The Microsoft
SideWinder Strategic Commander is a mouse-like joystick for your left hand, designed to be used with all of your favorite real-time strategy games. Of course, the
Strategic Commander can be used for any game, even outside of games in your Windows environment. The mouse is designed to be used in the left hand, the hand opposite your regular mouse. The
Strategic Commander can be moved or rotated to navigate around the map or move your character around the level. There are eight buttons set right at your fingertips. At the thumb, there are three shift buttons, giving you 24 buttons to program and use. Also available is a switch for three different modes. Using the different modes, you are given a total of 72 buttons right at your fingertips. And the last feature to the MS
Strategic Commander is the record button. With the record button, you can assign the buttons on the fly.
As you can imagine, 72 buttons can get a little out of hand. Truly, it does. If you can remember and use more than eight or so, you are indeed good. On the up side, the controller works great for first person shooters as well as the designed RTS games. Unfortunately, it can also cause you problems in the regular windows environment if you are not careful.
