UMvC3 Day One Lab Highlights w/ Shady K

Spot light: Tritton XBOX360 Detonator Stereo Headset

The Tritton Detonator, amongst the dozen of other rival companies producing video game accessories and peripherals, is one of the newest Xbox 360 headsets. The quality of the Detonator certainly doesn’t disappoint, which is what the gaming industry expects coming from Tritton, a subdivision under the veteran company MadCatz. If you’re searching for a great headset for your Xbox 360 without going into a triple digit price tag, than your search is over.

Aesthetically speaking, the Detonator is one of the better looking headsets currently on the market. Unlike some of the more bulkier headsets available, the Detonator is lightweight with a sleek plastic design painted in jet black from every angle. The leather padding around the ears is very comfortable, but only time will tell if the padding is susceptible to tears and cracking usually produced from sweat. The ergonomic design is extremely comfortable and personally didn’t produce any strain or fatigue when gaming for long periods of time. The earpieces even swivel so when you take your Detonator off, it can rest comfortably on your shoulders.

Functionality plays a key part in what separates one gaming accessory from another, and in this department, the Detonator doesn’t exactly revolutionize gaming headsets nor does it do anything wrong. If you didn’t know already, this would be a good time to mention that the Detonator is a wired, not wireless gaming headset. The wire that connects the headset to the Xbox 360 is ridiculously long. This is a good thing if your Xbox setup is in a living room where the console is a long distance away from your seating position. However, this can be an inconvenient thing when you have a Xbox 360 setup like mine where the monitor, Xbox, and seating area is very close together. Unless you use a zip tie or rubber band, you will have a lot of slack on the wire. Attached to the wire is the audio control that is small yet functional. Standard mute, sound control, and mic control are all here with an extra feature called Selectable Voice Monitoring (SVM), which allows the user to choose to hear their own voice in the headset. The microphone itself is standard sized, fully adjustable, and presents the option of being able to remove the microphone when not needed. The quality of my voice through the microphone was clear, however I wish my own volume could be adjusted a little higher due to comments about my microphone volume being too low.

The reason that the Detonator surpasses any other gaming headset in its price range is the sound quality. For a sub $100 gaming headset I was very impressed by how distortion free and clear the Detonator is. I’ll state now that the only weakness about the sound quality is that the Detonator is lacking in the highs while the bass and the lows are very prevalent and crisp. In other words, when there is an airstrike being called in Call of Duty, the deep rumble of bombs dropping overhead will sound crystal clear with high quality. However, the higher pitched sounds of spells being cast in Final Fantasy are going to sound like it lacks that same clarity. The distortion free quality is a huge asset to anyone who cranks up the volume to near max settings. When not attached to the Xbox 360, the Detonator is fully compatible with a PC, MP3 player, or any device with a 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to music or videos. Keep in mind if you don’t like turning the volume up high when listening to your MP3 player, sticking with normal earbuds may be better than carrying around the Detonator on the go.

With a more than respectable price, the Tritton Detonator is the Xbox 360 headset of choice for its comfortable design, stunning sound quality, and all the features one would expect. 

- Andre Butler for The Box Arena

Farewell to Marvel Vs Capcom 3!

As you may all know, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom is less than a month away. Because this is our last chance, The Box Arena and San Diego would like to hold one last event for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

Frubble @ 9628 Carlton Hills Blvd, Santee CA 92071

Sign Ups 10am-12pm
Tournament starts no later than 12:30

Bring your own Stick!
We've banned the use of wireless controllers since we have had several issues with them interrupting games.

$12 buy in ($10 to the pot, $2 to Venue)
We pay out according to our Variable payout structure seen here:
We will be raffling a TE stick and some Tshirts as well. Come hungry! Frubble has great sandwiches, wraps, boba, and smoothies. For every $4 you spend you get another raffle ticket for a chance to win!

*Singles format
*Double Elimination
*64 man cap
We use all Asus VH236 monitors and PS3s
All of our setups including our live streamed main stage have been lag tested for our players

Bring your own stick/controller. Due to time constraints we will not hold matches to wait for someones stick in use.

If you are interested in attending please post so we can get an idea of how many people are coming!

for any questions please email hunebee.gentry@gmail.com or info@theboxarena.com

Random...?

The Box Arena had a free Saturday and decided to do something a little different for a change. Come out to Frubble in Santee, Ca to watch the Season's Beatings Stream and participate in a random 2v2 with San Diego's local scene!

Saturday 10/15 Random 2v2 Tournament 6pm!

$5 each person ($3 to pot, $2 to the Box) <--no drink ticket for tournament (the ticket is for raffle so keep it!!)

5 PS3 setups
HDR
3S
MVC3
Vanilla
AE

Double Elimination
RANDOM characters/stage/game (whatever tv # is called is the game you play)

Any setups with any other games are welcome!! Casuals are ok, the place is all ours. Seasons Beatings will be on the big TV for viewing...lets just make sure we support Frubble and Eat/Drink while we are there! See you Saturday!

The Sweet Ways to Support a Local Scene!

You have asked...and we have listened every time. The requests to try The Box Arena's Food have flooded our emails and now we have worked out a way to answer.  If you are interested in tasting the food that got The Box Arena their unique (to a fighting game community) "Foodie" reputation, here is your chance. The Box Arena will be shipping a homemade pastry for every donation over $11. Simply click the Donate button to the right to donate, then follow up your donation with an email stating your name, address, and what kind of pastry you would like. You can choose any pastry you can come up with. If you aren't big on sweet bread (pictured) just email us a request and almost for sure we can make it (try not to order foods that can melt, spoil, or things with frosting) There is no limit...so go crazy and tell your friends!

ALSO! there are some options for you to choose from if you have allergies or want to save your treat for a special occasion. You can choose: Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Dairy Free, OR I can ship you all of the ingredients (less the egg/vanilla/milk) with easy step by step directions and you can make your own pastry from scratch!! Just let us know in the email so we can modify the shipment for you!

 

Tourney Play SoCal 9/24 SSFIV:AE Results

Thanks to everyone that attended today! This event was mainly for Brawl and Melee so the Street Fighter tournament was just on the side for our community. This event was planned to be at UCSD as some of you may know and we were really aiming to do both Street Fighter AND MVC3. Unfortunately due to venue changes and a few other mishaps we were forced to choose only one game :(. The Box Arena at that point was stuck with a tough decision of which game to choose, but we had to stick to our roots. The Box Arena was founded on Street Fighter and we have to represent our game! Here are the Top 8 from the event and some photos to follow!! As Always, Big thanks to Mark from Frubble, MarkMan and N8Monster of MadCatz and Chris from Gameclucks!

1: ILIJA

2: YEB

3: STEINMANIA

4: COMBUSTED

5: UNPOTECTEDSEX

5: MR CERTIFIED

7: LACEY

7: FRANKFRESH