Poll: It will work wonders for your game, but only for one of them.

[silver wolf009]

Hello Escapist.

I have a bit of a habit in of which I collect the little instruction booklets from inside the cases of games and compiling them into a large pile.
A few hours ago i was looking over them as i usually do when I hit a doldrum during the day when i noticed something in the very back of the booklet for The Lord of the Rings, the Battle for Middle Earth. It was an advertisment for a keyboard with an attachment that was used for controls specific to that game.

Here is an image, I am sorry about the size but this is the best I could find

It has buttons for things only in that game like choose unit group 1, add selected units to unit group 1, attack, patrol, go into aggressive/defensive/neutral stance,ECT

And i got me think. 'That is a really good looking keyboard but the controls are specific for this game only'. In the end i decided not to buy it but i wanted to ask the Escapist a question.

Would you buy pieces of gaming equiptment that only worked for a single game/ a single game franchise?

I would not, No matter how much i love the game they wont be pinching any of my pennies anytime soon.

 

[Radeonx]

Only if it was for a game in the Starcraft, KotOR, or Halo franchises.
Those are the only 3 I'm willing to shell out extra money for.

 

[Ertol]

Depends on the game, for example I have friends who spend money on a World of Warcraft keyboard just like that because they play it so much that it is a good investment for them. But personally I never would, it's not worth it because I never cared about being the best or the fastest in a game.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Not much of a PC gamer with the exception of game show adaptations and other casual games like Diner Dash and what not. So if there was a peripheral that made it easier to go from table to table in DD would be appreciated.

 

[dududf]

Depends if it's cheap, and is basically compatible with other games. Minus the specialty keys.

 

[Omikron009]

If I had the money, then yes. I don't.

 

[DazZ.]

I'm pretty sure that keyboard had a few sets of keys that you replaced for different games.
Yeah it did, the Z-board had a load of replaceable sets, so you wouldn't really be paying just for that one game.

I likely would buy something specific to one game however, if it was a game I played a hell of a lot.

 

[pineapplewizzard]

couldnt you just coustamize your control layout anyway and save all the money?

and ive played it its not had to selectthem anyway and some are barely used, i rarely buy addons, maby a good stering wheel if im in to racing games but it has to work on multiple games and not be expensive.

 

[SnipErlite]

Meh, I doubt it. I've managed to be half decent at various genres with just my standard mouse and keyboard that came with my PC. Not even a specific gaming mouse or nothing.

I flit from game to game, so something that benefited a specific game or series wouldn't suit me personally.

 

[silver wolf009]

I'm pretty sure that keyboard had a few sets of keys that you replaced for different games.
Yeah it did, the Z-board had a load of replaceable sets, so you wouldn't really be paying just for that one game.

I likely would buy something specific to one game however, if it was a game I played a hell of a lot.

It did work as a fully functional keyboard but the game specific controls only applied to the Battle for Middle Earth series.

 

[FortheLegion]

If I play the game a lot then the thing would be a good buy. but if i only played every so often then it would not be worth it.

 

[Kurokami]

Hello Escapist.

I have a bit of a habit in of which I collect the little instruction booklets from inside the cases of games and compiling them into a large pile.
A few hours ago i was looking over them as i usually do when I hit a doldrum during the day when i noticed something in the very back of the booklet for The Lord of the Rings, the Battle for Middle Earth. It was an advertisment for a keyboard with an attachment that was used for controls specific to that game.

Here is an image, I am sorry about the size but this is the best I could find

It has buttons for things only in that game like choose unit group 1, add selected units to unit group 1, attack, patrol, go into aggressive/defensive/neutral stance,ECT

And i got me think. 'That is a really good looking keyboard but the controls are specific for this game only'. In the end i decided not to buy it but i wanted to ask the Escapist a question.

Would you buy pieces of gaming equiptment that only worked for a single game/ a single game franchise?

I would not, No matter how much i love the game they wont be pinching any of my pennies anytime soon.

If I felt it was absolutely necessary to enjoy than yes, but even then I can't really think of much of an example.

 

[DazZ.]

I'm pretty sure that keyboard had a few sets of keys that you replaced for different games.
Yeah it did, the Z-board had a load of replaceable sets, so you wouldn't really be paying just for that one game.

I likely would buy something specific to one game however, if it was a game I played a hell of a lot.

It did work as a fully functional keyboard but the game specific controls only applied to the Battle for Middle Earth series.

Nope, you took the faceplate off and replaced it with other games faceplates.

That was the gimmick of the keyboard, I remember looking at it ages ago when Doom 3 came out, because one of the faces was D3.

 

[newfiegirl 110]

For me it's a bit of a combination. If it was something for one of my favorite games, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg I would probably give it a try.

 

[Vrach]

No, but I would add that that keyboard would not necessarily be completely useless for anything else. First off, a lot of people don't use the buttons missing on it compared to a regular keyboard (on the first glance, only the numpad, personally I use it, but I know many who could live without it) so they might find it "I'd rather have a bonus for one game than something I don't use".

More importantly however, I am 99% sure those buttons can be "keybound" to do different things outside the game through software... although the use of that software might be blocked for certain applications (WoW comes to mind). But technically, it could make it useful for some people crazy enough to want more buttons on their keyboard, like keybinding those buttons to play different music playlists when you're not playing LOTR for quick music access, opening different programs right from the keyboard etc.

In fact I could see a developer/programmer seriously being able to use such keyboards to quite some use, binding insertion of different premade programming lines with a mere click of a button.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

No, I'm too stingy.