I was in Sydney last Thursday for the Dell / Alienware Gaming Laptop Launch Party. As mentioned a couple of days ago, it was hosted at the Shangri La where we were treated to an array of tasty treats of course equally delicious beverages

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LAKE FOREST, CALIF. – Apr. 21, 2008 – WD® (NYSE: WDC) announced today that it is now shipping WD VelociRaptorâ„¢ hard drives, the next generation of its 10,000 RPM SATA “Raptor” series of drives. Designed with an enterprise-class foundation, the new WD VelociRaptor hard drive is modified specifically for PC and Mac® enthusiasts and professional workstations. Destined to become the new high-performance favorite of these groups, the WD VelociRaptor hard drive comes packed with twice the capacity and a 35 percent performance increase over the previous generation.

From the bloodlines of the WD Raptor, the most popular hard drive for high-performance enthusiasts who demand the ultimate SATA drive, the WD VelociRaptor hard drive is built with enterprise-class mechanics and packs 300 GB of storage capacity into a 2.5-inch enterprise form factor. The 2.5-inch WD VelociRaptor drive is enclosed in the IcePackâ„¢, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with a built-in heat sink — a customization that fits the drive into a standard 3.5-inch system bay and keeps this powerful drive extra cool when installed in a high-performance desktop chassis.

“Demand for ever-higher PC performance continues to increase and WD is the leader in this category with the WD Raptor. We created WD VelociRaptor hard drives to lead PC enthusiasts into the next era of PC and Mac storage performance and satisfy their insatiable thirst for computing speed,” said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of WD’s enterprise business unit. “The new WD VelociRaptor delivers the greatest performance and reliability of all SATA hard drives currently on the market.”

WD VelociRaptor is the next step up for the speed-craving PC enthusiast, and as with all WD drives, attention to detail in features, performance and reliability is a top priority. Features of the new WD VelociRaptor hard drives include:

• Killer Speed – Built on the performance of the WD Raptor, these 10,000 RPM drives, with SATA 3 Gb/s interface, and 16 MB cache deliver mind-bending performance.
• Rock-solid Reliability - WD VelociRaptor drives are designed and manufactured to business-critical, enterprise-class standards to provide enterprise reliability in high duty cycle environments. The design results in the highest available reliability rating of any SATA drive at 1.4 million hours MTBF.
• IcePack Mounting Frame – The 2.5-inch WD VelociRaptor drives are enclosed in a 3.5-inch enterprise-class mounting frame with a built-in heat sink that keeps this powerful little drive extra cool when installed in high-performance desktop chassis.
• Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFFâ„¢) – Optimizes performance when the drives are used in vibration-prone, multi-drive chassis.
• SecureParkâ„¢ – Parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface, resulting in improved long-term reliability and increased drive protection when the chassis is moved.

Via I4U

As for when it will reach Australia, I’d say one month or so? Just in time for my new Home Theatre PC…

Been playing Nintendo games for years and one of my all time favourites has gotta be Mario Kart! Last time I played it was on my little brother’s Nintendo 64. Years down the track, Nintendo have polished it up for it’s newest hit console, the Nintendo Wii!

Check out a video preview of Nintendo Wii’s Mario Kart due out later next month:

IGN Video: Mario Kart Wii Video

Via I4U

The Flexiglow FX Neon Colour Game Pad takes extreme gaming to a new level. This mouse pad has a built in multi-colour LED light system that allows the user to select any one of 7 colour combinations. This has been achieved with an ingenious tiny push button switch located on the pad itself. Power is taken off a USB port.

Specifications of the Flexiglow FX Neon Colour Game Pad:

• Size: 280mm(w) x 250mm x 5mm high
• 7 colours
• 1.8m USB cable
• Bubble illumination effect
• Non-slip feet
• Colour selected embedded on surface

Order Flexiglow FX Neon Colour Game Pad @ Mr.Gadget Australia

I love it when gadget companies collaborate to make even better products. We’ve seen Microsoft do it
with Razer. Could the upcoming Belkin Nostromo n52te Gamepad also be a result of another Razer partnership? Looks like it!
Currently not available in Australia but already has popped onto the Belkin.com website.

One of the lesser reasons why I’ve stopped online gaming is in protest to sad Australian lag / ping times which meant that the Americans always had the upperhand, skilled or not.  However if I were to head back into the virtual gaming world I’d definitely give my Wolfclaw III a rest to try the new Nostromo!

Belkin N52te Gamepad Gadget Description:
Whether your passion is rooted in FPS, MMORPG, or RTS games, Belkin’s n52te is built to dominate with swift execution.

Gain a competitive edge with fully customizable keys, portable player profiles, cool blue backlighting, and Razer’s killer performance tools.

Bring on all challengers and see why your n52te won’t be the only thing that’s lit up.

Features of the Belkin n52te Gamepad:

• Adjustable soft-touch wrist pad for maximum comfort and endurance
• Easily toggle between 3 keymap states
• Programmable 8-way thumb pad with removable joystick
• Nonslip rubber pads grip in place for aggressive fragging
• 15 fully programmable keys built for complete customization and speed
• Enhanced tactile feedback and button responsiveness for rapid key presses
• Backlit keypad and scroll wheel for total control in dark conditions

Belkin N52TE GamePad Order Page

It’s been a while since I’ve used a joystick. Most games I play either require keyboard and mouse or a console controller. If I were to play a flight simulator game or such, the Logitech Attak 3 Joystick would be a pretty handy companion. With 11 programmable buttons, I’m sure the enemy would feel the full force of your virtual battle prowess. Oh and did I mention it’s got rapid fire! Perfect for aerial dog battles. Look out Red Baron!

Features of the Logitech Attack 3 Joystick PC:

Control

- Full array of controls: Assert yourself with 11 programmable buttons and a rapid-fire trigger.
- Logitech® Profiler software (PC): Get serious about your game with advanced button customization, multiple controller configurations, and printable gaming profiles.

Convenience
- Plug-and-play setup: Simply plug it in and start flying.
- Symmetrical handle: Fits right or left hand like a glove.

System Requirements

PC

- Windows® 98, Windows® 2000, Windows® Me, Windows® XP, Windows® Vista™
- Pentium® (or compatible) processor
- 64 MB RAM
- 20 MB available hard disk space
- CD-ROM drive
- USB port

Mac

- Mac OS® 9 or later
- USB port

Package Contents
- Logitech® Attack™ 3 Joystick
- Installation guide
- 1-year warranty

Order your Logitech Attack 3 Joystick from Mr.Gadget Australia.