Joysticks pretty much went out of fashion with the arcade, but they can still teach gaming mice a thing or two. The Lexip 3D mouse is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, cobbling together elements of a mouse, joystick and conventional controller into a device that almost gives an unfair advantage in a fast-paced match.
To help it compete in the usual two dimensions, Lexip has an ADNS-9800 laser sensor with a sensitivity of 8,200 dpi. Rounding out the role as regular old mouse, the usual inputs are present and accounted for, including two main clickers, a scroll wheel that's also a button, and various other buttons on the side and top.
Jumping into the third dimension, the top-half of the Lexip is built to tilt. The upper shell has a mechanism that allows it to tilt up to 30 degrees along two axes, up/down and left/right. When combined with a pair of accelerometers, over 300,000 different joystick positions can be registered. That precise joystick-style movement could work well for piloting spaceships in Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous, or controlling the steering, acceleration and braking in racing games or Grand Theft Auto V.
To cap it off, there's a little controller-inspired analog stick on the side of the Lexip, and that makes sense. On a controller your thumbs are doing most of the legwork, but on a mouse they just kind of sit there on the side, so you might as well give it something to do. This little stick can register more than 90,000 angle values, and could be handy for scrolling through weapons and inventory.
All of the inputs are customizable too, so users can map the buttons and sticks to whatever actions they like, configure the wheel and mouse sensitivity, or choose the lighting color and patterns of the three LED zones.
The Lexip 3D Mouse is currently being funded through Kickstarter, where it's already raised almost €100,000 (US$125,000), smashing its original target of €25,000 ($31,000). Early Bird pledges start at €99 ($124), with deals on bigger bundles. If all goes as planned, the Lexip is expected to ship in June 2018.
Check out the Lexip mouse in action in the campaign video below.
Source: Ark Innovation, Kickstarter