After a hiatus from producing joysticks, gamepads and other gaming peripherals, Microsoft relaunched its famed SideWinder brand of gaming hardware last year with the release of the SideWinder gaming mouse.

This year, to add to the line-up, they have released the SideWinder X6 Keyboard and an updated version of the gaming mouse called the SideWinder X5. Microsoft has kindly sent us a retail version of this mouse for us to sink our teeth into - let's see what it has to offer.

The X5 is intended to be a lighter, more affordable version of its older brother. The X5 still features on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment (between 200 and 2000 DPI, in three stages), scroll wheel, two side buttons and programmable macros. Notably absent however are the interchangeable weights, the removable Teflon pads, and the LCD screen, but Microsoft has also lowered the recommended sale price from $149 down to $129. Design-wise the mouse has also been tweaked a bit so we'll see if it can still stand its ground and justify its price tag.

First of all, this is a truly sexy and dangerous looking mouse. The sleek curves coupled with the sharp edges bound in a solid casing of both glossy and matte black finish just screams "Use me to kill things with." Plugging the USB cable in reveals another pleasant surprise - two low horizontal slots on the rear of the mouse emit an ominous red glow. There's no practical purpose to these lights but it definitely adds to the aesthetic appeal of the mouse. Basically it seems like Satan and Darth Vader got together to design this mouse - I love it.

Compared to the original SideWinder mouse, which a lot of users commented was quite bulky, the X5 is more ergonomic. While it looks similar, the shape of the mouse seems to fit a lot more comfortably in the palm, and the two small ridges on the right hand side of the unit support the pinky and ring-finger (you lefties won't be using this mouse, I'm afraid). The two side-buttons on the left side are placed at the tip of your thumb for quick-fire action, and the three sensitivity buttons are on the top side of the mouse. Towards the back of the mouse is the "Quick Launch" button which launches Vista's Games Explorer or XP's mouse control panel.

Anyway, mice ain't just for lookin' at, so let's press some buttons and wiggle it a bit. I'm an FPS gamer, and the sensitivity switching is always handy when swapping between fast-paced assault rifle action to high-precision sniping. I found the default lowest setting of 200 DPI to be a bit low so I bumped it up to 400 DPI by accessing the mouse controls via Start Menu > Settings > Control Panel > Mouse, forgetting that simply pressing the Quick Launch button on the mouse takes you straight there in XP. Take that, Microsoft; a good $10,000 in R&D completely wasted on yours truly.

As far as raw performance goes, the super-accurate laser sensor is top notch - this mouse never skips a beat. The main buttons have just the right response - easy to click but not so easy as to press them accidentally. The wide scroll wheel has a rubbery non-slip texture and can also be used as another button, and has good tactile feedback while scrolling up or down. The side buttons are perfectly placed and just the right size too.

So far so good, but the first thing that I'm not happy about is the fact that this mouse is just too big to use the "claw" grip with, which is my personal preference. It's the right size and shape for "flat-hand" use, but that causes my wrist to become strained fairly quickly so I couldn't actually perform my best with this mouse. My second qualm is that I find the mouse is far too light. For high-precision movement like sniping, it's far too easy to move the mouse further and faster than you intend to. Perhaps they should have kept the customisable weights? Lastly, and this is just a minor niggle, I found it quite hard to find the right sensitivity button in a timely manner. Wasting a couple of seconds looking at your mouse during a firefight can have dire consequences so maybe up/down toggles or better placement of the keys could have fixed this.

Overall - a fiendishly stylish design, top-quality casing and laser sensor, mostly useful and well-placed buttons, but slightly let down by being oversized and underweight. At the end of the day though, definitely worth consideration.