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RELATED SECTIONS : Playstation 3
Hands on with the Playstation 3 controller keypad

ps3keypad.jpgWhile playing the latest Viva Pinata, I finally got sick of having to use the gamepad's analog sticks to name my pinatas. I unplugged a USB keyboard from my office, carted it into the living room, and left it there for a few weeks so I could easily give my little creatures insufferably cute names. While the keyboard was out, I was uncharacteristically chatty while sending text messages over Xbox Live. I even used proper capitalization and punctuation. Little did I know that I could have simply purchased a tiny $25 keypad that clips onto the bottom of the 360 controller.

As is their wont, Sony is following up a year later with its own clip-on keypad for the Playstation 3, which comes out next month and will cost twice as much. Furthermore, it clips onto the top of the controller, which raises the question: "Uh, hey, I kinda have to press the shoulder buttons when I'm playing PS3 games, so isn't this going to get in the way?". MTV's gaming blog got a little hands-on time with it, but didn't mention how we're supposed to make the cars go in Motorstorm later this month.

         
Fidgit continues below:
Comments

Wait a minute. You can use a USB keyboard with the 360? I was under the impression that only worked with PS3. Can you actually use it during games, or only in areas where a keyboard pops up? And do mice work?

Keyboards on the 360 are strictly for text entry. (Well, I think FFXI might support them, but that'd be it.) Dunno about mice, but I doubt it.

This may be one of the most poorly designed peripherals I've ever seen.

Ah, damn. Thanks for telling me.

For some reason, this doesn't look as good as the XBox 360 version of a key pad, I think it's because it's at the top of the controller, which doesn't make much sense to me at all really :S

I wonder if it's just for quick typing. So you wouldn't keep it on all the time, you'd just pop it on if you needed to type in a long URL or message or something. Sounds like a pain though.

It looks like there's shoulder buttons under the guy's fingers in the pic...I think that answers that question. Still looks like a colossal waste of money, though.

A thumbpad that's nowhere near your thumbs! Whatever next?

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