Keyboards are designed for typing, not gaming. Unfortunately, for me and many gamers I know, the keyboard and mouse combination has long been the only viable way of playing most games – the mouse for precision targeting and the keyboard for managing the dozens of commands available in any particular game. Joysticks traditionally have too low a report rate to be of much use in most games. That’s less of a problem with more recent USB joysticks than it is with the old game port ones, but even ignoring the report rate issues, the typical joystick or gamepad doesn’t have enough buttons on it to replace the keyboard for most games. So, every time I start playing a new game, I try to map the keys to as small an area as possible on my keyboard. Ideally, I’d like the controls confined to a small enough area that my keyboard hand wouldn’t have to move at all while I played, but sadly, most worthwhile games these days have far too many commands for that. I’ve always been able to manage, but it’s always seemed like there must be a better way. Now there is. It’s called the Sidewinder Strategic Commander.

The Strategic Commander concept is simple: it is a left-handed gaming device which acts as a virtual keyboard. Because of this simple design, the Strategic Commander can be used for any game that can be played with a keyboard and can very easily be configured in the manner most convenient for the user. It allows quick access to a large number of functions without ever having to lift your fingers from its buttons, and because it connects via USB, it offers a fast enough report rate to be useful where many older joysticks or gamepads would not be.

Everything on the Strategic Commander is programmable. Microsoft claims that it is intended for real-time strategy games such as Starcraft or Dark Reign 2, and that the zoom buttons and ability to move and rotate the Commander on its base are for panning, rotating, and zooming the maps on such games. However, you can easily reprogram 8 directions of movement, both directions of rotation, and the zoom in and zoom out buttons to other convenient functions for the game you want to play.

That’s all well and good, but what really makes the Strategic Commander shine are the six programmable buttons. These can be programmed to emulate any single keyboard key, combinations of keyboard keys, or even sequences of keys, mouse clicks (left, right, or middle), and pauses of various lengths. Of course, six programmable buttons wouldn’t really be very useful for many games, so there are also three thumb-activated shift buttons. Each of the six programmable buttons can be assigned functions for when they are pressed in combination with each of the shift buttons, for a total of up to four functions per button. Between the programmable buttons, shifted programmable buttons, the zoom buttons, rotation, and movement, you can have 36 functions assigned to a given Strategic Commander profile.

Instant access to a few dozen commands would have been enough to sell me on the commander, but it gets better. You can keep three profiles loaded at a given time and switch between them just by flipping a switch on the base. The Commander comes with about 30 prefab profiles, mostly for real-time strategy games and a few role playing games. Microsoft maintains a “Sidewinder Update” site where they will post new profiles, and, more importantly, it is very easy to create and edit your own profile for your favorite game.

So what can you use this thing for? Personally, I intend to use it for everything. At least, I intend to try. I'm going to try it on Asheron's Call and Starcraft, and I've got a profile ready and waiting for the release of Escape from Monkey Island. I've got a profile set up that allows me to play Final Fantasy VIII one-handed, which is handy when I want to play and eat at the same time without making my peripherals filthy.

The game that's given me the best results with the Strategic Commander is Diablo II. If ever there was a game that had too many keyboard functions for its own good, it’s Diablo II. Back when I was still using my keyboard, I was constantly scrambling around trying to manage my character/inventory/quest/skill tree panels, switching between skills, run/walk toggle, scrolling around on the automap, and so on. Having configured my Strategic Commander for Diablo II, I now have access to ever single function I need for the game without ever having to take my hands off my mouse or the Commander and without having to look away from the screen to figure out what key I need to press.

The only type of game I play where the Strategic Commander may not be useful is first person shooters like Unreal Tournament and Quake III: Arena. I suspect it might be a bit awkward controlling your movement with a Strategic Commander in those games, although I think it would probably be handy for something more along the lines of Deus Ex, which isn't quite as frantic. If first person shooters are the only type of game you play, this may not be the peripheral for you, but I don’t I own a single non-FPS game that I won’t be playing with the Strategic Commander.

My only complaint about the Strategic Commander is a minor one: I hate the way it glows. When a button is programmed it glows, which helps you avoid accidentally programming something over an existing binding. In all the promotional pictures I saw before it was released, the buttons glowed green, which seemed like a good choice of color to me. I was mildly dismayed when I plugged mine in and discovered that they decided to make the buttons emit a harsh reddish-orange glow rather than the soothing green I expected. I usually leave my computer running in my dorm room overnight, and the amount of light those six glowing buttons produce in an otherwise dark room is ridiculous.

However, it should be noted that I am very good at finding fault in things, particularly when it comes to computers. When the biggest complaint I have about a peripheral is the way it glows, consider it a ringing endorsement. I’ve only owned my Sidewinder Strategic Commander for a week and the changes I have made to the way I play my games have most assuredly been positive. Every serious gamer should have one.




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 40