The year is 2002, CS1.6 has been out for 2 years, and Quake 4 would not be released until 3 years later... But a new product from Microsoft has just hit the shelf. The Wheel Mouse Optical. The name basically tells you everything you need to know about the mouse. It is an optical mouse that has a scroll wheel. But beyond that, the mouse was loaded to the gills with other technology. Namely, the STMicroelectornics OS MLT 04 sensor that was WAY ahead of its time, and would go on to be used in the legendary Intellimouse 1.1, and the Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 (WMOs without the model number 1.1a use a different sensor, and are utter shit though).

The mouse was originally intended as a cheap, but effective office mouse that would be more user friendly and reliable than roller ball mice from the past. However, gamers would soon find that the incredible sensor, and light weight of the WMO were perfectly suited to fast paced FPS of the time. Quake pros such as Rapha, DaHaNG, and Toxjq all used a WMO for much of their career. Some of them use it even to this day! The shape and tactile response of the WMO's buttons are what drew many FPS players to the mouse as well.

Some of the main drawbacks of the WMO include it's crappy scroll wheel, it's garbage cable, and elephant in the room, it's 500hz polling rate. The polling rate of typical gaming mice by todays standards is usually 1000hz for reference. However, with some fancy footwork, and a dedicated community, the polling rate of the WMO was/is capable of being boosted to that sweet 1000hz we all love. As far as the cable is concerned, people have been modding their WMOs since their release, and in fact, some have even gone as far as to add wireless capabilities to their WMO. The skates were also originally plastic, which certainly do not bode well by today's standards, but this mouse was never intended to be a gaming mouse, and everyone uses hyperglides nowadays anyways so this shouldn't even be considered an issue.

Wireless WMO
[img]https://i.imgur.com/ju8pYg2.jpg[/img]

Now I know some of you are thinking "Gee, how can this 20 year old piece of plastic be better than my Razer Omegacron Synopsis Variant mouse uwu" And to that I simply state; It's not. Objectively that is. But considering that the msrp for a brand new WMO (even today!) is about $30, and it has withstood the test of time earning popularity from top level fps veterans is extremely telling to the craftsmanship, and consistency of the WMO. If you have yet to try this wonderful piece of technology, give it a whirl. You can find tutorials on how to mod, overclock, and customize your new WMO all over online. But please do understand, that if you're still bad at whatever game you're trying to improve at while using this mouse, it's not the mouse's fault.