So, today I was in GameStop, and while I was at the front checkout I had to listen to an associate go on and on about how he can't understand why I play FPS games on the inferior PC with a mouse/keyboard rather than on a superior 360 with a controller.
It took every ounce of energy in my body not to tell him why I think he's wrong, but eventually I managed to cool my jets and say "Hey... to each their own bro."
So that's why I come to you asking:
What is your preferred control method when playing games? Controller, Touch, Motion, or Mouse/Keyboard?
Was there ever a time you wish you had a certain game on a different system so you could play using that control method?
And for the record, the thread story isn't meant to start any kind of argument or debate, I just thought i'd share a short story to go with a poll thread. :P
It's a good thing I wasn't there, I would have made him look like a complete fool.
Give him this little tidbit: Microsoft was going to hold an FPS tournament a little under a decade ago for cross-platform gaming. They got the best of the best on Xbox and PC together and put them against each other. PC gamers came out on top every time. They tried to remedy this by putting worse PC players against the same console players. Same results.
Anyone who argues that FPS controls are better on console is flat-out wrong and possibly lacking the requisite mental facilities to talk without drooling. It has nothing to do with "opinions," a controller is an objectively inferior form of input with respect to the FPS genre. The reason for this is simple enough. A mouse allows a nearly unlimited range of motion without sacrificing precision. A thumbstick doesn't; you have to hold in the direction you want to turn. You can increase the turn speed, but you sacrifice precision. It would be like if you drew a circle on your desk and made it so if the mouse moved outside the circle, you'd turn at a fixed speed until you moved it back in. It's an obvious impediment.
Here's an easy way to resolve the difference. Challenge them to an FPS game on a PC, hook up an Xbox 360 controller to one of the PCs and set up the inputs in the in-game settings (many modern FPS games support controller input on PC for anyone stupid enough to use it). Even one of the worst FPS players on PC could beat someone using a controller for input.
Also: it's fine if you prefer controller for FPS, but realize it's demonstrably inferior.
I always found it interesting that people prefer the keyboard/mouse combo over a controller. Now, I'm not saying one is better than the other, but I always found that with certain games, especially shooters, that the point and click to shoot takes the challenge away from the games, whereas with a controller there is a higher degree of error (but doesn't take away from the fun of the game).
One is better than the other. Also, poor controls are not a feature. Challenge should come from gameplay, not from bad design. Dying repeatedly because of a glitch, for example, is not something that should be praised. If you happen to like the challenge that arises from it, more power to you, but that does not make it a feature.
And if you want to talk about challenge, how about that auto-aim? Nearly every FPS on console since Goldeneye has it enabled; it basically makes it harder to move your crosshairs off of a target. This is because developers also realize controller is a flawed input method for FPS.
There's a reason competitive FPS takes place overwhelmingly on PC. Quake and UT using a controller is just
wrong.
