The keyboard and mouse combo is the long-standing weapon of choice for players of first-person shooter games, but that's not the most true-to-life setup. A Chinese company called Ragnok is now trying to ramp up the realism a bit with the Mousegun, a controller that's designed to look and feel like the handle of a pistol.
The Mousegun is modeled on the Desert Eagle pistol, with Ragnok saying the device looks and feels like the real thing. For convenience's sake there's no barrel – unlike other, more complicated gun-inspired controllers we've seen – giving it the appearance of a joystick more than a traditional mouse.
The Mousegun's primary button is positioned on the front like a trigger, with another button – most likely delegated to the right click function – just below it. The scroll wheel, meanwhile, has moved to the backend of the top of the device. Although it looks intended to sit stationary, movement is registered by sliding the Mousegun around on the desk like a regular old mouse, with a sensitivity of up to 3,200 DPI.
The idea, of course, is to lend an air of realism to shooting games, but Ragnok also says the device is more ergonomic than usual. That claim might just hold up too, given the recent trend of vertical mice designed to take the strain off the wrist.
The Mousegun is also designed to work just as well in both the left and right hands. It connects wirelessly to either a PC or Mac, and is powered by a rechargeable 800-mAh lithium-ion battery.
Ragnok is planning to launch the Mousegun on Indiegogo, although there's no word yet on when the campaign will launch or when the device might be in user's hands. That said, the company has revealed that production has already started, so it shouldn't be too long a wait. Early birds can apply to back the Mousegun for US$59, which is half of the final retail price of $118.
Check it out in action in the video below.
Source: Ragnok
The real issue with this, is that a person would likely end up tilting the device, due to leverage, and a base that is not wide enough to prevent it. People might instinctively try to tilt or even pick the device up... as it if were a lightgun. (a lightgun being a far better solution, IMO)
The other issue, would be a lack of functional buttons. Adding some more would help greatly, towards steering people to try / buy it.
As for the PC nonsense... Drop it. Its been debunked over and over and over again... that violence / guns in video games, does Not cause a kid / grown up ... to want to commit actual real world violence. Same thing for cartoons and movies.
Even mentioning these things, is a victory for the Fear-pushers. They want to take away the guns... merely to gain an easy dominance over the remaining free world. When a civilization hands in its guns... its been proven historically, over and over... that a Tyrannical power enforces tyrannical dominant rule.
As a martial artist... Im not exactly a fan of guns. That said... I realize the reason and need for them... especially when viewing history, such as Mao's "Cultural Revolution"... and todays rise in Communist / Radical propaganda, in the USA.