I don’t know about you but my job as RazerGuy takes me away from the cozy confines of my home and out into the wholly wild of mobile computing. Due to my severe WoW jones, I cannot travel without my faithful Dell XPS M1710 notebook. In the past I would use my Razer Diamondback (in Salamander red to match the top case of the Dell) and when I had the space and a mouse pad to move around it performed wonderfully.

The Dell notebook has a small space below the keyboard that can fit a mobile mouse. In the past I had tried a few competitors’ mobile mice but due to their minimal DPI the small mousing space on the Dell notebook just wasn’t large enough to get across its 17” monitor. Enter the new Razer Pro|Click Mobile mouse.

The higher DPI allows me to get across the screen quickly in the small space allotted on my notebook. Since I spend a great deal of time on airplanes and in airports I need to be able to mouse (yes, most of this time is spent actually working) on either an airplane tray or on my lap.

I love the ease and convenience of Bluetooth and this wireless mouse allows a great deal freedom of movement, which I really value. While the latency isn’t suitable for online match play I can enjoy a competitive MMORPG session and satisfy my supreme addiction while I’m away from the office.

The Pro|Click Mobile comes in four colors, Naughty (black), Nice (white), Sugar (pink) and Spice (red). I chose the red to match my Dell notebook. The installation was a breeze and there were no drivers to contend with. After a few hours of work and play I have to say that the design is very comfortable and that I felt no real hand fatigue.

A word to the wise … on the very bottom of the retail box rests a nice black velour carrying case for this mouse – don’t throw the box away without looking for this extra.

Since this mouse is a Razer Pro|Solutions product if you want more information you can go to
http://www.razerzone.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=75. Now if I could get some decent airline food, my travels would be complete.

Often I get emails from gamers asking me what I actually think about our products. They want to know if I actually game and if so what do I use. I don’t really know why they care or if they believe that I would say anything bad about our products BUT under the topic of “why anyone would care” here’s my take on the new Piranha headphones …

Okay so I’m playing a little WoW (okay a lot of WoW) … (okay really too much WoW) and I open the nice retail package … with my picture and meaningful quotation on the side. I want to test the Piranha out on WoW and since I’m at work I lie to myself saying that its okay since this is just *research* for my blog.

Once I adjust the sound from my Razer Barracuda AC-1 audio card I jump on to the Silvermoon server, level 70 Shammy Orc in Hellfire and help some level 61 through Ramparts. We’re communicating nicely through Teamspeak and he says that he can hear me loud and clear. I can hear him well so the first test of communications passes with flying colors. The mic is noise-filtering and easily swivels out of the way when I don’t need it.

My big thing with headsets and headphones for me is comfort. I need something that won’t turn my ears into purple mush after a few hours. Don’t tell my wife but sometimes I game for six to eight hours in a sitting. To make things worse I wear computer glasses and if there is any pressure on my ears the top of my head explodes after a few hours (she hates cleaning this mess up).

I’m looking at the Piranha before I put it on. I notice that the headpiece has a tension bar and that the ear cups are not oversized – therefore I’m concerned that with or without my glasses this is going to hurt. Boy was I wrong! After a couple of hours of “market research” I was into the game and not even thinking about my gear (or my ears). The foam pads that come in contact with the ear seem to cushion the pressure and act as a damper to eliminate outside noise – like the guys in the office wanting to know why I’m playing video games while they have to work. I find that the closed back design insulates against environmental noise.

The bass is good and I didn’t hear any hiss. One other thing that I like was the solid quality feel; especially the ear-cups that use 40 mm neodymium drivers. Over all I would say that these were well worth the money since I get mine for free. Comparatively speaking I have paid more for much lesser performing headsets in the past so I have to give these my Razerguy Seal of Approval (and you all know how much that’s worth).

Deja vu a blast from my past resurfaced on my desk today. Even though I knew it was coming it was like seeing an old, very sexy, girlfriend ten years later and damn if she didn’t look better than ever.

The Boomslang Collector’s Edition mouse (BSCE) boogies between a complete retro collector’s item and a functional mouse in my mind. Whether to place it in a trophy case and save it for my grandchildren decades away or add it to my arsenal of weapons for my epic battles of (yes I still play) Quake 2 is the question.

This re-creation of the original gaming mouse comes nestled in a jet black carrying case banded by a single stainless steel sleeve. Inside the outer case the original unpainted cookie tin has been updated by an anodized black painted case. Just the visual impact this case has is good for a 2 frag advantage when I show up at the next LAN sporting the BSCE. I may not be that good but I will certainly appear intimidating unpacking my gear.

Alright enough BS about the retro crap and the packaging, how does it play? Who cares when it looks this great and is a piece of history? Actually the engineering of this mouse is completely up to date and sports the same 3G infrared sensor as the award-winning DeathAdder. Offering incremental DPI settings of 400, 800 and 1800 this mouse can track 60 to 120 inches per second at 15g’s on nearly any mousing surface.

The BSCE also offers USB Ultrapolling, onboard memory, always on mode, on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment and one of my personal favorites, an extra set of Teflon feet. There is so much more to this mouse than the history behind it. While the shape, size and weight are all originally authentic the materials and lighting are beyond cool. The lighting is like nothing you have ever experienced and the titanium ice cold finish is also a new experience. My beloved Boomslang had a facelift!

The BSCE are just recently coming off the production line and are being filtered into the online retail channels as I write this blog. You will not see 10,000 units offered at one single time. These will eek there way onto Razerzone and into the etailer reseller market through January. So if we are sold out please keep trying because there are more to come.

Calling all StarCraft players… Ready to take part in GosuGamers Christmas Clash?

Our friends over at GosuGamers have a fine tournament for you to pit your skills and walk away with Razer prizes!

Date: 2007-12-07, Friday, 7th of December
Time: 20:00 CET (confirmation starts at 19:30 CET)

Channel: iCCup Tournaments Channel

FORMAT
Winner Bracket: Best of 3
Semi Final: Best of 5
Grand Final: Best of 7

Prizes

First place: Razer Lycosa, Razer Piranha and Razer Lachesis
Second place: Razer Piranha and Razer Lachesis
Third place: Razer Lachesis

Official Announcement

Tournament Information

There’s a lot of confusion out there about what makes a laser gaming mouse great. In developing the 3G laser for the Lachesis, we are confident that we can clear everything up and tell you what makes a Razer mouse the last word for gaming. Here’s a brief explanation of what’s new, and also what’s always been around in Razer sensors.

1. How does the sensor work?

a.The 3G laser sensor uses two lasers while maintaining perfect eye safety.

Both lasers are focused on to a flat surface (your mouse mat, for instance),
and each laser reads out 8 million samples per second, one for the X-axis, and one for the Y-axis.

Each sample is calculated by the sensor, and the direction and speed of the mouse movement is determined (so it results in real-time and instantaneous motion detection). For each 1ms (yes, that’s a millisecond, or 1/1000 of a second) of data sent by the Lachesis to your computer, over 16,000 different samples are processed to give an “accurate to the millisecond” measure of direction and movement.

A large number of computations are run on the data on each directional sensor (i.e. one set of computations are run on X and one set on Y) within this millisecond. Speed and direction are computed via a dedicated Digital Signal Processor (DSP) in the sensor, producing direction and information data independently for each axis. This large number of samples and the great speed at which it is processed results in a highly accurate “snapshot” of how far and in what direction the mouse has moved in that millisecond.

b. Each laser measures the interference caused by the beam’s own waves upon being reflected back into the laser. This result is very high surface compatibility on almost any surface the laser beam is capable of reflecting off.

c. The DSP calculates the data from each sensor based on the interference received and produces a final result of X/Y movement.

d. The movement reported by the Lachesis to the PC can be as high as 256.000cps per X/Y axis, which makes half a million cps for the resulting vector cursor speed, each and every single count produced by the 3G laser sensor at any resolution.

So, in effect, there are two sensors in the Lachesis, each sensor generates its own mouse movement data. Contrast this with the second generation of lasers, where only one sensor is used to compute both X and Y displacement in speed, resulting in some inevitable optimizations and errors for movements in specific directions.

There is no compromise on the Y axis simply to provide better performance on the X axis, and vice versa. There’s no artificial smoothing of the lines you draw, or cheats to “interpret” your hand movements into what we think is “right”, as X and Y data are provided independently of each other.

2. How tunable is the DPI?

a. The sensor is capable of DPI increments from 125 to 4000 in steps of 125. We understand that 4000 DPI isn’t for everyone and we feel that this allows you the maximum flexibility in setting your own precision level based on your needs. For example:

i.A game requires a total of 6750 “dots” or “counts” to turn 180°. You would like to be able to turn this in 6” on your mouse pad. Therefore the formula you would use to set your Lachesis would be: 6750 dots / 6 inches = 1125DPI to get the optimum result. You could also set your mouse to 2500DPI and then use our driver or the in-game sensitivity slider to half sensitivity, which would produce the same result, except that you would be adding an additional calculation between your mouse and the game.

ii.You also snipe in-game, but prefer slower movement with the sniper scope. You can set another button to instantly bring up 750DPI (for example) for this purpose.

iii.In Windows you have a screen resolution of 2560×1600. When surfing the Internet, you may prefer to be able to move across the screen within one inch, in which case your DPI should be set at 2500DPI. The Lachesis driver can intelligently change the DPI based on what application is loaded if you choose to configure it in this manner, or you can change the DPI yourself with the touch of a button.

b.The Lachesis gives you maximum flexibility by allowing you to preset up to 5 DPI settings on 5 different profiles, for a total of 25 different DPI settings. Or, if you so choose, you can have just 1, or 2, or 3. The option is there to customize to your needs, and the best part is you can take these settings with you wherever you go, without having to install our drivers.

3. What’s the top speed? How does it control? Is there acceleration?

a.Sensors have various levels of surface compatibility (i.e. how well they work on different materials, like a wooden desk or a cloth mat). For a normal office laser mouse, this means that it will work well on both a highly polished table or a normal mouse pad at certain low speeds (usually below 20 inches per second, or IPS).

b.At higher speeds, sensors designed for gaming have consistent performance, while normal sensors will start to produce dramatic errors. For example, when turning quickly in an FPS you may suddenly find yourself looking at the sky or your feet; not a good situation if someone is creeping up behind you with a gun. So although the sensor may still be sending data at a high speed, the data is in effect junk and worse than useless – these errors may be hazardous to your virtual health!

c.Acceleration is a term used to describe the mouse covering differing amount of pixels based on how fast the mouse is moved.

Example:

Very slowly (at less than 1IPS) I move my mouse 4”. I cover 2400 pixels on a Windows monitor (perhaps equivalent to a 90° turn in my FPS). My mouse is performing at 2400 dots / 4 inches = 600DPI.

I then do a motion covering the same 4”, but this time I move my hand much faster. I cover only 1800 pixels in Windows (and not quite a 90° turn in the same FPS). My mouse at a higher speed is performing inconsistently: 1800 dots / 4 inches = 450DPI.

In this example, I am experiencing negative acceleration when I move my mouse quickly. This is most likely caused by the mouse sensor not being able to cope properly with the high speed and the surface it is being operated on.

The 3G laser will operate comfortably up to 100IPS, giving you perfect control at the speed on a multitude of surfaces. That means you will not experience negative effects of acceleration like with other sensors that are incapable of high speeds and unable to cope with the speed and/or surface that it is on.

Note: the 3G laser sensor at 4000DPI has a maximum speed of 64.3 IPS (the sensor is rated 60IPS to 100IPS). This is due to the amount of data being processed at high resolution and is not due to a sensing error. If you are using broad sweeping motions in your gameplay, chances are you will benefit from a lower DPI setting, and the 3G laser sensor is more than capable of accommodating you with a minimum DPI setting of 125, with increments of 125 to tailor to your own requirements.

Beyond 64.3IPS at 4000DPI, what happens with the 3G Laser sensor is that it tops out without causing errors. This is basically a speed limit to ensure the 4000DPI is read correctly; from our research this is a reasonable trade off for such high DPI (i.e. fast physical motion isn’t necessary at this high DPI).

d.In the end, the top speed of any sensor is the rate at which you can move it while maintaining perfect control. All other numbers, from samples per second to megapixels have to live or die by the amount of control you can get from your mouse.

For the 3G Laser sensor, you can get perfect control up to 100IPS and we stand by this.

If you’re still with me, thank you for reading what must seemed to have been a pretty dry technical discussion. For other queries or feedback, please drop them off here . I’ll be monitoring the comments, and will try to provide consolidated answers where possible.

Edit

As promised, a couple of consolidated replies for those that are interested. I’m confining my responses here specifically to the Lachesis:

Best grip
- From Philbert and Ryan ZX679

While there can’t be a perfect grip for everyone, here’s a couple of suggested methods for holding the Lachesis for both claw, small and large hands.

Best surface
- from Samuel

The Lachesis works very well with both our speed eXactmat surface and our Mantis surface. It also works considerably better than most other competing mice on other surfaces.

Mouse movement
- from Vicek, Doogie and Lola

The Lachesis utilizes a very sensitive sensor. Having a very powerful vibration on your surface, at a high dpi, may cause the mouse cursor to drift even while stationary (e.g. from a sub-woofer placed on a desk, for instance). The solution to this is to put your bass somewhere that won’t directly affect the surface the mouse is on.

The sensor at very high dpis (2500 and above) may also be affected by how you press the mouse buttons. At such a high sensitivity, even a little movement will cause the mouse cursor to move, as you may make an unintentional movement left or right. We realize that not every one may be able to (or want to) consciously control their button presses but want to make use of the high dpis, so we’re releasing a small software tool in November that will allow you to tweak how the sensor responds when it detects a button press to lessen this effect.

Finally, we’re replicating in the lab the random occasional movement and should have news on this soon. This is different from suddenly looking up or looking down in a fast turn. This indicates that you’re using the mouse exceeding the maximum speed at which it can operate correctly; this could be something to do with your play style (very fast swipes) or surface compatibility.

Lower dpi, higher ips?
from KageShikamaru

This is a data throughput issue, and not a sensor technology one. Basically, at higher dpis, moving at the same speed, the sensor is sending a much larger amount of information. We’ve put a limit on the ips at higher dpis in order to maximize the performance on the Lachesis (i.e. 4000 dpi is around 60ips max).

On-the-fly DPI
from Ernest

The Lachesis uses two methods for dpi switching. The “hardware” mode allows you to set up to 5 preset dpis in intervals of 125, from 125 to 4000 for each profile. Once programmed, these are remembered by the mouse until you change the settings again. It doesn’t matter what computer the mouse is on.

The “software” mode is our OTFS GUI that shows a bar in game and allows you to change a sensitivity setting in our driver while in game, using your scroll wheel. This is not portable and requires a driver.

Razer just returned from the five day Grand Final event with WCG as a global partner, where we witnessed the most exciting and immersive e-Sport experience to the worldwide gaming community. During the event, the WCG provided live satellite & online broadcasting coverage to tens of millions of e-Sports fans around the world – I hope you were among the millions of gamers who watched the coverage.

There was also a significant amount of major media & journalists from America, Europe and Asia covered WCG Grand Final event in Seattle to deliver the excitement to their countries.

Razer was one of the official sponsors for the Grand Finals and all 400 gaming stations were equipped with Razer DeathAdder mice, Razer Tarantula keyboards and Razer Barracuda HP-1 headsets.

As you can see in the pictures Razer had a large and active booth. Among our booth attractions were sign-up stations for the Go Pro with Razer sponsorship program, Unreal Tournament shootouts for prizes featuring the girlz of destruction of members, market research questionnaires and focus groups and globs of Razer SWAG given out every hour of everyday.

The shootout area wouldn’t have been a success without a place for our fans to hang out. We want to give huge thanks to Sumo Lounge for hooking our booth up with a sweet Razer green lounge. The floor just in front of the gaming area was covered in ultra-comfortable bean-bag loungers, giving the players a nice spot to rest after getting ruined by the girls in the shootout. Needless to say, these things were incredibly comfortable and it was a chore getting people to leave them, even after the show closed. Check them out at http://www.sumolounge.com/.

But enough of my chat – enjoy the following images …

Update - Thanks to Sumo Lounge for the very comfortable (and large) bean bags.

—

It’s not often we get a good reminder of why we’re here and what we’ve set out to achieve, but Alex has just sent us a note after our recent Razer Pro|Click Mobile announcement and we felt why it was most apt to share it with all.

Thanks Alex!

————————————————————
” I just wanted to let you know that I recently received the e-mail announcement of the Pro|Click Mobile.

To say that it has made my day is an understatement.

I had originally pre-ordered the Boomslang after clicking on a banner ad on Gamespy.com (To date, the only web advertisement that has lead me to make a purchase) and was the proud owner of the Boomslang 1000 serial #174. Sadly, after not too long, there was a defect, or it broke, I don’t remember which, but you guys replaced it with a new one, (with a much higher serial #) which served me extraordinarily well for many years, mostly playing Diablo II, until the primary button failed. (Can I blame it? I mean, Diablo II, I’m suprised my finger didn’t fail first) I was sad and wound up using an Intellimouse explorer for a while, until you offered the discount on the new 2000 dpi boomslangs, by sending in the USB plug from a previous boomslang.

Out came the scissors, in came the new boomslang, accompanied by a heavenly chorus. Since then I have upgraded to a Diamondback when the optical technology was released, and then to my current Copperhead.

My Lachesis was pre-ordered about 10 minutes after I recieved the e-mail that it was available, and I’m seriously considering adding the Collectors Edition Boomslang to… well my collection when it is released. The 3G Diamondback also continually tempts me with it’s Infrared goodness, except I’ve found that I far prefer the Copperhead thumb buttons.

So why does the Pro|Click Mobile announcement make my day? I recently purchased a nice laptop with integrated bluetooth to use as my primary ‘task/work’ machine. In looking for a nice bluetooth mouse to accompany it, I have found nothing but overly expensive, sub-par products.

So the news of a Bluetooth notebook mouse from Razer, whose products and support I have found consistantly to be several orders of magnitude above any other input devices over the course of the past…
well it’s coming up on almost a decade now, frankly, makes me ecstatic. If they were available for pre-order now, I would do so in a split second.

I am a complete ‘princess’ when it comes to my input devices. Some of my friends have made jokes that I have an ‘Input Device Fetish.’ I have big tupperware containers full of all kinds of different keyboards, mice and other input devices I have bought and tried over the years. Keyboards from Goldtouch, Kinesis, Scythe, Microsoft, Wolf Claw gaming keyboard. Gaming input devices like the Cyber Sniper, Ideazon Fang, Wolf King, Nostromo N50, Microsoft Strategic Commander, Frag Pedals, and the RTR 50 from GamingMouse, Home-built foot switches I made using the controller board from my Scythe gaming keyboard.

I’ve gone through PC gamepads from Logitech, Powerramp, used the original xbox controller with a USB adapter and now the 360 controllers with the wireless adapter. Microsoft Mice, Fellows Trackballs, Logitech Trackballs, Harmony Remote, Salient Pen Mouse, Contour Shuttle Express, Wacom tablets. And there’s an even some I haven’t been able to get my hands on yet, Datahand, Bat, Typematrix.

If you mention “A strange keyboard that costs around $300 that you can’t get anymore” I know you’re talking about the Fingerworks Touchstream.

(One day I have a crackpot plan of putting together some kind of input device blog to catalog all these things and get them a little more exposure maybe…)

But the products that stick, that I’ve honestly become dedicated to (which isn’t something that happens often with me) are your Razer products.

Where I work we recently did some marketing work, and discovered there was a concept of a brand being classified as a ‘Love Mark’ and I realized today that for me, Razer falls into that category without any question, and felt the need to share that with you.

Also, since I’m here, I really would love to use the Tarantula keyboard, and I may still buy one to try it out, it has some really great features that I am curious about and well, since I love this stuff… I gotta check it out. Unfortunately it’s not something that I can use consistantly since after spending the last… nearly 15 years on the keyboard all day, I’m teetering on the threshold of some crazy RSI. The Kensis keyboard is doing a nice job of holding it back for now, but switching to a flat keyboard would probably do me in.
This has sparked my interest in the other gaming input devices like the Nostromo, Strategic Commander, Wolf King, Fang etc that exist alongside the standard keyboard, without replacing it.

I think it would be fantastic if Razer introduced a product along those lines, incorporating some of the features of the Tarantula. I know that it would meet not only the quality of the other Razer products, but that the design and functionality of it would place it leagues ahead of the current offerings.

Also, if Razer were to work on a product like this, I would be truly honored if I were allowed to participate in testing. I’d also be more than happy to share my comparisons of the current offereings that I have used, they’ve all got good points and bad points, but none of them seem to really fit the space perfectly.

Anyway, I just felt that I should share with you how just how pleased I have been with the Razer products. I keep pushing them on other people whenever I can, but sometimes I think it’s nice to get a personal message of thanks, rather than just using my wallet.

So, thank you, and everyone else at Razer. I am really looking forward to whatever you are cooking up next. ”

Alex

An interesting comment appeared on the ShackNews forum yesterday that read, “Microsoft and Logitech really need to get their shit together, they seem to be getting too caught up in having the most features and not really making a solid gaming mouse in my opinion. It’s not like they are far off, they just are going a bit too far really I think.”

Man! Does this writer get us or what? Bling, gimmicks and gizmos won’t make you a better gamer. There are only three critical areas worth mentioning here … form, function and performance.

The Razer Lachesis 3G Laser Sensor is the mainstay for mouse performance. We at Razer were not satisfied with either the first or second generation of laser sensors. High DPI is one thing but high speed, or the Inches Per Second (IPS) is REALLY another. This is the metric that defines how fast you can move or swipe a mouse. Most casual gamers look at 4000DPI and are blown away but unless that mouse has sufficient IPS (inches per second) movement, in the long run you won’t be satisfied with its performance. The truly hardcore gamers would have picked out that the core performance improvement of the Razer 3G Laser Sensor is the phenomenal jump in IPS over the 1G or 2G sensors.

We’ve spent years and millions of dollars to stay ahead in the technology curve as well as countless hours with progamers and casual gamers alike to develop the latest in gaming technology and the 3G Laser Sensor is the culmination of this.

While no one mouse design can fit every playing style and hand size it is absolutely crucial that it be comfortable, lightweight and (reasonably) easy to adapt to. Along these lines Razer does not believe in design tricks or as another forum contributor to GotFrag preview of a new mouse from one of our competitors commented “this mouse def wins gimmicks per square inch”.

Ergonomics for gaming is one of the areas that we’ve pioneered over the years and we created the baselines for the “claw” and “palm” grip formats and have matched them with the appropriate gaming sensors and even placement of mousefeet.

At Razer we are dedicated to performance, in all of our products, and any feature that does not provide optimal results has no place on one of our mice. In fact, the Razer Lachesis is pretty much a “no gimmick” mouse – just a great gaming mouse with the latest cutting edge technology.

This year, you’ll see gaming mice with lights all over them – we’re a little embarrassed to say we started this trend of ambient and cool lighting on the gaming mouse, though the pretenders to the throne have kind of taken it to an extreme – we’re glad that the aesthetics of our mice still remain true to our core principles – bling has no place in our products.

Since this seems to be the year of the gaming mouse, where everyone and their grandmamma have decided to get on the bandwagon and offer their version to you the avid gamer, it is important to know exactly what you are spending your hard earned money on.

Not all gaming mice are created equal. No and far from it. Most gaming mice are no more than products available to any manufacturer created by a third-party OEM (original equipment manufacturer). These mice are made from virtually two to three-year old technologies that carry the logo and corporate colors of any company that can afford to purchase them. These are not even close to what we are offering in the 3G optical engine of the Razer DeathAdder or the 3G laser engine of the Razer Lachesis.

Razer develops all its own products and technologies based on user needs and demands for increased performance. Razer does not utilize third-party OEM suppliers for mice and we spend millions of dollars every year on research and development of new and advanced gaming products. Many of the features you see today like On-the-Fly Sensitivity, Always-On, On-board Memory Profiles, were all pioneered by Razer and we’ll continue to pioneer many others. Sometimes we even suspect our competitors wait for our products to be released just so they can copy it the next year.

Ten years ago when we decided to create gaming mice we knew that there was no room for another copycat or me-too maker of mice. Logi and Microsoft owned the home/office mouse and keyboard business and were really good at what they developed. There was no opportunity for Razer to succeed without creating our own unique niche and I believe that history has proven this decision as correct.

Today as I view the gaming hardware business there are a lot of companies that have watched Razer’s success and the amazing growth of gaming and want cash in on this growing market. They have decided to gain this share of market with mirrors by using older and somewhat antiquated technology (most of which was originally pioneered by Razer). Odd that these companies have showed up when they feel they can cash in on gaming….where were they before there was money in the market? This really shows where their priorities are and how they view gamers. Just check out some of their specs on the packaging – some of them literally lift our copywriting off our specs and paste it on their boxes.

Competition is good and I wish them much luck. Competition makes us better and we work harder to remain far ahead of the pack. In order to do this we will continue to push the envelop of technology and stay away from gizmos, glitz and gimmicks. We have long ago committed ourselves to meaningful advancements in performance that have a direct effect on gamer’s enjoyment within their favorite games.

Over the next few years we can anticipate that there will be a fallout of many of the so-called gaming mice companies you see today. This is an interesting time to be involved in gaming hardware from both a player and a hardware developer standpoint. We are on the brink of many new and advanced technologies that will completely change the way we interface with our computers. Razer is strongly positioned to be the leader and compete at a high level. Hopefully I will be able to talk more about this topic in 2008 and beyond.

Cheers and thanks for all your support.

Okay, it would be safe to say that Razer has a reputation for raising the bar for PC gaming hardware and in particular gaming mice. In 1999 when all other mice ran somewhere below 450 DPI and DPI was never mentioned in the same breath as the word mouse, Razer boldly created the first gaming mouse running at a blazing 2000DPI.

Nearly ten years later everyone and their grandma have their version of a high DPI gaming mouse while gamers are flooded by choices and manufacturer claims. So what’s a guy (or gal) to do? Just buy the biggest number or the lowest price?

We know that the process goes something like this … You see or hear about the next greatest mouse technology and naturally you don’t believe the hype. You search the net for reviews and forums and talk to a few trusted sources. You return to the net and check out the user’s site and then search for the lowest price. You hunt for mouse comparison and roundup reviews and then go to your local retailer to cop a mouse feel.

After all that you might have narrowed your search down to two mice and during this time you’re checking your financial conditions and saving a few coin to invest in said mouse.

Over the years gamers have told use they need more power in the form of higher DPI. When 2000DPI didn’t cut it they wanted 2400; then 3000 and so on. Not all players need or require high DPI. This is a function of the games they play and their style of play.

Today I’m in Leipzig Germany at Games Convention and I am unveiling the next generation of gaming mice to the press. In our tradition of using predatory snakes as our product names this mouse is called the Lachesis, which in Latin means “Bringer of Silent Death”. The Lachesis is truly a significant evolution in the gaming mice genesis. The engine of this mouse takes a major leap in technology from the first and even second generation of laser sensored mice.

Historically laser sensor mice have had difficulty in 2 important areas: 1) skipping when set to low DPI and/or low sensitivity settings and 2) poor tracking on any grainy or rough mouse surface.

The Lachesis features our new 3G Laser Optical Engine and runs at 4000DPI. This amazing engine is both perfect for the extreme high sensitivity player and for the low sensitivity player the sensor can track at up to 100 IPS (inches per second) without skipping or loss of a pixel.

Most importantly for the low sens users the on-the-fly DPI offers 5 pre-sets at 500 – 1000 – 1500 – 2000 – 4000 and can be adjusted upward or downward in 125DPI intervals.

The ambidextrous design should be easily adaptable to both low and high sens users and the 9 buttons are all programmable in games and windows. I could go on and on about the technology and features of the Lachesis because it is a major achievement from the company that challenges convention and leads the way when it comes to gaming peripherals. Here are just some of the features of the Razer Lachesis gaming mouse:

• 4000dpi Razer Precision™ 3G Laser engine
• 32KB Razer Synapse™ onboard memory
• Nine independently programmable Hyperesponse™ buttons
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
• On-The-Fly Sensitivity™ adjustment
• Variable true dpi setting adjustments in increments of 125 dpi
• Always-On™ mode
• Ultra-large non-slip buttons
• 16-bit ultra-wide data path
• 60-100 inches per second*
• Ambidextrous design
• Scroll wheel with 24 individual click positions
• Zero-acoustic Ultraslick™ Teflon feet
• Gold-plated USB connector
• Seven-foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord
• Approximate size: 129mm (length) x 71mm (width) x 40mm (height)
• Depends on surface used

In closing the Razer Lachesis may be the finest cross-trainer mouse ever made, but of course don’t fall prey to my hype, read as many third party independent reviews coming in a few weeks and make up your own mind.

Cheers from Leipzig

Razerguy

LOL … I can’t believe that 10 years of Razer fun and frolic have passed. It seems like only yesterday that we started dreaming about gaming mice and enhancing the gaming experience. The year was 1997 and there was this cool encoding technology that we owned and we were trying to figure out how best showcase our maiden product to the world. Since I was an old-time gamer from the late 70’s – Atari 2600, Mattel Intellivision, Coleco whatever – I naturally wanted to go the gaming direction.

Over the years I have had the distinct honor and privilege to travel the globe and meet gamers, fans, friends, competitors and the press and talk about Razer and our products. This has led us to believing in the power of the gaming community and just how important it is to not only listen to the users but to actively and purposely encourage and embrace outside innovation.

This blog post is not intended to blow smoke up anyone’s arse (I think those of you who know me understand this); what I’m hoping to accomplish is to thank all of the many fans who have written, phoned, come to events, IM’d, ICQ’d and sent messages in bottles by sea over the past decade. Your comments have always been appreciated, both good and critical. We have used your feedback to help create better hardware, firmware and drivers and in truth we could have never been the company we are today without you and your innovative suggestions.

Two weeks ago I became a member of three popular social networking websites, MySpace, Facebook and Friendster. Besides my blog and my direct email razerguy@razerzone.com you can now contact me through these three social communities with pictures, stories and other fun stuff. As always I will attempt to respond honestly and as fast as my stubby fingers will allow.

My personal pledge to you all is that no matter how fast and big Razer grows as a company there will always be the close and direct connection to the gaming community. We know who put us on top and will NEVER forget our roots.

Keepin’ it real