14 DAY TRIAL // Despite of the fact that just about everyone has to mention the Kinect when talking about the Xbox 360 nowadays, that's not really the case with the device you'll read about as follows, the XIM3, whose purpose is to add a much more traditional set of controls to Microsoft's gaming console, namely a mouse and keyboard. As the company informs us, the XIM3 model represents a major upgrade compared to its predecessor, the XIM2, and we're not talking here just about the presence of a display that provides information on the game, but also some advanced technologies, known as “Smart Translators”, that are apparently capable of providing an impressive level of precision when translating the console-specific commands into mouse and keyboard functions. The XIM3 is apparently able to mitigate all of the stick dead-zones, dead-zone geometries, variable sensitivity and acceleration regions, asymmetric sensitivity that might appear in console gaming, thus providing a smooth transition to alternate control solutions. In fact, what this device offers is a higher level of in-game performance for those of you who haven't really manage to fully get accustomed to console gaming and still love “the way of the PC” a whole lot more. Furthermore, through XIM3’s on-screen user-interface, its quick and easy to set up one's optimal gaming environment and, for the most hard core gamer, XIM3 offers additional advanced options for further intricate refinement. XIM3 enables a gamer to choose input devices that suits them best, its hardware compatibility not stopping at just mice and keyboards. In fact, support is also included for unique devices such as the Logitech G13 (small gaming keyboards with a built-in thumbstick for analog player movement). Unfortunately, there's no word on pricing and availability for the XIM3, although it seems that we should expect it to ship “soon”, priced at roughly the same level as the XIM2, namely somewhere in the vicinity of 150 US dollars.
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