Are you a compulsive PC gamer? Or do you just hate PC gaming because you hate using keyboard during game play and you're fixed to playing games on a dedicated console? Ergomedia 500 USB Gaming Keyboard (read Keypad) from Taiwan based Genius is the gadget which will change the way you game on a PC.

I just received my piece from Amazon and I was so much fascinated with the ergonomic design of the keypad, it really looks good sitting on my desktop. Alas I can't click a pic of it as my camera phone is under repair. But here I have some photos from the official website of Genius, for you to see. The unique hand friendly design ensures that there is minimum amount of hand movement and maximum comfort. It helps support your palm to avoid discomfort and fatigue when playing for longer periods. It also gives a very good feel and control over the game with the mouse in the right hand and the Ergomedia in the left.

Ergonomic palm rest design to support your hand for long time playing.

The eleven keys on the keypad are programmable and supports one touch recording and playback of macro sequences. Apart from that there is a 4 way direction button. The blue keypad back-lighting makes sure all keys are highly visible even in darkness.


Installation, like most other USB devices, is easy. Just plug and play. However, it comes along with an inbuilt sound card, earphone and microphone jacks (for in-game use and chatting online). So if you prefer to use your own sound card and audio setup, you have to enable them again in the Windows sound settings configuration as the installation process disables these by default.

Mic in and speaker out jack - great feature to eliminate inconvenient cable switching.

On the cons side, the Ergomedia 500 lacks the facility to print macros that you record. The only option would be to write them down unless you have a very sharp memory.

Ergomedia 500 is an additional peripheral rather than a keyboard replacement. You may still need the standard keyboard to type in messages, entering an IP address or dropping out of the action as there is no ESC key on the Ergomedia.

On the whole, it is a must buy for all compulsive PC gamers. It can also change the perception of those who are hooked to dedicated gaming consoles, like Playstation, Xbox or Nintendo Wii, towards PC gaming. So here is the link to the amazon store where you can get your Genius Ergomedia 500 for just $34.99 USD.