Gadgetwise: Review: GO-DJ From Monster

Monster has found a way to shrink the D.J. booth into a pocket-size device. The company, known for its audio cables and headphones, this month introduced the GO-DJ, a portable turntable and mixer.

Monster packed a full sound studio into the GO-DJ, which the company sells on its website for $600. The slim device, which looks like the removable faceplate of a car stereo, offers the ability to play, mix and record digital music from a personal collection via an auxiliary line-in or SD card port (microphone and headphones ports are also included).

Dual LCD touch screens flank an analog control panel with hardware knobs used to cue tracks, control volume, crossfade and add special effects (seven of which are included, along with two dozen sample sounds and a 16-beat step sequencer).

Music is assigned to a digital turntable on each LCD screen, and can then be looped, scratched or mixed with other music or sound effects with the touch of a finger. An auto-sync tool makes matching beats easy. Swiping horizontally on the bottom of the LCD screens reveals five more screens, each with a different function, like equalization, sampling and sequencing.

But the experience can quickly become overwhelming for a novice. Usually, small touch screens mean simple navigation. Not so with the GO-DJ. The touch screens are crammed with tiny, busy type and multiple functions, making them difficult to comprehend. To fully appreciate all of the features, the instructions, more than 100 pages worth, are required reading (I felt as if I was studying for an engineering exam).

Also frustrating was the lack of cables (especially from a company that started out selling audio and video cables). The device comes with a USB power cable with an AC adapter, but no line-in or line-out cables.

Casual users could find the GO-DJ digital music mixer overly complicated. It’s really intended for the serious D.J., one with proper mixing skills and extra audio cables.

Gadgetwise: Candy-Colored Headphones From Monster

With its Beats by Dr. Dre line, Monster helped lead the charge that made headphones fashionable for millions of young listeners. And when Beats and Monster parted ways in 2012, Monster wasted no time signing a partnership with NCredible Entertainment, a multimedia management brand founded by the entertainer Nick Cannon.

The latest offering in Monster’s NCredible line, which is aimed at young people, is an assortment of brightly hued, durable on-ear headphones called the NTune Candy Collection. They come in five vibrant colors — blue, green, purple, red and tangerine — and have a $170 sticker price, but you can find them cheaper at many retailers and even at Monster’s e-commerce site.

The headphones deliver Monster’s signature sound, which emphasizes heavy bass, making them great for rap, pop and rock music. I found the audio quality fairly good, even at high volumes, although the throbbing bass tended to overwhelm the vocals.

Monster says that the headphones are noise-isolating. Typically, I don’t pay much heed to claims like that, but the headphones’ swivel ear cups provided a good fit and blocked a lot of the outside noise. And they are light enough that I was able to wear them comfortably for a couple of hours.

I was impressed by the durability of the NTune headphones. They can be turned and twisted without cracking or breaking. It appears Monster designed them to last.

The tangle-free cord includes a universal in-line remote that can play and pause music as well as take phone calls. However, the remote does not include volume controls.

With its candy colors and booming bass, the NTune headphones are clearly intended for a younger crowd. Whether they are right for you depends on how badly you want to fit into that crowd.

Gadgetwise Blog: A Monster With a Sweet Spot for Jazz

The Miles Davis Trumpet in-ear headphones by Monster may not give you the most sound quality for the dollar, but they are high on aesthetic value.

That is not to say these headphones are not good. In certain genres, the Trumpets were quite good indeed.

After listening to some rock, pop, film and orchestral music, I was ready to dismiss the Trumpets as lackluster. But Diana Krall’s jazzy version of “Temptation” changed my mind. As you might expect from headphones called “Trumpets,” they did best on music featuring horns but also had rich sound on acoustic bass like past Monster headphones.

In fact, the $330 Trumpet comes with a specially remastered CD of Miles Davis’s “Sketches of Spain” that showcases the capabilities of the headphones. The highs of Mr. Davis’s trumpet were sharp and the bass full. The sound was slightly more detailed than with my preferred in-ear headphones, the $130 Westone UM1, but it had less dimension and sounded less natural than with my favorite, the over-the-ear $100 Grado SR80i headphones.

What really sets the Trumpet apart is its look. The hardware is silver and gold metal, with a three-button controller made to look like trumpet valves. There are small silhouettes of Davis below the earpieces and an engraved autograph on the cable trim.

The cables themselves are flat wires to reduce tangling, but they were susceptible to static crackle. They even delivered a couple of static electric jolts to my ears.

If you listen to jazz exclusively, are a massive Miles Davis fan or just like people to comment on your earphones, you might buy the Trumpets. Otherwise, there are cheaper options.

Meet The Winner Of Our Wrath Monster Competition

For the last four weeks, we've been running a competition on IGN giving our readers a chance to flex their creative muscles all in the name of winning a 3DTV, a 3D Blu-ray player with Wrath of the Titans on 3D Blu-ray.

We put our five shortlisted finalists up for a public vote (you can see the entries here) and we can now announce our final competition winner is... Sam Lamont of Nottingham who took 29.28% of the votes. Thanks to everyone who entered, it's been a blast!

Sam's winning monster - "Undead gorgon assassin"

Wrath of the Titans is out now on Blu-ray 3D and DVD.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Will Come to Wii U

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will be released on Wii U. It's expected to hit Wii U and 3DS in North America in March 2013.

The news comes straight of Nintendo’s Wii U Preview Event and follows the announcement of Monster Hunter 3G for 3DS last year.

The news comes just one month after Capcom teased that Monster Hunter news would arrive this year. Monster Hunter 3G has been a huge seller in Japan, moving well over one million copies.

Keep checking back to IGN for more news on Monster Hunter for Wii U as more details are revealed.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Monster Hunter 4 is Most Ambitious in Series' History

Capcom still isn't saying whether Monster Hunter 4 will be localized outside of Japan, but the publisher's latest interview with Famitsu (via Andriasang) is making us strongly contemplate importing the thing.

Monster Hunter 4 has been in development for over two years, and it's being supported by the largest team in the series' history, according to producer Ryozo Tsujimoto. In fact, Monster Hunter 3G served as a test bed of sorts for the fourth entry, similar in some respects to the parallel development of Capcom's own Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and Revelations.

Tsujimoto said the simultaneous development of 3G and 4 allowed the teams to experiment a bit, letting 3G serve as a test for things to come. The target-based camera system introduced and tested in 3G, for example, would be retained in addition to a more free-moving, touch-based camera system. These camera alterations will be necessary for the game's combat mechanics, which are set in more vertical environments than before. (Speaking of environments, they are now able to be destroyed and will change throughout the course of the game.) Tsujimoto noted that his team was focused on adding new mechanics and layers to ground-based gameplay this time around, meaning the water elements introduced with Monster Hunter Tri will not be present.

Capcom is also focusing on the sense of 'adventure' in the Monster Hunter series, adjusting a number of elements in the game as a result. While towns will remain in the game, with more variety, unique features and personality than ever, players will find their home bases this time around are moving caravans, that will roam throughout the world to many villages. While players will eventually find some villages' specific resources are more valuable to their play style than others, the bulk of the game has a focus on being more mobile, though familiar quest and hunting concepts remain constant.

So far Capcom has confirmed MH4 will support 1-4 players locally. Currently there is no word if the game will support online play.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com, and the leader of the network's Nintendo team. He also covers all things Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil, WWE and much, much more. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN, if you dare.

by Richard George Latest IGN