Sidewinder X6: new gaming mouse and keyboard from Microsoft

Microsoft have never gone for the sleek look that characterises products from Apple. Their gear is always more utilitarian – as many buttons and flashing lights as possible. That’s not to say that they don’t look good, however. The new Sidewinder X6 gaming mouse and keyboard have a definite style to them – even if that is a spiky, asymmetric style. The mouse isn’t really that big, by the way – compared to the keyboard anyway.

They also have a bunch of useful functionality attached. The keyboard has a ‘cruise control’ feature, which will let you hold down a key indefinately, like “run” or something. Useful for traversing the Shimmering Flats in World of Warcraft, perhaps. Or it would be if WoW didn’t already have an autorun key. There’s also a detachable numpad, which will connect to either side of the keyboard. Useful for left-handers, perhaps.

It’s also got macro support, quicklaunch for the Vista games explorer, and the WASD keys are backlit. If you don’t know what that means, then you won’t need it. The mouse is quite nifty too. Sensitivity switching up to 2,000DPI, five customizable buttons, and another quicklaunch button for the the Vista games explorer.

At the moment, I’m using a Reclusa gaming keyboard, and the lovely lovely Logitech G5 laser mouse (complete with adjustable weights) for my gaming PC. I’m liking the look of the X6 keyboard a lot, but it would take quite some force to separate me from my G5. The X6 mouse doesn’t look like it has quite enough force to achieve that.

Sidewinder X6 (via Crunchgear)