These are my links for November 29th through December 3rd:

• Digby – mobile development in Austin
• Mutual Mobile Inc – app development in Austin
• Skylighter.com – Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Chemicals
• Synergy – use keyboard and mouse across LAN
• marlinowners.com –
• End of an era for Austin City Limits –
• Austin City Limits Taped For The Final Time On The Forty Acres – ACL

These are my links for November 7th through November 21st:

• Das Keyboard –
• Hyperbole and a Half –
• AustinRecruiter.com –
• AccessUT – UT students and alumni recruiting – HireTexas
• the Experience eRecruiting Network – University of Texas Natural Sciences Career Services eRecruiting
• Necropolis of Britannia Manor III (Unknown Cache) in Texas, United States created by LordBritish –
• ArduiNIX – Arduino Nixie Tube Kit
• Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds –
• Is Death the End? Experiments Suggest You Create Time –

• TF2 Wiki »
• Fawnt » fonts… web2.0 stylee
• WordPress Super Cache » updated chaching for WordPress, supposedly plays much nicer with plugins.
• Steampunk Keyboard Mod »
• GlassBooth » Find out which candidate most closely coincides with your views.
• Human Body in a Vacuum » How would the unprotected human body react to the vacuum of outer space?

One of the biggest reasons many PC gamers don’t enjoy FPS game son consoles is due to both the familiarity and the superiority of the mouse and keyboard combo. It’s just far easier to aim and shoot. Sure, you can get used to the controller in FPS games, but as many controller-only gamers will grudgingly agree, you can never be as quick or accurate.

Well, apparently due to overwhelming emails from people on the official Unreal Tournament forums, they decided to include functionality, native in the game, on the PS3.

Mark Rein
Administrator

Folks,

I checked with Steve Polge and he said that YES we are supporting keyboard and mouse in Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3. He is confident we are doing it in a way that will be balanced without feeling “gimped” for either side. We’ll also allow people to choose whether or not they want to allow mixed controller vs. keyboard/mouse games or not.

I think you guys are going to love UT3!

More details to come later.

I’m not sure how the “anti-gimping” will go, as controllers are not gimped, but inferior by nature. But we shall see. This won’t make me buy the console outright, but if more PS3 games follow suit, it will make a strong case.

Or, maybe just CliffyB is getting it. The Gamespy preview for Unreal Tournament 3 (for the Playstation 3) says that it will have keyboard and mouse functionality, along with the regular PS3 controller.

For those of you hardcore PC purists, mouse and keyboard controls will be available in the PS3 version through the USB ports on the front of the machine.

We’ve long waited for this to happen, us original players of the FPS, on the PC. Here’s hoping that this isn’t a one-time thing, or a one-developer thing. Playing first person shooters with thumb-based console controllers is like running through a battlefield with dislocated arms. The aftermarket options for playing Halo with mouse and keyboard didn’t quite cut it. Heck, they could even make a weird mouse and keypad contraption proprietary to the PS3, and I’d give it a go.

I wasn’t really considering getting a Playstation 3, mainly because of its exorbitant price. But if the shooters released for that console all follow suit, I’ll start saving my pennies.

Most people who come here know I am an avid gamer, especially first-person shooters, and have been for the majority of my life. And I am not alone, gaming has been a phenomenon for at least 2 decades on personal computers.

Why, then, has it taken until the last couple years that keyboards geared for gamers have come from the depths of the abyss? I mean, to me, it’s a no-brainer and a hole in the market. Except for a few horrible cheap tries, the ZBoard was the first decent attempt I saw. And then the Saitek gaming keyboard. Both have enticed me, but not quite enought to buy.

Leave it to Logitech. As soon as it was announced, I knew I would be purchasing the G15 Gaming Keyboard. After a few months of wait, I thought it would be released in October… but the Logitech site, even at the time of this post, still says it’s “coming soon”. Luckily I heard a tip that some had been spotted in Best Buys, and I found the keyboard at one of my local stores. It appears they may have some kind of limited-time exclusivity on the keyboard like the have had on other Logitech products like the MX510 mouse an dthe new G5 mouse.

So, I get the box home and plug the keyboard in. The drivers installed flawlessly, and don’t have much of a memory footprint. The LCD screen on the top displays time, CPU and RAM status, volume controls, and even songs I play with Winamp. The blue glow is great and comes through each key very nicely. The little switch to turn off the windows keys is a perfect touch, and the 18 macro buttons are just waiting to be programmed.

The keyboard has nice keys that are not mushy or overly rattley (is rattley a word?). They keys are smaller (in width) than the keys on my Logitech Internet Navigator keyboard, but they also travel further and are more responsive. The volume wheel I love, as I had one in a previous keyboard and wheels are much better than buttons to control volume.

Like all Logitech keyboards I have used, the wristrest is flimsy, but it does its job so far. The keyboard itself is extremely solid and pretty heavy. The keys and black plastic have a flat satin finish on them that gives the appearance of hard rubber.

So far the keyboard has proved pretty useful in games. The lighting is the main thing. I honestly haven’t used the macro keys much, but I tested the on-the-fly macro making and it works very well. Or you can use the macro maker in the profile program, which allows more fine tuning and editing.

A little pricey at $80, but it’s the best gaming keyboard out there.

On to the pics!