| Desroko said: 1) The first part is where we have to agree to disagree - I don't think there would be any greater problem than with buttons. I've known myself to slip off the up button during games - it's not a problem unique or even common to touchpads, in my experience. 2) The bolded part is where there's a misunderstanding - I don't mean to have any physical features on the pad itself. I'm looking at the one on my laptop, which has no features whatsoever. I nonetheless know exactly where the edges are, roughly where I'm pressing even when I can't fell the edges (which is a defect caused by the rather large size of the pad on my computer, far larger than I imagine for gaming), and that the scroll area is along the right edge- without looking. And my current situation is far less ergonomic than a gamepad. If my right hand is holding a controller in the standard position, my thumb can only go so far, and the pad would be within that range. The pad would be circular, so you can easily tell when you press the edge that you're along the top, the bottom-right, the left, etc., and small enough so that if you're not pressing along an edge, you're pressing a single central area and can easily shift your position unthinkingly. |
1) That's ok - that's what discussions are for! I'm actually so happy that for once there is a good-natured thread where there is actual debate yet devoid of fanboyism, trolling, insults and flaming. Fantastic.
2) However, it's still a physical feature! I understand what you are saying, but I also think that you can speculate as to the whereabouts of the edge by having felt that physical edge more than a couple of times, instilling familiarity into you. Nothing wrong with that either, but I feel there still is a physical element that plays a role here, even though that edge doesn't help you control anything but by virtue of it being there you know where your input mechanism's bounds are.
3) That is where I think issues may arise - different hand sizes and all.
I have no objection to seeing a pure touchscreen input for a console - or any other kind of control, as long as it works. Here's hoping a pure touchscreen input materializes in the near future - along with whatever smorgasbord of peripherals the console manufacturers and game developers have in store for us.
