by Jeff Woleslagle on Jun 08, 2006
A mouse matchless among mice?
Traditionally, high-priced, high-performance peripherals have been the domain of the FPS (first-person shooter) aficionado. But with the pace of MMOs increasing with games like Auto Assault, Fury, and Tabula Rasa, Ten Ton Hammer thinks it's time we take a look at how gaming-tuned input devices can benefit our game.
We begin with the Logitech G5. As widely-available commercial gaming mice go, you can't do too much better than the Logitech G5 gaming mouse (or its wireless big brother, the G7). This high-resolution lazer mouse is all about smoothing out the pointer's once bumpy ride across the screen, giving gamers complete control over settings like onboard sensitivity and even weight-distribution in the mouse itself. Yea, great for sniping, but we had our fun scoring Unreal headshots in our pre-MMO days. So what do mice like the G5 offer the MMO gamer? Maybe more than you think!
"The defining feature of the G5 and the G7 wireless is the 36 gram "weight cartridge" that you load and pop into the mouse's underbelly. You can load the cartridge's eight slots with 1.5g and 4.5g weights that come in a sort-of "Altoids" box. Now, I know you're thinking that this is pure marketing fluff, and I would've been inclined to agree with you. But the truth is: tweaking weight and balance is surprisingly noticeable. Part of the fun of owning this mouse has been experimenting with different total weights and weight "balances" - I finally settled on a featherweight setup with 4.5g weights at the top corners so it "digs" just a little when I push on the mouse, and I might change it again. There's no wrong way to load your mouse; like I said, it's fun to see how just a little more or less weight helps or hinders the selection of your next target."
Check out our full review of the Logitech G5 gaming mouse.