Slashdot Mirror
The "King of All Computer Mice" Finally Ships
An anonymous reader writes "The much-anticipated, much-mocked 18-button joystick mouse from WarMouse is now shipping. The press release features an impressive set of user quotes from game designer Chris Taylor, new SFWA president John Scalzi, and a doctor who runs a medical software company. Crazy or not, it's obviously more than just a gaming mouse."
I love playing against people who use a trackball. Can always use target practice.
Looks like shit.
I think this sums up the mouse accurately. Also, it has a cable. You can't claim a title like that when your mouse is chained to the computer. And 18 buttons? Who really thinks that many buttons is a good idea to cram on a mouse? I'd say a lot fewer is better. I personally don't see much point for more than a few buttons.
Steve Jobs would not approve.
Not all occupy themselves playing games...
I use my trackball to throw at colleagues who piss me off.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
You can have my trusty Naga when you pry it from my cold dead hand. http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.169418900
Each to their own. You're obviously not a PC gamer, or if you are a very casual one.
I might get this mouse, if it's big enough to fit comfortably in my shovel-like hands. I still use a Logitech MX700 because it's a good 30mm longer than any other mouse I've ever encountered. Either this mouse, or one with an adjustable palm space.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
The most I get out of that link is that they can use photoshop. Are they afraid to show good pictures of the actual product? Or is it pictures that have been doctored to the point where they start to look fake?
x86, oh yes, I'm pro.
By who? This thing looks like shit, will probably sell 500 units to the people who buy every new computer gadget that's produced, and will die a silent death in the dark, rightfully so.
I have a computer input device with a lot of keys on it already - it's called a keyboard, and it works a lot better when I'm not sliding the keyboard around on the desktop while trying to type.
This is a solution in search of a problem to solve.
I'll stick with my trusty MX Revolution. That no other manufacturer (Logitech included) has added that wonderful thumbwheel to their mice is a crying shame. Tabs through pages like nobody's business, with another two buttons right next to it.
I mean why not just put your fucking keyboard on wheels and push it around?
is there ANY way that this is not a tech/i.t. related news ? i mean, did we move to mental interfaces since i went to bed last night ? how can a 12 something button mice news is in idle, as if something irrelevant to /. ?
Read radical news here
Crazy or not, it's obviously more than just a gaming mouse."
I would use this for CAD applications. And yes, I have been waiting a long time for it. A colleague once taped a keyboard on top of a mouse and told me he had constructed my ideal mouse. The one shown above is even better
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
Everyone seems to be slating this in their comments. I can see a use for it. There are some keyboard shortcuts that I use frequently but are uncomfortable to hit one handed. On a laptop it's not so much of an issue, both your hands are close to the keyboard but it frustrates me on my desktop or when I'm using an external mouse. Now yes, I could reassign my shortcuts but I've tried that in the past and 2 things happen, I end up with system vs. application shortcut conflicts and I run out of shortcuts reachable comfortably with just my left hand. If the price isn't silly, I may well get one of these as I can see it as a useful tool. 18 buttons, minus the 3 standard mouse buttons, essentially makes the right hand side of the keyboard available for shortcuts without having to take your hand off the mouse.
My "top-side" fingers don't have much mobility, plus they're used for left and right clicks.
I haven't used it, but for buttons junkies, the Razer Naga (http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/list/categoryID.35208800) seems both less overt-the-top and more ergonomic/practical)
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
The mother of all demos is typically cited as where Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the mouse as a pointing device for the very first time, but what is forgotten is that he also had, for his left hand, a small set of levers for performing "common actions" (read: shortcuts) that essentially served a similar purpose as all those buttons on this mouse.
I remember reading in a book that, among all the SRI researchers, only Engelbart himself ever got the hang of how to use it; the others apparently simply preferred to use the mouse and keyboard. I wouldn't be surprised if this mouse gets a fanatical following of about three people, while the rest of the world moves on.
Here's a decent engadget review and associated video of this mouse.
If you lay off the stimulants, you might stop twitching enough to get back to your job, and still have a working 1 key by the end of the day.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Since we slashdotted the website I thought I'd post a cache version of the article. So, here goes.
WarMouse Meta: "The King of All Computer Mice" is now shipping and it isn't just for games
Oxford, England, July 28, 2010 - WarMouse today announced that its much-anticipated multi-button laser joystick mouse is now shipping. With a patented design featuring 18 buttons, an analog joystick, and a 5600-CPI laser sensor, the Meta has been well received by gamers and commercial software developers alike. Containing twice as much memory as the original Macintosh, the WarMouse(R) Meta holds 3,072 commands in 64 mouse modes, allowing the mouse to completely change its functionality on the fly according to the active application.
Hands-on reviews of the mouse from various technology sites have been uniformly positive:
* "WarMouse has given the concept of the mouse a whole new meaning." - Techzine
* "There's no doubt that the $79.99 Meta with its 512K of memory is the most advanced mouse we've ever seen - each of its 18 buttons along with their double-click functions can be configured for different applications, and its analog joystick can be customized to perform eight different commands.... The WarMouse Meta goes where no mouse has gone before." - Engadget
* "The King of All Computer Mice.... If there is one mouse that beats them all, then it sure is the WarMouse Meta." - Trends Updates
* "Mouse technology has reached a peak with the Warmouse Meta." - Trendhunter
The Meta is one of the first computer mice to incorporate a digital/analog joystick into its design and is the first mouse to permit the use of the joystick as a keyboard interface. In the three digital joystick settings, the user can assign up to sixteen different key functions to the joystick in each of the 64 mouse modes. In the analog joystick settings, the use can select between having up to seven joystick buttons available or using all 18 buttons as keyboard and/or mouse commands instead. In addition to providing an easy means of creating and customizing mouse modes, the Meta Modeware software records the user's button clicks and stores the statistics by application, allowing players to perform postgame analysis of their multiplayer matches and more efficiently arrange their button assignments.
"The WarMouse Meta isn't just an awesome mouse for gamers, but for game designers too," said Chris Taylor, the designer of Total Annihilation, the Strategy Game of the Decade, and CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Being able to data mine game actions through the Meta takes gaming mouse technology to a whole new level."
Unlike most gaming mice, the multi-button utility of the WarMouse Meta is not limited to games despite its high-end specifications.. The award-winning science fiction writer John Scalzi, known for his mad photo-imaging skills as well as his predilection for slaughtering the digital undead, declared the Meta is "Equally at home fine-tuning pictures in Photoshop or fighting the slavering zombie hordes. Because I do both. Although usually not at the same time." Dr. Murray Reicher, M.D., the CEO of DR Systems, was one of the first adopters of the new mouse interface and said: "This new input device has great potential in healthcare, particularly in the field of medical imaging. I'm looking forward to introducing it to our physician and technologist customers."
The features of the WarMouse Meta include:
* 18 programmable mouse buttons with double-click functionality.
* High-resolution laser sensor with adjustable resolution ranging from 100 to 5,600 DPI/CPI.
* Six assignable button modes: Key, Keypress, Macro, Mouse, Special, and Mouse-Key Combo.
* Analog Xbox 360-style joystick with six analog and digital joystick modes.
* Clickable and co
The hooker?
Five important aspects of a mouse:
1 Frictionless Scroll Wheel (no bumps while rolling...carpal tunnel)
2 Buttons click with very little vibration. After several thousand clicks per day, the difference between Thwump and TwhaCkchkchck becomes painfully obvious
3 Very, very precise tracking. Although Blue-track is awesome on rough surfaces, I like that first pixel to be quantum mechanically entangled with the first detectable movement. Making users hands numb is not an acceptable way to bring tactile feedback and mouse movement into synch.
4 Shape. Just don't make it suck. Mechanically, I really like there to be troths for the fingers. I think they help bring more of the finger into contact and use the soft tissue to dampen vibrations quickly and gently. It also helps reduce the total moment carried by the fingertip because some of it is applied towards the base.
5 Transmitter and battery....afterthoughts but they need to be on a list that includes everything a mouse engineer should know.
When I started using blender to do tons of 3D modelling, compositing, skinning, animation etc etc, I noticed how crappy mice really are. Most seem to be designed so that oilfield workers will still feel comfortable using them after pulling several thousand feet of pipe.
When truly tied to lots of mouse action, the most important thing is to make it as much of a psychic experience as possible. The mouse should barely exist.
"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them." ~ Louis Armstrong
Store page says :
1e+09 Units in Stock
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
I've lost track of the number of well-ranked players I have completely abused while playing first person shooters with my Trackman Wheel. Maybe your problem is too much time spent exercising the wrist, and not enough time spent exercising the thumb.
I've read/heard that line countless times, but I have yet to actually see anyone who plays Quake(*) decently with anything else than a mouse. I'll grant you that a trackball is far superior to a console pad, so if anything can be as good as (better than?) a mouse, it's a trackball but I still think it's just not good enough. I mean, if a trackball really is that good, at least some pros should use one, right?
Not that I consider myself a "well-ranked player" but I'd very much like to have a Quake Live duel with someone who uses a trackball (someone who knows Quake of course, otherwise they'll get destroyed simply because they don't know how to play the game.) I seriously think that even scoring a point would be an enormous challenge for a trackball user.
But, maybe I'm wrong so, trackball users, who's up for running circles around a smug mouser by the name of chocapix? :-)
(*) I speak only for Quake, because it's the only FPS I play. I suspect most of what I say still holds for, say, CS or UT, though.
I played Quake with a trackball... a logitech trackman wheel (basically). The key to it is to have the sensitivity on the trackball super-high so that you don't have to move it too far to turn around.. plus, with the precision of a thumb, it wasn't that hard making precise movements. Sure, I was the laughingstock of my friends but they would always be below me in the rankings.