The SideWinder X8 Mouse will ship in February (bleh), but it's pre-orderable now from Amazon.com (why bother this early, though?).

The X8 will use rechargeable batteries; Microsoft reports up to 30 hours of life on one charge. Plus the system includes the Play-and-Charge Cable with a cord management system, so if necessary you can make the mouse wired and still play while charging it.

I'm not really a fan of those vertical side buttons which carry over from the regular SideWinder, but oh, well.

Microsoft touts the X8's customization features, but nowadays they are pretty much par for the course.

• DPI switching. Instantly switch sensitivity among high, medium and low with one click, ranging from 250 to 4,000 dpi.
• Replaceable mouse feet. Choose from three materials for glide preference.
• Seven programmable buttons. Customize five programmable main buttons, plus left and right tilt.
• Macro record button. Easily record macros while in game with the dedicated button.

They do emphasize that they feel they have conquered the lag problem, bane of wireless mice. In an emailed press release, Bill Jukes, product marketing manager for Microsoft Hardware said:

"When conducting our research, we found room for improving on the wireless experience for gamers, especially as it related to perceived delay or lag time of response. The SideWinder X8 Mouse will put those wireless gaming mouse fears to rest. We designed this mouse to perform to the highest gaming standards — with near-zero latency, uninterrupted gameplay and the world’s most advanced tracking with BlueTrack Technology."

We'll see when it ships. Pricing? Think those other BlueTrack mice are expensive? This one is $99.99. And despite their SideWinder line, Microsoft has never been synonymous with "gaming," at least for me. Still, if BlueTrack turns out to be a significant advance over lasers, since this is a Microsoft-developed technology, these new mice may showcase a licensing boon for Redmond.