Rude Gameware is a fairly new company founded by gaming industry veterans and focused on offering gaming products at a reasonable price. The Fierce Gaming Mouse is their first input device offering, joining a pair of gaming headsets, an energy drink, and some system protection software.
At $45 the Fierce Gaming mouse is priced below most gaming-class mice put out by Logitech and Razer so they’ve hit the reasonable price point. What can you expect for your money? According to the specs:
- 3200 DPI resolution
- Seven independently programmable buttons
- On-board memory to save your mods
- Adjustable weights
- Ultra smooth Teflon feet
- On-the-fly DPI adjustment
- LED DPI indicator
- Gold plated USB connector
- 7’ lightweight non-tangle cord
- Included customization software
Everything you would expect from a gaming mouse with adjustable precision is present. The seven buttons are left, right, scroll (middle), forward, back, and DPI up/down. The scroll wheel does not, however, have a left/right click feature. A seven foot long USB cord connects the Fierce mouse to your computer. On the bottom of the mouse we find the laser, four Teflon pads, and the weight housing. The weight housing contains space for nine 3g weights for a total of 27g of optional heft. You’ll have to find a plastic bag or something to hold any unused weights since storage isn’t provided.
The scroll wheel glows in seven different colors depending on the current DPI slot in use. Fans of lighted peripherals will be pleased with the scroll wheel. Non-fans will be disappointed to learn there is currently no way to disable the feature.
Usage
The Fierce Gaming Mouse works pretty well. Its shape is suited to most grips, although for smaller hands it may be a little too big. The mouse is responsive at any resolution setting, and button placement felt natural. Button travel seems to be just right as does click response. Adjusting DPI settings is easy thanks to the two DPI buttons. The surface material is comfortable, and even sweaty hands won’t slide off.
Adjusting the weight is very difficult to accomplish the first time—pliers were required. Once that first removal was done things became much easier.
The software included with the Fierce Mouse consists of a custom control panel for the mouse. The control panel allows full customization of six of the seven buttons. The left mouse button is the lone exception for reasons explained later.
DPI resolutions are fully customizable through the panel. There are seven slots available, and each slot corresponds to a color on the scroll wheel for easy identification. Any value from 400 to 3200 may be assigned in any order. This is a very nice feature to have, and not something I’ve experienced before.
Macro programming is a little awkward. You go to the Macro tab, select the button you wish to program, program it, then go back to the Button tab and select “Keyboard Key Macro” from the drop-down menu for that particular button. Once the apply button is pressed, the macro is programmed into the mouse. That’s correct: the mouse stores programming for the keys. You can customize the mouse on one system and take it to another system and your assignments stay with you.
While it seems that Rude has a pretty good start, the software is missing a very important feature: application-aware settings. Your settings are your settings regardless of what game or program you are running. So that TF2-Engie-Turret-Wrench-Shotgun macro you’ve just assigned to your back button? That’s what’s going to happen in your browser next time you think you want to go back a page.
In reality though, the software is not needed to use the mouse, and most people probably won’t use it in its current state except to set custom DPI resolutions.
As previously stated, the left mouse button is not currently programmable. Over the course of a week I chatted via e-mail with Mike from Rude’s sales support team regarding their software. Mike was very quick to respond to my initial support request, and was very helpful and informative. He stated that there was (in a previous version of the software) a problem with restoring standard function to the left mouse button once a macro had been assigned, so the button’s customization was disabled in the panel. Also, he promised to pass on the application-aware feature to the design team.
Conclusions
At $45 plus shipping, this mouse is a decent value for the budget conscious gamer. Rude’s first mouse offering shows a lot of potential for the company. The hardware is good, and the software in its current state is adequate, but lacks a couple of features that keep it from being really useful. Their support staff is pretty quick to listen to their customers and respond.
Pros:
- Price
- Responsive
- Custom DPI adjustments
- Visual cues for DPI level
- Macros for up to six buttons
- Great response time from the support team
Cons:
- Awkward macro assignments
- Lack of application awareness
- Weights are difficult to remove
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