A new Kickstarter campaign is setting out to add some more advanced functionality to the humble computer mouse. The Z by Swiftpoint uses a variety of novel techniques to give players unprecedented control without compromising on comfort.
An accelerometer and a gyroscope are built into the body of the device, meaning that it can respond to the user’s hand movements with pinpoint accuracy. Footage shared on the Kickstarter campaign page shows a player using this functionality to control the camera angle in a video game by tilting or pivoting their mouse.
There’s even a rather amazing implementation where the mouse is held in mid-air to control an in-game aeroplane’s movements directly. The product’s creators claim that this direct analog control of pitch, yaw, and roll will allow for “ultimate mastery of flight and space simulators.”
However, this isn’t just a peripheral for use with video games. Another demonstration shows the force-touch capabilities of The Z being put to good use while editing a document in a word processor; a standard touch selects a single word, a slightly more forceful touch selects a whole paragraph, and even more pressure selects the whole document.
The impetus behind the project seems to be a desire to make the mouse capable of more than it has traditionally been used for, and it’s fair to conclude that the team at Swiftpoint has accomplished just that. By combining the buttons and triggers at your disposal with pivot and tilt gestures, you can pull off 50 distinct actions without having to move your hand from its position on the device.
The company will be hoping that The Z mirrors the crowdfunding success of its earlier project, the Swiftpoint GT, which amassed $191,796 on Kickstarter in 2014. The current campaign will run until August 11, and is attempting to raise $140,000 in pledges.
