world-of-warcraft-headset posts

World of Warcraft fans, and indeed fans of PC gaming oriented headsets, have been looking forward to getting the long awaited Creative Labs-made Sound Blaster World of Warcraft headsets. Now it appears that the headsets (the wired and wireless versions) are finally being shipped to those who have pre-ordered the products via Amazon.com

The news comes from the Sound Blaster Facebook page which has a number of fans who pre-ordered the headsets. They are now reporting they have started to receive the headsets. While Amazon.com is the only US retailer who is handling orders for the product at the moment the Sound Blaster Facebook page reports that the headsets will officially launch in various retail stores (including Best Buy and Fry's) and other online outlets on March 22.

After a delay in its previously planned fall 2009 release, the much anticipated World of Warcraft gaming pc headsets from Creative Labs' Sound Blaster line are now available for pre-order. As expected the price for these high end PC gaming headsets is pretty expensive. The wired version of the product comes in at $119.99 while the wireless version will set you back $159.99.

Our sister site WoW.com has gotten a chance to check out the final versions of the headset and they seem to be pretty impressed. As we have reported before the product will have interchangeable headset lenses for the Horde and Alliance sides and more will be offered later such as lenses for each of World of Warcraft's 10 playable classes. There's still no word on when the headset will actually ship to customers.

Last December we put Creative Labs' upcoming World of Warcraft-branded PC gaming headset in our Vaporware section since the company was supposed to release the product by the end of 2009 but failed to do so. Now it looks like the company is gearing up to finally release the headset. As evidence the company has now launched a dedicated web page for the product.

There's a lot more info about the headset itself in terms of its technology and features, but Creative Labs is still being cagey on a release date and price. Their FAQ page does say they will be taking pre-orders in "early 2010" and will ship the headset (in wired and wireless versions) shortly after pre-orders are launched. The product looks like it will be worth the wait but the question is how much longer will we have to sit around before Creative Labs brings the headset to light.

We at Big Download, and the game industry at large, are always interested in seeing what Wired magazine will put into their annual Vaporware list. However, we have been greatly disappointed with the games and game related products that Wired has picked to be on the list in the past few years.

This year's list included StarCraft II at number one which we certainly agree with. However it also included the third episode of Penny Arcade Adventures which we think is a little unfair since two episodes were released last year. And putting Black Mesa, a Half-Life 2 mod that's been in development for several years, is very unfair since the folks behind it are doing it for fun, not for profit or even a deadline.

The truth is there are a lot of high profile games and game-related hardware projects that certainly fit the term "Vaporware" far better than Wired's article. We've decided to give our own Vaporware awards to put the spotlight on those games that were promised at one point for release in 2009 but have not only missed that deadline but have dropped off the the grid in terms of recent publicity and/or any firm new release dates (in StarCraft II's favor, its developer/publisher Blizzard has shown the game as playable at recent events like BlizzCon). We've picked 11 candidates for the award and also given a special mention to a game that, while it didn't have a 2009 release date, should have been out by now as well.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2009 PC Game Vaporware Awards

As the US version of Thanksgiving approaches, folks who might have a hardcore PC gamer on their list might be wondering what to get them for the upcoming holiday season. Oh sure, you could go the easy route and actually get them games but that's actually pretty simple; just ask your PC gamer what titles he or she wants and get them. What's hard about that?

While we will give you some ideas of what games to give your gamer this holiday in the near future, we want to do something a little different today and offer some non-PC game suggestions that we are sure to please the hardcore PC gamer. From gaming mice to books to comics to even movies there are lots of things that we think should be on your gift giving list... or maybe even your "want to get" list.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2009 PC Gamer Holiday Gift Guide