By Andrew Liszewski
Though not yet a household name, Ideazon is probably already familiar to hardcore PC gamers as the company that makes those Zboard keyboards with the swappable, custom layouts for specific games. But if you don’t feel like buying a new layout everytime you buy a new game the company also offers a slightly more traditional keyboard called the MERC.
I say slightly more traditional because while it has the usual QWERTY layout and various other multimedia buttons and hot keys the MERC also has a special section on the left side of the keyboard for 45 additional gaming-specific buttons. These include dedicated buttons for walking, crouching, jumping and other standard functions but also other buttons that can be reprogrammed on a game by game basis using downloadable ‘MOD’ config files. Recently XYZcomputing.com took the MERC keyboard for a spin and was mostly impressed. Some complaints included the fact that the QWERTY section feels off-center with the addition of the extra gaming keys and as a WASD purist they never fully got used to it but felt it would be great for those looking for a change.
The MERC Keyboard can be found at Amazon.com for $31.99.
[ Ideazon MERC Gaming Keyboard ] VIA [ Krunker ]
Nice idea, I’d be worried about it not working with some games though.
@ Mike: i guess that wont be lots of problems since it probably would simulate normal key input (eg: the big red up/forward button would prabably emit W-key signals). Profile creation and key remapping could be somewhat of a downer though.
I wish they’d just reinforce the print on WASD keys on normal boards because my W is wearing out a bit.
I tried one of these recently and found it to be pretty good. Comfortable to use and easy to get used to the layout. Certainly cheaper than buying a separate gaming keypad.
I tried one of these recently and found it to be pretty good. Comfortable to use and easy to get used to the layout. Certainly cheaper than buying a separate gaming keypad.
I tried one of these recently and found it to be pretty good. Comfortable to use and easy to get used to the layout. Certainly cheaper than buying a separate gaming keypad.