I don’t care if you are a seasoned gamer, everybody needs a little something to give them that slight edge which could mean winning or losing against their opponent. Black belts in martial arts, air pilots and football players, and practitioners of any discipline you can think of always go back to basics –at least the good ones do.

I am going to  take you through a gamers’ ultimate self-help journey consisting of several parts. Today we are going to start with the first part which addresses simple tweaks you can use to improve your over all gaming skills.

Just remember  “With great power there must also come — great responsibility.”

Get Your Audio Preferences Right

There are three things you  must do to sharpen your hearing powers when gaming.  Like the tiger moth which can sense a bat’s ultrasonic chips from quite a distance, this tweak that comprises of three steps will give you the edge over an enemy in the game as you can hear him reload his gun or try to sneak up on you.

• Turn down the music. Music will distract you, even if it is in-game  music you brain will still focus partially on the music. Your own music is a definite no-no because then your focus on the music increases while your game-awareness decreases.
• Be the tiger moth my friend. Turning up the sound effects will give you almost a sixth sense which will help you in your decision making and improve your reflexes and  reaction time immensely.
• Use headphones to keep out the noise from your room or apartment to give you even more focus and intertwine you with the game to  the maximum.

Brighter is Better

May the light be with you. We all enjoy those dark-alley-moments  while playing FPS. Some  low life is probably waiting around the corner waiting to end your life. Well there is this old Bob Marley (shame on you if you don’t know who he is) saying that goes like: “If night  could turn today, alotta people would run away”. Well you can’t change night into day in real life but you sure can when gaming. Increase brightness on your TV or monitor when in those dark alleys  and vualaaa! You can see that low life who is waiting  to end  you hiding, now pull the  trigger!

Get Your Freek On

Kontrol Freek  recently  came out with these amazing caps that you place on top of your existing controller/joystick  to give them that extra height. The result is improved accuracy, smoother subtle movements, and an increased range of motion.

These caps are  available in the following versions for around $ 9.99 or € 7.5:

• FPS Freek Elite: Gives you better pin point accuracy and improves your kill to death ratio.
• Speed Freek Apex: For more control during tense racing situations; fewer DNFs; more podium finishes.
• Rcade Freek: Old school style joystick styling that gives you better control in arcade

Ok a little side note. So you need to get a good controller, don’t be satisfied with the ones that came in the box with the console. Experiment till you get one that works for you. Make sure you customize your controller/joystick preferences to your complete satisfaction. This will improve your performance for sure.

Beware of Lag

If you have been experiencing slow reaction time and thinking “Are my reflexes  abandoning me?” it is only because you are high on  something. I’m kidding. Seriously though if that is the case, you might want to get another monitor or TV with low input lag

In an ideal world whatever you do on your controller/joystick would be reflected directly on the display. HD televisions however take between 16 milliseconds – 100 milliseconds.

Get a TV that has an input lag of about 16 milliseconds for  best results.

Protect Your Eyes

Gaming for long hours on end can put profound strain on your eyes. This may further cause extreme headaches . How are you going to enjoy the game when that happens. Not to mention the long-term damage you may be exposing your eyes to.

Gaming glasses are great because:

• they reduce glare,
• they reduce harshness,
• and some of them even improve sight like reading glasses.

So if you are planning to play online all week long only leaving your room to go to the bathroom, be a sweetheart and get yourself a pair of gaming glasses.

Tell us about the tweaks you have used to get that edge in your gaming. Join me for part 2 where I talk about workouts that will help you play for hours with minimum strain on your hands and improved coordination.

 

Sources:

http://www.gamingenthusiast.net/25-tips-that-will-improve-your-gaming-skills-considerably/

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-accessories-that-can-make-you-a-better-gamer/

http://www.kontrolfreek.com/fps/fps-freek-elite.html

http://www.kontrolfreek.com/sports/speed-freek-apex.html