PSTP Gaming Network

When Microsoft released the Spring update back in May, everybody that owned a 360 and Live shat their pants… literally, everybody shat their pants so hard that shit oozed down to our socks, why you ask? Because that update would bring the much rumored MSN Messenger integration to the console, letting us chat to our heart desires when scoring frags over Live or even when watching a movie.

It was a nice sunny morning the day the update went live, and yours truly was eager to download it, and [when I did] I giggled like a little girl when I saw the Messenger feature in the Dashboard. And so, I logged into my account but was reminded that I didn’t have a USB Keyboard to do the chatting. “No biggie” I said, “I’ll just use the digital keyboard”…. what a mistake (Seriously, the 360 digital keyboard sucks monkey dick, but I won’t get into that now). And so, I booted up my PC and went to the all knowing Internet to search for a rumored “chatpad” that was supposed to connect to the 360 controller, but I only found a September release date and no pictures which just infuriated me . What the fuck? What kind of company releases an awesome update but doesn’t release a mayor accessory for it the same day? I’ll tell you which one, Microsoft!

Anyways, fast forward to the present day and I finally bought the Xbox Messenger Kit, which, I must say, it’s (somewhat) well worth the wait some of us endured. The chatpad comes in a plastic container that’s named the “360 Messenger Kit” which includes the aforementioned chatpad, a special Headset for the chatpad and some instruction manuals.

First of all, the chatpad has a nice size to it , not a annoyingly small size as in “OMG! I CANNOT TYPE IN THIS THING! HURR”, more like in a “cute and stylish” size. It handles the same QWERTY interface as most keyboards, and has Green and Orange color buttons that function as the “Alt” keys in a normal keyboard (example, the Q key has a green ! and a Orange ¡, you just press the color the symbol is whilst pressing the button that has said symbol). One thing that’s pretty awesome is, (You ready for this?) BACKLIT BUTTONS! Sure, this might not sound like that of a big deal, but believe me, it is! Everyone can play games at night without looking at their controllers, but what about Typing at night? I sure as hell know that I can’t type Jack shit on a keyboard unless it’s well lit; But this keypad has backlit buttons, aiding your chatting experience at night (The backlight is so smooth looking and natural making it have a nice glowing touch).

Now, the headset, you might think that Microsoft is crazy giving away so many damn headsets away when buying accessories and stuff like that (I sure as hell think that)! I mean, I already have 3 headsets and this new one makes it 4… 4! That 4 more times than 1! But anyway, this new headset is what the current one should have been in the first place. Instead of that clip on the jack end which had the mute switch and volume control, this headset has a normal 2.5 jack, meaning that the mute switch and volume control changed place, they are now located in a shirt clip and is much more nice and practical (It also gives you the advantage of using your headset as a “Hands Free” Cell Phone headset). The quality of the Mic and speaker is still awful so theres no more to the headset to review.

But well, all in all, the Messenger Kit is worth the miserable $29.99 price tag it carries, it sure beats the hell out of using a USB keyboard and don’t even bring the digital keyboard as an excuse to not buying it! Oh, and one detail I nearly forgot, all your chatlogs occur in a semi-transparent window that appears when you’re watching a movie or playing a game, making it even more awesome.

Posted in Gadgets, Games, XBOX 360