Click here to find out what Best Buy locations we’re currently at!

Tonight, we’re bringing in industry friends, media, top pro-gamers, and leading YouTube directors to our new offices to help us celebrate this next evolution for ASTRO.

To make things even more epic, starting at 7PM PST, we’ll be livestreaming a 2 hour Q&A with the biggest names in pro-gaming and YouTube. Check it out below:


WHAT: Join us as we host a Q&A with Team OpTic, Instinct, EnvyUs, and YouTube stars like xJawz, TmarTn, GoldGloveTV, OpTic H3CZ here on Twitch.tv.

WHEN: 7PM to 9PM PST

WHERE: Twitch.TV – ASTROGaming

WHO: @Walshy304, @TomRyanOGRE2, @OpTicH3CZ, @TmarTn, @xJawz, and more.

Want to ask a question? Tweet at @ASTROgaming with the hashtag #ASTROlive and we’ll ask them on air. Do it and do it now.

Oh, and if you spot our gear at Best Buy, send us a pic on Twitter or Facebook!

- ASTRO stanimal

Hastr0 also put it out there that he would like more of these events to happen, with fan interaction, competitions, and more. Let us know if you’re interested in watching or attending events like this by posting a comment below, or on the YouTube video.

-ASTRO Warblade

Our photo albums for each day have also been uploaded to our Facebook account.
Booth Photos | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Sneak Pic at the new ASTRO Gaming Booth:

ASTRO Gaming’s EON & YouTube Directors Meet-Up at PAX East 2012:

Nexy’s Favorite Games from PAX East 2012:

ASTRO Gaming’s Partner Activations at PAX East 2012:

Nexy’s Hidden Gem of a game: LOADOUT at PAX East 2012:

We’ll continue to have more videos from PAX and other Expos in the coming months. If you like what you’ve seen, please feel free to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Also, let us know in the comments below if you think we should have covered anything else!

Our gear will also be outfitting a number of booths to provide some great audio with their games. Check out all the latest games and demos from developers like Ubisoft (Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Assassin’s Creed 3), Square Enix (Sleeping Dogs), Red 5 Studios (FireFall), Riot (League of Legends) and more.

Booths:

* ASTRO Gaming Booth # 1018
* Riot Games – Booth # 690
* Wizards of the Coast – Booth # 462, 562
* Sega – Booth # – 448, 548
* Red 5 Studios – Booth # 536
* Square Enix – Booth # 850
* Ubisoft – Booth # 824, 836
* Perfect World Entertainment – Booth # 736
* Uber Entertainment – Booth # 1062

If you’re not attending, we still got your back. We’ll walk the floor for you, check out the games and give our opinion on the latest and greatest things at PAX East. Our crew will be posting pictures and videos each night of games we like, cosplay, our new booth, and more crazy antics all weekend. Be sure to check out our Facebook and YouTube for that exclusive content. For PAX East exclusive updates via our Twitter, check our our custom search parameters here.

-ASTRO Warblade

IPL4 will be the second live eSports event from IGN Entertainment — IGN’s first live tournament, IPL 3: Origins, was held last year at Caesars Atlantic City, offering a prize pool of $120,000. IPL 3 Origins drew in more than 12 million online viewers. The championship bracket of 32 players included 8 invited players, 8 players from online qualifiers, and 16 players from the open bracket. Ultimately, Stephano defeated Lucky in the Finals 4-0.

Taking place April 6-8th, 2012, IPL4 will be held at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Featuring a total $150,000 prize pool between StarCraft 2 and League of Legends, IGN continues to highlight eSports as not only a profession, but as a mainstream form of viewer entertainment. IGN has teamed up with Twitch.tv to showcase all of their main stage matches with commentary by casters like Doa, PainUser, dAppolo and others. The previous IPL winners IdrA, White-Ra, and Stephano, along with Online Qualifer winners aLive, PuMa, Bomber, and Polt have already secured their spots at IPL4.

Not going to IPL4 in Sin City? IGN’s made it easy for you and will be broadcasting the event at http://www.ign.com/ipl. You can also catch updates on our Facebook and Twitter.

ASTRO will continue to support the MLG and gamers by providing full MixAmp racks at all Halo team stations and the main stage, as well as at all PC setups for StarCraft 2. Competitors need only to plug their A40 or A30 headset in to our MixAmps for full Dolby 7.1 audio and be able to hear your teammates for crucial team communication.

Eon Instinct is set to defend their title after winning the MLG National Championship last November in Providence, RI. They remain one of just a few teams without any changes to their team or coach since the last competition. They’ve proven that with time, skill, and keeping their roster the same, that it can lead to winning several Halo titles. In the same fashion, Instinct has been an ASTRO supporter and used our gears for many years, and we were happy to partner with them and the rest of Eon for competitions throughout the year.

Be sure to catch all the live streams of the event, as the SD quality streams are free for the whole weekend at http://www.majorleaguegaming.com!

As with most retirement gifts, there needed to be some gold involved. Red Bull contacted ASTRO for some schematics on our headsets, as Walshy has chosen to use our A40 headsets during competition (and previously has been using some custom painted Red Bull A40s). What they presented to Walshy towards the end of the first night was a piece of art.

Speaker tags branded with the Red Bull logo, the headband emblazoned with Walshy’s gamertag, and light accents on the mic all plated in 24 karat solid gold. Something tells me this could be something every future pro gaming retiree wishes and dreams for…

Brett Lovelady started Astro Studios in 1994 with the objective to bring more of a consumer product perspective to technology. But after stints at Frog and Lunar, Lovelady wanted to make “anything that wasn’t technology”–toys, soft goods, sporting goods. They began royalty relationships, translating the value of design into real equity.

Their breakthrough came when they designed Nike’s Triax 250 sportswatches, earning $300 million over five years. The studio got involved with Nike’s concept team, designing the company’s first line of golf clubs and eye wear, then began applying those skills to video games with a redesign of Alienware and the Xbox 360, which remains one of their most visible products.

In 2006, Lovelady spun off Astro Gaming to make actual products. In short order, it has become the Rolls Royce of professional gaming gear. The A40 Headphones, which also make up the A40 wireless system, is where professional-grade gaming meets professional-grade design applied to the marketplace—with headphones that mix voice and game sounds in 7.1 surround simulation and connected with a MixAmp digital decoder. [more ...]

Dan Kruger is like many of us who have aspirations of playing video games on the professional level and want to prove to ourselves, our friends, or our families that we can do it.

ASTRO was happy to support Gamer Media Television’s efforts to tell Dan’s story. He’s a genuine guy who lives to compete and practices for hours using ASTRO and GUNNAR gear. Dan came out to MLG Anaheim last season to compete one last time before he moved to South Africa.  Returning to play at a MLG tournament was journey that took nearly 4 years, but he mentions that the moment he walked into the arena, he felt like he was home. This video showcases his journey.

What’s also cool about this video is it was originally produced and mixed in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound using ASTRO A40 headsets. This was critical to capturing the feel of gaming, not only in the segments where Dan was playing in the BIC Free-For-All tournament, but also throughout the video. It’s unfortunate that YouTube doesn’t support Dolby 5.1 audio, but if you are using an ASTRO MixAmp when watching this video, the Dolby Pro Logic IIx output delivers a 4 channel surround sound mix that sounds amazing. We love that our gear is being used not just for gaming, but to improve the way we experience all forms of audio.

With another year of events and leagues starting in March, this will be the 6th season ASTRO’s been supporting eSports athletes and Pro Gaming events. Look for more posts in the coming weeks about our upcoming event schedule – we’re looking forward to seeing the many “Dans” out there, fighting for their chance to compete.