SteelSeries Ikari Optical Mouse

The SteelSeries Ikari Optical mouse I received last week was not the newest product from SteelSeries, but it deserves a notable review on its own. As an introduction, SteelSeries, as much as they have achieved in their mousepad designs, has NOT been a mouse manufacturer themselves. The mice they were marketing earlier in their online shops are just their own limited editions of the famous Microsoft Intellimouse 1.1 and 3.0. The SteelSeries Ikari Optical and Laser are their first attempts at designing and manufacturing a mouse – and this entry will be focused on the optical version of the Ikari, after a week of usage.

SteelSeries Ikari Optical Mouse

Manufacturer: SteelSeries
Engine: Optical
Counts per Inch: 400-1600
Retail Price: RM199.00

The Ikari Optical comes in a box that you’d expect from any standard mouse packages. Similar with other SteelSeries products, it has a low profile, high performance feel to it – though of course I wouldn’t judge anything right out of the box. The package comes with the mouse itself and a USB to PS/2 converter.


The Ikari optical is built very solidly with hard plastic with a glossy finish at the top piece of the mouse, and rubberized grips on both sides of it. Regarding rubberized grips, I never liked them because they always seem to wear off after some periods of usage. My old Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 had imperfections here and there throughout the whole mouse just because the rubberized surface wore off. The Ikari Optical’s rubberized side grips seemed a little bit different to me though. For some reason it felt sturdier – in fact, I convinced myself by trying to scratch the surface with a good amount of pressure from my fingernails, but it left only a small trace. (I know I shouldn’t torture mice like that I’m sorry) The braided mouse cord is a very useful implementation because it reduces a lot of stiffness on the mouse cord unlike my MSIE 3.0.



As you can see in the photo taken above is the bottom part of the Ikari Optical with the red optical sensor shining from the middle of the peripheral. One would immediately take notice of the four HUGE pieces of mousefeet. I believe that small details like these are the results of SteelSeries really working together with the professional gaming teams in the world to develop this mouse, as most gamers would know, small mousefeet are very irritating as they produce more friction, and gets worn out fast.



There are actually a total of 6 mouse buttons on the Ikari Optical, instead of 5 as stated in their official specification page. Left and right clicks, the 2 thumb buttons at the left side of the mouse, the CPI switcher button just below the scroll wheel, and let’s not forget the scroll wheel itself is a button as well. The side button proved convenient to me when I’m surfing the internet as it serves as the forward and back button of the browser. Of course, it will also prove useful to a variety of gamers out there especially FPS gamers, just for accessibility’s sake.




Now the first thing that I look for, in any mouse, is the ergonomics of the mouse (note that I have a fairly large hand). Many people would ask me why would I prefer the 400DPI 125hz polling Microsoft IME 3.0, after so many technologically advanced gaming mice from leading manufacturers like Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries, etc. It’s all about the ergonomics. Above is a photo comparison of the actual size of the Ikari Optical when compared to the Microsoft IME 3.0, which both are large mice themselves. As a personal preference, I still loved my Microsoft mouse because my right hand is so used to it. However, the Ikari Optical was feeling right even though it was my first time using it – it was perfectly designed to suit the right hand grip (more towards the rested hand grip than the claw grip). That was an impression the Microsoft mouse never gave me in the past.



Bringing drivers with them everywhere would be every gamer’s nightmare, so SteelSeries decided that the Ikari Optical doesn’t need any drivers, just plug and play. However, we do need the software in order to change its CPI settings. It goes up to a maximum of 1600 CPI, which more than enough for me because I use 400 CPI. That’s just me.




After testing the Ikari Optical on both cloth surface and hard plastic surfaces, in this case I used the SteelSeries SP and Fnatic QCK+ mousepads, it turned out very well. Coupling with the hard plastic mousepad, no skips at even the strongest flicks of the mouse (I use a very low sensitivity in FPS games so hard flicks are a norm to me), very smooth glide and even smoother on hard plastic surfaces, thanks to the huge mousefeet beneath the Ikari Optical.

However, after massive usage on the Fnatic QCK+ mousepad, the optical engine tend to skip during flicks of the highest speed. This might be due to the decoration and the color of the mousepad as you can see from the photo above. To a gamer this skipping issue is a problem, so anyone using the Ikari Optical might want to choose a single colored mousepad.

Another little problem that I encountered though was the different lift distance of the mouse when used on different mousepads. On the cloth pad, the tracking immediately stopped as soon as I lift the mouse from the surface. However, on the hard plastic mousepad, the mouse continued to track a little bit further from the surface. I would not say that I’m annoyed by this as I usually lift my mouse quite high when track-changing, but I would predict that it might cause sufficient annoyance to users who have a low lift distance habit.

Pros:

- Great ergonomics
- Durability
- Huge mousefeet
- Perfect tracking on unicolored mousepads
- Non-fussy mouse cord

Cons:

- Tends to skip on multi colored mousepads
- Inconsistent lift distance
- Asymmetrical, for right hand users only
- No “Wow” factor

Conclusion:

Despite the fact that it has to be coupled with a single colored mousepad, I’d highly recommend this mouse to any serious right-handed gamer out there who doesn’t need the mouse to look like a high-profile gaming mouse with lights all over them. Remember, SteelSeries designed the Ikari Optical with professional gamers in mind, did the mouse live up to its credits? Damn right it did.

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The Merc Stealth Keyboard by SteelSeries

If anyone have not noticed it yet, professional gaming brand SteelSeries has added a new range of keyboards in their products page, which includes the Zboard, Fang, Merc, and the Merc Stealth – check it out at http://www.steelseries.com/int/products/keyboards

Thanks to Inter-Asia Technology Sdn Bhd, I’ve gotten my hands on the Steelseries Merc Stealth keyboard. As far as I know this product isn’t for sale on the Malaysian market yet. Heck, even on the SteelSeries website the price listed there is “Coming Soon”. So I guess that a first hand review on this keyboard would help a lot of gamers out there to have a taste of the Merc Stealth.

Quoted from the SteelSeries website:
SteelSeries Merc Stealth Highlights:
- SteelSeries Z Engine enables programmability of all keys
- Pre-defined profiles for more than 150 games
- 3 color illumination options: blue, purple and red
- Internal hub with 2 USB ports
- Anti-ghosting capability: Up to 7 simultaneous keystrokes
- Special gaming key area
- Rubberized movement keys for enhanced tactile feedback

As soon as I got my hands on the keyboard itself, I can’t help but to realize the weight of the keyboard itself. IT IS HEAVY. I love heavy keyboards just because they plant themselves onto my computer desk firmly and with the help of the rubberized grip, the keyboard won’t slip or move even during intense gaming sessions (competitive Counterstrike games, you know).

Gold plated USB jacks are a norm in gaming hardware these days, so it goes without saying that Merc Stealth uses the same.

After plugging in the USB, the backlights of the keyboard came into life. As dim as they look in broad daylight (or rather, the florescent light in my room), they look REALLY AWESOME with the lights closed. The following photos cannot convey the least bit of gorgeousness the Merc Stealth actually look like. I apologize for the quality of the photos as it was taken on my Nokia E66’s 3.2MP phone camera. But you get the idea.

With a press of the color changing button, the backlights can be color switched between blue, purple, and red. I chose to use blue because it just fits my CPU blue lights. There’s another button to switch of the backlights though I don’t see why anyone would want them off, for any reason at all.Following the aesthetics of the keyboard, I continued on to use the keyboard normally without installing the Z-engine for normal everyday usage including chatting and typing word documents for a day.




The feeling of the keys itself is one of the main concerns of consumers when looking to purchase a keyboard. Instead of having a very mechanical feel like the SteelSeries 7G, the Merc Stealth gives a very grainy and textured feeling during keystrokes. This characteristic may favor those who like a silent and less clicky keyboard.



The main attraction of the keyboard, should I say, is the special gaming key area. With the huge movement keys and shortcut keys, this gaming key area is made for the FPS gamers in mind.

The curved number layouts, duck & walk keys, jump (space) key are all placed in the perfect ergonomic positions for the left hand, eliminating awkward finger movements in order to reach a certain key during gaming sessions. The load, save, and print screen buttons are even conveniently located nearby.

The multimedia keys are located just above the gaming key area. Useful for controlling the music at the press of buttons, but those are standard for modern keyboards.
To be honest, as a long time competitive Counterstrike and Starcraft player, I found the gamepad to be unnecessary just because the fingers on my left hand is so used to the default layout of a normal keyboard. A sudden change to the key layouts during CS gameplay actually decreased my performance.

However, as I tested the new gaming key areas with the newer games like Titan Quest, Devil May Cry 4, Bioshock, Left 4 Dead, they proved to be very useful just because all the keys I need to use on my keyboard are programmed just nearby, easily reachable and prevents keystroke mistakes that might cost me the game. It took me just a little while to get used to the game keys and it was an amazing experience. I would recommend it to gamers who plays newer games, MMORPGs, and of course, FPS games.




The main middle part of the keyboard consists of, well, the normal keys, with a few tweaks here and there. As I typed more on the Merc Stealth, the extra space on the Space key is a welcoming addition, just because it feels better and it’s easier for fingers to land on. The long standard backspace key is a must for me as I hate small backspace keys. Nothing too fancy here.

I don’t know how, but they manage to stuff all the useful keys in a small numpad section at the right side of the keyboard. Hell, they even managed to include Cut, Copy, Paste, Find, My Computer and Show Desktop keys here. Very creative.
Even so, I found the keys rather awkward to use during normal keyboard usage, especially for typing long posts or documents where the delete, home, page up and page down keys are often used, due to their different locations from normal keyboards. Took me a while to actually look at the keyboard itself and find the delete key. However I do think this would improve with a few days more of usage as the keys on the right probably needs some time to get used to. Cut copy paste keys are nice too but I’m more used to Ctrl + X C V for now.
I LOVE THE SHOW DESKTOP KEY.

Also for the people who use their keyboard with the keyboard feet flipped back, worry not. It’s there.

The Z Engine software that comes along with the keyboard can also be downloaded from the SteelSeries website. It is all you need to completely customize any key and every key on the keyboard. If you’re not into customizing the keys yourself and feel like it’s too much of a hassle (just like me), there’s tons of preset configurations for almost every popular game out there. So far for the games I play, the key configurations proved to be optimal, to say the least.

To sum it all up, the SteelSeries Merc Stealth keyboard is one of the keyboards out there that wins in both the looks and usage departments, and a very welcoming addition to the SteelSeries arsenal of gaming equipment they already have. If you want a beautiful keyboard with a range of functions available, this is the keyboard for you.







Price: Unconfirmed.
Availability: Coming soon.


Next review product will be none other than the SteelSeries Ikari Optical Mouse. Stay tuned! ;)

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Steelseries at PC Fair April 2009

Steelseries - A professional gaming brand that every serious gamers out there should know, made it's debut in the Pikom PC Fair 2009 in KLCC Convention Center this April. However, to the general public, Steelseries is still a brand that they've never heard of.

Unlike Razer which is very well known as the prime selection for gaming mice, mousepads, keyboards and headsets, Steelseries in Malaysia didn't have enough exposure and marketing strategies and thus is fairly unknown in comparison. Most of the people who went to the booth didn't even know what they were selling - Some were even amazed that they're mousepads.

I'd thank Inter-Asia Technology Sdn Bhd for bringing in such an awesome and essential brand into Malaysia. For the gaming hardware market in Malaysia, I would say that I'm very happy to see Steelseries having a concept booth which introduces the brand for the first time in Malaysia, and my speculation is that the competition between the brands would be higher as Steelseries would make itself more well known in the near future.

And it's not a bad thing at all with the brands having competition, isn't it?

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The Birth

Hi there, welcome to our newborn gaming hardware review blog, and this post will serve as an introductory post. Many people might ask, why a hardware review blog now? Somemore a gaming hardware review blog?

Gaming related hardware was already very popular in the international markets, especially in the E-Sports scene, which includes various games that are played at the top level competitively. Recently, gaming hardware has slowly found their way into the Malaysian market, which includes but not limited to gaming mice, mousepads, headphones, graphic cards, even gaming CPU chasis.

We realized that the hardware review sites out there in Malaysia is very rare, not to mention specifically gaming hardware reviews. Our gaming hardware review blog aims to introduce and familiarize the public with the equipment often seen in the E-Sports scene, and also provide our personal thoughts on the products.

Also for the name AT, it's our names Andrik and Tommy, so nothing really creative there (heh)

Yeah we don't have a good photo taken together, please bear with it.

So we'll try to improve the blog layout and everything else in the meantime, looking forward to the responses from all of you. Any constructive or destructive comments are very welcome as we try to provide unbiased thoughts on each of the hardware we review. Finally, thanks for the support!

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