pc over console?

(Dormamu) #81

Buy both of them, or what your friends have… if you do not have friends with consoles, stick to PC and keep the money.
If you like playing with the M+KB stick to PC because the whole point of using the controller is that you don’t need another flat surface next to your bed/sofa/chair/etc to put your mouse/pad/kb.

(Jess Alon) #82

That trackball controller is exactly what I would want. I’m perfectly comfortable with my xbox controller. It’s almost tactical to me now. But the problem with it is really with the right stick. You’ve got a fair amount of “dead zone” “wiggle room” or whatever you want to call it physically on the controller you call it and I myself don’t have time to mess with a million third party pieces of hardware. But if I had a well modded OEM piece like that I think I’d be happy. But is that thing detectable? I don’t want to get console banned.

(Atavax) #83

[QUOTE=SockDog;254753]
With a title such as Brink that is getting the PC level M+KB tuning it seems stupid to not just include that on the consoles for gamers who want it. The burden is what, some filters for multiplayer? Oh dear that’ll take 60 minutes of coding “Oh Noes!”.[/QUOTE]

sounds great, people can play a game on a console with official m+kb support against all 572 other people that will use official m+kb support on that console game. the main draw to multiplayer games is the community, splitting the community up by those who use console controllers and those that don’t is rather destructive to the console community.

(DarkangelUK) #84

That’s why they call it ‘taking a risk’. It takes someone to get it out there, though tbh if they used a massive game like the next CoD to get the periphs into the gamers hands, it’d be easier to then release future games with m+kb support… or even release an update that enables support for it.

(Jess Alon) #85

The Xbox has a USB hub. They need to just make an update for KB/M.

(SockDog) #86

It’s this kind of resistance that frustrates me. I can live with people just being comfortable and preferring a controller, I just don’t understand why we need to continually throw around half baked ideas as a reason not to do it.

Lets look at a few points.

  1. If a game is already being ported to the PC, m+kb tweaks will already exist. So support is little more than enabling it and putting a bullet point on your marketing material.

  2. Not all FPS games are multiplayer.

  3. If the number of people who use M+KB is small then the community isn’t fragmented.

  4. If the number of people who use M+KB is large then there is a clear demand for the feature. Shock, people then have a choice.

  5. The PC allows you to use a variety of control methods and doesn’t suffer with “destructive communities” as a result.

  6. Seems when it comes to money (read DLC Map Packs) fragmenting the community is okay? Correct?

  7. How’s that whole, using a steering wheel in racing games versus using a controller working out? Seems a little contradictory that you can use better controllers in some games but not others.

As Darkangel says, someone needs to lay the egg and lay it in a successful game for the idea to gain exposure and then acceptance or rejection. This is why I’d love to see SD sneak it into a PS3 build. Then we can move past this controller BS and get onto cross platform play (which again would solve that whole “not enough gamers on consoles would use it” problem).

PS. Valve, please be bringing stuff like cross platform play to Steam for the PC, MAC and PS3.

PPS. Not buying KZ3 purely because, while really enjoying KZ2, its controls always added to frustration. Controls should not be thought about when playing a game!

(Jess Alon) #87

Me myself I prefer a control pad I just wish the right (look/aim) stick was more responsive/precise. I really like the look of that trackball controller. It sucks that I’d have to pay some people on ebay 150 dollars to hack a 25 dollar OEM controller that would probably get me console banned were it ever detected.

(Atavax) #88

you’re right sockdog, there are no valid reasons to not include mouse + keyboard support on console games; the developers just don’t to annoy you. Just because you think its a good idea, it doesn’t mean its a good idea or that its feasible. btw, there is a large space between large enough to fracture the community and large enough to create a completely separate, independent, thriving community. Just because its large enough to fracture the community, doesn’t make it large enough to create a completely separate, independent, thriving community. Its not like making keyboard plus mouse usuable on console games is a unique idea, its an obvious idea, that no one is doing for valid reasons, and just because you spout bs trying to argue that the reasons aren’t valid doesn’t make them any less valid.

(SockDog) #89

Wow! Go all Charlton Heston and defend that controller! :slight_smile:

Several companies specifically make hardware hacks to mimic M+KB controls on consoles, some are even linked in this very thread! So clearly it’s a terrible idea with no demand, I’m just being a dick by even suggesting it. :rolleyes:

As for the rest, I pretty much covered in the previous post.

(Jess Alon) #90

[QUOTE=SockDog;254798]Wow! Go all Charlton Heston and defend that controller! :slight_smile:

Several companies specifically make hardware hacks to mimic M+KB controls on consoles, some are even linked in this very thread! So clearly it’s a terrible idea with no demand, I’m just being a dick by even suggesting it. :rolleyes:

As for the rest, I pretty much covered in the previous post.[/QUOTE]

You’re not a dick at all. A lot of the people on Xbox live are ridiculous. I know a couple of people who will throw away their controller if the right analog stick loses it’s “tightness”. And buy a new one. And they have these crazy extension things for accuracy on the ends of the sticks. And if I know more then two that do that I bet there are many more on the console that are like that. So how is that different then me wanting a trackball on a gamepad? I say if you’re good you’re good.

(SockDog) #91

I wouldn’t see it catching on in a major way unless there was a hand held solution available, either trackball or touch surface type deal. It seems very clear that people just don’t want to game at a place where you can set up a keyboard and mouse. Consoles = Couches.

But if (and I’ll keep using this example) Brink included M+KB support on the PS3. And it took off, then it wouldn’t be beyond imagination to see third parties making those controllers. If we already have hardware hacks to trick the system then putting a touchpad or trackball in a controller to mimic a mouse is a walk in the park.

(Komrad) #92

[QUOTE=Crytiqal;254758]so this XIM3 works on Xbox, but for PS3 you don’t need an adapter because it already supports M+KB right?

does the PS3 also have 1-to-1 movement?

I might be buying a console, but I dunno if it should be an Xbox or PS3.
I like how kinect works, but I think it wil result in a lot of Wii type games, whereas the PS3 Move could get some awesome shooter games with tracking the gun.

And I thought the specs of the PS3 were better then those of the Xbox?[/QUOTE]

It can work on PS3 if you buy the right adapter to convert the xbox controller to PS3. Xbox also tends to perform better than PS3, like for say Marvel vs. Capcom… Xbox is 1 frame less of lag than PS3. Loads times are generally faster than PS3 too.

PS3 doesn’t have 1/1 movement, but with a splitfish FragFX V2, it’s the same as playing on pc when you get the sensitivity perfectly adjusted.
Oh and buy a PS3, it’s the most different from pc, also has some better exclusives, like killzone and little big planet.

The Splitfish FragFX V2 might be good for SOME games, but a lot of games on XBOX and PS3 have funky deadzones to accommodate controller users. Also, the Splitfish, XFPS and others tend to be jittery with small movements and inaccurate. If you’re really looking into a M/Kb adapter, look @ XIM3 because even XFPS and others are copying it now-a-days. Like I said before, the developer runs a programs that analyzes the games movement and configures the best possible translation for the game to counter the acceleration and configure the deadzone perfectly.

These adapters… or the modded trackball controller will not get you console banned since it’s using an official XBOX controller. MS can’t tell the difference between a regular controller, and a device translating a trackball or m/kb to stick movements and button presses.

Also, there’s solutions for Lapdesks that make gaming with a KB/m on your couch possible and practical.

(DarkangelUK) #93

Q3 and UT on the Dreamcast was thriving, had tons of servers and it was rare to find someone on there that was on a controller. The mouse was like £7 and the keyboard was £10, I bought the full bundle for about £55… they charge that for a single game these days! (I’m looking at you CoD series). There’s plenty of demand for it, and I also know a few PC gamers who can’t afford to keep upgrading, but refuse to make the switch to console because of the controllers… that’s a whole new customer base waiting to be tapped into right there.

Just because you think it’s a bad idea, doesn’t make it a bad idea… wow that works both ways that sentence, awesome!

(Cankor) #94

My prediction for next gen FPS controller is a toy gun for shooting and something along the lines of konnect to control your avatar. The gun will have a little mini screen in it. When you point the gun at the TV screen it gives you an iron sights (or scoped) view through the little screen. Of course, you have to really use it like iron sights to be able to see anything in the screen, other wise you are hip shooting (with no indication on the screen where your gun is pointing, but if guys are close enough you’ll get them anyway).

There will be a smoke generator accessory with lights which change color depending on the game’s stage lights … wait, wrong game … there will be a vest you have to wear which connects to the gun (through your body, so you can’t put it on the dog or your little brother) and it tazes you everytime you are shot (there will be a warning on it to place cushions all over the floor before playing and not to play near furniture with sharp corners).

You read it here first. We will all be playing with these things in 5 years and our girl friends and wives will still wonder why men act the way they do.

(Senethro) #95

If they did add M/KB controls to console games, the end result would be eternal mouseplayer supremacy in all multiplayer components. It would be like aimbotting and ruin the game for all non-mouseplayers. Given the huge revenue stream Xbox live must provide it is easy to understand why MS want to protect their casual gamers. On the other side I don’t quite understand why you’d want to do it as it would just be pub-bashing every night. That must get old eventually.

And I can only imagine that controller players on PC FPS are masochists.

(LyndonL) #96

[QUOTE=Cankor;254805]My prediction for next gen FPS controller is a toy gun for shooting and something along the lines of konnect to control your avatar. The gun will have a little mini screen in it. When you point the gun at the TV screen it gives you an iron sights (or scoped) view through the little screen. Of course, you have to really use it like iron sights to be able to see anything in the screen, other wise you are hip shooting (with no indication on the screen where your gun is pointing, but if guys are close enough you’ll get them anyway).

<snip>

You read it here first.[/QUOTE]

Nah not first… it already pretty much exists…

TheRedneckTechie’s Game Gun. Have a look at his other videos in his channel of the game gun. He’s a crap player though… heh.

(SockDog) #97

But if the mouse is officially supported, then players will be using a mouse driver to control their game and so the game can filter players by the controller type. Servers are then simply created to allow Mouse/Controller/Mixed configurations.

As it stands right now, players buy those hacks and get a mouse like experience against everyone on controllers.

@Cankor/LyndonL
I like the idea of the screen on the controller (Ahhhh more dreamcast love!). Make it detachable, have it’s own OS, 3D like on the 3DS, include touch and you have no only a secondary screen for games but also a configurable control panel and walk away PMP device. I’m kind of stunned with the Zune and WinMo7 that MS isn’t pushing this already.

I guess the only thing is probably cost but maybe you just bundle in a very basic one with the console and then offer a range with more capabilities like the above as aftersales.

(Jess Alon) #98

[QUOTE=LyndonL;254807]Nah not first… it already pretty much exists…

TheRedneckTechie’s Game Gun. Have a look at his other videos in his channel of the game gun. He’s a crap player though… heh.[/QUOTE]

FACEPALM@ that.

(Crytiqal) #99

[QUOTE=LyndonL;254807]Nah not first… it already pretty much exists…

TheRedneckTechie’s Game Gun. Have a look at his other videos in his channel of the game gun. He’s a crap player though… heh.[/QUOTE]

was thinking of exactly the same thing when reading that post!

Gamegun is hella awesome :D!

(Cankor) #100

[QUOTE=Crytiqal;254815]was thinking of exactly the same thing when reading that post!

Gamegun is hella awesome :D![/QUOTE]

apparently though it’s hella bad on your posture