Posted 07/27/09 at 04:29:54 PM by Andy Salisbury

Late last week SteelSeries unveiled three new products: the SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Mouse, the SteelSeries 9HD mouse pad, and their latest flagship product, the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse.

The Xai will feature a 10.8 megapixel per second sensor, which is capable of processing 12,000 frames per second at 5,001 CPI at a movement speed of 150 inches per second. And, for further personalization, it’ll come with SteelSeries ExactAim, SteelSeries ExactRate, SteelSeries ExactSens, SteelSeries FreeMove and automatic lift distance calibration. But, most importantly, it’ll come equipped with an LCD on the back, so that you can store all your settings within the mouse itself, instead of having to reinstall drivers on every machine that you use.

There’s no word yet on how much these will cost, but they’re slated for an August release.

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Posted 10/10/08 at 01:25:21 PM by Paul Lilly

It would take three hands with all digits intact to match the number of buttons on SteelSeries' new World of Warcraft MMO mouse. That's right - 15 programmable buttons grace the rodent's funky cyborgish exterior, and each one of them was designed in conjunction with Blizzard specifically with WoW addicts in mind.

The new mouse level's up its macros skillset by affording macros up to 160 characters long, with over 130 predefined commands for drag-and-drop macro creation in place. But you might find yourself spending the majority of your time grinding away at the light scheme. The world's first WoW mouse boasts no less than 16 million illumination choices with 3 intensity and pulsation levels.

Dedicated MMO players can preorder the mouse now for $99.99, with shipping slated for November 13, 2008.

Update: Press release and another image after the jump!

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Posted 08/29/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Will Smith

Steelseries delivers a one-two punch of awesome with its first mouse—the Ikari, a standard five-button, right-handed design suitable for gamers who use either the palm and claw-style grips. With its low-profile design, the Ikari doesn’t provide sufficient support for folks who like to rest their palm on the mouse; our palm-gripped tester had a stiff hand after a few hours of play. Nonetheless, the Ikari’s other features and kick-ass sensor make us almost willing to ignore the less-than-ergonomically perfect shape.

Those features, after the jump.

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Posted 08/26/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Will Smith

A few minor flaws aside, the SteelSeries 7G is a truly spectacular piece of hardware.

Almost completely devoid of amenities, this keyboard was designed from the ground up to prevent keyboard lockup—the effect that suspends all input if you inadvertently press too many buttons at once. Lockup is essentially a death sentence for competitive gamers.

Hit 'Read More' to read more. We're clever like that.

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Posted 07/29/08 at 11:25:47 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Denmark-based gaming peripheral manufacturer SteelSeries has acquired Ideazon - a leading North American player in the gaming accessories space, it announced today. Ideazon’s range of gaming gear is known as Precision Gaming Tools and is most certainly headlined by its Zboard gaming keyboards that can be customized for a certain game using game-specific keysets. Both companies have a global presence in the gaming accessories market but are strategically different from each other.

SteelSeries’s products are all aimed at professional gamers unlike Ideazon’s peripherals that are made keeping in mind all ilks of gamers. It supports around 1,200 professional gaming competitions and 200 professional gaming outfits across the globe.

The acquisition should give SteelSeries a strategic depth that it didn’t previously enjoy. It will not only have access to an entirely different market – relatively casual in nature - but also benefit greatly from Ideazon’s strategic partnerships with leading game publishers and developers including Activision Blizzard, Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts, Sony Online Entertainment, Nvidia and Microsoft Game Studios.

Update: We spoke with Kim Rom, head of communications for SteelSeries, about the acquisition. Click through to see how the purchase of Ideazon will affect existing customers.

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