All I need is a good keyboard, without and extra macro keys in the main section, and/or ergonomic spacing that ends up twisting my WASD hand. I'm still using a stock HP keyboard, it's slightly compact, but has a very nice rounded shape for playing Frets on Fire with.
All I need is a mouse. A great big mouse I can palm my hand over. I don't have large hands, but my palm does drag on the mousemat on small mice. A few thumb buttons is also nice.
I've looked at 'deluxe gamer' mice/keyboards, but don't want to spend the (sometimes obscene) prices to have a go at one. Though I did have a Microsoft Sidewinder pad at one point, I used it to good effect in Alpha Centuri and Civilisation, but could not find it any good for anything else

I've been fine with my Saitek Eclipse I and some generic mouse (its rather small for my hand).
Check out the Novint Falcon when it gets more widespread support, I have one now and its totally changed the way I play FPS titles.

I'm fine with a standard keyboard, my gaming has been long adapted to being the arrow keys and the cluster of keys around it and many gaing keyboards are specificcally for the WASD crowd. I like SPACE around my movement keys damnit!
I DO like gaming mice, I've got an aging Logitech one, plenty of awesome use out of it, extra buttons, nice size and good responsiveness.
I was toying with the idea of getting one of those keyboard pad things where you can stick the keys on anywhere you want and assign them to whatever use you like. I can't find a link for it but as an idea it's pretty awesome. It probably sucks in reality bu the IDEA is great
Edit: AHA! Here we are. Pretty bloody expensive too, thats probably the REAL reason I never got one.

I just love my Razer Lachesis! As for keyboard I'm just using the stock HP Pavilion laptop one. Works for me so far.

My friend wants to get a Lachesis. He's a DoTA/WoW/general gaming person, can you tell me what's the good/bad stuff about it?

I never really cared for gaming peripherals... until I bought Freespace 2 and tried to play it on my Macbook ... without a Numpad :(
Now I need to buy a keyboard... for gaming.

The best about it is that all the keys on it are entirely configurable, plus it comes with the software that allows to make several profiles for your configurations and save them to be chosen later (or for specific games). Also its got a very handy DPI switch. The bad mainly is that in the attempt to make it accessible for for right and left handed people they put buttons on both sides of it which makes for some unintentional clicks unless you disable them in the software. All in all I couldn't be happier with the mouse.

I also have a Lachesis, so not only do we have snowing outside in common (although it stopped here), but the same mouse as well, mine is pulsating blue.
The Lachesis, just feels right and it is very sexy. My previous one was a Logitech G5, but the left mouse button stopped working after 2 years.
And gaming mouses do really matter it is probably the the one peripheral you use the most in websurfing and gaming, so it doesn't hurt to invest in it.
Never seen the reason to buy a gaming keyboard, but that's probably because I don't like RTS anymore ( Warcraft II and the first red alert were the last I played regularly)
anyone here got this keyboard?

Heh. :P I turned the pulsating logo off. It was distracting me from owning n00bz. :PMan I want that thing so bad! :( It is just awesome!

I didn't think you even BUY the optimus yet.
Bah, these fancy modern keyboards are just a fad, give me one of these babies any day

That has got to be a pain to use. All the spacing between the keys give no solid handhold what so ever. It would be a breeze to clean though. XD

Good keyboard + good mouse + good gamepad (ps2 like) = all I need for gaming

I actually have a Razer Krait myself, I would of never considered buying a gaming mouse, but I was fortunate enough to win it in a compertition. It's definatly changed my view on gaming mice and I will be buying them from now on instead of making due with any old stock mouse.
The faster click feature you may not even notice, but the smoothness and sensitivity are great for this mouse. The mouse just glides across the mouse mat now with little effort and you can definatly tell the difference. I would advise grabbing a razer mouse mat as well if you don't have a really smooth one already.
The ability to tweak the x and y axis and scroll speed are also a nice feature.

I advocate simplicity when it comes to gaming peripherals. I use a wired (haven't experimented with any wireless mice that have the responsiveness I look for) Microsoft optical mouse for years.
The Novint looks really fun to play with, if only it wasn't so insanely expensive. I just can't justify spending that much on a peripheral unless it's this steering wheel.