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Me Blue Too |
| April 13th, 2005 |
I keep getting emails from everywhere asking questions about the Plasma mouse. I decided to use this space to explain exactly what we are doing.
We have had the infrared technology on the shelf so-to-speak for a few months and had previously decided not to do anything with it because it was so close to the optical sensor in the current Diamondback from a performance standpoint.
When the word came out that we had sold 250,000 Diamondbacks in the first 6 months we decided to celebrate this event with a Limited Edition Diamondback. Our friends at Jöllenbeck Speed-Link Europe had previously asked for a blue LED mouse for their customers; however standard optical mice always required a red LED for performance purposes. That meant that the only solution was to use the infrared technology where any color LED or even no LED is required.
Many customers write me and ask if there is any performance difference between the red LED optical and the blue infrared, and the answer is yes and no. There is a small improvement in the sensor read on a dark surface for infrared and there is a slight improvement in reading light colored surfaces for our optical red LED. But the truth is that only the guys who play games for a living could recognize the difference. Simply stated infrared light is an alternative method to optical light to read and transfer data.
So why a Plasma blue LED, you ask? For one thing there are a ton of systems like Sony who feature a blue LED. It just looks cool. Besides, most of us have tired of looking at red LED’s after over 3 years of optical mice. We also are aware that gamers love to tweak and custom mod everything and now they can with infrared technology. Remember that removing the case and opening the mouse does nullify your warranty. So don’t write me and complain how you messed up your buttons or something else when you tried to install your custom light kit.
What does “limited edition” really mean? Okay and this is tough one … we can only make so many no matter what the demand might be. That means is when they are gone we won’t make any more. Some customers simply won’t be able to buy them. Some retailers will only receive a portion of their order. Based on the level of interest over the first week, demand will exceed supply. I will apologize in advance to those of you who won’t get yours. We hate disappointing our customers and would never do so intentionally. However, there is a limit of the number of sensors and controllers we can get for this particular product. Our products do not use off-the-shelf components. Key components are proprietary inasmuch as they are made expressly for Razer and to our standards.
When will you ship? If I knew this answer I would be king. Like id Software always says, when it’s ready. We are hoping to ship the first production run in early May, however some retailers won’t have product ready to sell until late May or even early June. We work as fast as our little hands and legs allow. We have no control over individual country duty and customs officials or trucking, boating and air freight carriers. We can’t force a retailer to put our goods on the selling floor the day it arrives. Life isn’t always fair or perfect, deal with it.
Will a preorder guarantee me product? Yes, kind of … we always fill and ship preorders first. Some continents get their shipments first, like Asia. Other countries come later like Canada, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Some areas we still have no distribution such as the Middle East. So unfortunately some of you can’t preorder and there is the possibility that we will have to remove the preorder link once we reach our production maximum. The bottom line is that the best chance of getting the Plasma is through a Razerzone preorder. Those will be shipped first.
Any special containers or certificates come with this LE? Nope, just the mouse and the driver CD. No fancy tin or ownership certificates this time. We wanted to expedite delivery and keep costs down. Besides, the infrared technology costs us a little more and we didn’t want to add other stuff and be forced to increase the retail price ($59.99).
Last question I get and this is a biggie … when will your next big mouse technology be released? I could tell you but then I would have to shoot myself. Hey maybe you could ask our competitor … they seem to know exactly what we’re doing.
So that’s about it. (Nearly) everything you could ever possibly want to know about the Diamondback Plasma LE in one big, bad Blog. I hope all of the 300+ e-mailers a day read this and stop asking the same questions. I need some new questions …
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May 12th, 2005 at 2:24 pm
I can’t wait anylonger for my Plasma!
May 14th, 2005 at 7:24 pm
I hear ya Jeremy, I pre-ordered mine last month and keep coming here to see if any news has been posted about the Plasmas starting to ship. I can’t wait either.
May 14th, 2005 at 9:36 pm
me either….I need information…..I need the sexy blue mouse….please feed my old mouse to the snake….:D
May 15th, 2005 at 12:02 am
I know, me neither! It’s the middle of May now; will it be soon? I can’t wait for my Plasma!
May 16th, 2005 at 3:55 pm
I dont know whats worse.. waiting for my Plasma or BF2 lol
May 17th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Haha, same, I check back plenty.. Also, I expected the lan pak carry case thingy that comes with the original diamondback.. But heck, I’ll just use a plastic bag xD
May 18th, 2005 at 1:31 am
Man i have had this preordered since april 11th. I cant wait for these guys to send me my mouse. I thought it did come with a lan pak carry case. Not a big deal though cuz i am gettin the mouse for its performance and looks!!!!
May 18th, 2005 at 3:00 pm
at this point, i would be happy with some sort of news abotu how close they are to being abel to ship.. something.. anything!
May 19th, 2005 at 1:55 am
Apparently it says on the product page that a custom designed Diamonback Lan-Pack for storage and transport will be provided. This is slightly in conflict with what razerguy says about just the mouse and driver cd. So razerguy would you like to comment on this..
Anyway, aargh I can’t wait for it man
May 19th, 2005 at 7:06 am
I am kinda blue. Still no Diamondback LE. xD
May 19th, 2005 at 6:22 pm
Yeah especially for a LE release I was suprised not to see some sort of carry case, but hey what can you do. I don’t go to many lans,.. in fact the last one I went to was…. oh yeah never. So my mouse never gets to travel, poor little thing.
May 21st, 2005 at 1:53 pm
May 22nd, 2005 at 10:43 am
Got my Plasma LE on the 20th (I’m in the UK) - and it is truly awesome. I’m new to Razer ownership but I’ve a feeling I won’t ever be going back…
Don’t worry - the LAN pack is included in the box, and very cool it is too.
May 23rd, 2005 at 3:42 pm
Does anyone know the date when this thing is going to be released and shipped cuz a tech rep from razer told me it was the 15th then the 23rd and now i dont know how much later. Its supposed to come out mid to late may i hope this date doesnt shift to early to mid june. I cant wait to get my hands on this mouse cuz my micro$oft mouse is really not cutting it.
May 23rd, 2005 at 5:48 pm
OK.. its May 23rd and no news of these shipping. I would think that they would update us as to the status of the Plasmas shipping. It’s one thing to pre-order something that has an expected date of shipping. It’s Razers job to keep people who are buying the pre-order up to speed on the product.
May 24th, 2005 at 11:12 am
Ask and you shal receive! lol
May 24th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Got my preorder email today and finally placed an order for it cant wait till it ships to me so i can really test this baby out!!
May 25th, 2005 at 12:54 am
Well… like all of you guys, I have been waiting (after placing a pre-order on 4/11/05), and today (thank God) I got an e-mail with special instructions and a coupon code to use to get my plasma through the website store.
Apparently the “pre-order” will work only this week (mouse is listed as $90) but with the pre-order coupon it is reduced to $59. Next week the mouse will be available to the public at the standard price of $59.
I finished my pre-order process and expect to receive my mouse in a few days. I’m sure the wait was well worht.
May 25th, 2005 at 7:14 am
Well, I’ve pre-ordered it but only gotten the preorder coupon today.. So in actual fact I’ve only ordered it today.. Don’t know how long it’ll take to receive the mouse.. Can’t wait for it, hopefully it’ll be within this month.
May 26th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
I pre-ordered around the 1st of May. I have not received a coupon yet, so maybe it is a FIFO deal?
May 26th, 2005 at 8:10 pm
Singaporeans will probably receive the mouse 2-3 June.. Which is the cause of me tearing my hair out now >.
May 27th, 2005 at 5:06 am
I had one of the first ever 5000 Boomslangs (with Certificate, oh yes), ooh, ages ago; then got a 2100 (which wasn’t as good). Now I’ve pre-ordered the sexy blue Plasma Thang through Everglide.co.uk, and almost wetting me pants with anticipation. I’m hoping it’ll take me from a Mr Average UT2004 player to a Mr Slightly Above Average, but I may just be inherently crap at games! Anyway, reading what RG says about pre-orders and some not getting their mouse whatever, has made me very anxious, so I just went and bought an eXact Mat as a therapeutic exercise, and to up the Karmic Rate of Expectation. As you can see, I’ve lost it completely. Where’s my Beloved Rodent?!!? (Whoops, too late; time for a pant-change) ;-)))
May 28th, 2005 at 2:16 am
How is it I pre-ordered about a month ago, but was only given three days to get an actual order in before losing my pre-order status? I just got my actual order in today because I haven’t checked my email in a few days (don’t check it every day). Whenever I have pre-ordered something previously, the pre-order was the actual order. Oh well, I guess no harm done because I got my order confirmation, but If I would have missed out on the plasma because I didn’t check my email for 3 days I would have been really really really (did I mention really?) upset…
May 31st, 2005 at 3:04 am
Still waiting on my mouse its still in shipment. Damn memorial day came in between which will make me wait another day before i get to check my new mouse out and see how it does. Well on the positive side it will be rite on time for the weekend to start so i will have all weekend to test this out. Cant wait!!!
June 2nd, 2005 at 6:52 pm
holy $h!t that was fast!! Got my plasma today.. this is the most sensitive mouse I have ever owned. I love it. Thanks Razerguy!
June 14th, 2005 at 4:19 am
How limited is the Plasma edition. Around what number of Plasma editions are created?
June 15th, 2005 at 6:07 pm
Update: Oooooooh….. It arrived today, it’s on the system, it has banished all other mice forever; it glows, it flows and it rocks. For you guys still waiting, just keep pushing whoever you need to push for it until the day comes. Everything else is unimportant. (Not really, but it sounds good.) Thanx Razer ~ what a fine company.
July 17th, 2005 at 6:16 am
Hi, i just bought my diamondback plasma today. I am in Singapore. I installed the mouse and i notice that the blue light isn’t that bright as the 1 shown in the web or the box. Is there something wrong with my mouse? Or is it all the same? I like the mouse because i find that it shines brightly with the cool blue LED, but when i see the blue light is so soft, i become quite dissapointed. What about all yours? Did you all get the soft blue light or the 1 on the box or website? I hope to get a reply from the razer team. Thank you.
July 26th, 2005 at 10:46 am
August 13th, 2005 at 10:24 pm
Hey. Im in Singapore too. Bought my diamondback plasma ytd. Yea kind of agree with u the blue doesnt glow as bright as in the lab pics. Hmm. It seems like i can only find 2 leds. but aniwae, im stil rather pleased with this uber cool mouse and its slickness. Real smooth.
September 26th, 2005 at 2:36 am
I love my Diamondback Plasma. I also noticed that the blue LED did not shine as bright as the pictures, BUT my main concern is the cool blue color actually turned out to be a lot lighter of a blue LED. The images show a purple/darker blue (which I like a lot better) yet my mouse has a more true blue color to the LEDs. I was perfectly content with this because I understand that images can never reproduce the exact color of an LED, but my friend who just ordered his Diamondback Plasma has completely different color LEDs. They are a much brighter, richer blue and they appear identicle to the images on the razer zone website. So why does a different Diamondback Plasma LE mouse have brighter and better looking blue LEDs?