Belkin rejoins gaming with n52te SpeedPad

Belkin today pledged its renewed attention to computer gaming by announcing the n52te SpeedPad, the company's first PC-oriented controller in years. The device earns its namesake Tournament Edition title through a combination of hardware and software made for first-person shooters, online RPGs, and real-time strategy. Fifteen programmable buttons have been given an enhanced feel and can be set up by software from gaming specialists Razer to match some of the most common functions in a given game. With onboard memory, the controller can remember settings without needing a program on the attached computer. Gamers can save multiple player profiles and even switch between three different key mappings on the fly.

The entire keypad and a dedicated scroll wheel are backlit for the dark environments of gaming competitions and are braced by an eight-way directional pad as well as a soft wrist pad to prevent excessive strain. The USB gaming add-on should ship by November in the gaming havens of the US, Europe, and Korea as well as Australia; Canadians, Asians, and South Americans will see the device in February. US pricing is set at $70.