News Razer announces Anansi MMO keyboard

Razer has announced what it claims is the world's first MMO-centric keyboard.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/10/27/razer-anansi-mmo-keyboard/1

 

Nice try, but irrelevant

I will simply never buy another KB type without an LCD screen like the G15, it is too useful, in fact there is one on my G15 and my G13.

S*D

 

Below the spacebar? The place where I normally rest my hands? Yeah, super choice of location for modifier keys -.-'

And who the F cares for 16 billion colour combinations?!

 

Who actually looks at there keyboard when playing games, if you want to die why playing with the colours this is the keyboard for you.

 

looks nice but silly design feature for keys under the space and £87 price tag is a kick to the nuts

 

i like under the space.....

my hands rest on the left and right of it. my thumbs will be happy.


but the price tag - as with any Razer product - is the killer.

 

No, mechanical keyboards are designed and built for typing. "The regular keyboard that came with your PC" was designed and built to be cheap.

 

I can't see anything in those dark photos. Srsly stop putting keys where ppl rest their hands.

 

There really is no need for more keys on any razer keyboard, especially if you got the Naga already. You can remap any key on the keyboard to a macro or shortcut. That way you have 10 skills on the num keys, 10-12 skills on the numpad (remapped to Ctrl or Alt+Num) and 10-12 skills on the mouse. That's 30 skills to remember and use propperly already. Hell, in most MMOs or RPGs you can't even learn that many skills.

 

Decent idea, you can assign a color to each skill to help you remember what's what I suppose.

@StarDagger

My previous keyboard was a 1st gen Logitech G15. The LCD was handy, but the keys were so ridiculously mushy after half a year of use that typing became a chore. Bad rubber domes don't age well at all.. I changed to an ABS M1, a low low end mechanical keyboard with many known issues, and haven't looked back. If you need an LCD so badly, hack up an external enclosure for a Matrix Orbital or Crystalfontz display (or even the LCD from the keyboard, it has been done) and upgrade to a mechanical gaming board like a Steelseries 6Gv2 or similar. Just my .02, gaming keyboards with rubber domes are about as useless as most gaming headsets..

 

bad design with the keys under the space bar?
excuse me?

those buttons are primely positioned for the thumb, it's an excelent design idea, specially if you consider that in normal MMOs the players are more than tired of using the thumb on that space bar for jump spamming!

it's giving the whole finger a new use... however, the color thingy... now THAT's a poor design choice... no MMO gamer, wether PvE or PvP would ever actually look at their keyboard...

 

I think you can't choose the color of every key, only all at once. Still I don't see why that'd be a bad design choice tbh. Glowing keys are awesome, if only for typing in a dimmed room. If you can change the color and it doesn't up the cost too much why not? It's a nice touch.

The position of the key's might not be that much of a bad idea either. Sure you might use the space bar sometimes, but the keys are easy to use in key combinations with Ctrl and Alt as well. Logitech keyboards have had additional keys for years, only that you can't use them as you can't reach them without moving your hand. It's a pretty sensible space for additional buttons really. With other keyboards they's work great.

Only with Razer keyboards you really just do not need them, esp. considering the price.

 

A keyboard doesn't really have a good layout for playing games to start with and people like me, who don't use WASD for several reasons can't make any use of those keys placed below the space-bar.

If you're really interested in getting a "keyboard" for playing games, then there's way better options to be found like the Logitech G13 or the totally superior Ergodex DX-1.

 

The keyboard is designed for MMOs. The point is that it has more keys than your regular keyboard, not less. Good point about the WASD though. What keys do you use for movement in RPGs?

 

Is any kb really worth shelling out the best part of £100 for?

 

Das Keyboard - It's worth it.

 

Thought it was to be paired with the Skunk mouse really, Badoom Cha!

 

When I use the WASD-keys for longer then 30 minutes, then I get spasms in my hand, as the layout simply doesn't match up very well with my hand when talking about ergonomics.
I used Pos1/End/Ins/PgDown (W/A/S/D) and the keys around it (Num0/Left-Arrow/Down-Arrow with thumb, PgUp/Num7/Del with middle-finger and asteriks with small finger) before I got myself an Ergodex DX-1.

Usually you don't need more then 10 keys anyways and with the Ergodex I've got 13-programmable keys now without needing to stretch or flex my fingers.

 

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=topre_keyboards

 

How and why on earth do you guys "rest your thumb right there"? I know I keep mine on the space bar all the time, so having extra keys under the bar aren't going to cause any problems. I tried something similar with the Roccat Arvo keyboard and while they didn't quite nail the design, the idea is good and I'm looking forward to trying the Anansi out.

The only "fail" I can see here is the marketing BS claiming this to be the first MMO-keyboard...