Are wireless trackballs any good for gaming?

[Kook]

I converted a Mortal Kombat II cab for MAME. A design goal was to preserve the original cabinet as much as possible. So I use the original control panel (2 8-way joysticks, 2 start buttons, and 5 buttons per player). Since this is somewhat limiting, I added Logitech Cordless Rumblepads, which work great for certain games, and make the whole system more flexible.

Now I am thinking about going a step further and adding a wireless trackball. Are these any good for gaming? Will they even work with MAME? I had my eye on the IOGEAR handheld wireless trackball (http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GME322R) and the Kensington Expert (http://www.kensington.com/html/4136.html).

Kook

[cholin]

Alot of people say wireless is bad for gaming, and I kinda agree.  If you're making a cab, then why not just use a regular wired trackball?  Wireless can be a good thing, but if its just going in a CP...  On the other hand, I use my wireless KB/mouse to play all my games and I never have problems.  The thing that may get you is the wireless connector must be aimed directly at the trackball.  Im pretty sure it will work in mame because it plugs into the computer just like any other trackball/mouse.

You can use the wireless trackball, but wired will be much better if youre playing fast-pased games...

[Trimoor]

Get a wireless ball mouse and hack it to an Imperial trackball.

I have a wireless mouse, and it works just as well as the wired one for gaming.  (Actually, they both sucked because the older optical mice had horrible tracking and latency problems for fast movements.  But they both worked the same.)