The Nostromo SpeedPad (aka the n52) from Belkin is a USB gaming peripheral for your PC. I picked one up during a newegg clearance sale a couple of months back, but never really got around to trying it out. Recently, while playing World of Warcraft I rerolled a new character and decided it might be a good time to try out the n52. Fast forward a few weeks and I love this thing, its become second nature for me to use.

The n52 is laid out with all the keys you would use on your keyboard to play games. There are three rows which by default are mapped to WASD and the keys that surround them on a keyboard. In the spot where your thumb rests there is a big orange trigger button and a D-pad that looks like the one from a 360 controller. Below the D-pad is a large button that toggles between different key-mapping schemes, however it can be remapped to do whatever you want and would probable make a good space bar for some people. It also has a click-able scroll wheel by your thumb which to me seems like a wasted button since I’m using my mouse anyway.

The first thing I noticed was that my hand fit pretty comfortably on the palm rest, I did not have to stretch my fingers very far in order to hit any buttons. This was good because upon first inspection of this thing I had a bad feeling that my hand was going to cramp up. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and I’ve never had any pain in my hand or wrist.

You have the option of just keeping the default settings and mapping the keys in each game’s settings, but the n52 comes with some really nice software for configuring your keys. The software allows you to create a profile and then associate it with an application on your computer. Every time that application launches (ex: WoW.exe in windows) the n52 software will load the appropriate profile for you. Another nice feature in the software is the ability to create macros and bind them to a key. I haven’t taken advantage of this feature as external macro programs are sometimes viewed as a violation of the EULA by Blizzard and I don’t want to risk a ban from the game. Still, the option is there for those who wish to try it out.

In case you’re wondering I did a slightly different mapping for my World of Warcraft profile (screenshot below). I did not like using the D-pad for movement and decided that using the WASD keys was more comfortable for me. So instead I mapped the Left, Down and Right on the D-pad as Ctrl, Shift and Alt (respectively). I then mapped the keys around WASD to 1-7 along with Tab, Esc and Space. In the game’s settings I have 1-7 mapped to many of my action bars with Ctrl, Shift and Alt as my modifiers to perform different spells and abilities. It took a little while to get used to it since I’ve been playing WoW on Keyboard & Mouse for nearly 3 years now, but once my brain and my fingers synced up the difference was amazing.

My Key binds for WoW

I’ve also tried out the n52 in Command & Conquer 3 and Counter-Strike: Source. Both games worked great, although I really didn’t play them enough to fully adjust to the controller.

The n52 is really well put together and feels like a solid piece of equipment. It has some weight to it and rubber grips so it won’t slide around on your desk. The keys and buttons all feel perfect, they have good response and don’t seem to stick or anything. Overall I’m really happy with the quality of this device, especially considering I got it on sale for under $20.

As of January 2008, Belkin is no longer manufacturing the Nostromo but has started selling a new updated version called the n52te. Gone are the orange button and grey plastic, in favor of a sleeker black design with blue back-lit keys. The new model also has built-in memory which allows hot swappable player profiles. Currently the price is up around $70 for this model, which may be a bit steep. In the meantime, the original n52 is still floating around on sites like newegg and amazon for $29.99. You may come across them cheaper on sale, but this seems to be the standard price for now.

One strike against the n52 is the lack of Lefty support. Theres no way to swivel the thumb-pad around or anything like that. Lefties who use the opposite side of their keyboard may find this extremely awkward to usd. I am not a left-handed person myself, but some of my friends are and they often express frustration with the lack of support from peripheral makers and game developers alike. So unless you’re one of those lefties that just adjusted to a right-handed control scheme, you may want to avoid this.

Although I have not used it this way myself, several people in the Amazon user reviews have referenced using it for applications such as Photoshop and Flash. I may have to give this a try sometime to see if theres really any added bonus over using the keyboard.

Anyway… there you go. The Nostromo, a great guy.