On Wednesday Mad Catz Interactive introduced the S.T.R.I.K.E.5 Professional Gaming Keyboard for the PC. As the name implies, the peripheral has been designed with the competitive gamer in mind, providing a five-piece modular layout to seemingly fit every PC gamer's need.
"Our range of S.T.R.I.K.E. keyboards has captured the imagination of passionate gamers and we are pleased to expand the range with the newly announced S.T.R.I.K.E.5," said Darren Richardson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. "The S.T.R.I.K.E.5 is part of our strategy to grow our market share with best in class products for all gamers."
The keyboard's modular design allows the user to arrange the configuration of the 5-part keyboard to better suit their preferred method of play. The numeric pad (1) and the QWERTY section (2) have been separated into two entities, and feature a full 16 million color RGB backlighting both through and around the keys. Double-tap friendly keys respond to an optimized 60g of actuation force, and reset at the perfect level, the company said.
Also included in the S.T.R.I.K.E.5 is the E.Y.E. OLED Command Module (3), which allows users to program advanced macros, adjust backlighting, balance game and microphone volumes, monitor respawn timers, and control media. This module can also launch games, websites and applications.
"Program advanced macros, adjust backlighting, monitor respawn timers, control your media, and even take in-game control of external functions - - balance game and microphone volumes, launch apps and websites - - all with a few simple finger taps," the keyboard's product page states.
In addition to those three modules, the gaming keyboard also consists of a function strip module (4) with four programmable buttons (nine are also on the E.Y.E., five on the NumPad), and a 3-part active palm rest (which features 3 controls) and two wrist rests (5).
There's definitely a lot going on with this professional gaming keyboard, but there should be enough customization options to fill the needs of almost any PC gamer. GameShark is currently taking pre-orders for the modular keyboard now, costing $199.99 USD. The shipping date is unknown at this point.
