Razer Starcraft II and Xbox 360 peripherals hands-on
By Tim Stevens 
posted June 18th 2010 9:49AM
posted June 18th 2010 9:49AM
The original Starcraft has experienced staying power unmatched by any other single RTS, and while not every hardcore gamer is super-psyched about some of the details in its replacement, there's little doubt it'll sell like gangbusters. These Razer peripherals have been officially licensed and specifically designed to work with it, offering a lot more than a matching color scheme. The five-button Spectre mouse, for example, is especially lightweight to enable fast, twitchy motions, 5,600dpi resolution for accuracy and offers a three-way switch that enables adjustable resistance and bounce on the buttons -- a first.
The Banshee headset is also RTS-friendly, featuring superb noise isolation to block out the distracting lamentation of the women as you drive your enemies before you, as well as a removable mic -- since most commanders don't worry too much about voice chat. Finally, there's the Marauder keyboard, which ditches the typical arrow keys to move the numpad in closer, offers a lightweight feel to the keys for extra twitch, and lets you define macros of unlimited length on the fly. All of the peripherals have three light-up sections that change color based on gameplay, perhaps flashing red when you're under attack, or pulsing green when your APM (activities per-minute, the benchmark of serious RTS gamers) goes through the roof. All will ship sometime in the third quarter, unfortunately after the release of the game, with the keyboard and headset costing $119 each, and the mouse $79.
We also asked about the Xbox 360 peripherals that wowed us at CES this year, the Onze controller and the Chimaera headset. Sadly the Chimaera was nowhere to be seen, apparently delayed due to complexities in negotiations with Microsoft, and is now due sometime toward the end of the year. But, the Onza controller is still progressing nicely, feeling incredibly high-quality in the hand and launching in the third quarter. We can't wait to get our mitts on the final revision.
Nice
Giveaway on the xbox controller
Kthxbia
@DefPoet
Fail for saying bia instead of bai
@techee44
Fail on HTC's auto correct :-\ I'd turn it off but you'd might as well being reading accent Chinese due to my failed English
The joystick looks awesome.The keyboard,too
as for the mouse,I want the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T
@Ahmadsan
Nice looking hardware, but I really don't see any advantage in removing the arrow keys. Since your right hand is on the mouse the entire time and your left is on the left side of the keyboard (anchored with your pinky on the ctrl button) removing the arrows doesn't bring your hands closer to anything important. It just makes the keyboard worse at using your computer for other tasks, like MS Excel.
Awesome keyboard & mouse.. Xbox controller? Mehh
@Junior Romo a Razer USB Xbox 360 controller would officially complete my Razer desktop. everything on my desk is black Razer stuff except for my white Xbox controller. i think i might pick one up.
Keyboard looks a lot better in person than it did in the stupid stock photos. But why are they so hung up on blue? Give us some color choices like Saitek did with their Eclipse II
@DragonAsh oops.
looks like they do seem to change colors judging by the pictures here.
@DragonAsh They're painted a steely, metalic blue, but the LEDs change to any color in the rainbow.
So you can finally use a mouse on the xbox?
@dicobalt
the article seems a lytlr confusing, I don't think this mouse works with the xbox, should have separated the article better. However, being able to use a mouse and keyboard had been around forever on the 360, just do a google search. I personally use the xScorch (mouse and nunchuck) and love it, use it mostly for FPS's.
I just want Starcraft 2.
I'll happily play it with a 2 button PS/2 ball mouse. *blows lint out of rollers*
Now THATS hardcore 360 Gaming....
I would buy the Onza XBOX 360 controller if there was a wireless version. I understand some people want wired to cut that millisecond or 2 but I don't want to go back to trailing wires.
Please PLEASE tell me the controller buttons are LIGHTED
@insidertrading http://www.razerzone.com/thenextchapter/ They have made it look like it all glows including dpad buttons on this image. Should be since other Razer products do.
@insidertrading
I'm sure they're nice and light, made from light materials. I'm not sure if they'll be lit up though. :P
I think I'll just draw some kewl stuff on my own $1 mouse with this marker instead, thanks.
That with the new 360....= WIN!!!!
What happened to those jet streams blasting out of the sides? Are they turned off in your hands-on? ;)
A) they don't look terrible ergonomic. I guess the styling is cool but I don't think it lends itself to being particularly playable. I love my Death Adder.
B) The keyboards actual keys aren't back lit which doesn't look terribly ideal for playing in the dark, which I kinda thought was the point of LED's...
The APM stuff is bad ass though. They should do that for more peripherals. I wonder if that would induce stress, though? I could see myself going, "AHHHH need to to go faster!" and not being able to, then just getting frustrated and turning it off.
YES! Finally a expecting date on the Onza!
the keyboard looks UGLY
Finally with these peripherals I will achieve that 400 APM, call out poignant negative observations about certain minority groups to my opponents and feel the lamentations of their women through my fancy new mouse.