A Woman’s Touch… for the Win

by Kristina Chin

At first, I looked upon the Peregrine with real skepticism. ‘A glove… to replace a keyboard?’ I thought. It just couldn’t be possible. I’ve spent 7 years playing WarCraft 3 ladder games, never shifting races so I memorized all my hotkeys for buildings, always knowing what control groups I formed and where my usable items were. Even with my limited time playing DotA, I was proficient enough with WarKeys that there was hardly a slip. There was no way it could be even easier.

With that in mind, I tried on the glove, plugged it in, and configured it to what I thought would be simplest for DotA (you can find the keymaps on my player profile page). It couldn’t hurt to have an open mind – perhaps this is exactly what I was looking for. After I made my keymap, it was ready to use – nothing else was needed, just about 5 minutes of configuration to make sure it recognized your specific touch points and hotkeys.

Off I went into a DotA game, and the Peregrine was living up to what I was told. It gives a significant increase in your precision – I didn’t have to keep my hands on keys in awkward positions to make sure I was ready to chain skills and items together. It just took a series of simple fingertip touches, but it gave me that lightning-quick reaction time; definitely a huge plus. Not only that, but it relieved a lot of tension and aches I usually get in my wrist from keeping my hand/arm stationary over a keyboard for prolonged periods. It’s not uncommon for me to play more than 4–5 hours at a time, sometimes extending into 12-hour gaming sessions [I know, EXTREME], so this was really a blessing.

Another nice convenience the Peregrine offers is its compact size and portability. As a part time eSports journalist, I travel a fair amount and still want to be able to play on my laptop. It’s significantly smaller than a desktop PC, so it takes a bit to readjust to my own hotkeys on a different keyboard. This glove removes the need for that “readjustment period,” so I’m not sitting in a game going, “shoot, I MEANT to press that key and now I got killed. Fantastic.” It’s lightweight and the detachable pod on the back of the glove is where profiles and keymaps are stored. If one of your friends has a better keymap, no problem – you can easily import and export different keymaps and profiles, all suited for whatever game you like. If you don’t use WarKeys for DotA, you can make a keymap for each hero. Play HoN too? Make another. It’s really that simple.

I must admit, there was a learning period with the Peregrine, but it’s nothing compared to a keyboard. New gamers and veterans alike will have an even playing field, especially in games like DotA which are not usually “noob-friendly”.