Mad Catz has been in the gaming industry for years now, making all sorts of peripherals, controllers and other gaming supplies. With its new line of gaming mice including the RAT1, RAT4, RAT6, RAT8, RAT PRO S+ and RAT PRO X+, the company is positioning itself to be the No. 1 name for the hardcore gaming market.
iDigitalTimes spoke with Rob Hall, Senior Director of Product Design, along with Richard Neville and Daniel Nuth, both senior product development managers at Mad Catz, about the new line of six new RAT mice, what makes them better than previous versions and what features each man favorites.
Note: This interview has been slimmed down, read here for the full interview with Mad Catz.
The first thing one might wonder when hearing about the new line of RAT mice is ‘Six? Why are there six new mice?’ The reason for so many options is to fit into every price range. “ There is a steady increment of features and performance throughout the range from the RAT1 all the way up to the RAT PRO X+,” the Mad Catz team said. “The key differences between the range are button switch life, sensor capability, programming features, on board memory and whether the RAT has Kameleon RGB lighting or single-colour lighting.”
Lighting seems to be one of the most requested features, and all of the new mice will have lighting of some kind. The RAT1 and RAT4 will have a single red lighting option, while the RAT6, RAT8, RAT PRO S+ and RAT PRO X+ will feature RGB coloring, allowing gamers to set whatever color they want. “This feature is also per profile. Which means you can have distinct colour configurations for a particular game or application so you can get a visual confirmation that your RAT is primed and ready,” the team said.
Outside of lighting, customization of the mouse itself is important to Mad Catz. Just about everything can be customized on the RAT PRO X+. “The scroll wheel click force can be adjusted, as can the actual wheel itself,” the Mad Catz team said. “You can have a rubber wheel for extra grip, or even a wheel with an angled profile to make using the analogue strafe feature easier whilst in game. We still supply additional palm rests and pinkie rests, including a new pinkie rest that helps people lift the RAT during gaming. It has an additional curved surface that helps enclose the gamers little finger to make lifting the product easier and more stable. Gamers have the choice of PTFE or Ceramic glide feet depending on their preference for friction and gaming surface.”
All this customization allows the RAT PRO X+ to be somewhat futureproof. “The sensors are themselves modular. So, there is clear upgrade path for the future,” the team said. “When a newer sensor comes out, you won’t need to get a new RAT, simply get the new module and swap it out.”
While the other models will not quite reach this level of customization, they will all have some kind of adjustable components to really help you customize your mouse exactly how you want.
The RAT team has also been working closely with professional gamers to make sure the hardware matches what the pros want. “ The product development team relies on regular pro team contact, across all genres (and with some very individual requirements) for our qualitative and quantitative data,” said the Mad Catz team.
“This gives a baseline of research to then build on and to see where our development team can innovate and improve the gaming experience,” they said. “Later in the process, we get beta units out for testing and feedback and we of course continue to monitor feedback through forum threads and interaction with teams and gamers at LAN events.”
While gaming is obviously a major focus for the mice, these fancy features and hardware can also be used for other purposes. Along with shortcuts for Windows 10 and some obvious ones like Cut, Copy and Paste, the Mad Catz team says profiles for many popular programs can be downloaded. If a profile doesn’t exist for what you want, you can always make a custom profile with the included software. “We once outfitted an architect’s offices with RATs because they were so enamoured by the design,” the team said.
As for favorite features, Hall, Neville and Nuth all had something different to share. Hall said his favorite part of the new line is the deceptive simplicity of the RAT1 model. “There is a delicacy and poise to its design that masks the design and manufacturing challenge we had, in order to meet strength and performance criteria, with minimal material, being super lightweight and ergonomically sound,” he said. Neville favorites the different sensors found in the RAT line and thinks with these “the RAT range encompasses just about all the needs of a gamer.”
Nuth’s favorite new feature is something found across all the mice, the FLUX software that allows gamers to customize mouse profiles. “We have spent a lot of time as a team incrementally improving it, and adding in new features and usability improvements that people have been asking for,” Nuth said. “We hope these improvements pay off, and that as a result, more of our customers use it to get the most out of their RAT.”
The RAT mice are expected to ship in time for the 2016 holiday season. No prices have been confirmed yet, but more information will be announced when the RATs ship.
So what do you think? Are you excited to check out the new line of gaming mice from Mad Catz? Are you interested to see how these mice will compare to the new Logitech gaming mouse offerings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
