Wii FPS controls: near perfection, not there yet

[Grey Acumen]

fkusumot said:

The "turning rate" issue is entirely a coding issue. For some reason Retro didn't want gamers to be able to turn faster. It would have been interesting if they had included an option to increase turning speed (but they didn't). So the rate of turn being too slow is a fault of MP3/Retro, not a fault of the WiiMote. Good read.

Nono, you misunderstand me, I LIKE the turning rate that MP3 offers, anything faster and it would feel almost over sensitive, but adding in that snap ablity I mentioned would allow you to suplement the smooth slower turning motion with a faster boost for those cases where you need quick turns to the left, right, or behind.

And also, I was pointing out that this was a development issue, not an issue with the wiimote, hence the wiimote is not at perfection YET.

BenKenobi88 said:
A grand piano is better than a kid's Casio keyboard.

Like a musical instrument, the computer keyboard takes practice, but after holding my fingers in the WSAD position for years, I can say my fingers slipping is not really an issue, and the sheer number of keys available to map to a game makes it much, much better than a gamepad to me.

It might not be the best control option for beginners, but the combination of a keyboard for body movement and a mouse for looking and aiming, I have yet to find anything better...unless someone puts an analog stick or rudder on a keyboard, which would allow for adjustable walking, running speed...but that's not very essential.

I am not trying to be a fanboy, I truly believe that a keyboard and mouse are the most versatile, accurate, fast, and customizable control options available. Turning speed with a mouse is never a problem for me, moving up or down relative to the mouse's position has never bothered me, and while a nunchuck is more comfortable to hold than a keyboard, it has all of 2 buttons, a joystick and motion controls...which can only get you so far.

You can play Valve games with a gamepad, or a gamepad+mouse, it's in the control options. Console gamers might prefer it.

But I submit that most that hate keyboard+mouse hate it because they are not used to it. Once you get used it, you'll find that nothing on the market today can beat it.

I know I'm picking apart your post a bit, but I do need to point out that those adjustable running speeds can make a huge difference, and you are limiting the use of motion controls, both in terms of versatility and ingenuity. While the nunchuck may not have 50 keys to worry about, much of your issue can be addressed by combining motion controls with one or more buttons being pressed at the same time, not to mention a slightly tweaked gui so that some of the buttons are on screen, as well as combining some of the less used options into navigatable menues. In order to be able to say that this honestly gives the keyboard an advantage, the game you're playing would require a solid 50+ different commands that are used REGULARLY and in short notice throughout gameplay.

This isn't even mentioning the fact that the Wiimote generally has quite a few more buttons than your standard mouse. Sure, you may not feel as comfortable with how they're positioned, but "once you get used to it, there are no problems. Oh, and it only took me a couple weeks to get used to the Wiimote, not a couple of years. Sometimes when something takes a lot of time to master, it's just because it's really difficult to use, not because it works better than the other.

I'll also point out that you said yourself that a nunchuck would be more comfortable to hold, and I'm pointing out that comfort can be a big issue, esspecially in when you've been playing for multiple hours. I don't have to take rests to work the cramps out of my hands. I'm sure there are quite a few other PC gamers who have held their hands in the wasd position for years, yet still don't like it at all.

And yes, I've played the Valve games using the controller+mouse movement, and that is actually how I formed this opinion piece on why the Wiimote is more comfortable. I also attempted to turn on the controller options, but when I did that, it refused to let me used the left analog stick for strafing, which made it impossible to use that method to combine it with the mouse. Please keep in mind, I'm not saying that mouse+keyboard have somehow fallen below analog FPS, cause analog FPS is the bane of my existence, and is most of why I've been constantly at odds with those types of games all these years. I still look back and wonder how the hell I managed to survive playing Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask when I had to use a control stick to aim the bow and hookshot.

 

I'll concede your point as A reason for why the keyboard and mouse could be considered better, but I'm afraid I just don't see it as being a terribly effective one.

also, the casio keyboard comment was just a bit over the top :P