Topic: Xbox 360 Messenger Kit priced

[idolminds]

Thats not too bad...

This is the little keyboard that plugs into your 360 controller. I'm not sure how useful it will end up being on the 360 itself, but I can already see it being useful on the PC side. Games that can use the controller but has more functions than the default buttons can support. Set up hotkeys and quickbinds and junk. One example I thought of was a space sim. Use the sticks to fly, but all the extra buttons can control shields, weapons, hailing, docking, etc. Kind of like using the keyboard with a joystick but all in one pad.

[Quemaqua]

Cute.  Could be nice.

[iPPi]

It is a pain to type anything using the normal 360 controller, but I'd rather just use a voice message instead.,

[idolminds]

Gamespot got a hands on. It still sounds neat, and I didn't know this but the buttons light up so you can read them in the dark. Wewt.

Sadly, there was this:

We tried plugging a USB Xbox 360 gamepad with the chatpad into a PC desktop system, but we couldn't get Windows to recognize the chatpad as a text input device.

Unfortunately this doesn't tell us everything. They say it doesn't work as a text input device...but do they still count as buttons? If they did you could still use them in games. Still, MS needs to have drivers released so it can be used on the PC, because really I think it'll be more useful there than the 360. I want to play a game with a gamepad but still have a ton of buttons to use.

[scottws]

idol, for a space sim like Freespace 2, I think something like a flight stick + a Belkin Nostromo would work better. 

[nickclone]

I don't know about this. I mean a KB+M would be more clunky, but it would work a lot better than that keyboard add on. Its going to take some getting used to, but if I have to get used to it I might as well just go ahead and get used to dual analog.