It's been done before - Quake players endorsing products: KillCreek lent her good name to the Spacetec SpaceOrb 360 game controller (which she endorsed last April). Now, after eight months of ongoing conversations with Microsoft, Thresh throws his hat in the ring by endorsing his mouse of choice.

　　Quake champion (and driver of a John Carmack Ferrari), Dennis "Thresh" Fong has signed with juggernaut Microsoft to endorse its Mouse 2.0 product. Thresh says he's been using the product exclusively since March of 1994. The contract, which according to Thresh's agent Peter Kim, goes into effect February 1, is initially for the term of four months.

　　Kim told GameSpot News that mouse maker Logitech had approached Fong with an endorsement deal, but Fong didn't bite. "I don't believe in endorsing something I don't use," Fong told GameSpot News at Friday's PGL tourney in Seattle, Wash.

　　The 20-year-old Los Altos, Calif., resident, known throughout the Quake community as its warrior without peer, has pulled in over US$100,000 in prizes and winnings in his career as a professional gamer. This weekend, Thresh is going back to his roots at the Professional Gamers League championships at GameWorks in Seattle. All eyes will be on him to see if once again he can show the world that he is the undisputed king of Quake.

　　"The Microsoft Mouse 2.0 has been indispensable to me throughout my career," Thresh said in a statement. "While the endorsement is exciting for me, it's kind of a no-brainer, because I've been openly recommending this mouse to the gaming world for quite some time. To be frank, I'm not sure I would have been as successful without the Microsoft Mouse 2.0. It's the best."

　　Brett Schnepf, technical evangelist for the Microsoft Hardware Group, noted that Thresh used Microsoft Mouse 2.0 long before he signed the endorsement deal with Microsoft. "Thresh's decision to use Microsoft Mouse 2.0 as his input device of choice during PGL and other professional PC gaming competitions speaks for itself," Schnepf said.

　　"There are probably few people who use a mouse more intensely than a championship gamer like Thresh - and in a gaming context, choosing the right mouse can be a life-or-death proposition."