Manufacturer: Microsoft
Hardware Version: 1.0
Reviewed By: Goy Larsen

Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander

Now try saying that really fast 5 times after a "few" beers....Ok, so your English is better than mine, sue me :-)

This person is not a big fan of Microsoft, especially their way of doing business but that's for another time. There's one thing I *do* like about MS, and that's the fact that they sit down and ask themselves; "What do people want/need ?"

Amazing isn't it, and during one of these sessions, a light bulb came on somewhere and they figured that a lot of people play games, and more importantly for this review, some people would like to have certain keystrokes readily available without taking their eyes off of the screen.

Others have done this before of course, I fondly remember my Verbal Commander that let me speak commands to my computer, letting me go through the various "F screens" in N2 without taking my hands off of my wheel, but it was also a bit cumbersome, because in the heat of the moment, say you just managed to avoid a wreck, you need to make some quick adjustments and the yellow is flying and you're a bit "agitated", not always that easy to get it to understand what you are trying to tell it :-), which is why I always liked to run with a few "pre programmed" buttons on my wheel as well, MS has finally released their own version of this.

System Requirements:

Multimedia personal computer with Pentium 166 or higher processor and USB port
Microsoft Windows98 operating system
16 MB of memory (RAM)
25 MB of available hard-disk space
Quad-speed CD-ROM drive
Super VGA, 256-color monitor
Sound capability for instructional video
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later browser software to view User Guide
Pointing device, such as Microsoft Mouse or IntelliMouse® pointing device recommended
Printer for profile printouts (optional) (DUH ! :-)

First Impressions:

The "Strategic Commander" is simply a "pod" that fits the shape of your left hand and has several programmable buttons on it, much like the "throttle controls" you'd buy to accompany your flight stick if you were into flight sims, using all the 3 "profiles" available to you with the flick of a switch, you have 72 programmable buttons readily available, not that I could ever remember that many, but that's another story :-)

I guess it can be used for FPS games as well, since the "pod" can be moved left, right, forwards and backwards, it can be turned left and right and has two extra buttons for zoom in/out, and these functions are programmable as well, so you could end up with a whole host of functions here in addition to the 72 mentioned earlier, and those 3 profiles can all be accessed "on the fly", and there's even a "record" button allowing you to program buttons "on the fly" while in the game.......I haven't tried this yet myself, and I feel this is a feature with limited usefulness, but it's there if you need it

Installation is a breeze, providing you actually read the installation instructions first....

...and it comes with preprogrammed profiles for these games

Age of Empires® II
Age of Empires II: Turbo Start
Age of Empires II: Military Age of Kings
Alpha Centauri
Asheron's Call® - Fighter
Asheron's Call - Fighter Plus Magic
Asheron's Call - War Magic
Baldur's Gate
Command and Conquer - Tiberian Sun Close
Combat 3 Close
Combat 3 - Expert
Dungeon Keeper 2 - Keeper Mode
Dungeon Keeper 2 - Possessed Mode
Earth 2150
Homeworld
Invictus
MechCommander™
Metal Fatigue
Myth 2
Pharoah
Populous
SimCity 3000
Star Trek Armada
Star Trek Fleet Command
Star Wars Force Commander
Starcraft - Protoss Expert
Starcraft - Terran Expert
Starcraft - Zerg Expert
Warzone 2100

...but I can't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to use it with just about any game on the market.

Being a guy, I gave the manual but a brief glimpse as I unpacked the goods, tore off that little green sticker that covered the USB connector (USB only) and plugged it in. Win98SE detected it and installed the drivers, in with the CD and installed the software, hey, this is cool.........and then.......

A big friggin error message telling me that my Strategic Commander isn't working properly and that some system files may be corrupted, WTF ??

Ok, reinstalled the software, same thing, uninstalled and reinstalled the software again, same thing....AAARGH, bloody MS, can't they do *anything* right these days........

Then as I'm getting ready to pack it in I notice that green sticker that was covering the USB connector earlier, "Install software first".......

Well what do you know, it says the exact same thing on the cover of the manual. OK, unplugged the thingy, uninstalled the software, rebooted, installed the software, and a bit into the installation it tells me to plug in the Strategic Commander and make sure the "pod" in centered so it will be calibrated properly....hey, never got that screen earlier. Installation continues and not a single error message....., what can I say, I'm a man, and real men don't read manuals, manuals are for wimps !!!

After that everything went really smooth. It comes with plenty of ready made profiles for a bunch of games, and ready made profiles can be downloaded from the internet as well. Programming your own buttons and making new profiles is easy, even without reading the manual :-), a bit time consuming, but easy enough, you open a menu, click on the button you wish to program, type in the "keyword/name" you wish to give it, hit the key, or key combo such as "ctrl+F4", and you're done. There's a second menu for the zoom buttons and the moving functions, all of which can be programmed for different functions in the 3 profiles, cool

I quickly set it up with some basic functions for N3, such as the "F-keys" and such, and fired up N3. Works like a charm, although I couldn't place the "pod" in a comfy position due to the way I have my wheel set up these days, but a small table next to my racing seat or something will sort that out. The buttons have a nice firm "action", you'll notice a "click" when you engage it, and the placing is ok too I guess, getting to the 3 way "profile" switch in the heat of the action won't be too easy, but how many buttons do you really need in a racing game? There's 24 readily available in each profile plus you can program the two "zoom" buttons as well

The Verdict:

For me, who has a homemade analogue wheel with only four non programmable buttons,two of which are used for shifting, this is the "perfect" companion. Even though I liked my Verbal Commander and made good use of it, I never felt that I had "absolute" control over what happened on my screen, especially when you got a little "agitated.... Is it worth the 49.95 $ then ? To me, the answer is yes, because my Verbal Commander used an ISA expansion card and my PC no longer has ISA slots. I had this old keyboard lying around that I was going to turn into a "racing dashboard" in some way, but this is a much smoother solution. I'm looking forward to making good use of this one, and even though I still have to take a hand off of my wheel to get to the keys, they are right there next to my left hand, just like the gear lever is to my right, and it's only a matter of getting used to it and make it an intuitive action whenever you need to use it. I really like it so far, well done MS!