The days of cramped hands and sub-par 2D fighter experiences are over with the arrival of The Shaft. This stick has 6 buttons in a fighter-friendly layout, a customizable turbo function and comes in arctic white, coral pink and midnight black. The curved design even brings back memories of the old Genesis/MegaDrive arcade stick. The only downer I can see is that it appears to be corded. The Shaft can be pre-ordered for US$39.95 or US$69.95 for two and is expected out “in time for holidays”.

via Engadget

Ben Heckendorn has emerged from his twisted workshop with a new toy - the one-handed Access controller, featuring a modular design that allows you customize the placement of the buttons, thumb sticks and d-pad. Ben says that the controller is going to be mass produced by eDimensional, first for the PS2/3 and eventually for the Xbox 360.

via Engadget

If you take Guitar Hero very seriously and don’t mind parting with a truckload of cash then news of ArtGuitars’ new line-up just might interest you. The company is planning to release the most over the top peripheral ever released in the flavor of two of the hardest rocking bands out there, Pantera and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The controller is set to retail for $399 each but before you create a utopian society based on anti-consumerism there are some good reasons for the price. Firstly the decals aren’t just stickers they are chemically bonded to the wood and secondly, yes that’s right wood. For all intents and purposes these are real guitars for playing Guitar Hero.

Games Radar had some hands-on time with a prototype of the controller and said it felt good but they could see some problems that might arise. Only able to test it on the 360 version of Guitar Hero III, they noted that other systems use widely variable forms of connection to the controller and the Wii must have a slot for the Wiimote to reside in.

Oh who am I kidding…go start that utopian society. Pantera version pictures after the jump.

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Belkin has finally developed a successor to the aging Nostromo n52 SpeedPad. Designed for use in FPS, MMORPG, and RTS games, the new n52te SpeedPad is a modest improvement over the previous model. The specs boast 15 fully programmable keys that are “built for speed,” a programmable 8-way thumb pad and a removable joystick. Improvements over the original model include blue backlit keys, a scroll wheel, and some mysterious software developed by Razer.

The n52te is set to retail for US $70 when it is released in November.

via Engadget

The hygienic folks at Deal Extreme have added Mario and Luigi air fresheners to their extremely cheap catalog. With the scent of the fresheners being a mystery, we sure hope they don’t smell like Italian plumbers. The pack including both videogame icons sells for $7.61, with free shipping.

via Aeropause

It was always going to take one seriously dimwitted idea to out-stupid the Nyko Wii Party Station. Well, here it is folks - the 7″ LCD for your PlayStation 3. Now you can experience the next-generation of gaming at a whopping 480 x 234 resolution, with stereo sound pumping out of two one-watt speakers - and all the portability of a dead elephant!

via Gizmodo

First there was the Guitar Hero cake, then there was the Guitar Hero playing robot…now a LEGO-nut by the name of David McNeely has built a fully-functioning Guitar Hero controller using LEGO, and the guts of a PS2 guitar.

via Kotaku

Logitech today unveiled an ultra-tweakable G9 Gaming Mouse, and an update to its companion - the G15 Gaming Keyboard. More after the jump.

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Whether you’re an affluent early-adopter fresh out out of HDMI inputs on your 70″ Plasma, or a newly-broke student with a newly-bought PlayStation 3 rockin’ through the 18″ standard-def TV you got for Christmas five years ago (we forgive you…) - you’ll want to know about this new gadget from XCMLive. The HDMI/DVI Crossover Selector is a 5-in, 1-out HDMI switch, including an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, so you can enjoy 1080P goodness from five HDMI sources on your TV or PC monitor.

It’s been a while since MSN Messenger hit Xbox Live, but I’ve been waiting for the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit they showed us back in April before getting too excited about the service - keeping a USB keyboard plugged into my Xbox is no more appealing to me than fiddling about with an on-screen keyboard. Gamespot were the first to get their hands on the one, and couldn’t find anything bad to say about it - it’s pretty much a case of “does what it says on the box”.

The Xbox 360 Messenger Kit will hit shelves in the US on September 6 and has an RRP of $30.