So you’re probably not very familiar with Businessweek’s International Design Excellence Awards, but you should be. Every year the IDEA honors only the best design in products, packaging, strategy, ecodesign, interaction design, research and concepts.

This year, ASTRO Studios took home 3 awards: a Silver award for our A40 Audio System in the Entertainment category and a bronze award for the Mission and Roadie bags in the Personal Accessories category. ASTRO Studios also won a silver award for the drool-worthy design of the strong-but-silent Firebird from HP and Voodoo computers.

Just to give you some perspective, Apple’s iPod Touch and iPod Nano were also Silver winners in the Entertainment categories.

We’re pretty sure that Megan Fox took down the gold award for the best designed Entertainment product… but that’s just a guess.

We’re honored to be the sole gaming accessories to win these prestigious awards, and even moreso because only the most talented and brilliant industrial designers are invited to judge. Thanks to Businessweek, the IDEA judges and congrats to our hyper-talented, hard working design crew!

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Every year, tens of thousands of hardcore comic, movie, and video game fans descend upon San Diego’s Comic-Con. Despite being pushed, shoved, and stepped on, there is more than enough awesome to make up for it.

Comic-Con breaks down into two main attractions: star-studded panels and overwhelmingly jammed booths. The convention floor is flooded with hundreds of booths crammed with art, posters, toys, and more. The massive Capcom booth is a great example: they rocked a raised tournament stage, mini-store, and had dozens of Xbox 360s showing off the eyeball-smacking Lost Planet 2 and Dark Void. Some of ASTRO’s favorite gaming comics (Penny Arcade, Red vs Blue, and PurePwnage) arrived with pantloads of exclusive swag and signed anything fans put in front of them (and we mean anything). Comic-Con is also where you’ll find hard-to-get stuff like the Penny Arcade CTS figurine. You know… to match your CTS A40s…hint, hint.

The long lines for Left 4 Dead 2, Brutal Legend, and Lost Planet 2 were totally worth it, and the terrible smell only added to the ambience of “Swamp Fever” — one of the many new maps you’ll find on the upcoming Left 4 Dead 2. This experience also solidified my entirely rational fear of scary, stinky swamps. After a little Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Brutal Legend, I had to go try Capcom’s Dark Void. Two great things about Dark Void: jetpacks and controls that don’t suck. I think I startled the developer when I hugged him.

Comic-Con is nothing if not an orgy of fan-service: I scored the Futurama Complete DVD Collection, the exclusive Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space comics, and some sweet Bioshock 2 toys. The photos of me rolling around with everything in the hotel bed are not for children. [or adults! eww.--ed.]

Let me put it this way: if you are truly a hardcore gaming, comic, or movie fan put Comic-Con 2010 on your calendar–then circle the day with a pink puffy paint pen and bedazzle it–or it will sell out before you can score tickets.

See you there next year!

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Upper Playground, the leader in today’s progressive art movement, has teamed up with ASTRO Gaming to release three new Artist Series Speaker Tags for the A40 Audio System!

The three new Speaker Tag sets feature the work of Sam Flores, Munk One, and the classic Upper Playground logo. Flores’ work features his signature characters playing video games, while Upper Playground offers the original logo in a classy, raised design. Munk One’s artistry features the iconic UP Walrus taking over San Francisco in a blaze of glory.

You might have seen Munk One’s work on album covers by Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Religion, and My Chemical Romance. His brand of art can range from fun and whimsical, to dark, irreverent, and politically charged–and often all of the above. You’ll find Munk One’s artwork in fine art galleries around the world, and on a rapidly-growing line of products that we are now proud to be part of.

Sam Flores is an art school evacuee and self-taught illustrator, and has established his place in the modern art movement as a master of fine art and product design. In keeping with the signature styling of his graffiti art background, Flores’ current fine art work carries a voice and vision that is instantly identifiable. In addition to admirers of his original paintings, Sam Flores achieved popular recognition through clothing lines, skateboard and snowboard designs, signature home decor pieces, and a limited edition collection of vinyl toys. His artwork appears regularly in publications such as Juxtapoz, Urb and Wired Magazine.

“This project has enabled both brands to fuse progressive art with the best in video gaming equipment,” said Brett Lovelady, Founder of ASTRO Gaming. “We think video gamers deserve more expressive, relevant style, in addition to the latest technology in their products. And we know Upper Playground’s fans like to play games too. Seems like chocolate and peanut butter all over again.”

The Upper Playground Artist Series Speaker Tags are available now as part of the Upper Playground Edition A40 Audio System (available for $249.95), UP Edition A40 Headset ($199.95) and standalone Speaker Tag sets ($24.95) in limited quantities sold exclusively online at www.astrogaming.com

Twitter Contest!

As a special thank you to our fans, Upper Playground and ASTRO Gaming are giving away one A40 Audio System complete with all three new Upper Playground Artist Series Speaker Tag sets! To enter, fans need to (1) follow both @UpperPlayground and @AstroGaming on Twitter.com; and (2) post a “retweet” with the following text: “Retweet this for a chance to win an @astrogaming A40 Audio System with @upperplayground Artist Series Speaker Tags!” For details on rules of entry, please visit the Upper Playground website.

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We know that you are a tragically hip, web 2.0 kind of cat that doesn’t capitalize the ‘i’ in internet anymore, so if you want to be on the short list for free ASTRO Gear, latest event news, and fresh product updates, be sure to join us on our network of social media news outlets. We promise to keep it more interesting than Ashton.

So, consider this early warning radar for all things ASTRO. (You know that siren you hear every first Thursday? That’s actually us).

Twitter: twitter.com/astrogaming

Facebook: facebook.com/astrogaming

Youtube: youtube.com/astrogaming

Myspace: myspace.com/astrogaming

What are you waiting for? One of us! One of us!

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So after the fourth browse through of Skymall on a recent flight, my flight attendant mercifully handed me the August issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, which contained this great profile of Str8 Rippin’s Tom Taylor.

Tsquared’s company, Gaming Lessons is featured, and Taylor talks briefly about his gaming Boot Camp — a full week of immersive professional instruction at Str8 Rippin’s team headquarters in Orlando, Florida, dubbed the Str8nctuary.

Screw getting a BowFlex — I’d take a week of gaming with the Str8 crew over that any day. Check out the Str8 Boot Camp here!

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The ASTRO Gaming crew doesn’t just sit around making awesome gaming equipment, sometimes we actually have time to game! Wanna join us? Here’s what we are playing…

Josh
I put Halo 3 down for a bit since the shine on my Recon armor lost its luster (probably due to the imminent release of Halo: ODST). So I decided to do a second playthrough of Mass Effect, in anticipation of the incredible-looking sequel. The great part is that this time I can be a complete and utter jerkface, which you pretty much have to be if you want that Renegade achievement.

Some of the ‘evil’ dialogue is just awesomesauce, too: “You’re a bean counter. I’m a Spectre. Whaddya think about those odds?” Raging approval.

The world that BioWare created absolutely brims with eyeball-thwacking scenery, endless places to explore, and top-drawer voice talent. If you are a fan of science fiction or fantasy at all, you owe it to yourself to play this game (I’m looking at you, Walter).

Look for me in-between Mass Effect missions getting my WWII on with some Battlefield 1943 — I’ll be the one splattering your landing party with hot lead and ramming tank rounds down your pieholes.

XBL GT: PA Stormy

Walter
I also needed a bit of a break from Halo 3. Last week I ended up swinging by GameStop to pick up a couple of games that I’ve been meaning to play but haven’t found the time. I finally *had* to make this happen based almost exclusively on my burning desire to try out Prototype. I also picked up Battlefield: Bad Company, and downloaded Battlefield: 1943. Sensing an alternate theme? Anyway, back to Prototype…

Generally I’m a huge sucker for pending/post apocalyptic themes, specifically focusing on Zombies/viral infections. I also tend to love sandbox games with meticulous tasks that lead to achievements. If you know anything about it, you can see why Prototype called to me… almost as if it were designed for me. After a week of intermittent playing sessions (most of which were 3-4 hours long), I hammered through the storyline, and many of the random sandbox achievements – loving every moment of it. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoyed any of the Grand Theft Auto games or Dead Rising.

Goal for the weekend: Finish finding every one of the last 47 out of 200 little glowing orbs scattered across the Manhattan-based cityscape.

After that: I’ve been promising some of my favorite folks that I’d be squeezing in some Halo 3 on. You know who you are. I’m coming to call you out (or get called out EVERY time you kill me – haha!).

XBL GT: ASTRO Xarion

Melissa
ASTRO’s novice gamer is stepping away from the shiny new Xbox toy to head back to Old Familiar – Guitar Hero III on PS2. I’ll be hammering-on the socks off of “My Name is Jonas” on Expert and beating the pants off all who choose to challenge me. (Hey, the novice gamer part is local to FPS. I can rock the plastic off a little red Gibson and you don’t want to see me in a game of old school Sonic the Hedgehog, okay.)

I expect my neck to be sore on Monday from the sheer amount of headbanging to commence.

Stan
So while Josh is ripping through Mass Effect one more time, I don’t think I’ll be playing much on my 360 this weekend. What’s taking up so much of my time? One word (maybe two). Comic-con.

While I’ll be taking up my time with the True Blood, Lost, and Battlestar panels, I’ll definitely be hitting up all the crazy gaming stuff that’s happening. I’m a bit bummed that I missed Halo: ODST on Thursday, but I’ll more than make up for it by playing Left for Dead 2, Dragon Age, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Brutal Legend, etc, etc.

Want to catch my updates? Follow the @ASTROGaming Twitter!

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This past weekend, I spent my time blowing $#% up left and right at PDXLAN 14 in Portland, Oregon. PDXLAN is one of the west coast’s best choices for hardcore PC gamers. Since 2002, PDXLAN has built Portland’s LAN gaming community, always making the LAN experience as fun as possible.

What I love about PDXLAN:

The People: With only 500 seats, PDXLAN sells out faster than most concerts several months in advance leaving people begging for tickets on the forums.

The attendees rock. Everyone there is chill and just wants to have good time playing their favorite games. If you need help with something, players are more than happy to take the time and get you up and running.

The Contests: Need a break from gaming? Every day, there are little contests for you to enjoy and win prizes. They range from late-night Peggle tournaments, case-mod contests, Michael Jackson Thriller dance contests, water balloon fights, dodgeball, musical chairs, and more. I mean, how can you say no to dodgeball?

The Prizes: PDXLAN gives away thousands of dollars in prizes with each event. You could walk away with fully tricked out systems or new RAM. Pro tip: stay for the final raffle on Monday afternoon. Lots of attendees go home with something awesome (other than a pantload of new t-shirts).

The Food: I dare you to tell me a free BAWLS root bear ice cream float isn’t awesome. Tastes great and will get you super twitchy/caffeinated! Tons of delivery options if you want pizza, wings, whatever. If you want something nicer, go to D-Dish (www.d-dish.com), a website that you can order anything from a full service restaurant and it gets delivered right to the event hall. Oh, and midnight doughnut runs at Voodoo Doughnuts kick ass. Best doughnuts ever.

The Gaming: Everyone’s playing something at all times. Team Fortress 2 seems to still be king of LAN gaming, but classics like Counter-strike, Battlefield 2, and Starcraft still rock the party. One of my personal favorites, Trackmania took over after midnight every night.

The Network: A smoking fast network makes for a successful LAN and the PDX guys know exactly how to set one up. They even rocked full internet access so we could check Facebook in between TF2 rounds. File servers were everywhere and chock-full of drivers and utilities (and other… stuff) in case you have to format your PC at a LAN. Again.

What I Didn’t Like: It’s not in the Bay Area/San Francisco.

To learn more about PDXLAN and sign-up for an awesome gaming event, check out their website at http://www.pdxlan.com/

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Hi, Stan here, your friendly neighborhood community manager!

In a few short hours, I’ll be flying up to Portland, Oregon for PDXLAN 14. Even if you live in your parent’s basement, you still have no excuse for not knowing about one of the best LAN events in North America. Check back next week for a full write-up of my weekend. In the meantime, enjoy my little guide on how to enjoy LAN parties.

- If you can drive to a LAN, bringing a PC is no problem. Be smart and get some of those case/monitor straps to help carry your rig (we personally love the Gear Grip stuff). We all know someone who’s accidentally dropped something important and valuable. Don’t be that guy.

- Now if you’re hardcore and you fly to LANs, you probably have the budget for it. Don’t go through the pain-in-the-ass process of breaking down your PC and shipping it. Either build a Shuttle or go for a solid gaming laptop. A good choice is something from the ASUS line of gaming notebooks, like mine which has been working great for almost a year now.

- We all know the little things you have to bring to a LAN, like power strips, ethernet cables, headsets (like an Astro A40!), etc. Want to be the cool guy? Bring some extra cables or power strips because someone ALWAYS forgets something.

- GO TO SLEEP. Blasphemy! This goes against everything LAN parties are all about, right? Look, staying up all night hyped up on caffeine will probably make you feel awful and play even worse. PDXLAN shuts down each night at 4AM and the next day; the attendees are much more awake and actually game MORE — and that’s what you came to do.

- To avoid the dreaded ‘nerd flu’ (general sickness that hits after any gaming/comic/anime event), be smart: wash your hands, get some sleep, drink OJ or take vitamin C.

- Don’t smell bad. If you go to a LAN, bring deodorant and actually use it. Don’t do the AXE thing either because you’re just replacing one obnoxious scent with another. Remember this simple formula: shower + clean clothing + deodorant = happy LAN neighbors.

- Take a break and grab a bite to eat with some friends. Some of my best memories at LANs were getting lost trying to find a Safeway and getting pulled over in the process.

- Be social. Introduce yourself to people in your row. You never know who you’ll meet. Even that weird guy at the end of the row in the bunny costume could have that Torx screwdriver or copy of Starcraft you needed.

- Lastly, if you see a girl at a LAN, remember that there is a 99.9999999999999% chance she has a boyfriend… who will be sitting next to her. Even if she’s single, avoid hovering over her (with three other guys) while she’s gaming. You’re not exactly establishing yourself as datable. LAN parties are not a place to meet women, so if a girl approaches you — bonus!

As I pack up my stuff in the office and get ready to head out, I hope my little bits of wisdom can make your future LANs more fun. If you have any tips or suggestions, email me at stan@astrogaming.com. I’d absolutely love to hear them!

- Stan

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If you are a true fan of ASTRO, then you’ll allow us to indulge in a little horn tooting: Astro Gaming recently won ID Magazine’s annual award for optimal direction to direct our divisional synergies towards future implementation and achieving corporate-wide value-adds!

(Still here? Then you really ARE a true ASTRO fan!) We actually won two honorable mentions in the ID Magazine Annual Review: one for the Astro Gaming A40 Audio System itself, and another for the A40 packaging.

Thanks goes out to the jurors and ID Magazine, for the props and kind words — and special credit to the Astro Studios designers for all the late nights and hard work (and sorry about all the crap we gave you for your three-day stubble).

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