Exclusive Sneak Peek: Mad Catz' Most Over-The-Top Mouse Yet
Exclusive Sneak Peek: Mad Catz' Most Over-The-Top Mouse Yet
Posted 11/11/2011 at 4:37pm
| by Alex Castle
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It's been a little more than a year since we first reviewed the R.A.T. gaming mouse from Mad Catz, and called it the best mouse we’ve ever played with. Since then, there’s been a couple of incremental upgrades to the line (the cordless R.A.T. 9, the white "Albino" R.A.T. the 6400 DPI Contagion Edition), but nothing that fundamentally altered the design. They’re about to do just that, though, and we got to take a sneak peak at the result.
The Cyborg M.M.O. is (for all the terribly bad guessers out there) a version of the R.A.T. designed for MMO gaming. Where the original R.A.T. had 6 programmable buttons, the M.M.O. has 13, plus a shift button and a three-mode toggle, allowing for a maximum of 78 custom bindings per profile.
Also like the original, the M.M.O. has a feature we’ve never seen on a mouse before. Special buttons on either side of the scroll wheel allow you enter “Action Lock” mode, where any right- or left-mouse-button click toggles between the button being in the “up” position and the button being held down. The idea is that you use this feature for MMOs where holding right click causes your character to run forward, or enter mouselook mode. Tri-color indicator LEDs in each mouse button keep you from losing track of whether Action Lock is on or off.
And of course the mouse comes equipped with the latest 6400 DPI sensor—a feature that might be more useful to RTS or FPS gamers. We’ll be looking forward to testing out the M.M.O. for a full review, but so far we like what we see. Check out our gallery of the M.M.O.’s snazzy new paint job below, and less us know what you think of Mad Catz’ latest.
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Guisano
January 13, 2012 at 5:31am
Have Mat Catz fixed the software so that the thing will run longer than two days before crashing your system or failing to work?
I loved the feel and heft of that mouse. The software, however, sucked out loud. After two days, the mouse was almost worthless for use in gaming. I uninstalled and reinstalled drivers and software. Read through too many forums and crappy internet links to useless informaton. After about two weeks, I returned the thing. The aggravation factor was too high.
Before you buy one of these things, be sure you understand exactly what the return policy is. Otherwise you might be buying a rather expensive paperweight
SkykingUSA
November 16, 2011 at 1:38am
Nice. The only reason I didn't buy the RAT 9 was because the Logitech G700 had more buttons. I did try the RAT 7 for a while though and thought it felt far more comfortable than my G700. However, wireless and # of buttons wins for me.
If they make this in a wireless version, I will have to give it a try and see if it beats my G700.
Kinetic
November 12, 2011 at 8:59pm
Honestly the only thing this mouse has that my RAT 7 doesn't and I would actually want is better positioning of the 'sniper' button on the side. I have pretty big hands, and my thumb only sits on the screw in the middle of that panel on my RAT 7. It's likely just how I hold the mouse, but I have to change my grip to use it, and on this mouse it looks like it's right where it should be.
The action lock buttons seem nice too though...
t.y.wan
November 12, 2011 at 7:12am
FPS games now-a-days really don't do super high dps gaming mouses justice... Even if you lower the sensitivity all the way down, it still moves too fast. I had to tone it "motion sensitivity" on mine to get it to work... and some dumb games, like RAGE, don't even allow you to map the additional buttons on the mouse... PC gaming is dying... because developers don't want to test things out before releasing, accept the fact that releasing flawed product is ok (and patch them in around 2 weeks or so)...
big_montana
November 14, 2011 at 4:47am
Apparently, you have never played Fallout: New Vegas on a console yet. Talk about a flawed release. Constant lockups, especially during auto saves, or when moving into a new area, requiring reboots of the system. Several pathces later from Bethesda, and it still has not fixed these issues. The game play itself is good, but with the programming issues, I took the game bak for a refund and purchased it 6 months later for $15, with is still about $10 more than is is worht with all the issues. I have never had a PC game lock that required a system reboot so you could use your system.
Ghost XFX
November 12, 2011 at 6:56am
Would love to get a gaming mouse...but I'm too attached to my tracking ball. When they make one with a tracking ball, let me know.
afatgoat
November 12, 2011 at 1:55am
Did they fix the retardedly long lag time it takes for the mouse to refresh where it is after you pick it up? It was a dealbreaker for me. Also, saitek drivers make my computer go batshit.
streetking
November 12, 2011 at 12:57am
so, am i the only one who cant get the pictures to load on only this article? not that its really important, i was just curious...
streetking
November 12, 2011 at 3:29am
it is far too late at night to figure out how to do that... besides, i googled pictures of it! so all is well
TsunamiZ
November 11, 2011 at 11:51pm
i like the extra buttons but the visual theming is UGLY. they shouldve stayed with the flightstick look and color scheme.
TsunamiZ
November 12, 2011 at 6:53am
black and copper with blue lighting??? damn, talk about BAD taste!
ONaE
November 11, 2011 at 11:29pm
I'm not even into MMOs and would consider it simply because of its looks. I mean, it looks like it could pass as a futuristic weapon!
livebriand
November 11, 2011 at 10:25pm
Uhh... that sure doesn't look too ergonomic. And real pet rats aren't nearly as vicious looking as that.
zeroibis
November 11, 2011 at 8:10pm
I am intrested in how the placement of the "sniper" button has changed. Now I could actually use the button b/c currently I can not actually reach it as its current placement is where I actually grip the mouse making pressing it actually possible!
szore
November 11, 2011 at 6:12pm
I bought the rat 7 and returned it 3 times because it didnt work due to tracking issues. It worked for a day thouhg and I loved it. So sad I can't find one that actually works. people that bought one that actually works are lucky.
So sad.
kamikaji
November 11, 2011 at 8:53pm
You probably had vibration issues that caused the pointer to "dance" when you weren't even touching the mouse. I had the same problem cuz I had a rather flimsy desk. All of the vibrations from my subwoofer, computer, PS3, etc. got picked up by the RAT perfectly. Its just really damn sensitive, so u need a solid desk to accomodate it.
I'm in college now, and I have a much more solid desk. No problems anymore :D RAT is working perfectly!
Danthrax66
November 13, 2011 at 1:14pm
No it's because they used 2 lasers that are half the total dpi then poll them one after the other to emulate the max dpi. It makes it real shitty for FPS use. And honestly you shouldn't be too far above 1000 dpi for fps games I normally go with 400 or 800 dpi myself.
Holly Golightly
November 11, 2011 at 5:31pm
Oookay... I am using my R.A.T.7 with envy now. This is such a cool mouse. Although the orange paint job does not match my current set up, but I love those front lights. Simply the sickest mouse on the planet.
Mortal_M
November 11, 2011 at 8:44pm
not much, in MMO you need all the buttons you can get in your mouse, it really helps (especially when you add macros to them)
I used to use a plain mouse and then got one with two more buttons on the side and they where a game changer, it was a bit hard at first to use but once I got used to it I wated more buttons!!! :D
But on FPS I rely more on the keyboard.
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