The XBox, Two Months Later

[Rigel]

In the biggest surprise of all, my buying an XBox 360 two months ago has all but killed my desire to game on a PC.

Naturally, this quite surprised me. I've been a hardcore PC gamer for close to 20 years, and boasted about the potential of (1) the mouse / keyboard gaming style, (2) third party mods, and (3) (potentially) superior performance.

(1) The M/K controls are, in the end, a moot point. Even though the PS3 offers it, I don't see it as being a big deal - it's just another thing that you get used to, and in the end it doesn't bother you.

(2) Downloadable content is now a reality for consoles as well. Not only from the developers themselves, but UT3 has shown that 3rd party mods can work, too (at least on the PS3, you can download user-created mods. I've yet to look into how it works on the XBox, since I haven't tested that version of it yet, but the system is there).

(3) The graphics on the XBox are fine. Sure, they're not photorealistic - but the graphics on a PC aren't, either. In fact, I've found that I'm bothered much more by poor frame rates than poor graphics, these days. Unfortunately, frame rates aren't an issue for developers, so PC games are just as plagued by them as consoles are. At least on consoles, you know you have a minimum experience level, since the developers are specifically targetting your system.

And of course, the biggie for consoles is... it's in the living room. I didn't realize this single fact was so important, but it is. My wife plays games with me now, and I no longer feel like I have to hide my gaming habit. Something about moving it from the office, where I sit alone in front of the desk, to the living room, where I'm sitting on the couch, makes it more open and social, and much more enjoyable.

In fact, that last point is such a big deal to me that, at this point, I don't expect to ever buy a desktop system again. I'll be using laptops, as I can not only use them in any room of the house, or take them with me to work or school.

[Worm of Despite]

Console games are just more accessible from the moment you put them in the system. No installing, patching, or wondering how many mods you need to download to get the full-experience. Usually it's all there on CD (or DVD or Blu-ray).

I agree that they're an excellent option for those who want the "entertainment room" or want to expand to a large TV and surround sound. Secondly, this generation of consoles matches most PC games at identical graphic settings and framerates. Add to this that many people are jaded by constantly upgrading PCs, which is a never-ending and wallet-taxing.

On the other hand, I don't think consoles have beaten the mouse/keyboard in specific genres (first person shooters), and the online experience is naturally more robust on PC. I still haven't found something as deep as Ultima Online or adrenaline-pumping as Counter-Strike.

Props to you for wanting a laptop. My future (and first) home will have one, as this desktop takes up so much space I feel like I'm working on an ENIAC.

[Queeaqueg]

Much prefer PC for playing games than console but PC always needs to be upgraded. FPS, Strategy and turnbased games are better on PC, RPG work well on all consoles.

[Nav]

That's pretty much the same experience I had, although I disagree that mouse and keyboard is superior. It was very quickly discovered in testing of the few games that pit Xbox 360 users against their PC counterparts that, although mouse and keyboard gave an aiming advantage, the 360's gamepad allowed for smoother, more complex movement and quicker, cleaner access to ability buttons. In short, the mouse may be the king of accuracy but the keyboard is an increasingly outdated interface device. I much prefer the tight, focused feel you get with a well designed gamepad to K+M, which now feels disjointed to me.

Slowly but surely, consoles are stealing the PC's traditional strongholds. If there's a shooter I want to buy and it's available for the Xbox and the PC, there's no way I'd buy it on the PC at this point. That's partly because of the newly found interface preferences mentioned above, but mostly because of Xbox Live. Again, in theory you have all that and more available with PC games and it's free, but in practice you have to work at finding a likeminded group of players and organising games with them. Xbox Live kind of tightens everything up and brings people together without them having to try. Microsoft insist that the Xbox is just a vehicle and that Live is their product, and now we're past the halfway point in the 360's lifecycle that is clearer than ever.

There are, however, some genres which I think will steadfastly resist conversion to console. Most obvious is real-time strategy, which requires a level of finesse with the mouse that consoles cannot emulate. However, I'm of the opinion that all RTS games are terminally flawed by the limits of their input devices and until you can control your armies with spoken commands, aren't worth bothering with. Real generals don't point, click and drag. Turn-based strategy is a slightly different beast and Civilization Revolution recently proved that you can make an excellent turn-based game for consoles.

The biggest Ace PC gaming has up its sleeve though, is the MMO. Attempts are being made to bring MMOs to consoles, however I'm convinced that they are all doomed to failure. Not because of any technical or quality reasons, but simply because typing is absolutely essential for an MMO to succeed. These things flat out will not work with voice chat. As I'm sure we're all aware, it's very easy to say what you want to say and be who you want to be when your sole mode of expression is text on screen. That badass level 70 shadow priest who's pwning all comers in PvP will appear a whole lot less cool the moment you find out he sounds just like the squeaky-voiced teen from the Simpsons.

Hoever for me, the 'killing stroke' has just been delivered to the PC as a mainstream gaming platform. About a month ago, I decided I really needed to put together a new computer to deal with all of the encoding I do. It's a fearsome beast, with 4GB of RAM and the fastest dual core processor AMD ever made, and while I was about it I figured I may as well get myself a GeForce 8800GT, so I had the option of playing the latest PC games. So, eager to stretch my new hardware I headed down to the game store to buy the most demanding game I could but when I got there I discovered that there were basically no games I wanted to buy. All they had were games I already owned for the 360, World of Warcraft, a ton of other second rate MMOs and their expansions, some flight sims, some RTSs and Crysis. I didn't go for Crysis because my understanding is that it has the Doom 3 problem: "What an amazing engine, I can't wait until someone makes a real game with it", so that left me with Age of Conan, an ambitious but buggy MMO that I'm not just sure about yet. Sure, I'll be buying Spore when it comes out and I'll give Warhammer Online a try, but there's nothing else PC-exclusive that appeals to me. I might buy Lost Planet: Colonies Edition, but I'd be only doing it for the sake of having something to play on the PC. I actually think that within five years all we'll see on it are RTSs, MMOs and ports from consoles.

[Rigel]

However, I'm of the opinion that all RTS games are terminally flawed by the limits of their input devices and until you can control your armies with spoken commands, aren't worth bothering with.

Interesting. Have you heard of Tom Clancy's Endwar? It's an RTS on the XBox that is... wait for it... controlled by your voice through the headset.

Check out the previews online - I don't know how well it will work in practice, but the idea is pretty frickin' cool

[Queeaqueg]

I played Half-Life on both Xbox and PC, and I much prefer the PC version of the game, the mouse and keyboard just seem right. I don't like Xbox
controllers either, I prefer the PS3(or just PS) controller. Xbox is chunky.
I could never imagine playing Command & Conquer or other games along this line on console again, you're too slow to react on a console.

[Nav]

I find the 360 pads to be about perfect, not too big like the original Xbox ones but the ergonomics are pretty good (the only issue I get is a slight cramp in my right hand if I've been using that trigger a lot) and the build quality is excellent.

Personally I find the PS3 controllers nasty, like I did the PS2 controllers before them and the PS1 controllers before that. It's the same square design that hurts your wrists if you play for more than a little while (apparently everyone learned design lessons from the NES except Sony) the analogue sticks are horribly floaty and imprecise, and haven't been improved at all since the Dual Shock 1. The PS3 controller even manages to go a step further by being far too light, it feels flimsy and has no presence in your hand. I suspect a lot of peoples' prejudice against gamepads is solely based on their experiences with PlayStation controllers, because you couldn't begin to compete with keyboard and mouse with those analogue sticks and no proper triggers.

I must admit that Half Life 2 doesn't feel quite right on the Xbox, nothing in the Orange Box does, but I've found more recent titles feel a lot tighter on console. I hadn't heard about Endwar, but I'll be interested to see how it turns out. I don't play RTS games because on all of them, above a certain point in the game I just end up doing a tank rush because of the limitations of the interface. If I'm being really adventurous then maybe I'll send a diversionary strike somewhere else, but that's about the extent of it. Being able to give orders to groups of units without having to select them, find the spot on the map you want them to go and then click, would revolutionise the genre but surely it'll be a hellishly difficult thing to realise? I'd put money on the first games to try it having huge flaws.

[Worm of Despite]

Personally I find the PS3 controllers nasty, like I did the PS2 controllers before them and the PS1 controllers before that. It's the same square design that hurts your wrists if you play for more than a little while (apparently everyone learned design lessons from the NES except Sony) the analogue sticks are horribly floaty and imprecise, and haven't been improved at all since the Dual Shock 1.

I never got this impression, especially after using it with depth and precision in MGS4. To me it's an evolution of the SNES controller, which for my money was the best design out there. I do like Dreamcast/Xbox-style controllers, don't get me wrong, but the PS has felt equally "right" (though I never debated their ergonomics overmuch; it's hard to screw up what Nintendo perfected in the 80s and improved in the early 90s). As for the dreaded wrist or thumb pains: zilch.

I found both the Dual Shock and Xbox controller excellent for FPS games (Halo made good use of the shoulder buttons), though I like to keep my Half-Life as far from consoles as possible. Team Fortress is just too competitive for anything other than a keyboard/mouse.

[Queeaqueg]

I have always used a PS controller and it never hurts my hands. I just found Xbox one too chunky.

[Nav]

The PS controllers force you to angle your wrists in and keep a lot of tension in your thumbs, which you have to pull quite high to reach the buttons, they're just a poor design from an ergonomic point of view. They are iconic, but I think Sony need to move on from the old design and again, there is nowhere near enough resistance in the analogue sticks. You need an extremely light touch to be both quick and accurate and that's not ideal.

The Xbox 360 controller places the hands in a much more natural position; the wrists aren't angled at all and the thumbs rest on the sticks in close to their natural position. It's relatively large, but it has to be because if it were any smaller you'd have to either turn your wrists in or out to hold it, which if you're a heavy gamer can lead to all sorts of problems like numbness, pins and needles, tendonitis, carpal tunnel and RSI because the wrist is such a complex joint.

I like the weight of the 360 controller too, it feels just right; kind of heavy but not enough to make it tiring to hold. My only criticism of it would be that the triggers should perhaps be placed a bit lower down, as people tend to use them with their index fingers but the designers probably intended them for the middle fingers.

I think ergonomics are the one thing Microsoft consistently gets right, their Natural keyboards are excellent and you can see in products like the Xbox where that kind of input has gone in. Pretty much all of their other departments could use whatever it is they feed the ergonomics people!

The Xbox controllers are