Author: Scott C. Dyer

PC gamers have to purchase so many items just to have the perfect gaming rig. They can range from incredible expensive to very inexpensive. An item often overlooked when building or purchasing a PC is the mouse. This key tool should never be overlooked. A good mouse can make a huge difference in gameplay. The Sensei is a mouse to be reckoned with. It comes with many features that boost in game performance. This was developed not for an accountant or the average user, but with us PC gamers in mine.

Steelseries isn't known for its modernly designed products. They have stuck with very traditional looks with many of their devices and the Sensei is no exception. It has a very simple look and design. It is also symmetrical which makes it simple to switch between left and right handed modes. There are three LED lights on the mouse and all them can be adjusted to one of a few preset colors or a specific color can be chosen under advanced options. The mouse feels great to hold. It has a slightly cold metallic feel, but warms up to the hand quickly. It has a sturdy build and is comfortable to hold.

The biggest downside of the mouse is the lack of documentation which makes setting up the mouse tough. There is plenty of instruction online, but the manual in the box only includes a diagram of the mouse and instructions on h0w to download the drivers and manuals from the internet. For a user with limited or no internet access this will cause problems. After the program is downloaded it takes a while to figure out how everything works. A confident computer user will often skip downloading the manual for new devices and stick to tinkering. This route is very tough with the Steelseries Sensei. The program to configure all the settings on the mouse appears easy to use, but there are so many complicated features that it is recommended to read the manual. With the drivers downloaded the mouse will work without adjusting the settings, but DPI switching and Macros need to be adjusted in the settings in order to use them properly. The mouse is easy to use, but it takes a while to configure it to the desired settings.

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The long awaited Star Wars MMO has finally been released. It is a direct sequel to the Knights of the Old Republic franchise, but the choice to make this an MMO has made it more than just a sequel, but a series of interconnected stories that make up what could be argued as multiple sequels to the game. It was an interesting move for the series, but is Star Wars The Old Republic worth the price to buy the game and pay the subscription fee to play? Another major question is will the game succeed? Or even will it go free to play like so many other MMOs this year? Read on to find out the details about the game and decide for yourself if you should make the plunge into The Old Republic.

Star Wars: The Old Republc's implementation of voiced characters gives the game an advantage over other MMOs for a few reasons. The first two in the series were voiced and changing that may have made the game feel less like its predecessors. In all seriousness no one reads the quest information in other MMOs. Players just click through as fast as they can so they can continue with the grind. All but a few quests are voiced even side quests, and many of them involve moral choices that a player must make in the end or during the quest.

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Bioware released the PC requirements for Mass Effect 3 on the Bioware forums yesterday. They are listed below. In the post on the forum they also announced the release date for the upcoming demo. Bioware intends to compete with Valentines day on the release of the demo this February 14, 2012. The game is slated for release this March 6 and will be available for PC, Xbox, and PS3. Here are the specs for the PC release.

Minimum Spec:

OS - Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7 *Supported chipsets: NVIDIA 7900 or better; ATI X1800 or better.  Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 9300, 8500, 8400, and 8300 are below minimum system requirements, as are AMD/ATI Radeon HD3200, HD3300, and HD4350.   Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required.

CPU - 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)

RAM - 1GB for XP / 2GB RAM for Vista/Win 7

Disc Drive - 1x speed

Hard Drive - 15 GB of free space

Video - 256 MB* (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support)

Sound - DirectX 9.0c compatible

DirectX - DirectX 9.0c August 2009 (included)

Recommended Spec:

OS - Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1, Win 7

CPU - 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (equivalent AMD CPU)

RAM - 2GB for XP / 4GB RAM for Vista/Win 7

Disc Drive - 1x speed

Hard Drive - 15 GB of free space

Video - AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB or greater, NVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB or greater

Sound - DirectX 9.0c compatible

Jay Wilson, game director for Diablo 3, posted a long article about the status of Diablo 3 today. He spoke in depth about some of the major system changes that the game will be going through shorty, based on feedback from within Blizzard and from the beta testers. In his post he mentioned that the game would be good if it were released today, but, "Our job isn't just to put out a game, it's to release the next Diablo game. No one will remember if the game is late, only if it's great. We trust in our ability to put out a great game, but we're not quite there yet."

The system changes that they will be making are interesting. For example there are no more scrolls of identification. Players will simply right click and cast a spell to identify items. Perhaps the biggest change they are working on over at Blizzard is the removal of old stats and skills and the implementation of a new system. The skills Defense, Attack, and Precision are being dropped and replaced with other stats to fill in for them such as Armor, +Physical Resist, and +Chance to Crit.

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About a year ago Zenimax removed Doom from Xbox Live Arcade due to "expiring rights." This was over a year ago and at the time Zenimax stated that Bethesda would put the game back up in the near future. It has now been re-listed. Doom is available once again on the XBLA Marketplace for 400 Microsoft Points ($5).