Why You Should Buy a Gaming Headset by John Tiamat
www.BestGamingHeadsetOnline.com
Imagine a world where enemies are sneaking up on you and you’re able to hear every breath they take, every move they make… And instead of them attacking and winning over you, you’re the one who does the victory dance after every skirmish. Does that describe most of your gaming sessions? No? Well, if it doesn’t, you need to make one simple adjustment to improve your gaming experience: get a gaming headset. Pronto.
Zombie Chow To hear or not to hear - should that even be a question? Definitely not, if you want to get your game on and enjoy the exciting realism of each car tire screech, each splintering door that you kick down in fury, explosions near or far, screams, thundering hooves, helicopter propellers, automatic gunfire, or the gruesome undead coming your way. If you can’t clearly hear those sounds while you’re playing, you’re missing a lot. And yes, you might end up as zombie chow if you don’t completely pick up on the audio coming from your gaming rig’s built-in speakers. So, what’s preventing you from accurately hearing what’s going on in your game? A LOT.
Real World Intrusions Number one on the list of things that can spoil your game is the ambient sound in your real world. When you don’t have gaming headsets on, or when all that you’re wearing are ordinary headphones, your ears are exposed to sounds made in the real world. Dogs barking. Drunk neighbors laughing hysterically. A vacuum cleaner. Someone on TV crying like there’s no tomorrow. The sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. The banality of your real world intrudes into your game and distracts you. Those are the sounds you hear while you play, instead of the low pitched moaning coming from a famished zombie that’s making its way towards you. Oh, wait! It’s already on top of you and tearing out your guts and eating your brain!
Well, too bad. You lose your brains. The thing is, you could have avoided all that if only you had an excellent quality headset.
Static and Idle Chatter What’s that? You don’t like being a zombocalypse survivor? Okay, how about you’re a soldier and you’ve got a real-life comrade on the other side of the ocean, warning you about enemy tactics as you make your way through a devastated town. Aside from that dude, you’ve got at least 30 other guys in different parts of the world playing with or against you. And most of them are noisy, chatting away like a bunch of demented magpies. Suddenly, mayhem erupts and gunfire and explosions are all you hear. Your comrade, the sentry, he’s shouting “soldier! soldier!” over and over and you can’t understand how dumb some people can get, you already know you’re
a soldier for crying out loud. So, why does he keep screaming… POW! You get hit on your shoulder. Apparently, he wasn’t saying “soldier,” he was warning you that an enemy sniper was about to clip you on your shoulder. And now, you’re down and wounded, and you can’t shoot, and so, you get captured by the enemy. Was it your fault you couldn’t make out the accent of the guy playing sentry? No, the accent wasn’t the problem. The problem was you had no headsets! You couldn’t properly hear what the other guy across the ocean was saying because static from your built-in speakers was overlaid over the game effects of gunfire and explosions, along with the other noisy players whose maddening chatting you couldn’t tone down, on top of your little brother screaming at you to go get him a glass of milk. Things like that, it’s enough to drive a gamer insane.
But, wait. Before you go head for the loony bin and turn yourself in, take a more detailed look at what else is in it for you, if you get a gaming audio peripheral.
Headset or Headphone? First off, the suggested gaming gear to get is a headset, not just a headphone. Some people use both terms interchangeably, but that’s not exactly correct. Headphones don’t come with microphones. Headphones are mostly used for other purposes than gaming, such as listening to music or watching movies. If you’re fond of Massive
Multiplayer
Online
Role
Playing
Games
(MMORPG), a mic would not only be useful, it would be a necessity, so that you could communicate with other players. So, for a gamer, it’s got to be a headset.
Do headsets come cheap? It depends on its features. There are some headsets that are being sold for $20, and there are some that can go for $200 or more. To get the most value for your money, it’s best if you rate the prospective models that you’re thinking about buying, against the following requirements: Sound Quality Features such as surround sound, clarity of low, mid, and high tones, as well as the capability for noise cancelation are all important. Surround sound can elevate the realism of your game playing to great heights. Meanwhile, when you’ve got clarity of low, mid, and high tones, you’ll be able to hear nuances of sound that won’t be apparent through your naked ear. As for noise cancelation, it’s got to be a done deal, if you don’t like distractions or extraneous noise hogging hearing and making your soundstage useless. Inline Volume Control
Excellent headsets feature inline volume controls that can mute, fade up or fade under separate tracks of audio. For example, if you need to multitask and greet your grandma a “happy birthday” over Skype while you are trying to get away from a vengeful boss of a rival mob in your stolen car, you don’t want dear old grandma wondering
if
you’ve
harboring
the
whole
criminal
underworld in your bedroom and consequently sending real world police over to your house. No, that would be awkward. So, what you do is lower the volume of the game, and talk in peace with your grandma until you both finish your business. Then, it’s back to racing around in your stolen car at full blast. Fun, huh? Wireless or Wired If you’re the type who moves a lot during gameplay, you’d need a wireless headset. Just make sure that you
don’t go too far from the base because you could encounter static or dead spots. Not even the most expensive headset to date can avoid things like that. Now, if you go for the wired headset model, make sure that it’s at least 2 ½ meters long, otherwise, it will be impractical and inconvenient to use. However, if you need more length for the cable, there’s no need to worry. You can always get extensions for your mike. Microphone As mentioned earlier, microphones are very useful for interacting with other players in multiplayer games. However, they can also be useful for bragging over chat to your non-gaming friend how many terrorists you already took down. However, remember that when you do that, you’ll be the Chatty Cathy bat out of hell that distracts other players, so, maybe you’d like to think about bragging later, when you’re done with your game.
There’s
one
fun
thing
with
some
kinds
of
microphones, though. They can allow for voice morphing. Want to scare the pants off your frenemy during a critical moment in the game? That’s easy. Use the morphing feature and scream or groan horrendously through your headset’s mike. Level of Comfort Your headset of choice must be one that won’t cause undue torture to your precious ears. Remember, they’re the only pair you’ve got, so you should care for them. Make sure that the earcups of your headset don’t pinch or make your ears and head feel that they’re in a torturing vise (you don’t need to bring the realism of your game that far). Go for earcups that have soft padding. If you’ve got sensitive
ears,
ask
if
non-allergenic
materials
are
available. Choose the models that are light, and make
sure that you can freely adjust both microphone and headband, for further ease of use and comfort. Inter-Platform Compatibility Not all headsets work over all gaming platforms. Whether you are a fan of console, desktop, smartphone, or tablet games, you can find the brand and model that brings you the most inter-platform compatibility by asking store personnel or checking out the specs on the box. Doing so will truly give you more value for your money.
Games to Look Forward to If you still feel that you can do without headsets while you play your favorite games, you need to look ahead and not be stuck in a rut. Soon, your favorite FPS, arcade, and MMORPGs will go the way of the Dodo Bird. That’s because gaming is a serious business (it’s a multibillion dollar industry, and you, dear gamer, as well as all other
gamers the world over, are the propellers of its success. Cheers!). Game developers know that to keep their market interested and supportive, they must innovate and improve game standards non-stop. For the year 2014, you can look forward to many new games that are designed for different consoles, as well as games that crossover from and to desktops. You can imagine how cool each of them would sound with an excellent quality gaming headset. Better yet, stop daydreaming and go get your (audio) gear ready for next game time. You’ve got battles to win, terrorists to hunt down, zombies to slay (Slay? They’re already dead! Well, whatever…), aliens to vanquish, and a host of other creatures and events to knock around silly. Don’t forget, every game becomes even more enjoyable when you can clearly hear what’s going on through your gaming headset!