[jazzy piano music]
[computer buzzes, beeps] - Greetings, welcome to
another LGR weird mouse thing. Yeah, I keep digging mouse
devices out of storage that I forgot I had, and some that I got more recently. And we have an 8D Internet
Mouse here from Yahoo! I've covered a 4D one, what is this? I don't know, but it's
got twice the Ds, I guess. We got this odd rubber
baseball with a skin on it. It's really off-putting. And then we have this
right here, which is a gun. It's not a lightgun. It looks like one, it kind of, you know, feels like one of the hands.
But it's actually just a mouse. This is all just odd, weird mouse things. Let's take a look. ♪ Yahoo! ♪ Yeah, we got something from them here. The search company, and
email, and whatever else. I don't know, are they still around? I assume they are in some form. Anyway, they made a mouse,
an 8D Internet Mouse. That is too many Ds. We've already covered a 4D internet mouse kind of thing before. And in this case it just
meant four directions. So you have two scroll wheels:
up, down, left and right. And you know, that eliminates
your scroll bar problem, if there ever was one. But what the heck do we
do with double the Ds? I guess we're about to find out. Eight-directional scroll to
eliminate use of scroll bars. Again, that's what this
already did, so I don't know. Eight built in zoom/application features, I can believe that. All of this, you get the "Techie
Talk," and then the "English." So yeah, I can't understand
numbers, and facts. You better translate it to real words. Like check out this
example of Techie Talk: "The Yahoo 8D Internet Smart Button mouse "features two programmable
zoom and application buttons, "which are user-definable." That's just too techie. English: "Your maths teacher always said "three could never go into one. "Wrong! With our clever three-in-one button, we've defied the laws of mathematics. Now you can switch between
the scroll function to..." And I'm also noticing that this English is not necessarily US English. This is like, "maths." Got that going on. And "programs" with an E at the end. Is this made in the UK? Oh, well that answers that, "UK." Never mind. Anyway, year 2000 silliness right here. All right, 8D Internet Smart Button mouse. Is this translated too,
into English and Techie? No, this is all just, this is all Techie. Ah, I can't read it then. "You must be connection
to the internet online, "before using the CD." [chuckling] What the... All right. "Personalize Your Web" software. Cool, that's something. And then the mouse, oh my word. Got a driver here. Year 2000 floppy disk.
Serial and PS/2. That's a thing. Honestly, it doesn't feel too bad. It is a ball mouse. Curious who made this, 'cause I mean, hardware wasn't exactly Yahoo's
thing, for the most part. But yeah, there is the 8D
functionality, I suppose. It feels like it clicks
in a bit, or thunks in. And then otherwise, it's just like a hat, like a, yeah like an eight-way hat that you'd find on
a flight sim joystick. Honestly, the shape is not that bad. It's not ambi. It's very much made for righties,
here with that, you know, thumb area. But you also have these. Don't know what those do. Mouse has two buttons, and
a center scroll button. Yeah, it also has those,
what are the other ones? So that's what it was talking about. Those are programmable zoom
and application buttons. All right, so they're
just programmable buttons. All right, cool. Well let us test this nonsense. All right. Ready to do things in
eight directions here. Presumably, at the moment, it's just working like
any normal PS/2 mouse. And the CD it came with, as
expected, doesn't do anything. Because it's just for
setting up a Yahoo account, and installing some browser plugins, and Yahoo-related, and Internet
Explorer-related things for your Year 2000 Yahoo-focused
internet experience. And of course the driver. Well this was more interesting, again, not really giving any
clues as to who made it, initially anyway. But it did install some software, and then had us restart the system. And then once it got started up, we have this 8D Scroll
Mouse version 2.5 software. I have an archive of these things
on archive.org, of course. But yeah, that gave us a clue here. The manufacturer is
actually Areson Technology. It looks like a Taiwanese company. This driver date is 1999. But yeah, they just make
all kinds of OEM designs for tons of different manufacturers, and whoever wants a mouse can have one. And apparently Yahoo wanted this one. So that answers who's
responsible for this. So as for the software itself, really, it's just an extension of the mouse properties in Windows, adding a couple of things in here. So apparently this thingie right there is known as the Air Scroller. So this is your "8D" deal. So you have a test area here, you can scroll up and
down, left and right or, and here's where the eight
comes in, you can go diagonally. Ooh [laughing] So it's literally no
different than the 4D one, except that I guess you can
more easily go diagonally. With the 4D mouse, with
the two scroll wheels, you just do 'em both at the same time. You get the same result, whatever. And then you also have the MS
Intellimouse compatible mode. And this basically just
disables side by side, and it goes up and down,
like a scroll wheel, except you can actually hold it down. So that's kind of cool. You don't have to like constantly do this, you can just hold it. And really the other thing
is this Smart Button deal. So these left and right ones there, they're just programmable. So this by default, has this...
Alt+Tab is the left one. And then pressing right, just
brings up this right here, like pressing down the
middle mouse button. Amusingly, the pressing it down, it does click, but it
doesn't seem to do anything. So ah, data zoom is kind of amusing. You can choose a zoom factor,
and then when you press it, you get a on-the-fly
little zoom window there. That's cool for accessibility and such. Pop-up menu just makes your cursor automatically move to
whatever menu has popped up, and needs an option pressed. Close app. Yeah, switch app and close app. It says "AP," but that means application. So if you do this, then there you go. Now it's a close button. Amazing. And then finally you can do your standard page back and forward,
which I quite like that. Yeah, instead of having your
side buttons for your thumb, you can just do back and forth with this. [humming in time with mouse clicks] Neat. And with that, you have seen everything. [laugh of underwhelmance] So uh. Eh, let's play a game! So I want to try something where I can maybe get all
of these buttons to work, as different inputs in the game. So, I know I always
choose Unreal Tournament, but it's just a really good test for all kinds of input devices like this. Question here is, will we be able to use all of our buttons,
or just some of them? So we'll do, oh hey. Okay. Yeah, so that's working as up and down, just pressing up and down on the 8D deal. Left and right don't seem
to do anything though. That's unfortunate. What about, ah, dang
it, those don't either. Ah man. Can just put it into
Intellimouse compatible, who knows? Nah, left and right don't
work, up and down works. So effectively this is
like a scroll wheel mouse, like a three-button mouse, except for the third button isn't there, which is just odd. I really thought that pressing it down would act as a third mouse
button, but it doesn't. Okay. "Healpod II" with Instagib.
Always a good time. - [Announcer] "First blood!"
[exclamation of dominance] Yeah, it's a nice and accurate mouse. Not bad. Ooh, for a ball mouse, you know? Honestly, I kind of
prefer a good ball mouse for this game. I always have. I grew up playing it that way. [devious chuckle] Ah, yeah, this is a
perfectly decent mouse. It actually feels good. Got a good weight to it. I like the clicking. I do wish that you could
use those other buttons in ways that are not
suited to it [laughing]. It like, I guess the fact
that you can go diagonally, [chuckles] in eight directions. Oh man. Just such efficient scrolling. It's really not any more so
than the 4D mouse already was. If anything gets arguably less accurate. Who was asking for that? I don't know. But it's there. And it's not a bad mouse.
[music fades] Balls. We've got a Sports Mouse from Champ. [laugh of trepidation] I don't wanna do this one. I've already felt this thing
when I first received it, and it wasn't good. This is also the one that
I know the least about. The mouse pad is actually
a decent quality, and I appreciate that the graphics are printed vertically like this. I always have my mouse
pads vertical anyway, it just makes more sense to me. So even if I have a horizontal, you know, it's just, I put it that way. I see why they did it
for the baseball field. But that's beside the
point, the mouse is just, the fact that it's got a skin. It's just so weird. Just like a straight up rubber.
[inhales] [irritated exhale]
It smells very rubbery... Yeah, I don't know. There's just something
off-putting... [laughing] about a mouse with a skin! I am assuming that they just,
you know, have it this way, so you could get other balls, and put different ball skins on here. But you can see your ball here has, it's just a regular little
puck mouse type thing. It is a PS/2 mouse. Oh, we do have a model number,
AD-D38. We got a standard ball
inside your ball there. That's kind of brownish. Don't see too many brown ones. Usually they're gray or black, white even. It's kind of a tan brown. Anyway, it's just the
texture that's off-putting. And goodness, I cannot understate
the smell of this thing. It just smells like grip tape almost, like you'd wrap around a baseball bat, certain types of it anyway. Or like, you know, around
bike, bicycle handlebars, that kind of thing. It's just very strong, a chemically smell. Well, all right, let's
plug in our baseball, and play some sports. All right, we've got our
skinball plugged in, and yeah, it's a mouse. It moves. It just feels gross. Finally thought of what
this reminds me of, both the sort of the look and the texture, and really even the smell. Remember these, these little,
these little freaky things? I have legit had nightmares about them, playing with them, seeing 'em as a kid. Yeah, those, it's not exactly the same, but that's just what --
it's negative memories! [laughing] Whatever. As a mouse, I mean it seems okay. So it obviously is suffering from what every puck style mouse does. And that, if it's off-axis, then it doesn't, you have to, yeah, make sure it's right in the right spot. And this is even worse here,
because of like the foreskin is covering up where you could normally feel the buttons here,
but you can't feel them. All you can feel is
this weird rubbery skin. But anyway, it seems -- wow, spoke too soon. Does not want to go left anymore. Okay. Was gonna, say it seems pretty accurate. Oh yeah, it's not wanting to go left. Oh dear. Make sure that ball is good. I mean his thing is effectively brand new. I don't think it's ever been used. I don't know. Well, oh yeah, look at that. Well anyway, it's a bit
of a thing, but whatever. Let's play a baseball game. All right. Microsoft Baseball, which
controls with the keyboard, so I don't know what I'm doing. There's gotta be something
mouse-controlled in here, right? Yeah, we got pressing
Okay, [laughing] whatever. Ah dang it. That's controlled... yeah
that's right, with the keyboard. - [Game announcer] Here's the pitch. - I seem to remember being
able to control the pitching, and like, the batting
direction with the mouse. I guess not. Anyway, well, okay,
this is a terrible test. - [Announcer] And the pitch. - So it's not balls of steel, it's balls of like, rubbery
silicone or something, but I don't care. Let's try this anyway. [gunfire, alien dying] Oh, that not being able to move left, it's so inconsistent is the weird thing. It feels like nine times outta ten, it's okay, I'm turning left just fine. Oh, there it is. There it is. I can't turn left. - Oh, wow. I've had that happen on a few
different old mouse devices. I don't know if like the
optical bit is malfunctioning. You know the part that looks
at the little wheel that spins? Who knows. Either way, I do not like this mouse. Even if it worked perfectly,
I would not be a fan. You know, it'd be one
thing if it was covered in like a leather, real
stitching kind of baseball feel. But this just, this fake skin thing, it just, it doesn't
feel good to the touch, and my goodness, my hand stinks. This room stinks. Everything about this experience is nasty. I would much rather use
any other puck mouse, even, you know, your iMac classic puck. I'd much rather even use a cheeseburger. Again, nicely defined mouse buttons. They're not covered up by a weird skin. Oddly, very similar in size. Oh my goodness, that might
actually be the same thing. Really darn close. The screws aren't
exactly in the same spot, but like the sizing is pretty similar. Maybe the cheeseburger
ball will work better. I mean, I have my doubts
there's any saving this thing, but it's worth the transplant real quick. Nope, it's still screwing up,
going left there like that. Not all the time, but every so often. Yeah, 'cause see most
of the time it's fine. Anyway, don't like this with
or without the original ball. Ugh, this room smells so bad now. [laughing] Pew, pew. We've got a pistol mouse here. This is the, yeah, Pistol
Mouse FPS by Monster Gecko. Yeah, that's a gun. The cartoon lady is holding
the mouse right there. And yeah, this is just a
mouse shaped like a pistol. Yeah, it's an optical mouse on the bottom. And you have an aluminum
anodized trigger there. Gel grips, military grade, high
density ballistic plastics. Okay, whatever. It's a 2004 thing, if you
couldn't guess [laughing]. Always been kind of curious
to try this thing out, ever since I got it, years
and years and years ago. Because to me this just
sounds like a bad idea. The main thing being that, you know, when you get a gun controller of any kind, I just have... that feels really cheap. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I just wanna, you know, point it at the screen and shoot. This is not a lightgun! You use it like this, you know, like any other mouse, and yeah. There is your optical mouse
sensor area right there. It's just an optical mouse
with a plastic gun on top. Yeah, this doesn't feel like gel at all. This is just -- well it's
kind of rubbery I guess, just cheap-feeling plastic on the outside. The aluminum trigger I
guess is kind of okay. Like, double clicking [laughing], it's semi-automatic double clicking. Got the orange plug
there for legal reasons. We got, are these buttons?... Got some instructions
here, so... oh my goodness. Instructions, "Plug it in, fight." [laughing] Okay. So you do have some
real instructions too. Yeah, those are totally not buttons. So you have oh, a secondary. Oh, there's a little
baby trigger under there. I did not even notice that. So that's left and right mouse. This is your scroll wheel. I just think it's funny that they added like, two fake
slide locks on either side, that don't do anything. Why are there two? I don't know. I guess they didn't want
it to be too realistic. I mean like, even the ejection port covers the entire top of the slide there. That's -- the whole thing is
silly and that's fine. Well anyway, yeah, there's really nothing
else to see in there. It's just a mouse in a silly shape. So let's fire this up. All right, the Gecko Pistol Mouse
thing is already plugged in. I'm pressing right mouse
button immediately, dang it, due to that weird
little secondary trigger under the trigger guard. And left clicking, there is a bit of a click there, but you have to press in
further than I thought. Okay. Huh. So there is a little
micro switch in there. I mean that makes sense, but
like that doesn't do anything. That does something though. So I just have to go down further, and maybe not hold where I
naturally would on the grip. Precision is a little iffy. It's just, you know, holding a mouse like
this, like I'm handshaking? Not made for doing fine
graphical work, that's for sure. But, you know [laughs] It's just a little odd. Let's change the sensitivity just a tad. It's still weird though. This is a weird grip, cause I'm having to hold like this, and my thumb, and these, you know, right and left mouse button fingers, are like these two triggers. This is so strange. All right, let's try a game. Let's do some Far Cry. Haven't played that in a while. Ooh. [firing weapon] Okay, this is immediately not as bad as I thought it would be. Still a little weird.
[gunfire] [amused chuckle]
But there is something about that visceral, like
one-to-oneness of it. You know, just your hand being in the same-ish position
as the weapon on screen. That right click is so odd. I really wish it was like,
the mag release or something on here, have that as
a right click instead. Of course that wouldn't make
sense for left-handed people. I don't know. You could put it on either side. Like the wheel is ambidextrous. It's hard to describe, 'cause
I'm treating it as a mouse, obviously I need to keep
it flat over this way. It makes sense that you'd
naturally wanna do *this.* But... at the same time, this
is kind of close enough that it's kinda working for me. Let us go and find some dudes. - [NPC] There he is!
[gunfire] I'll take you down! - Ooh yeah, this wheel is very sensitive. It does work though. Oh, who's shooting me? [gunfire continues] I should not have reloaded. Adjust that sensitivity again. I'm just getting that, you know, like eh, jitteriness. Or maybe
mouse smoothing too? I don't usually use that. But yeah, I think that's better. [barrel explodes]
[goofy laugh] Oh yeah! Oh yeah. Oh yeah. [in-game gunfire continues] Much better! Dude. It's kinda cool. Kinda hate to say it! I was hatin' on this thing. It seemed like, really stupid. This isn't bad. I wouldn't play something
like Unreal Tournament, or Quake 3, I don't think,
that would probably, you know, that's so much of a twitchy type of deal. You'd want a different mouse for that. But for something a little
slower paced like this? I don't know, this is kind of neat. Definitely getting fatigue though, on my thumb, and like ring finger a bit, just cuz those are the
main ones that are gripping, due to how I'm having to avoid... It just takes some
getting used to, for sure. It's using different hand wrist muscles than I normally would for a regular mouse. But... again, that's, I don't know, there's something about
just the way, I don't know. [pulling trigger]
That's neat. [gameplay continues] All right, well this is not bad. Initially weird, but you know what? Props to the Gecko pistol
people, whoever the heck man. I don't hate this at all. It's actually kinda neat. Nice surprise to end things out! [jazzy piano tunes] And hey, if you ever had or used any of these devices, let me know. I'm curious what your experiences were. And if you like this kind of thing, check out my other weird mouse videos, or whatever else I cover from
week to week here in LGR. And as always, thanks for watching.
