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Cyber Monday deals for gamers
You've all seen the $4.99 World of Warcraft deal, but if you're looking to speed up your gaming PC or get your hands on some new peripherals, Cyber Monday is going to be one of your last big sale days before Christmas. Here's a quick roundup of some of the US-based deals out there. Starting with the peripherals, Steelseries is running a Cyber Monday sale which includes some WoW mice and mouse pads at up to 40% off. They also come with a free set of touchscreen controls for your tablet and free shipping. You'll also find some headsets and other accessories on sale at Steelseries. Once you make the move to a mechanical keyboard, there's no going back. Newegg has one on sale for $49.99 after rebate. They also have a 27" IPS monitor half price at $199.99. PC hardware deals I believe that the single greatest upgrade you can make for your PC's overall performance is to get a SSD (solid state drive). Even a small sized one will be enough to hold your Windows installation, some applications, and a few games including WoW. Games will load quicker, and your entire PC experience is smoother and more responsive. Amazon.com has a large list of SSDs on sale, as does Newegg.com. A good rule of thumb for SSDs is that anything 60 cents per GB or below is a pretty good deal, but you will obviously pay quite a bit more for performance brands.
BlizzCon 2010: Steelseries shows off Cataclysm MMO mouse, pro gamer products
Not only is BlizzCon a great place to get the latest news straight from Blizzard's mouth about Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, but all of the exhibitors and vendors are showing off their official merchandise and some of the new stuff coming out soon. Being the interface guy around here, the powers that be thought it would be nice if I checked out some of the vendors showcasing their interface products -- mice, keyboards and more. There is a lot of exciting stuff to show. On Day 1 of BlizzCon 2010, I got to run over to the Steelseries booth and meet with Philippe and Kim, both awesome designers who gave me the grand tour and showed off their products -- and, to my great interest, their design philosophies for their hardware.
Steelseries announces Cataclysm MMO gaming mouse
Because it's always good to have options, not long after the last week's announcements of special and epic edition mice, Steelseries reveals its own entry into the MMO gaming mouse arena with the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm MMO gaming mouse. The product name is a mouthful, but it has equally hefty features, which are nearly identical to the original Steelseries World of Warcraft gaming mouse. It has 14 buttons -- one less than the original -- that can be configured in game without the use of any addons, 16 million colors and four levels of intensity and pulsation, support for up to 10 profiles that are linked directly to the armory, and it appears to sport a better, more ergonomic form factor and surface texture than its predecessor. The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm MMO gaming mouse is compatible with both Windows PCs and Macs, with software that supports drag-and-drop functionality that can be used to program the mouse buttons with 130 preset game commands. The 10 profiles stored in the mouse's on-board memory can be configured with their own macros and commands as well as personalized illumination schemes. There's no estimated ship date or pricing yet, but players interested in an official Cataclysm-themed mouse developed in conjunction with Blizzard can sign up to be notified over at the Steelseries website.
SteelSeries celebrating Cataclysm with new WoW MMO gaming mouse
SteelSeries has that very special distinction of building officially branded equipment for World of Warcraft, and now, two years after launching its original WoW mouse, the company is back with a "Cataclysm" mouse to celebrate the upcoming expansion to the world's biggest MMO. The mouse has the similar advantage of its predecessor of close software ties to WoW itself, with 14 programmable buttons that can handle 130+ preset commands, and the ability to store 10 character profiles in software and one in the mouse itself. Also, thankfully, the mouse is Mac friendly out of the gate this time, and the software also controls the LED lights running down the back and "four different pulsation levels" for an extra bit of flair. For those of you who care for the pro gaming pedigree of SteelSeries, you'll be interested to know that the original WoW mouse was actually mostly built by Ideazon before SteelSeries bought the company, so this is the first from the ground up to use SteelSeries technology and know-how. For everybody else: it has pretty lights! The mouse will retail for $100 in December, launching alongside World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
J!NX and Steelseries giving away loot on Facebook
Steelseries and J!NX have teamed up to give away some loot over the next three weeks -- hardware from Steelseries and some outer wear from J!NX, as well as other pretty cool stuff. The contest is open to Facebook users, who will be eligible to win one of six loot packs to be given away. Two loot packs will be given away each week, and each pack consists of the following: 1 SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse 1 SteelSeries March of the Scourge QcK Mouse Pad 1 SteelSeries Zboard Wrath of the Lich King Gaming Keyboard 1 J!NX Talking Murloc Plush Toy 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Hoodie 1 J!NX Frost Resistance Hoodie 1 J!NX Green Linen Shirt 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Shirt 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Wallet 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Cut out Sticker 1 J!NX Horde or Alliance Keychain The first week simply asks Facebook users to 'like' or become fans on both the Steelseries and J!NX Facebook pages, with two winners to be determined randomly on May 5, 2010. The second week will require Facebook users to flex their social networking muscles a little bit as contestants are asked to post a screenshot of their favorite person, place, or activity in Azeroth on the J!NX Facebook page and garner as many "likes" for their entry until May 12. The screenshot with the most "likes" will win one loot pack, while a panel of judges from J!NX and Steelseries will determine who wins the second pack. The third week is a similar exercise in social network popularity, but contestants are asked to submit a video of an in-game dance party on the Steelseries fan page. As with the week before it, the video that ends up with the most "likes" at the end of the period, May 19, will win one loot pack. J!NX and Steelseries will select the winner of the second loot bag. If you're not averse to the whole social network experience, this promotion seems like a relatively painless way to try and score some cool swag.
WoW Fifth Anniversary Sweepstakes
If you're a resident of the United States, Canada, or New Zealand, kindly whack yourself on the head as a show of solidarity for other players who don't qualify for the World of Warcraft Five Year Anniversary Sweepstakes. If you are a resident of the aforementioned countries or are some Asian or European or Other-Unqualified-Country-an willing to subject themselves to a little geek envy, then read on. Our favorite game turns five this November 23, 2009, and to celebrate, Blizzard is giving away a whole bunch of swag every week for the next four weeks. Essentially, as long as you're a player whose account is active when they pull your name out of a kodo-skin hat and hasn't gotten into trouble for breaking the EULA, you're automatically entered in the sweepstakes. Players qualify for certain prizes depending on how long they've been playing the game. Check out the list of prizes and player eligibility after the jump.
SteelSeries WoW mouse gets new functionality
Long after its initial release, which saw the mouse come under fire for its dubious EULA-breaking built-in functionality, WoWVault at IGN reports that the Steelseries World of Warcraft mouse has received a functional upgrade in that players can now "bind all 15 buttons without leaving the game." Patch 3.2.2 introduced a new interface for the mouse, which allows for the creation and customization of macros and key bindings from within the game, and assigned to different character profiles. The game now recognizes the mouse buttons as completely new and unique buttons, adding more buttons to augment players' normal keyboard buttons. This should make the mouse completely usable out of the box for all players without fear of breaking the game's end-user policies, as opposed to how it was when it first shipped as it took advantage of disallowed automated and timed scripts. The Steelseries website notes that players can "achieve faster response time(s) by customizing (their) mouse setup in-game and thereby removing a layer of software." It was this "layer of software" outside the game that delivered commands to the mouse and conflicted with the game's policies. So fear not, players! The Steelseries WoW mouse is now completely EULA-compliant! I mean, it still kind of looks like a robotic turtle, but at least it won't get you banned from the game anymore.
Gearing up for WoW: The Razer Naga [Updated]
We don't normally do hardware reviews. That's usually the domain of the guys over at our sister site, Engadget. But when Razer broke out the $79.99 Razer Naga last August 19 at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany (along with a glow-in-the-dark mousepad), and previewed it a BlizzCon a few days later, we knew we just had to get our hands on it and take it out for a spin. This was Razer's first mouse aimed squarely at the MMO market, and at World of Warcraft players specifically. It isn't the first mouse that tried to appeal to the huge MMO player base -- Steelseries unleashed a World of Warcraft mouse last year, although some players found some issues with the mouse and the way it interacted with the game. In hindsight, we probably should've done our own review of that product. So when Razer announced that the Naga "wasn't going be just a great MMO mouse (but) the best MMO mouse," we weren't going to let the opportunity slip away.[Update: Razer's Heathcliff Hatcher aka Razer|Agent responded to some concerns about the Razer Naga and how its keys currently can't be remapped right out of the box without third party applications. Razer|Agent says, "software driver remapping of keys is a standard function for most of Razer products and we do have suitable solutions that we intend to release in the near future for Naga that will enable this feature out of game." This means that the standard 123 and NUM configurations should be remappable through a future update.]Mike wrote an excellent hands-on report on the Razer Naga when we were at BlizzCon which should give everyone a fair idea of what we're dealing with. Writing a product review for an MMO gaming mouse wasn't going to be a simple task -- one reason there aren't too many full reviews of the Razer Naga is because it takes a bit of commitment to do it. Unlike first person shooters or even real-time strategy games where about an hour or two of gameplay would be enough to give fair impressions of the mouse, properly assessing an MMO gaming mouse needs to be an immersive experience. It requires mapping keys and adapting one's personal playing style to accommodate the hardware.As I'd mentioned in my gearing series that talked briefly about gaming mice, the features of most modern gaming mice are far beyond what MMOs generally demand. You won't need 5600dpi, insane APM (Actions-Per-Minute) values, or even fancy technologies like Razer's HyperResponse buttons. If there's any indication that Razer is on the right track with the Naga, it's that they've loaded it with buttons. MMO players tend to press a lot of buttons. They also took the extra step of creating (or adapting) an AddOn that allows the mapping of keybindings from inside the game. When the Razer Naga finally arrived at my doorstep after a torturous tussle with an ineffectual DHL, I finally buckled down -- as Razer would say -- to get imba. Let's take a closer look at the Razer Naga after the jump. %Gallery-75456%
Gearing up for PvP - Your mouse
Let's face it, not everyone can afford an HP Blackbird 002, which was used for several MLG pro gaming tournaments and was awarded 4.5 stars (out of 5) by CNET. The Editors' bottom line at the time was "If you can afford it, and you want a high-end gaming PC, buy this one. End of story." The end of that story was a $5,600 hole in your wallet, which is not a very happy ending for most of us mortals (Wired gave its $2,100 successor, the HP Firebird, a 9 out of 10). The actual happy compromise is in your peripherals, which you can splurge on (within reason) without having to win the Lotto.I'll start with the mouse. More than your keyboard, your mouse is your most important gaming peripheral. For laptop users, who will more often than not use the default keyboard built-in to their machine, dedicated gaming keyboards are a luxury rather than a necessity. Furthermore, PvP enthusiasts necessarily learn to move with a mouse, which makes it a worthy investment.
WoW Insider's Fan Art contest
We here at WoW Insider see every day just how many great artists are out there in the World of Warcraft community. We've interviewed them, we've written about them, and now we want to know if you're one of them so we can give you some sweet prizes.We have in our hands four prizes from SteelSeries to award the best and most creative artists in our audience. All that you need to do to enter is make us a piece of fanart. Draw (or paint or whatever it is you do) a picture of how you imagine the WoW Insider crew would look in the World of Warcraft. One of us, two of us, many of us, whatever you like. You don't get pictures of us to work off of, just let your imagination do as it will. Are we heroes fighting epic battles? Are we just lowly Stormwind commoners? Are we cute little beasts going on zany adventures?You have from this very moment (Noon of April 7th) until 11:59 PM Eastern on April 20th to send your submission to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com for a chance to win one of the following prizes from SteelSeries:
Steelseries WoW mouse not so wow-worthy?
Reader Richie mailed us a review of the Steelseries World of Warcraft mouse some time back, but it's gotten to the point where his frustration made him put a post up on his own blog. Some of his major concerns involve the custom software remapping his keys, such as making his character jump when he presses 'M' to bring up the map. He also claims that some of his buttons now stick, instead of springing back into place as they should after a few days of playing. He writes that he's contacted customer service several times and was told that it was "a known issue" and was told to "snap" his buttons.How has your experience with the Steelseries mouse been? Are you one of the lucky Europeans who won one in Blizzard's Holiday giveaway or managed to snag one of these lately? There aren't too many reviews over the web by players who actually play World of Warcraft, so it's interesting to see if Richie's is an isolated case (although a couple of posters on his blog concur with his findings). The mouse doesn't have a driver for the Mac, and Steelseries doesn't seem to be producing one soon, so I haven't popped out the $99.99 (or more expensive 89.99 EUR) for it. After reading Richie's review -- or rant, rather -- I'm not certain I still want to, either.
