PRODUCT ADDICT
10 THINGS
+++ P C G 0 6 0 9 E Y E W ITN E S S +++
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009
JUNE 2009
+++ WWW.PCGAMER.COM +++
LOGAN DECKER’S
AHANDY
THE PLAYLIST
GUIDE TO0609
VOLUME 16, NUMBER 06 JUNE 2009 THE CRUCIAL
JUNE 09
LOOT
NO.188
VOLUME 16, NUMBER 06 JUNE 2009
YOU SHOULDN’T
ISSUE
#188 JUNE 2009
LIVE WITHOUT JUNE 2009 • NO. 188
JUNE 2009 188
AMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009
KEEP-A-CABLE (on back
of ++
AMER MAGAZINE desk) It’s2009
JUNE a notched
card that attaches to the
edge of your desk and
keeps cables—including
laptop DVI and power
cables—from falling
behind your desk when
you remove them. The
best thing to come from
plastic since credit cards.
$5 per pack (4 to a pack),
www.keepacable.com
NEXSTAR HARD DRIVE
DOCK We’ve all gotten away
with good excuses not to back
up our stuff: DVDs don’t have
enough capacity, and Blu-ray
and external drives are too
expensive. But the NexStar
HD Dock lets you pop in any
spare 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA
hard drive and use it as a
removable drive.
$39.99, www.thinkgeek.com
26 ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009
‹ BACK
IN
THIS
ISSUE
JUNE
2009
JUNE 2009 • NO. 188
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009
POWERSQUID The PowerSquid that
let you plug wall-warts into every single
flexible extension socket was good.
Even better: The awesomely named
PowerSquid Surge3000 Calamari
Edition with surge protection, power
filtering, and a swiveling wall plug.
$69.95, www.cableorganizer.com
PC GAMER JUNE 2009
You had no idea
you needed
C.H.I.M.P. MIRROR The C.H.I.M.P. mirror
attaches to the corner of your display with
Velcro (included) and gives you a wide-
angle view of the world going on behind
you, including the whereabouts of your
supervisor. After a month or two, try
taking off the C.H.I.M.P. mirror and tell me
if you don’t suddenly feel blind, naked,
and vulnerable.
$6.99, www.thinkgeek.com (where else?)
MOUSE BUNGEE If you’re still using a
wired mouse—and if that mouse isn’t
the SideWinder Mouse with the cool
combo cable anchor/weight storage
box—then you need the Mouse
Bungee. This inexpensive and effective
prophylactic against cable drag also
comes with an unexpected benefit:
obsessively twanging the spring with a
finger is a satisfying nervous habit that
drives co-workers insane.
$9.95, www.mousebungee.com
+++ WWW.PCGAMER.COM +++
/// CONTENTS ///
FRAPS This easy-to-use utility for
recording video footage of your
gameplay is also a screen capture app (it’s
DRIVER BACKUP Like showering, PC
gamers have come to accept re-installing
what we use here at the PCG compound)
as well as a fantastic benchmarking tool
Windows on a semi-regular basis as a
that dynamically displays your frames per
necessary evil. But it’s no longer as much
of a drag as it used to be, especially with
second and even logs framerate statistics
to a text file. A must-have software
Leatherman tool for gamers.
Driver Backup, a free, open-source utility
$37, www.fraps.com
that automates the process of backing up
and restoring the drivers you need for
your hardware.
Free, sourceforge.net/projects/drvback
A SECOND DISPLAY We’re going to
forgive you if you don’t already have one,
because it’s possible that you didn’t know
that you can get a decent 17-inch
1280x1024 secondary display for less than
$100, or a small USB-connected display
(like the Mimo UM-740 reviewed on page
91) if your videocard doesn’t have
multiple outputs. But next time, we’re not
going to be cool about it.
DISCHUB Not every game is available on
Steam, so we inevitably end up with piles
of game discs on our desks because we’re
too lazy busy to put them away, and after
a few weeks they all appear to have been
attacked by packs of feral cats. Except for
the few bare discs that got tucked gently
into the soft, scratchless slots of the
tasteful DiscHub.
$10, www.thedischub.com
STEALTHSWITCH II The original StealthSwitch was a
“desktop cloaking device” that instantly hid applications
when you triggered the palm-sized pedal with your foot,
so that your boss wouldn’t know you were playing World
of WarCraft or cooperating with the SEC. But one simple
tweak—programmability—turned a clever gadget into an
essential part of any gamer’s loadout.
The StealthSwitch II allows you to bind any keystroke
to the footswitch, so you can use it to take screenshots,
reload weapons, activate push-to-talk in VOIP
applications, launch macros, or toss a grenade while
simultaneously firing a weapon and holding a beer stein.
It doesn’t interfere with your mouse and keyboard
settings, doesn’t require software to work after initial
programming (take it from PC to PC tucked in your
waistband!), and you can even “slave” up to four more
foot-switches for ultimate seven-controller gaming fu.
$39.95 StealthSwitch II, $14.95 each add’l slave switch,
www.stealthswitch2.com
+++ WWW.PCGAMER.COM +++ ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ JUNE 2009 27
WWW.PCGAMER.COM NEXT ›