Slashdot Mirror
New Fatal1ty Gaming Mouse
steven williamson writes to tell us that Hexus has a quick look at Jonathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel's approach to a new gaming mouse. At first glace it doesn't seem to have much to offer beyond your average optical mouse. A few of the features are a "four finger" setup with regards to mouse buttons, a mere 1600 DPI but that should be plenty for most, and an exchangeable weight to give it just the right heft.
They even upgraded the three-finger salute ("Zee bird, boss! Zee bird!"). Isn't anything sacred anymore?!
As a gamer myself I can't wait to play UT with this thing, it will save me a lot of time switching weapons and I like how it looks. With the weights I can keep from jolting to fast, and the buttons allow for endless possibilites. Time to get rid of the old 3 button optical I have.
NO~, I read Slashdot because I think it's stupid.....
How many mice do we need? This one looks pretty cool but I'll stick to my normal old mouse.
www.IBuyMacs.com
So then why is this on the frontpage of Slashdot?
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Best joystick I ever had was an Amiga Power Stick (Atari variety) -- the ones they sold to finance the development of the chipset which eventually became the heart of the Commodore Amiga. They were the best.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
"At first glance, the Fatal1ty gaming mouse doesn't look too different from any pther mouse..."
Looks like the spell checker got pwned by fatal1ty too!
If all you have is a grenade, pretty soon every problem looks like a foxhole -- MightyYar
Seriosly what's with all the advertisments posing as stories? The admins might as well put up pop-up ads instead of having them pose as stories.
>
The article says that other mice have adjustable weights, however I was unaware of this. Can someone provide a list of mice with this feature?
but thanks to Slashdot, they've got a server Fatal1ty.
Ok, this is just pathetic. Not only is this "review" an advertisement -- it even fucking says it right under the headline!!!!!
Right there in a graphic "Advertisement".
News for nerds, my ass.
ampednews broke this story last month, and I'm sure it was submitted to Slashdot (the site owner even admits to wanting slashdot to break it).
So why didn't Slashdot publish it then?
Ive seen a lot of mice in my day but this one gets the reward of being the most ugly
mouse i have ever seen...
Julien ^_^ http://free.hostdepartment.com/8/81fortune/
You sure?
What is different, and perhaps not in a good way, is that this is an optical mouse and not a laser mouse, so the max DPI is only 1600
Oh, and please lose those mouseover keyword thingies. They come in at about a 9.5 on the Annoy-O-Meter scale
But sadly, it's not. It has a BALL in it you need to CLEAN because it picks up DUST?
Did you RTFA??? It's optical. Optical doesn't have a Ball. It's not the latest generation LASER but you won't be cleaning your balls.
What is different, and perhaps not in a good way, is that this is an optical mouse and not a laser mouse, so the max DPI is only 1600... but that should be plenty to satisfy even the twichiest gamer.
No, it is an optical mouse - no ball.
This mouse was clearly not designed to be used equally with both hands... if you're left handed, it's going to be a bitch to use. (Correction, if you use your mouse with your left hand, it's going to be a bitch to use.)
I am unamerican, and proud of it!
According to the article, this is an optical mouse; it does not have a roller ball. However, it does not use a laser.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
What you thought was a mouseball is actually the interchangeable weights mentioned in both the summary and the article. Nice detective work, Sherlock!
What ball? Looks like the pop out centre is the changeable weight - it specifically says in TA that it's optical...
Pretty soon, Callaway will have a line of gaming mice. $500 mouse anyone?
What an underused word heft is. I got to use it talking about a chefs knofe the other day and it was the perfect word to use.
I love this idea for mice - I wish there was a keyboard that had some kind of control over how much resistance keyboard keys offered, and even the control over the key acoustics when depressed, clicky or mushy or whatever.
I have personally opened up a mouse like this and removed the weight, already. Mice don't need weight IMO. It's just more mass, meaning slower acceleration, meaning it slows you down, but the friction can do that and the friction's slowdown is controllable - if you press down harder, it's harder to move the mouse. So what's the weight supposed to buy me again?
Detailing.
I find a heavy mouse the only usable mouse when I need to do something detailed (vector art, especially). It requires a little more force to get going, and a little more force to stop.
Other users of my mouse at home and at the office complain and say I should just decrease sensitivity, but I love being able to flick quick to get across the screen (especially a large screen with a high res). A heavier mouse that is highly sensitive offers me the best of both worlds.
is it just me, or is Fatal1ty like the gayest alias in the history of gaming? for being one of the best gamers there is, he sure picked a noob of a nick.. hehe
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
I see the link's image shows the fourth button as a 'thumb button' on the side. question: is there another one on the other side for us lefties? we always get the short end of the stick when it comes to gaming mice and flight-sticks!
Can I press the shiny, red, candy-like button?
If big boobed women work at Hooters do one legged women work at IHOP?
The point of this story was not to highlight a brand new mouse...the point was that this is quite possibly the first product named after a professional video gamer (Although I could be wrong. If someone could provide a counter-example, please do).
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
I haven't seen any new "gaming mice" that have any sort of vibration. I'm not giving up my Logitech iFeel mouse until it either breaks or someone puts force feedback into a new mouse. I think it's a good idea anyway.
*sarcasm* Wow... a fancy mouse! *sarcasm*
e gory=1&subcategory=208&product=14000) sound system in the same booth was very powerful, and I could feel the chaingun rounds pummeling my chest!
I saw and touched it at the Creative booth at CES 2006. IMHO, it's just another Fatal1ty gimmick, mostly useless bells and whistles. The one touch sensitivity feature was kind of interesting, but seeing as how I only ever adjust the sensitivity ONCE in most games and don't change it much, it is not that practical. The weights might be handy if multiple people game on the same PC, but when I played with it I didn't find a reason to change the weight in the middle of my Quake 4 gaming, for example. I didn't seem to notice the extra accuracy too much. I did feel that the mouse was a little bit small though, somehow didn't have a place to really rest the hand comfortably.
A little off-topic, but the Creative X-Fi (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?cat
-6d
perhaps if their bandwidth is abused without them getting paid for their spyware and crappy adverts they might seek a more worthy career
add to your firewall:
84.12.5.0 - 84.12.5.255
81.19.48.0 - 81.19.54.255
Enlighten me.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Out of 3 Fatal1ty motherboards I've bought, one arrived DOA, one failed within a few days, and one remains operational. Hopefully the mice are better.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
...too bad he just got p0wned.
~jeff
Is really mouse weight that important? Any pro gamer here who cares to tell us about this?
--
Superb hosting 20GB Storage, 1_TB_ bandwidth, ssh, $7.95
http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/product.asp x?view=22&pcid=8c93c58e-306d-4641-91ab-c5695ef33d9 2&type=ovr
I've had this thing for 6 freakin' years!!
Some might say that if you want to do detail work and you want to be able to flick across the screen, you should turn down the sensitivity, and turn up the acceleration.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I've been a gamer since 1999, started with quake. Retired now ;) But I find all these gadgets so useless. Back in the old days we had the same things, better mouse mats etc etc. In the end the guy with alot of skills on his outdated computer with his 4 year old mouse still wins because he is better.
While Fatal1ty is capitalizing on his new-found fame, it should be known that Fatal1ty recently lost his self-titled tournament at CES.
Which begs the question: Do we really want to buy a mouse named after someone who loses games? I mean, if you really want to do that, then I will soon announce my WriterMike Mouse. From Zero-To-Throwing the Computer Out The Window in 7.5 seconds.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
but that mouse gets the prize, it's ugly as a sin and looks badly built...
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
So, I'm curious.
I used to be a pretty hardcore gamer, but these days, my time's dominated by school and work. But I still know some really hardcare gamer types, including some competetive Quake players.
Invariably, when I ask them about fatal1ty, the response I get is either "Who?" or along the lines of "Fuck that nob gobbler!"
Is this the exception, or is plastering this guy's name on their products basically a waste of money? I mean, independant of the mouse itself - do they thing anyone gives a flying fuck that it says Fatal1ty on it?
Actually, that is what they usually say (I just shrug them off as I've tried it). I prefer a heavier mouse.
Really odd, thinking back, I was the first person I knew with a mouse. I had an old Compaq luggable PC (anyone remember those? keyboard in the bottom, green screen?) and the local computer store released the first Microsoft mouse. I brought it home, and had nothing to use it on, until my first HP scanner. Whoa, memories.
... Not since that crap-ass motherboard with the extra fans that failed in like 15 minutes. seriously, just 'cause he's good at fps games does NOT necessarily mean he's good at anything else.
Good to know slashdot is posting news articles days after the rest of the 'net has reported it it's so nostalgic :D
... Steve Ballmer chairs?
The latest Microsoft mouse drivers (IntelliPoint 5.5) have an assignable mouse function called "Precision Booster". When you click (or hold, depending on the mode) the assigned mouse button, you get 2x precision. Another fancy feature was "Gaming Toggle" which allows you to record key macro on the fly with the mouse. Haven't had the chance to try these, but the added precision will be probably used here :)
My wife bought me a Logitech G5 mouse for Christmas. It boasts 2000 DPI sensitivity and it can change sensitivity on the fly using 2 buttons below the wheel. you can even specify sensitivity using the included software to up to 5 settings (expanding on 400/800/2000 which works even before installing drivers/software) so everyone is happy. It also includes Teflon pads to reduce friction and a weight cartridge to further customize your controls. The only drawback I can find is the price, but a little shopping around can save a few bucks even after the shipping. No, I dont work for Logitech.
Beware the fury of a patient man
- John Dryden
NES Advantage when it first came out. It was the only controller with slow and turbo. You could even play on player 1 or 2 with it.
I like how when you roll your cursor over the word "gaming mouse" one of those annoying advertisments pop-up. The funny thing is that the adverstisment is for a logitech gaming mouse.
Here
Sig Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Nintendo is making there controller go more for virtuall reality. It is a one handed 'remote'. When you turn the remote, your view moves as well. They only has two buttons ('a' and 'b') along with the 'start' and 'back' button. They are also changing it so that in some games when you are using a sword, you control your weapon with the motion sensor. You can purchase an additional and traditional thumb joystick.
This mouse looks like a rectangle brick, is really big, not very ergonomic, is only optical and every single "feature" it has is on atleast 3 other mice. Most of which are lazer mice and made by a halfway reputable mouse company, not Creative. This is what we call a marketing ploy to those who worship the ground that Fatal1ty walks on.
AJ Henderson
I wouldn't buy the mouse, but I could see that (the weight) as being a useful feature on a game-by-game basis, dontcha think?
Anonymous Cowards are at -6...
I can't stand most games, but especially FPSes with a mouse. Too hard to pull off a lot of moves with a mouse compared to a trackball that I can just flick with my fingertips.
Then again, I tend to reconfig the default wasd kb config to qwes because it hurts to use the default for a long period, but with the fwd and left/right keys even.. doesn't bother me at all.
- My favorite error message: xscreensaver, running on an old Sparc 5 w/ 8bit color: bsod: Couldn't allocate color Blue
I've thought of hacking together a mouse that had dual optical sensors for axial rotation in addition to the standard translation of a single sensor mouse. User interfaces for 3D CAD programs would benefit - twist to rotate the object. Gaming would benefit - you could circle strafe with one hand by making the twist of the mouse accelerate the strafe. OS GUIs would benefit - click on an object then turn the mouse to activate an option on the context menu.
Good idea, or invitation for wrist-strain lawsuits?
'Be always mindful, even when ditch-digging.' --D. T. Suzuki
Time to burn some karma of my own...
I see there are quite a few "as a gamer" and "as a hardcore gamer" and even a bit of "I play games and..."
Here's my take on it:
I don't see a purpose to this mouse. Honestly, you can fit as many buttons in certain places as you want to, but it won't change a goddamn thing. Take a look at your Numpad. Do you honestly use those numbers while playing the game to switch between weapons or select a choice of a menu? As far as I know a lot of gamers use the keyboard. The standard is a 2 button + 1 wheel mouse, and people don't complain.
Then you have those keyboards that are specifically made for games, like WoW, Call of Duty 2, et cetera. Once again, it's pointless. A regular keyboard does the job as well as that one. You position a few buttons elsewhere to allow leverage, but it doesn't alter the skill of the person, it simply changes the positioning of their hands; their fingers move in an almost exact way as a regular keyboard (noting WASD config).
I expect them to come out with something like: "You'll get better if you play with this mouse!" or some advertising crap like that. I guess the proper way to put it would be: Just because it suits one person, doesn't mean it suits the rest. I'll stick with my 2 button + 1 wheel optical mouse. It does the job.
I think fatal1ty is going way over the top with this one. The t-shirts, the accessories, now the mouse? Come on. Ah well, every dog has his day.
I'll am awaiting someone with a bit more leverage like John Carmack, Chris Taylor or even Bruce Shelly to complain about something regarding computers... THEN I'll be impressed.
Is that pronounced "fay-tal-wun-tee"?
Let's be reasonable it's just a game.
Suprise, suprise a slashvertisment :)
But seriously, why bother? Most mice in the medium price bracket are more than suitable for twitch/fps gaming. IMHO the controller is not going to make a lick of difference, but actually practicing and playing the game lots will do more for improving your performance. Plus reading up on strategy (and not necessarily game specific) also helps.
As an example to illustrate the point, a friend of mine groks the genre of 1-on-1 fighting games (streetfighter, soul calibur, etc) and regardless of the system or controller or game, he just smashes me and all my friends, even though some of us have practiced and specialised (in characters or games), whilest he's only just seen the game. But conversly, in other types of games we get our revenge.
See my art -> http://herbevore.deviantart.com
Im still waiting for the in-developement Fatal1ty officemouse. They say it will improve chart generationtimes by up to 10%.
Does someone at /. have a nephew that works at Hexus? Do the two sites have some sort of contract? Slashdot's Hexus affinity seems more than just a coincidence.
I have never had much luck with optical mice for gaming; they seem to be "glued" to the desk--you need to lift them much further in order to keep them from tracking. Do other people actually use and like optical mice for gaming?
This will sell great in Korea...
I mean, if you want to play Starcraft of Counter-Strike and play competitively over there, you're gonna need every advantage you can find.
My page.
I used to enjoy my Amiga with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
a 5 button mouse can be a huge improvement. I use an older MS Intellimouse for gaming. It has the standard 2 buttons and wheel (which clicks) plus two side buttons accessible via the thumb.
In Jedi Knight 2 and Jedi Academy you have weapon selection, force power selection, weapon activation and force power activation. With a five button mouse you can do all of these without using the keyboard.
In MMOs I put additional things like autorun or camera rotation and reset on the mouse. I also use the thumb button for push-to-talk mode on a VOIP application for talking to clan/guild members.
For games that have alternate weapon fire, zoom/aim and grenades (such as Call of Duty) - all of these functions can be on the mouse. I would imagine a wheel that tilted left and right would be nice for the look around corner functions as well.
The more functions I can put on the mouse, the more I can activate without needing to stretch a finger away from the movement keys.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
And here I was hoping it had built in electrodes to give you a jolt when you get shot.
how well does it scan?
I'm not seeing a whole lot of innovation here.
And I have said it before, will keep repeating it likely for a long time--the Microsoft Dual Strike game controller is the best game controller, ever. Those of you who never used one don't know what you missed. And it is useable as a regular mouse as well--for desktop-free net surfing, for example.
It's only shortcoming was that common action games needed a couple more buttons than it had.
~
I hacked a nostromo controller and added foot pedals to it. It's great for Battlefield 2, and the macros are useful (switch from burst to single fire when using a scope, for instance).
I also use it with 3ds MAX.
it's even got an e-stop incorporated, just in case that gaming get's the heart beating a little *too* quickly. Nice to see that it comes in that nice, OSHA approved Red.
I wonder if it stops the game, or just shuts off the computer altogether.
Type this into your address box and hit enter..
http:///
If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
Creative: Hey Mr. Fatal1ty, can we pay you $20,000 to put your name on this average mouse?
Fatal1ty: You betcha.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
I like it. It's not the weight or fancy buttons that excit me, but the fact that it looks like a _BIG_ comfy optical mouse. A lot of the newer mouses are to damn small and uncomfortable. I'll stick with my MS Explorer 4 until some reviews come out, though.
If it was paid for, they are required by law to say so.
You are confusing FCC regulations banning radio payola with infomercials. The mouse piece is clearly a commercial masquerading as published content. This is the second Hexus link from Slashdot this week that screams advertisement.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Logitech already sells a mouse with all these things, plus it's got a frickin laser on it's forehead.
s /US/EN,CRID=2464,CONTENTID=10715
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/detail
a mere 1600 DPI but that should be plenty for most
I'd be wary of buying such a mouse for use on a Linux/BSD system. I realize, though, that most gamers use Windows. It would seem that under many circumstances, there is no way to set the speed of a mouse in xorg/xfree86. Sure, you can set the acceleration, but if you happen to have, say, a shiny new Logitech Cordless MouseMan Optical (800dpi), the thing is so fast that you have to set the acceleration to be
Why is losing mouse acceleration a big deal? It means that you cannot move across the screen with a quick movement while maintaining the ability to make small movements easily. It turns out that in operating system like Mac OS X, they actually "decelerate" for very slow movements - it takes a greater distance to move one pixel. I had never noticed these things before.
This issue is already on the TODO list and in their bugzilla system submitted by someone else. The goal is eventually to have a much smarter system for mouse speed and acceleration, to suit all tastes. I hope it gets some attention (perhaps as an add-on to the new X11R7), as right now I went back to an older mouse that works with acceleration (but isn't optical).
My mouse is simply incredibly fast (and I can't imagine another reason than the doubled dpi from most mice) - plugging it into my Mac Mini showed it was much faster than a wired Logitech optical mouse, and the discrete settings Mac OS X offered for mouse speed proved either too slow or too fast. I think the bundled Logitech software allows for finer control of mouse movement, though.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
I am trying to figure out if there are technical difficulties with the website, or if the article really ends the way it does. So much for English 101.
This comment has me really scratching my head...
Next up are the buttons themselves... Creative say that this is a 'whole hand' mouse and where you might find a fourth button as one of a pair under your thumb on the left side or perhaps even over on the right (as with the Razer Copperhead), the Fatal1ty mouse has this button mounted on top next to the right mouse button meaning all four fingers have something to do. How this would work in non-games apps with right clicking wasn't tested by us as we were too busy taking the mouse apart to see the final feature.
Can someone please translate?
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
What do you think?
BTW that is my old MI license plate, which I still have.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
If this other article I found can be believed, the mouse is going to go for $49.
Why that much? It does nothing new, it's not even a laser, and frankly, it just looks plain ugly. I can pick up a Logitech G5 for the same price now, and it has all the features of this Fatal1ty mouse, plus it's a laser. I own a G5 and it's accurate on any surface, and it's a noticeable improvement from my now deceased optical mouse.
Really, I'm mystified. How do they hope to justify that price tag?
But the, "First off, we've got the whole switchable DPI thing, something RAPTOR GAMING and Logitech have been doing for a while with Razer following along too...." line irked me.
Yes. I own a Boomslang 2000, and have since around 2000 or 2001 (I'm going senile already)..and at that point in time, the mice were already a year or more old. Saying that Razer is "following along" is tantamount to saying, "Yaknow. Rio totally road Apple's coattails on the whole MP3 player thing." I'd even say that if it wasn't for Razer, the gaming mouse market wouldn't be what it is today. That's just me being nostalgic about ball mice, though.
I didn't buy Air Jordans when those were the thing, and I'm not buying a Fatal1ty mouse now. I like my Logitech.
Since when does creative makes mouses
...
:
Anyway i have a logitech g5 laser mouse and it has exact the same features
adjustable weight (cartridge) that looks way cooler then the creative's ??? whats that
it seems like they made it from an old trackball
I also have a lot of buttons and sensitivity control (dpi thing which imho is the handiest feature of them all)
and my scroll wheel goes
scroll up, scroll down, scrolbutton, scrollstrafeleft, scrollstraferight (although i haven't find a good use of the last 2 in gnu/linux)
Anyway i saw that advertisement and the mouse looked dirty, like it had been
sitting on a dust polluted table for years But i'm very happy with my g5. It beats
my M$ Intellimouse explorer by miles!
Of course, it certainly did take 5 people to point this out.
After much experimentation I found that canvas gave the best sensitivity for optical mouse. You can get them cheap at art supplies store. You use the untreated/uncoated surface. On normal pads, gunk accumulates underneath the silicone feet -- the rough surface of the canvas also provides constant cleaning action.
Nostromo N52 and a wireless intellimouse explorer 2.0. Works for me.
how good is it as a scanner? http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/08/153620 0&tid=126
-AlexC
Most of my friends seem to use their scroll-mice two fingered already (only two fingers on mouse at the same time, others off side). I think I'm the only one using three fingers and this mouse is my kind's holy grail :)
If my wife can beat me in Quake 3, there is a problem.
It took me awhile to believe that a mouse was better than keyboard, but ultimately it was plainly freaking obvoius. It's not quite as obvious with trackball vs mouse.
The problem is, you can only move the trackball as far as the ball can go, at which point you must take your finger off the ball, or spin it without touching it. It is a black art that can be developed, and in my prime I could pwn a server or two (if the people were sucky enough, haha).... But a mouse with a pad gives you far more room to move... In the same way that a car is easier to drive with a full steering wheel than with a ps2 controller. Can you imagine driving a real card with a ps2 controller?
I like that I can turn my wheel about 4 feet (circumference). It gives me many many many different millimeters of choice. The PS2 controller?? gives you about 10 millimeters of choice. It is a similar concept with mouse vs trackball.
Sadly, I mouse left-handed and use the arrow-pad right-handed. Trackballs tend to be asymmetrical (mine anyway) and sit in my lap which is very convenient considering i play in my recliner on my 36'' tv like I would any other game. Most mice are not asymmetrical.
Consequently, switching from mouse to trackball will now mean aiming with my right-hand instead of my life, moving with my left hand instead of my right, and moving with keys on the left side of the keyboard instead of the right. It is going to be a total mindfuck to switch and I am sure it will take me months to adjust.
But I have, finally, after 10 years, accepted the inferiority of the trackball just as I did the keyboard during the Doom2 days.
Curious: If you play Quake3, what is your \sensitivity and \cl_mouseaccell set to?
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
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