Intro: I've recently started to get into PC gaming, mainly for it's ease (so much easier than console gaming, putting in discs and all that shit), and that I can quickly jump into a game, play a match, and quit out of the game, and my friends on MSN won't have even known I've gone.

The weird thing about my situation is that I have no problems with typical PC complaints, but a huge problem with the thing the PC is usually favoured for (which you can see in my thread title).

Things I like about PC:

Games: I've got just about everything that Valve has made (excluding L4D, I'm not much into zombies), CoD4, Oblivion, Hearts of Iron II, Spore and The Sims to play whenever. I'm gonna be looking at getting a couple of games from my mates like Fallout 3 and Crysis, and my friends are ever-forcing me to play WoW. When I'm not in the mood for competition, or story, I can just jump on solitaire, or that new Tinker thing.

As for games coming out, the only one I'm really excited for is Empire: Total War. I don't mind, tbh, as I have 2 decades worth of back catalogue to catch up on.

Online Gaming: Although I prefer the way that everything is standardised on the consoles - PSN and Xbox Live, rather than having 11 billion different platforms, it just really means that I have about 6 log-in accounts, the individual services (Steam, xFire, etc) are just as good as their console counterparts, and I don't have to put up with the terrible p2p hosting systems.

Also, my consoles don't let me Alt-tab between my game, WinAMP, MySpace, VGC, Facebook, MSN, whenever I'm waiting to respawn, or for a game to load (which takes nowhere near the time as it does on consoles).

Thing I should like about PC:

Controls. The mouse is awesome, particularly for FPSs. Unfortunatly, the mouse isn't the only part of the controlling system. It also has this fuck-tard next to it, it's fat friend, the keyboard.

The keyboard is shit for gaming.

There are many reasons why I dislike the keyboard for gaming:

1 - It's awkward. God know's that most people have issues typing on a keyboard and hitting the right keys when that's all what they're thinking about, let alone when they're trying to get into a game.

When I'm playing CoD, for example, and I run around a corner, BAM there's another guy sitting there. Shit, where's the knife? V, that's it, hit V. Shit, I'm crouching, I've hit C, stand up, SPACE, good I'm up, where is he? There! V again, oh shit, where is it? *takes head away from screen*, ah, there. Hits V. Good, I swung the knife, crap, he's run away in the time I've looked at the keyboard.

Or I also have problems when I go to hit a number. The number 6, for example, is used to call a UAV/Air Strike/Helicopter, and then I lose my place with the WASD and I start going right when I want to be going backwards.

This is a huge issue.

2 - No analogue control. Sure, you get it with the mouse, but I'd much prefer it if I could strafe by moving my thumb in a figure-8 (if you wanna play Halo good - learn that) rather than by hitting the corresponding keys.

3 - Lack of other technologies. Keyboards haven't taken advantage of force-feedback, and they won't be able to take advantage of force feedback.

My Proposal

A one handed controller that replaces the keyboard. I'm thinking in the design lines of a Nunchuck controller, or the center-part of the N64 controller. All it really needs is an analogue stick, perhaps six easy-to-reach buttons, and some form of primitive motion sensing (like a flicking function - to allow me to draw for my shank in CoD).

The controller could also have force-feedback, a loudspeaker and a microphone, if we wanna go crazy about this.

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I personally think that this would be an awesome idea, it could severely reduce the learning curve of PC gaming, and it would even have the side benefit of gaming on laptops easier (as keyboards on those things are even fucking worse).

I've thought about this before, and agree an analog stick is the only thing the PC is missing for its regular setup.

However, the problem with your suggestion is buttons. In WoW, for example, I have 47 keybinds (I just counted) per character. Controllers tend to have something close to 15 buttons. That won't do for modern MMOs and RTS.

The nunchuck wouldn't have to be used for all games. WoW could still use the keyboard. They could coexist.

I thought you could hook up controllers and map things to them for most PC games... so just buy a controller for it.

I agree keyboards can be awkward but it also depends on the keyboard. Some are more comfortable than others.

The optimal solution would be to have a specialized left-hand controller for some games though.

 But then you don't get to use the mouse. I want the best of both worlds, damnit.

No I mean you can connect a controller and map what you want to it... but leave pointing/aiming and any additional controls (as in Bods 47 commands) to the keyboard and mouse.

Are there any controllers that fit nicely into one hand? I'm thinking of the nunchuck style fitting into one hand, type thing.

No idea I don't play anything other than flash games on PC.

Personally, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, I don't like your idea. While it may sound convenient, I'm not sure if it's that accurate even for moving. The bigger reason, however, is the lack of buttons.

Oh, and you should really try binding the functions to other buttons. V, for example, is terrible for anything fast. Generally you bind the most used functions to the buttons that are the easiest to reach. You could also try using ESDF instead of WASD to have more space to the left as well, although I have never tried this myself. It can't be too different, though, as the buttons ESDF have the exactly same layout as WASD.