Roccat Intros Its First Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

This week during CES 2013, Roccat will showcase its first-ever mechanical keyboards, the Ryos Series, which feature a unique per-key illumination. Also up for show will be a beta version of its Power-Grid app for smartphones, and the just released Kone XTD and Kone Pure gaming mice.

According to the Hamburg, Germany-based peripheral maker, the Ryos series of mechanical gaming keyboards (MK Pro, MK Glow, and MK) is the first ever to feature per-key illumination, and up to two 32-bit ARM Cortex processors. Thanks to this technology, the keyboard can display key functions, macros and even health or mana bars. There's even an included SDK, up to four different CHERRY MX key switches (black, brown, red and blue), and 2 MB of internal Flash storage. The Ryos is expected to launch in 1Q213.

As for the Power-Grid app for smartphones, this will turn the device into a remote control for your PC. Users can set up different grids to control custom settings for Windows, Skype, Media Player or games. Already included are pre-set grids for several games including StarCraft II, Skyrim and League of Legends. The app also works in reverse, the company said, allowing information to be pumped from the PC to the smartphone like high scores and map information.

"The user can call up the central news feeds from different hardware and gaming sites via the now standard integrated Media-Grid," Roccat said. "Roccat has also completed the development of an accompanying SDK, which will provide developers with the opportunity to code unique features that benefits their users."

Roccat said that one example is the integration of Born Ready Games’ space shooter, Strike Suite Zero. At a glance, gamers will be able to see in-game statistics about their accuracy, the number of missiles fired, and much more. "This information isn’t available anywhere else in the game, and it provides additional advantages to the user: if you increase your accuracy, for example, you’ll get more points," the company added.

As for the Roccat Kone XTD and Kone Pure, we've actually had these for some time, so we'll give a hands-on after the show (along with the Lua) now that the NDA has been lifted. However we'll be stopping by the Roccat booth this week to check out the new keyboard and everything else Roccat has to offer, so stay tuned.

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