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SteelSeries WoW MMO Gaming Mouse makes wasting your life that much easier
With Wrath of the Lich King just around the corner, it's time to up your game and finally make it out of the low double digits with that Blood Elf mage you keep telling us about. Maybe SteelSeries can help. The high-end gaming peripherals builder recently snapped up Ideazon, and together they've built the official World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse in close cooperation with Ideazon's BFF Blizzard. There are 15 programmable buttons scattered across the mouse, and a new in-game configuration utility to graphically assign the buttons just where they're needed. You can save different profiles for different purposes, and choose one of 16 million colors for those LEDs down the back. Just don't expect any fancy auto-levelling macros or even a recommended control scheme -- Blizzard still expects you to do the hard work of lining up your favorite actions and buying your gold on eBay. The laser mouse hits on November 13th to coincide with the Lich King launch, and should retail "under $100."
Limited Edition Wrath keyset for Zboard
The inevitable limited edition Wrath of the Lich King keyset for Zboard from Ideazon has showed up on GameStop. Tipster Brad actually gave word on this a few days ago but we were unable to confirm the product's existence. The specially designed keyset, which follows its predecessors the World of Warcraft keyset and The Burning Crusade keyset, retails for $19.99 an is available for Pre-order and likely to be released at around the same time as the expansion.If you joined the BlizzCon sweepstakes, you just might win one of these babies. Elizabeth Harper did a comprehensive review of the Ideazon World of Warcraft keyset, which has custom keys for basic WoW functions such as emotes (in both PvE and PvP), as well as recordable macros, and other specialized features. Note that you'll still need the Zboard keyboard (about $45) on which to attach the keyset. Brad also mentions a new Ideazon mouse custom-themed for World of Warcraft which should retail for a staggering $100. It's not on Ideazon's site or on any of the affiliated retailers', but we'll keep our eyes peeled and update this post if and when it does show up.
Breakfast Topic: Controllers R us
The Falcon controller just looks silly, doesn't it? Everything we've heard about it so far says it's pretty underwhelming -- the feedback doesn't work quite right, the controls seem a little less intuitive than a keyboard and mouse, and in general, it just looks strange. Fortunately, I'll be able to know for myself next week -- I've already got an appointment to check out the controller (and how it plays WoW) at E3 next week.But in the meantime, until I can get my firsthand impressions of the Falcon up here, what are some other strange controllers that actually do work with WoW? We've heard a lot about the Zboard, which seems like a pretty good combination of a keyboard and a custom controller for Blizzard's MMO -- anyone used it? A lot of people have posted before that they use the Logitech G15, and that's really just a keyboard, except for the extra display and macros. I've used Switchblade to play with an Xbox 360 controller (and found it not nearly as easy as playing with a mouse and keyboard). And I know some players, multiboxers usually, will even use foot pedals to supplement keyboard and certain macros.Ever played WoW with a weird controller? Is there something out there that you swear by that's not the standard mouse and keyboard? Me, I'm perfectly happy with an Apple Keyboard and my Logitech gaming mouse -- at least until I try the Falcon next week. You never know, maybe I'll fall in love with it and decide that $190 (!) is worth it.Update: I couldn't remember the name of this one, but a lot of people in the comments (and a lot of folks before this post) have mentioned the n52 Speedpad as a good controller option.
Limited Edition AoC "Zboard" to include in-game present
Owners of Ideazon's Zboard (or those thinking of getting one) will be pleased to hear that a Limited Edition Age of Conan keyset will be available for purchase. The keyset promises 70 labeled game-specific commands, 24 emotes, dedicated chat channel buttons, and of course, some official AoC game graphics included on the board. If this isn't enough to get you to dish out US$19.99 for the keyset (plus $US49.99 if you don't have the base keyboard), then Ideazon is hoping that the inclusion of a free in-game item will tip you over the edge. Every purchase will grant the player an "Enruned Kosalan Ring", which increases all non-physical damage dealt by the wearer. You can pre-order the keyset from GameStop or Amazon.
12 Days of Winter Veil contest winners!
It's been a few weeks since we wrapped up our 12 Days of Winter Veil contest in cooperation with our friends at Ideazon, and though we're still trying to get in touch with some of our winners, there are a lot of WoW Insider readers who deserve congratulations! Winners of FragMat gamepads include: Melenor, Ragamuffin42, Mia, Wilkie, Ellyndia, SJPadbury, Nojj, Ed, Annai, Dachande, ceckjustin, Alu, Hostile, Stephen, Analogstd, pamoonbtc, Brian, TwhiT, Efigyuge, ArsenalFox, Rhiley, and ragecage. Winners of 60 day WoW game cards are Hostile, Stoney, and Vitasoy. Winners of GH-100 gaming headsets are Zoltargg and Jane. Winners of Zboard keyboards are Swarfy, Begonia, 1Adam12, and Chris. And, finally, G is taking home a class t-shirt and Leigh is taking home a Reaper gaming mouse.Thanks to everyone for participating and a big congrats to all of our winners!
Hands-on with Ideazon's Zboard gaming keyboard
If you didn't look closely, you could mistake Ideazon's Zboard for a standard keyboard. It's about the same size and shape as your average keyboard, with 108 keys and a row of hotkeys and multimedia buttons along the upper edge of the keyboard. A glance at the box shows us a left-handed key configuration designed for gaming and a pair of USB ports. So is this a gaming keyboard with a few extras? Hardly! This is only scratching the surface of the Zboard's abilities -- the real magic of a Zboard lies in its customized keysets.Curious? Keep reading!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day one
Winter Veil may have wrapped up in World of Warcraft, but we've got one more set of prizes to give away! It's day number twelve of our Winter Veil countdown -- the final day of giveaways! Ideazon and WoW Insider have a few more holiday gifts to give out: two Zboard Gaming Keyboards and two FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) for your last chance to win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have four prizes lined up: two first-place winners walking away with a Zboard gaming keyboards with one World of Warcraft keyset each (the winner will get to chose between an original World of Warcraft keyset and a Burning Crusade keyset -- but your choices will be restricted by what we have left at this point), and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Friday, January 4th). Thanks to everyone who's participated in our giveaways, and whether you've won or not, Ideazon and WoW Insider hope you've had a happy Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day two
It's day number eleven of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have just two more days of giveaways to go! There's still time to participate in Winter Veil events in game as well -- but you'd better hurry, because the holiday season wraps up today! Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.) For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a Reaper Edge gaming mouse, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Thursday, January 3rd). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!Update: Though I said the in-game Winter Veil celebrations were wrapping up today, it looks like it's already over -- the holiday decorations vanished early this morning. Sorry, everyone!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day three
Ironforge's Military Ward is decked out with garlands and wreaths, which can only mean one thing: it's time to celebrate Winter Veil! It's day number ten of our Winter Veil countdown, and we have just three more days of fun to go! There's still time to participate in Winter Veil events in and out of game -- but you'd better hurry, because the holiday season is nearly gone. (Winter Veil officially wraps up tomorrow!) Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.) For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a GH-100 gaming headset, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Wednesday, January 2nd). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day four
It's day number nine of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have just four more days of fun and games to go! There's still time to participate in Winter Veil events in and out of game -- but you'd better hurry, because the holiday season is nearly gone. (Winter Veil will be wrapping up on January 2nd!) Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.) For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a 60-day World of Warcraft game time card, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Tuesday, January 1st). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day five
It's day number eight of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have five more days of fun and games to go! Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a Zboard gaming keyboard with one World of Warcraft keyset (the winner will get to chose between an original World of Warcraft keyset and a Burning Crusade keyset), and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Monday, December 31st). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day six
It's day number seven of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have six more days of fun and games to go! Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a GH-100 gaming headset, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Sunday, December 30th). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day seven
It's day number six of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have seven more days of fun and games to go! Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a Reaper gaming mouse, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Saturday, December 29th). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day eight
It's day number five of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have eight more days of fun and games to go! Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a 60-day World of Warcraft game time card, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Friday, December 28th). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day nine
To all of our readers who celebrated the holidays yesterday, I hope you had a good one! Today we're continuing our series of Winter Veil giveaways! (If you haven't already, remember to log in to open your presents under the Winter Veil trees in Ironforge and Orgrimmar!) It's day number four of our Winter Veil countdown, with only nine more days of fun and games to go. Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a Zboard gaming keyboard with one World of Warcraft keyset (the winner will get to chose between an original World of Warcraft keyset and a Burning Crusade keyset), and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Thursday, December 27th). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day ten
It's day number three of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have ten more days of fun and games to go! (That's ten days on WoW Insider and ten days in-game -- Winter Veil officially wraps up on January 2nd.) Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a 60-day World of Warcraft game time card, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Tuesday, December 25th). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day eleven
It's day two of our Winter Veil countdown, which means we have eleven more days of fun and games to go! (That's eleven days on WoW Insider and eleven days in-game -- Winter Veil officially wraps up on January 2nd.) Ideazon and WoW Insider have some great holiday gifts to pass along to you: Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thrown into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post (just one, please!) -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a class t-shirt of their choice, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Monday, December 24th). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
The Dell XPS laptop giveaway has a winner!
We have successfully contacted the winner of the WoW Insider Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition giveaway. So no need to keep checking your e-mail this weekend. With 37,000+ entries this has been one of our most successful contests to date and we thank you all for participating.For those who didn't win, we have a new contest starting today: the Ideazon 12 Days of Winter Veil daily giveaway. Every day you can enter to win Ideazon swag: WoW-themed keyboards, FragMats (like a mousepad, but much better looking), Reaper mice plus WoW 60 day gamecards and more.Keeping checking back every day for the next 12 days (including today's contest) for your chance to enter to win!
Celebrate Twelve Days of Winter Veil with Ideazon!
For the next twelve days, WoW Insider and Ideazon are celebrating Winter Veil in the best way we can think of -- by giving away some great holiday gifts. We have Zboard Gaming Keyboards, Reaper & Reaper Edge gaming mice, GH-100 gaming headsets, FragMat gaming mousepads with World of Warcraft artwork, with some game time cards and t-shirts thron into the mix. What do you have to do to win, you ask? Simply leave a comment on today's post -- and check back every day for your chance to enter and win! (To be eligible to win, you must be age 18+ and a resident of the US, so before you enter, please take a look at the full official rules.)For today's giveaway, we have three prizes lined up: a first-place winner walking away with a class t-shirt of their choice, and two second place winners who will each receive a FragMat mousepad. And the best part? All you have to do to enter is leave a comment within the next 24 hours (that would be before 9:00 AM on Sunday, December 23rd). And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back tomorrow -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil!
Ideazon's Reaper Edge gaming mouse gets reviewed
It's been over a year since Ideazon threw its Reaper into the totally saturated gaming mouse market, but now that the Reaper Edge has arrived to challenge the revived SideWinder, Razer Lachesis and Saitek Cyborg (to name just a few), it seems suitable to see how it stacks up. The folks over at ExtremeTech were able to wrap their hands around said device, and the long and short of it is that it's a real competitor. Gamers looking for a new mouse should probably put Ideazon on their short list, as what it lacks in brand appeal it more than makes up for in the design and performance departments. Reviewers praised the "real rubber thumb grip," intelligently placed side buttons and relatively low price tag ($69.99 MSRP), but did note that the bundled software wasn't as robust as they would've liked. Still, the Reaper Edge seemed to have quite a bit going for it, but feel free to dive into the full review below if you're still skeptical.
