During CES 2014, we stumbled upon Sinister: a truly innovative approach to potentially transition console gamers to PC gaming. We got the chance to speak with Chris Zhao-Holland from Tivitas Interactive who gave us a brief walk-through of a prototyped device. Sinister, in short, is an customizable device that lays on your desk and has buttons that map to console controller buttons. Most of the components are easily swappable which can be swapped at any time, including during gameplay. Additionally, the Sinister is plug and play compatible, meaning no need for drivers, even if you’re on Linux. Sinister could also be used in any one of the following four user modes: “an Xinput device (emulating a gaming controller, using mouse as right analog nub), hybrid-mode (gaming controller + regular cursor mouse), DirectInput for older games, and universal compatibility with Emulation (keypad + mouse mode) which can be assigned macro”.
We’ve all encountered some sort of device that attempt to assist console gamers, like myself, from transitioning to PC gaming but Sinister seems promising. At least to myself. While it may look like a mouse, Sinister’s swappable buttons as well as it’s correlation to console buttons we’re already accustomed to, does make it something to keep you’re eye out for.
Additionally, if you’re interested in learning more, Tivitas is currently running a Kickstarter for Sinister. Below is their pitch video and if you’re interested in backing the project, please check out their Kickstarter here.
You can also check out our video interview with Chris Zhao-Holland from Tivitas Interactive during CES 2014
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