The new membrane gaming keypad promises to put power in gamers' hands

'Tis the season for new shinies falalalalaaaaa...

Ahem.

Today Razer revealed its latest slick piece of kit for gamers in the form of the Tartarus, a gaming keypad with 25 programmable keys and an eight-way thumb pad.

As part of the press release today, resplendent with the kind of images scientifically enhanced to make gamers drool, Razer stated:

”The Razer Tartarus places an infinite amount of control into a single hand—literally—affording immense flexibility, power and an ultimately free other hand, which is a deadly competitive advantage,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “For serious gamers, this keypad can make the difference between victory and defeat.”

With the thumb pad doubling up as eight modifier keys, that's 128 different options available in one snug device. It all looks, sounds and smells great—OK, I don't know about the smell yet—but does the Tartarus live up to its performance on paper?

I'll let you know next week as I'll be taking it out for a test run.

Scott "Jarimor" Hawkes, Editor in Chief

Follow me on Twitter @Jarimor