FPSLabs : E for All 2008: NOVA Gaming

E for All 2008: NOVA Gaming

Posted by Thomas Gribble in October 6th, 2008

Let’s get one thing straight. There were very very very few hardware manufacturers in attendance at this year’e E for All Expo in Los Angeles. Aside from Intel, who always shows up to pretty much every event with more or less the exact same exhibit (racecars!), most of the companies that DO participate tend to be smaller ones that you may or may not have heard of before. Last year we met up with TN Games, who created a revolutionary new gaming peripheral called the 3rd Space Gaming Vest, which simulates the impact of bullets and blunt objects during gameplay. The concept might sound corny, but there is a markedly more immersive gaming experience that results from wearing the vest in first person shooters.

Even if the vest sucked, which it doesn’t, we still would have applauded TN Games for breaking out of the typical gaming peripheral monotony and coming up with something new and innovative. At this year’s event, although TN Games was there again with the finished product, the company that filled the innovative gaming peripheral void was definitely NOVA Gaming. The French gaming peripherals company showed up with two new products that, while not revolutionary, represent a much-needed step in a different direction.

The first product, and perhaps the more interesting of the two, was the Slider X600 Gaming Mouse. The Slider X600 is almost like every other gaming mouse we’ve ever used, except the cord is sticking out the right hand side rather than the front. The shape of the mouse is also unique; it fits the form of the hand quite well but may be awkward to those accustomed to more traditional mouse designs. The mouse lights up and changes colors, which according to the stereotype, all gaming peripherals should, and has two buttons to toggle between three different DPI settings at a time. The Slider X600 can be programmed with three different profiles, which are stored on the mouse itself so you don’t need to hassle with software congruency if moving around to different computers at a LAN. DPI is scalable in increments of 100 from 400 to 3200, which is a little bit different of an implementation than what we’re used to.

Now, besides the cord sticking out the side of the mouse, there are three things about the Slider X600 that really make it something worth looking at. The first is definitely the mousefeet. NOVA Gaming uses “indestructable ceramic glide pads”. We can’t speak to the indestructable-ness of the pads, but certainly they offer a level of friction (or lack thereof) beyond what we have seen from even the most expensive 3rd party mouse feet on the market. The feet are spherical, so only the smallest part actually contacts the mousing surface, and the result is an almost frictionless glide. The next cool feature is the inclusion of a little cable management clip. Other mice have this, but certainly not most. This one clips to the edge of the mousepad and prevents your cord from getting totally in the way while moving the mouse around. This is extra-beneficial due to the placement of the cord on the side of the mouse, which has the potential to hinder movements toward the right. The last feature is the Cypress Ovation 1 laser sensor on the mouse. NOVA Gaming has decided to go with this manufacturer over the more popular Agilent/Avago. We did not notice any skipping whatsoever in the very brief time we had with the mouse at E for All, so there is no way we can say that the sensor is good or bad, but it likely performs pretty well if it caused NOVA to use it in the Slider X600.

NOVA Gaming also had a mousepad called the OVER GLIDE, which we can safely say is INSANE. This may be one of the better mousepads out there for low sensitivity gamers, though we did not get to use it for a very long time. For more information on the OVER GLIDE, check out the product page on NOVA’s website.

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