FOR MY FIRST review of the New Year, I wanted to visit an update to one of my favorite accessories from 2003. This would be the Ideazon Z-board which I reviewed back in May of last year, which can be found here. To do the review I did have to steal the base of the keyboard back from my mom who somehow swindled it away from me for use at her office.

As we recall, the Z-board system is comprised of a base and a variety of interchangeable keyboard interfaces for today?s most popular games and applications. It's unique system design delivers flexibility so you can quickly and easily exchange keyboard interfaces when you switch from one program to another. One of the nice, yet subtle features of the keyboard is that there is no need to reboot or re-program the key binding tables.

For their latest keyboard interface they introduced the Crossfire. It is unlike any of the other exchangeable interfaces due to it?s openly general purpose layout. This keyboard can be programmed for almost any type of action game. Ideazon did however label some of the keys aid to the novice gamers. You can find the ?use, reload? buttons clearly labeled for ease of use. It can also register up to 8 simultaneous key-strokes. Once installed you will be able to rebind the entire Crossfire keyset, using predefined key binds that are continuously updated for today?s hottest games.

Physically designed with keys of a pale gray color, and a lighter colored gray base the Crossfire fits nicely in with most small form factor gaming systems. The keyboard layout is divided into sections, action keys, normal keyboard, and the keypad. The design works well for playing games, but is not the ideal design for working on that marketing presentation that is due in the morning. Since in most games typing isn?t a necessary skill, the keyboard is satisfactory for multiplayer games. With the small, circular keys, it is hard to type with any decent speed on them. Being that the Crossfire was to be made just for use in games most almost all of the buttons are in logical natural feeling places.

One of the best features for novice and advanced gamers alike is the quick save and quick load buttons located at the end of the keyboard. The voice activation button at the top is also a nice feature to have in games that support it.

Once again Ideazon has released an innovative product that is well worth picking up for yourself or even for a gift for that gamer in your family.