Razer Needs to Promote You a $1,337 Gaming Mouse

Oh God, the puns. Razer, ever the corporate to throw subtlety out the window, is making an attempt to make you nostalgic for one of many oddest gaming mice it ever devised. The PC gaming model is advertising and marketing its $1,337 mouse (sure, that’s meant to spell “L33T”) with the form of “leetspeak” we deserted to the dumpster bin of web parlance 20 years in the past.

The limited edition Razer Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition isn’t the form of mouse that’s made for use. Its worth would make you assume the snake tongue-shaped ambidextrous mouse is lined with 24K gold or that its parts are constructed with the skilled precision of an indentured Oompa Loompa (and because it’s Razer, they might seemingly be coloured inexperienced quite than orange). Instead, the mouse features a PU leather-based left- and right-click button. That materials additionally wraps across the bottom simply above a tasteful eight-zone strip of RGB lighting alongside the underside edge. The translucent sickly inexperienced plastic end of the unique Boomslang has been changed with a deeper emerald inexperienced.

The unique mouse was crafted again in 1999 by PC peripheral pioneers like Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff again when the corporate was owned by Kärna. Krakoff died in 2022 on the age of 81, although present Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan additionally contributed to the Boomslang’s design. Of course, with that pedigree, the corporate would give their age-old mouse an enormous get together. That doesn’t imply the worth is any simpler to swallow. Razer announced this mouse again in December final yr, so it’s technically a little bit off from the precise 20-year anniversary. Either means, it’s the thought that counts.

This Boomslang is a leather-clad DeathAdder mouse

This iteration of the Boomslang is a contemporary mouse in most methods aside from the shell. The new Boomslang takes lots of the identical guts from the corporate’s newest DeathAdder V4 Pro—a high-end gaming mouse with an optical sensor (gone is the unique’s mechanical ball monitoring) and a number one 45,000 DPI. Compare that to the unique Boomslang, which maxed out at 2,000 DPI, which is inadequate for skilled gaming as we speak, but it surely did lead the competitors again in 1999. Razer’s restricted version mouse additionally sports activities the identical 8,000Hz polling fee because the DeathAdder V4 Pro, which is a blisteringly quick velocity for speaking mouse place together with your PC.

Just just like the DeathAdder V4 Pro, the twentieth anniversary Boomslang makes use of Razer’s trendy optical switches. I’ve loved these Gen 4 switches on the V4 Pro nicely sufficient to know they’ll really feel effective on this $1,337 mouse. There are one other eight customizable controls on the mouse, together with two buttons on both aspect of the wheel and the port and starboard of the mouse itself. Unlike the unique Boomslang, the brand new mannequin comes with a stand that acts as a wi-fi charging dock in addition to the two.4GHz connection to your PC.

Razer informed Gizmodo that the brand new Boomslang prices as a lot because it doesn’t simply due to the meme, however as a result of it’s certainly restricted. The firm is making just one,337 of those. It will are available its personal particular PU leather-based case to assist it function a centerpiece merchandise for PC gaming collectors. Here’s the rub: this mouse is just not meant to be your each day driver, nor your elite gaming mouse you pull out once you need to wreck face. Not solely does it eschew the ergonomic mouse improvements of the final 20 years, however its fake leather-based materials additionally isn’t constructed to facilitate your Cheeto fingers for hours on finish.

The firm mentioned that if customers deal with it and wash it down after use, it ought to final them for some time. Still, it’s higher to consider the brand new Boomslang as a centerpiece mannequin in your gaming setup, maybe to fill you with fond reminiscences for once you would use “L33T” unironically. Preorders are set to start Feb. 10 at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT.