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.
Vertical gaming mouse packs a pistol design for first-person shooter games [New Atlas]