Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

SideWinder

Microsoft SideWinder X3 gaming mouse adds features, subtracts price

Microsoft just announced a new addition to its SideWinder line of performance peripherals, introducing the SideWinder X3 mouse, a gaming powerhouse that should give the older SideWinder X5 a run for its money. We weren't very thrilled with the X5's $60 price tag or its flimsy build, but the X3 comes with a cheaper price tag ($40) and offers new features including new button placement and a smaller, ambidextrous shape.

Like its sibling, the new X3 features a 2,000 dpi laser sensor with variable sensitivity, five programmable main buttons, and USB connectivity, but this new version is a bit smaller and adds a single button on each side of the mouse for added gameplay versatility. As an added bonus, Microsoft also made the X3 ambidextrous for all the left-handed gamers.

The Microsoft SideWinder X3 Mouse will hit stores in May for $40, but pre-sale orders are available now on Amazon.com if you can't wait. One more pic after the jump.

(Source: Microsoft via Gizmodo)… Read more

Microsoft gaming mouse also gets BlueTrack sensor

Following Tuesday's official Microsoft announcement of its first BlueTrack mice, Wednesday we get word of the unsurprising extension of the new sensor technology to Microsoft's SideWinder gaming mice. The SideWinder X8 will go for $100 when it ships in February (although Amazon.com is apparently already taking orders).

As we reported Tuesday, the new BlueTrack sensor is a Microsoft-developed optical-tracking technology that purports to give mice greater accuracy over a wider variety of surfaces than laser or IR optical mice.

Microsoft claims scalable dpi settings from 250 to 4,000 dpi for the SideWinder X8, which should please gamers. Thankfully, this new mouse also brings back the macro-record button for on-the-fly command recording, introduced by last year's SideWinder, but missing from the more recent X5 model.… Read more