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The "King of All Computer Mice" Finally Ships 207

Posted by samzenpus from the there's-a-button-for-that dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The much-anticipated, much-mocked 18-button joystick mouse from WarMouse is now shipping. The press release features an impressive set of user quotes from game designer Chris Taylor, new SFWA president John Scalzi, and a doctor who runs a medical software company. Crazy or not, it's obviously more than just a gaming mouse."
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The "King of All Computer Mice" Finally Ships More

The "King of All Computer Mice" Finally Ships

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  • Trackball (Score:2, Insightful)

    by vlm ( 69642 )

    I'd rather have a trackball. Faster, more precise, cleaner desk.

    • Re:Trackball (Score:5, Insightful)

      by casings ( 257363 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @09:48AM (#32730046)

      I love playing against people who use a trackball. Can always use target practice.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by ZeroExistenZ ( 721849 )
        Not all occupy themselves playing games...

        I use my trackball to throw at colleagues who piss me off.

        • I concurr. I have one of those Trackball Marbles from Logitech.. the one with the 1.5in sphere of hard plastic.. not only does it hit hard, but it looks neat doing it!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by L4t3r4lu5 ( 1216702 )
      Each to their own. You're obviously not a PC gamer, or if you are a very casual one.

      I might get this mouse, if it's big enough to fit comfortably in my shovel-like hands. I still use a Logitech MX700 because it's a good 30mm longer than any other mouse I've ever encountered. Either this mouse, or one with an adjustable palm space.

      • Each to their own. You're obviously not a PC gamer, or if you are a very casual one.

        I've lost track of the number of well-ranked players I have completely abused while playing first person shooters with my Trackman Wheel. Maybe your problem is too much time spent exercising the wrist, and not enough time spent exercising the thumb.

        I might get this mouse, if it's big enough to fit comfortably in my shovel-like hands. I still use a Logitech MX700 because it's a good 30mm longer than any other mouse I've ever encountered. Either this mouse, or one with an adjustable palm space.

        That's much of why I use a trackball. The only mouse I've ever had that felt "Big" enough was some antique "ergonomic" Logitech unit that felt too cheap to use.

        • I've lost track of the number of well-ranked players I have completely abused while playing first person shooters with my Trackman Wheel.

          Good for you! I'd love to know how you know which were using mice and which were using trackballs. Do you ask?

          Maybe your problem is too much time spent exercising the wrist, and not enough time spent exercising the thumb.

          Har har you eluded to masturbation! Grow up.

          That's much of why I use a trackball. The only mouse I've ever had that felt "Big" enough was some antique "ergonomic" Logitech unit that felt too cheap to use.

          Fair. Only trackball I ever used had the buttons operated by the thumb, and the ball on top to be moved by the fingers. Odd that both large body mice were made by Logitech, though. The one I have is "ergonomic" (for a righty, anyway) too. Quite pleasant to use.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Thansal ( 999464 )

            "Fair. Only trackball I ever used had the buttons operated by the thumb, and the ball on top to be moved by the fingers. Odd that both large body mice were made by Logitech, though. The one I have is "ergonomic" (for a righty, anyway) too. Quite pleasant to use."

            This is why you don't like trackballs for gaming.

            I have yet to run into a gamer who uses one of those 'ergonomic' center-ball ones.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by chocapix ( 1595613 )

          I've lost track of the number of well-ranked players I have completely abused while playing first person shooters with my Trackman Wheel. Maybe your problem is too much time spent exercising the wrist, and not enough time spent exercising the thumb.

          I've read/heard that line countless times, but I have yet to actually see anyone who plays Quake(*) decently with anything else than a mouse. I'll grant you that a trackball is far superior to a console pad, so if anything can be as good as (better than?) a mouse, it's a trackball but I still think it's just not good enough. I mean, if a trackball really is that good, at least some pros should use one, right?

          Not that I consider myself a "well-ranked player" but I'd very much like to have a Quake Live duel w

          • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

            by starblazer ( 49187 )

            I played Quake with a trackball... a logitech trackman wheel (basically). The key to it is to have the sensitivity on the trackball super-high so that you don't have to move it too far to turn around.. plus, with the precision of a thumb, it wasn't that hard making precise movements. Sure, I was the laughingstock of my friends but they would always be below me in the rankings.

      • Each to their own. You're obviously not a PC gamer, or if you are a very casual one.

        Hahahaha. I and many of the people I play with routinely run circles around people like you with our trackballs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Thansal ( 999464 )

        "Each to their own. You're obviously not a PC gamer, or if you are a very casual one."

        Sorry, but a thumb based trackball is just as good as, if not better than, most mice.

        For me it comes down to a few things:

        1) The fact that you can get greater precision with your thumb than yo can with your wrist/arm.

        2) You never run out of movement space. Sure, with a high sensitivity you will not often have to pick up your mouse and move it, but it does happen.

        I set my sensitivity such that I can do a 180 turn in either

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cgenman ( 325138 )

          Can you recommend a good thumb-based trackball for gaming?

          I've been a devoted user of Kensington's Expert Mouse Trackball for years. But I found during a binge of TF2 that I had to switch to a basic optical mouse. If there were a good trackball gaming option, I would definitely return.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Fred_A ( 10934 )

        I might get this mouse, if it's big enough to fit comfortably in my shovel-like hands.

        Same problem here. How I'd wish to get a double size mouse. Or at least double width.

        It's not a problem for regular desktop use. But for gaming, my major problem is my pinky dragging on the mouse mat. Apparently all the people designing mice are eight year old asian girls.

      • You're obviously not a PC gamer, or if you are a very casual one.

        HA! I can drag the black two onto the red three with the best of them!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eexaa ( 1252378 )

      I'd rather have standard 104-button mouse....or how they call it.

    • Cleaner desk - kinda sorta. It doesn't move around as much, so it needs less "buffer space", but a trackball is just as large (larger in many cases) as a mouse on a desk.

      Faster or precise though? No. I did desktop support a college from 1999-2003 and a lot of the professors were in love with trackballs, so I ended up having to learn to use them so I could work on their computers. I'll admit, eventually, you get used to it and can do what you want, and better/more expensive trackballs certainly were easi

      • My experience has been that you have to pick one trackball, and stick with it to get the benefit. Even switching from a (sadly missed) Microsoft Trackball Explorer to a superficially similar Logitech Trackman threw me off.

        But once you get your muscle memory keyed in, the benefits of being able to use all your fingers and thumb at once start to ramp up. It's really one of these things where you won't believe it until you experience it. I don't know why I'm trying to convince you, to be honest.

  • Jobs (Score:5, Funny)

    by michaelmalak ( 91262 ) <michael@michaelmalak.com> on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @09:52AM (#32730106) Homepage
    Steve Jobs would not approve.

  • Naga WarMouse (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pewpdaddy ( 1364159 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @09:54AM (#32730156)
    You can have my trusty Naga when you pry it from my cold dead hand. http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.169418900 [razerzone.com]
    • The Razer Naga in my opinion is a lot more ideal for gaming. Coming in at 17 buttons, only one short of the Warmouse its very comparable. But what the Naga does better is the button placement, with the majority of them on the side to hit with your thumb. The shape and button placement are going to allow better grip and control when the shit starts to fly. The warmouse looks ackward to hold and the button placement on the top just looks like a disorginized clusterfuck compared to the sleek Naga.
    • That sounds like a challenge! I accept. =P

  • "Much Anticipated"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Americano ( 920576 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @09:58AM (#32730222)

    By who? This thing looks like shit, will probably sell 500 units to the people who buy every new computer gadget that's produced, and will die a silent death in the dark, rightfully so.

    I have a computer input device with a lot of keys on it already - it's called a keyboard, and it works a lot better when I'm not sliding the keyboard around on the desktop while trying to type.

    This is a solution in search of a problem to solve.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cgenman ( 325138 )

      Yes, but this adds 2 9-key pads and a joystick to your mouse hand, leaving your left hand free to continue keyboarding.

      On a war flight simulator, this might be enough keys to actually play with only two hands. For 3D development work, you could work in 3DS max without having to press modifiers all of the bloody time. I could think of at least a half-dozen macros in Flash that would be nice to have mapped to dedicated keys under your fingers at all times.

      Realistically speaking, it's probably not going anyw

  • Archduke of all computer mice (Score:5, Informative)

    by EdZ ( 755139 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @10:02AM (#32730266)
    I'll stick with my trusty MX Revolution. That no other manufacturer (Logitech included) has added that wonderful thumbwheel to their mice is a crying shame. Tabs through pages like nobody's business, with another two buttons right next to it.

  • What a crap idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @10:04AM (#32730316)
    I mean why not just put your fucking keyboard on wheels and push it around?
  • I like my ultimate joystick. It's got 90+ buttons, multitouch, and on the separate controller, two extra analog axes and a few extra buttons.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tepples ( 727027 )
      But how many such controllers can you have plugged into your home theater PC at once if, say, you have friends over?
      • They carry over their own ultimate joysticks, which double as home theaters.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          They carry over their own ultimate joysticks

          PCs aren't designed to take more than one distinct keyboard+mouse.

          which double as home theaters.

          Oh, you meant everyone brings laptops and you pray that you all own copies of the same game. So what do you when a friend brings his kids, who also happen to be gamers? They're not old enough to own a laptop of their own, and they have different game collections.

          • Excuse me, was I talking about you or me?

            I'm 22, my buddies don't have game-playing kids. Matching games? We get by. We have laptops. I don't have a home entertainment PC nor consoles, neither do my buddies. Games are just a few hours of fun for us every now and then, not a profession.

            Don't be an all-knowing douche. My point is (and you know it): 80 key joystick is absurd; laptops even reduced keycount from 104.

  • Why is this in idle ? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by unity100 ( 970058 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @10:09AM (#32730392) Homepage Journal
    is there ANY way that this is not a tech/i.t. related news ? i mean, did we move to mental interfaces since i went to bed last night ? how can a 12 something button mice news is in idle, as if something irrelevant to /. ?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by owlnation ( 858981 )

      how can a 12 something button mice news is in idle, as if something irrelevant to /. ?

      I suspect the answer is that samzenpus has no clue what he is doing. He regularly posts idle stories in the main /. sections. And now he posts a valid story in idle.

      Samzenpus and Idle need to be cut loose as a separate website. I've generally no desire to ever read any of his submissions -- but since idle pollutes the RSS feed, it's near impossible to avoid them. That is the best solution for everyone -- those who wan

  • Looks like an overloaded, low-usability kludge to me.

  • Gaming mouse? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Errol backfiring ( 1280012 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @10:13AM (#32730468) Journal

    Crazy or not, it's obviously more than just a gaming mouse."

    I would use this for CAD applications. And yes, I have been waiting a long time for it. A colleague once taped a keyboard on top of a mouse and told me he had constructed my ideal mouse. The one shown above is even better

    • Indeed.. Standard keyboards are not quite right for certain applications. I used to mock video editing keyboards until I started using one. The ability to customize the keyboard, down to the labels and repeat rate for specific keys, is very useful. Having multiple scroll wheels is incredibly useful (e.g., a dedicated wheel to advance frames and another to adjust sound). Sure, you can use the mouse pointer to adjust the on screen controls, but when you're dealing with three monitors and need to bounce betwee

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by harl ( 84412 )

      No this is what you would use for CAD application.

      http://www.3dconnexion.com/ [3dconnexion.com]

  • Everyone seems to be slating this in their comments. I can see a use for it. There are some keyboard shortcuts that I use frequently but are uncomfortable to hit one handed. On a laptop it's not so much of an issue, both your hands are close to the keyboard but it frustrates me on my desktop or when I'm using an external mouse. Now yes, I could reassign my shortcuts but I've tried that in the past and 2 things happen, I end up with system vs. application shortcut conflicts and I run out of shortcuts rea

  • I'm not convinced (Score:3, Interesting)

    by obarthelemy ( 160321 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @10:16AM (#32730510)

    My "top-side" fingers don't have much mobility, plus they're used for left and right clicks.

    I haven't used it, but for buttons junkies, the Razer Naga (http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/list/categoryID.35208800) seems both less overt-the-top and more ergonomic/practical)

  • Everything old is new again (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wandazulu ( 265281 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @10:20AM (#32730558)

    The mother of all demos [wikipedia.org] is typically cited as where Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the mouse as a pointing device for the very first time, but what is forgotten is that he also had, for his left hand, a small set of levers for performing "common actions" (read: shortcuts) that essentially served a similar purpose as all those buttons on this mouse.

    I remember reading in a book that, among all the SRI researchers, only Engelbart himself ever got the hang of how to use it; the others apparently simply preferred to use the mouse and keyboard. I wouldn't be surprised if this mouse gets a fanatical following of about three people, while the rest of the world moves on.

  • Is a Linux driver available?

  • Engadget review (Score:2, Informative)

    by wizdave ( 907216 )
    Here's a decent engadget review [engadget.com] and associated video [youtube.com] of this mouse.

  • I've bought 2 mice from a company in Michigan www.quietmouse.com

    This mouse is soundless. Literally soundless, there is only tactile clicks feedback, no sound at all.

    It si very good for telecommuters. I can work even in a library now.

  • Since we slashdotted the website I thought I'd post a cache version of the article. So, here goes.

    WarMouse Meta: "The King of All Computer Mice" is now shipping and it isn't just for games

    Oxford, England, July 28, 2010 - WarMouse today announced that its much-anticipated multi-button laser joystick mouse is now shipping. With a patented design featuring 18 buttons, an analog joystick, and a 5600-CPI laser sensor, the Meta has been well received by gamers and commercial software developers alike. Containing

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HTH NE1 ( 675604 )

      Containing twice as much memory as the original Macintosh...

      * 512k of flash memory...

      The original Macintosh had 128 KiB [wikipedia.org] of DRAM. The next model had 512 KiB and the original Macintosh was rebadged "Macintosh 128K".

      No Macintosh ever had only 256 KiB of memory (the original was not memory-upgradeable).

  • My wife is driven batty, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, with the constant clickety-click of the mouse I use with my netbook for reading/browsing in bed. I have tried several models and picked the quietest, but still there's an audible click that either gets me kicked out of bed eventually or forces me to use the (for me) less efficient trackpad. I've tried to test different models in the store, but it's hard to judge accurate through the thick clamshell packaging. Ideally what I'd like is a por

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by casings ( 257363 )

      My suggestion: reading comments before posting one:

      Real king mouse (Score:2)
      by Max_W (812974)
      Alter Relationship
      on 9:39 Tuesday 29 June 2010 (#32730852)
      I've bought 2 mice from a company in Michigan www.quietmouse.com

      This mouse is soundless. Literally soundless, there is only tactile clicks feedback, no sound at all.

      It si very good for telecommuters. I can work even in a library now.

      • You're right, I skimmed through the comments too fast. Anyway thanks for answering. This seems to be what I'm looking for, and I ordered one.
    • My suggestion would be to go to bed when you're ready for sleep. I've never understood why people need computers and TVs in the bedroom. All they do is annoy the SO.

  • King? Looks More Like the Clown (Score:3, Insightful)

    by knapper_tech ( 813569 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @11:14AM (#32731448)
    Five important aspects of a mouse:
    1 Frictionless Scroll Wheel (no bumps while rolling...carpal tunnel)
    2 Buttons click with very little vibration. After several thousand clicks per day, the difference between Thwump and TwhaCkchkchck becomes painfully obvious
    3 Very, very precise tracking. Although Blue-track is awesome on rough surfaces, I like that first pixel to be quantum mechanically entangled with the first detectable movement. Making users hands numb is not an acceptable way to bring tactile feedback and mouse movement into synch.
    4 Shape. Just don't make it suck. Mechanically, I really like there to be troths for the fingers. I think they help bring more of the finger into contact and use the soft tissue to dampen vibrations quickly and gently. It also helps reduce the total moment carried by the fingertip because some of it is applied towards the base.
    5 Transmitter and battery....afterthoughts but they need to be on a list that includes everything a mouse engineer should know.

    When I started using blender to do tons of 3D modelling, compositing, skinning, animation etc etc, I noticed how crappy mice really are. Most seem to be designed so that oilfield workers will still feel comfortable using them after pulling several thousand feet of pipe.

    When truly tied to lots of mouse action, the most important thing is to make it as much of a psychic experience as possible. The mouse should barely exist.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cgenman ( 325138 )

      For gaming, you actually do want a scroll wheel with bumps. The scroll wheel is used frequently for discrete selections like weapons and inventory. Sadly, this is why it is really hard to find frictionless scroll wheels.

      Personally I want a thumb trackball on mice for scrolling, since 2 dimensional scrolling is a sad part of the real world. And a trackball thumb could be used for easy camera rotation in 3DS Max.

  • At least they've got lots of them (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Fred_A ( 10934 ) <fred@NOspam.fredshome.org> on Tuesday June 29, 2010 @11:17AM (#32731488) Homepage

    Store page says :

    1e+09 Units in Stock

  • 18 buttons? Pfft!
    I just strapped a dozen keyboards to a Swiss ball!

    Now tell me who has the king of all computer mice!?! :D

  • It would not be called War Mouse. Should be called Ubur-robo-matic-mouse-of-war, and it should be wireless.

  • That would explain a lot, but now I think it's missing egg beaters and a cricket bat.

  • No pictures of the mouse on the web page. The PDF only shows it in profile.

  • Seems these people haven't heard of the Assassin 3D [wikipedia.org] which was released almost a decade and a half ago. It was designed with similar goals -- ie. a trackball for aiming -- but was coupled with a real joystick for movement. This setup proved to be one of the great innovations for mouser haters. Indeed, I've had much fun fragging mouse+keyboard users since I bought my first Panther XL [squarespace.com] back in '98 -- the philosophical successor to the Assassin 3D. Nowadays I use a hacked/modified PXL where the mechanical 2-axis

  • I've found, consistently, that the best computer mice are the basic mice at the bottom of the product lines for Logitech and Microsoft. I like scroll-wheels, although clicking on them is difficult. Optical mice were a great improvement over mechanical ball mice. But, if there are more than three buttons, I don't use them. I want as little fussing with the mouse as possible.

    The "gaming mouse" nonsense has gotten out of hand. What is with advertising mice that have ultra-high resolutions, when computers can't

    • I've yet to find a mouse that's better than Logitech's MX518. The position of the buttons (and slight pressure needed to press) makes them easy to use. With the scroll wheel not having side-to-side scroll the middle-click can consistently be pressed without accidentally scrolling left or right.

      Compare to Logitech's MX610, cannot use the middle button due to the sloppy side-to-side scroll, almost all of the top-left-side buttons are difficult to press, and the thumb buttons require more pressure and are "

  • I, for one, welcome our new murine overlords.

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