A new Kickstarter project by the name of Lexip is bringing joysticks back to the PC, but not in the way you might think.
Remember the glory days of PC gaming with a joystick? Flight simulators just haven’t been the same since. These joysticks aren’t quite like the old Thrustmaster, but Lexip has added two small joysticks — one on each side of the mouse. They can be controlled with your thumb and middle finger, adding an additional dimension to your PC gaming. It’s a bit like a combination between a traditional gaming mouse and the mechanical joysticks you might find on an Xbox controller.
The added joysticks look cool, but PC gamers tend to prefer mouse and keyboard to the clumsy nature of dual-analog sticks, especially when it comes to movement and aiming. So what would the Lexip joysticks be used for?
The video shows a user switching through items in Minecraft as an example of what you could assign to one of the joysticks, allowing you to control movement and manage inventory at the same time. Other examples include to use the joystick zoom-in in a first-person shooter or to move through a map in a real-time strategy game. It’s all customizable of course, according to what genre of game you’re playing.
The joysticks aren’t the only thing interesting about the Lexip mouse though. The entire mouse sits on a tilt, which adds an additional element of control over your perspective in 3D games. The slight tilt can gives you yet another way to move in a scene, whether that’s something like a space sim or steering in a racing game. It’s probably a lot to get used to, but any amount of additional control you get without having to reposition your hand is excellent for competitive gaming.
In addition to playing games, the company mentions that the mouse can be used for productivity and creativity processes in an office setting.
Lexip also offers a version designed specifically for left-handed gamers. While the usual cautions should always apply when dealing with a crowdfunded product, the Kickstarter project has currently raised well over $168,000 with over a thousand backers, and it has an estimated delivery of June 2018.
