqFu.

Some people lament how the video game business has changed. Mobile, social, and PC games are drowning console games and arcade games are a distant memory. Old schoolers shouldn’t lament too much, though. The truth is that the modern age of gaming is just a louder, bigger, more affordable version of the past. Think about it like this: 20 years ago, you had to pay $60 and own a Super Nintendo to make Shaquille O’Neal punch a monster in the face. That’s right. The fighter ShaqFu was $60 when it came out in 1994. Today, you can play Hiptic Games’ ShaqDown, wherein Shaq beats up many monsters, for just 99-cents. See? It’s the same but better.

Hiptic and publisher One Spear Entertainment released ShaqDown on Wednesday for iOS and Android. You play as “the justice bringer” Shaq as he protects the innocents from zombies.

The game is part of a proud tradition of placing former basketball stars in ridiculous games. The practice was earnest back in the ‘90s with ShaqFu and Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, but took on an ironic twist to hilarious effect in recent years with games like Barkely, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa and Adam Saltsman’s advertisement/game Dikembe Mutombo’s 4 ½ Weeks to Save the World.

The Ouya no longer stands alone as the only Android-based game console coming out in 2013, but it does benefit from unusually strong developer support already. Now the console’s creators are holding a contest to encourage new indie developers to flock to the system.

At the beginning of 2012, there was no such thing as a Google Android-based video game console. Now there’s a growing tide of the machines. Small companies like Smart TV gaming company PlayJam are making devices like the GameStick. Meanwhile members of PC gaming’s old guard like graphics card maker Nvidia are getting in the game with Project Shield. The most promising of the Android console lot, though, is the Ouya. The startup company of the same name rose to prominence after raising millions in a Kickstarter campaign for the console last summer. Why is it the most promising? Games! Major publishers and indie devs alike have pledged support. Now a contest with some $45,000 in prizes for independent developers is underway to further bulk up the Ouya’s catalog.

Ouya has partnered with Kill Screen for Create, a ten-day game making game jam. Developers from every walk of life and corner of the world are invited to submit playable prototypes of video games. There’s a $20,000 grand prize which ten finalists will compete for, and five finalists for five sub-categories that accompany a $5,000 prize. Finalists that actually see their games to completion and release them on Ouya will get a $1,000 bonus. All finalists will receive one of the recently released Ouya development consoles.

“The television—that hearth of sight and sound—is still a closed gaming platform,” reads the contest’s mission statement, “Ouya is designed to open the television, once and for all.”

The judges for this competition make up a who’s who of the video game world, including celebrities like Felicia Day, Fez creator Phil Fish, Journey composer Austin Wintory, and notably Ed Fries, co-creator of the Xbox and one of the advisors on the Ouya.

Support from a large range of developers will certainly help Ouya find more than a niche audience when it comes out in April. Square-Enix announced in July during Ouya’s successful Kickstarter campaign that it would bring some of its existing Android games like the 3D remake of Final Fantasy III to the platform. Namco Bandai also pledged its support for the platform last summer.

Sony Online Entertainment creative director Matt Higby has exposed January’s Planetside 2 patch while also offering an ongoing commitment to continuously improve the firm’s flagship online shooter.

“I’ve said before that while 2012 was the year that Planetside 2 launched, 2013 is the year when we’re opening up the afterburners and aiming for the stars. After a well earned rest the team is energized and ready to get back to ‘kicking *** and fixing bugs. And we’re all ou–’ er, oh yeah, okay, we’ve still got some bugs to fix.”

Those words come courtesy of Planetside 2 creative director Matt Higby. They serve as a preface to a post Higby recently wrote on the Planetside Universe forums which details the upcoming patch scheduled to hit the MMO at some point before the end of January. The list of changes and alterations made by SOE in this addition are pretty sizable, so let’s take a look at the list and see what jumps out at us:

• General performance increases, particularly for lower end GPUs
• Experience (XP) system enhancements:Server transfer token available in Depot
  • Dynamic XP system for player kills, players who have more kills are worth more XP. Freshly spawned players will be worth a fraction of the current kill reward.
  • Partial damage XP for dealing damage to vehicles that you don’t end up killing
  • Population XP / Resource bonus moved over to continent population instead of global
  • Better display of XP sources for things like defensive bonuses & population bonuses
  • Rebalancing of XP rewards to help support tasks
• UI changes to emphasize score per minute as a primary metric of player comparison
• Sortable columns on outfit management & addition of “last online” column
• New weapon type for all empires: SMG
• Short period of invulnerability will be added to freshly spawned / revived players – breaks upon game actions such as entering a vehicle or using a weapon.
• Dynamic / player configurable colors for minimap & overhead indicators for enemies, friendlies, and squads within a platoon
• New Hot Spot system that displays where active fights are occurring on the map
• New spawn buildings with more exits, protected balconies and easy roof access to make them less campable.
• Tunnel systems for amp and tech facilities to give access from spawn rooms to interior of bases and base walls without having to go above ground.
• Making MAXes render more reliably at long distances for players in vehicles
• AA improvements, notably flak changes for turrets and skyguards, giving them some better ability to aim, although not drastically impacting their DPS.
• Fixes to missiles so that they more reliably detonate and actually blow stuff up
• Air vehicle weapon tweaks
• Increases to reload speed for certain HE ground vehicle weapons

Higby additionally claims that the patch includes “lots of bug fixes,” though after reading the above bullet points we’re far more intrigued by two particular entries: namely the addition of a new submachine gun and those listed changes to the game’s user interface.

The first point stands out for one simple reason: Planetside 2 has been lambasted by fans since its debut for including too few weapons. SOE has long claimed that it would be adding weapons and vehicles to the game as time goes on, yet to date we’ve seen little progress on that front. The addition of a new submachine gun to each of the game’s three factions won’t upset game balance and is unlikely to make other weapons obsolete, yet it shows that SOE is dedicated to expanding Planetside 2 for at least the foreseeable future. Plus, new toys to shoot at other virtual soldiers are always welcome.

We see those UI changes, by contrast, as an indication that while SOE has publicly banned any and all modifications to the Planetside 2 client, at least it realizes that people will always want to expand and improve on a game’s default user interface. Any changes SOE makes will likely pale next to the alterations that could be achieved by a third-party modification, but at least the company is throwing players a bone by changing the game’s UI to be more user-friendly. We’d still prefer the option to mod the game, but at least this is something, right?

CCP Games MMO EVE Online celebrates its tenth year in operation by combining with multiplayer shooter Dust 514, a game that takes place in the same universe. Pilots playing the slow economic MMO and soldiers in the shooter will share servers starting Thursday.

2013 is a big, big year for Iceland’s CCP Games. Its signature massively multiplayer role-playing game EVE Online turns ten years old this year, but it will also expand in the most dramatic way yet. Come Thursday, January 10, EVE Online’s servers will be merged with the online servers for Dust 514, the multiplayer shooter that takes place in the same universe as the MMO.

When CCP first introduced Dust 514 in 2009, the idea was absurdly ambitious. In a fictional universe ruled by fake private corporations run by real world players, CCP would make a shooter populated by real players to determine the outcomes of massive in-game conflicts. A game of virtual mercenaries commanded by real people. After close to half a decade of development, that shooter is ready to be linked to the game properly, beginning another grand experiment for CCP Games.

“[Following] a slightly longer than usual scheduled downtime, we will be migrating over players currently participating in the Dust 514 closed beta from Singularity to Tranquility,” reads CCP’s official update, “This is a particularly special day here at CCP as this brings to life an ambitious and incredibly exciting vision of a single cross platform universe, the likes of which have never been undertaken before.”

The hyperbole is well earned in this case; no one has tried this before. Whether it will actually work is still up in the air.

“Dust mercenaries can belong to existing EVE corporations if you’re willing to accept their applications,” explains the post, “Similarly you will see corporations starting by Dust mercenaries recruiting EVE pilots to join up with them. You can share corporation chat including voice chat and invite them into custom channels or private converstions.”

EVE and Dust are wildly different games. While Dust is a familiar team-based shooter, EVE is a taxing space simulation as concerned with economics as with role-playing in space. The fiction blends the two play styles seamlessly but the audiences for each tend to be of very different temperaments. Finding that those different sorts of players can fruitfully interact with each other is the biggest challenge facing CCP.

CCP is coming off of an incredibly successful year already. First, EVE Online received the particular honor of joining the Museum of Modern Art’s first standing collection of video games. Second, EVE Online grew to 450,000 subscribers for the first time.  

En Masse Entertainment’s massively multiplayer online roleplaying game Tera: Rising will join the ranks of MMOs that require no subscription fees on February 1.

Over the past few years it’s become de rigueur for a new massively multiplayer online game to launch alongside a “free to play” business plan. Outside of World of Warcraft and a handful of other titles, the genre seems no longer able to support $10 to $15 per month subscription models, and for most publishers it simply makes more financial sense to recoup development costs by filling online worlds with subtle advertising and various aesthetic options that can only be acquired by shelling out real-world cash. With this in mind, it should come as little surprise that many existing MMOs have also followed the free to play route of late, most famously BioWare’s much-hyped Star Wars: The Old Republic.

This morning publisher En Masse Entertainment revealed that its flagship MMO, Tera, will ditch subscription fees at some as-yet-undetermined date in February. As with most games that transition from a subscription model to a free to play model, once Tera has completed the shift to its new revenue scheme the game will actually feature two key account types. Those wishing to play Tera for free can sign up for a standard account that will cost them nothing, and still features all of the game’s races, classes, dungeons and overworld zones. Unfortunately, the standard account does have a number of caveats — for instance, players with standard accounts will have to wait longer to re-enter dungeons, and are charged heightened brokerage fees on items they purchase — in comparison to its big sibling, the $15 per month Elite account.

The Elite account, for those still willing to pay for an ostensibly free game, offers the most expansive Tera experience new players could hope for. Plunking down a wad of cash each month grants players a special in-game mount, an extra 10 daily quests and access to the game’s inventory of consumable items, among many other things. 

You can find a full rundown of the various account options coming to Tera on the newly-published free to play FAQ on the game’s official website. The FAQ answers every possible question one might have regarding Tera’s transition to its new business model, and it should be required reading for anyone currently enjoying the game or hoping to join the fantasy world in the near future.

Most impressively, we’re happy to report that none of the bonuses offered to Elite players seem as if they’d drastically affect game balance. Barring further information to the contrary, it seems as if En Masse has devised a way to reward paying customers without penalizing everyone else. Granted, there are daily XP bonuses offered to Elite players, and they do concern us a bit, but since they’re not permanent (or even long-term) boons they don’t seem likely to upset the game’s competitive status quo. As we’ve seen time and time again finding this balance is no easy task as there are few things that rankle MMO players more than the revelation that the rich kids always win, even in their online fantasy world of choice.

Turn any Windows 8 device into a touchscreen with this new peripheral.

The new pen peripheral from eFun brings swipe and zoom functionality for Windows 8 apps, even on older, non-touchscreen PCs

While CES has featured plenty of top-of-the-line touchscreen computers – from the convertible Asus Transformer Book to the Sony Vaio T14 and T15 - the truth remains that most users will not be able, or willing, to upgrade to a touch-enabled device immediately, especially if they’re still wary about the future of Windows 8. That’s where the new eFun aPen Touch8 comes in. Thanks to infrared, ultrasonic technology, this digital pen peripheral adds compatibility for simple gesture-based features, even on non-touchscreen machines.

The plug-and-play aPen Touch8 does not require any drivers. Instead, simply plug the included receiver into a USB port, clip it to the side of your monitor, adjust the configuration under “Tablet PC Settings,” and go. The receiver itself, a black box slightly larger than a stick of gum, is relatively low-profile, while the pen itself is wireless, with up to 500 hours of battery life. A stylish, office-executive design adds pizazz, while the tip takes the form of a thick, stubby paintbrush rather than a stylus point, presumably to help avoid screen smudges and scratches.

While still no substitute for 10-point touch sensitivity, the $80 aPen Touch8 represents a potential compromise for those intrigued by Windows 8, but who aren’t yet ready to invest in a dedicated touch machine. The peripheral should be available within a month or two, but keep in mind that it can only support up to a 17” screen.

The Turtle has landed. Turtle Beach’s Seven Series solves the incompatibility between headsets on different consoles with unique connectors, while its new Ear Force models have drivers you actually rotate to adjust your own surround-sound experience.

A perennial force in the gaming accessories industry, Turtle Beach took off the wrapping yesterday on it’s latest and greatest new headphones and gaming accessories, as well as some updates to some of its most popular headsets already on the market. We got a chance to get an “ears-on” look at some of their new sets, and we’re here to tell you they don’t disappoint.

Seven Series to rule them all

For the serious competitive gamer, Turtle Beach has created an entire new headset called the Seven Series, which works across all consoles. The headset’s innovative cable connectors allow you to easily transition from gaming platform to gaming platform, and even take phone calls from your smart phone. With the new connectors, the single set becomes the Ear Force XP Seven for console gaming ($279.95), the Z Seven for PC gaming ($249.95), and the M Seven for mobile gaming($149.95). We got a chance to listen to the new cans, and our initial impression is that the sound is phenomenal. The tone is surprisingly balanced for a gaming set, delivering a smooth, clear sound up and down the frequency spectrum. Couple that with the versatility of an adaptable EQ for up to 64 different available presets, the ability to receive input from anything that puts out sound, and the Seven series will be a formidable new option in gaming and beyond. It will be available to the public some time in the next month.

TM1 Audio mixer: Organize your gaming party

Gaming competition and multi-platform versatility is also the main focus of Turtle Beach’s new audio mixer, the TM1. The TM1 is the one product in Turtle Beach’s CES release that is already available in stores, offered at a price of $229.95. The unit allows users to set up a local area network (LAN) to connect up to six players for closed, zero-latency chatting, as well as a broadcast feed for tournament announcers and production teams. The device also includes noise-gating technology, allowing for clear team communication during those loud, chaotic gaming competitions. Though it’s a bit pricey, the TM1’s private connectivity and enhanced audio could bring an edge to those who are serious about team gaming. The fact that it’s loaded with buttons and knobs and looks crazy cool is also a plus, especially for audio nerds.

Z Series PC-only headsets

We also checked out Turtle Beach’s two new headsets designed exclusively to enhance your PC gaming experience: the Z300 and the Z22. The Z300 takes a page from the Ear Force series, bringing Wi-Fi wireless connectivity, extended battery life, and Bluetooth versatility to your PC. The new Z22 offers mobile compatibility, and analog inputs, as well as on-board chat volume control, and equalization to boost treble and bass. Both sets are looking to dominate the PC gaming market and should help give TB an even broader footprint in the category.

XP and PX: Newer is Better

For those who revel in Turtle Beach’s highly regarded 5.1-channel surround sound replication and wireless technology, the company has a new version of its popular Ear Force series, the Ear Force XP510, and the PX51, for the Xbox and PS3 consoles respectively. The XP510 and the PX51 offer a wide breadth of functions including: dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity, a promised 15-hour battery life, and Bluetooth technology that allows you to use the headsets for making phone calls, streaming music from mobile devices, and more. The latest additions to the new Ear Force sets are the newly designed DSP (Digital Signal Processor) and the unique ability to adjust the angles of the drivers to personalize your surround-sound experience. We mowed down a few zombies on Black Ops 2 at the Turtle Beach booth, and even without EQ or speaker adjustment we enjoyed a very real firing sound from our rifle as we took down the undead, as well as a well-designed surround environment.

The PX21 2.0 

As expected, the Ear Force PX22 stereo gaming headphones are one of the most affordable sets that Turtle Beach brought to CES, offered for $79.95. Like its award-winning predecessor, the PX21, the PX22 is constrained by wires. But for those who want a multi-platform headset at a low price, the newest model could be an enticing option. Turtle Beach claims the PX22 maximizes the features of the previous version, including enhanced bass, treble, and chat boost, as well as a connector for your mobile device.

Plenty for gamers in 2013

As you can tell, Turtle Beach isn’t kidding around this year. Aside from the Seven Series, which is rapidly approaching launch, and the TM1 out now, the rest of the company’s huge line-up will be available some time at the end of the first quarter or into the second. We’re pretty excited to get our hands on some of the new models to test (and hopefully hang onto) for ourselves. For now, we’ll all just have to wait.

Vice President Joe Biden will meet with video game creators and representatives from the NRA this week to discuss media violence and America’s extant gun regulations.

This Thursday, January 10, Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with gaming companies, entertainment groups and representatives from the National Rifle Association. Why convene these three disparate sections of the populace? Simple: In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting rampage that occurred on December 14, the United States government has decided that, at the very least, it needs to turn a focused eye toward violence in media. As you might expect (and much to the glee of the NRA), this centers on violent video games, TV shows and films, and what effects they might have on our youth (not to mention any would be mass killers who might emerge at some point in the future).

Biden, who was asked by President Obama to “come up with a broad range of ideas to curb gun violence,” opted to create this roundtable to offer both the NRA and entertainment industry a fair opportunity to voice their respective sides of this divisive issue. Game developers (and Hollywood), as one might expect, claim that violent video games and shows have little impact on a player’s ability to discern right from wrong. No matter how violent media might be, these industries claim, it’s simply not possible for it to influence a sane, rational person toward committing acts of violence in the real world. In turn, the NRA has come out in force since the December 14 shooting, claiming that guns are not the issue, but instead that games and television are gradually eroding our society’s moral base. If these entertainment options were less bloody, the NRA believes, those kids in Connecticut might still be alive today.

While we certainly don’t envy Biden for the decision he will eventually have to submit to the President on this topic, we’re happy to see that this government task force is not solely devoted to the unending argument over violence in the media. In addition to this week’s meeting, Reuters claims that Biden’s group is also examining “legislation that would ban assault rifles” as well as determining whether or not the average person has simple, adequate access to mental health care facilities and professionals.

It’s currently unclear as to which gaming industry professionals will find themselves exchanging ideas with the Vice President on Thursday, but the NRA has stated that it will send James J. Baker, the group’s top government lobbyist, to the meeting. As you’d expect, Baker can be a very convincing voice, so hopefully the gaming biz can find representation from an equally eloquent, engaging figure. We’d suggest SimCity creator Will Wright or Valve Software head Gabe Newell, but it’s anyone’s guess who the government has listed in its no doubt massive Rolodex.

Hollywood, by contrast, we worry less about. Sure, the NRA has some intensely powerful lobbyists, but given the huge profits regularly pulled down by studio executives and the massive mindshare the industry controls, we have little doubt that the major movie studios will be able to find adequate representation. Baker may be a seasoned speaker whose speciality is swaying government officials to his point of view, but Hollywood could very easily counter that with any number of its standout figures. Send Tom Hanks to meet with Joe Biden and this whole issue could be wrapped up in less than half an hour.

Anyway, we’ll bring you word on what transpired at Thursday’s meeting just as soon as such information is available.

While Blackberry’s B10 event isn’t until later this month, that doesn’t stop RIM from talking about the future of Blackberry 10 at CES this week. Specifically, the conversation with RIM turned to hardware in a recent interview conducted by Fierce Wireless.

Yah, we know: there’s the BlackBerry Z10 and the Blackberry X10. Actually, while those are the first two devices that will launch, that’s far from their entire BB10 offering for 2013.

According to CMO Frank Boulben of RIM, we should expect at least six Blackberry 10 devices this year in order to cover the widest range of price points possible. Having a wide range of devices out the door within the first year of the platform’s life certainly sounds like a good plan, and really isn’t all that surprising.

The big question on everyone’s mind is if RIM and the Blackberry brand have what it takes to break out of being a niche product. While I personally don’t think RIM is going anywhere anytime soon, they are far from one of the big mobile players these days.

Do you think that Blackberry 10 can change their fate in the mobile market or are they doomed to stay a distant third (or even fourth?) in the mobile market going forward? Conversely, do you look forward to the Z10 and X10 or will you hold out for their other handsets later in the year?