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Living in a 3D World

Ten Ton Hammer Review’s the Sandio 3D Game 0’ Mouse

Three dimensional worlds are the norm in the current video game age; everything that comes off the shelf requires a 3D optimized GPU and a plethora of video memory to boot. Almost all Western MMOGs are rendered in 3D, at least since Everquest hit store shelves around the U.S. and required a 3D graphics accelerator. Computer gaming aficionados can rarely escape the trappings of a 3D world without exploring niche or wizened titles.

No longer considered a “revolution,” the 3D gaming age has been upon us ever since games like Doom and Ultima Underworld hit computer screens and “wowed” users with the polygonal graphics and choppy textures. In these 3D worlds, players can move with relative freedom – albeit sometimes limited by “gravity”, “mountains”, and “zones” – yet the interface (keyboard/mouse, joystick, gamepad) that we use to access these games hasn’t changed drastically in the decades that have passed.

You'll notice the three direction sticks, one on top and two on the sides.

As gamers, we love our options. Most individuals who are hardcore gamers will install a game and immediately remap the keyboard to whatever designation they feel most comfortable with. However, there’s a severe limitation on the number of “3D” peripherals that exist for us to use. A mouse alone may be sufficient to run a game that’s limited to the “ground” like many of the click-and-move MMOGs coming out of Korea, but if you begin pushing that third dimension (the Z axis, if you will) you begin running into problems. Even with the keyboard included in a gamer’s repertoire, three dimensional movement is lackluster at best. Many combat flight simulator fans would argue that the use of a joystick solves many Z-axis problems, but put the player’s avatar back on the ground and the joystick becomes cumbersome once again. Games like NCsoft’s Aion are dying for a peripheral that allows them to provide a solid base of movement on the ground and in the sky, and the Sandio 3D Game 0’ Mouse attempts to solve that dilemma.

So Many Buttons, So Few Fingers

When the Sandio 3D Mouse passed over my desk, I was immediately captivated by its design. The glossy black finish and dark gray buttons are quite appealing, and a strange base provides a substantial wrist support for the users that feel that they need to use it. Along with the black and gray style, Sandio also produces the mouse in deep metallic red and iPod-inspired bright white. Although not as slick as the Razer or Logitech gaming mice (there were no side wall LEDs or super slick paint jobs), the Sandio is certainly more captivating than your typical roller-ball or optical mouse.

This is the black version of the mouse, the same version I reviewed.

Three programmable direction sticks decorate the outside walls of the mouse; one on the top, the left, and the right of the edges. The sticks are relatively easy to reach, even for a person with a small hand. In fact, individuals with larger hands may find the mouse cumbersome in the five-finger configuration that is possible with the mouse.

By using all five of your fingers, it’s possible to hit every one of the buttons on the mouse at the same time, but I wouldn’t recommend going the five-finger route. I tried using all of my fingers to navigate through Azeroth in the World of Warcraft, and it wasn’t pretty. Four fingers is a much more comfortable and efficient way to operate the Sandio 3D.