Professional gamers like Ninja use this music game to practice their aim and improve their mouse skills — Here’s how you can play for free

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Osu"Osu!"

  • "Osu!" is a free music game that lets you use a mouse, tablet or touch screen to follow along with different songs.
  • Professional gamers use "Osu!" to practice aiming and improve their mouse skills.
  • "Osu!" has tons of customization options— you can design your own tracks to play, or download hundreds made by other people online.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

If you’ve ever wondered how professional gamers keep their mouse skills so sharp, I’ve found the game for you. "Osu!" is a free music game for computers, inspired by classic Nintendo DS series of rhythm games "Osu! Tatake! Ouedan!"

The gameplay of "Osu!" is simple — you tap a series of circles to the beat of the music, occasionally dragging a ball or rotating a spinner on the screen as well. The game has a ton of customization options and players can make "beat maps" to match their favorite songs and share them with each other online.

Professional gamers frequently use "Osu!" as a warm-up or practice before gaming, especially players who play shooting games like "Fortnite" or "Counter-Strike." For example, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the most well-known professional gamer in the world, recommends using "Osu!" in his new book "Get Good."

Read more: I read Ninja’s new book on professional gaming — these are the 6 most important things I learned

Even if you’re not looking to push your mouse skills to the limit, "Osu!" can still be an addictive pasttime thanks to a limitless library of songs online. To get started with "Osu!," you’ll need to download the game first. You’ll start with about 40 tracks with a range of difficulties, and can use the same site to search for more.

Here’s how to get started with "Osu!"

First download Osu! from the official site. You can make an account to keep track of your scores and make it easier to find new songs.

"Osu!"

You can support Osu! by donating $4 or more per month for an Osu!direct account. With Osu!direct you can search and download songs directly from the game. Without Osu!direct you’ll have to use the website to download new songs and install them manually, which isn’t very hard.

Here’s a track I found that’s specifically designed to help people improve their aim with the mouse. 

You should take a look at your settings as soon as you start "Osu!" I prefer to turn off the storyboards and seasonal backgrounds on the main menu, since some of them aren’t exactly safe for work.

"Osu!"

There are tons of customization options for "Osu!," including different skins that can completely change how the game looks. You can find new skins online with a quick search, or on the "Osu!" community forum.

You’ll start with about 40 "beatmaps." Some songs will appear multiple times in the menu with different difficulty settings. You can also change your settings to play in different modes or make the game easier overall.

"Osu!"

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

SEE ALSO: I read Ninja’s new book on professional gaming — these are the 6 most important things I learned

Source: Business Insider – kwebb@businessinsider.com (Kevin Webb)

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