TheRetroArcade
Veteran
Posts: 2,013
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Though the bigger brands are learning.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
What do you want from gaming mouse software? If you're anything like me, your immediate reaction to that question is probably 'not much.' But over the years, I've noticed that asking for 'not much' actually seems to be quite a lot to ask for, judging from over-bloated and over-complicated software that we're often served up.
We're often given exactly the kinds of things people don't want from their peripheral software. A nice colour scheme and fancy animations are fine, sure, but ultimately, all that often matters for most gamers is how quickly and easily they can get in, adjust their DPI or polling rate, maybe check for a firmware update, and get out again.
At no point in that process do you need to manage an entire ecosystem of devices, and if you do want to do that, why should that burden be placed onto others who need just a minimal app? A separate app for such things could work just fine. But instead, we're often lumped with lighting hub management, community elements, and even ads.
Even if, like me, you're into configuring some of the lesser-used mouse features such as sensor rotation and lift-off distance (LOD), you're not diving into your peripheral software for extended periods of time. It's still just a utility, to be jumped in and out of very quickly and very occasionally. It's meant to stay out of your way.
Since I've started looking beyond the biggest manufacturers for my gaming mice, though, I've seen how mouse software can and should be done. In fact, I've discovered that you can, in fact, have your cake and eat it. You can have an extensive list of important features inside a snappy, responsive, and good-looking GUI that, importantly, well and truly stays out of your way.
The best example I've seen of this is Pulsar's web software. This takes all the functionality of the desktop app—yes, there's one of those, too—sprinkles in a little extra, and wraps it up in a funky and very snappy web app. You're greeted by all the important info, including DPI, battery life, and so on, and the tabs at the top are clearly labelled, responsive, and not excessive.
There are a ton of actually useful mouse features, and it never feels cluttered or overwhelming, because function is put first. The company previously expressed that it's "listening to the community" next to a video of new sensor rotation fun...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
What do you want from gaming mouse software? If you're anything like me, your immediate reaction to that question is probably 'not much.' But over the years, I've noticed that asking for 'not much' actually seems to be quite a lot to ask for, judging from over-bloated and over-complicated software that we're often served up.
We're often given exactly the kinds of things people don't want from their peripheral software. A nice colour scheme and fancy animations are fine, sure, but ultimately, all that often matters for most gamers is how quickly and easily they can get in, adjust their DPI or polling rate, maybe check for a firmware update, and get out again.
At no point in that process do you need to manage an entire ecosystem of devices, and if you do want to do that, why should that burden be placed onto others who need just a minimal app? A separate app for such things could work just fine. But instead, we're often lumped with lighting hub management, community elements, and even ads.
Even if, like me, you're into configuring some of the lesser-used mouse features such as sensor rotation and lift-off distance (LOD), you're not diving into your peripheral software for extended periods of time. It's still just a utility, to be jumped in and out of very quickly and very occasionally. It's meant to stay out of your way.
Since I've started looking beyond the biggest manufacturers for my gaming mice, though, I've seen how mouse software can and should be done. In fact, I've discovered that you can, in fact, have your cake and eat it. You can have an extensive list of important features inside a snappy, responsive, and good-looking GUI that, importantly, well and truly stays out of your way.
The best example I've seen of this is Pulsar's web software. This takes all the functionality of the desktop app—yes, there's one of those, too—sprinkles in a little extra, and wraps it up in a funky and very snappy web app. You're greeted by all the important info, including DPI, battery life, and so on, and the tabs at the top are clearly labelled, responsive, and not excessive.
There are a ton of actually useful mouse features, and it never feels cluttered or overwhelming, because function is put first. The company previously expressed that it's "listening to the community" next to a video of new sensor rotation fun...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?