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When we weren’t watching, Sony went and revamped their official PS3 Bluetooth headset. They took a communication device that was okay and made it great.

Sure, you could pick from just about any Bluetooth headset out there to use with your PS3, but the one Sony made specifically for use with their console seems like the best bet. They’ve put some smart functionality into this little, sleek headset, and just in time for the holidays. Oh, and just in time for Gran Turismo 5. 

Read on for our impressions of the new PS3 Bluetooth headset.

Design:

Wow, this thing looks great. I didn’t know it from the plain jane blister pack it shipped in, but taking the Bluetooth headset out of the packaging I saw that Sony did a very nice job with the design. The set itself is just a tiny bit bigger than your ear. In other words, it’s really small. It has a speaker nub that rests just outside your ear hole with the ear clip attached. This clip is removable and reversible, letting you easily change ears. The mic is built into the base of the unit, and has no issue picking up speech. On the top there’s a power button, and the main button on the face is a mute toggle. There’s a tiny little rocker on the side for volume.

Set comes with a slick, small base dock. It has a mini USB connector that the headset docks into, and a port on the back where a USB cable can be connected to the PS3. It looks nice sitting in front of my PS3.

Features:

This headset does many more things than its few buttons would lead you to believe. One of the best features is that it pairs with your PS3 by simply plugging it in. It dosen’t get any easier. It shows up in your Bluetooth accessories menu in your PS3 automatically, right alongside whatever else you may have paired.

Once turned on (by holding down the power toggle for a few seconds), any status changes you make on your headset appear in a little box in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Hit mute and a little pop-up box will show up on the screen, where you’ll see a small ‘x’ over the mic icon. In the same box you’ll see volume and power indicators. With this, there’s no guesswork on what you’re doing when you’re fumbling with the buttons mid-game.  

While not game related, this headset also pairs nicely with any Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. There’s even a special call function button on the side of the unit.

In use:

I gave the new headset a spin in a few online games. I also tried it out with my iPhone 4. It worked beautifully in both cases. While I was listening to my race opponents sound like sewer ghouls choking on slime in some Gran Turismo 5 friendly races, they all said I sounded “amazing.” I give credit to a good internet connection and the noise canceling tech Sony put into this headset. I also give credit to the “HQ” mode that this headset features. While everyone else sounds like AM radio, you’ll sound crystal clear.

I was able to hear commentary loud and clear in my online sessions on the PS3. I was also able to hear moms yelling and babies crying in the background. It was clear that this headset puts out plenty of good volume.

Summary:

The new PS3 Bluetooth headset is very nice. It’s so easy to set up and use with its instant pairing and the on-screen status display, and it looks and sounds great. I’m so impressed by the noise canceling that I selfishly find myself wishing that everyone else gets one. If you have the previous version of Sony’s PS3 Bluetooth headset, you may not find this upgrade as tempting. I’d urge everyone else using a garbled-sounding, featureless third-party headset to get this one instead, though. This one is way better.

The new PS3 Bluetooth Headset is available in stores now for $49.99.

Looking for an affordable simulation racer? O-Games has dropped the price of its PlayStation Network title Superstars V8 Racing to $9.99.

For the price, maybe it’s worth taking a Gran Turismo 5 break. V8 Racing features 12 player online multiplayer, a full set of trophies, 10 tracks, and all of the under-the-hood stuff gear heads should dig.

Anyone have a chance to play it? You think it’s worth $9.99?

Are self-proclaimed gamers still up in arms over casual games? I honestly don’t know, because I’ve always felt those concerns were silly and didn’t pay them much attention. This week, a group of fun, simple Xbox LIVE Arcade titles is on sale. Take a look:

• Bejeweled 2 ($5)
• UNO Rush ($5)
• Zuma ($2.50)
• Tetris Splash ($5)
• Feeding Frenzy 2 ($5)

I feel bad, because I talked Conrad into buying Feeding Frenzy 2 this past Saturday before we knew this sale was happening. That said, good times were had thanks to the game, so hopefully he’ll forget before we hang out next weekend.

Deal of the Week: select casual arcade games [Major Nelson]

Ready for this? We’re about to jump back 2 million internet years (about three normal years) to January of 2008 when we got our first look at Eidos’s in development game based on the Highlander franchise. *wavey fingers* And we’re here.

OK, now come back to now. The game, which was headed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, has been canceled by the folks at Square Enix who now own Eidos. I’m sure we’re all reeling right not from this news so I’m just going to let it sink in. Are we better? Tears cleaned up?

No one actually remembered this game existed, did they? Who knows what prompted IGN to ask about it, but other than the fact that WideScreen Games is no longer working on the title and that it has officially been canceled Square Enix isn’t giving any details. Probably because they know no one actually cares at this point.

Highlander: The Game Canceled [IGN, via BigDownload]

Hard to imagine they not only made the original Prinny offshoot game, but that NIS is moving full steam ahead with the sequel Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! for PlayStation Portable. I still prefer the Japanese subtitle — Dawn of the Great Pantsu Wars — but I’m more than grateful for what we’re getting.

Easily the best part of this new in-game footage is that the person playing totally dies. It’s not embarrassing so much as it is an accurate depiction of what Prinny 2 will involve. Find the second half of this demonstration below.

PrimeSense are the folks behind Kinect’s motion sensing technology. They’ve just releleased open-source drivers for the peripheral, reports Develop.

The team had planned on releasing these drivers at a later date, but they decided to put the rush on them in light of the successes of Kinect hacking community OpenKinect. This gives access to the sensors in Kinect as well as provides an API for writing apps. 

Here’s the question: Is Microsoft going to be cool with all of this? Somehow I doubt it.

Here’s another quality freebie for you to get ahold of while it lasts. Rogue Runner doesn’t do a lot different from other “runner” style games, but its focus on blasting enemies and its retro aesthetic gives it a certain unique charm that puts it up there with the best of the genre. 

As with other games of its type, the player character runs automatically and it’s your job to jump and shoot in order to avoid or destroy the various obstacles. With a range of protective vehicles and stages to choose from, there’s plenty of fun to be had. If you like “Runner” games, as I do, then this is a good’un. 

If you don’t like “Runner” games, well you can just piss off. 

[Found a free App? Think it's good? Hitting me up on Twitter is the fastest way to let me know about it. Please do so -- finding good iPhone games is hard!]

Sixty million. That’s how far the Gran Turismo series reaches. Now that we can figure in the numbers for the newest game, Gran Turismo 5, we now know that 60 million units have been shipped for Polyphony Digital’s racer. That counts all the games, including the PSP title. This crazy number was reached in 12 years and 11 months, as it all started back in December of 1997 with Gran Turismo, the original.

Gran Turismo 5 flying off the shelves definitely helped this number. Since its launch last month, GT5 has shipped 5.5 million units worldwide. That’s pretty impressive for a month’s time.

Sony sent along a breakdown of the total worldwide number for each GT game. The highest number goes to Gran Turismo 3 A-spec, which hit 14.8 million units worldwide after its release back in 2001. Both GT1 and GT4 sit at just under 11 million mark. The most surprising number is for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. That oversized demo moved over 5 million copies if you count downloads. 

Keep on keepin’ on, Polyphony Digital. I’ve loved them all so far.

If you do nothing else concerning this game, you must at the very least watch this incomprehensible trailer. Gamevil makes the best trailers, and this one for Illusia is no different. 

The game itself released for iOS today, and takes the form of a sidescrolling RPG. This comes from the same guys who made the critical darling Zenonia, so it’s certain to be a good one. I’ll need to check it out myself. 

As soon as I stop being mesmerized by that trailer.