Nostromo n50 SpeedPad

[drslump]

n50 SpeedPad

Anyone owns or has used it?

I quite like it and I'm thinking in buying it. I'll use it mainly for FPS like Quake3, UT2k3 or Wolfenstein. So is it any good for this kind of games?

And since my brithday is coming in a few weeks, I'll like to get a stereoscopic glasses but I'm running a Parhelia. So does anyone know of a model which works on Parhelia?


cheers, Ivan

[K6-III]

I've got the N50. Used it a little, but seeing as I've pretty much gotten out of gaming, I find I use it still less to never now...

[VJ]

I have considered something like that for more comfortable gaming, but there aren't any that are suitable for righthanded use (mouse left, pad on the right)... Thrustmaster does have a keypad that looks interesting (for lefthanded/mouse right use): http://europe.thrustmaster.com/produ...fam.php?fam=44 (haven't used it though)

Saitek used to have a rectangular "keyboard", but it seems to have gone now...


Jörg

[drslump]

I just play a few hours a week so that Thrustmaster thingy would be too overkill for me

So K6, does it improve the gameplay experience?

[VJ]

I have thought about a joystick/trackball combo... Apparently, that is sometimes done (the Panther XL was such a device); there even is a clan that is devoted to joystick/trackball combo users : http://www.assassin3d.com/sections.p...ticle&artid=55
(it is just a thought )

Jörg

[dZeus]

joystick never kan be as responsive as a button presses on a keyboard for fps gaming. The nostromo thing looks interesting, but I doubt it'll be much better than an ordinary keyboard.

and trackball? I doubt it's better than a mouse

[drslump]

What I like the most of the n50 is the ability to program the keys, so I can give it another use when I'm not gaming.

VJ, you seem to know every gaming device this side of the sun!
Do you know of any speech-recognition program to be used in games? I mean, that if I say "shoot-gun" on the microphone while playing Quake, it'll select the shoot-gun. That will be really helpful for some tasks, not to change weapons it was an example

ciao, ivan

[drslump]

Originally posted by dZeus
joystick never kan be as responsive as a button presses on a keyboard for fps gaming. The nostromo thing looks interesting, but I doubt it'll be much better than an ordinary keyboard.

and trackball? I doubt it's better than a mouse

I don't like/use joysticks but that combo must be real good for flight simulators, me thinks.

About the trackball, I use one and I love it but it's accuracy is less than with a mouse (at least for me). That's one of the reasons I'll like to get a helping device for gaming, I can't compete with good players due to my lack of accuracy with the trackball

But ofcourse that since I game with a Parhelia I can't get 300fps
so that could be the cause

ciao, ivan

[VJ]

Originally posted by drslump
VJ, you seem to know every gaming device this side of the sun!

Well, I did some snooping around as I found a keyboard not that comfortable to work with (perhaps as I'm left-handed, so the trackball goes in the left hand; and then the traditional WASD-config doesn't work ; or perhaps as I suffer from artritis, and using a keyboard tends to hurt after a while ).
I've been searching for quite some time for a comfortable allround controller (don't like game pads, they seem to hurt even more), and I haven't found such a Nostromo-kind of thing for right-hand use. The claw (http://www.claw.com.au/ ) once claimed to come up with a righthanded model, but they didn't. The Microsoft Strategic commander looked interesting (it seems to have gone from their website now), but I couldn't find many resources on its uses (and it also was for use in the left hand).
So I'm now having my eyes on a joystick; perhaps in my case it is less painfull on my fingers (different movement instead of keypresses like at work). Maybe the upcoming Saitek... But as I'm no hardcore gamer, it isn't at all urgent for me...

Do you know of any speech-recognition program to be used in games? I mean, that if I say "shoot-gun" on the microphone while playing Quake, it'll select the shoot-gun. That will be really helpful for some tasks, not to change weapons it was an example

Doesn't Mircosoft have some software for that ? Ah, here it is: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/si.../GameVoice.asp
Don't know how it performs though...


(We Belgians have got a bad (?) reputation in the field of voice recognition, afther the Lernout and Hauspie fiasco...)

Jörg

[K6-III]

Originally posted by drslump
So K6, does it improve the gameplay experience?

It does improve the gameplay experience, but not by as much as it might seem...

[drslump]

Great

I can't find a single shop in Spain to buy the N50, at least online. If I place an order from an US shop the parcel is gonna cost me twice the prize of the device

Sometimes I wonder what's doing the Spanish pressident, Aznar, visiting so often Bush. Spain still sucks when you want to buy any technological equipment. Even internet is a non-important subject for our goverment. They think internet is evil and comunist (not joking)
I wish England had a warmer weather

Ivan