The first thing you notice about the headset is how well packaged it is. The packaging is slick, easy to open and presents the headset well. The Kunai is an on ear headset, but one that offers a decent level of comfort. It’s lightweight, and the foam on the ear pads is comfy and unobtrusive. A plastic clip connects the two ear pieces, and you can slide out each ear piece to accommodate different head sizes. The plastic shell of the unit seems sturdy enough but, as it’s just plastic, its longevity isn’t going to be especially impressive. It’s hard to complain too much at such a reasonable price though. Using the Kunai for long periods of time is possible without any head pinching or ear chaffing, a pleasant surprise for such a moderately priced headset.

The sound quality is pretty decent as well, another element that wildly exceeded expectations based on the Kunai’s price range. Bass frequencies in particular are punchy and well defined, but this results in a noticeable sacrifice at the top end. I wouldn’t go as far as calling these frequency bands weak or flat, but they lack the same crispness of the low end, and are often overpowered as a result.

When you’re ready to get your smack talk on, attaching the microphone is a simple plug in operation, and you can just as easily remove it if you’d rather not have it in your face during single player gaming. The rest of the setup process is also easy, with a single jack you plug into your Gamepad or 3DS. The problem with only having the one jack is it prevents you using the Kunai as a headset for PC. You can always just get the audio through if you want some decent headphones, but it’s a shame that it lacks full versatility as a headset. That said, it’s branded as a Wii U headset, so I don’t know what I was expecting in regards to this.

The microphone quality is pretty solid, and the cord that connects to your device has a pretty handy mute switch for when you don’t want to get picked up. That’s also where your volume wheel is, though there is no ability to alter how loud the microphone is. The mic does its job well but, seeing as both the Gamepad and 3DS have their own microphones, it isn’t exactly an essential element. Taking that argument further, both devices the Kunai is designed for also have speakers and, whilst they aren’t as good quality as the headset, it means the Kunai is rendered a somewhat inessential item. This is furthered when you consider that a lot of Wii U games don’t support voice chat, and the ones that do don’t have a huge amount of voices knocking back and forth during the average game at the moment.

For such a well priced unit, the Kunai is worthwhile for those who are interested. It’s a great unit if you want extra audio quality from your Wii U Gamepad/3DS and, whilst it doesn’t come with the same whistles and bells as other Tritton equipment, it’s fantastic for the price. If you’re on the fence though, it’s just not necessary in any way considering the audio capabilities of the two devices supported by the Kunai. It’s a great headset, but not so great to be considered a necessary purchase for all but the most aurally sensitive of Wii U and 3DS users.

This may be a little late to be posting this, but never the less here is the coverage if the Gears of War 3 Midnight Madness Event at Gamestop where it was sponsored by GamingBolt.com and Calibur 11.  As I am sure most of you know, many Gamestops and other retailers held Tournaments where they were playing Gears of War 3 before the actual midnight release of the game.

Unfortunately, Epic Games had never officially gave the OK to every retailer to be able to open an early copy for a Tournament.  Our local Gamestop happened to be one of them, hence the reason the Tournament is being played on Gears of War 2 with no title updates. Everyone at the event still had a blast whether they were inside playing in the Tournament or waiting outside in the cold as they peered in at the red glow of the Calibur 11 Vault being played on, as Midnight could not come sooner so everyone could rush home with their specific editions of Gears of War 3 to tear open.

We gave little Damien another shot at winning the Tournament as we could not resist, as the 1st prize winner got a copy of Gears of War 3 and an exclusive Berserker Shirt only sold by Calibur 11.  I’m sure you can tell the difference when our professional camera man is working the camera and when I am, as I am not the best at it, especially at the end considering I was pointing at the Calibur 11 logo on the shirt when I mentioned who makes the Vaults… which you obviously can’t see.

Huge thanks to Calibur 11 for letting us hold the giveaway that night as well as Tritton and Epic Games for making our Gears of War Giveaway Month so successful.  Also another big thanks to David Bressman for your help, as the Midnight Madness coverage wouldn’t have been made possible without him.

Read our Gears of War 3 Review and check out our unboxing/feature of the Gears of War Vault here.  You can also read our review of one killer pair of headsets that any Gears of War fan will appreciate, the Tritton Dobly 7.1 Gears of War 3 Headset Review.  Although our contest is over you can still grab the Vault, the Berseker Shirt and more at Calibur11.com.  Also if you entered into the contest without winning anything, you may still have an opportunity as some of the winners have not replied yet, in which case we will randomly choose other entrants.

Control Box

To get something cleared up here, before I dive into the details of the headsets, they are Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound for the Xbox 360.  If you notice on your Xbox 360 audio setting, there is no actual setting for 7.1, but rather 5.1 among other settings.  This does not mean that the Xbox 360 does not support 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound, it just means that not every game supports 7.1 Surround Sound.  So the headsets are really ahead of their time as more and more games will start supporting 7.1 Surround Sound.  So basically you will hear all games that don’t support it in 5.1 Surround Sound, but after using them, even then it still sounds better than a 5.1 headset.  It is basically a plus no matter which way you look at it in these regards, especially considering the price of them being only $179.99 which is an amazing deal.  Now that we got that out of the way, on to some of the awesome features these bad boys have.

I mentioned that the wired setup is the most convenient one I have seen so far and is because you essentially only deal with one wire that is nice and long with a 13 foot reach, which is great if you are playing far away from a real big TV.  This is aside from the small wire that must be connected to your Xbox 360 controller to chat online, which can obviously be unplugged if you don’t planning on talking online.  The same goes for the detachable mic that is super sensitive so you do not need to have it close to your mouth.  People can hear you crystal clear with the mic at a distance however the flexibility of the mic did seem a little awkward compared to other headsets, but it is certainly nothing that would stop me from purchasing this unit.  Within in the one wire, which I must add is braided, making is last longer, giving it more durability and making it harder to get tangled, is the in-line volume control.  From here you can adjust the game volume and separately control the mic volume.  In addition you can also adjust the overall volume on the Digital Audio Control Box.  All of the other wires are conveniently connected from the back of the control box, including the USB power supply and the optical cable both connecting to the back of the Xbox 360.

One Sleek Looking Headset

Setup and controlling the whole unit could not be easier and is one aspect that is different from other models.  Of course with the inline audio controller with selectable voice monitoring, you can easily hear your team mates no matter how loud you have the game volume.  You also can hear your own voice just enough through the headsets, which prevents you from feeling the need to scream into the mic if your game volume is loud.  There is also an easily accessible mute switch on the inline audio controller.  There are literally only two buttons on the control box and one of them is the power button with the main volume control as its perimeter.  The other button just toggles through the different modes which either stereo/Dolby Digital Surround Sound, Movie Mode or Music Mode.  It is that easy, and the control box can either lay flat or you can use the included attachment to have it stand straight up, depending on where or how your setup area is.

Moving on the headsets could not be more comfortable as I had worn them for hours on end with out them starting to hurt or annoy me.  This is a big issue with headsets and I am happy to say that these are one comfy, perfectly fitting headsets even with a headrail pad on it as well.  The licensed Gears of War art on the headset only add to how cool they really are.  On each side of the headset, there are Crimson Omen Skulls that gradually glow and blink red, indicating your headsets are on which after seeing them are well.. quite frankly bad ass!  It says Gears of War 3 on top of the head rail as well as the control box.  However just the whole unit being themed black and red make the everything look particularly slick.  As I said before you don’t need to be a fan of Gears of War to appreciate the art of the Headsets and well as the mechanics of it.

Do your headsets eminate crimson skulls in the dark?

The Tritton Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound Gears of War Headset unit is by far the highest quality wired headset I have used.  Whether you want to watch movies in HD with our waking up people around you or playing your favorite game hearing someone sneaking up behind you, these Tritton units are one hell of a bargain for what you get with it.  You can tell where sounds are coming from on a map to give you the upper hand in a shooter or creep you out even more in a survival horror game.  If you are a dedicated Xbox 360 user these are one pair of headsets that will be the perfect use for you.  At only $179.99 you can’t go wrong with these sleek looking, high quality unit.  International pricing is as follows: $189.99 CA, £169.99 UK, €179.99 FR, €179.99 DE.