It has been a ridiculously cold winter, so when hardware giants Turtle Beach invited me to their own beachy getaway at the Turtle Beach Club, showcasing some of their latest and greatest tech in a much warmer space at The Ivy in Sydney city, I was more than happy to attend.
After some delightful shmoozing with other avid content creators, Marie Hogben, the Head of Turtle Beach in Australia and New Zealand, introduced herself, giving a rundown of the Turtle Beach ethos, history, and achievements.
What started as an audio company in the mid-70s, specialising in synthesisers and sampling keyboards, and PC Sound Cards in the 90s has gone above and beyond its humble beginnings. Audio is still a huge part of the Turtle Beach catalogue, but now headsets, controllers, keyboards, mice and more show just how far they’ve come, bigger and better than ever.
Their award-winning Stealth Pro II Headset was on display, much to my delight, with their Advanced Active Noise Cancellation; much of the noise of chatter as partiers mingled was reduced, allowing me to hear the footsteps of my foes in Counter-Strike.
Pairing the headset with the Command Series KB7 keyboard and Command Series MC7 mouse, I experienced touch display controls on both the mouse and keyboard, unlike any display I’ve seen, to quickly change DPI, profiles, OBS, macros and more. Of course, they had RGB, which, as a gamer, is super important to really feel like a true gaming experience.
Turtle Beach ANZ had a swanky assortment of consoles set up to test out their gear. I spent a decent chunk of time whooping the opposition in Mario Kart 9 using Turtle Beach’s Nintendo Switch Controllers, which came in two super cool Mario designs: a Mario Kart-themed one and one featuring stacks of iconic characters, both lit up, making drifting around the maps with the smooth, responsive controls super stylish for onlookers.
With my competitive blood pumping, I swiftly moved onto Street Fighter, and I got absolutely destroyed. Despite the ass-whooping, the Victrix Pro KO Leverless Fight Stick – Street Fighter II: Champion Edition really brought me back to that arcade machine feeling, perfect for a pro button-masher.
The most impressive set-up of the night was the VelocityOne Race KD3 Racing Wheel & Pedals set-up on the open balcony; cruising out in the fresh air was a delight.
The brand’s slogan, “Seriously Unserious”, captures the essence of what the Turtle Beach Club Showcase was: incredibly chill and a wildly entertaining celebration of gaming. It’s no wonder Turtle Beach is still bringing the party, given their absolutely stacked line-up of hardware delivering gamers the best gaming experiences possible.
