LONDON - While the biggest computer show in London, ECTS, is still more than a week away, Microsoft won't be attending. Instead, the company showed off some of its latest games and controllers to GameSpot News for the first time in the basement of a small restaurant beside the Tower Bridge (and coincidentally beside the GameSpot UK offices).

　　While we've already spoken about the futuristic-looking IntelliMouse Explorer mouse device with an optical sensor in place of a roller ball from E3, we also got our hands on the latest model of the updated standard IntelliMouse. (The only difference in the updated mouse is that the roller ball is missing, and the same bright red LED and optical sensor glows when you lift the mouse up; after a few seconds, the light dims). It works just as well as the IntelliMouse Explorer with the higher bit rate but arguably, it doesn't look as interesting. Left-handed mouse users will likely choose the standard IntelliMouse, since the Explorer is a right-hand-only device. Both the IntelliMouse Explorer and updated IntelliMouse devices are USB and PS2 compatible. They will be released this September in the US for about US$75 and $55, respectively. (The mice will release in the UK on October 1 for UK£49.99 and £39.99.)

　　One mouse we hadn't seen before was Microsoft's first leap into wireless. The Cordless Wheel Mouse has a similar design to the current Wheel Mouse, but it doesn't have a cord. The mouse uses two-channel radio technology to detect movement instead of using Infrared Red (IR); this makes it easy to mouse around without continually having to point the mouse at the receiver base. The receiver base plugs into your PS2 or 9-pin serial port (yes, it is strange that the receiver isn't USB compatible), and you can use your mouse from up to five feet away. No word on whether the new beige mouse will release in the States, but it will release here in the UK on October 1, for £29.99 (about $48).

　　We also laid our hands on Microsoft's trio of new keyboards for the first time. Due in October, the Natural Keyboard Pro and the Internet Keyboard should be hitting US shelves, priced at $29.95 and $79.95 (£24.99 and £49.99), respectively. The new Natural Keyboard Pro returns to the larger key size of its first edition and leaves the Elite design far behind. Keys are cushy to the touch, and the space bar now travels much less than the space bar in the first keyboard in the series. (Original Natural owners know that the space bar travels down quite a bit.) The 19 special purple keys give users access to CD, sleep mode, Internet Explorer, and other functions while allowing users to reprogram keys to serve other functions. And the best feature of the board has to be the two USB connections at its back (and you'll have to connect the keyboard to a USB connection at the back of your PC to make this feature work). These let you connect mice, new game controllers, digital cameras, and other device without having to hunt around the back of your PC.

　　The Internet Keyboard is definitely the less glamorous of the two keyboards - without the USB connections or the curvy designs of the Natural - but it gives users ten hot keys to access various applications, and it has a removable purple wrist rest. Keys have the same feel as the Natural's and should be strong enough to take on the rigorous repeated button pressing of gamers everywhere.

　　The third keyboard, the Internet Keyboard Pro, has all the creature comforts of the Internet Keyboard and adds 19 hot keys and two USB connections. It can attach either to a PS2 or USB port. UK gamers can expect to pick up the keyboard in November for £39.99 (US$64), but US gamers will have to wait until sometime in early 2000 to see the Internet Keyboard Pro on shelves.

　　Topping gamers' wish lists when it comes to Microsoft's keyboards are larger arrow keys, since Microsoft's Natural Elite keyboards (the second generation of Microsoft keyboards) had the smallest arrow keys known to gamerkind. We're happy to report that all the new boards have standard-sized arrow keys. The next item on the wish list would have to be the use of hot keys for new options in games, and while we're sure it can be done, Microsoft has yet to announce such a feature. And after hearing all the positive feedback about the IntelliMouse Explorer design, we're surprised that Microsoft hasn't announced an IntelliMouse Explorer-styled keyboard.

　　As we get beta or complete versions of the keyboards and their software, expect to find in-depth reviews on each of the boards soon.