For 50 bones, you can frag, strafe, and try not to suck with ease! Enter the Steelseries SX mousepad, designed specifically for fast-paced P.C. shooters. The SX's shtick is that it is not only quiet, but virtually frictionless due to the fiber polished aluminum and the anodized oxide surface treatment. I don't know what most of those words mean, but there's no denying that this mousepad is slick. Y'know ... for a mousepad.

While the SX's sleek design may have put a dent in my cynicism, there's still enough left to go around. First of all is the pricepoint. Even the manufacturers know it's a bit much; just look at the title of the press release:

SteelSeries Announces Uber Expensive Exclusive Professional Gaming Surface

Furthermore, this is being marketed as mousepad for professional gaming. But isn't that the virtual equivalent of doping? I don't know, but it keeps me up at night.

Actually, it doesn't because no mousepad, no matter how blatantly overpriced, will ever save my woeful twitch FPS game (or lack thereof). 

But then again, it's just so sexy ... for a mousepad.

Specs and press release after the jump.

[Via NextLust]

- Extremely smooth mousepad

- Lifelong durablity thanks to coated aluminum

- Compatible with gaming grade optical and laser

- 320mm x 270mm (12,6 x 10,6in) - thickness 2mm (0,08in)

SteelSeries Announces Uber Expensive Exclusive Professional Gaming Surface

Denmark -- June 8th, 2007 -- SteelSeries, a leading manufacturer of innovative professional gaming gear, today announced the release of SteelSeries SX, a new professional gaming mousepad made of fiber polished aluminum featuring an anodized oxide surface treatment. The exclusive gaming surface raises the bar for gaming accessories, offering what is probably the smoothest gliding sensation ever found in a professional gaming mousepad.

SX (new)

 The spectacular gliding sensation of the SteelSeries SX is achieved by the most time consuming manufacturing process ever put into a mousepad from SteelSeries. Every SteelSeries SX is individually fiber polished and anodized, before being manually treated with a new unique liquid silicone coating, developed specifically for this surface. The surface on the SteelSeries SX was further developed and sophisticated from an original aluminum surface released by SteelSeries in 2001, once labeled "the sexiest mouse pad in the entire industry" by Angel Munoz, Founder and President of The Cyberathlete Professional League®.

The glide and feel of SteelSeries SX does not resemble any other professional gaming mousepad on the market today. During research and development of this surface, professional Counter-Strike players from Team NoA described the mousepad as "the purest form of glide in the world".

"With the SteelSeries SX we wanted to create something spectacular and exclusive," says Kim Rom, Marketing Director for SteelSeries. "It feels good to create a gaming surface where the only focus is performance, glide and the overall feel of the product - without trying strike a balance between production cost, price point and volume."

"With the SteelSeries SX we tried to reach new limits and I can honestly say we reached them. It was our goal to make a pad that would offer smoothness and be very durable and not lose it over time. We knew from experience that aluminum was a perfect material to achieve this goal." says Jonas 'Johnny R' Bollack, SteelSeries Development Team. "Several months, and after countless tests by professional gamers, later we can finally present the result. An anodized aluminum surface that does the job perfectly and both we and our testers agreed: This is as good as it (aluminum) gets. :-)"

Included with the mousepad is SteelSeries Glide MS and SteelSeries Silicone Glide, a specially designed saturated cloth, to further improve glide and reduce friction. Development, refinement and testing of the SteelSeries SX has taken 9 months and involved input and help from professionals players in Team NoA, mousesports, compLexity, Team 3D and Reason Gaming.

SteelSeries SX is available in very limited quantities at selected retailers worldwide. It is also available at the SteelSeries website as a single product - or in 3 different bundles: SteelSeries IME 3.0 SS bundle, SteelSeries 5H v2 USB bundle and as a SteelSeries 4H bundle.

About SteelSeries

SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software, and gaming surfaces. SteelSeries have been on the forefront of professional gaming gear since its inception in 2001, thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gamers. All SteelSeries products are developed in co-operation with professional gamers to ensure optimum performance and durability. SteelSeries supports the growth of competitive gaming and electronic sports through aggressive sponsoring of teams and support of communities, tournaments and LAN-events all over the world. For additional information, visit http://www.steelseries.com.