Razer – Gaming peripherals.
First stop on day 2 of E3 was Razer, the gamers choice of precision gaming mice, keyboards and headsets.
First up and offering unveiled yesterday, is a specialised keyboard, mouse and 5.1 wired headset, designed specifically for SW:TOR. Your mouse can proudly have the logo of the republic or sith decal, as they are interchangeable based on the faction of your choice.
Now comes the scrumptious keyboard. An angled white affair, with a surrounding neon four colour light around the outside of the keys. The keys are sunken, much like a laptops and backlit. On the left of the keyboard are 5 programmable macro keys, very useful for the MMORPG player. But it is the right hand side of the keyboard that stands out.
The first thing you notice is there are 2 rows of 5 keys. These are no ordinary keys. The actually have a video display behind them. These are directly linked with SW:TOR via the game. So depending on which faction and class you are playing the display changes to display the abilities of the current play style, which the player can use to their advantage.
Below this screen is a larger screen, which will display stats skills etc.
Next up is the SW:TOR wired 5.1 surround sound headset. An angular looking light weight headset. Unfortunately, the review is based on looking at these items in a display case.
One of the questions I asked Hilmar Hahn is these devices were available as a bundle with SW:TOR.
This is not known at the moment as negotiations’ with Bioware are ongoing, but we did get some prices for these specialist fanboy items.
Keyboard 199.99 USD.
Headset 129.99 USD.
Mouse 129.99 USD.
I would say that any gamer that is a real Star wars fan, and finds themselves addicted to SW:TOR for the long term (with the cash to spare), would fall for these items.
New mice.
Two new mice we unveiled today. They have 4G sensors, that means and additional sensor on the bottom of the mouse to detect when the mouse is lift/put down on the mat, cutting off feedback instantly. These scan at a rate of 6400 dpi and are aimed at the professional gamer.
Two models are on offer priced at 129.99 USD and 79.99 USD.
Switchbale.
Is this just an ordinary game controller? Nope. It’s a force feedback gaming controller, with a few extra features and is compatible with windows 7. At first glance it looks like just a normal xbox controller. But the first thing to stand out is the analogue sticks. These have a turn able screw below the top that can ease and tighten the resistance of the sticks, very nice if you want different reaction times for different games. Two additional bumper buttons have been added to the controller, that can be linked to either button or keyboard controls. This is done via two buttons on the base of the unit that allow you to link specific keystrokes /buttons presses to these bumpers.
No release date is schedule.
So overall, some nice new products.