Not only is BlizzCon a great place to get the latest news straight from Blizzard's mouth about Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, but all of the exhibitors and vendors are showing off their official merchandise and some of the new stuff coming out soon. Since I'm the interface guy around here, the powers that be thought it would be nice if I checked out some of the vendors showcasing interface products -- mice, keyboards and more. There is a lot of exciting stuff to show.

Currently, I am a Lachesis man. Razer has always delivered quality products that I've used and loved for years, and when I was tasked with hitting up the Razer booth at BlizzCon on Day 2, I couldn't have been happier. (Plus, the president of Razer showed us around -- I felt very important.) Razer had a healthy showing this year, focusing mainly on its StarCraft 2 officially licensed products but keeping a special surprise locked up in the back for us MMO-junkies. Read on!

Now, I know that we run things around here geared toward World of Warcraft. I also know, however, that we have a large contingent of StarCraft players who might like to know a little bit about my opinions on the new Razer StarCraft-branded stuff. After we talk a little StarCraft shop, I'll clue the MMO crowd in on the Razer Naga Epic, the newest and most advanced mouse in Razer's Naga series.

Razer gets hardcore for StarCraft 2

Razer's officially licensed StarCraft 2 gear can only be described as a family of gaming peripherals that work absolutely wonderfully together. The three products that make up this family are the Razer Banshee headset, the Razer Marauder keyboard and the Razer Spectre gaming mouse.

Robert Krakoff, the president of Razer, took the time to show us every nook and cranny of the StarCraft 2 gear. His philosophy dealing with these peripherals is all about giving the player the tools to do even better in competitive StarCraft play. The keyboard, mouse and headset are all designed to work in tandem, if you'd like, and provide visual feedback to the player depending on the settings the player has toggled.

Razer Banshee headset

My first thought when the Banshee headset was shown to me was that it looked really odd -- the square-shaped ear rests stood out to me as something of a potential problem. I was wrong. The ear pieces fit as well as my Sennheiser headset/mic that I use at home, and the sound dampening worked like a charm.

The microphone was a point of contention -- why does a StarCraft headset need a microphone when most competitive StarCraft matches are 1v1 with little communication? Simple. Razer wants the headset to be multipurpose. Don't need the mic boom getting in your way? Pop it off, since it's detachable.

I picked up the headset to put it on, and the first thing I noticed was that it was heavier than most headsets. The build quality was superb, but I was skeptical about the weight and made this known to Robert. He told me to try it on; I did, and I was surprised at how the weight disappears once you put the headset on. The explanation for this comes from the weight distribution in the crosspiece holding the two earpieces together -- the headset feels light yet sturdy when you put it on.

The Banshee has three sets of lights that can all be independently controlled via the Razer software -- but let's save the lights discussion for just a bit, and you can see the crazy power that these lights wield.

Did I mention that the Banshee sounds great? Every StarCraft 2 station had these bad boys ready to use, and they sounded and felt great. I sat down for Blizzard DOTA and was very impressed with the sound quality and volumes. It seems weird putting sound quality at the end of a review about headphones, but the fact is that I am going to be wearing these things for hours, and the first thing I worry about is if they are going to hurt me. They didn't.

Razer Marauder keyboard

Keyboards are a hard sell for me, and the Razer Marauder held up pretty damn well. Keypresses were easy and the action felt nice. I picked up the keyboard, moved it around a bunch and tried to get a general feel for it. Solid and smart, the Marauder was basic enough to not overwhelm me while still having enough media features one would expect from this type of keyboard. It's Spartan, but in a good way.

Again, the lights and lighting are the main attraction for the keyboard. Multiple light sources can all be controlled individually on the keyboard and all of their colors individually changed. The software included to configure macros, colors and alerts is StarCraft-inspired and easily navigated. Speaking of, everything is wonderfully skinned and structured to look like it popped right out of the game and onto your desk. It's a good feeling.

Alerts are a big deal. The interface was built from the ground up along with StarCraft 2 itself, so the source code from one is present in some way in the other. Direct communication between the peripherals and the game make for some awesome combinations. The lights on the mouse, keyboard and headset can all be set to respond to different in-game alerts and commands, such as your base being under attack, a unit's completion or research that has finished. The real treasure, however, is that your peripherals can give you visual color cues depending on your actions per minute (APM), the measuring stick by which all great StarCraft players are tested.

Focusing on APM alerts and training shows Razer's commitment to the hardcore gamer while still providing the tools and insight for newer and more casual players to learn the game better and faster. The keyboard feels more like a trusty tool rather than just something you slap on your desk. The keyboard itself knows what StarCraft 2 is about, and it wants to be there for you.

Razer Spectre mouse

The Spectre gave me pause when I saw the shape of it, angular and boxy opposed to its in-house cousin at Razer, the curvy, voluptuous Naga. Fears were again abated when I laid my hand upon it, finding it neatly fitting it into my palm. The mouse felt better when I was holding it with a looser, more swipey grip, as opposed to the usual death grip I use with my Lachesis.

One of the pluses I found about the Spectre is that it isn't overloaded with buttons. During my StarCraft 2 play sessions, the buttons I needed were where I needed them, with no unnecessary complexity getting in my way. The side buttons were easily accessible and didn't fight me like some mice have in the past. Five buttons was just enough. It took a few minutes to get the hang of, but nothing felt too out of the ordinary. Ask anyone on the convention floor who got to play StarCraft 2, and you'll probably be talking to a happy Spectre user.

We asked Robert about giving players the ability to change the color on the bottom of the mouse and if an APM alert underneath was really going to benefit anyone. I thought it was pretty funny to have a game alert underneath the mouse, but Robert's response was that someone, somewhere out there could find a use for it, and including the option was a "why not?" type of deal. So it's there. Why not?

Really, the secret sauce for all of these products is the user interface and configuration software. Not only does it have a very StarCraft feel, but all three products can be configured through the same program. I could easily jump from device to device to change color and alert settings on the fly. The visual and audio alerts share code with the game itself, making each product fit together in form and function.

Razer's StarCraft 2 gear was not what I was expecting from licensed gear. Razer could have slapped a StarCraft 2 logo on a Lachesis and called it a day. Instead, we got three products that were built parallel to the game that have the heart and soul of StarCraft. The philosophy was to make tools, and that's exactly what Razer did. Razer's stuff felt solid, and if you're a StarCraft player out there looking for some dedicated equipment, I think you'll be pretty impressed.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion