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There's so much more than mouse and keyboard
A crazy place at the best of times, the internet has given birth to a plethora of PC peripherals that are capable of all manner of things — like simulating realistic bullet damage in Call of Duty, or providing you with an ultra-realistic controller for your train sim. (All aboard!)
We've scoured the bowels of the internet to bring you some of the weirdest PC gaming accessories on the planet today.
Welcome to TechRadar's PC Gaming Week 2019. We're celebrating the most powerful gaming platform on Earth with in-depth articles, exclusive interviews and essential buying guides that showcase everything PC gaming has to offer. Visit our PC Gaming Week 2019 page to see all our coverage in one place.
First published April 2017
King's Assembly
Dubbed "A Computer Mouse Full Of Awesome" by its creators at Solid Art Labs, this bonkers control system looks like it's been chiseled out of Superman's Fortress Of Solitude. Although the finished model of the King's Assembly is purported to be in a sexier black & purple finish.
It's a retro-futuristic dual-handed control system with curved keys, and a thumb pad. To use, slide them over a desk like air hockey paddles. Despite having launched a well-funded Kickstarter, the product is still in beta testing.
RailDriver Desktop Train Cab Controller
Every train-spotter's dream, a fully functioning set of 34 buttons, levers and knobs designed with the sole purpose of controlling a virtual train. The RailDriver Controller even has an inbuilt bass speaker that vibrates the controller to add realism.
3RD Space Gaming Vest
The reason many of us play first-person shooters is to experience the excitement of warfare without the pain and subsequent post traumatic stress. The 3rd Space Gaming Vest, developed years ago by TN Games, aims to change this.
It'll let you "sense the direction and force of bullet fire". The vest uses compressed air to simulate different attacks such as knives, rockets, all the way up to full-on explosions. It works with Call Of Duty, Battlefield and Bioshock. And, it sounds terrifying...
Mad Catz Cyborg amBX
Boasting 16 million colors, the Mad Catz Cyborg amBX , developed by none other than amBX, is a set of physical lights that change color depending on the game you're playing. They can even let you know which direction you're being shot at from.
Place them either side of your monitor and they'll flood the room with rich colors. However, with MadCatz in bankruptcy, you'll be hard pressed to find one of these today.
PrioVR
Street Fighter will *never* be the same again... the PrioVR by Yost Labs is a wearable suit of up to 17 sensors that track your every movement. A demo video shows kills done by doing a roundhouse, punches and even a deadly handclap that explodes enemy heads.
It's compatible with Oculus Rift. Is this the future of gaming or just another gadget to make you look like an idiot in the comfort of your own home?
Axniper
Office frustrations are often let out with a few pints in the local after work, or a high spirited debate in a corridor that's a little too close to the kitchen so everyone can hear. Axpro has come up with another solution, equip workers with USB-powered, BB sniper guns.
Aiming is done from a computer using the on-board camera – thus qualifying it as a "PC game accessory' – and it apparently has a whopping 8-meter (25-feet) range. This is a mega-rare item, but we found it available via Yahoo Taiwan.
AlphaGrip AG-5
This thing looks like a mash-up of every single control pad in history. The AlphaGrip has a trackball, a fully functioning QWERTY keyboard and an array of buttons on the back that would make even the most experienced of woodwind players feel a little faint.
If you truly want one of these, they're currently out of stock via the above link. However, its creator promises that an updated model is in the works.
Virtuix Omni
We get it, VR is the future, but it's still early. The two biggest contenders, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are still in their youth, making for a still rather limited experience.
Walking around in real life, for example, doesn't exactly equate to traversal in-game. With Virtuix Omni, however, you're free to walk around unbounded by the square footage of your living room. Plus, you can work off that cheeseburger at the same time. Sadly, the project is still in development.
SteelSeries QcK Prism
While probably the most tame of the list, this is the very first RGB-illuminated mouse pad that's also reversible. Yes, this is a SteelSeries gaming mouse pad with lights on it, a USB power-slash-data cord and everything.
One side is a micro-fiber cloth finish for more "deliberate" movements, while the other is a hard polymer surface for a "fast-paced glide." RGB lighting with 12 zones rounds out the package of one of the most egregious PC gaming accessories we've seen in a long time.