SteelSeries Announces Guild Wars 2 Branded Gaming Keyboard

Updated: August 15, 2013

This week, SteelSeries announced a new co-branded gaming keyboard with Arenanet for Guild Wars 2. This new keyboard is designed specifically to give optimal performance with Guild Wars 2, and comes in a color scheme styled after the games artwork, with black swaths of paint over white canvas, with illuminated red keys that can be adjusted to 8 different levels of lighting.

Every key is programmable, and with 17 additional upraised macro keys in the top left corner along with up to 2 layers per key, leads to 250 keys that are programmable.

It also features a number of minor physical augmentations to improve performance as well, including small tactile bumps on the W key to make it easier and more intuitive to find, switchable feet for adjusting the angle of the keyboard, an enlarged keyboard, two additional directional keys, and a special SteelSeries button that can adjust the keyboards brightness or turn off the windows key.

They keyboard will come of course with the SteelSeries engine which allows for easy customization of macros and gaming profiles, and will come with a number of default macros that are useful for PvP. The keyboard is available for preorder now at a price point of $79.99, and as a bonus preorder customers will also get a free Guild Wars 2 gaming mouse.

Source: SteelSeries

khalid

NICE ONE
bruta

darn nice. shame that i dont like Gw 2 itself.. otherwise would be a nice keyboard to have
Charr

Not a mechanical keyboard so it’s pointless.
- StopHateOnNonMechanicalKB
  
  what’s the point ? really stop being elites there a still many people that prefers non mechanical keyboard over mechanical keyboard simple is that
  - Christopher Burgos
    
    If mechanical keyboards weren’t so loud, it’d be more viable (depending on the person), though I use a Nostromo, I have recently purchased an Orbweaver stealth which should be coming in the mail soon. I purchased the Steel Series APEX for my girlfriend, and though very large, it’s still a great keyboard. I mention that because the keyboard above looks very much like it.
    - Olivar Cavalcante
      
      you need to see the logitech 710+, its very very very very quiet
  - Kashikoime
    
    It’s not just elitism.
    Mechanical, although being a much older style, tends to have a much longer lifespan, the keys tend not to break as easily, and they’re overall more reliable.
    I wouldn’t exactly say this keyboard is pointless, but mechanical keyboards are statistically superior as far as performance and longevity go, which means a lot to many computer users that want a quality piece of equipment, instead of something that’s flashy and looks nice, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
alkid

I love how SteelSeries is coming out with all these new keyboards and think they can still cut it in the hard core gaming enthusiast market with non mechanical keyboards.
- Christopher Burgos
  
  not everyones a hardcore gaming enthusiast feening for an obnoxiously loud keyboard. Theres actually far less of you than you think.
honey

how this stuff compares to logitech gaming keyboard?
Ben Travis

What is the price? I don’t think I caught that.
- bob
  
  $79.99
Michael Scaraggi

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like I have more control with a mechanical keyboard. Not for me.
720pwn

ive never used a mechanical keyboard so i cant judge but it does look killer
bob

personally I dont see how a mechanical keyboard is that big of a deal. It’s not like the keyboard will make you a better gamer just because of how the keys are activated.

All of this hype about mechanical keyboards lately is getting old, pretty fast. lol. Kind of like the SSD hype when people are talking about upgrading their PC. I game perfectly fine with a Logitech G510. Is it reliable? yes it is. None of my keys are broken and ive had it for over two years, using it pretty consistently almost every day, with games ranging from MMORPG to FPS to RTS games.

Obviously it doesn’t really matter if companies like Steelseries are still in the market without jumping on the mechanical bandwagon.
I’d much rather have extra features and flashy looks than mechanical, just because there’s hardly any advantage for gaming.
- Christopher Burgos
  
  agreed, except on the SSD part. SSDs are so much better than HDDs its not even something that should be debated.