Hori Introduces Officially Licensed Mouse and ‘Keyboard’ for Xbox One
Game accessory maker Hori is going to release an officially licensed combo of a mouse and keyboard with an Xbox One controller joystick. It seems that the device is emulating controller input and not native hardware implementation.
That it’s not about native support of the hardware is clear from the fact that Hori states that all Xbox One games are supported by the Tactical Assault Commander Pro One, but that Xbox CEO Mike Ybarra has also said that mouse support, where the Xbox team is therefore not against, must be implemented per game. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that, with the appropriate updates to the Xbox One OS and the games, this mouse from Hori could be natively supported. For now, the device will have to translate the mouse input to the corresponding joystick input, which will never produce a perfect result.
With a beta version of the Xbox One software, there is already a first version of native support for the mouse. In Minecraft, users can already use their USB mouse with this software.
The set of Hori consists of two parts. On the one hand there is the mouse, which has a 3200 dpi sensor and a total of seven buttons. This mouse can also be replaced by your own mouse. However, the ‘keyboard’ deviates much more from what one might expect from such a device. The board is as wide as a single hand and has 20 keys, which mimic the triggers, bumpers, buttons but also the left stick. The switches are mechanical and developed by Hori itself. They are blue in color, which may mean that the company is mimicking the feel of Cherry MX Blues. In addition, there is a switch that allows players to switch to analog input for the left stick. Then they use the stick on the right side of the keyboard.
The set also includes toggles that allow quick control of stick input sensitivity. Thus, the mouse can quickly switch to highly sensitive or insensitive input and the keyboard movement can switch from running to walking. The Tactical Assault Commander Pro One also has an app in which keys can be programmed and sensitivities can be adjusted and profiles can be saved. It is unclear on which platforms the app will appear.
The Hori Tactical Assault Commander Pro One will be released this month in the US and has a price tag of $ 149.99. Nothing is known about a release in Europe at the moment. Hori products are usually just released here. There is also a version for the PlayStation 4 and it is also officially licensed.
There is a lot of discussion about such hardware. According to opponents of the devices, they give an unfair advantage to people who are willing to put the money and effort into such a setup. Especially in online fps games, where speed, accuracy and reaction time are important factors, this could be considered unfair. For example, the director of Overwatch is against it, with the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game.