I’ve gone through dozens of gaming keyboards during my decades of PC gaming, from generic off-white Wal-Mart specials to elaborate, fully-programmable, back-lit monstrosities. The Cyborg S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 from Mad Catz is the first gaming keyboard I’ve had to screw together before using.
For the $300 asking price, one would think things like using a tiny screwdriver to connect all the bits together would have been handled by the manufacturer, but the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 is a special sort of keyboard. Completely modular, its various sections are held together by screws and pieces of wire.
https://kotaku.com/mad-catz-releases-a-gaming-keyboard-from-the-future-5934554
The centerpiece of this beast is the V.E.N.O.M. touch screen interface, which gives users easy access to various tools — timers, clocks, volume controls and macro keys in addition to those situated on the keyboard proper. I’ve seen other keyboards employ a similar sort of screen as a readout, but nothing quite this elaborate.
So there it is, sitting on my desk, waiting to be poked at, so poke at it I shall. I’ll let you all know how that goes.
Music: Trash80 – “Icarus”
