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Mad Catz returns from the dead with a dangerous-looking wireless mouse

Mad Catz returns from the dead with a dangerous-looking wireless mouse

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At last: a wireless, programmable 10-button mouse

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Image: Mad Catz

Last March, we bid farewell to Mad Catz, the world’s leading manufacturer of gaming mice and controllers, that looked like the offspring between a Michael Bay Transformer and medieval torture device.

According to CNET, a Chinese holding company largely comprised of former Mad Catz factory workers has purchased Mad Catz’s assets and branding and is resurrecting the accessory manufacturer.

The revitalized Mad Catz is set to release several new products at CES this year. The company is showing off three for now: a new wireless version of its popular RAT mouse, the RAT Air, along with a new Strike 4 keyboard and Freq 4 gaming headset.

The RAT Air is the standout here. It looks to be roughly on par feature-wise with the RAT Pro X, the company’s old high-end mouse. It offers the same 10 programmable buttons and 12,000 DPI optical sensor, along with a variety of customizable grips, but instead of connecting via a USB cable, users connect an included mouse pad (which features customizable LED lights, of course) to their computer, which the RAT Air then communicates through wirelessly. The idea resembles that of Logitech’s wirelessly charging mouse pad that we saw a few months back. Users will also be able to connect a wired cable directly when they’re away from their mouse pad, too.

According to CNET’s report, the new Mad Catz is working off the same factory tooling and parts as the old company, so hopefully quality will remain the same under new management. That said, while the manufacturing hasn’t changed, CNET points out that Mad Catz’s original design team was sold to Logitech back in 2016, so it’s still up in the air if future products from the resurrected company will maintain the classic, possibly dangerous Mad Catz style.