Earlier today, I posted a huge roundup of links to get you started on your first machinima, or just polish your current work. The reason behind that post was to announce the incredible contest that Dell is having! They're offering up not one, but two systems as prizes, but I'm getting ahead of myself. WoW Insider is lucky enough to have two of their staffers, Dan O'Halloran and myself, as judges for this event.

How to enter:

• Download the Dell XPS asset package from their site.
  
• Create a World of Warcraft machinima under 3 minutes long that features their system.
• Upload the video to YouTube and put it in this post on their forum.
• The submission deadline is September 23rd, 2008 by 11:59pm EST.

The prizes:

• Grand Prize: Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition laptop
• Second Prize: Alienware desktop, Dell monitor, and Logitech gaming mouse, keyboard, and surround sound system
• Third Prize: Complete first series of World of Warcraft action figures, plus a Logitech gaming mouse and keyboard

Read on for the fine print and some things you should know before entering ...

The Falcon controller just looks silly, doesn't it? Everything we've heard about it so far says it's pretty underwhelming -- the feedback doesn't work quite right, the controls seem a little less intuitive than a keyboard and mouse, and in general, it just looks strange. Fortunately, I'll be able to know for myself next week -- I've already got an appointment to check out the controller (and how it plays WoW) at E3 next week.

But in the meantime, until I can get my firsthand impressions of the Falcon up here, what are some other strange controllers that actually do work with WoW? We've heard a lot about the Zboard, which seems like a pretty good combination of a keyboard and a custom controller for Blizzard's MMO -- anyone used it? A lot of people have posted before that they use the Logitech G15, and that's really just a keyboard, except for the extra display and macros. I've used Switchblade to play with an Xbox 360 controller (and found it not nearly as easy as playing with a mouse and keyboard). And I know some players, multiboxers usually, will even use foot pedals to supplement keyboard and certain macros.

Ever played WoW with a weird controller? Is there something out there that you swear by that's not the standard mouse and keyboard? Me, I'm perfectly happy with an Apple Keyboard and my Logitech gaming mouse -- at least until I try the Falcon next week. You never know, maybe I'll fall in love with it and decide that $190 (!) is worth it.

Update: I couldn't remember the name of this one, but a lot of people in the comments (and a lot of folks before this post) have mentioned the n52 Speedpad as a good controller option.

Last week I covered playing with your mouse, and playing with your keyboard. In my keyboard post I mentioned that I would share with you all my Logitech G15 keyboard map. For those of you who don't have a G15, the keyboard is unique in that there are 18 programmable keys located on the left side of the keyboard. The keys looks like those pictured to the right.

Each of these 18 keys can be assigned three independent functions – based on selecting "M1", "M2", or "M3" at the top of the keyboard. This gives a whooping 54 possible key combinations and functions. I don't use all these though, only the first 18 for most everything, and then the second for some random addon and programming things. So without further ado, here's what my G15 keyboard map looks like:

Yesterday I talked about how to increase your game play by using all those buttons on your mouse. Today, we'll take a quick look at some theories on how to use your keyboard more effectively. Next week I'll present my complete keyboard map for tanking, and give lots of examples of why I have things where I have them. But for now, let's look at some basics.

I use a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard for main World of Warcraft computer. The keyboard is nice for a lot of reasons:

• The keys are hard plastic and clean easily. I can often be found eating hot pockets (Mom! Hot pockets!) or pizza roles during raids, and it's nice to be able to easily clean the keyboard if I make a mess.
• The keys light up. This is very useful late at night when I turn the lights off.
• The LCD screen is very adaptable. I use the LCD screen to display who is talking over Vent. No more asking "Who just said they need a mob taunted off them?" (of course, if they wouldn't pull agro in the first place or DPS the right target, we wouldn't have that problem now... but that's another article.)
• There are 18 additional programmable keys on the left side of the keyboard.
  

So the G15 is a nice choice for a gaming keyboard. We all know this, of course. Most of us play with one, or something similar. There are a few good and basic strategies for making the most of your G15 or other keyboard.

If you didn't look closely, you could mistake Ideazon's Zboard for a standard keyboard. It's about the same size and shape as your average keyboard, with 108 keys and a row of hotkeys and multimedia buttons along the upper edge of the keyboard. A glance at the box shows us a left-handed key configuration designed for gaming and a pair of USB ports. So is this a gaming keyboard with a few extras? Hardly! This is only scratching the surface of the Zboard's abilities -- the real magic of a Zboard lies in its customized keysets.

Curious? Keep reading!

This edition of WoWspace comes with actual photos of an actual person!! This is a first for us, as the rest of you have been showing off your rigs, but not your mugs (the non-coffee kind). This is a really great setup, which I'd love to mimic myself, but I'm pretty sure I'd get complaints taking my TV out of the living room and putting it into the office.

My name is Wulf Knight, I'm 31 and living in Madison WI.

My main is Felixia, a level 70 main-tanking furball in the progressive raiding guild of Persistence on Uldum (of which I am also a founder and occifer).

I suppose one of the more unique features of my WoW environment is that fact that what you see is it's natural state... I can't stand clutter.

As you can see, my computer is my entire entertainment centre... We have the Logitech Z-5500s to which the XBOX 360, PS2, primary monitor and PC are running through, all via optical (Impact Acoustics A/V Selector FTW!).

This week, Ben sends in some interesting images, and writes:

I've been tempted to send in a shot of my workspace for a few weeks now after seeing the WoWSpaces of the week, and now I guess I've gotten around to it.

So here 'goes, from left-ish to right:

- my Logitech X-230 speakers
- a note from my mom congratulating me on the arrival of my new PC
- a newspaper clipping about DST changes
- under that, a greeting card and some weird round orange post-its
- my television remote
- cream soda x2 (awwww yeah)
- a J!NX bumper sticker (yep, it's stuck on right on there)
- a page from an old Nintendo Power magazine about Ken from Street Fighter II
- partially under that, my DS charger