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PC Games (Games) Entertainment Games Hardware

Razer Develops 1000 DPI Optical Gaming Mouse 65

Posted by simoniker from the i-love-meeces-to-pieces dept.
gameaxx writes "Back in 2002, Slashdot ran a piece on what the best mouse for precision PC gaming was, and there was a debate over whether the optomechanical Razer Boomslang running at 2000 dpi was the uber gaming mouse, or the optical mice from Logitech or Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 running at 800 dpi were the best precision gaming mice to have. Now, Razer has just announced (PDF link) the upcoming February 2004 release of a ultra-precise 1000 dpi gaming mouse called the Razer Viper. At 1000 dpi, this breaks all the boundaries set by bigwigs like Logitech and Microsoft, whose mice max out at 800 dpi. Whether this settles the optical 800 dpi vs Boomslang optomechanical 2000 dpi debate once and for all with the release of a 1000 dpi gaming mouse remains to be seen until we actually get our hands on it."
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Razer Develops 1000 DPI Optical Gaming Mouse More

Razer Develops 1000 DPI Optical Gaming Mouse

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  • I'm impressed at the price...considering its stats set it at the top of the niche, I honestly would have expected more than an "under $50" price tag.

  • Like using a pancake for a mouse (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Gr33nNight ( 679837 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @01:09PM (#7846094)
    If you have seen the Razor, you know what Im talking about. Imagine trying to use the xbox controller as a mouse. Ugh.
  • Those stupid SUN optical mice jaded me for a very long time. My ancient ball mouse died a year or so ago, so I decided to pick up a replacement. After a bit of shopping around, I decided on the Logitech mx700 cordless optical. The batteries give it a nice solid feel, it has a very ergonomic shape, and the control is excellent. I've never looked back. I've heard some complaints from people that installed the logitech drivers, but I've never had an issue with the standard drivers that WinXP automagically

    • I use the Logitech MX700 cordless optical as well and I have to say it is a quality mouse for generally working on the computer.

      However I'm not a gamer. I was of the impression that cordless mice, though immensely practical, were generally a bad idea in the gaming arena, because of the lower refresh rate - you'll get ~80Hz with a cordless mouse compared with ~200Hz for a corded one. Also, I've found that you can't really get pixel-perfect precision using the MX700 - this is evident just on the desktop.

    • Re:Optical mice... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Spokehedz ( 599285 )
      I myself use the MX700 on a daily basis, and I'm looking to get the MX900 mouse. Its the exact same 'optical bits' but it uses Bluetooth instead of the 900MHz radio frequency that the MX mouse uses now. The batteries supposedly last 2 weeks now, and with my 2500mAh batteries (instead of the 1700mAh ones that come standard) mine should last about 32% longer than that, which would be about 2 and-a-half weeks. Or thereabouts. I'm not too worried with it, as the recharging time only takes about 45 minutes... an
      • Having bought one, i can honestly say: Do yourself a favor and skip the dinova. the keyboard is just a laptop keyboard in a wireless case. If you LIKE laptop keyboards go for it, but realize, that it is a VERY short stroke, and has almost NO feel, and is a lot smaller then usual. It is a cool IDEA, but it really is bad in practise.

  • How much accuracy is really required? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @01:25PM (#7846245)
    I've got an old, three-button Logitech serial mouse I found in a cupboard somewhere. It's definitely old technology, but it can still report movement even when I give it teeny-tiny nudges. How much accuracy is really required?

    300dpi is a lot - try printing something at 300dpi on a laser printer and then move your fingernail over each individual pixel. Finding it difficult? 1000dpi is a pixel every 25.4 microns, and I'm pretty sure my muscles aren't that accurate.

    Plus, there's quantisation effects to take into effect in games. The player yaw/pitch/roll angles in Half-Life, for instance, are quantised into comparatively large steps - thus making this hyper-accurate aiming thing a bit complicated.

    There must be a good reason for it, though - but what is it?
    • Bigger numbers are better, aren't they? (If you can't see the sarcasm in my comment i'm not going to highlight it for you)
    • When you factor in for example, the lost precision overcoming static friction on the ball in a ball mouse, your response time drastically improves using an optical mouse. This is of course unless you can keep your ball mouse perfectly clean, and free from any wear at all, which isn't possible.

      Furthermore, while the DPI might not make a huge difference, the polling rate between a serial mouse and an optical mouse is insane. I can say unequivocally that if you are a hard core gamer, that an optical mouse

  • Resolution isn't the only factor (Score:4, Informative)

    by Distinguished Hero ( 618385 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @01:34PM (#7846336) Homepage
    With optical mice, the rate at which they scan is also quite important.
  • maybe slightly offtopic, but...

    somewhere in one of the links on the razor site they mention that the mouse has the 4, 5 buttons (although there isn't a single picture in which they are obviously evident). How accessible are they given that they apparently seem that hidden?

    My current MS optical (i presume it's the most recent version) has what I consider a fairly good 4,5 placement. They protrude nicely (little bumps), on the left side below the 1 button, just slightly north of where the thumb rests so t
    • Depends on how often you use the 4 and 5 buttons, I suppose. I hardly ever use them for just plain computing, and only a little more often for gaming. Usually it's just some obscure little-used function that I might nevertheless need to pull out in a big hurry.

      What I'd really like to see is a mouse which has the wheel moved down to where my thumb rests. That just seems like a really easy and obvious place to locate it. I generally have my index finger on mouse1, and my middle finger on mouse2, so I hav
    • They are on the sides. I own one, trust me, they are there.

  • Interesting (Score:4, Interesting)

    by skinfitz ( 564041 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @02:09PM (#7846690) Journal
    Regarding using such mice for gaming, I can see how this would be of benefit in something like Unreal Tournament for sniping etc.

    However does the higher DPI mean that one needs more mouse mat "real estate" to use it effectively?

    Could a similar effect be achieved by simply turning down the mouse sensitivity in the game for a "regular" mouse?
    • Similar effect, but more hand movement and you lose the sensitivity for quick movements. Higher DPI just means it's more precise on the extremely tiny hand motions. I bet that if you took the time to adapt to it, you'd have a hard time using a standard mouse afterwards.

    • Re:Interesting (Score:3, Informative)

      by Tom7 ( 102298 )

      However does the higher DPI mean that one needs more mouse mat "real estate" to use it effectively?

      On the contrary; you need much less mat real estate, unless you turn down the mouse "sensitivity" in your games.

      Could a similar effect be achieved by simply turning down the mouse sensitivity in the game for a "regular" mouse?

      As long as you don't mind moving your mouse really far in order to turn around. The point of a high res mouse is that you get precision without having to move very far, which makes
  • One of the important features of the logitech mouse I believe was that it had two optical sensors instead of one, which helped prevent the cursor from jumping all the way across the screen. Does anybody know how many sensors this new Razer mouse will have?

    Also, I'm too lazy to RTFA and the blurb didn't hinted at, but didn't say that the new Razer 1000dpi mouse will be full optical, so is that the case?

  • This is good stuff, but not for everyone (Score:3, Informative)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @03:09PM (#7847317) Journal
    This is not for the typical /. crowd (I guess that's why it's just on the games sub-page). But for a select few, this is big news.

    The Razor Boomslang Mice (I have a 2000 DPI one) were a big deal for first person shooters with a very noticable difference for intermediate to advanced skilled players. Additionally, the shape of the mouse was very unique in that it allowed greater precision control. True, it wasn't for everyone, but speaking for myself, it was a big improvement once you got over the week it took to become accustomed to it. It was also manufactured with very high quality parts, was shipped in a very cool 'cookie tin,' and introduced a brand new mouse technology that I am surprised has not been copied.

    This was the 'sensitivity on the fly' adjustment, where you could hold down the side button and use the mouse wheel to adjust sensitivity, and a green meter would super impose on the screen to show you how high you had set it. Very useful for going from apps to games, and for going from standard to sniper-style weapons within games.

    It was endoresed by the top ranked FPS player of the time (Thresh). Unfortunatly it went bankrupt, then was again able to sell some mice, and is apparently re-constituted.

    I used both this mouse and the MS Intellimouse Explorer Optical Wireless. I would say the wireless was better because it was wireless, but the Boomslang was great because it was more precise (in my hands).

    Anyway, if you are not an intense FPS player, yes, this looks like advertisements for garbage. If you are an intense FPS player, this will be a must-have.

    • This thing also has really quiet buttons. Great for lans where you don't want the opponent to hear what you are doing. Again - only of use to those who are extremely competitive and will listen to mouse clicks across the room to gain an advantage.
  • I was sure versions 1&2 of Intellimouse was 800dpi and version 3 was 1500dpi. But a search in google says version 3 is 6000dpi.

    btw, I use 5 buttons all the time, im not going back to a 3 button mouse (or 2 and a wheel/button). In games, I always map +4 and +5, very handy. In CS, I can switch to knife when I need that quick kill and back to rifle. In other games, works nice for sniper rifle, very quick, switch fire, and switch back.

    And for windows and linux, forward/back in webpages.

  • Note to all you gamers (Score:3, Funny)

    by Transcendent ( 204992 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @03:20PM (#7847445)
    Just a reminder: Even if you get the uber mouse, you'll still suck at playing the game ;)
  • I have a very old ball mouse. I am very interested in the outcome of this because I am in the market for a good optical gaming mouse.

    However, I also need a new mousepad as my current one is chewed up beyond belief. So, what makes an excellent mouse pad for an equally excellent optical mouse? I know some have issues with reflecting the light and such.

    • You really don't even need a mousepad at all on many surfaces. If the surface isn't rough enough to make mouse movements feel abrasive or reflective enough to play with the optics, the surface should be just fine for mouse use. I've used the surface of a old, scarred wooden table with an optical mouse and even with the dents and grooves across its surface it was just fine for use.
    • a diploma, with a nice flat pseudo-leather cover. awesome mouse pad for ball or optical.
    • I have a desk with a cheap fake wood verneer, and my optical mouse was detecting patterns in the woodgrain and getting confused. I printed out a random pixel bitmap, and taped it to my desk, and now my optical mouse works great!
  • I have played with many mice, I am a huge counter-strike/star wars galaxies fan. Star Wars doesn't need the accuracy as much as counter-strike does. With some low quality mice, if you move too fast, the screen jumps around, if you get little hairs in the optical screen, basically your screwed. And for some reason, I have never had this problem with the Intellimouse. I think it is a great mouse, as matter of fact, I went to the mall a week ago and bought me a brand new one, now I have a spare. It is a cheap
  • I have a Boomslang and I don't intend to switch. I hardly have to move my hand at all to use it! What is the point of optical mice?

  • Yeah, but can it print labels? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @06:50PM (#7849211) Homepage Journal
    I think not. [casio.co.uk]
  • The very first Boomslang mouse I got was from their first run of mice. The mouse performed well, so I ordered 2 more, but they came from a second production run, and both had X or Y axis problems due to the rollers being out of round. Because of the complaints, they ended up getting their eBay account suspended (that sold their mice through their razerzone.com store). Fast forward through e-mails and many phone calls and I ended up returning them both, getting one of the very same mice back (I wrote down
  • I had a Boomslang 2k about four years ago.

    Awesome precision. Piece of shit manufacturing company. The thing broke within a few months because of cheap soft thin plastic. The 2 year warranty ended up being a jipp because nobody at Razer could get their act together to ship me the replacement, all I ever got was a UPS brokerage receipt that they never paid off. And then they went under. I still remember the pure joy of that lightning-fast mouse tracking. It was great for Quake, and even better for Phot
  • Higher DPI Mice are great for graphic design as well.

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