On the front of the Sova itself is an integral, breakaway connection not unlike that found on a wired Xbox controller. And yes, it is okay for me to take over the living room, crack open a beer, and invite my spouse to trade missions shooting robot dinosaurs with me in Horizon Zero Dawn.

The Sova is supported by four cushions which clip into the underside of the unit, allowing the unit to lie flat on your lap without discomfort. The hard wrist rest did occasionally start rubbing after a while, but that was usually only after several hours of non-stop play and certainly long enough to get a good afternoon's game time in.

I also love the fact there are two USB ports tucked away on the back of the Sova next to its 4m break-away cable. There are no such restrictions with the Sova, and for once Roccat's tendency towards the big and bulky side of peripherals actually works out in their favour. The ROCCAT® Kone XP Air Wireless Customizable Gaming Mouse with Charging Dock boasts 29 programmable inputs and Stellar Wireless Technology + Bluetooth® connectivity.

Instead, I want to be downstairs playing games in our living room, where I've got easy access to the kettle / biscuit tin and can actually spend some time with my husband and fellow RPG vid bud Matthew instead holing myself up in our lonely back bedroom for a large chunk of the day. Then I thought about getting a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, which certainly would’ve made much less of a rat’s nest of cables in my living room. Marketing talk aside, we see that the Roccat Sova MK is a similar product to the Corsair LAPDOG in that both aim to provide a base for a keyboard and a mousepad to the right, for the mouse of your choice. I prefer a fabric mouse pad, but this hard unit is absolutely usable — and you can always add your own mousepad on top if you prefer! Sitting a few metres from the fifty-inch television, we found most interface elements and distant enemies were hard to spot.Finally, with 3D printable options on the table, you can truly create a Sova experience that is completely unique to your needs.

The channel along the front is also deep enough for you to stash the extra length of your mouse cable inside, so there's no loops hanging around to get caught on things. What makes the Sova different is that it comes with a keyboard built-in, and it also takes up less room and has a wrist rest. It’s okay for my kids to be obsessed with a series of aquatic unicorn comics and make me read them repeatedly. We had great fun using the Sova, turning the traditionally solitary pursuit of PC gaming into a more social experience to be enjoyed with friends.Roccat will offer at least two types of keys in when the final product comes out sometime next year. It’s great piece of mind knowing that if someone walks by and stumbles over the included 13-foot cable, you’re less likely to need a new board from a broken connector.

That means that with the front two pads off, you can angle the keyboard down and away from yourself. As the Sova is essentially just a really big keyboard with two passthrough USB ports, it doesn’t require any special software to work (although you can use Roccat’s Swarm software to adjust the backlighting, remap keys and perform other tasks. One will obviously be occupied by your mouse most of the time (whose cable can also be tucked into the docking rail along the upper edge of the Sova or used in conjunction with a clip-on bungee), but the fact that I can also use the other one to connect a controller or USB headset without having another giant cable dangling across the floor and providing another trip hazard for my cats is just an absolute god-send - and a big part of why I like it so much. As long as your console is in the living room, in full view of everyone eating dinner and doing homework, you can’t really plonk down on the couch and fire up Mass Effect when you’re supposed to be walking the dog or doing laundry or anything else that a working full-time mom of two young kids should be doing.Just a plain blue backlight that keeps things nice and simple and doesn't distract from the action at hand. One of the Steam Machine's biggest goals is to move PC gaming from the bedroom back into the living room and along with it revitalize the push for couch co-op. Those magnets aren’t glued onto the Lapdog well, and all six of them fell out during my demo of the product. It sits right between your legs, which puts the lapboard into a position that’s acceptable for WASD-and-mouse use but very uncomfortable for general typing.