PC Gaming to console gaming

Recently i haven't been playing games much at all. Just CSS. So i'd consider myself a casual gamer. The only release i am egar for is black mesa, and my current rig can handle that fine. So i think i'm done with throwing money into my machine.

I'm thinking about getting an Xbox 360, my only worrie is i haven't owned and played (well, played properly) a console since the Nintendo 64 was realsed. Now, i tried playing on an xbox 360 the other day, and i just could not controll the charcter/movment properly. I was having trouble aiming.

Is this tempary thing? Has anyone else had this problem, i dont want to buy a 360 and not be able to even move my guy! Thoughts please.

=]

Yeah mate, I picked up Halo 3 when it was released, having never really played a fast paced fps on a console (other than Goldeneye on the N64). I was crap for the first hour or so, but quickly picked it up. And whilst it's nothing compared to a mouse and keyboard, I'm pretty decent, and can hold my own, online.

So it just takes a little time? I was playing that frontlines game on 360, i was utter wank.

It's only temporary.
It happens to me every time i switch from PC the PS3, even if it's just been a few days. Obviously to a lesser extent than it will take the first time you switch.
You shouldn't have a problem though.

Good.

360 here i come.

The more you play it, the easier it becomes. Hope to see you online someday

Nice one. I'll post the udername thingy when i get it.

I have a 360, though not right now. It RRoD'd on me, and it's out for warranty repair. (Before getting a 360, be aware of the high risk of hardware failure.) I love the power of the system, and for most games, the controller does a fine job. FPS games, however, do suffer significantly without a mouse for look/aim. You can get used to it, but no one can compensate for the loss of precision and speed of a mouse. Mouse movement is a much closer analogue of head and eye movement than a joystick will ever be.

I completely disagree. Neither are exactly a good analog to actual movement, but you got to admit that the pull up/push down of the stick is much more akin to moving a head on a neck than flicking your wrist around. And, again, play enough-- I can't stress this any more-- play it enough-- and I guarantee-- GUARANTEE-- that subtle quick movements and decent aiming are achievable with a stick.

I will admit that 'precision' kind of understates the power of a mouse. But, since everyone is on the same page with a controller on console most of the time, that point is moot. Completely.

Why beg to mention it at all?

It's different, sure, but I hardly think it "suffers."

It's different. End. Of. Story.

Just like people unfamiliar with controllers-- meaning they are not their primary method of play-- seem willing to write off console controls, hand mouse control over to someone unfamiliar with it, and watch the spinning drunken attempts at movement and the frustration unfold. I've seen it. Sure you have too.

's all relative.

I'll bear it in mind.

I'm also aware of the "ROD", my friends at college are all in a clan over Live, so it will be nice to play with them, they know i'll be **** for while though first.

I was a PC guy too, then the Xbox came out and Halo, I sucked at aiming... but yeah, just practice, change sensitivity settings or inversion things like that to find your groove

Originally Posted by rtanger

I completely disagree. Neither are exactly a good analog to actual movement, but you got to admit that the pull up/push down of the stick is much more akin to moving a head on a neck than flicking your wrist around. And, again, play enough-- I can't stress this any more-- play it enough-- and I guarantee-- GUARANTEE-- that subtle quick movements and decent aiming are achievable with a stick.

I will admit that 'precision' kind of understates the power of a mouse. But, since everyone is on the same page with a controller on console most of the time, that point is moot. Completely.

Why beg to mention it at all?

It's different, sure, but I hardly think it "suffers."

It's different. End. Of. Story.

Just like people unfamiliar with controllers-- meaning they are not their primary method of play-- seem willing to write off console controls, hand mouse control over to someone unfamiliar with it, and watch the spinning drunken attempts at movement and the frustration unfold. I've seen it. Sure you have too.

's all relative.

Nope. I don't agree with that at all. With a combination of head and eye movements, a human being can shoot a nearly instant glance at an object that catches the attention of his peripheral vision. A good shot can perform a similar motion with a handheld firearm. The mouse allows that kind of nearly instantaneous movement and great precision. A stick does not. It particularly suffers in terms of speed. If you make the response very quick, you sacrifice precision completely. Also, the movement of your thumb does not translate directly and linearly into a movement of your looking/aiming direction. Deflection from center position tells the code to accelerate your viewpoint in that direction until the input changes. The mouse movement is a direct analogue of the viewpoint motion.

Let's be truthful here, and save the fanboy stuff for somewhere less hospitable, OK? I love both PC and console games, but I'm not about to put on rose-colored glasses and ignore the obvious.

Then let's agree to disagree.

However, I still see a less analogous connection to aiming with a mouse than with an analog stick. You don't change the aim of a gun with a glance of the eyeball. You also don't jump immediately to a small target with laser precision when changing aim, unless you're some kind of godly marksman. The acceleration effects you mention and need to change input to stop movement in a certain direction draws even further parallels to actual movement than does a mouse. The whole process of "zeroing in" that stick play commonly entails reinforces this notion further.

Of course, neither are anywhere close to representational of actual movement, but if we wanted to pretend they were, then I still say stick.

Mouse makes it easier to kill, yes. That fact cannot be ignored, and I never did. I'm not "putting on rose colored glasses" here, I, for one, simply prefer controller play. Someone out there *cough* needs to take a stand and say neither is better or worse, they are different! Simple as that. I still maintain that, with enough practice, stickplay can be as fun and as enjoyable, and as effective, as mouse control.

After years upon years upon years of mouseplay, my arms and wrists also agree with my decision. Your mileage may vary.

I'm not prone to fanboyism. For some reason, though, the mention of the superiority of mouse and keyboard just sets me off. I can't explain it or justify it, but it really grinds my gears for reasons possibly cosmic. Perhaps the physical ills inflicted on me by such methods cognitively and subconsciously affect my reasoning. Who knows.

Talk about ignoring the obvious? What about beating the obvious with a shovel until it bleeds Skittles?

I still suck at using the 360 controller.

rtanger, this is the kind of subject where the answers are so obvious to me that you may as well say "the grass is blue and the sky is green" and you'd have a better chance of convincing me you're not deluded. I'm sorry, I'm not a hardline guy where I see room for debate. Here, I simply do not. You're right, the best thing to do is agree to disagree. I really have nothing else to contribute.