Photo by Anthony Plascencia

Sandio Technology: 3D Game O'

Sandio's Technologies has been showing off its new 3D Game O' for several months now. Now that the mouse and its "6 degrees of function" have made it to the public, here's my take on this newest member of the hardware family.

Out of the box

Without having to do any preconfiguration, the mouse is set up to work with about 20 games, most of which are actually still relevant. So, all you really need to do is plug in and get down to business. For those games that aren't on the list, the mouse is fairly simple to figure out and program on your own. I imagine that Sandio will probably have downloads for more titles as the mouse picks up popularity among the gaming community.

Movement

Along with the usual left-right buttoins and the scrolling wheel, there are additional programmable buttons near the thumb and a joy-stick-type button at top-dead-center. In all, there are about 8 different options in this thing.

You can now go forward, backward, and sideways without having to fumble around with the keyboard. In addition, you can turn you field of view, shoot, jump and basically kick lots of booty with one hand. Plus you can change the mouse speed and/or dpi(400, 800, 1600, 2000) with the simple click of a button. Here's the best part. With the other hand now free, you can use the keyboard to create all new moves that you might otherwise never be able to achieve, making you perhaps the most dangerous player in your MMPOG.

Feel appeal

The contour may make it sit comfortably under you palm, but picking it up to reposition mid-play is less awkward. And by placing so many functions on the mouse, it takes some practice to get all those buttons down. And the laser doesn't take kindly to lighter surfaces, so make sure to use a dark mousepad.

Among the notable features of the 3D Game O' is the way it responds. The cursor moves the same way your fingers do, so if you swing wide, so will it. Just don't try to pick it up. The contour may make it sit comfortably under you palm, but picking it up to reposition mid-play is less awkward for some strategy games.

For most games, however, the mouse is actually rather intuitive. If you push forward, the character moves forward. Pull back, slide left or pan right and the character does too.

Conclusion

All in all, Sandio has done a rather amazing job of opening up the gamers' arsenal.