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Ideazon Zboard Gaming Keyboard Back to the essence of the Zboard, we find ourselves back at the keysets. Ideation makes several add in keysets for several different games to include EverQuest, Civ III, Age of Mythology, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, Black Hawk Down, Medal of Honor, Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft, Madden NFL, Doom3 and of course, Battlefield 2. The add in set are priced around $20 and packaged as you can see below.
The gaming add in keysets aren't the only things Ideazon makes though. They also have a number of office and productivity add in key sets you can see listed out here. We're not going to focus on these in this venue but it is nice to know you have the ability to add a keyset for photo editing, web design or any otherwise productive purpose you see fit. The add in (gaming) keysets differ from the basic gaming keyset depending on the game they are designed for. Below is the Battlefield 2 keyset. Aside from the physical layout being easier, the labeling rocks! Check out the run, prone and crouch keys. The proximity of these is a most definite improvement over the standard keyboard key bindings. No more double tapping the W or reaching for the shift while trying to slide into a prone position with the Z in a pinch and under fire anymore.
Operation Installation of the Zboard went without incident as we expected. Swapping one keyset to another also went without a hitch. Getting used to the Zboard was a mildly different story. Mildly different, I want to stress. It took in all truthfulness about two hours to finally get used to the new key placement when playing Battlefield 2 for instance. Far less time though than it took to learn the keys to begin with when I got the game. Once I was used to what was where things picked up quite a bit. Having everything at my left hand finger tips was very nice. Actions flowed and never felt crowded or grouping. The vote 'yes' and 'no' placement on the right side of the keyboard was a bit awkward. Other than that life was good. Conclusion While I didn't become a First Sergeant while testing the Zboard under fire, something odd did strike me. In use, there wasn't a pause for me to tell myself "you know, I'm fragging one helluva lot more here" but there was a moment or two of feeling my action being a smidge cleaner. The kind of thing you don't think about until after the fact. That thing being the indirect way the Zboard wins you over. My gameplay felt more relaxed and less stressed with the search/stabbing for keys I was used to a few weeks ago, eliminated. The Zboard's ergonomics for lack of a better word, reminded me that playing games is supposed to be physically as well as emotionally pleasant. These ergonomics also extend to more productivity types of programs that Ideazon makes keysets for as well such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop or MS Office. The downside of the gaming keyset was itself. It only takes a few seconds to swap out a gaming keyset for the standard keyset but it you don't, expect some seriously diminished dexterity in your typing. All that space we talked about having making the gaming keys feeling comfortable and well positioned came at the cost of the normal key layout. Not a huge deal, but swapping in the standard keyset will keep you from hitting the backspace key or spell check too much. I don't see this as a real con because not many people are going to be buying a gaming keyset to use with Excel. Yea, the $70 you have to lay out for a Zboard and to get a specific add in gaming keyset seems a bit pricy. But you need to remember that, as you are shopping for that 1600dpi gaming mouse for under a $100. I can tell you the differences between a standard keyboard and the Zboard are much more noticeable than those of an 800dpi and a 1600dpi mouse.
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