Today at GamesCom in Germany, Mad Catz revealed the S.T.R.I.K.E.7, its new "Professional Gaming Keyboard". While the S7 is presumably targeted at a larger audience than actual career gamers, its profuse feature-set and hefty price tag ($299.99 msrp) are probably excessive for anyone else.
The S7 is one sweet keyboard. On top of LAN party envy, its innovative design promises the kind of over-the-top custom functionality that could finally give you that decisive competitive edge (at least, that's what Mad Catz is banking you'll tell yourself).
Interchangeable rubberized cursor keys and highly adjustable palm rests facilitate maximum comfort and control, and the keyboard's modular components are all removable and reconfigurable. If your keyboard tray's short on space, you can detach the number pad. If you still want to use it, the S7's cable attachments will let you keep it on a different level of the desk (or the left side of the main keyboard).
The S.T.R.I.K.E.7 comes with a few pinky-stretching macro keys, but most of its macro functionality is built into the V.E.N.O.M. display attachment. The S7's touch-capacitive LCD - definitely the keyboard's biggest selling point - supports custom macros, quick-launch for games, apps, and websites, and media controls with program-specific volume options. Inbuilt apps include a clock/timer, a journal for game-specific notes, plus full support for Teamspeak http://www.teamspeak.com/.
As rad as the S7 is, it's hard to recommend any peripheral at this price. For the same chunk of change you could pick up a pretty decent graphics card or five or six brand new games - or, for that matter, a PS3 or Xbox 360. Still, there's no denying the S.T.R.I.K.E.7 would look pretty sweet beside the R.A.T. mouse (approx. $60), which Mad Catz is marketing as the "perfect companion piece" to the new keyboard. And we bet it could type up a mean term paper.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
