I’m not gonna lie, my laptop actually holds out pretty well in the gaming scene. With an AMD 64 2.0GHz dual core CPU, 4GB of RAM, and enough graphical power to be able to run most of today’s games on lower graphics settings and a laser mouse that tracks up to 3200 DPI (the Steelseries Ikari Laser) I’ve been pretty set except in one field: Audio.

This is how it’s gone for me as far as audio is concerned. My laptop’s onboard sound card is a Realtek HD audio card, which causes more issues with gaming than any other part of my system. Why? Because it actually causes stuttering in just about any game that any computer from the past five years can run. My solution to this was to only use USB headsets, which ran on its own set of drivers which eliminated the stuttering issue but had issues of its own. (Such as the ability to only be able to record from my microphone whenever I wanted to record video.) Not to mention most headsets I bought weren’t of the best for gaming quality.

Today I found something that I could only describe as awesome, especially if you’re in the same situation with me as far as your sound card goes, and I was really lucky to find it on sale, making this my “scrooge buy” for this Christmas season, the Steelseries Siberia V2 USB.

For those that don’t know, Steelseries was started up in 2001 in Denmark as a gaming prehipheral company, which they still are today. If you remember going to your local EB Games or Gamestop and seeing those odd looking ZBoards advertised to gamers back in those days, it was them who made it. I’m not sure if they were producing anything else at the time but I thought it was a bit weird, and honestly I don’t need a gaming keyboard nor do I have room for any keyboards other than the one on my laptop, but still. When I buy gaming prehipherals it’s either going to be from these guys, or Razer.

The thing is, there actually isn’t such thing as a Siberia V2 USB, but I’ll explain that in a second. The headset included, the Siberia V2, is a standard headset with standard audio jacks. It was designed with larger than normal noise cancelling earbuds designed to stay comfortable after wearing them for long periods of time, and a unidirectional microphone that is stored in the left earbud when not in use with the wire curling around it, which can just be pulled out when the time comes to use it.

The design of the headset in itself is lightweight but from what I’ve read it’s very durable. I guess with me it’s going to be put to the test, since I’m bound to drop it or it will eventually come off my head the wrong way or whatever. At the same time, though, it seems to fit very snug on my head, unlike my previous headset which tended to start to fall off my head whenever I looked down. (Usually as a result of a certain attention wanting cat.) The headset has a self adjusting band to accomplish this, meaning there’s no need to adjust the earbuds to put it on, and it stays on your head no matter what.

It’s been a while since I had a headset like this, and all I can say is that these things are POWERFUL. Be really careful if you value your ears. I literally have my volume set to 2% within Windows and everything seems much louder than my previous headset at 25%. I would be scared of blowing my eardrums out if it was any higher. My recommendation is to be really careful with your sound card volume settings. Even on minimum volume with the noise cancelling it gets pretty loud. If you need it quieter you can adjust it through the headset’s own volume control.

Speaking of sound cards, that’s where the USB part comes in. As I mentioned before, the Siberia V2 USB isn’t actually a USB headset. It’s actually the second device that comes in this bundle, the Siberia USB Soundcard, that has this functionality. Now, when I first saw this device, the only thing I could think of is, “there’s no way that this tiny thing, at the price I’m getting this at, is its own soundcard. It can’t be any more than a fancy audio-to-USB adapter.”

I was wrong. This is what Steelseries calls a “virtual soundcard,” and was made for PC gamers who either currently use a poor quality onboard sound card (like myself) or tend to play on more than one computer so that they can have consistent sound quality between computers. Even more hard to believe is the fact that this virtual soundcard is capable of 7.1 virtual surround sound, which nowadays tends to be a bonus when competing against other players nowadays. All you need to do is plug this sucker into your computer, install the drivers, plug your headset in, configure it to your liking and you’re good to go. The device will work just like any other sound card on the market today, and is completely configurable as well. What makes me even more happier is now I can properly record sound.

From what I’ve seen, Steelseries has created USB headsets since then that has this technology built into it, but if you’re a gamer with a budget, then this may be more to your liking. Normally this would go for about $120 CAD (probably just a bit less if you’re in the US) though I got this on sale for a pretty good price.

Fortunately Nintendo had an answer for those that have been loyal to them, at least.

If you haven’t heard about Club Nintendo, then you should know that it’s Nintendo’s new loyalty rewards program.  You register your purchased games like you did back in the days, you take a survey, and you get coins. You can then use those coins to get stuff; The big one coming in at 800 coins (which is about 14 eligible DS and Wii games) is Game & Watch Gallery for the DS.  At 600 coins you can get a Club Nintendo-branded case for your DS games.  Fortunately, since all the DS and Wii games you registered for Club Nintendo count towards your eligible count. (i.e. If you registered a game before Club Nintendo launched you can still claim coins for them.)  This came out to nearly 700 coins for me to start with.

Now, I’ve always been really stubborn when it comes to carrying games around; I’ve always carried my games around in their original cases simply to keep them dust-free, and despite it being a hassle to carry around 10 cases whenever I head over to a friend’s, I still did it.  However, because I am planning on attending PAX this year and will also likely bring my DS along, something to hold my games in would be suited… So why not use all those extra Club Nintendo coins to purchase the card case? It’s free after all.

So today, the package arrives in the mail, and I take out this nice-looking blue case with the Club Nintendo logo on it.  Although it feels a bit on the inexpensive side (which is to be expected) it’s actually quite sturdy, and it holds together pretty well.  A silver “Club Nintendo” logo is imprinted on the case’s front side and the classic Nintendo “racetrack” logo on the back.  The only beef I have about this so far is that it doesn’t latch, which means if not put in a snug place in your backpack, it could swing open. (Though that shouldn’t be a problem, since the case seems to hold each game card and stylus pretty snug.)

Opening it reveals empty compartments for nine DS cards on the left, and for seven DS Lite stylii on the right. As an added bonus, Nintendo even provides you with a stylus for each color of the rainbow! (I think I have enough stylii now to last me the rest of my life.)  Although both sides are basically pieces of styrofoam glued onto the pastic casing, it’s quite sturdy and doesn’t look like coming apart… Unless you’re me and are rough on things.  The DS cards go in quite easy and stay snug, so if the case is bouncing around in your backpack they won’t come loose. (I’ve already tested this with a bit of violent shaking.)

And with that, you are now able to carry around ten games (assuming you keep one in your DS as well) without having to carry around ten cases, along with a bunch of extra stylii if you’re one of those types of people that misplaces their stylus often.  My travel collection right now looks a lot like this:

• The World Ends With You (in my DS)
• Mariokart DS
• New Super Mario Bros.
• Final Fantasy 4
• Elite Beat Agents
• Megaman Starforce (Leo)
• Chrono Trigger
• Pokemon Diamond
• Megaman Starforce 2 (Zerker x Ninja)
• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

There’s a couple of other neat gimmicks for Club Nintendo rewards as well, such as Wii remote holders (something else that might be of use) and even novelty items like whatever those cards are called… You know… the ones they made over a hundred years before they started with video games?

If you don’t have a solution to traveling light with your DS games and have a bunch of DS and Wii games registered with coins to spare, I would suggest giving this a go if you’re willing.