i'm not gonna sit here and debate the merits of a keyboard and mouse versus a
controller for gaming today because the pc setup is obviously
superior for the majority of genres whether you need accurate pointing and
FPS or a ton of key real estate in a moba
but that doesn't mean that the keyboard and mouse is a natural interface there are a
ton of movements here that take time
and muscle memory to develop if you want to get good at them or at least there
were what if i told you that you could
offload some of those trickier moves to a
third appendage allowing you to do more things with little effort
i'm talking of course about the beacon
get your mind out of the gutter man it's a bluetooth controller designed for your
foot i said get your mind out of the gutter come on
but is this just what you need to gain an
edge and kick ass or is it a waste of your hard-earned
money well it's a kickstarter so it could very well
be both let's check it out
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now our early test unit still has some rough edges from their small scale 3d
printer but it's got it where it counts the plastic construction is
very solid despite being lightweight the strap appears to be
durable enough and it's long enough to wrap around even your steel toed boots
with foam cushioning on the bottom to contribute to a comfortable feel even
after multiple hours of use which its usb rechargeable battery affords so
so far so good the unit is detachable thanks to a
satisfyingly strong magnet though other
than charging there's not really much reason to pick it up because aside from
the on off switch everything is communicated by differently colored leds
and vibrating haptic feedback so then
once you strap it onto your foot
what exactly can you do with this thing
well theoretically lots
you can use it for nearly anything that your keyboard can do using the included
software to map key presses to one of
four actions roll left roll right
pitch up and pitch down sorry aviation nerds there is no yaw
now the device calibrates itself every time it's activated and all of the
movements are relative to your starting position so you can even use it with
your legs crossed like if you wanted to stretch a glute while you game
but it's more than just four extra keys
each gesture can accommodate up to six
keystrokes mapped sequentially across the gestures range of movement so the
idea is that the farther you tilt the device the more commands you can execute
in this way you can create pseudo macros
but without actually using any automation like if you have to press
down forward punch to throw a hadouken
then you can map that sequence so all you have to do is
rock your foot to throw fireballs all day long as for the shooter and moba fans out
there the beacon can be useful for you too in FPS i found the most useful
commands to offload are the ones that would otherwise make you have to hold a
key down like crouching sprinting or
push to talk with the beacon you can do these things
without inhibiting the movement of your fingers in any way and you can even do
otherwise impossible things like strafing right and reloading at the same
time and with mobas mmos or rts games it's
really nice to be able to easily deploy spells or seldom used abilities without
fumbling to reach for keys that you aren't fairly familiar with notice that
i said nice to be able to now there are
lots actually lots of gamers out there with physical disabilities for whom this
could be a total lifesaver since you can use it instead of a hand or heck
even wear it on your head but others might only get marginal
utility from it which means that the price needs to be right
so it's going to be retailing for 138 euros or about 160 us dollars
it's a little bit ouchy and that's with them trying to keep the price down
doesn't even come with a micro usb cable in the box compare that with other
stomp-based foot controllers that while maybe bulkier and less versatile come in
at under a hundred dollars although it should be noted that the
stinky footboard which i'm referring to specifically
did go out of business despite being widely adored so
maybe that one should have cost more or less i don't know and unlike some
pedals you can't expect the beacon to be able to simulate a gas pedal with
varying amounts of force the input is either on or off
just like a regular keyboard
so should you invest in a beacon wearable
controller well while it is pretty darn decent at doing
what it says it's going to do offering you a tweak-tastic amount of control
over how the keys are pressed the reality is that most of us won't need
something like this that badly so the main people we'd recommend it for are
those with physical impairments or gamers finding themselves in desperate
need of a few more buttons but who aren't concerned about complying
with tournament play rules which generally don't allow macros which this
could kind of be considered to be otherwise this uh
kickstarter might be a
supposed to be shaking my my foot a non-starter
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