I suck at GoldenEye. There, I’ve said it. I get schooled every time I play, even if I’m Odd Job. And chances are, everyone who reads this is better than me at Halo, Killzone, and pretty much every other console FPS. That’s just an upfront disclosure in case you want to skip this post and get right to the flaming. After all, I’m just writing this because I’m bad at these games, right?
The thing is, I would probably ruin you in Counter-Strike or Team Fortress 2. In fact, it seems to me that every time I read about a PC team going up against a console team in the same game, the console team gets manhandled. Why is that? Well, probably because a mouse and keyboard is a better way of controlling a first-person shooter. You know it, I know it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.
Here’s the thing: the gaming world isn’t governed by players and their preferences. It’s a business, subject to market forces, development pressures, and all that sort of thing. Remember when Halo was going to be a Mac exclusive? That didn’t happen for a reason: because there was more money to be made in launching it with a new console. Was it a better or worse game for it? I don’t know, I’m not a freaking oracle. And that’s not the point of this post anyway.
Look, making a big game is a nightmare. A studio needs to get a return on a huge investment, and where are the sales? In the piracy-ridden, heterogenous PC market, where you have to cater to every possible hardware configuration? No, but the game will probably be at its best on a high-end PC, so you kind of want to hit that anyway. But the main thing is to get a game onto the PS3 and 360 in as playable a form as possible. That way you have a guaranteed base of 40 or 50 million units that will all run it perfectly and work together just the way they’re designed to. Maybe they won’t have a mouse, but so what?
So you get AAA FPS titles like Modern Warfare 2 on a console, where people can play the game just fine against each other and enjoy the full experience — with a dual shock. Is the PC version the “definitive” version of the game? With MW2 I would suggest not, but with others it may be the case (GTA4 for instance). To make a blanket statement on this would be to commit a pretty foolish error. At the same time, don’t take someone to task for saying that Borderlands is better on the PC. I mean, what? It is!
Besides, I don’t think it’s an insult against console gamers or their games to say that a mouse and keyboard is the better control method. It’s like saying a wheel controller with pedals is a better controller for racing games. It just is! It doesn’t mean that everyone sucks without one, or that games that don’t support wheels are garbage. It’s just presenting an ideal. Can there be great FPSes on consoles? Sure! But let’s be honest about it and qualify that by saying that there’s auto-aim, the enemies shoot slower, and they generally have a more horizontally-orientated environment. It just makes it a better game on the console. They switch it up for the PC version, if they make one; if I can get headshots 90% of the time in Gears on PC, versus 10% on console, they better damn sure make it so that doesn’t break the game.
The console versus PC debate, which is what the mouse vs. controller thing is really about, ends up being a kind of silly one. There are fantastic games on both platforms, and some just work better on one or the other. Platformers are best with a specific controller, joystick sensitivity, and button layout. Real-time strategy demands a level of versatility, precision, and resolution that’s only available on PCs. And if we’re honest, so do FPSes in their ideal format. But that’s not always possible; the convenience and standard hardware of consoles often means a better deal for developers, and sometimes a better game for the consumer.
I may never be good at GoldenEye, but I could never say that game sucked. So let’s stop being such prideful bastards about our games and just agree to say “whatever works for you.”
Quite simply, If a console controller was superior to a mouse, you would be using it to scroll up and down this page right now…..
A console controller is designed for games and just games, a mouse was designed to navigate a GUI first and foremost.
FPS, RTS, MMORPG (some of them), this is pretty much the only time a keyboard/mouse is superior in control.
Don’t tell me a mouse and keyboard is a better controller choice than a gamepad for say, a platformer, a racer, a fighter, etc?
No, in that case a full arcade stick is the way to go. The funny thing is, gamepad is… never the best tool for the job. It’s just weird.
Arcade sticks do not offer analog control, and makes it impossible ot use the rest of your entire hand for anything else.
A game that requires two analog sticks would be unplayable with arcade joysticks because it would be impossible to use said joysticks (which would not even be anaog) and use buttons at the same time, not to mention switching time to switch between face buttons and the second analog stick would be severely increased.
Arcade sticks are pretty much ONLY useful for fighters, dpads and analog sticks are better than arcade sticks in every other aspect.
Devin,
Nicely written. This is one of my favorite posts!
I agree totally with you! Why can’t they just let gamers use a keyboard and mouse to play on 360 and ps3??
Because that would give players an unfair advantage. For FPSs PC is undoubtedly the superior control method, but when playing on consoles it is irrelevant because everyone is using a controller. Regardless of system, competition is fair because everyone is using the same control scheme. If you started to introduce different methods of control (especially ones that would cost) then you put some players at a distinct disadvantage.
I would enjoy Eliminate Pro on my iPhone more if I could hook a keyboard and mouse up to it.
The iPhone doesn’t support Bluetooth peripherals? Even if only in specific apps, like an FPS?
Controllers are way better. Personal pref though and I don’t consider myself a hardcore gamer.
However, how do enemies shoot slower while you are playing online? Maybe why Im not a hardcore gamer, but the only time I play single player is when my internet is down and I need to play.
Jim
Console FPS titles are typically coded with the exactly the limitations in mind the article mentions. Controllers are usable for FPS titles, but inherently much less precise than a mouse or keyboard, so the game developers account for this when coding. Most commonly, hitboxes and auto-aim functions are very generous in console FPS titles to compensate – you get roughly near the target, and magically, you hit it. There’s no need on the PC except if you want to manually tailor the game’s difficult level.
I have to disagree on the resolution point. PS3 on 1920×1080 on a 60″ screen, where is the issue of resolution. O.K. pc may have a 1920×1200 but generally only on a 24″ screen (unless to connect to a 60″ screen)
But yes a interface to suite the game at hand would be better. And yes some console games do allow you go use a keyboard and mouse.
Only a very small number of PS3 or 360 games actually use 1920×1080. Most of the time, you’re actually seen 1280×720 upscaled (i.e. 1080i). PCs, OTOH, are fully capable of using 1080p as a native, full resolution.
Or even larger, like 2560×1600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001098
The point of the resolution limit is thats all your going to get with the PS3, thats the max of the hardware. maybe a little higher with firmware updates but your not Going that high at all. 1920×1200 will look better on a smaller LCD screen, the bigger screens you will be able to notice to much of the (for lack of a better term) Lack of quality. Its simply just too big for modern games. It would happen even if you hooked the PC with the same resolution up to the same tv. Difference is, You can customize the resolution on the PC.
I have seen it first hand so im not just arguing for PC, even though thats what i play on (except a couple choice titles only for console).
what kind of mouse is that?
Razer Mamba.
The mouse in the picture is a Razer Mamba.
This is a very good little article indeed. You hinted at the point but never directly said it: all games are better on a PC. There is not one game I can think of that is better on a console (aside from having the convenience of sitting on a couch and playing on a larger screen).
Unfortunately, the market is not there for the publishers to focus on PC games instead of consoles. People can buy consoles for $300. A decent gaming PC costs thousands. The bottom line is they are producing inferior games on the consoles because they can make more money doing so.
For those of you that argue that console controls are precision based: do you really think you would do better on a console vs someone on a PC in an identical setup (same game speeds, enemy movements, etc)? You know the answer: no.
Yes, you’ve certainly hit it. I do think that any game _can_ be better on the PC, but it’s only occasionally that it really is, and besides, the developer can’t count on the hardware.
Mouse is definitely better but am I no fan of the keyboard. The problem with keyboards is that WASD don’t have any middle ground on their input. It can become tricky when you’re hiding behind an object. You want to move a little closer to the edge so you can shoot but if you press D for a millisecond you’re too far out and get yourself killed. That’s why lean can be a little bit tricky sometimes.
So yeah, keyboards, as they are right now, work but if they were pressure sensitive (like some prototypes are), and the game could sense that, it would be even better.
I’ve tried it out a bit with a pressure sensitive keyboard and it’s quite fun, though you really need to get used to it.
When Microsoft/FASA Studio’s Shadowrun came out, they made a big deal about its multiplayer sharing servers between 360 and PC – the whole gamepad vs. mouse debate would finally be settled.
Turns out that in testing, the only way the game would be worth playing in multiplatform matches is if everybody got some degree of autoaim – otherwise, the ability of PC players to aim with precision more quickly than console players would overwhelm the gamepads every match.
Naturally, PC gamers groused and the PC version of game ended up in bargain bins even faster than the 360’s (though more likely from the absent single-player campaign, missing animations and lack of maps or DLC than autoaim).
Aside from all that, though, just about any PC shooter can be played with a gamepad, especially the 360’s. The dearth of people using them, particularly competitively, should be telling.
The problem with that logic is that you are thinking of FPS and FPS games only.
I don’t understand why we can’t have a mouse for consoles. If some people don’t want to use it they don’t have to, but personally I would love to have better aim control on my x360. A handheld control stick for the left hand, and mouse for the right hand.
The PS3 does support both mouse and keyboard input. You can plug any USB mouse and keyboard into a PS3 or use a number of bluetooth mice and keyboards. I have a logitech bluetooth keyboard with integrated touchpad that I use. That being said it is up to the each game developer to support it, some do and some don’t. For example I use my mouse and keyboard when playing UT3 on my PS3. The 360 does not support keyboard or mouse input.
I don’t know about mice but I can tell you for a fact that the 360 supports usb keyboard input, very likely mice too for any games that support it, I use a keyboard often on my 360.
I love playing on my PC,
There are quite a few games I had played that they should have never ported to the pc though. Just left em for the console gamers (Kane and Lynch for example). lol. Terrible Port.
And i guess you can use a mouse for the 360 somehow. but your never going to get the DPI on the fly and everything with it i think.
I built myself a high performance gaming PC about a year ago and recently picked up a PS3 Slim, with the PC hooked up to the aforementioned 24″ 1920×1200, and both devices hooked up to a Sony XBR9 46″ 1920×1080. (I use a wireless 360 controller for games on the PC like Prince of Persia and GTA4 and stick to the desktop monitor w/ kebyoard and mouse for most others.) The only games I buy for the PS3 are titles that I cannot get for PC. It’s just a matter of performance. The ps3 just can’t push a hi-def resolution with 16xAA and all the bells and whistles. I’m a graphics whore, what can I say?
Here here!
(I play PC games with my 360 controller…)
I am here to put the last nail in this coffin. PC controls are superior for FPS, NUFF SAID. I am also a console gamer and I prefer to play Guitar Hero games with a plastic guitar and fighting games with my joystick. But, once it comes to anything FPS I cant hit whit with my PS3 controller watch out for my G5 mouse i will own you.