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.


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.

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Music: Trash80 - "Icarus"