reclusa
Latest
A-Power's AP-Halo gaming PC dons Halo 2 outfit, beastly innards
With Dell's XPS 720 getting ready for showtime, it's quite possible that a few of you out there are eying a slightly different kind of animal, and for the Halo faithful, look no further than A-Power. The AP-Halo machine sports a fully customized Halo 2 chassis to go along with the game's PC counterpart, but it manages to look fairly good on the inside as well. Beneath the metal you'll find an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, up to 640GB of SATA II hard drive space, Asus' P5K Deluxe motherboard, a Samsung dual-layer DVD burner, Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer sound card, gigabit Ethernet, a 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX handling the DX10 duties, a 700-watt power supply, and to cap things off, it also comes bundled with Microsoft's own Reclusa keyboard and Habu mouse. Of course, it'll come pre-loaded with Vista Ultimate and Halo 2, and deep-pocketed gamers can add on an Xbox 360 PC controller if they choose. The Halo 2-themed system is slated to launch on May 22nd, and while the base price sits at CAD$1,659 ($1,505) sans a monitor, those hardware upgrades will send that figure quite a ways north.
Microsoft Reclusa gaming keyboard reviewed
Microsoft and Razer's collaboration on a gaming mouse has been pretty well received, but it looks like their attempt at a gaming keyboard may not have been quite as successful, at least if ExtremeTech's review is any indication. While they liked the Reclusa's design and nifty blue backlighting, they were less than impressed by the comparative lack of macro keys (just ten of 'em), which are limited to only eight keystrokes apiece -- and, as neat as that backlighting is, they would have appreciated a way to turn it off. That said, they still think the keyboard should be more than enough to satisfy casual gamers, although they recommend those with more demanding needs stick to their G11 or G15.
Reclusa gaming keyboard: Microsoft and Razer's latest collabo
Microsoft already teamed up with Razer on the Habu, that gaming mouse they introduced back in August, now their partnership is back in effect with the Reclusa, a new gaming keyboard (a note to Microsoft and Razer: we know you were probably thinking of the Reclusa spider when you named this, but you should probably avoid names that evoke the well-worn stereotype of gamers as reclusive, isolated loners). Anyway, features they're touting include ambient blue LED backlighting, "Hyperesponse Gaming Key Action" for "minimal latency", 12 programmable buttons (including two jog-dials and four bumper buttons), and not one, but two gold-plated USB ports. Should hit this spring with a retail price of $69.99.
