I've owned exactly two mice in my lifetime – one that came with my first computer and the one that came with my second machine. The first was the old ball mouse while the second was a laser one. Given that, I've never been hardcore into PC games so the regular old, normal mouse was fine. When I got the chance to review the Sandio Game O' 6DOF, I took up the offer to see what I might be missing. Did I find a joy or is ignorance bliss?

The Sandio Game O' 6DOF (6DOF from here on) was designed to provide you with an edge, specifically when it comes to first person shooters and secondarily real-time strategy games. So what is supposed to give you this advantage? Besides having the standard left and right click buttons – as well as a scroll wheel – the 6DOF also has three thumbsticks positions on the mouse: one on the left, one slightly above/between the mouse buttons, and one on the right hand side. It's a bit confusing to figure out the finger placement, but ultimately it goes: thumb (left thumbstick), index (left click), middle (middle thumbstick), ring (right click), and pinky (right thumbstick). Or, at least that is the finger placing I used most often, though I did slide fingers around to better fit certain situations.

The purpose of the thumbsticks (the big draw for the mouse) is the 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) that the mouse is to provide. See, in many games, you've got to use your keyboard to theoretically make complicated moves; with the 6DOF, however, you are supposed to be able to eliminate needless button presses so things like combat in the game is more fluid and quicker, letting you react quicker – by having complete control of the X, Y, and Z axis.

For experimentation, we tried several games out, and for the FPS and real time strategy it worked well, however, we aren't terribly sure there was really any improvement over the two hand play. On one hand, yes, it gives you the more open freedom to do things with one hand, but there was slight lag between movements done with the thumbsticks on the mouse to the controls of the camera on the screen (it isn't a major lag, but when split seconds in FPS combat mean life and death, it can be a problem).

Though the 6DOF was tailor made for FPS and real time strategy games, I found it quite useful for the more chill oriented MMORPG games I've been playing. The two I've been casually playing off and on are A Tale In The Desert and City of Heroes/Villains. A Tale In The Desert is mostly controlled with the mouse anyways, so no huge improvement in that game, but I was able to program a map button to the flick of a thumbstick, which though simple, I found infinitely useful. The 6DOF though has turned into a godsend with City of Heroes/Villains as I never have to use the keyboard at all (except if I need to chat and send a message to someone). With the 6DOF I programmed the middle thumbstick to respond to up, down, and left and right strafes, and on the left thumbstick I programmed left and right turns; by holding the middle thumbstick down like the typical thumbstick of a Xbox 360 game, for example, and using the left thumbstick to tweak view, it plays exactly as if I was using a keyboard. The only thing I found myself using the keyboard for then were jumps, but I programmed it to the right thumbstick flick down and now my left hand is left bored. Now, that doesn't mean the 6DOF is perfect even in that regards, because it's often hard to keep forward pressed, so my character will make constant stops and pauses, but given what I was able to program in, it works remarkably well.

I also found the 6DOF to come in handy with my job, which includes a lot of copying, pasting, select all, delete, and formats like bold, underline, and italics. After some experimenting I found a system that works perfectly for me, and now I'm easily able to copy and paste and make editing changes all with the flick of a thumbstick. For my work related program, I've seven different commands alone programmed to the thumbsticks.

The 6DOF comes programmed already with some nice mouse layouts for some of the popular FPS and real time strategy games out there already, but if those don't work you can tweak them so they work for you, and if your game isn't on that list, it's really easy to create a new program and then attach whatever buttons or commands you need to each thumbstick press. The 6DOF also comes with options for 400, 800, 1600, and 2000 DPI choices, so if one mouse movement is too sensitive, dial it down to see if one of the others work better (average work I use 1600 while for graphics programs 800 works well).

The mouse looks nice with its Wii white, but there are problems at hand. For starters, the mouse is way too big; I'm used to being able to pick my mouse up with one hand and replace it when necessary, but with the mouse and attachable fin the thing is a monster (removing the fin helps some, but it is still too bulky and heavy). The natural finger resting position also isn't great for the multi-thumbstick setup, so you might find your fingers getting cramped or your hand tiring out more than usual (at least until you get used to it, but even then not really 100% comfort fit). Another problem is the placement of the scroll wheel, as you have to arch your finger painfully to use it in the natural hand holding position. If I'm not using the thumbsticks for anything important, I'll often drift my hand down and away from the thumbsticks, so there is a more comfortable index finger (left click), middle finger (scroll wheel), and ring finger (right click) positioning.

For what the 6DOF was made for, it works relatively well, though there is lag to be had and I'm not quite sure I really saw an improvement in my gun blazing fighting ability. However, it did make my MMORPG playing easier and more convenient, so for that it gets some respect and kudos. Is it the end all, be all of all gaming mice? Nah. With that in mind, it isn't terrible, but it isn't amazing either. I do know it has improved some aspects of my computer work and play, but not necessarily what it was designed for. Still, since using it, I haven't gone back to the original mouse I had either, so something has to be said about that.

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