Review: Genius Ergomedia 500 peripheral

Most games require the use of a keyboard at some point or another. This can become uncomfortable in the long term as most keyboards aren't designed with gaming in mind.

The Genius Ergomedia 500 Gaming Explorer offers greater comfort and also has the convenience of recording short sequences of key presses, called macros.

Installation is as simple as plugging the Ergomedia into a spare USB socket. It has a built-in sound card, which allows you to use the keyboards integrated microphone and headphone sockets.

The software for programming the Ergomedia's keys is installed separately and is quite easy to use but with a couple of caveats. The most significant being the inability to print out any keyboard shortcuts. Yes, it's possible to take a screenshot and print it but this isn't really practical.

The other limitation is that any keyboard settings must be loaded onto the Ergomedia. It's not a tricky task but the process isn't intuitive; we had to look in the help file to find out how to do it.
Macros can be set up for other Windows software, though.

It may take a little getting used to but the Ergomedia does make gaming more comfortable. Compared to an ordinary keyboard, this new layout makes it possible to use more keys without moving your hand too much. There's also a blue light behind the keys, which makes for some cool low-light gaming.

At the same price as a decent joystick, this is a good buy for gamers and worth consideration for anyone who finds day-long keyboard work a strain on the wrists.

Vista compatible: No