3rd Earth Xbox One Accessory - Review
New consoles are amazing things, they provide gamers with new experiences and emotions but of course also new levels of frustrations as we attempt to learn what the new consoles are capable of.
It is when we are first setting up these new machines we are drawn to new possibilities and with the Xbox One, we had the chance to do so much with the machine we perhaps failed to notice some problems with the machine and it's supplied goodies.
The Xbox One controller is perhaps one of the most refined controllers out there and for those that use it, you know it to be true. The biggest fault with the problem is that Microsoft have failed to include a battery inside of the controller, like the other home consoles do, in the effort to sell you more accessories. The Play and Charge kit seemed like a great idea with the 360, but with the Xbox One it is an insult to gamers. The kit you buy from Microsoft uses, what all companies love, a proprietary adapter to connect it to the power source, meaning you have to always buy the overpriced “official” product to charge your controller.
However it is here that 3rd party peripheral maker’s shine. Coming in with a cheaper option means that you don’t have to spend as much money and you get the same product, with sometimes a higher quality product in place of the official one. 3rd Earth is one such company and with a line of accessories for Xbox One covering just about everything you could need, well you are in good hands. First of all is the play and charge kit, containing a battery, a battery cover and a cable you get everything from the official kit but at a cheaper price tag.
Over the course of many hours of Titanfall I never had any problems with the battery becoming hot, or when charging become weird, so you can put those fears to rest now. Speaking of charging the battery included with all the 3rd Earth Xbox One kits is charged by the same cable that charges your digital camera, your PS3 controller, your Wii U Pro controller and anything else I may have missed. So if you do misplace the one that comes with the battery, I guarantee that a quick look around your place and you can locate a replacement.
The range of recharging options offered by 3rd Earth is quite extensive and perhaps does border on the insane. But don’t let it fool you, each of the options is well designed and built to withstand almost every test I could throw at it. The best item I found for charging was the Dual Controller Charge, shown above, at the end of a gaming session, rather than throwing the controller down or in a draw you just place it on the charge station, and while it's resting it's recharging. The controllers clip in very easily and the unit has enough give that you won’t feel like you are breaking it when it comes time to remove the controller for the next session.
The Dual Rechargeable Battery Pack is the most strange of the bunch as it requires you to remove the batteries from the controller to charge, not the most ideal solution but it does work. Of course if you have more batteries than controllers this method may suit you.
Of course it is not all about batteries here, 3rd Earth provide some accessories you may not even think you actually need, but trust me you do. First of the rank is the Kinect stand, a product designed to take that bulky camera and hide it above your TV. The bracket is adjustable so it will fit almost any TV or even computer monitor, it simple adjusts at the back and then you place your Kinect camera in it and you’re done. By placing it higher, you are actually giving the camera more space to track you and do what it was made for.
Next off the rank is the Armor Case, designed to protect your controller for when you are taking it anywhere. The case has a hard carbon fiber top, that was able to take the repeated drops of a hammer and leave no marks or dents. Inside the case you will find a nice felt surface, meaning it won’t damage your controller and even a little pouch for your charge cable or what have you.
The final item in question is something I personally believe corrects one of the worst design flaws Microsoft have done. The 3rdEarth USB hub is just what it sounds like. The hub is actually designed to click into the existing port on the left of your machine and once there you are given 4 shiny new ports, rather than one. The design is such that it complements the look of the Xbox One without being loud or obtrusive. And more so the best feature of the hub is that it rights the ports, so they now face out rather to the left, so you can access them without having to move the console around.
Overall the 3rd Earth range of accessories compliment and even correct some design flaws with the Xbox One and you would be doing yourself a disservice if you overlooked them. So pop down to your local EB Games or JB HiFi and check out the range, you will be impressed.
