Several years ago Microsoft had a line of several gaming peripherals that all were sold under the SideWinder name. From gamepads to joysticks the gear was typically pretty good and worked well for most gamers -- until Microsoft cut the entire line.

Microsoft has pulled the derelict SideWinder name from the shadows and shined it up for a new gaming peripheral called the SideWinder Mouse. This is the first Microsoft gaming peripheral to be built from the ground up at Microsoft.

Gamers familiar with the Microsoft Habu gaming mouse and the Microsoft Reclusa keyboard will know that those two products are little more than re-branded Razer gear. This new mouse has some interesting features, one of the most notable being a Quick Turn macro button that turns your character 180 degrees at the touch of a button. A rapid about face has saved more than one geek in a hectic death match.

Microsoft has also integrated the first ever LCD screen into a production mouse. The screen doesn’t show you game details like the Logitech G15 LCD does, but is used to show the sensitivity the mouse is running at and allows you to see the macros bound to mouse buttons.

Internally the SideWinder Mouse is your standard 2000 dpi gaming mouse fare. This means it will give up some of its luster to the Logitech G9’s 3200 dpi sensitivity for gamers looking for raw speed. Microsoft did give the mouse on-the-fly adjustable sensitivity control via three buttons behind the scroll wheel. All five of the mouse buttons are customizable via included software.

Taking a page out of Logitech’s book, the SideWinder Mouse has weights that allow you to vary the feel of the mouse by adding up to 30g of weight. Microsoft also ships the mouse with three sets of feet, made from different materials, to allow you to further customize the feel to your mousing surface and preferences.

Any gamer who plays for a long period of time runs into issues with too much cable lying on the desk at some point. Microsoft addressed this problem with a built-in cable management system. The system is basically a place to coil up the excess USB cable and stuff it inside the mouse. The compartment can also double as a place to store the extra mouse feet and weights. The Microsoft SideWinder Mouse will be available in October for $79.95.


Source from DailyTech