This holds especially true for gaming keyboards which must now sport at minimum macro recording/playback functionality, a well laid out key design, good feedback on keys for intense gaming, easily accessible multimedia controls for those times when gamers need to control media playback and a durable design to withstand hours of hardcore gaming action. Keyboards are, however, anything but simple. While the Reclusa was a great first attempt at capturing gamers interests at a time when gaming keyboards were still the new kid on the block, gaming keyboards have matured to the point that people are looking at true value and performance benefit from investing a considerable amount of their gaming budget into something as simple as a keyboard.
Previously their Reclusa branded keyboard was co-logod with Razer, renowned for their expertise in designing PC peripherals aimed at the gaming crowd. Sorry, X4, but there’s just too much good stuff out there.The Sidewinder X6 has received countless of reviews and opinions since it is the first gaming keyboard from Redmond to bear the Sidewinder’s name. Logitech and Razer also offer compelling alternatives for similar prices. Microsoft’s own X6, for instance, can even be found for cheaper than the X4, and it certainly offers a cooler feature set. Like so many devices in the crowded “gaming enthusiast hardware” field, the X4 is simply outmatched by the competition, which is too close in price to warrant a downgrade. Well, consider this criticism retroactively applied to that thing as well. That’s kind of an important part of a gaming keyboard, and really, I just realized that the X6 has the same problem, as well as a similar media key layout. Lastly, for a gaming keyboard, it sure doesn’t have any extra connectors, like USB or audio. But why is mute attached to the play controls cluster? Shouldn’t it be over with volume up and down? Not a big deal, obviously, but if you could choose between a keyboard that has them laid out in an intuitive way, and one that didn’t, which would you choose? Right, me too. I’m not sure I dig the layout, either.ĭoesn’t that seem a little weird to you? I think play should be in between previous and next track, though that may just be me. You can’t disable that, unfortunately there’s no option to select another default player.
The media keys worked out of the box with Winamp, though irritatingly if Winamp is not open, pressing the Play/Pause button will launch Windows Media Player. There’s a nice long list of handy commands you might want to use, something which developers often fail to include. There are lots of options out there, including the unique and cool Sidewinder X6, which I liked a lot.įunctionality is as you see: some macro keys on the left there, which are useful in all the situations you’d expect, and the configuration thereof works just fine, though it’s extremely spartan. The trouble is, if you’re the type of gamer who uses macros a lot, you probably want a little more keyboard than this offers.
What we have here is… well, a normal keyboard, basically, with some macro and media keys.
Only one color of backlight and two brightness settings.