While at E3, I had the opportunity to sit down with Steel Series and get my hands on a couple of their hotly anticipated PC Peripherals, the co-branded Diablo III Mouse and Headset.
The mouse itself is a site to behold. With its symmetrical design, Diablo III themed artwork and demon-red illumination, people will know that you are serious about playing Diablo III at your LAN Parties. On the tech side, Steel Series has built in a laser sensor with up to 5,000 CPI. Diablo enthusiasts will tell you that while there is definitely great skill that goes into playing the game, there is very little to do with the mouse besides click, click, click away! Knowing that, and readying their hardware for what lies ahead, Steel Series went out of their way to find internal parts for their 7 buttons that have a guaranteed lifespan of 10 million clicks, which is 3 times as many as the lifespan of the average mouse. The attention to this one specific area will be much appreciated months into the game’s life cycle. In addition to how the mouse looks and was designed on the inside, you simply can’t fully appreciate this mouse until you put your hand on it for the first time. It is very comfortable, and feels almost silky smooth. The ambidextrous design is terrific, giving no advantage to anyone based on their handedness. The mouse is perfectly symmetrical, and none of the 4 side buttons ever get in the way. It is very lightweight and amazingly balanced. Showing off exactly how deep the Blizzard co-branding goes, the User Interface for the mouse customization looks like a menu option right out of the game. There is a cool Drag and Drop interface with every possible command in the game that can be mapped to the different buttons. All in all, This is one sexy, yet functional mouse.
I was also able to get some time with the amazingly sexy Diablo III Headset. The artistic vision matches that of the mouse, matching up for a Diablo III player’s over the top, one two punch. The headset is super comfortable and very lightweight on your head, which is absolutely necessary, as the Diablo franchise s known for some very long play sessions. It also features the same type of demon-red illumination as the mouse. The leather earcups do a remarkable job, in line with the 50 mm drivers, of keeping the game sound in, and the “rest of the world” noise out of your ears. The user interface for the headset is Diablo III themed as well, and controls the equalizer and the volume settings.
Both the Headset and the Mouse will be available for the launch of Diablo III. Even if I knew when that was, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I can tell you that the MSRP for the Headset is $119.99 and for the Mouse is $69.99. Once the game and the hardware ship, we will be sharing our reviews with you for both of these promising peripherals.
