Razer Naga mouse requires always-on internet?

If you’re planning on buying one of Razer’s new Naga high-end gaming mice, you’d better make sure you have a reliable, always-on internet connection, or you’ll be spending upwards of R600 on a regular plug-and-play clicker with no special features.

According to a report over on TechDirt, Razer is now using a cloud-based version of their proprietary Synapse software which supports most of their device functions, including custom button settings and preferences. Although there’s technically an offline mode, users are complaining that the software locks-up during the transition from online, and may lose saved settings or simply revert to defaults.

Further complicating matters, online device registration (which also means creating an account with all your personal info) is mandatory before you can get Synapse working or even use the offline mode, and Razer has been having some activation server troubles – making it impossible for some people to access any of the device’s extra features at all. Which does sort of defeat the entire purpose of buying a mouse for those features in the first place.

Responding to grumbles on their official Facebook page, a Razer rep claimed that “Synapse 2.0 is NOT DRM. Our products work perfectly well out of the box without Synapse 2.0. Synapse 2.0 provides ADDITIONAL functionality of almost limitless memory in the cloud as opposed to taking away functionality (which is what DRM is).”

Apparently not having the use of the ten custom configurable buttons that are only, like, the Razer Naga’s biggest box feature is totally not taking away any functionality. I learned something new today!