Nostromo : the ultimate gamepad?

Qu'est ce que cet engin ?
Belkin had already created a gamepad, the Nostromo n50 model, designed for game addicts and especially FPS fans (First Person Shooters), which is my case as I'm a big fan of Call of Duty. Its goal was to regroup a maximal amount of functions under a single hand in order to limit movements between the gamepad and the keyboard, which may sometimes cause trouble during action.

That's what the n52 is all about, under your fingertips you'll have 108 commands, yes that's true! If you take into account the 14 keyboard-like keys, the scroll wheel (that's also a button), the orange button, the small directional pad (that manages the up, down, right and left axes, as well as the diagonal axes), if you add the button that's just underneath, this makes a primary total of 27 commands. And with the 4 "Shift states", which allow you to switch from a command state to another - namely a "No Shift", a Red, a Green and a Blue Shift, highlighted by luminescent diodes, - you get a final 108 key combinations in a single hand. This is the end of acrobatic manoeuvres.

What's in the box?

In the nice, translucent and thermoformed box, which lets you find out how it feels when you put your hand on top of the pad, there's an installation CD, for Mac and PC, an English only guide and of course the pad itself. On the CD, compatible Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP, as well as Mac OS 9.04 or more and Mac OS X 10.2 or more, you'll find the "Nostromo Array 1.1" software, an application that will help you program all the keys and wheels of the pad.

The overall impression is of good quality, the Nostromo has an anti-slipping left hand rest, quite useful if you get a bit tense, a long USB plug, which looked a bit rigid to me and for big hands, a two-position pad.