With all the changes taking place in the gaming world this year, you might be thinking now is a good time to grab yourself a piece of the gaming action.

We will be looking at the latest peripheral releases and we start with the Mad Catz Strike 3 Keyboard.

The professional gaming keyboard for Windows based PC’s is designed with budgets in mind;

“The S.T.R.I.K.E.3 demonstrates our commitment to providing gamers with a product range that meets their budgets and exceeds their expectations,” said Darren Richardson, President and CEO, Mad Catz Interactive.

“Our range of S.T.R.I.K.E. keyboards has captured the imagination of passionate gamers and we are pleased to expand the range with the S.T.R.I.K.E.3.”

The keyboard is designed for the competitive gamer in mind, offering a varied feature set and a unique membrane key-bed which aims to offer the full tactile feedback of mechanical keys but without the extra noise or the need to ‘bottom out’ keys.

Speaking of keys the Strike 3 contains 12 macro keys and thirty-six programmable commands to enhance your gaming experience.

I put the keyboard through its paces by playing a few of my favourite mouse and keyboard combo games.

First up was COD: Black Ops 2, The ability to switch modes and programmable memory options was a breeze and the keys are responsive and I did not feel as if I was catching any other keys whilst I was changing weapons or layout options within the game.

Next up was Natural Selection 2, this game is a lot more demanding for key assignment and being able to group your keys for game functions and commands is critical if you are to do well in-game.

Despite being designed for gamers on a budget the keyboard coped extremely well with this title and I didn’t feel as if I had to compromise my layout at all.

All in the keyboard can store up to seven layouts so you can switch between games easily and also amend your layouts with the minimum of fuss and time.

The Strike 3 is available in 3 colours – red, black and white, all with a gloss finish. It also contains a full RGB backlit key-bed which is capable of displaying up to sixteen million customisable colours.

If you are thinking of taking the plunge into PC gaming this year then this keyboard is a great starting point to help you get into the heart of the action and compete with veteran gamers.

It will provide all you need and more without breaking your budget and contains some excellent features.

The Keyboard is released on 27 September and will retail for $199, you can also pre-order from Mighty Ape before the release date.