According to Microsoft, they shipped 60% less Xbox 360s in the fiscal fourth quarter. Many people blame this on the wide spread plague of the Ring of Death. Some also say it’s because of the Xbox 360’s habit of eating game discs, but I’d say it is a little bit of both. The fact that neither the Playstation 3 nor the Nintendo Wii were out on the market this time last year could be a factor as well. Word is that when Halo 3 hits, this sag in sales will dissolve into nothingness.

So, the PS2 seems to getting phased out nowadays, what with all the new technology going on with the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360. For a company to just kinda step out and say, “Yeah, we know there’s still a ton of you that use your PS2 and we got the perfect controller for you.” is a pretty big deal. Not only did they step out with a controller for the last gen console, but they made this utility so good that you completely forgot it’s just your PS2. I’m serious, it’s that perfect. I’ll try not to get ahead of myself, here.

From the second I laid eyes on the Zero, I knew that it’s design was perfect for me. In an age where third party controllers are generally horrific, Nyko seemed to put a lot of care and consideration into the generation that would be using the Zero. It’s form is an amalgamation of the PS2 and the Xbox controller, sparing no expense for an amazing NiMH battery to be stored within it’s meaty metal and polymer shell for twenty-five hours of unhindered wireless. Whenever I bought a third party, it was generally the Microcon for that particular console. I loved it’s size, it seemed fantastic for smaller hands and it just fit better for me. The Zero seems to do the exact same thing, it conforms to the inside of those gamer palms and it makes it so you never want to let go.

One thing I always hated, was the constant battery swap with Wireless controllers. Something about leaking twenty-five dollars a month on batteries just so you don’t have a cord in your way, always seemed like a mistake. Nyko made their rechargable Zero into a USB recharged beast. You can either recharge it with a powered-on PS2 (If you turn it off, there’s no power and no power means no recharge.) or you can do what I did and just plug it into your PC. This recharges it and gives an immense play-life for us intense gamers. When hooking it up and recharging it while playing your game, you can still use the controller’s functions WHILE it recharges. Too perfect.

I’m known to sit infront of a machine and play until my palms literally burn from the heat of my hands and the constant touch to the plastic. This is why I was always the first in line for those controllers with the fans in them, I was always right on-hand for any kind of skin that would take the heat from your hands and… I guess dissipate into a land of magic and unicorns. I never knew where the heat went and I didn’t care, but the Zero does. Zero’s fancy metal-resin actually cools your hands and draws the hate away from your delicate palms. You need those for other “activities”, you know?

Personally, I have been here since the first third-party controller came out for the PS2 and I’ll be here until the last. The Nyko Zero is the best and I mean BEST controller for PS2 that’s come out. You won’t find better, because better doesn’t exist. I stand by that, folks.

You NEED this controller!

It looks like Sony snuck into Nintendo’s medicine cabinet. A stash of diet pills was obviously there for the taking. After all the attention the DS has been getting, you can’t blame the PSP for wanting to lose a couple of pounds too. Sony unveiled plans for a slimmer, more attractive PSP for the September time frame. By that time, the PSP will have lost 33% body fat and regained that girlish figure. It’ll be a bit late to hit the beach during the summer, but there are plenty of other ways to show off a new body.

The battery will get a bit of a lift with a longer life. There’s also a video out port to play your games on a regular television. The new PSP will be available in the traditional black and a new ice silver color. $199 gets you a piece of this action after tons of fun becomes “tons…of…fun“.