I grew up on Atari, moved on to Nintendo and then to PC gaming as the years went by. I am always looking for cool gaming gear that will make games more fun and enjoyable. Driving and racing games are one of my favorite genres and things like force feedback steering wheels make the games much more fun. I am still waiting for full-motion simulators to get affordable so I can add one to my collection of gaming gear.

Gyroxus released what it calls a full-motion video game chair this spring. The chair sold for $489 when it was first launched — not too bad for a full-motion simulator. The Gyroxus price was cut significantly today making the chair now sell for $389. The chair is compatible with the PS3, PS2, Xbox, and Windows PCs. The chair has an adjustable back to accommodate users of different heights and a USB port on the chair so you can plug the controller and chair in with one cable.

I am a big time PC gamer and have been for many years. If you ask me to pick my very favorite video game, it would be Mass Effect. The game is fantastic and as long as the game is, I wish it were longer. EA announced a long time ago that it would offer PC gamers the download content “Bring Down the Sky” for free.

The catch at the time of the initial announcement was that we didn’t know when exactly the download would be ready. EA has announced that the download pack is now available for PC gamers to get free of charge. “Bring Down the Sky” adds 90 minutes of new play to Mass Effect and adds a new uncharted world.

Earlier this week there were lots of rumors going around about who would be the publisher for the Xbox 360 racing sim from them. Serious racing simulation enthusiast will know the name SimBin as the maker of the most realistic racing games around like the GTR series. SimBin and Atari have announced a new game called RACE Pro that will be coming to the Xbox 360 this fall.

RACE Pro will give Xbox 360 owners a precise and realistic racing experience with physics and deep realism and immersion. The game promises drivers of all levels the ability to pick up and race. A number of cars will be offered with 200 to more than 1000 horse power and different race series will be available. The game will also feature online play.

When you think of football games for the PS3 or Xbox 360 the first game that comes to mind is probably EA’s Madden franchise. While EA has the NFL locked up, Midway still has a popular football game for those looking for a Madden alternative.

Midway has announced development is underway on the next installment of its million copy selling Blitz: The League franchise. The new game called Blitz: The League II will ship this fall for the PS3 and Xbox 360 game consoles.

Many PC gamers don’t realize that EA’s Sims series of video games is one of the most popular video game franchises around. The Sims series of games sell more copies than most MMORPGs or shooters could ever dream of.

The first of the EA Sims games to hit the Nintendo Wii console was called MySims. EA has announced that MySims is being ported from the Wii to the PC and will get new and exclusive content for the PC version.

No one can deny the popularity of the Guitar Hero franchise. Guitar Hero is so popular that it has spawned an ecosystem of aftermarket controllers specifically for the game and even copycat products like Rock Band.

Today marks the launch of the latest version of Guitar Hero called Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. This is the first Guitar Hero game to be built around one band. Activision says that Aerosmith even re-mastered some of the tracks digitally for the game.

A long time ago I reviewed a software package called Voice Buddy that allowed you to control your games by speaking commands into a microphone. It worked—sort of. One Voice has announced a similar product called Say2Play that promises to let gamers operate some aspects of their video games by speaking commands.

The software is currently in beta form and claims to allow gamers to speak instructions like “flack cannon” and choose the weapon without having to scroll or press a button. The application claims to work with some of the most popular games around right now like WoW, Crysis, Unreal Tournament III and more.