• Posted January 28th, 2011 at 16:08 EDT by Steven Williamson
• 5 Comments

“Ownage” is a word that regular players of first person shooters should be well acquainted with, particularly in the online arena. After all, causing shame and embarrassment to your opponents because your skills are far superior to theirs is really what competitive gaming is all about. Step forward the Eagle-Eye Converter, a new peripheral from Penguin United that aims to give you a distinct advantage over your arch-enemies and help you achieve your dreams of regular “ownage” by bringing the PC experience to PS3. Quite simply, it gives gamers the luxury – as some would say - of being able to use a keyboard and mouse as a controller for a large proportion of the PS3’s extensive library of games.

Presumably, the target market for the peripheral is either those who have made the crossover from PC to console gaming and are still struggling to get to grips with using a controller, or those who still play shooters on their gaming rigs and feel that a keyboard and mouse will give them a significant advantage over their opponent. Having had plenty of experience over the years PC gaming, mainly embroiled in intense gaming sessions on the likes of Battlefield 1942 and Counter Strike, we do appreciate that using a mouse and keyboard does give you extremely precise control over your actions allowing you to pin-point targets at incredible speeds – comparably quicker it seems than if you were to use a controller. And, if you go from playing a PC shooter straight across to a console shooter, which we have done on many occasions, targeting and movement does often seem that little bit slower. So, at first glance, it seems that the Eagle-Eye Converter is a product that could appeal to a certain section of gaming society.

However, PC and PS3 gaming are totally disparate, aren’t they? Both platforms cater specifically for their particular input devices and game designers map their control schemes to either a keyboard and mouse, or a controller. So, our initial thoughts when we first heard about this product was: how on earth can the Eagle-Eye Converter be better than using a SixAxis or DualShock controller on a PS3 game that’s designed with that input device in mind? Furthermore, how can it possibly improve your game? To say we were sceptical when we read the manufacturer’s statement about its product, which claims that “Ownage never comes easier,” is a gross understatement. Not being the type of people to judge something without trying it though, we got our hands on the tiny adaptor to put it through its paces.

At first glance, the Eagle-Eye Converter doesn’t look like it warrants its $59.99 price tag. After unboxing the adapter, we were fairly unimpressed by the basic design and cheap-looking black and grey plastic aesthetic. Our Eagle-Eye Converter came pre-loaded with Firmware Version 2.0 which, in the words of Penguin United, includes – “advanced Calibration Function, new Eagle Edit 2.0 Software and improved compatibility with Razer mice.” It’s encouraging to know that the manufacturer will continue to support the product and also base any tweaks it makes on consumer feedback gained through its support centre and forums. So, despite the fact that the converter could have been designed to fit more in line with the stylish looking PlayStation 3 chassis, there’s confidence to be gained from the continued support that Penguin United appear to be keen to provide.

Attached to the converter is an impressively long 13ft USB lead, which makes Sony’s stupidly short USB wireless controller charging lead look a little pathetic and mean. On the back of the converter are two USB slots where you can plug in your keyboard and mouse. On the lower face of the adaptor is a switch allowing you to move swiftly between two different keyboard profiles, which you can set up within the software to cater for two different gaming set-ups. Across the centre of the unit are the turbo switches, which relate to R1, R2, L1, L2 and the 4 Primary Action Buttons of the PS3 controller. Using the turbo function determines the repeat rate of each action button, which could give you quite an advantage over DualShock 3 and SIXAXIS owners. Some may call the use of turbo buttons cheating, and ... (continued on next page)