The ErgoMedia 500 apes the Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad n52 and Saitek Pro Gamer in being fewer than wholly helpful. The difficulty must be clear. You still require a keyboard to type messages or to answer X-Fire pop-ups, and you still require one to do essential tasks similar to join a game.

So these 'command units' must sit next to the hardware you're sure to have previously, mess up your desk and difficult that you shove things about to make room. And truthfully, they don't create you play better.

Even as the ErgoMedia 500 is marvelously made, stylishly shaped and well intentioned, all it's doing is copy piece of a control system that's previously second-nature to each game, and in so doing is creation the whole business quite complex.