SteelSeries launch budget-conscious gaming peripherals

SteelSeries has launched a series of gaming peripherals that are designed for the more budget-conscious player. 

Comprising of the Rival 3 gaming mouse and Apex 3 gaming keyboard, the devices offer a series of features that are usually predominantly available on more expensive devices. In a statement, SteelSeries CEO Ehtisham Rabbani explained, "there are so many gamers out there that are stuck using boring, traditional office peripherals for gaming. With these new products, we set office products in our sights and sought to retool our cutting-edge technologies and put them into products that are accessible for every gamer."

The Rival 3 mouse looks to be the biggest bargain of the launch. Shaped like an ambidextrous mouse, albeit with thumb buttons on the left hand side (so it's designed with right-handed players in mind), it offers 6 buttons overall with mechanical switches for the main ones that SteelSeries reckon will last for 60 million clicks. 

Obviously, the sensitivity of a mouse is one of the most pivotal features and the SteelSeries Rival 3 sounds respectable enough on paper. It has a TrueMove Core optical sensor capable of 100-8,500 dpi in 100dpi increments. SteelSeries believes that the TrueMove Core is a massive leap in sensor performance for this kind of price, theoretically providing precise performance. SteelSeries is so confident, it's stated that users should expect true 1-to-1 tracking although as we haven't tried it for ourselves, be a little wary of this announcement. 

There's also on-board memory so you can save up to 5 CPI profiles to the mouse, as well as RGB lighting for the flashier player. It's set to retail at $30. 

The Apex 3 keyboard is similarly well priced with just as fancy a set of RGB lights too. Priced at $50, it uses purportedly low-friction switches for what SteelSeries promises to be near-silent use. Don't expect mechanical switches though. These are membrane based. Durability should hopefully not be an issue either though with a guarantee of over 20 million keypresses. It also offers dedicated media keys, a clickable metal roller, magnetic wrist rest, and a cable routing system for the neat desk owners. 

Amongst all the budget announcements, there was also room for SteelSeries's Apex 5 keyboard. Priced at $100, it's not as cheap as the others but it does provide hybrid switches that are meant to provide the best aspects of membrane and mechanical switches. It also offers an aluminium build, customisable per-key RGB lighting, and an OLED Smart Display where you can view on-the-fly information about games or, weirdly, add your favourite GIFs. 

Ultimately, it's the Rival 3 and Apex 3 that stand out the most so keenly priced. Assuming they work as well as SteelSeries say. 

The devices are available from SteelSeries now.