SteelSeries has just unveiled the Ion Wireless Controller, a wireless gamepad accessory that connects via Bluetooth for mobile gaming. It’s a little bit more unique than what you’d usually pick up from Logitech or Razer though. It won’t just work with PCs and laptops; it’s also designed to work with smartphones and tablets.

The Ion features your usual set of gaming buttons, with a four-way d-pad, four action buttons at the right, two trigger buttons, and two analog sticks – all tied into a compact frame that makes it easy to lug around for mobile gaming. The controller also packs its own rechargeable battery that’s listed to be good for up to 20 hours of gameplay.

Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, but it’s due for a summer release.

Shortly before shipping their first gaming laptop, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan has revealed that they plan to extend their line of designed-for-gaming systems to “small form factor systems.”

Tan didn’t give out any details regarding the smaller gaming devices past that revelation, but if you’ve been following Razer’s plans for gaming systems this year, then you probably remember the nifty Switchblade concept that they showed off back in January at CES. If you don’t, then here’s the lowdown: the Switchblade concept is basically a compact Windows-based mini-PC that sports a 7-inch multi-touch screen and a keyboard with dynamic keys that can be set for dedicated gaming.

Razer didn’t really come out with anything that looks like that one, but it was the inspiration for the Razer Blade, a gaming-grade 17-inch notebook that features the “Switchblade UI” – an area to the right of the keyboard that features an LCD touchscreen and customizable dynamic buttons.Tan didn’t mention anything about the Switchblade concept either, but it could serve as the basis for a similar device – or at least something that runs on something more powerful than an Intel Atom processor.

The 17-inch Razer Blade gaming laptop will start shipping next month to North American markets for an expected price of $2,800.

Mad Catz has started shipping the Cyborg RAT 7 Albino, a performance gaming mouse that’s designed to… well, basically do everything you expect from a performance mouse and more. Sure, it comes with a 6400dpi sensor, but that’s not really what makes this mouse special; it’s the unconventional modular design that allows a user to change just about everything to get the perfect grip. And when we say ‘everything,’ we do mean that you can change everything on this kit. The design allows a user to adjust the mouse’s length, weight, and heck, even the height.

The RAT Albino is bundled with three interchangeable palm rests – two for adjusting the grip and feel, with a soft touch and rubber panel, and one that’s 4mm thicker to increase the height – and three pinkie grips, including a ‘wing-shaped’ part for resting a pinkie finger.

The package also comes with five 6-gram weights to suit users who want to go light or heavy. Another unique feature lets you adjust the mouse’s length to suit hand size, and a thumb panel that can be moved forward, back, or pivot around for a perfect fit.

The rest of the RAT Albino’s features includes 4 custom DPI settings (via a rocker switch), five programmable buttons (aside from the usual left and right button) that can be set into profiles, separate vertical and horizontal scroll wheels, and 3 ‘Cyborg Modes’ for flipping through saved sensitivity and button configurations.

The Albino Edition costs $100, and is compatible with Windows and Mac.

Just in case you weren’t familiar with the original Orochi notebook gaming mouse that Razer put out a couple of years ago, it’s basically a mouse with gaming/performance bits and Bluetooth/ USB connectivity built into a compact mouse meant for portable/laptop gaming. This update is basically a purely cosmetic one, coming with the same high-end specs, but in a better-looking shiny shell.

The Razer Orochi Black Chrome Edition mouse features seven programmable buttons, built-in memory to remember different game configurations, an ambidextrous layout, and a unique dual connectivity feature that lets it switch between wired USB and wireless Bluetooth depending on how you want to use it. The mouse runs on a 4,000dpi sensor when the mouse is plugged into USB, but goes on half the sensitivity at 2,000dpi when it’s connected via Bluetooth. At half the speed, it’s still pretty good as a performance mouse. It’s not like we ever pushed ours past 1600dpi anyway.

The Black Chrome still costs the same as the original at $80. Just as well. It looks good out of the box, but we imagine some people could get iffy with it once the surface gets messed up by fingerprints and Cheetos crumbs.

The TV’s most notable feature is its ability to show and hide parts of the screen from the other players. Handy for split-screen competitive gaming, where, say, player 1 wouldn’t be able to check out where player 2’s setting up an ambush. The new TV is also capable of 2D 1080p content, and comes with a built-in 2.1-channel audio system.

At $430, it’s a relatively affordable kit for what it does for gamers, especially when you consider the fact that it already comes bundled with one pair of 3D glasses and a six-foot HDMI cable (an extra pair of 3D glasses will cost $70). The TV is set to ship in the fall.

The Razer Switchblade concept device might not have been more than a blip on your radar when it was first pimped out at CES because, well, it was just a “concept” device at the time. It was certainly interesting though: the Switchblade is basically a Windows 7-based notebook with a 6.8-inch screen running on an Atom processor. Unlike your regular Atom-powered netbook, this thing’s specifically designed for gaming-on-the-go with a backlit dynamic keyboard that can be customized to show buttons for games. It should cause a bigger blip pretty soon though, since it’s actually set to start selling in China.

According to the report posted on Netbook News, Razer announced a partnership with Tencent, China’s largest ISP. Razer will be optimizing the Swithblade for running League of Legends, Dungeon & Fighter, Crossfire, and QQ Speed, which is China’s most popular IM service. We’re not really familiar with the three mentioned games, but since Tencent is an ISP, we’re guessing they’re big MMO titles in the country.

Pricing and release info weren’t mentioned, but it shouldn’t be that expensive. It’s running on an Atom after all, which technically makes it a netbook. The device packs in Intel’s new 1.5GHz Z760 (Oak Trail) chip, USB 3.0 and audio ports, and a mini HDMI output for connecting to a larger display.

Just like “what goes up must come down,” the phrase “too much of a good thing could be bad for you” is like a law of nature. And like the good stuff you get from nature like sugar, salt, alcohol and tobacco, eating up the 3D content from Nintendo’s latest handheld console apparently won’t be good for you. A lot of players have complained about getting headaches after spending some gaming time with the 3DS lately, so Nintendo had some explaining to do.

And explain they did. The possibility of experiencing some discomfort is simply part of the deal when you’re dealing with 3D content. “As with anything that requires focus, from reading to staring at a computer screen, taking breaks frequent breaks is always recommended,” said Nintendo UK PR head Rob Saunders.

“When viewing any kind of 3D images, some people might experience minor discomfort. The effects are short term and have no lasting effect, in fact most players can continue after taking a short break.”

So there you go. It’s definitely rare for a gaming company to suggest that you put the thing down and take a break every once in a while, but that’s what you have to do when the console is making you feel a little woozy. The 3DS does come with a 3D depth slider that’ll let you adjust the 3D effect though, so you can try tweaking that too.

Or just take their advice, drop the 3DS, and go out every once in a while. It’s good for you.

According to the report, the brand was being dropped because of too much competition from dedicated companies such as Logitech and Razer.

A pity, really. We’re not really fans of their smartphones, but their SideWinder line was top-notch. Just last year, this writer had a tough time picking between the X6 keyboard and Logitech’s G110 keyboard (the Razer Lycosa, which was popular at the time was dropped from the debate early, thanks to a number of iffy user reviews). I ended up picking up the G110 though. Both were awesome all-around, but the G110’s cool backlighting and built-in audio settled the debate. Ah, well, that probably confirms why they dropped the brand. Too many choices. Right.

What’s new? Nothing much, really. It’s still a lot like the original, keeping the shape but dropping the lights. This one comes with a non-backlit scroll wheel, and a black Razer logo to replace the non-black bits on the five-year old vanilla DeathAdder. Performance has also been kept, with the same fast 1ms response time, 3500dpi max sensitivity, and five customizable buttons. The design is a little better though: they replaced the glossy plastic side grips with rubber, to give it a better non-slip feel. That’s all it really needed though; it’s an awesome mouse that didn’t need much tweaking to begin with.

Best of all, it’s still going to cost the same as the original. This one’s still priced at $60.