Normally we review games here. Games for Xbox360, PS3 and PC are the norm and reviews for hardware would find it difficult to earn a place here. Then we got to play with a new Microsoft gaming mouse and keyboard and all the rules went out the window.
You may be thinking to yourself: I already have a mouse and a keyboard and I can play games just fine, thank you very much. No, I say, no you don’t. Until you have this mouse/keyboard combo, you’re not really gaming.
If, like me, you only play games because it gives you the opportunity to kill digital Nazis, then this is the keyboard for you. You can program and record macros
The first thing you’ll notice with the X8 Mouse and the X6 Keyboard from Microsoft’s Sidewinder range, is that they are huge. The wireless mouse is like a space bug from the future, but it has one feature I’ve always wanted on a mouse: sensitivity buttons. Three small buttons just behind the mouse wheel control how sensitive the mouse is to your movements. No more will you have to leave a game to make your rifle move at a faster rate to point at Nazis.
My favourite thing about this mouse, however, is that its blue laser it tracks with is not very picky about where it is used. Almost any surface I tried it out on managed to give the mouse enough ‘laser-grip’ to keep on moving.
I’m going to be honest with you. I still don’t know what half of these buttons do. There’s twelve buttons down the left hand side which are programmable, meaning gamers in World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3and other micro-heavy games will be up to their elbows in sweet shortcuts.
Added benefits to this keyboard include a number pad which can simply be pulled off and attached at the other end of the keyboard, holding its place with magnets. The keyboard lights up and the amount of light can be increased or decreased (an important environmental concern for some perhaps?) easily with the use of a dial at the top of the keyboard. Next to this are more buttons which control media playing through Windows Media Player.
All in all, this is a very impressive keyboard, with more than enough functions to keep gamers and media-heavy computer users well satisfied.