Razer Huntsman, Huntsman Elite With Infrared-Based Opto-Mechanical Switches Launched

Razer Huntsman and Huntsman Elite have been launched as the new mechanical keyboards with special Razer's Opto-Mechanical switches. The latest keyboards are claimed to offer a key actuation at a much faster speed - 30 percent faster than traditional mechanical switches. This remarkable achievement comes from the advanced proprietary switches that use an infrared (IR) light beam to precisely detect actuation when a key is pressed. Razer also claims that the new keyboards come with as long as 100 million keystroke lifespan, while the keypresses will provide a similar tactile feel of the Razer Green switches. The Huntsman with the standard Chroma lighting comes with a price tag of $149.99 (approximately Rs. 10,300), while the Huntsman Elite is priced at $199.99 (roughly Rs. 13,700). Both are available for purchase globally starting today.

Using the Razer Opto-Mechanical switches, the Razer Huntsman and Huntsman Elite enable the same actuate and reset points for keypresses as found in a linear switch and provide a tactile feel similar to the Razer Green switches, along with a lighter actuation force of 45 grams. Razer has used the optical actuation technology alongside a metal key stabiliser bar fitted around each switch. This reduces moving parts and restrict physical contact during actuation. This ultimately drops switch degradation down and match the Razer Huntsman a durable option for gamers.

Each of the Opto-Mechanical switch on the Huntsman series of Razer keyboards have a 1.5mm actuation point. This makes the switch capable of actuating at 30 percent faster speed than any traditional mechanical switches, Razer claims.

Razer Opto-Mechanical switch 

Alongside the new switch technology, the Razer Huntsman and Huntsman Elite have Chroma backlighting with as many as 16.8 million customisable colour options. There are also dedicated gaming mode and fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording. Further, the Huntsman Elite includes underglow lighting support that helps illuminates all the sides of the keyboard and around the wrist rest. This is an addition to the traditional backlit keys that are commonly found on many gaming-focused mechanical keyboards.

The keyboards include Razer Synapse 3 support for an enhanced customisable experience. Plus, the Razer Huntsman Elite has Hybrid On-board and Cloud Storage features to let gamers save and access their personalised profile settings online via the cloud or offline via the available onboard storage. The Huntsman Elite also includes multimedia controls in the form of dedicated buttons and a multi-functional, digital scrolling dial. Moreover, both Huntsman models have ultrapolling frequency of 1000Hz.

"We have amassed years of experience developing and manufacturing our very own Razer Mechanical Switches designed specifically for gamers," said Razer CEO and Co-Founder Min-Liang Tan, while announcing the new keyboards. "This focused expertise has now expanded upon our brand's legacy with the new Razer Opto-Mechanical Switch that delivers an all-new level of performance that is optimised for top-tier esports competition."

There's A Comet In Fortnite, And Players Have Wild Theories About What It Means

There’s something strange going on in Fortnite right now. Controllers are rumbling randomly, when nothing is happening. There’s something in the sky that wasn’t there before. Nobody knows what any of it means.

Right now, if you look up into Fortnite’s skybox, you might notice a shiny orb with a celestial tail. It looks like a comet. The object doesn’t appear to be a part of the storm or anything like that—actually, it seems to have specialized animations, as if it’s moving across the sky. The curious thing is, players say that the comet appears to be getting bigger. I played yesterday, and the comet looked like this:

Smaller, more distant, not quite as bright. The picture from the top of the post, meanwhile, was taken this morning. It seems that Epic is slowly but surely making this object more visible on the sky. But why? What does it mean?

When Kotaku reached out to the developer, a representative only answered with a single image:

Okay, then. 🤔

Players might as well be the conspiracy theory dude right now. Without Epic’s direction, players are taking to Reddit to concoct theories about the significance of the comet. Will the comet hit the map? What happens when it does—will it come with an event? Goodies? Will the comet destroy the map, or change it somehow? (I’m skeptical of this last idea—Epic just added a bunch of new areas to the island, would they really just get rid of it all for a new map?)

Earlier this month, a Redditor submitted a map idea where Tilted Towers gets transformed into a crater, and some folks think this might be what’s happening right now. The idea is that Tilted Towers will get nuked and flattened. While Epic has had fun with Redditors and incorporated their ideas into the game, it seems unlikely to me that Tilted Towers will specifically get targeted. It hasn’t even been here for very long. But who knows?

While the timing might make this seem like a potential April Fool’s gag, the comet stuff seems to span much longer than this specific weekend. Actually, the entire Battle Pass season seems to be space-themed, and we still have weeks left to go before it’s over. During this season, one of the Battle Pass rewards is an astronaut costume. Savvy players have also noticed that other unlockables include stickers of eggs, dinosaurs, and an explosion. It’s as if Epic is referencing dinosaur extinction, something which was prompted by an asteroid. Will something big happen at the end of the current Fortnite season?

Another leading theory is that this is all a build-up for Epic announcing that Save the World, the PVE portion of Fortnite, will become free. While I’m unsure there’s enough evidence to support this, it’s certaintly a move that would make sense: it’s baffling that anyone would pay for that portion in the game in the first place.

If you’re playing on console, you might have also noticed that your controller keeps offering rumble feedback. It’s apparently a glitch:

There's currently a bug that causing controllers to randomly vibrate. We're working towards a fix on that but in the meantime, you can turn off vibrations in the options.

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) March 30, 2018

Even with this info, given everything else that is going on with the comet, players are still trying to figure out what it “means.” One player mapped out where the rumbles happen, and another has tried transforming the rumbles into morse code. Until the issue is fixed, we’re likely going to get more theories about the rumble, and whether or not it connects to the wider mystery.

Even after seeing all the evidence floating around, I have no idea what is happening. If nothing else, though, I love that Fortnite can get weird like this.