Razer has announced it's entrance into the console market. According to a press release Razer is developing a gaming controller  called Razer Onza and a headset, the Razer Chimaera both for Microsofts's Xbox 360® gaming console.

The tech details, the Onza will feature Razer's well known Hyperesponse technology which enhances tactile feedback for buttons,. It will also come with adjustable tension analog sticks, a programmable Multi-function button and "wired Control for Virtually Lag Free Gameplay", altough we're not really sure what virtually lag free means here.

The Razer Chimaera Professional Gaming Headset comes with 5.1 Channel Virtual Surround Sound. Our guess would be  that this means it's a two driver system. It's also a closed (Circumaural) design to block noise and comes with a Daisy-Chain Cable System which according to the press release allows "multiple base stations to connect for private communication channel".

Nameology 101, with entering a new market Razer also seems to steer further away from their common animal names:The Chimaera (heaset) is a fish species informally known as ghost sharks or rat fishs (we hope it will get along with Razer's serpent predators).  The Onza (game controller) is Brasilian/Portuguese for a jaguar species native to the amazonian jungle.

For the price tags: the Onza will cost about US $49.99 and the Chimaera US $129.9. So far no real information about when they'll be available other than "worldwide". But judging by the lack of actual pictures (only renderings are available so far) we would be surprised to see them on the shelves before Q3 2010. Update: Razer's press release.

The Razer Blueprints team wishes you a happy new year and all the best for 2010.

Thank you again for your ongoing support.

From Razer's Facebook page:

The Razer Abyssus Gaming Mouse | Back to the basics.

The Razer Abyssus is created for gamers looking for quality, reliability and performance in a no-nonsense, straightforward gaming-grade mouse. Designed to focus on the fundamentals of competitive gaming, the Razer Abyssus is armed with ultra-responsive buttons tuned for maximum tactile feedback.

The 3500dpi Razer Precision™ 3.5G infrared sensor is engineered with No Drift Control (aka prediction), delivering absolute accuracy of movement in-game. And when you have to adapt to your game instantly, two hardware toggles allows for 125/1000Hz polling rate and 450/1800/3500dpi adjustments without the need for software drivers.

For more information, check out here . 

So you think Razer sells overpriced expensive mouses? Have a look at the wireless Titanium ID mouse. It's made out of grade 1 titanium (yeah, that's right not that cheapo B-grade titanium everyone else uses) has a neodymium scroll wheel and costs about 800 Euros. Not much information about the actual optical technology other than it's laser powered and bluetooth. If you're interested it will be on display at the millionaire fair in Amsterdam later this year. Guess that says it all...

Microsoft Research is presenting their ideas of the next generation of mouse interfaces: It's a combination of multitouch and mouse technology featureing different approaches as Side, Orb, Cap and my personal favourite: the FTIR mouse, which stands for frustrated total internal reflection and uses an internal infrared camera and light source to track your fingers movement on the transparent mouse surface. Let's hope that 'rustrated' does not also describe the final customer experience. Sometime engineers go a bit crazy with technology and forget the actual purpose, moving a cursor on a screen. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to know if Razer his working on similar approaches. Head over to mixxedbag for more information on this.