Back in black
Turning up on my doorstep the other day was a package from a rather unknown company called ZOWIE who are based out of Taiwan and market gaming peripherals, of which they sent me the mouse/mat/bag combo to review.
The set contains an extremely large mousemat along with a re-branded and re-sprayed Microsoft IntelliMouse with USB to PS/2 adapter.
Some extra Teflon feet are provided as spares and finally a soft bag to keep the mouse in.
The mouse mat is rubber backed and fabric topped to aid tracking, but there are no details on the site about how accurate this material is.
The backing of the mat has a special screen print effect with the ZOWIE logo on it.
An IntelliMouse, a gamer's mouse?!
The mouse is a re-painted IntelliMouse from Microsoft and I have to say I like the black paint job on this mouse.
Unfortunately that is where this review stops reviewing and becomes an example of how NOT to make a gaming package.
Firstly:
An optical mouse rules it out from being any form of true gaming mouse. There was a reason every manufacturer and their dog out there has moved to laser technology; IT'S BETTER!
Why would anyone even think an IntelliMouse could qualify for gaming status in this day and age?
Secondly:
The gloss black coating might look good in theory, but have you ever played a game for more than an hour with it? Your hand sweats enough to make holding on to the mouse more of a challenge than the game you are playing!
Thirdly:
If you are going to have a massive mouse mat that takes up half the desk then at least make the fabric top a material that you can bear to rest your hand on for more than an hour. I have chaffing marks on my wrist from this fabric; it's so itchy and rough!
ZOWIE, you need to sort your game out here. Take a look at how the big boys do it and learn from them.