Fanatec Head$h0t gaming mouse reviewed

With case modding so prevalent these days that gamers are often judged by the the number of LEDs they manage to cram into their rigs as opposed to the actual performance of their machines, pairing a tricked out system with accessories that lack equally gaudy illumination (like a Razer, Logitech, or -- shudder -- Fatal!ty mouse) simply won't cut it. Well a company called Fanatec is fully aware that blinding light shows are now as much a part of fragging as gimmicky keyboards and chainsaw-shaped controllers, which is why it's poised to release the $100, fully-customizable Heäd$sh0t gaming mouse. (We apologize for the lack of an umlaut in the headline; it's due to our quirky blogging platform and has nothing to do with our feelings about umlaut-heavy languages.) At first glance the Heäd$sh0t might seem a little intimidating: instead of plugging it directly into your PC, you have to swing the tangle-minimizing USB cord over a glowing arch and attach it to the back of the included mousepad / USB hub (which, according to Fanatec, has been specially designed to to interact as smoothly as possible with the mouse's glide pads). Other special features include adjustable width (though no adjustable weighting -- c'mon, guys), a huge "wing" on the right side meant to keep your fingers from dragging, and a software suite that lets you record macros, tweak the million on-board lights, and even turn the bulky rodent into a fairly-functional joystick. During their test drive, the team at Trusted Reviews found the device to work quite well -- mostly due to its 2,000dpi laser sensor -- although they thought that the top-mounted buttons were somewhat difficult to access, and joystick mode can't be used to manipulate the Z-axis. Oh, and they weren't really fond of all the lights -- go figure.