Ideazon Fang Gamepad - Z-Engine Software Setup

The Z-Engine Software:

Many Ideazon products are powered by their Z-Engine software.  Ideazon also makes the Z-Board, Merc Keyboard & Reaper Gaming mouse and all of these products work under everything from Windows 2000 to Windows Vista.  The Reaper Mouse only has drivers for Windows Vista 32-bit, but all other products should work under both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of XP and Vista.  I've very pleased to see Ideazon grab Vista by the horns and offer support for their products under this OS.  Granted, Vista is not ready for mainstream gaming yet, but it's nice to know that when it is ready, you will be able to migrate your Ideazon products over without having to shell out more money for different peripherals that have Vista Support.

The Z-Engine Software is downright wonderful to use.  It's not often that I would say that about gaming peripheral software, but it's true of the Ideazon Fang.  It is very basic, offers a clean layout and has a whack load of game profiles that can be updated and added to with a click of the "Update" button.

 
Main Software

To set up the Fang, you can either start with a new black profile, or you can customize a profile from one of the many games profiles that come with the Z-Engine software.  Although I don't get a chance to do much gaming at this time of year, my favorite game is still BF2142.  We'll demonstrate how to set up the software for your personal taste in a minute.

BF2142 Layout

The default game layouts will work very well for more people - especially if you are new to the game.  If you've been playing a game for a while with a different gamepad or your keyboard, you will probably want to customize the layout to make it feel more natural and familiar like your previous input device.  I found it quite difficult to get used to the Fang since I've logged a few hours in BF2142, however when I used to for a new game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Infernal, I found it very simple to get used to as I've not played the game before and these games are quite different that BF2142.

Setup is very simple and mostly drag-and-drop.  If you want to assign macro keystrokes to a key, that can be done very simply as well.  We've captured some setup that shows you just how easy it is.  Although the YouTube clip is very small, you can download a much larger version of the video here.

What makes this even more beautiful is the ability to print off the key assignments on your printer.  If you are in the middle of the game and you can't remember which key pulls your parachute it can save your life, and precious seconds while you exit to the menu and look at your key configuration.

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On the last page we'll jump into some games and see if the Fang adds any "bite" to our gaming.