E3 1999 Coverage

Microsoft

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Microsoft, as usual for a trade show, had an enormous presence at E3. Although there was a strong focus on Microsoft's huge number of upcoming games, there was some neat hardware to play with. By far the most prominent item was the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer - Microsoft's first optical mouse. As claimed, the mouse tracked well on any surface - I even tried it on my pants - and had no moving parts. It does have a big red light that glows underneath that serves no special purpose other than to look cool. Improvements over older Microsoft mice include a more comfortable shape and two additional buttons on the left side of the mouse. The additional buttons are mapped by default to forward and back in IE 5.

There were also two new Sidewinder gamepads on display. First is the DualStrike, which features a unique design clearly intended for first person shooter type games, such as Quake 3. The right side of the pad actually rotates in all directions and is meant to be used for aiming and looking around. The left side is essentially a traditional game pad, where the directional arrows are designed for movement and strafing. The second is the Sidewinder Gamepad Pro. It is more of a typical gaming pad, featuring a more comfortable grip, more buttons, and and is basically the latest in the Sidewinder series. Both pads are USB devices (probably USB only) and will ship in October for $40-50.

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