Run Roo Run ($0.99 iPhone, $1.99 iPad) is a simple to learn, yet hard to master side-scrolling game that rewards split-second accuracy. If you were one of those gamers that toiled over Mario to get the timing of jumping from pipe to pipe just right, then this is the game for you. Run Roo Run forgoes complex touch-based controls, yet still delivers that satisfying rush when you make the right moves.

Gameplay is very basic. The main character, Roo, begins running at an even pace across the screen. As Roo approaches an obstacle, you jump by tapping the screen. Jump too soon, and you land on the obstacle. Jump too late, and you run into the obstacle. Each level is timed: How long it takes to beat a level determines your reward, since the timer keeps going every time you run into an obstacle. Between jumping, double jumping, pausing and restarting, you end up driving yourself nuts trying to make it through a given level in record time. The game ends up being about mastering split-second timing and pattern recall.

Each level occupies just a single screen, which combined, add up to Roo’s journey across Australia. With over four hundred individual screen challenges to overcome, the game seems almost endless. Roo learns new skills along the way to conquer new types of obstacles in order to keep things fresh. The game also keeps its edge by resetting quickly after each failed attempt; Roo is back up and ready to try again almost instantly, with no tedious intermediary screens getting in the way.

You can buy power-ups to slow time down or skip a level entirely via in-app purchase, but it definitely takes some satisfaction out of the game. However, with developer 5th Cell (which also created the celebrated Scribblenauts) committed to adding 10 new levels per week, you may need to take advantage of the occasional cheat just to keep up.

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Trenches II ($1.99 iPhone, $2.99 iPad) is the latest in a lineup of World War I-themed games from Thunder Game Works. Falling somewhere between Plants vs. Zombies  and Flight Control, Trenches II offers slightly more advanced, compelling gameplay, so much so that it approaches the realm of real-time strategy gaming.

The game’s training mode leaves a lot to be desired, with constant, annoying pop-ups, but you can get the hang of things without the tutorial. The basics are as follows: As time passes, you earn money to buy more troops. Troops advance from left to right with the swipe of a finger or two.  You do need to be careful though, as your troops will need to be directed to bunkers and other objects on the battlefield to take cover.

You can lead British, French or German troops into battle. Game strategy comes in the form of which type of troops you buy when. There are sharpshooters, engineers, medics, spies, and flamethrower units to name a few. Along the way, you earn Perk points, which can be used to unlock new troop types and upgrade existing ones. For the impatient, there are in-app purchases to accelerate the earning of Perks.

The more rewarding part of the game, and what makes it a great game for a weekend, is definitely the Skirmish play mode.  In it, you need to scope out a battlefield with airships, and then decide how to deploy your troops. The challenge comes from knowing when to invest in an engineer, and when to invest in a rifleman. The resemblance to Flight Control comes in directing different groups of troops to different points on the battlefield.  This adds a lot to the overall feeling you get of being a real-time field commander.

The iPhone can seem a little tight in terms of available screen real estate with Trenches II, so if you have an iPad, that’s the way to play.

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My Xbox LIVE doesn’t have the console-controlling functions of the Xbox Companion app, but it does offer gamers access to their Xbox LIVE account info, including game achievements, your 3-D avatar and friends management and messaging. In fact, if you don’t have a keyboard accessory for your Xbox controller, it makes chatting with friends, managing your friends list and setting Beacons, which alert you to when your friends want to do the same thing as you, much easier.

It’s actually a very handy little app, and it does a good imitation of Windows Phone 7 for people who haven’t experienced that platform’s interface yet. Sounds are taken straight from the Xbox itself, and despite a little lag when switching between some screens as the info is retrieved from Microsoft’s servers, it’s a pretty fun way to navigate content that’s kind of a chore to view on your console.

The app also includes a “Spotlight” section that presents you with video trailers and featurettes normally available through the console. It’s free, so if you’re an Xbox LIVE user, there’s no reason not to check it out.

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There’s no real franchise character with the kind of repeated success of someone like Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario on the iOS platform, but one contender wants to change that. Enter the adventures of Ratty, a collection of fast-paced, side-scrolling games by Donut Games.

In Ratty’s latest, Rat on a Snowboard, you encounter various ramps, icicles, flags, cliffs, trees and exploding meatballs that you need to carve and bonk your way through. There are three different game modes to choose from: Two endless modes, one in which you just remain on your board as long as possible, and another in which you need to sustain a life meter, too; and a challenge mode where you need to accomplish specific objective. In all three modes you rack up points for the various tricks and jumps you perform.

There are three other older titles in the Ratty lineup, Rat on the Run, Rat on a Scooter XL, and Rat on a Skateboard.  All four titles are the same price at $0.99, and all four are universal games that look great on both the iPhone and the iPad.  There’s something special about the latest game, however  The gameplay is noticeably smoother, and the graphics seem to pop. Each release has been an improvement on the last, and this new release is certainly deserving of your attention this weekend.

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1. Not just apps, but an app store. The current Apple TV has apps. They aren’t advertised as such, but the menu options that lead to MLB, NBA and NHL subscriptions, as well as the Vimeo and YouTube channels are basically apps. While doling out new apps in batches via software updates is appreciated, a real app store is the special sauce that will cause an Apple television to take off.

2. High quality live content. Live video could go a long way toward convincing users to switch ponies and abandon traditional cable or satellite providers for streaming video. Apple has done a good job of bringing sports to the current Apple TV, but it’ll have to deliver pay-per-view events, nationally broadcast live programming, and still more sports to sway users who demand to be kept in the loop and don’t like spoilers.

3. Break the bundle. The aspect of current cable and satellite TV packages that makes them most unpalatable is the bundle; If you’ve ever tried to order a speciality channel on its own, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Breaking up the bundle would probably be the most effective way to tempt users to buy its product, but it’s the part that Apple will probably also have the hardest time striking deals to achieve.

4. Games. A lot of the questions I’m seeing about an Apple television have to do with games. The reason? IOS did (and still does) an amazing job of generating high-quality gaming experiences at a fraction of the price of consoles. Suddenly, people who always thought picking up a controller was a waste of time and money are flinging things at other things like there’s no tomorrow. If Apple can translate its iOS gaming success to an integrated television, iOS gamers will flock to it.

5. Stand-out hardware. One question during today’s Q&A stuck out in particular: Why would Apple make a television set when it could just make a better box? The reason is another potential selling point; specifically, Apple could only justify making its own TV if it makes that TV really amazing. Apple definitely has the pedigree, since it produces industry-leading displays on its mobile devices, computers and computer monitors. Make a TV that dazzles and really looks great in a living room, and you’ve got a big buying incentive right there.

Siri integration and a unified content browsing and playback experience through iCloud and the iTunes media ecosystem are things that could make an Apple television interesting, but they won’t set an industry aflame. That’s what the five points outlined above could do, by reaching out to consumers and providing them with outstanding experiences in areas where a lot of current service offerings fall flat.

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I tested these three games using my 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro under OS X: Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest 2, and Age of Conan. Of the three, Lord of the Rings Online ran the best, Age of Conan ran the worst, and EverQuest 2 ran “just ok.” Parallels 7 still does just Direct X 9, so games like Lord of the Rings that take advantage of Direct X 11 won’t run perfectly.

For benchmarks, I used my current Windows-on-a-Mac gaming setup, which involves both Apple’s own Boot Camp utility (which lets you run Windows natively) and CrossOver (which lets you run Windows apps in OS X without actually installing the Windows OS itself).

The good

The last time I looked at Windows gaming on the Mac, Parallels’s performance noticeably lagged behind the frame rates I got in CrossOver. With Parallels 7, frame rates in both were much closer, getting around 50 FPS in LotRO and 35-40 in EverQuest 2. And since you’re running games in basically a native environment, unlike in CrossOver, you can get games up and running with a minimum of fuss. CrossOver often requires extra configuration and patience to get games running. Also, if you’re close to filling up your Parallels drive, it’s easy to resize it.

I didn’t notice any obvious performance differences between Parallels accessing a Boot Camp partition or Parallels running off its own .pvm file (Parallels’ own native Windows installation container). Both seemed to give me the same frame rates and load times. Even when I put Parallels into a position for it not to succeed, like playing a game while using Handbrake to convert a video file, my MacBook didn’t come to a girding halt. While it was slower, I could still play the game.

The bad

I noticed one consistent issue in playing all the games: right-clicking with the trackpad to look around was uncontrollable. If I plugged in an external mouse, its right button worked just fine. I could get around this problem by adjusting my keybindings in-game to something funky like pressing alt-contol-arrow button, but that’s really a pain to get used to.

Also, you’re going to take a performance hit running in a virtual environment. Running the games in anything other than Full Screen mode (you can still alt-tab or Mission Control back to your OS X apps) in Parallels seemed to cause problems. I had numerous issues loading games past their login screen in Coherence mode; the same problems didn’t crop up nearly as often in Full Screen.

If you play any game or in any situation where reflexes or timing really matter, like a multiplayer shooter or during a raid in an MMO, I can’t recommend a virtualized solution at all. In those cases, you’ll need to be running the game in Boot Camp (or, OS X if you’re lucky and that’s an option).

The ugly

The bane of my computing existence is Windows’ activation process. Given the nature of my freelance work, I’m often blowing my activation limit and need to call Microsoft to get it reset. If you use Boot Camp and create a Parallels virtual from that, you’ll use up two activations.

Also, of all the games I looked at, Age of Conan ran horribly on Parallels, averaging out to about 8 FPS. I was getting 25 in Boot Camp, so it’s not like it’s a stellar performer anyway. I also noticed the avatars in Conan weren’t smooth, as I could see the polygons that made up their shapes under the skinning when running the game in Parallels.

Final thoughts

I’m pretty happy with Parallels 7 for gaming. Having current hardware has a lot to do with it, but Parallels seems to at least come close to the performance I’m used to from CrossOver, without the hassles. After a week or so of testing, I’m going to delete my CrossOver game installs and instead use Parallels for Windows gaming, and Boot Camp when I need to get really serious.

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I was late to the Portal party, having only played it for the first time last year, and despite being exposed to years of hype (the game originally came out in October 2007), it still managed to exceed my expectations. It’s funny, and challenging yet also accessible, so give it a shot even if you’re not usually much of a first-person gamer.

Each level in the game is a series of rooms from which you have to escape, using only your wits and handheld teleportation gun, which fires Portals that allow you to quickly traverse great distances in an instant. If you’re into maddening puzzle games like Unblock Me on the iPhone and iPad, you’ll be amazed at how well a similar concept translates to a game with first-person shooter mechanics. The game holds up surprisingly well despite being four years old now, too.

Portal usually retails for $10 on Steam, and its sequel, released this year, costs $29.99. This is a smart move for Valve, which is likely hoping to encourage folks to grab Portal 2. I still haven’t pulled the trigger on the newer game, but the only thing preventing me from doing so is the knowledge that it’ll be a huge time suck whenever I do start playing.

Getting Portal requires that you first download and install the Steam store, but it doesn’t take long, and the store is actually something you should have on your Mac anyway if you’re at all into gaming. The nice thing about Portal being an older game is that it also doesn’t have very high system requirements; an integrated Intel HD 3000 or higher card should suit you just fine. Plus, since it’s free, there’s no harm in just downloading it and seeing if it runs.

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Nintendo President Satoru Iwata reiterated Thursday that his company is not interested in making software for iPads or iPhones. He told Japanese news site Nikkei (via The Loop) that in fact, such a plan “is absolutely not under consideration,” because in doing so, “Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo.”

Yet preserving what it means to be Nintendo may be giving up a key position in the future of gaming. “Collectively, iPad gamers are showing slightly decreased involvement with gaming on home consoles, mobile phones, and Nintendo handheld consoles,” said Interpret analyst Jason Preston in a press release. “These facts imply that iPad game developers and publishers can definitely reach a new audience on the iPad.”

The iPad’s appeal extends not only to traditional console gamers, but also to a growing portion of people new to digital gaming, says Interpret. People who use their iPads for gaming are increasingly older, with 40 percent falling into the 35-to-65 age group category during its second quarter 2011 survey vs. just 31 percent from its first survey period last year. Many more women are playing, too. Interpret found that the share of female iPad gamers was up to 48 percent during its most recent poll, vs. just 40 percent in 2010.

iPad gamers who are also console gamers also represents a shrinking percentage of the overall group.

It’s understandable sentiment that Iwata would want to preserve Nintendo as-is, as he’s been Nintendo’s president since 2002 and saw it through the flush years of the Wii and DS, both of which were massive successes for the Japanese-based game-maker. Nintendo has also been in the gaming hardware business since 1977, so it has a long history of making both systems and games.

But there are a number of sound business reasons why Nintendo should consider making software for Apple, including flagging sales of its own hardware, a shaky future for new and upcoming devices like the 3DS and Wii U, and the successful example of other companies who’ve followed the same path in the past, like one-time rival Sega.

Nintendo wants a comeback, and I’d like to see it get one, but with the release of 3DS peripherals that correct obvious oversights in the original design, and reports that the Wii U is facing serious technical problems, Iwata’s outright refusal to even consider iOS development seems like yet another backwards step.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Vincent Diamante

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The game, a mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called Please Stay Calm, makes its debut today in the App Store, though only in Canada for now; Massive Damage is cutting its teeth in the Canadian market in preparation for an October U.S. launch. But the new game is worth a look no matter where you happen to live, because it uniquely combines location and personalization with tried and tested models of iPhone gaming success.

A unique twist on success

At its core, Please Stay Calm bears some strong similarities to games such as World War and Crime City. All the games use a store of energy that refreshes over time and can be spent to accomplish things or take action, like engage in combat, for example.

Please Stay Calm tweaks this, making it much more social through global in-game chat and a clever system whereby players (who take on the role of zombie apocalypse survivors) work together to fight off the undead threat. Also unique to Please Stay Calm is a strong focus on location; the game detects your real-life surroundings using the iPhone’s geolocation services, allowing you to set up a defensive bunker in your local Starbucks, for instance.

Massive Damage CEO and Co-Founder Ken Seto told me that the “core of [the] game is centered on providing a truly local social experience.” He says that “people have an affinity for their favorite spots like cafes, bars and even their offices.”

The major appeal of Please Stay Calm, according to Seto, is that “being able to upgrade a real-life location like your office as the biggest baddest safehouse in your city is quite the feeling.” In this way, the location-based elements of Please Stay Calm sound a bit like Foursquare’s mayor mechanism, except that you invest virtual resources, as well as time in a specific place in order to take control of it.

Location: more than just background

Location is about more than just where you do your zombie-fighting in Please Stay Calm. Seto also points out that “characters you run into in the game are local, and you’ll see them in-game time and time again.” City- and safehouse-specific chat will also soon be added, in addition to the global chat option that currently exists. Also, players near your location, and even “non-player Foursquare users automatically help you out if you’re fighting off the zombie hordes in the same location as them,” Seto says.

It’s exactly the kind of rich use of location mechanics that Ryan Kim recently suggested might be the way forward for mobile location services, but in this case, those added value features are extending, rather than replacing the gaming paradigm.

Blended revenue models to suit different tastes

Please Stay Calm is free to play, but uses in-app purchases to allow players to enhance their experience if they wish. The freemium model employed by Massive Damage for this game is designed to “allow people to spend as little or as much as they like,” according to Seto.

The game’s in-app purchases allow you to buy credits, which can then be used to upgrade items and locations. You can also earn credits in other ways, too, and the game does a good job of striking the right balance so that players don’t feel obligated to spend money. There’s also a clever secondary means of earning credits; players can opt to view 10-second videos (essentially advertisements) in exchange for free credits. Seto says they went with this approach because it keeps the app ad-free, while also providing a way for those unwilling to spend on in-app purchases to experience some of the advantages of the game’s freemium model.

For mobile gamers looking for something that takes advantage of the unique abilities of smartphone devices, instead of just making compromises regarding what iOS lacks, Please Stay Calm is an ideal title. Massive Damage also promises episodic content packages, with more cinematics, missions, zombies and weapons coming in at least 10 free chapter upgrades, so the action shouldn’t get stale. Also, the game features tons of great-looking original artwork that gives Please Stay Calm its own unique feel. If you’re Canadian, check it out now. If you’re not, mark your calendars for October and try to be patient.

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Recently Flurry Analytics did some research on how much mobile gamers spend on and within Android and iOS games, the data showing that the average in-app purchase amounts to about $14 per transaction. On Tuesday Flurry gave a deeper dive into what those in-app transactions are for. Two-thirds of the items bought within an app are virtual goods that are consumable, as in they have no lasting value.

The firm looked at 57 million transactions and found the following:

The chart shows that over two-thirds of all items purchased in iOS and Android freemium games are consumable, goods that users deplete. Measured another way, approximately half of all real dollars spent within all apps are for game items consumers don’t keep.

That means, for instance, that most of the time people are buying fertilizer in a farm game or grenades in a war game as opposed to durable goods, such as a building or armor, which you don’t use up.

But the most popular consumable item people buy really shouldn’t be any surprise. It’s “premium” currency, which is usually a way to buy your way into advancing faster in a game. Game makers like it because it prevents players from abandoning games in frustration, but it also lines their pockets. Games that offer these consumable goods make a lot of money for developers, and they are “the best ROI” for game developers, according to Flurry.

For developers looking for the best investment, look no further than free games that offer virtual goods via in-app currency, according to Flurry.

 While the consumer is indeed purchasing virtual items that are most often consumable, what’s most important to understand is the psychology behind these games. In freemium games, consumers are experiencing compelling, immersive entertainment. They feel gratified when they progress, accomplish goals, create a unique world, and in some cases, show off to their friends. In exchange for this gratification, they are willing to spend real money, and lots of it.

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The launch of both Steam for OS X and the Mac App Store have definitely made more Mac gaming titles more accessible to more users. Top-tier games like Civilization V and Portal 2 are some recent highlights available through these digital delivery systems. Classic offerings that hold up well like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and BioShock are also great for new players who may have missed them the first time around. But triple-A titles seem to be the exception, not the rule. Both Steam and the Mac App Store offer far more casual and less ambitious titles than they do games from big publishers, many of which are still slow to port even their major PC successes to OS X.

Leaving aside the big players, there’s still a lot to love about recent Mac game releases. Gameloft is quickly churning through its catalogue of iOS titles, bringing its budget reinterpretations of the biggest franchises in gaming to the Mac App Store for prices that often match or beat those on the iOS App Stores. For example, Eternal Legacy, the game that clearly owes a debt to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy series, made its debut on the Mac App Store on Thursday and quickly rose to a lofty position on the charts. But the fact remains that the Mac is getting the leftovers of its mobile siblings; none of these titles were actually designed to be played on a computer first.

Original indie talent is one area where the Mac App Store is definitely helping out Mac gaming. Titles like the cartoony hack-and-slash DeathSpank that otherwise might only have reached a small, select audience of enthusiasts now have a much greater reach, which should help ensure we see more similar software down the line.

Still, overall, I can’t help but feel that Mac gaming still isn’t everything it should be. But maybe I’m asking too much. What do you think? Is gaming an important part of your overall Mac experience? What’s missing from Mac gaming, what’s going right, and what needs to see some improvement?

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iOS 5 doesn’t bring native support for apps on the Apple TV, but it does introduce AirPlay Mirroring for the iPad 2. Mirroring is a feature that was introduced alongside the iPad 2. It allowed users to display exactly what was on their tablet on an external display, too, using the Digital AV Adapter Apple released that provides an HDMI connection for video and audio out. When it was announced, I said the mirroring ability was the iPad 2′s killer feature. That’s even more true now that Apple has promised to make the technology wireless.

I’ve had a chance to go hands-on with AirPlay Mirroring, and it works as advertised. Once you select your Apple TV as an output source in the multitasking menu bar, everything you do on your iPad will be transmitted to your Apple TV–connected display. Even in this early beta form, it works remarkably well, with very little lag time and without any interruptions in the connection during my test. It does seem to be fairly taxing on the iPad’s battery, but by no means to such an extent that it affects the usefulness of the experience.

It does require that users have both an iPad 2 and an Apple TV in order to work, however. The cost of the Digital AV Adapter from Apple’s retail store is $39, but the Apple TV is itself only $99. That’s still just shy of $100, and even basic wireless video transmitters that don’t provide any additional functionality start at around $80.

Note also that while the home screen and most apps display in the 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad 2′s screen (or in 3:4 when viewing in portrait orientation), full-screen video outputted to the AirPlay-connected TV automatically adjusts to fill the screen if it is formatted for widescreen. Developers can also specifically tell their apps to adjust to a widescreen aspect ratio, as Firemint has done with Real Racing 2 HD, which it has announced will support HD wireless output in iOS 5.

iCloud may be hogging the tech press spotlight, but AirPlay is Apple’s big play in the living room, and it’s one of the most significant and potentially disruptive new technologies the company has introduced in a long time. iOS 4.3 brought third-party developers access to AirPlay video streaming, a major step in attracting consumer attention to the tech. Now, with AirPlay mirroring, Apple will completely change the way users and the market think about its Apple TV relaunch. With the help of Apple TV, the iPad 2, and future Apple mobile devices that support it, AirPlay Mirroring could become the Google TV that actually works for consumers, and one that users can easily take with them.

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The OnLive Player app can be used with OnLive’s streaming gaming service, which handles all the heavy lifting for graphics-intensive games on remote servers, and beams the action over an active broadband connection to your device. OnLive has already released a Viewer app to preview its iPad service, but the fully interactive playable version arrives this fall, the company announced at E3.

The key to the OnLive Player app’s appeal lies in its versatility. It allows you to use the tablet as both screen and touch / motion controller, just like you do for most native iPad games, or as a standalone controller for games displayed on an external source, or as a screen for use with a new wireless universal gamepad.

Thanks to the iPad 2′s ability to output its display via the Apple Digital AV Adapter, and even over AirPlay when iOS 5 arrives this fall, it could act as both portable and home gaming console all in one convenient device with the Player app arrives. Not to mention the app will be available for the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Android handsets and tablets, too. If OnLive or another partner built a case/controller combo for those device and targeted top-tier mobile games developers, an iPhone running OnLive could compete with the likes of Sony’s new PlayStation Vita  (formerly known as the NGP), especially if we get updated hardware in the fall.

Nintendo and Sony are both addressing the threat posed by versatile tablet and smartphone devices by integrating hallmarks of that hardware into its next-gen devices: touchscreens, cellular data connections and two-screen media viewing are all on the docket. But unlike traditional gaming companies, OnLive is free to make use of the tech consumers are already using, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel and sell them a brand new device that looks and feels a lot like the ones they already have. Of course, OnLive has to deal with the rising costs of bandwidth, so we’ll have to see how that drama continues to play out before declaring it a winner.

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Two-screen gaming has a history that predates Apple’s iPad, and Nintendo proved that it works for portable gaming with the DS, which launched in 2004 and has been successful ever since, but the iPad is the one that made it make sense for TV gaming. Ever since Big Bucket Software used the iPad and the iPhone to create a working beta of The Incident running on one and controlled by the other, the potential for Apple to become a force in living room gaming seemed limited only by developer creativity. More recently, Real Racing HD 2 expanded on that concept with a true two-screen gaming experience for the iPad.

Nintendo Wii U extracts the two-screen experience from the model used by Real Racing HD 2 and discards most of the rest. The Wii U controller can’t act independent of the Wii U console, but it can handle gaming visuals entirely on its own screen, and it appears to support stylus input for functions beyond gaming, like drawing.

Making two-screen gaming the entire focus of Nintendo’s next-gen console is a very smart move at this point, since it’s happening before the concept takes off in a big way with iOS devices. It should work out well for Nintendo, but it could be even better for Apple device owners in the long run, if the Wii U concept inspires iOS developers to take two-screen gaming further.

Of course, gaming isn’t the only thing iPad users do in front of their TV. Television viewers have been distracting themselves with laptops and mobile phones for years, and the iPad was lends itself to be the ideal second screen device. Nielsen said in May that 70 percent of all tablet owners use their devices while watching TV. And last year, a study found that 86 percent of all mobile users access the Internet while watching TV.

Nintendo also added some media sharing features that were clearly inspired by efforts to use the iPad as a second-screen device. Wii U users will be able to flick photos and videos that they find online towards the TV to watch them on the big screen, something Yahoo demonstrated at this year’s CES, and a key feature of Apple’s AirPlay technology. And the handheld controller will feature a front-facing camera to give users a chance to video chat while watching TV — a feature that will sound familiar to any iPad user as well.

Nintendo obviously concentrated on gaming during the introduction of the Wii U, but we shouldn’t be too surprised if the new controller was being utilized for other kinds of second-screen activity like Twitter and Facebook that has so far been the domain of the iPad as well.

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Turtle Beach recently introduced a wireless gaming headset called the PX5, which features a mini receiver designed for use with PS3 or Xbox 360 gaming consoles, but it actually supports Macs, too, thanks to the optical audio out I mentioned above. I spent a week testing out the PX5 with my Mac HTPC setup, and here are my thoughts.

Not Cheap — In Both Good and Not So Good Ways

The PX5 system is the mostly costly offering in Turtle Beach’s lineup of gaming headsets, with an MSRP of $249.95. You can get it cheaper if you look around (Amazon has it listed for $212.99 as of this writing), but while it’s still not inexpensive even then, consider that Beats by Dre or Bose headphones will probably cost nearly as much, if not more.

Turtle Beach also packs a lot of value into that $250 price tag. The PX5 is wireless, communicating with the receiver base via 2.4 GHz RF signal. It supports pass-through audio if you want to use it in combination with a full home theater receiver, and it also offers Bluetooth connectivity. Finally, it’s fully programmable; the only problem is its programming software is Windows-only.

Downsides

Windows-only programming is a drag, but the presets Turtle Beach preloads onto the PX5 are probably adequate for most users anyway. Plus, if you have Windows installed on your computer via Boot Camp or virtualization software, you can still take advantage of this feature.

Also, as I mentioned, the PX5 communicates via 2.4 GHz RF. That means if your home wireless network is also on the same frequency, there can be some interference. In my usage with an older 2.4 GHz-only Apple AirPort Extreme router, I could hear audible clicks infrequently when I was very close to the router (within three feet), or when I was transferring large amounts of data over the network. But when I swapped out the router with my newer, dual-band switching 2.4 and 5.0 GHz AirPort Extreme, I heard nary a whimper of static while using the headset.

Note that in all cases, it’s recommended that the PX5 receiver is in the same room where you’re using the headset, and that line-of-sight seems to guarantee an optimal connection. Even with all these caveats, I found the connection was consistently strong, and even the occasional interference I experienced under the worst conditions was more than bearable.

Finally, note that the PX5 natively supports only Dolby Digital 5.1 and 7.1 for true surround sound. If your source uses DTS, the receiver will digitally process it using Dolby Pro Logic II technology, which, while not optimal, in my experience also didn’t detract from the experience enough to make me give it too much thought.

Strong Suits

First, the PX5 is remarkably versatile. It works very well not only with Mac home theatre setups, but also with PCs (so long as they have optical audio output), with the PS3 and the Xbox, and also with Bluetooth devices.

One really cool feature is that you can connect the PX5 to your iPhone as a Bluetooth headset (independent of the RF receiver), while also using it with an optical source through the RF connection. That means you can use it to talk on your Phone while playing games or watching a movie, by muting one and switching to the other on the fly. Or, you can stream stereo music via A2DP from your iPhone or computer to the PX5. In fact, as a stereo Bluetooth headset, I’ve yet to come across another product that matches the PX5 for sound quality. The detachable boom mic it comes with is also more than up to the task of making voice calls. Unfortunately, there aren’t any iPod controls on the headset for use with the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

The PX5 is also great for small spaces and for people who don’t want to clutter up their entertainment space with wires, big stereo system components, and speakers. It has about the same footprint as your average contemporary wireless router, or like a slightly thicker DVD case. The fewer wires I have in my office/gaming space, the better.

While the PX5 doesn’t offer the ability to connect more than one headset to the wireless receiver, it does provide a 3.5mm jack that can be used with any stereo headphones at the same time as the wireless headset, complete with virtual surround sound. That means if you have a friend over and want to watch a movie together, you can do it without any particularly complicated additional setup.

One last point that may be contentious as a strength: the PX5 uses regular AA batteries, both alkaline and rechargeable. Some may prefer a built-in rechargeable battery, since this device does tend to use a lot of power, but I’ve managed to get a lot of usage time out of a set of 2 AAs. The alkalines it shipped with lasted pretty near the 15-hour life in the official specs, and even a pair of well-worn rechargeables I’ve been using since have done very well so far. I prefer not having to deal with a proprietary battery when it comes time to seek out a permanent replacement, since the PX5 seems to be a product I could be using for a very long time.

Verdict

If you like watching movies on your Mac, and you’re looking for a surround sound experience that won’t break the bank or draw noise complaints from your neighbors, the Turtle Beach PX5 is a very good option. Consider that you get a high-quality Bluetooth headset in the bargain, as well as probably the best gaming headset on the market, and the value picture gets that much better.

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In 1972 Nolan Bushnell helped Atari mass produce what was essentially one of the first successful coin-operated video games: Pong.  This was soon followed by Taito’s Space Invaders, Namco’s Pac-Man, and of course our introduction to Mario in Nintendo’s Donkey Kong.  These games became the cornerstone of the video arcade industry that reached a peak of 13,000 locations in the early 1980s.  As console games for the home began to match the quality of arcade games, the game industry shifted away from malls, restaurants and bars, and into private arcades in people’s homes. We moved away from a pay-to-play model that involved feeding a machine quarters, and toward a pay once, own forever gaming paradigm.

Pay-to-Play, But Not an Online Arcade

There have certainly been alternative pay-to-play revenue opportunities in gaming since the arcade. Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) got its commercial start in the mid 1980s, with Kelton Flinn’s Island of Kesmai on CompuServe. This was followed by Don Daglow’s Neverwinter Nights on AOL, Origin System’s Ultima Online, Sony’s Everquest and of course Blizzard’s World of Warcraft .  While these are individually successful examples of pay-to-play revenue opportunities for game developers, each game has its own relationship with a consumer in the form of a registered credit card.  Not quite the same as going to an arcade that utilized a token-based system as a common currency with which to play many different games.

Gaming Options, High Scores and a Common Currency

To bring back a truly similar nostalgic feel of an arcade, new games would need to be introduced regularly, gamers would need a communal way to compete for high scores, and these privately owned game rooms would need to charge one common currency for all types of gameplay.  The modern equivalent of that type of common currency is an iTunes account. And the common place to compare high scores in your social network of gamers is Game Center.  With all of the ingredients of an old school arcade, it’s no wonder in-app purchases are bringing back the continuous pay-to-play nature of arcade games as well.

Tell Tale Signs of Pay-to-Play’s Success in Apple’s App Store

The signs of this renaissance are not hard to spot. Freemium games and cheap paid apps that charge for in-app upgrades are the new token-devouring arcade cabinets. This is certainly true of Smurf’s Village, Texas Poker, and my new personal favorite Army of Darkness.  How many times have you paid for gold, berries, or chips in a game just to advance to the next level?  The arcade style of gaming is back in force, this time it is in the hands of millions of privately owned pocket arcades.

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