After catering to the trendy with the fashionable Arc keyboard, Microsoft now turns its attention to gamers with the dedicated gaming keyboard, the SideWinder X4, due for release in March. 

 

Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group have bequeathed the SideWinder X4 with what they say is the industry’s most advanced anti-ghosting technology. Ghosting is a problem for gamers, since certain keyboards only registers a few keyboard buttons pressed at the same time. The X4 allows you to hit up to 26 keys simultaneously, meaning the keyboard will be able to handle even the most advanced key combinations within a game.

 

The X4 will also sport a couple of other essential gaming features like macro recording, which lets gamers arrange multiple moves into a single press of a button. The new automatic macro repetition function repeats the macro again and again as required with one key, while the X4 also features mode and profile switching as well as adjustable backlighting. 

 

“We’re always looking for new and novel ways to enhance people’s interactions with their PCs,” said Steven Bathiche, research manager of the Applied Sciences Group at Microsoft. “We know that ghosting can be a problem for gamers, so we wanted to develop a way to eliminate this issue and improve the overall gaming experience, and we’ve succeeded with the new anti-ghosting technology in the SideWinder X4 Keyboard.”

 

The SideWinder X4 will be available by the end of March 2010 for an estimated retail price of R799.