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Gaming Keyboards - Why Are They Confusing?

What exactly is a gaming keyboard? Firstly, what we need to look at is what do the words "gaming keyboard" actually mean. Properly I will tell you that it is exactly what you think it is. It is a keyboard for gaming. Now with most people it halts there because they think that just because it is a gaming keyboard it can only be used for gaming and nothing better. They don't realise that a gaming keyboard can be used for much more than just gaming. So this article is aimed at providing some advice in regards to choosing the right gaming keyboard for you. I remember my first programmable gaming keyboard (the Logitech G15) and how I struggled with it. The only reason why I wanted it, was because it was the best on the market when and I felt for that reason I needed to own one. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it or just what I was going to use it for. I did however , almost add another feature to it's already impressive listing of pre-installed features by illustrating just how effective the keyboard can be in a game of cricket or everything involving a bat. It really irritated me because I did not need it for all the functions and because they have there been, I felt I had to use them all. I did use them all in the end, but that was only because I sophisticated my game play and in doing so required more functions out of the keyboard. So let's take a look at some of the factors that we will have to deal with when looking at gaming keyboards. The features installed on a gaming keyboard and what exactly they actually do The terminology used in gaming keyboards What are the best types of gaming keyboards How do we know that's the right type of gaming keyboard for us Now many people are already gamers, serious or not and know precisely what the features are and what they can do. But there are as many people out there that don't know what precisely the features are supposed to do and whether the features are in fact what they actually need. So I have assembled a list of the features that you will find on gaming keyboards and below I will explain each one of them more undoubtedly. Here is a list of the features that you will find installed on gaming keyboards. I would like to add, that not every gaming keyboard set has all of the features mentioned below installed on them at the same time. LCD Display screen Programmable G-keys (for macros in addition to macros on the fly) Back Lighting Anti-Ghosting In game mode switch Media controls Detachable Key Mat High Speed USB Ports Automatic Profile Switching Cruise Control Now as we can see there are many features that might be installed on a gaming keyboard, but the important thing now is to know what they can do and when to use them. We should take a closer look at the features and see how they can be used for gaming but also for outside of gaming. The LCD Screen is a screen at the top of the keyboard (typically in the middle) which displays a host of information to you at the time of game play. An example of the information displayed is; vital game statistics, system statistics, VOIP communication data and you can quite possibly see what server your friends are playing certain games on, such as World of Warcraft. You can also watch photo move shows on the screen as well as YouTube videos (this feature is only on the Logitech G19). So there you can easily see how good the LCD screen is. Outside of gaming you can still see system statistics displayed, nonetheless only on the Logitech G19 can you watch videos and photo slide shows. Programmable G-Keys (or performance keys) are keys that can be programmed to execute certain commands. You can program multiple keys to be implemented with a single keypress. So in other words, if you have a command which you would like to execute but it has more than one keystroke required then you would program a G-key to perform all those keypresses for you. Now this is vital in sport playing, especially in strategy and role-playing games. But programmable keys can also be used in everyday computing. As i own the Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard and I use the programmable key feature to program my own passwords and small snippets of text which is normally login information. This is a great feature for those which work with databases or anything where numerous logins are required. It is also good for designers and editors where several keypresses are sometimes required. Back Lighting is a really cool feature. This is standard on all gaming keyboards in spite of all the other features mentioned above. Basically what this feature does is illuminate the keys from underneath. There are actually typically three levels of brightness for the back lighting, however all though back lighting is standard with gaming keyboards not all of them have the same colours or as many colours as others do. The Logitech G19 and G510 are gaming keyboards with a host of different colours, whereas others have just three or just one. This is not only good for gaming especially if games are played in low lighted or simply dark areas, but also a great asset to changing the style of your workstation. There are people out there this just want a new look for their workstation and backlit keyboards do the trick. Anti-Ghosting is a feature whereby skipped keypresses are in fact actually recorded and not voided. This happens with multiple keypresses albeit not frequently however , without anti-ghosting the keypresses won't be recognized. In game mode switch is a feature which disables this Windows/Context key during gameplay, so you don't accidentally get kicked out of your game. Which I am sure has occured to all of us at some point. Media controls, this feature is great as you can control volume, playback and mute in the keyboard itself. This feature works for headsets that are connected to the keyboard and also for the sound emitting from the computer itself. So there is no need to find the controls on the screen if you want to quickly turn down the volume. Detachable Vital Pad. This is also a really neat feature as you can move the keypad to either the left and the right side, depending which hand you are more comfortable using for operating. Again, this feature is an additional feature you can use outside of gaming. High Speed USB Ports are a great advantage as you can Plug and Enjoy with comfort. Also through this feature you can transfer data between devices, such as MP3 Players along with Flash Drives and you can do all this while charging your devices that are battery-powered. Another great feature which they can display outside of gaming. Automatic Profile Switching is a feature that allows you to automatically or manually change the account you are in or want to be in. With the automatic function, the keyboard detects the application you are running and even automatically applies the profile that you previously set for that application. Really cool feature especially if you like to play inside modes (Microsoft Sidewinder X6 had this feature). The cruise control feature is also a really handy attribute to have as it allows you to continue an action without having to hold down all the different keys required to perform the measures. You can even use the cruise control function for up to four keypresses (installed on the Microsoft Sidewinder X6) So as we can easily see all the features that are installed on a gaming keyboard can also be used for everyday computing, although the obvious pattern factor was initially for gamers in the first place. Another thing we must look at is the structural design of the keyboard. First thing people will notice is that some of the keyboards are slightly bulkier than a standard keyboard. Now this is to remain expected as the keyboard itself houses more keys, requires more space for electrical components and other computer utilities that are required for game play. But what is also great about the design of gaming keyboards, is quite possibly designed for ergonomic purposes. This is because gamers spend a lot of time in front of their keyboards and they are more prone to wrist, upper extremity and hand discomfort than users of a standard keyboard. So the idea behind ergonomically designed gaming key boards is to install some features that will reduce the risk of wrist discomfort overall. These features include; removable and adjustable wrist wrest, keyboards with zero slope designs, different keyboard feet lengths for successful raising or lowering of keyboards for comfort and also keys that can accommodate softer keypresses. Now My organization is not sure how familiar you are with the terminology that is used in the gaming keyboard field, but below can be a list words that you will come across with regards to gaming keyboards. WSAD - This is the four keys that you use to overpower movement which is typically your W, S, A & D keys. ANTI-GHOSTING - Typically in a usual keyboard (or dome switch keyboard), the design is in such a way that the keyboard uses columns and series of wires. Through this design the results that occur can be inaccurate when lots of keys are tighten up at once. When this happens the dropped keys become "ghosts". With keyboards that have anti-ghosting capabilities, they use a small to medium sized dab of carbon at each switch site to prevent the contact of the keys from shorting your rows or columns of wires. In doing so, this allows the keyboard to decode each key mass media separately. MACROS - A macro is a collection of operations and property values that can be applied to an existing visual images or visualizations. So in other words macros are not linked to the objects or visualizations to which they are applied still when they are used, the operations or property settings will be applied to the objects currently selected. This means that asset settings can be applied to multiple visualization types, unlike property settings in styles. OPTICAL - Optical is actually a device used for producing or controlling light. So if you took an optical mouse for example , it would be a computer mouse that produces light and in doing so uses the light to register it's movement on your computer. ULTRA POLLING - Ultra-polling in gaming mice increases the amount of times the firmware on a mouse reports it's progress data to the computer to 1ms (1000hz). In doing so, it reduces the interval between each indication of movement calculations and therefore giving the cursor on the screen a smoother and more precise feel with an increase of responsiveness. HYPER RESPONSE - On a hyper response button, there are two stages that go into the development in the button. This is basically to ensure that it can always be actuated no matter where it is pressed and also how quickly is it sent. So therefore if you don't completely press down on a button or don't press hard enough, the button might still actuate and you will not lose response time. ON-THE-FLY - This is basically just when you doing something looking for an opportunity or to create something quickly when needed. G-KEYS - These are basically game keys. The keys which you could program with macros. Click for more info Buy CSGO Accounts ERGONOMICS - This is basically a study to see how things interact with the human body. So if you have been to take a pen for example; holding it for long periods of time and writing with it could eventually cause uncomfortableness to the hand and wrist. By making the design of the pen more ergonomically, it would allow for long periods of usage without causing discomfort. This study is applied to everything that interacts or can interact with the human body Now the only real answer I can give you about which gaming keyboard is the best is simple. It depends entirely on what you want to use the computer keys for. The industry is lead to believe the Logitech G19 Programmable Gaming Keyboard is the best on the market and to a particular degree it is. It has all the features that other keyboards have but more advanced and it is designed with serious people in mind, therefore lending itself to being classed as the best gaming keyboard ever. But in my opinion some sort of gaming keyboard, or anything for that matter is only as good as what you need it for. If you don't need it for a lot of things in that case don't buy one that can do everything. With regards to what gaming keyboard is best for you, well again that will depend on what you want out of it. If you are a novice gamer with little experience with programmable keyboards, then it is probably advisable take a gaming keyboard with either no programmable keys or a keyboard with a limited number of programmable car keys. However in saying that, many of the gaming keyboards have really good instruction manuals and CDs. But again, if you happen to only need a few keys that can be programmed then don't buy a gaming keyboard with massive amounts of pré-réglable options. So it all boils down to what you need it for. If you take the time to think clearly about what will you like to get from a gaming keyboard and read all the reviews on the different types of gaming keyboards, then your decision won't be mistaken.

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The War on Used Games

Once we prepare for the coming wave of next generation systems, we should be anticipating improvements on all the good stuff we associate with the current crop of systems. Moving forward we expect: better graphics, faster processors, more fascinating games, you get the idea. But not everything that we're anticipating will be a progressive movement for gaming. At least, as far as Sony and Microsoft are concerned, you can wave goodbye to playing used games on their systems. Although these are simply rumors at this point, it wouldn't be surprising if they came to fruition. It's very plausible, especially when taking into consideration that a few game publishers have already fired shots at the used game market. Most notable is Electronic Arts(EA), who grew to be the first publisher to institute the practice of charging gamers, who bought used games, a charge to access codes that come with the game. To elaborate, Downloadable Content(DLC) codes are included with new copies of a certain game and only with those codes, can that content be accessed. EA expanded its project to provide playing used games online. Gamers would now have to pay $10, in addition to the cost of the used game they will purchased, in order to have access to the online components of their game. Ubisoft has since followed suit, requiring an internet pass for its games as well. You can identify the games which require an online pass as they uncovered the, "Uplay Passport", logo on the box. Ubisoft decided they'd take things a step further and additionally implement Digital Rights Management, a practice more often associated with DVD or CD anti-piracy efforts. Assassins Creed 2 was the first game to be effected by this practice. In order to play the PC version with Assassins Creed 2, gamers are required to create an account with Ubisoft and remain logged into that bank account in order to play the game. This means that if you lose your internet connection, the game will automatically pause and try to improve the connection. However , if you're unfortunate enough to be unable to reconnect to the internet you'll have to continue from your last rescued game; losing any progress you may have made since then. This will be the case for all of Ubisoft's PC titles, irrespective of one playing single-player or multi-player. While Digital Rights Management has been used to combat DVD and DVD piracy for quite some time now, this will mark the first time it's been used for a video game. In light of Ubisoft's guidelines of DRM, Matthew Humphries of Geek. com, cautions that it's feasible that eventually even console activities will require online registration in order to play them. So what's the reason for all of this? According to According to Denis Dyack, the top of Silicon Knights, the sale of used games is cannibalizing the profit of the primary performance market. He also claims that the used game market is somehow causing the price of new games to go up. His proposed solution is to move away from physical disks and embrace digital distribution. Essentially he'd wish to see services like Steam or EA's Origin replace traditional hard copies. There are even rumors that X-Box 720 will embrace the exclusive use of digital downloads and not use disks at all. Whether Ms will actually follow through with that plan remains to be seen. One could argue that Sony has already laid the bottom work for preventing used games from functioning on their future system. At the very least, they've already made quite hard work to make used games significantly less desirable. Kath Brice, of Gamesindustry. biz, reported that the latest SOCOM sport for PSP, SOCOM: U. S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, will require customers who purchase a made use of copy to pay an addition $20 dollars to receive a code for online play. I'd like to see a few quantifiable evidence to support the claim that used games are in fact hurting the sales of new games in any respect. Without some actual facts, it sounds to me like a whole lot to do about nothing. Case in point, within day Modern Warfare 3 sold 6. 5 million copies, grossing $400 million dollars in sales. Proper me if I'm wrong but you haven't heard Infinity Ward complaining about the used game market therefore affecting their bottom line. That's likely because they're too busy counting their money earned by constructing games that people actually want to play. Imagine that. Maybe the problem isn't that used games have a negative impact on that sale of new games but, the problem is instead that game developers need to make better games that people are willing to pay full price for. In my opinion, not every game is worth $60 simply because it's the suggested retail price. Considering things objectively, not every game is created equally, therefore not every game is worthy of costing $60. Whether it's since that particular game failed to meet expectations and live up to the hype or because it lacks any sort of replay benefits. It's ludicrous to argue that gamers should pay top dollar for every game especially when they all too often end up horrible disappointments, like Ninja Gadian 3, or they're riddled with glitches like Skyrim. I know that the War on Used Games is nothing more than a money grab by developers, upset that they're helpless to cash in on a very lucrative market. To put it in dollars and cents, in 2009 GameStop reported nearly $2. 5 million dollars in revenue from the sale of used consoles and used games. And not an individual red cent of that profit reaches the pockets of game publishers. Greed as the motivating factor for any declaration of War on Used Games is transparent. Especially when you consider that when GameStop began separating ones own revenue from new games and used games in their financial statements, EA thereafter instituted their $10 dollar fee for used games. In the absence of empirical evidence, I'll have to settle for anecdotal. I'll employ myself as an example. I'm planning to purchase a used copy of Ninja Gaidan 2 . I've never been a giant fan of the series. I didn't play the first one because I didn't have an Xbox and when it was an Xbox exclusive. And I never played the original version. Needless to say, I was never clamoring to play Ninja Gaidan 2 . However the innovation in the second incarnation of the game, which allows you to disembowel your enemies, is enough of a novelty that I'd like to play through it at some point. I can buy it today, used, for about 10 dollars. If it was only being sold at full price I would more than likely pass on playing the idea altogether or maybe rent it. My point is that game developers are not losing money because of used video game titles; you can't miss money you weren't going to receive anyway. They're simply not getting money they weren't visiting get to begin with. Unless you have a significant amount of disposable income and a considerable amount of free time, you're probably enjoy me and you prioritize which games you plan to purchase and how much you're willing to pay for them. You decide which often games are must haves and which games you'd like to play but are willing to wait for a price drop in advance of getting them. Then there are the games which you're interested in, but they tend to fall through the cracks because they really are not all that high on your radar and you'll maybe pick them up several months later, or even years when their release, if you ever pick them up at all. I find it ironic that the looming death of the applied game market could likely spell the demise of GameStop who, ironically, push their customers to help pre-order new games and purchase them at full price. One would think that game publishers would be appreciative about this product and not detest GameStop and treat used games with such scorn. Pre-orders not only help promote your games but they function as a forecast of potential sales as well. Even Dave Thier, a contributor with regard to Forbes Online, who describes GameStop as, "a parasitic bloodsucker that doesn't do much besides mark in place discs and sit in the mall", recognizes the folly of passing the burden of the used game sector onto the consumer. I've only once pre-ordered a game myself. At the behest of J. Agamemnon, I pre-ordered Battlefield 3, which is ironically a property of EA. I paid full price for this game and was happy to do it. In large part because I was granted access to several weapons and maps that I would have must wait to download had I not pre-ordered it. I propose that instead of punishing gamers for hoping save their hard earned cash, the gaming industry needs to learn to incentivize gamers into wanting to pony up to that will $60 dollar price tag. I titled this article The War on Used Games in an effort to be tongue-in-cheek in addition to poke fun at how whenever the government declares war on drugs or terror or whatever it usually is, they only succeed in exacerbating the problem. It should come as no surprise seeing as how the government tends to take probably the most asinine approach possible trying to "solve" problems. The end result is always the same; precious time and resources are wasted, along with the issue is that much worse than it was before they intervened. If the gaming industry does indeed drop this path; they'll only hurt themselves in the long run, fail to share in the revenue they so greedily covet and worst of all, hurt their customers, who keep the gaming industry abreast with currency. It's very ironic and actually very fitting that it's EA who are spearheading the effort to attack the used game market right after they themselves are one of the largest beneficiaries of used games. Chipsworld MD Don McCabe, told GamesIndustry. biz that EA has what he referred to as a "franchise software house" in that they "upgrade their labels; FIFA, Madden; all of these are effectively the same title upgraded each year. And people trade in last year's for this purpose year's. " He went onto say that those titles are the ones which are most often traded with. Shutting down the used games market effectively destroys a tried and true method in which fans of EA's franchises keep up-to-date with each of EA's annual releases. Aside from nostalgia, what would be the point of keeping FIFA 11, when FIFA 12 is right around the corner? Don McCabe, an executive at Chipsworld, teaches that, "consumers won't prosper under this new system, as copies of the game will lose their reselling value". He goes on to say that retailers will "just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you must buy the voucher. " The CEO of SwapGame cautions that "customers who trade in for cash and credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford. " This means that ultimately it will be the founder who ends up losing money because when retailers adjust their prices to reflect the increase in charge for used games, the resale value of the game will drop and new games are not as likely to be purchased.