Everyone wants to stand out. Even those who just want to blend into the background and not be noticed stand out in some way. And gamers are no exception. From customizing their PCs with RGB lights, placing stickers on your console or buying a modded controller shell, there are a variety of options available. And today we’re lucky enough to get our hands on a couple of accessories from eXtremeRate.
You may not have heard of eXtremeRate before, and we hadn’t either. Until they approached us that is. But we were impressed with what we saw when they asked us to check out their Amazon store, containing everything from customization kits for PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch, to remapping kits and spare parts should you smash something up in a fit of game rage.
The things I picked out specifically were a lovely Egyptian themed controller shell for PS4, along with an LED kit too. Then a new shell for my Nintendo Switch and its Joy-Cons. The guys at eXtremeRate were really helpful and sent over some instructional videos to help, you’ll be able to see one of them below with links to the rest left at the bottom of the page.
If it wasn’t for those videos from eXtremeRate, I’d probably have been lost and would’ve ended up with a broken controller. And I almost did, as I thought I knew best when trying to do my controller. Only to realise it was the wrong model. So make sure when you buy your kits, your controller is compatible. To find out if it is open up the shell and match up the code printed on the circuit board inside. Luckily, I managed to put my controller back together and picked one of my others that were compatible.
Now the shell replacement was easy enough, it’s just a case of popping the old one off, sticking the buttons in the right place, and popping it back on. Simples. But the LED Kit was much more complicated. You had to fold it in certain places, wrap it through specific parts of the controller, all whilst trying not to touch it with your hands so it doesn’t short circuit. First attempt wasn’t bad, but one of the analogue sticks didn’t light up, so I redid the whole controller from scratch and all seemed fine. So maybe I just hadn’t clipped a cable in properly.
As you can see in the image below, it looks pretty great. And you can actually switch up the colours of the LEDs when you switch your controller on. Just hold in two of the buttons on the controller until a set of buttons flash, then using the left D-Pad, you can cycle through the colours, or select a changing RGB effect that moves through the entire cycle. You can then move on to the next set of buttons, and keep going so you can either have different colours all over or everything is the same.
The LED Kit also came with a few clear buttons for the controller to really show off the LED lights, but I went with the black ones for my controller, as I thought they looked a little cooler, and less distracting.
Moving on to our Switch, we had a new shell for it. Much nicer than the standard grey one we had, I think you’ll agree from the picture of the shell below. Now, it can be a daunting task taking apart a controller, never mind your whole Switch, but thanks to the eXtremeRate tutorial videos we were sent, I learned my lesson from last time, and it went pretty smoothly. It was actually a heck of a lot easier than the LED Kit for the PS4 controller.
Not only did the shell for the Switch look better, but it felt sturdier too. The build quality was exceptional and left the Switch feeling like it had been upgraded more than in just an aesthetics way. And I have to say, the PS4 controller was much the same. Although, it was very glossy and so if playing games for a while, it can become slippery if your hands sweat. And the fit maybe didn’t feel as comfortable as the original shell, but that may have been down to the space inside that the LED Kit takes up as it adds more wiring you have to squeeze in than a standard controller.
eXtremeRate Accessory Mods overall toughts
Overall, I think if you’re on the lookout for modding your consoles or controllers, eXtremeRate is definitely worth considering if you’re confident enough to do it yourself. And with the help of their videos, it is pretty straight forward. I mean you could pay someone to do it for you, or buy a custom-designed mod, but it will cost you a lot more, and you don’t have that sense of accomplishment you get when doing something yourself.
eXtremeRate accessory mods are available to purchase through Gaming Cobra and Amazon. Find the LED Lighting Kit how-to video HERE, and the Nintendo Switch replacement sell how-to video HERE. Whilst you wait for yours to arrive, check out more of our Hardware Reviews by clicking HERE.