Gaming Gear Showdown, Simplicity vs. Hype

Slack3r78 writes "Gizmodo is running a feature putting the gaming marketing hype to the test and seeing whether it really makes your playing any more 1337. They match up the latest products from Razer and SteelSeries along with some five-year-old Logitech products and come to the conclusion that ... it doesn't seem to matter that much. It looks like maybe you can't buy your way into finally beating that annoying 13-year-old at your favorite FPS after all."

Comments

It's not about the real effect.

[Colin Smith]

It's about the social status.

Gotta be honest though. Having the 'leetest rig' just makes you top of a very small pile.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[JaredOfEuropa]

Gotta be honest though. Having the 'leetest rig' just makes you top of a very small pile.

A pile of what, exactly?

It seems that "leet" mostly means a side window, big fans (preferably with a control panel in one of the drive bays), really weird SATA cables, and lots and lots of blue LEDs.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[bistromath007]

Hey man, I only got that because it came with the only power supply BB had that would run my stuff. Don't call me that. :(

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[evanbd]

Blue? You haven't gone to UV yet? I hear it's worth at least an extra 0.4FPS.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about the social status.

Like sticking a fart-can on a Pinto, it's all show and no go.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Hatta]

Pasty pencil necked geeks. If you've got to be in that pile, you really do want to be on the top.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

Computing used to be about iron core memory and lots of blinky lights. The ferrite core memory is all gone, but blinky lights are still cool. The more the better, but they really shouldn't be all blue. :-)

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Gerzel]

UV is nothing.

My rig puts out high intensity GAMMA radiation, have it face into my roommate's rooms so they know what I have...haven't heard from them in a while though, and their rooms are starting to smell funny, but I'm not gonna walk across the stream or leave my rig.

Keeps my pizza warm tho.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Anonymous Coward]

UV? that's last week.. UVB is where it's at. you get to look like you actually go outside with a tan when you use UVB lighting.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[busydoingnothing]

Social status? Who is actually complimenting you gear? And how can they see it in the darkness of your parents' basement?

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[amRadioHed]

...how can they see it in the darkness of your parents' basement? Thus the importance of the blue LEDs.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Darinbob]

Better to be at the top of a pile of that stuff than at the bottom.

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[Agripa]

and their rooms are starting to smell funny

No need to worry about your roommate. You just need a shower. How could they rot after death with continuous gamma ray exposure killing all of the microbes?

Re:It's not about the real effect.

[aliquis]

Those come at fourth place, at best.

The third most leet thing to do is to get rid of that game blocker of yours, if you happen to have one. (Eventually the fourth place are occupied by never gotten a game blocker in the first place, but anyhow, let's go on.)

The second place of leetness are ofcourse the lucky ones who's got girlfriends which are gamers.

And finally the most leet of them all are the girls who are gamers!

Regarding gears (IANAG) I'd say you want a mouse which doesn't cramp your fingers and got good tracking on the surface you use (The MX500 isn't a crappy mouse, he should have compared with some real crap instead.)

Regarding gaming keyboards the only real "gaming"-part of them is that you can press many keys at once and they will all be recognized, but if you don't play with a game or style which requires that it won't help ofcourse. I guess the macros will help in some games, so will a straight layout if it makes it easier to hit the correct keys. I like my Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 thought, but then again IANAG.

Aslong as you get tracking on the mouse pad and it doesn't wear of your feets on the mouse I guess you're all ok.

Regarding sound it seems like a soundcard with good virtual surround and a pair of good regular stereo headphones are supposed to be better than most gaming gear (or all?). Such as the Audio-Technica ATH-A500.

Regarding all that "16 bit wide ultra 1000 Hz ultra polling"-bullcrap on Razers mouses I doubt that will make much of a different since I play RTS and my Macbook Pro TN-panel got 16 ms response time, the somewhat cheap and nice PVA-panels got around 40 ms input lag and IPS-panels are rather expensive and probably very few gamers use them (but most TN-panels are fast aswell so ..)

Anyhow, people buy the new stuff because they want better sound, or better comfort, or better trackability, not because they expect them to turn them into pros (I guess/hope.)
I bought my Razer DeathAdder because my Logitech MX300 had died and this one had a regular optical sensor instead of laser one and lasers always seem to track so bad. The Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 because it seemed so nice to type on. I don't have a mouse pad and I use my Alessandro MS-1 for games, thought probably not optimal :D, but then so isn't a macbook pro.

You don't say?

[Alarindris]

No one really believes their peripherals make them better, right?? I thought all the fancy 'gaming' mice and keyboards just looked nice.

Re:You don't say?

[Fx.Dr]

Exactly.

As stated at the end of TFA, just buy what feels comfortable - the rest will, or should, come naturally. If you have to contort your fingers to fit the mouse/kbd, it's only natural your game will take a hit.

Re:You don't say?

[VeNoM0619]

I disagree. Sure "fancy" stuff won't make you game better, but functionality DEFINITELY has a huge effect on gameplay.

The functionality of your mouse makes the greatest difference in a FPS: binding the extra buttons to prevent keyboard movement allowing you to continuously move/jump/crouch etc. to dodge instead of "press whatever key to throw grenade/use good gun". This assumes you have 2-3 fingers for movement, 1-2 for movement actions, you only have at best 1-2 random fingers lingering for a select few keys.

My personal example would be playing spy in TF2, before I had my 8 button mouse I had issues stabbing engies while placing sappers immediately. Now, I can do it with 90% success - meaning I don't die. Why? Cause all I have to do is press left click, thumb click, left click, while maneuvering with keyboard effectively.

Re:You don't say?

[bistromath007]

As somebody who resisted getting a Logitech "gaming" mouse for precisely the reason that I felt it was just a higher price for a ridiculous assclown 1337 design, I will tell you that some of them are indeed better than standard mice. When I was in the market for one a while back, the G5 I'm using right now was the only thing that wasn't either wireless, too small, or lacking important buttons, sometimes even the wheel. Logitech's newest hotness is unfortunately combining interesting features with wirelessness, and they don't seem to making anything but that anymore, but their older wired designs are still very solid. Still a bit smaller than like, but really all mice are, so that's not such a big deal. I find the thumb buttons extremely useful in games new enough to recognize them, and they can be useful in other ways, too. My buddy Al likes the hardware sensitivity adjustment on his G9, and even though I keep telling him it'll wreck his wrist, the weight tray. So, basically, if you want a slick gaming mouse, buy the ones from Logitech rather than the OMG SUPAR1337 junk from Razer or whoever.

Re:You don't say?

[keithjr]

Comfortable or not, it'll be a cold day in hell before I drop $150 on a keyboard, and another $90 for the mouse. The article really doesn't dwell on the cost factor, which for me is the major deterrent to buying "gaming gear."

Re:You don't say?

[eln]

You have more faith in humanity than I do.

You could just as easily say that no one really believes their Monster cables make their stereos sound better. And yet, that company is still in business.

I think for most people there is a psychological relationship between how expensive something is and how good it is. If these things cost $20, no one would even consider the idea that they would make anyone play better, even if they were built exactly the same. At $300, though, people are more likely to believe it.

Re:You don't say?

[Vectronic]

I believe it... but to a certain point, and then it becomes redundant... for instance a good soundcard helps (ie: stereo, instead of mono)... an optical mouse is better than a ball, a silent and/or small motion motion keyboard helps... but as for FPS/MMO there really isnt any need to pay more than about $140 for your mouse & keyboard... most of these 15 button mice are useless because only the standard 5 buttons can normally be mapped without having to run some special software in the background which impeeds the performance... there's basically 2 things that I find really "help"... a good surface for the mouse to slide on... and the chair im in... if the mouse is constantly losing its grip or sight, or I have to constantly change position to keep comfortable... gaming is pointless because it will just make me angry...

Re:You don't say?

[speroni]

Peripherals have some impact. If you have a 10 year old roller ball mouse full of dirt, it can get in the way. It can be nice to get some peripherals with some extra buttons or other functionality, but when it comes down to it, it's the wetware that matters.

Although nothing can be quite as satisfying or annoying as the prepubescent voice "It was the controller! F@#$%ing Xbox controllers! Expletive! Expletive!"

Re:You don't say?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree. I got a metal mousepad with teflon surface and it helps more than a $100 gaming mouse would. Plus those mice with tons of buttons are a pain to use, it's almost impossible to hold on to the mouse securely while contorting my fingers to use those stupid buttons.
A couple side thumb buttons is more than enough.

The only thing fancy about my keyboard is that it's LED backlit so I can see it in the dark.

Re:You don't say?

[Ryukotsusei]

Which still doesn't warrant a gaming mouse. You just need a mouse with multiple buttons. The only factor that gaming equipment offers is comfort, basically you can play longer without wearing yourself out. Then again, maybe you have bigger problems if you're getting to the point where you can wear youreslf out.

Re:You don't say?

[Shagg]

You could just as easily say that no one really believes their Monster cables make their stereos sound better.

Knowledgeable people don't believe it.

And yet, that company is still in business.

The world is full of stupid people.

I think for most people there is a psychological relationship between how expensive something is and how good it is.

Yep, see above. ;)

Re:You don't say?

[Slack3r78]

The SteelSeries mouse covered in TFA piqued my interest because it looks like they took the front button design from Microsoft mice, the rear ergonomics from Logitech mice, and tweaked them slightly for a bit more comfort. The $90 price tag is pretty steep, but as somebody that's been a pretty hardcore Logitech fan since I bought an MX500 a good 6 or so years ago, this is the first time I've considered defecting.

(Especially considering that the scroll wheel on my G5 is total garbage).

Re:You don't say?

[vux984]

an optical mouse is better than a ball,

And a laser mouse is better than an optical mouse.

a silent and/or small motion motion keyboard helps

I tend to say, "go with what is most comfortable". Quality keyboards tend to have 2 crucial gaming features:

1) more simultaneous key presses. Nothing sucks worse than side strafe moving while crouching and flicking the reload button and having nothing happen.

2) quality = durability/consistency. the only thing that sucks worse than 1) above is playing on a keyboard where one of the w-a-s-d has gone 'squishy' or 'sticky' or otherwise doesn't have the same feel or travel as the other 3, for example. Any keyboard can fail, but cheap ones fail sooner and more often.

most of these 15 button mice are useless because only the standard 5 buttons can normally be mapped without having to run some special software in the background which impeeds the performance

Trading 0.1 fps to be able to run a useful mouse macro is nearly always worth it. The trick is coming up with useful macros -- some games have them... some don't.

Re:You don't say?

[Slack3r78]

As stated at the end of TFA You know that you've just implicitly admitted breaking one of Slashdot's oldest and most revered rules, right? ;)

Re:You don't say?

[bistromath007]

So, if that's what it all boils down to, than why bother calling this stuff "gaming" equipment? Why can't you get the same features and comfort on something that doesn't have that doesn't make you look like a status-whore to own? Mousing around for eight hours a day is a significant part of many jobs the average /.er will take. You should have something better than a dollar-store wrist-rapist for that.

Re:You don't say?

[LandDolphin]

This thread started with someone talking about playing for 18 hours....

What is spending $150 on a Keyboard and $90 on a mouse when your talking about spending countless hours using them. Your getting a lot more bang for your buck then you would for darn near anything else you'd spend the money on.

Let's go with a med. range gamer and say 2 hours a day, every day. That is 14 hours a week, 728 hours a year. Mean's they are only paying $0.32 an hour... Not too bad for something they plan on spending 728 hours on. Imagin how many hours in a year the guy who said he plays 18 hours in a sitting racks up... Well worth the $240.

Re:You don't say?

[antifoidulus]

What is spending $150 on a Keyboard and $90 on a mouse when your talking about spending countless hours using them. Your getting a lot more bang for your buck then you would for darn near anything else you'd spend the money on.

I dunno, your mom is going to want you to EVENTUALLY kick in for food and use of basement.....

Re:You don't say?

[Fx.Dr]

Don't worry, assumption and speculation are still my main source of info. :)

I feel so at home here.

Re:You don't say?

[bistromath007]

1) Something is wrong with your G5. Mine is smoove. This, of course, highlights the one big drawback with these fancy mice: you can't open them to clean them out or anything. My RMB has started sticking every now and then, and there's nothing I can do about it except run a toothpick through the groove. :/

2) If you have to buy something new, just jump up to a G9. I've used that thing while I was hanging with Al, it's sweet. Looks retarded, but very comfy, the wheel is good, and the sensitivity is on a slider rather than buttons which means I might actually use it if I had one.

Re:You don't say?

[PriceIke]

Yes, to the above.

I spend a lot of time on my gaming rig, and I want input devices that are not only comfortable, but fun to use. And I use Logitech for just about everything, including a G15 keyboard (the blue one), MOMO force-feedback wheel, MX620 mouse and Precision headset. Does spending all that money make me a better gamer? Probably not*, but do I enjoy playing video games with them? Definitely.

*Actually, with the purchase of the mouse, it has. The MX620 is the same form factor as my mouse at work AND my mouse on my Mac at home. So my fingers are already well-acquainted with the placement of the buttons, and having mapped them to commonly used keyboard shortcuts, it makes those commands a lot more accessible during play (for instance mapping the Ventrilo PTT button to a mouse button instead of somewhere on the keyboard).

Re:You don't say?

[stuporglue]

I am lucky enough to have an IBM Model M (Now ~$70, $80) which I was given, and at work I have a Microsoft Natural Touch keyboard (~$70).

I get RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) really easily using the keyboards that come with Dells, Apples, or HPs (haven't tried the rest). For me, it is worth the $70 or so to be able to keep typing and not hurt.

If it were really good, I'd pay $150 for that ability.

Re:You don't say?

[Slack3r78]

1) Something is wrong with your G5. Mine is smoove. This, of course, highlights the one big drawback with these fancy mice: you can't open them to clean them out or anything. My RMB has started sticking every now and then, and there's nothing I can do about it except run a toothpick through the groove. :/ Let me clarify -- the wheel itself is fine but it absolutely blows as a middle mouse button. They completely compromised the clickability to get a left-right action that I never use into the mouse.

I've been told the new MX Revolution is better, but I have no interest in wireless mice.

Re:You don't say?

[maxume]

He had the good sense to say "I".

Honestly, I haven't played a game that was so engrossing that I could possibly want to spend 2 hours a day playing it for an entire year. I can see a few hours a day for several weeks on a game that I really like, but those don't come up 10-15 times a year, they come up a couple of times a year.

Buying Timesplitters II for the Gamecube was enlightening for me, in 8 months, I pretty much only played that game(when I played mind you, 4-5 times a month), and I "racked up" about 30 hours of playtime. I had an easy time not buying a new system knowing that I was only playing that much.

Re:You don't say?

[bistromath007]

Oh yeah, I HATE the wheel button, in absolutely any incarnation. The concept is just stupid at its root as far as I'm concerned. If you need to actually scroll the wheel for any function in the program you're using, trying to click it is just going to mess you up. I've never bound anything to that on purpose, I have enough actual buttons on my mouse to suit my needs.

Re:You don't say?

[vux984]

So, if that's what it all boils down to, than why bother calling this stuff "gaming" equipment?

Its marketing. They've identified a target demographic with:
a) interest in the product
b) disposable income

Your average enterprise manager isn't interested in equiping his team with higher quality peripherals, and is even less interested in shelling out for them. To a phb, they only reason you got an optical mouse was that they were the same price as wheel.

Why can't you get the same features and comfort on something that doesn't have that doesn't make you look like a status-whore to own?

You can actually. Razer for example has a 'pro' series of its mice that are white. And the product name is 'Click v1.6' or something instead of 'Death Adder in Biohazard Green', specifically to be more palatable to getting your PO approved at the 'office'.

Logitech and Microsoft also make decent quality mice that aren't overly garish.

But at the end of the day the big market for this stuff are teens. And they buy it as much for the status as the performance. And there is plenty of 'gaming hardware' that is ALL flash and no substance. The same 'Razer' that makes extremely good quality mice also has a 'cord manager' (to keep your mouse cord from getting out of control, pulling, tangling, etc. That little dohickey is little more than steel bolt and screw that that they charge $20 bucks for. You could improvise somethign equivalent from the hardware store for maybe $2.

Other products, like gamers computer cases are often poorly designed cheap plastic monstrosities -- while others are genuinely high end product.

Mousing around for eight hours a day is a significant part of many jobs the average /.er will take. You should have something better than a dollar-store wrist-rapist for that.

You should. Do you? If not, why not?

Re:You don't say?

[dave562]

I think for most people there is a psychological relationship between how expensive something is and how good it is. If these things cost $20, no one would even consider the idea that they would make anyone play better, even if they were built exactly the same. At $300, though, people are more likely to believe it.

There is a relationship there. Pick up "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" if you want a good book on the subject of marketting and persuasion. Often times it is more difficult to give away "free" things than it is to get people to pay for them.

Re:You don't say?

[Gerzel]

High cost keyboards CAN make a difference in the long run, but not for gamers.

For a typist the feel of the keys and layout of the keyboard really can cut down on wear and tear to the hands. An investment in a good keyboard can save you a payout for medical care later.

Still in the world of ergonomics there are a lot of quacks so you really do have to do your research on what is truly a good keyboard.

Re:You don't say?

[bistromath007]

I know it's marketing. That's sort of the problem. Calling it a "gaming" mouse and making it look silly makes it something only idiots will want to buy unless they, for whatever reason, try it and realize it's better than the regular stuff.

The fact is that if I could find a "normal" mouse that had the features I require, (thumb buttons, good shape/size) I'd buy that instead of what I have. I can't, though. They aren't marketing that stuff at all, and the one or two instances I have ever seen of them doing it is when they take a mouse that is basically the same as a $50-90 "gaming" thingy, and sell it for $300 or some shit because they've relabled it as a specialist/artistic/photoshop/developer mouse. The current marketing environment simply does not allow you to get a good mouse without it being stupid somehow, as far as I know.

PS: Stop talking about Razer. Why does anybody care about them? Their mice only have two buttons, and half of them have the laser in the ass for some bizarre reason.

Re:You don't say?

[Slack3r78]

Honestly, I've gotten where I just hook up my G5 for gaming and leave my old MX500 at work for exactly this reason. I've never mapped the middle click for games, but given most browsers use it for opening/closing tabs, etc, it's more or less essential to me for anything other than games.

Re:You don't say?

[Gerzel]

I've always wondered about the use of wireless vs wired mice.

I suppose it really depends on your usage and priorities in the mouse's performance.

For me wired mice get snagged on the stuff on my desk, and don't provide any different functionality from wireless, at least none that I will ever see or even faintly notice. Also I like a mouse with a solid feel to it, a little weight that fits well in the palm of the hand, and wireless mice, with their batteries feel right.

Re:You don't say?

[compro01]

mouse i did drop about $90 on (logitech mx revolution), though i'm quite happy with my cheap $25 logitech media keyboard (the play/pause/next/previous buttons are handy).

Re:You don't say?

[Gilmoure]

Next you're going to say that Brilliant Pebbles don't reduce comb filter effects in the corners of your listening room.

Re:You don't say?

[lgw]

Is that an Audiophile products site, or an Audiophile parody site? I honestly can't tell the difference any longer.

Heck, even companies that I respect because they make honest products (like speakers that sound good) also sell this kind of crap these days, as if they can't stand to be left out. What a market.

Re:You don't say?

[vux984]

Stop talking about Razer.

I both mocked and applauded them in the same post.

Why does anybody care about them?

They make very good quality mice in general.

They make very good quality AMBIDEXTROUS mice in particular.

I hate ergonomic mice. As a left hander I find most of them, being designed for right handed people, extremely uncomfortable. Logitech, for example, doesn't make any of their worthwhile products in a left handed configuration, hell they don't make anything really good that's ambidextrous.

Their mice only have two buttons,

Mine (copperhead) has 6 'buttons', two of which are hard to reach. Plus a clickable scrollwheel, so 7 if you count that. Being that its ambidextrous I can forgive 2 buttons being hard to reach because its symmetrial. The buttons I can't reach are the right hand thumb buttons. I'm sure a right hander would find it equally awkward to press the two left hand buttons. But all the buttons are discrete and can be mapped independantly.

and half of them have the laser in the ass for some bizarre reason.

A lot of gamers hold the mouse with their fingers instead of resting their hand on it. And they make fine left/right mouse movements by swivelling the mouse with their thumb and ring finger, instead of actually pushing the whole mouse because you can make much more precise movements with minimal effort - e.g. for sniping. (imagine it was bolted to the table through the scrollwheel; that's the rough axis its swivelled on). Locating the laser in the 'ass' gives you better control and range doing this.

Razer's not for everyone. I like their mice, not much else. Their cable management system and 'mouse surfaces' are a scam on par with Monster, I prefer the saitek eclipseII to their keyboards, and their headsets? Nothing wrong with them, but I use plantronics . And honestly evem with mice I recommend logitech to most people. They make some very well regarded mice. But if you are a left handed mouser logitech sucks complete and total ass.

Like I said in my original post... you have to separate the quality products from the hype.

Re:You don't say?

[Gilmoure]

If it's not a parody site, I'm going to be hoping for an asteroid srike soon as we're too stupid to deserve life.

Re:You don't say?

[lgw]

Wow, looking at this product ... I still can't tell!

Re:You don't say?

[Samah]

Yeah I rebound knife to thumb button in Call of Duty 4 because trying to press V while you're moving is just ridiculous. Who the hell decided on that key??

Re:You don't say?

[Anonymous Coward]

Psychologists have proven this several times.

In a study people were given 6 wines to taste, ranging in price from $5 to $100 a bottle and asked to rate them. The catch? There were only 3 actual wines presented to the tasters, with each of the 3 given two fake labels - one with a low price and one with a high price. Nearly universally tasters rated the wine marked as expensive as being superior to the exact same wine they had been told was cheaper.

I won't go into how this applies to buyers of Apple and BMW products ;)

Re:You don't say?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, optical is better than laser. It's just the impact of the word. After playing any FPS with very low sensitivity (over 20" to do a 180 degree turn) you'll notice a huge difference. Laser mice have no tolerance for moving quickly. And chances are you won't be able to spin and avoid that incoming flashbang ;)

Laser vs Optical
In almost every mouse review I've read, the writer makes the automatic assumption that laser mice must be better than optical. I imagine it's down to the perceived firepower of each word. No one ever destroyed an Imperial Cruiser with an LED gun. The performance benchmarks show that todays batch of laser mice can't keep up with the finely tuned optical ones. They do have slightly higher resolution, but not enough to make up for their poor performance at speed.

Re:You don't say?

[Z34107]

There's a happy medium to be found in computer peripherals.

I use the Das Keyboard II. (I used to use an IBM Model M I got from an old PS/1, but I missed the Windows key.) $80 isn't cheap, but it's a dream to type on, and built like a tank. All the keys make happy click-click-click! noises, too. (But then again, I am a computer science major. I spend a lot of time on this thing.)

I've also been really happy with the Logitech G5 mouse. The weights are mostly gimmicky, but were handy for the one I got for my parent's computer - my mother-dearest can pop them out and use a lighter mouse. (She now refuses to work on any other computer, because the mouse is different.) It's really comfortable and tracks well, but it only has one side button, which bugs me somewhat.

(No, I don't work for either company. But, if you are a Logitech employee and would like to send me a check, I have a PayPal account!)

Re:You don't say?

[scire9]

Although optical is currently the superior of the two technologies, laser has potential.

Re:You don't say?

[fbjon]

It seems like a serious parody, i.e. someone's cashing in by selling junk as audio gear. Junk with "subtle effects", mind you, so customers can't really complain.

Re:You don't say?

[Deliveranc3]

Agreed, I had a fantastic Quake three macro that switched between RL and Rail, so amazingly useful.

Also like the "cover me" reload bind in CS and the "It's pinaple time!" say bind in games with grenades.

Wow seems like it should have the best binds, it's turn based though so you just can't be really fast.

Re:You don't say?

[piojo]

I use the VX revolution, and it's the only mouse that has ever made me happy. I mean, mice aren't the sort of things that people should get excited about. Unless they are wireless, work great on every surface, have great battery life, and share none of the usability flaws of other mice I have encountered (latency, jittering, mouse "going to sleep" and not wanting to wake up...)

(Unlike the Logitech MX-3000 mouse/keyboard combo, which disappointed me in more ways than any other piece of electronics I have bought.)

Re:You don't say?

[arkhan_jg]

The best advantage of a gaming mouse, in addition to extra buttons over a standard mouse is a higher resolution in hardware. I turn the game sensitivity down, and the mouse sensitivity up, and it's simply more precise than whacking up the pixel jump count that increasing the mouse speed in game does. That really does make a difference when say, sniping, or tank fights in BF2. Plus adjusting the resolution on the fly, with buttons on the mouse makes switching from sniper to soldier on tf2 a lot easier. I will adjust my dpi in a range from 800 to 2000 in-game easily depending on class. Try doing that with a cheap mouse.

I personally use a lachesis because
1) i'm left-handed, and razer are the only ones who actually make gaming mice for lefties
2) it's more comfortable than a copperhead
3) I know how to program the buttons, including turning off ones on the grip side that I hit accidentally (left for me, right for the reviewer)

I use a logitech G15 keyboard because my saitek died, and the logitech seems nice and robust, while also allowing multiple keypresses at once (cheap keyboards suck at chording). I have a steelseries 5L mousepad at home and work because it combines the comfort of cloth with the smoothness of a hard pad, which keeps my micefeet alive longer and is more comfortable.

I have the same cheap logitech headset the reviewer does when I want a light headset, and the steelseries 5h when i want something more enclosed and meaty.

The reviewer is still using gaming gear, he's just using older gaming gear rather than the very latest. An mx518 is still a high-res gaming mouse, it's just a bit older. Yes, the "latest and greatest" won't make much of a difference to your frag count compared to older gaming gear, but it makes a hell of a difference over a $5 2 button wheelmouse and $10 cherry plastic keyboard when you try to press three buttons at once. (stafe, backwards, reload or turn,brake,handbrake)

Re:You don't say?

[utnapistim]

As stated at the end of TFA

You know that you've just implicitly admitted breaking one of Slashdot's oldest and most revered rules, right? ;)

He didn't. He just wrote that and everyone else assumes that's what's actually stated at the end of TFA.

Re:You don't say?

[AvitarX]

I think the article mentions it is more money than it is worth.

Re:You don't say?

[VeNoM0619]

They had no choice really, game designers have to assume you have a 3 button mouse (a few years ago they didn't assume you had a scroll or middle mouse). So they ran out of choices, but at least they let you reassign all of your keys nowadays (a few years ago you had to use the keys they assigned in half the games, but thankfully half life/quake allowed you to do "bind" commands). The only thing you could yell at a game designer for currently is not supporting 8 button mice (it's no extra effort to code for DXInput2).

Although with the release of XNA studio and the jump towards it, I believe it only supports up to like 5 buttons or something for the XBOX360 controller... Don't quote me on that though.

Re:You don't say?

[aliquis]

Well, unless you need to be able to hold down say shift+a+s to backstrafe while crouching with a keyboard which can't handle all those keypresses at once.

And mice are more or less picky with surface and I would expect them to "jump around" with the pointer more or less aswell.

Re:You don't say?

[aliquis]

I would actually pay quite much for a good quality keyboard, since I use it so much. Not so much on a mouse thought.

Same goes for a nice monitor.

Re:You don't say?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok...as someone who used to game for money (LAN tours), I feel I need to weigh in on this:

For FPS, Optical is better than Laser, it's also cheaper - and its a very common misconception, the problem is that Laser mice suck at higher DPI/low sensitivity which is how you FPS. The problem is two fold - modern laser mice super impose their lens to beat each other in the "who has the bigger DPI" marketing race, it actually causes inaccuracy (although slight). The bigger problem is that Laser mice inherently suffer from negative acceleration, even with acceleration turned off - its an issue with laser mice design that can't be cured. Optical mice suffer from neither of these issues, which is why every professional FPS player uses either the Razer DeathAdder (optical) or the Logitech MX518 (optical).

As for keyboards the variance is huge because its not as big a deal, the only thing that tends to catch our attention is Ultrapolling (how many simultanous keys presses can be identified), and response rate (usually 2ms). The most common ones are the Logitech G15 and the Razer one (forget the name because everyone i know uses the logitech, I personally use the G11 because the led screen is useless). Response rate matters for mice of course too, but both the MX518 and the DeathAdder can be USP OC'd to 1ms.

Personally I don't know any LAN touring gamer who has FPS trouble in any game, so the argument about running background programs is moot - though I don't generally - that's just because I'm a neat freak with my processes/file systems.

Re:You don't say?

[Plumber, Programmer,]

Their cable management system and mouse surfaces are marketing materials on a par with buying a "Ford" T-shirt because you really like your "Ford" truck. Is it the most cost-efficient way of managing my cables? No!

Re:You don't say?

[vux984]

Their cable management system and mouse surfaces are marketing materials on a par with buying a "Ford" T-shirt because you really like your "Ford" truck.

No. Ford has never said you'll driver smoother, faster, and more precisely because you bought a ford t-shirt, for never told me their shirt was made with space age materials tested in a wind tunnel to ensure minimal drag when reaching for the radio. Nor does one pay 5 to 20x what a normal t-shirt costs for the privilege of wearing one.

Meanwhile Razer claims their 'destructor' mouse pad was.

'designed with top professional gamers'
'that it was engineered to push the boundaries of invention beyond all expectations'
'a product whose level of refinement is only possible at the highest echelons of competitive tuning'
'superior tactility, improved responsiveness, enhanced tracking' ...

Its a mouse pad for crying out loud. And you don't have to pay anywhere near $40 to get one that is just as good.

Re:You don't say?

[Cornflake917]

I really hope your post is sarcastic. Every macro you mention doesn't have an ounce of usefulness.

Also like the "cover me" reload bind in CS and the "It's pinaple time!" say bind in games with grenades. God those macros are so annoying. Who the hell "covers" their teammates in pubs anyways? Also, you should only be reloading when you're safe. Imagine if everyone used stupid aliases like that. People would be asking for cover every 5 seconds even if they were just reloading at the end of the round and don't actually need cover.

Re:You don't say?

[reddog093]

Functionality is definitely key. I bought a Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming mouse..a little over the top, and I don't do as much PC gaming as I used to (since I have a career now), but I'm a big fan of the mouse. It's not just the extra buttons that I like, but also the way you can tweak the mouse to feel most comfortable in your hand / in play. On the fly DPI settings is fantastic. Helps from going Assault to Sniper. Helps with Photoshop too. The mouse comes with different weights and replaceable feet to get the weight / glide exactly how you like it. Again, it's a little over the top, but it feels great to use once you get it right. $90 for a mouse that I use every single day. I consider it worth it IMHO. At work I just use a basic Microsoft Optical. I'm not paying for my own mouse at work.

Re:You don't say?

[Thyamine]

I think it's more like a bell curve though. There are cheap products, there are good products, and then there are over-priced products. Up to a point, an increase in price usually does indicate an increase of quality (in electronics, food, clothing, anything really), but it's when you reach the upper end of that bell curve where the quality stops increasing or seems to in relation to the increasing cost that it becomes a problem.

Re:You don't say?

[T.E.D.]

Its funny. As a left-handed gamer, it sounds like I ended up with exactly the same control setup as you.

Its not *that* much of a coincidence though. If you restrict yourself to mice that are comforable in a left hand, wired, laser (no gummed-up mouse rollers), and not too crappy, your selection is kinda limited.

For keyboards, a gamer again wants something wired, but not cheap and flimsy, not hand-biased, and not chock full of stupid "productivity" buttons. Again, the choices there rapidly become limited.

One unique thing about us lefties is that we really don't need those special gamer keypads. The arrow keys and the keyboard's keypad are already right there under our non-mousing hand. We just need the game to be able to use those keys. Its one of the few happy arenas where things accidentally ended up being left-hand biased. :-)

Re:You don't say?

[ElAurian]

Dude, you can instantly switch between knife and sap with Q. And you can map Q to the middle-click. So I can do exactly what you do on my crappy mouse that I found in a crate full of peripherals in my cupboard after the old one got melted.

Wow... goes right to the fact...

[HerculesMO]

That stupid people are the ones any type of marketing ever works on.

The rest of us do research and buy based on our research and our own opinions.

Re:Wow... goes right to the fact...

[Gerzel]

Marketing works on everyone. You are not part of us, in fact neither am I, there is no "us" or "them" apart from the "stupid" people.

Marketing does have a valid function. Sometimes you do want to know how cheap fruit is at one grocery store rather than another. Not all marketing is misleading.

The thing with "doing the research" is that research costs time and often enough money.

Do you really have the money to buy six or seven keyboards to try them all out and test them? Ok more realistically you can goto consumer reviews but they don't review everything and still that takes time.

You have to strike a balance.

It is not the size of your joystick that matters

[Orion Blastar]

it is in how you use it.

It's about the armor..

[Tominva1045]

That 13 year old is gonna own ya because he has become exhalted with the Scryers, has a sweet Tier 5 armor set, and spends all day dueling his homies because he doesn't have a job and can play WOW 13 hours a day. It's not the computer harware.

Re:It's about the armor..

[Anonymous Coward]

But then the 5-boxing guy with 4 mages and a priest one shots you with 4 instant pyroblats. Hardware wins.

Re:It's about the armor..

[Hojima]

Actually, they were talking about fps not mmorpg. If the 13 year old beats you it's because of many reasons. The first is close to your point, and that is he has a lot of time to practice. No matter what input device you have, there must be some mastery to it. The other thing you can practice in is also the mechanics of the game. It doesn't matter how skillful at sniping you are if you're in close quarters with a shotgun. People who study the map know the right array of weapon pickups to have the advantage in the situation they're in. Other reasons include you sucking, him being lucky, him using macros that you don't have the time to look for or program, him having a less noobish team ect...

Re:It's about the armor..

[cptgrudge]

If that 13 year old is using Tier 5 armor to own you (assuming pvp), you should probably look into some arena gear and other pvp gear that's *designed* for it, and stop trying to carry on with some pve gear that allows for big juicy crits on you.

Re:It's about the armor..

[Anonymous Coward]

since I don't know or don't remember who the Scryers are, I think I can safely say that I am wow free now... after playing it for a long time I am at last free from it's terrible clutches

Re:It's about the armor..

[Anonymous Coward]

/head in hands

Re:It's about the armor..

[Anonymous Coward]

And at least one other thing I have noticed. Younger people tend to have better reflexes. In my older age, I can see that I have slowed down since the days of LAN Doom.

Um

[dreamchaser]

I'm 41 and at most games I've play online, and they are many, I totally own the 13 year olds. They don't like it much either. Then again I've been playing various games in arcades on on PC's since I was...hmmm about 13. Maybe experience and natural dexterity is better than good gear or having too much time on one's hands?

Re:Um

[Anonymous Coward]

did you just brag about beating 13 year olds at computer games?? heh... lame

Re:Um

[Colonel Korn]

Eh, I think it's not a bad point to make. The 13 year old uber gamer stereotype gets passed around a fair bit, so it's worth pointing out that it's not very common.

Re:Um

[cool-RR]

I'm 41 and at most games I've play online, and they are many, I totally own the 13 year olds. I'm sure your mother would be proud.

Re:Um

[erlenic]

I'm 41 and at most games I've play online, and they are many, I totally own the 13 year olds. I'm sure your mother would be proud. ... as she yells down the basement stairs to tell you that it's time for dinner.

Re:Um

[dreamchaser]

Thank you, she is. Not because of my recreation activities but because of my other accomplisments in life like my career and my lovely family.

Re:Um

[Knara]

I know you probably figured that was a clever come-back... but it actually is fairly mundane and uninteresting.

In short, come up with something more original or don't reply (aka feed the trolls) at all.

Re:Um

[dreamchaser]

Nah. Experience has showed me that trying to be clever or thinking one is clever usually leads to failure. Read my latest journal entry and you might understand. I could care less how I'm moderated or what people think/say about me. I just like to talk sometimes (or type, as the case may be)

Re:Um

[Lumpy]

Exactly I completely own every Kid from 12-17 that comes over. My daughter hates it when I'm playing and hew new boyfriend comes over ot visit. It usually ends with her pissed, he's sad and dismayed that a old bald fart kicked his ass effortlessly over and over in every game he chose.

My nephew is a avid gamer, he plays all of them and when he comes over he gives me a fight but I win 40% of the time which upsets him.

Last time I owned him 100% of the time and he got pissed. Granted it cheated...

I built one of these....

http://www.vimeo.com/920214

He whined like a little baby for 2 days over that.

Re:Um

[Artuir]

Man, if my dad were more like you my life would have been a thousand times more enjoyable while I was under his roof.

Re:Um

[Anonymous Coward]

dunno but it's pretty nice to have every attack you have within reach of your fingers when using your movement keys, like with a G-15.

The gear definitely helps, especially in an mmo. Needing to hunt for a function key screws you just about every time.

I've tried other gaming solutions but they aren't as good.

One thing the study doesn't talk about is how long the people had to test the various gear. Fancy new gear is *worse* until you redevelop your muscle memory.

This takes approximately 2000 repetitions of each move to fully develop. Until then you are at a serious but diminishing disadvantage when using new gear.

If they tested for less than a 2-3 weeks, the study is invalid.

-AC

I only partially convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with the article except for one thing....

When playing many games, mostly RTS games, I make heavy use of the higher DPI on the mouse. I'll max out both my computer's sensitivity, my game's sensitivity, and the mouse's.

Also I find the DPI on the fly adjustment nice for COD4 as on bigger maps I use a lower DPI for better accuracy and on smaller maps I use a higher DPI for turning quickly.

Labeling it as Gamer gear is a little BS and trite but the features of the equipment (or at least mice) can be nice to have if you make use of them.

Re:I only partially convinced

[realmolo]

You do realize that mouse sensitivity is COMPLETELY dependent on software, right? The "DPI" rating of your mouse hardware is totally irrelevant.

Think about it. What's the smallest distance you can move your mouse pointer on screen? One pixel. No matter WHAT the DPI rating of your mouse is, this will never change. It's the sensitivity settings in software that are determining how far you have to move your mouse in order to move the pointer one pixel on the actual screen.

DPI ratings are a scam on mice.

Re:I only partially convinced

[Gerzel]

Not so.

DPI means how small you can make that one pixel to the mouse. Or rather it represents how much movement of the mouse is required to cause the mouse to respond with a dot of movement which is sent to the software to be translated into pixels.

Now it is true that software setting does make more of a difference but remember that most software also has a cursor acceleration to mouse movement.

Greater dpi does allow for finer movements to be detected by the mouse, meaning the software can be set so that less movement on the mouse is required for cursor movement.

Re:I only partially convinced

[lgw]

Except that the very simple task of adjusting mouse sensitivity is done very poorly in many cases. Having 3rd-party software that really does nothing more than this simple task, but does it well, really can add value - like being able to change sensitivity in the moddle of a game, for example.

Re:I only partially convinced

[realmolo]

Except that EVERY mouse made in the last ten years is sensitive enough that you could set the sensitivity so that merely TOUCHING the mouse could whip your cursor across the entire screen.

I'm not saying DPI is imaginary, I'm saying that it's irrelevant. Every mouse has a high enough DPI rating. More isn't better, it's pointless.

Re:I only partially convinced

[tknd]

I used to play a game that required lots of panning (180 degree rotation of the camera) just about every second or so, but also required fairly accurate clicking on the screen. I was happy with a logitech mx500 for a while but there was a point where if you set the sensitivity too high, your clicking accuracy would decrease because the smallest unit you could move the mouse would move the pointer too far on the screen. So later I got the logitech g5 and the difference was noticeable. I could set the sensitivity higher (less distance to move the mouse to pan) and the clicking accuracy was much better on higher sensitivities. So for some games it certainly does matter but for others not so much.

Another area where it matters is photoshop. With cheapo mice photoshop or any drawing program can be annoying to use because sometimes the mouse will jump more than one pixel. So you end up lowering the sensitivity but now your motion is all off. Zooming helps but throws you off when you want to free-hand something. I suppose I should've just gotten one of those drawing tablets but I think it would be equally hard to use because you have to look away from what your hand that is drawing.

I do agree that after a certain point the dpi doesn't matter because your hand can't effectively move the mouse accurately anymore. But I don't agree that any optical mouse has enough dpi to be reasonable for any task. The low end and portable mice are especially bad with accuracy. I'd say the ideal spot is somewhere between the logitech G5 and mx510. Any worse and you'll start getting accuracy errors, any higher and you won't get any extra benefit.

I can beat 99.9% of you at Asteroids.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hands down. I can play indefinitely on 25 cents.

Get a life.

Your "gaming" skills are going to be simlarly relevant to mine in a year or two.

Re:I can beat 99.9% of you at Asteroids.

[Anonymous Coward]

Asteroids? Freaking kids! Let me know when you've mastered spacewar!

it was never about status or edge or hype

[netsavior]

It is about buying a product that is comfortable to use for 18 hours straight. I mean in hour 1, I have the same skill with a $5 optical mouse on a piece of cardboard as I do with a reasonable mouse on a reasonable surface, but come see me in 18 hours with the crap setup and I will not be as sharp as with the comfortable one.

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever kissed a girl?

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[Anonymous Coward]

18 hours... You sound like such an idiot.

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[CubeRootOf]

I'm prett sure you will be in the same state either way:

Hungry, tired, thirsty, and in need of a trip to the nearest bathroom... unless you have the 1337 catheter add-on for your gaming rig.

In that case, I guess you would be in better shape. Just hungry and tired, because you can always drink from the catheter.

and I bet you would even be able to spell catheter at

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[Anonymous Coward]

did you say 18 hrs. straight?

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[Gat0r30y]

Not only do I have the

1337 catheter add-on for your gaming rig. but in an effort to reduce reuse and recycle, I use the urine as coolant to c001 my uber h07 processor! \rant - by the way, i'm hungry, tired, thirsty and in need of a trip to the nearest restroom, after only 2 hours of work.

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[Burning1]

Should we be more worried that being able to game for 18 hours straight is a requirement for you, or that your comment gained an "Insightful" moderation?

Re:it was never about status or edge or hype

[netsavior]

I didn't say that I played for 18 hours EVERY day.

Lots of people have hobbies that they do for many hours straight occasionally. A person might, for instance, justify buying a proper pair of hiking boots for a weekend of continuious backpacking; a person would buy the correct shoes to run a marathon, even though they do not run 26.2 miles but once per year.

Likewise when I show up for a 2 day gaming event I will be prepared to game for many more hours than I normally do

Homeland Security Called...

[justsomecomputerguy]

Now that you're done with testing, they'd like all their "missing" laptops back...

Could be because of the newer games

[Cthefuture]

Games have gotten more and more sucky over the years. Everything is "realistic", slow and boring. Nobody plays the twitch games like Quake where it actually mattered how good your equipment was. This may be why the specialized gamer hardware does nothing.

I have personally found that it's not hard at all to play games like COD, Crysis, Battlefield, etc. on a poor refresh rate LCD and piece of shit optical mouse. It just doesn't matter. There is no way I could kick ass in Quake3 with that stuff though because just moving the mouse fast enough makes it lose tracking. This is where better equipment could show its worth.

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[BigJClark]

Well, define slow. I play CSS religiously, and I guess it does fall under the category of "twitch", and it is currently the most popular online FPS but at least a factor of 2. Specialized hardware counts in this game, as stated before number of buttons on the mouse, weight of the mouse, granularity of the laser. I play on a large, ergonomic keyboard, with a fair degree of spaces between the keys that feels more "comfortable" to me.

Comfort counts when you play for more than a half hour or so ;)

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[Anonymous Coward]

Many things have changed since 1997, which appears to be the last time you evaluated these technologies. I play nq with a laser mouse and an 12ms LCD. I can differentiate between 10ms in latency, but I can't notice interference from my panel. Secondly, modern laser mice blow the pants off mechanical ball crap, even the insane DPI stuff released ~1999ish. Your "get off my lawn" attitude is priceless...

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[Aranykai]

I love that people describe CoD, Crysis and Battlefield as "realistic" games.

What the hell is realistic about any of them? Just because they aren't a methamphetamine induced hyper-kill-fest doesn't mean they don't require fast reflexes and accurate movements.

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[mobby_6kl]

That's why I think the OP put the word realistic in quotes. These games aren't really realistic in the Operation Flashpoint-realistic way, but compared to Q3 and UT99 they certainly feel so, regenerative health bullshit aside. The pace is slower, the movements are slower, and even mouselook is crippled with the simulated accuracy drop when you snap the mouse to the nearest foe's head. I'm not saying that's necessarily bad, I myself really enjoyed the abovementioned Operation Flashpoint as well as pre-Vegas Rainbow6 games and SWAT 4. But what good is perfect mouse accuracy if you need to wait for a second before the crosshairs settle to an acceptable size?

Anyway, back to the topic. Of course there is a point after which spending any more on a mouse is ridiculous, and an additional 400dpi probably won't get you more frags. Still, the Razer Diamondback I got soon after its release was well worth it. Almost four years later it's still as good as new in terms of look and functionality. I think the buttons in particular fared very well, the clicks are "sharp" and the buttons don't get stuck, and there's almost no difference between the left and right buttons (the left one usually gets destroyed much faster due to more frequent use). I also find it much more comfortable than the wireless Mouseman Logitech I had before that, and pretty much any other regular mouse I could try at the shops. Unlike many other mice it's also symmetrical, so I can comfortably use my left hand if the right one is busy :).

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets be fair here, a crappy optical mouse is GOOD gaming gear. At least compared to what I grew up with.

If a crappy optical mouse is your worst idea of gaming gear, then you've been spoiled all these years.

Pickup an old fashioned ball mouse and use that for 2 months. Then switch back to the crappy optical, you'll be singing it's praises.

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[ShadowsHawk]

I enjoyed the gaping looks at the last LAN that I attended. Keep in mind that I'm in my late 20s and most of the attendees were 5-7 years younger. We spent most of the evening playing CoD2 and CoD4. After dinner, I loaded up a quick AI match of Quake 3 Arena (real old, I know). Soon after, a crowd of the younger gamers were requesting that we switch games so they could try out their 'mad skills'. None of them got within 30 kills due to them being unable to adapt to the faster paced game.

Re:Could be because of the newer games

[Deliveranc3]

Agreed, complexity has also diminished...

Especially in sims and strategy games, no more real tech trees, gameplay evolution, etc. It's all rock paper scissors now.

The Settlers, Patrician and Railroad Tycoon used to be great series...

Of course the only reason that ID would continue with doom is because they want to make a killer 1v1 game...

Coding keyboards?

[atrus]

Now for what really matters, how do those keyboards do for coding? :-)

I'm always interested in "better" keyboards for large volumes of text entry. It does get minus points for putting the Ctrl key in the wrong spot - who uses capslock anyway?

Re:Coding keyboards?

[ThreeGigs]

Gateway "AnyKey" keyboards.

Every keycode was reprogrammable, so you could change each key's output (or key combo, like shift+ctrl+A) to any other letter, or series of letters up to 250 characters. Plus, it was self-contained. No external program necessary. Hit the remap button, select your target keypress, type in the new output you want, hit remap again, poof. OS and program independent.

Plus it's got an additional 12 function keys down the left side. And a 9 button arrow key group. And after 12 years of using one, the letters didn't wear off. Decently solid build, no clickity noises, just a light tactile feel.

Bad news is they haven't been made in years. And when they were it was only in AT and PS/2 connectors, no USB.

But if they were available new, with a USB connection, I'd get one in a heartbeat even if they were $150. I *still* miss all the little shortcuts I had in it. Shift+ctrl+A was my name and address, tabbed. Those extra 12 function keys served as holders for whatever text strings were commonly retyped in whatever I was working on. In whatever program I was working in. Or sometimes it's just faster to press down, down, delete, type a slash... repeat 20 times than figure out a find/replace. That keyboard made things like that painless.

You could also easily swap keys, and remap the output to match. If you use Dvorak, they'd be great. Or like certain punctuation in different places. Or want an alt+number code like a british pound in place of a dollar sign, whatever.

Absolutely fantastic coding keyboard.

Re:Coding keyboards?

[bastion_xx]

I *loved* the Gateway AnyKey keyboard. I actually had three, but the build quality wasn't great and I'd only get 3-9 months out of one.

Air Warrior (on GENIE) was a blast with the programmable buttons. Alas, after the last one bit the dust, I got a MS Natural Keyboard and then the first (and last) F-button keyboard. I assume it was MS that mandated that the keyboard must, when power is applied, be in the F mode and not the traditional F1-12 mode. Grrrr.

I've since went with the Logitech G15 and do make use of the macro buttons to the right. Plus, with the switch for 'gaming' versus 'windows', the F-mode selection is back to what I want it to be.

The G15 does have mediocre keys. Heck, my MBP keyboard is better for most things!

All-in-all, I would plop down $150 in a heartbeat for an AnyKey style keyboard with the build quality of an IBM, multiple keypresses, no software programming, and USB.

Re:Coding keyboards?

[TGoddard]

Dvorak layout?

Re:Coding keyboards?

[atrus]

Never liked it. I'm fine with Qwerty, I'm just looking more for key-press-quality and tactile feedback.

Audiophile should feel at home....

[DrYak]

Having the 'leetest rig' just makes you top of a very small pile.

preferably with a control panel in one of the drive bays Pfff, Amateurs !

It's not leet enough, unless it also sports 500$ wooden knobs on it (for the control panel).

Stupidest Adware Ever

[SparafucileMan]

1 guy plays 1 game in 1 role for a mere 15 matches per game and somehow thinks that he has come to an "objective" conclusion regarding which is better? I hope he doesn't design nuclear reactors.

Re:Stupidest Adware Ever

[JCSoRocks]

I agree. How is a completely subjective article written by some guy any kind of evidence that these are or are not better?

My personal experience has been the opposite. When I went from an old 19" CRT to a crisp flat panel it improved my game. As did going from an old Intellimouse to a 3200 DPI "gaming" mouse. In both cases it was the improved resolution that helped me. In TF2 it's not something you notice much, but in CounterStrike getting your reticle right over someone's head - and fast - is crucial. (As a side note, I've switched from CSS to play TF2 almost exclusively as well.) When I had a lousy mouse I had trouble getting it on the exact pixel I needed it to be on to get the shot. Same with my old monitor.

I'm not saying amazing gear will make you an amazing gamer... (14 year old in a race car anyone?) Just that, depending upon the game, it can really make a difference.

Re:Stupidest Adware Ever

[crossmr]

Not just objective. Definitive as he puts it.
Everyone else will have an identical experience using the same hardware as him because he is Joe Everyman.

it may not make you better.....

[Elsapotk421]

But having a good mouse pad ( Steelpad QCK+) and a pretty good mouse (MX 518)does make a difference. I think a decent mouse like mine does certainly make the difference between a 10 dollar mouse. I don't spin out for once. and the mouse pad just makes it more comfortable for me. if anything these things are for comfort and consistency.

They do not yet know my secret weapon!

[cptnapalm]

Little do these little punks realize the true l337 P0W3R granted by a cell phone, the phone number to Child Protective Services, and petty vindictiveness.

That 13 year old kid...

[The Moof]

Honestly, I've never really cared about beating that 13 year-old kid.

I always take the stance that I'm an adult who works 40+ hours a week and has other responsibilities that take my time. The kid likely plays every waking moment. The fact I can come close to beating him with significantly less practice says something about my skill at the game. Or the kid's.

Then again, ignorance is bliss.

Re:That 13 year old kid...

[Deliveranc3]

I feel the same way, reversed...

What about other forms of hardware enhancements?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's interesting what this study showed, however I wish it would have included other forms of hardware other than the typical/standard pieces. Examples are specialty keyboards Wolfking Keyboard or gamepads N52te have any impact on gaming performance. I have the later and refuse to go back to the traditional keyboard for my gaming. I'd be curious to see how his k/d ration improves or worsens with one of these.

No standard deviations?

[oneplus999]

No standard deviations => this guy doesn't know how to computer statistical significance => "Objectively, SteelSeries made me a better gamer." is a statement that he can't actually justify. Ignoring...

Re:No standard deviations?

[oneplus999]

*doesn't know how to compute

Unscientific

[Pinckney]

The author's conclusions are questionable, as he uses a keyboard (the Logitec) which he is familiar with as his control, thus giving it an advantage over the others.

What about *real* gaming gear?

[Kral_Blbec]

I was a little disappointed to see that he didn't mention the dedicated gaming peripherals like the n52 and wolfking stuff.

I dont consider most keyboards to be that different in each other. I have a g15 and hardly ever use the g keys because i dont really need them. To me, the LCD screen that lets me chat while playing is well worth the price tag regardless of anything else. I would pay 80 bucks for this same keyboard without those keys and just the screen. Actually, I'd perfer it with out those keys because it makes the thing huge. It still amazes me that they haven't released another model like that.

A good mouse on the other hand, is key. Even the model that the review used was still a high quality mouse, if rather old and not branded gamer. He should have reviewed with a generic brand 2-button and then talked about the difference. I use the logitech VX (i got it for free) and love it. Its not "gaming" but i consider the extra buttons to be the real benifit. Not extra resolution, dpi nor speed. Those dont make much of an impact IMO.

Gizmodo fails

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone supporting them fails. Did you look at the two companies of hardware production? That's like taking two cars with 500 and 505 horsepower and saying everyone is wasting their money stepping up to the 505. The accurate test of how effective elite hardware is lies in testing the elite versus the non-elite. Compare those same Logitech peripherals to generic shit that Dell hands out with their bargain bin PCs and you'll notice a huge fucking difference in your game.

All Gizmodo did was tell you that older Logitech's still hold their own against their rival company, thus proving Logitech is the elite.

Exactly! It's a very tired meme.

[dreamchaser]

That was exactly my point. The meme of 13 year old uber gamers is very, very old and quite incorrect.

I'm happy to say that I can enjoy recreation. I don't have much time to game these days but it's still a good outlet.

The flames and naysayer posts are just jealous ;-)

Re:Apple, Liberals, and Islamic Terrorism

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple was founded late winter in 2001
Why can't trolls at least get the dates right?

shortly after the events of September 11, 2001
This must be a Southern Hemisphere troll.

i like my gaming mini-keyboard

[evilmousse]

not a mouse, but i'll put out there that i'm enjoying the ideazon fang gaming keyboard i got a few months ago.

i happened by it when looking for a usb keyboard after i decided i just cannot crouch, strafe diagonally, and change weapons at the same time with my wireless keyboard. i now use that + a usb extender on my living-room set-up (plus the extender enabled a wired mouse and microphone to be near me again too, while still stashing under the couch nicely)

i like that it reaches for ergonomics and don't-have-to-look-at-the-keys-ability while generally maintaining the standard keyboard layout and adding symmetry for leftys/righties. i still like having a full keyboard at-ready for textual-chat or whatnot, but alternatively the makers also have other keyboards whereby you can swap out sections of with specialized sections which can match what the fang provides.

It Just Depends On The Type Of Game....

[RobDude]

FPS = Fastest response time
MMORPGS = Most free time

Anyone with a minimal amount of practice is going to know where to 'aim'. Most of the time it's as simple as putting the crosshairs on the guy and hitting the button.

In no time at all, anyone can learn the maps and know where everything is and can 'play smart'.

Beyond that, it is all about how fast you can respond. The average response time is around .3 seconds. If your average response time is .4 seconds there is very little you can do to ever change it. Some Olympic athletes have a response time under .1; it's amazing really.

My point is, when you boil it down, that's what separates good players from bad players. My roommate in college was an amazing CS player. He was also an amazing Quake 2 player and an amazing BF2142 player. Oddly enough he was also pretty good at baseball.

Most video games require a normal response time, but FPS reward faster than normal response times. If you are 'good' at FPS's you'll be good at virtually all of them.

MMORPGs are the opposite. It's much, much, much, much slower. I'd even argue that you can't be 'good' at a MMORPG - you can simply be 'not retarded'. Anyone who is reasonably experienced in the game is going to have little trouble playing as optimal as can be expected given a particular situation. Beyond that, it's all about what gear you have/what level you are/what class/powers you've got. The world's greatest video gamer would get his ass kicked in a WoW duel between himself as a level 1 mage and a level 25 anything, being controlled by my Mom.

The "For" Side...

[adamofgreyskull]

...mit apo-logies to Gary Larson

My Razer Lachesis(the one in the article) is leaps and bounds ahead of the Logitech 3-buttoned PS2 ball mouse it replaced, though obviously any optical/laser mouse would be better.
It's comfortable to use for long periods, has just enough buttons without being ridiculous about it. It's twitchy as all get-out when I want it to be, and I can use the buttons just behind the wheel to decrease sensitivity on the fly for tricky headshots (or even just for link-clicking:)

I won't sit here and expound on how it's increased my Frag to Death ratio and it certainly isn't the limiting factor for this Fragger but I just wanted to say,for all those people likening "gaming" mice to quadruple gold-plated audio interconnects, that I bought it, for 30 GBP (900 USD??;), with my eyes wide open, and haven't been disappointed with it yet. Incidentally,

Umm

[chord.wav]

He KNOWS which set of hardware he is playing with. Dr. Masaru Emoto discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them using the same method...Not very scientific.

I'm not saying he is not right, he probably is. But I could have guessed that without even trying them.

Re:It is not the size of your joystick that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep telling yourself that, Tiny.

We've known this for twenty years.

[Night Goat]

Your gaming gear doesn't make you better. Air Jordans won't help you dunk. It's the same old stuff all over again. Flashy gear won't help your game, but it will make you more likely to get robbed!

Sadly, not a great test.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to say, I'm not entirely happy with this guy's testing conditions. Team Fortress 2 is an online game, and there's simply no way to predict how well you're going to play on any given day. It depends entirely on who you're up against, and even how confident you're feeling. Sometimes I'll join a server and spend the whole day getting my ass handed to me, while other times I sit at the top of the ladder for games on end.

Personally, I think he should have tested the hardware in a single-play game. One that he has a lot of experience with, and in which his performance can be more accurately measured, without it depending on some random opponents. Quake 3, or Unreal Tournament 2004, for instance. I'd be able to tell very quickly if my mouse was helping me to aim better in a game whose AI has become predictable to me.

That said, I don't disagree with his overall conclusion. The more comfortable hardware is probably going to give you the best performance, at the end of the day.

Why not?

[Sycraft-fu]

If it is comfortable enough and you use it a lot, that isn't too much to spend. I got a $70 keyboard, the Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard because it is, hands down, the most comfortable keyboard I've ever used. They layout of the keys, the pressure required to press, the adjustability, all are superb, for me at least. Thus, that's what I use. Yes it cost a whole lot more than getting a generic cheap keyboard, but I use it a lot so it was worth it.

While you certainly shouldn't spend more money for no benefit, I don't see the point in saying "Oh that's too much for an input device, even though I really like it." Really? Why? An important part of comfort and productivity with your computer is having a good interface, and that means having peripherals you work well with. Now if you find a normal cheap straight keyboard the best, that's great. However if you find an expensive one better, we'll I'd say you should get it then.

To me it would be the same as saying "Man I'll never spend that much on a mattress. Sure it is much more comfortable and I like it better, but I'll sleep on the carpet instead since I don't want to pay for it." I think you'd probably agree that the comfort is worth some money.

So I'm not saying buy a gamer product, I'm just saying find a product you like and then buy it, even if it costs more. It also isn't as though you need to replace your keyboard every year, so that money spent can last you for a good while.

Oh shit say it ain't so

[Anonymous Coward]

What bothers me is that he didnt even bother looking at the different products, for example he complained that the razer was ambidextrous which was bothering him, and yet he apprently didnt even know that the DeathAdder is a right handed mouse.
Also, Not to sound like an elitist bastard but am I the only one that is bothered by the fact that he tested the gear with his k/d ratio on TF2?
I don't know what you guys think but TF2 is one of the games that require the least amout of precision, you either have classes that shoot 300 bullets in 10 seconds and it won't matter much how you aim, classes with explosives (i mean cmon), even the sniper has a charge thing that makes it a one hit kill on like 50% of the classes when you aim anywhere at the body. Also, looking at the numbers of dominations, this is the equivalent of a 30 min gaming session at most, let's face it. How can you judge gear that fast?

One thing I respect about his article is the fact that he didnt actually whore out one of the brands but instead admitted that it is about comfort first.

worst comparisson ever??

[Anonymous Coward]

this is a complete FAIL

1. The author has been using the logitech setup for years.
2. It takes 20 minutes to adjust to a new keyboard/mouse? dont make me laugh
3. So he played 3 maps and counted the k/d ratio? How can this possibly be a measure for rating gaming hardware?

if you want professional mice reviews check this site out http://www.esreality.com/?a=longpost&id=1265679&page=1

2 things matter: tech specs and comfort.

Interesting...

[aj50]

Interesting but I'd have like to have seen a comparison with some non-gaming gear.

Is there any advantage of a Logitech MX500 mouse over a no-brand office mouse? What about keyboards?

I like my Saitek Eclipse II (it looks so nice) but will it give me any gaming advantage over the Genius K627 (boring thing) it replaced?

My rig

[g0bshiTe]

I can completely agree with this article. I am currently playing COD4 and I enjoy it.
My setup is an AMD 64 Athlon cranking out a whopping 1.8 gigahertz (chip is roughly 4 years old) 3 gigs of ram, dual IDE drives 1 120 gig, 1 80 gig. On board sound and lan, and a GeForce 7600 GS 256 meg AGP.
Most maps I get between 40 - 60 frames, which is more than playable.

Average scores 20 kills - 15 deaths, (scores normally higher this is an average)

Point is my brother spent $1800 to build a new system, 3 gig Pentium Dual Core, 2 gigs ram, dual 8800 gts, complete with the blue LED's,
Average scores 10 kills 20 deaths per map.

Now while his system has more eye candy ingame vs mine, I still play better on mine. Perhaps it's due to my lack of eye candy. But I haven't found that I played any better on his system.

My $150 keyboard is horrinble for games...

[Joce640k]

Clicky IBM keyboards are great for pounding out code but horrible for games.

I have a nasty squishy keyboard for games.

PS: It may be squishy, but it has a "Silicon Graphics" logo on it - and that's 7EET (with a capital '7') in any language...

Inches Per Second

[Plumber, Programmer,]

That used to be true - and is perhaps still true of low-end products. You are, of course, speaking of rating mice by inches per second. This is the killer attribute for low sensitivity players. For the low sensitivity player, the dpi of a mouse is irrelevant.
The latest laser mice have plenty of speed, measured in Inches per Second. I suggest you take another look.

Try Again

[Plumber, Programmer,]

The author has half of the right idea, that comfort is important. Here's what I see wrong with his analysis:
- He apparently doesn't realize that mousing style is also important. There are low sensitivity mousers and high sensitivity mousers. There are people who rest their hand on the mouse, and people who hold the mouse with their fingertips. Different input devices to meet different needs.
- He only gave "a couple days" to each setup. With my first high-dpi mouse, I spent a week just getting used to it, turning up the dpi a little at a time. (That was a Razer Boomslang 2000, btw.) The short testing period also limits the value of his k/d ratio. What if he was having a bad day when using one of the setups? That would totally hose his results, and no level of gear quality will make up for a lack of skill.
- He has multiple variables in each test. He should have tested mouse, keyboard, etc. separately. Unless you are a fanboy, there's no requirement to use a Razer mouse with a Razer keyboard and Razer headphones. (Oh, wait, that's what I use.) If you have the chance to try out all these different products, you should go for the best in each category. I use Razer products because everything I bought from them was high quality, at least until I met the drivers for the Razer soundcard.

I always mouse with my fingers

[GameboyRMH]

A lot of gamers hold the mouse with their fingers instead of resting their hand on it. You mean some people *don't* use their mouse like that? That's how I always use my mice.

In twitch FPSes I crank up the sensitivity high enough that I can aim easily with just a hint of movement, and a quick bat of the mouse (probably around 3-4cm of mouse movement) will spin my player around 180 degrees or more. I can still sharpshoot pretty well. In those type of games I have a reputation as the annoying crazy-ass ninja killer from hell.

In more realistic FPSes I have a reputation as the annoying sniper from hell. I still use fairly high sensitivity but not nearly as high as the Quake 3/ UTxxxx style settings.

My favorite mouse is a cheapie 5-button optical scroll mouse I picked up for $20 with teflon feet. It's ambidextrous and it's huge, to fit my huge hands. and it doesn't have the laser "in the ass" (it's about 3/4 way down its length) but I don't notice much of a difference between different beam locations.

What I'd really like to see is a proper dual analog gamepad. Logitech's Cordless Rumblepad 2 is the best design I've ever seen, but like all Logitech gamepads it was built with the crappiest EZ-fail components China could muster. I plan to have mine rebuilt some day, even if it costs me a lot.

Lack of perception doesn't indicate lack of bling!

[mindmaster064]

There are mega-tons worth of difference between my experience with a razer lachesis mouse and a logitech g5. The g7 is just a more buttoned g5 for the most part. MS Sidewinder has a very odd shape. Lachesis is a gamer mouse. Super-light, massively adjustable, butter-smooth action, and responsive buttons that are not very difficult to press... and lots of them! 5 of the buttons are quickly accessible with normal clicking motions and there is only a proper grip required to get at the 4 that are at the sides of the mouse. Once you get used to the action you cannot stand other mice because they feel so much more cludgy. This mouse is so granularly adjustable you can get exactly what you want out of it. My only gripe is that the profile switching of the mouse actually requires it to cycle the usb because it stores profiles in memory of the mouse. (But it does remember what you like for the LAN parties!) G5 is inferior stat-wise and G7 is wireless which immediately disqualifies it. Now that being said, I'd take a g5 over other razer offerings but the lachesis is made right. G5's major drawback frankly is that logitech setpoint is crap and unreliable in Vista. I really do enjoy remapping certain mouse buttons to keys so that I can use every button on the mouse regardless of whether the game supports more than three. G5 is a real solid mouse for all use and I used mine until I burnt it out and buttons stopped clicking.

That's okay...

[Anonymous Coward]

I still have Dumbo's feather.