Razer USA Ltd - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Razer is a privately held computer peripherals manufacturer specializing in products specifically marketed to gamers.
Razer's main slogan is 'FOR GAMERS, BY GAMERS'.
Originally started in the 1990s, it suffered a period of dormancy during the millennial change and has then seen a resurgence, with new products released during 2004 and 2005, and has been constantly growing throughout ever since, despite the financial crisis end 2008. The Razer brand is currently being marketed under Razer USA Ltd.

History

Razer was founded in 1998 by a team of engineers and marketers to develop and market a high end computer gaming mouse

Mouse (computing)

In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...

, called the Boomslang, targeted specifically to computer gamers. It was positioned as the world's first 2000 dpi

DPI

DPI may stand for* Dots per inch, a measure of printing resolution* Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, an educational institution of Bangladesh* Death Pact International, one of the first open source musical concept projects...

mouse and purported to give greater control and accuracy to gamers who used it.

Razer was one of the first companies to sponsor gamers, which directly contributed to the emerging pro-gaming

Electronic sports

Electronic sports comprises the competitive play of video games. Other terms include competitive gaming, professional gaming and cybersports...

phenomenon. Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel

Johnathan Wendel

Johnathan Wendel , also known by the pseudonym Fatal1ty , is a professional electronic sports player, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Jonathan is considered the world's first prominent and accomplished professional gamer...

was among one of twelve of the first wave of Razer sponsored gamers and is still currently active in pro-gaming. Razer was also the first company to sponsor teams and donate prize money for team events Counterstrike in 2001. Razer continues to support major global tournaments and esport gaming teams and individual professional gamers. Razer co-develops their line of products with teams and gamers.

2004-2008

In 2004, Razer released an optical mouse called the Viper. This was followed by a 1600 dpi optical mouse named the Diamondback.

In the following 4 years Razer extended its mice portfolio and adding a range of Keyboards, Audio Peripherals and Mousing Surfaces.

2009-2010

Razer announced that its next step was to move into the console peripheral market by revealing a Controller and a Headset for the Xbox 360. They've also showcased their upcoming motion control technology for the PC, the Sixense TrueMotion

Sixense TrueMotion

The Razer Hydra is a motion and orientation detection game controller developed by Sixense Entertainment, a company founded in 2007, in partnership with Razer USA...

2011

At Consumer Electronics Show

Consumer Electronics Show

The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...

2011, Razer unveiled the Razer Switchblade

Razer Switchblade

The Razer Switchblade is an upcoming portable gaming device developed by Razer. It is still in development, and the release date is still unknown....

, a handheld gaming device prototype, which won the Best of CES 2011 People's Voice award. Razer's CEO Min-Liang Tan

Min-Liang Tan

' is the co-founder, CEO and Creative Director of gaming hardware company Razer USA. He directs and oversees the design and development of all Razer products....

together with co-founder Robert Krakoff and a representative from Intel were featured in the launch video. The prototype featured a multi-touch screen and 45 buttons, each of which is a LCD screen that adapt dynamically to whatever game the user selects. The device is comparable in size to the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

system, having dimensions of 172mm x 115mm x 25 mm, though the switchblade is noticeably larger. The prototype had both 3G and Wi-Fi support to allow for online access in a wider range of locations. The device was also shown to have USB 3.0, mini-HDMI, and standard headphone and microphone jacks. The Switchblade used an Intel Atom

Intel Atom

Intel Atom is the brand name for a line of ultra-low-voltage x86 and x86-64 CPUs from Intel, designed in 45 nm CMOS and used mainly in netbooks, nettops, embedded application ranging from health care to advanced robotics and Mobile Internet devices...

processor and ran a version of Windows 7 in the demonstrations. No price or release date was given for the device, it being only a prototype, however, they stated that they are working with "select partners" to produce products based on the Switchblade.

In August 2011, Razer created a teaser site claiming that PC gaming was not dead. The site contained a countdown to August 26, 2011, and was coupled with a full page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal. On August 26, 2011 the site forwarded to the homepage for the new Razer Blade, Razer's first laptop, claiming to be the "first true gaming laptop". The design featured a touchpad on the right side in order to make laptop usage more comfortable for games, and ten customizable touchscreen buttons with customizable icons. The Blade was met with mostly positive initial reviews. Gaming news site Kotaku.com claimed that the Blade may "save Windows laptops forever" and was going to be the "future of PCs". However, the starting price of $2,800 was met with criticism. The CEO of Razer responded to these criticisms, saying that the price could have been brought down had the product been thicker, heavier, and without the switchblade interface.

Products

With its current product range that includes gaming mice, gaming keyboards, gaming audio and gaming surfaces.

All Razer products are named after predatory or poisonous animals, ranging from snakes (mice), insects (mouse mats), arachnids (keyboards) over marine creatures (audio) to felines (console peripherals). The Razer Blade laptop is the only exception.

Reception

Most Razer products are generally met with positive reviews. However, Razer products have also been the target of heavy criticism. The Viper, Copperhead, Microsoft Habu, and to a lesser extent, the Krait, lose their tracking relatively easily when being moved at high speeds. In the case of the Copperhead, Razer promoted the use of added weights but voided the warranties of mice that were customized this way, even though the weights were sold and manufactured by Razer itself. Almost all Razer mice except for the 3G/3.5G Laser mice have high lift-off distance. The first generation of Razer's 3G/3.5G Laser mice suffered from Z-axis tracking issues, which are still not fixed, even in the newer Razer 4G mice, including the Razer Imperator 2012. Firmware updates will most likely not alleviate the issue because the problem is inherent in the Philips Twin-Eye sensor used in Razer products.

Ergonomics on many of Razer's ambidextrous mice are also criticized. While the thumb buttons on the Copperhead, Diamondback and Lachesis are easy to reach, the side buttons on the opposite side are extremely difficult to reach, as the user has to temporarily give up control of the mouse to press them. Razer's Starcraft 2-branded mouse, the Spectre, is marketed as an ambidextrous mouse, however the mouse has no thumb buttons on the right side of the mouse available for left-handed users. Razer products also have been known for having "low build quality" as their cords sometimes develop shorts, their buttons ghost-click, their mouse wheels make a loud squeaking noise, and glossy plastic comes off as very cheap. To combat this reputation, most of Razer's recent products have a notably higher build quality, such as the addition of braided USB cables, and the release of updated drivers and firmware.

Razer's partnership with Microsoft has also been criticized. Razer does not include the Microsoft Habu on their mouse comparison page, and it is even rumored that Razer gave the Microsoft Habu a laser sensor to tone down the product, knowing its tracking faults, while saving their much superior 3G infrared sensor for their DeathAdder mouse, a mouse with the same shape released only a couple months after the Microsoft Habu.

In August 2010, Razer's newly announced Onza XBox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

controller was banned from competitive play in Major League Gaming

Major League Gaming

Major League Gaming , founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso, is a North American professional Electronic sports organization, headquartered in New York City, New York. MLG has held official video game tournaments throughout the United States and Canada. Major League Gaming...

's games and tournaments. The ban was met with mixed reactions from both supporters and opponents to Razer's new controller. Supporters of the Onza claimed the MLG administrators banned the controller because the Razer-rival Mad Catz

Mad Catz

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...

was developing a MLG-branded controller at the time. However, the official reason for the ban was due to the Onza's two multi-function programmable buttons. MLG administrators also stated they had spoken to Razer engineers about the ban before the official announcement, hoping Razer would create a version of the controller without the extra programmable buttons.

In early March 2011, Major League Gaming released new rules for the game Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 console. Reach was released in North America, Australia, and Europe on September 14, 2010. The game takes place in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a war with the...

that removed the ban on the Razer Onza controller on the MLG Pro Circuit, allowing gamers to use the Razer Onza legally in competitive play. However, the MLG ban still remains for the game Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch, published by Activision and released worldwide on November 9, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii consoles, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. Announced on April 30, 2010,...

Comparison of Razer mouse devices

	Date of release	Technology	Sensor	Optical resolution (DPI)	Interface	Polling rate (Hz Hertz The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications.... )	Mass (g Gram The gram is a metric system unit of mass.... )	Dimensions (l Length In geometric measurements, length most commonly refers to the longest dimension of an object.In certain contexts, the term "length" is reserved for a certain dimension of an object along which the length is measured. For example it is possible to cut a length of a wire which is shorter than wire... × w × h Height Height is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is. For example "The height of the building is 50 m" or "The height of the airplane is 10,000 m"... , mm)	Buttons (top/side)	Form factor
Boomslang 1000/2000	1999	Mechanical (ball)	Kärna proprietary	1000/2000	PS/2	10-200	150	140 × 60-82 × 32	3/2	Ambidextrous
Mystify/Razer Boomslang 2100/2500 BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100	2003	Mechanical (ball)	Kärna proprietary	2100/2500	USB	125	115	140 × 60-82 × 32	3/2	Ambidextrous
Viper	April 2004	Optical	Agilent A2051	1000	USB	125	78	118 × 55 × 36	3	Ambidextrous
Diamondback	Late 2004	Optical	Agilent A3070/A3080	1600	USB	125	90	129 × 63 × 38.5	3/4	Ambidextrous
Diamondback Plasma	Mid 2005	Optical (infrared)	Agilent A3088	1600	USB	125	90	129 × 63 × 38.5	3/4	Ambidextrous
Copperhead	Late 2005	Optical (laser)	Agilent 6018	2000	USB	1000	124	130 × 66 × 41	3/4	Ambidextrous
Krait	Mid 2006	Optical (infrared)	Agilent A3088	1600	USB	125	78	120 × 60.5 × 37	3	Ambidextrous
Microsoft Habu	Late 2006	Optical (laser)	Avago 6030	2000	USB	1000	135	129 × 68 × 43.5	5/2	Right-handed
DeathAdder	Late 2006	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Right-handed
DeathAdder Razer Blueprints Edition	Early 2007	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Right-handed
DeathAdder Guild Wars Edition	Late 2007	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Right-handed
Boomslang Collectors Edition (10,000 Units)	Late 2007	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	1000	150	139 × 82 × 35	3/2	Ambidextrous
Diamondback 3G	Late 2007	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	125	100	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/4	Ambidextrous
Lachesis	Late 2007	Optical (3G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2031	4000	USB	1000	128	129 × 71 × 40	5/4	Ambidextrous
Salmosa	Mid 2008	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	1000	40	115 × 63 × 37	3	Ambidextrous
Salmosa Pro Gaming Edition	Mid 2008	Optical (3G Infrared)	Avago 3668	1800	USB	1000	40	95.9 × 54.4 × 33.3	3	Ambidextrous
Mamba	Feb. 2009	Optical (3.5G Laser)(NEW 4G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032	5600/6400(NEW)	USB/Wireless	1000	108 - 129	128 × 70 × 42.5	5/2	Right-handed
Naga	Aug. 2009	Optical (3.5G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032	5600	USB	1000	134	116 × 69 × 41.6	5/12	Right-handed
Orochi	Mid 2009	Optical (3G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2031	2000 (Wireless) 4000 (Wired)	USB or Bluetooth	125 (Wireless) 1000 (Wired)	95 - 141	99 × 67.8 × 35	3/4	Ambidextrous
DeathAdder 3500	Late 2009	Optical (3.5G Infrared)	Avago S3888	3500	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Right-handed
Imperator	Late 2009	Optical (3.5G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032	5600	USB	1000	138	123 × 71 × 42	5/2	Right-handed
Abyssus	Late 2009	Optical (3.5G Infrared)	Avago S3888	3500	USB	1000	71	115 × 63 × 40	3	Ambidextrous
DeathAdder Left-Hand Edition	2010	Optical (3.5G Infrared)	Avago S3888	3500	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Left-handed
Abyssus Mirror	2010	Optical (3.5G Infrared)	Avago S3888	3500	USB	1000	71	115 × 63 × 40	3	Ambidextrous
Spectre	2010	Optical (Laser)	121	5600	USB	1000		100 × 66 × 37	3/2	AmbidextrousThe Specre's two side buttons, typically pressed by the user's thumb, are located on the left side of the mouse, making it difficult for a left-handed user to employ the use of these buttons.
Lachesis (ver. 2)	2010	Optical (3.5G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032	5600	USB	1000	128	129 × 71 × 40	5/4	Ambidextrous
Naga Molten Special Edition	2010	Optical (3.5G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032	5600	USB	1000	134	116 × 69 × 41	5/12	Right-handed
Naga Epic	2010	Optical (3.5G Laser)	Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032	5600	USB/Wireless	1000	134	116 × 69 × 41	5/12	Right-handed
TRON	2010	Optical (3.5G Laser)		5600	USB	1000	124	110 × 61.3 × 33.5	3/4	Ambidextrous
DeathAdder Black Edition	Early 2011	Optical (3.5G Infrared)	Avago S3888	3500	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Right-handed
DeathAdder Dragon Age II Edition	Early 2011	Optical (3.5G Infrared)	Avago S3888	3500	USB	1000	133	128 × 70 × 42.5	3/2	Right-handed

Comparison of Razer keyboards

	Date of release	Interface	Polling rate (Hz Hertz The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications.... )	Dimensions (l Length In geometric measurements, length most commonly refers to the longest dimension of an object.In certain contexts, the term "length" is reserved for a certain dimension of an object along which the length is measured. For example it is possible to cut a length of a wire which is shorter than wire... × w × h Height Height is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is. For example "The height of the building is 50 m" or "The height of the airplane is 10,000 m"... , mm)	Color	Onboard memory (KB Kilobyte The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information... )	Key type Keyboard technology There are many types of keyboards, usually differentiated by the switch technology employed in their operation. Keyboards are defined by the number of highly durable switches that are incorporated into the system...
Tarantula	2006	USB	1000 Hz	469 × 221 × 15	Black		Dome
Microsoft Reclusa	2006	USB	1000 Hz	551 × 236 × 61	Black	N/A	Dome
Lycosa	Late 2007	USB	1000 Hz	522 × 220 × 33	Black	N/A	Dome
Lycosa Mirror Special Edition	Late 2008	USB	1000 Hz	470 × 222 × 20	Black	N/A	Dome
Arctosa	2009	USB	1000 Hz	470 × 222 × 20	Black on black or silver on black	N/A	Dome
Marauder	2010	USB	1000 Hz	400 × 182 × 32	Grey	N/A	Dome
BlackWidow Ultimate	2010	USB	1000 Hz	475 × 171 × 30	Black	N/A	Mechanical - Cherry MX Blue
BlackWidow	Late 2010	USB	1000 Hz	475 × 171 × 30	Black	N/A	Mechanical - Cherry MX Blue
Anansi	Late 2010	USB	1000 Hz	515 × 190 × 22	Black	N/A	Dome
TRON	Late 2010	USB	1000 Hz	577.5 × 168.25 × 31	Black	N/A	Chiclet Chiclet keyboard A chiclet keyboard or island-style keyboard is a computer keyboard built with an array of small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like erasers or "Chiclets", a brand of chewing gum manufactured in the shape of small squares with rounded corners...
BlackWidow Ultimate Dragon Age II Edition	Early 2011	USB	1000 Hz	475 × 171 × 30	Black	N/A	Mechanical (Cherry MX Blue)

External links

Razer — official website
Razer Pro|Solutions — official website targeted at creative professionals
Razer Blueprints — Razer community website
European Razerzone — official European website
Optical Mouse technology review — Overview of optical mouse technology by Richard L. Owens

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