Phatose on 6/1/2010 at 02:45

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Possibly, it's because the gaming styles do differ, and thus do tastes. Madden 2010 could be the best game of the year, but you can bet your ass people who don't play sports games aren't going to give a shit.

june gloom on 6/1/2010 at 03:09

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I tend to agree.

Nameless Voice on 6/1/2010 at 03:55

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<rant>
I'm most certainly a PC snob, as I don't own a console, don't want to own a console, and my few experiences with playing console games have not been that great.
The main problem I see with the console is the controller. I've used an Xbox controller a fair bit recently, having played a bit Halo with some friends (more because it was there than because I chose it), and I find it simply impossible to play a game like that properly without a mouse. Even after you get used to the controller, it's just too inaccurate to aim properly. On the flip side of that, I'm sure it would be a lot better for games types that are designed for it, such as Prince of Persa: Sands of Time and its sequels, or the GTA games.

But my bigger problem with the controllers is the trend for the PC games to adopt a minimalist control set so as to make them workable on a game controller. I just finally got around to buying Fallout 3, and as I've just started playing it at the moment, I'll use it as an example. In the game, you hold the Reload key for a second or two to holster your weapon. On a PC, with a keyboard, where you can easily have a separate key for that, which to me would be a far easier system to comprehend, it makes no sense to have such an awkard control system. There's no reason to minimise the number of keys on a PC by doubling up a function like that. Also, like in Oblivion before it, the crouch key has been removed, for no real reason other than the notion that having too many controls is "bad" somehow, possibly because it wouldn't be possible to include them all on an XBox controller. (Though, admittedly, the "sneak" key mostly acts as a crouch key - more so in Fallout 3 than in Oblivion, I think).
Now, of course, you could argue that Bethesda just opted to minimise the number of controls anyway, and that it has nothing to do with console controllers. I can't say for sure, but I've certainly noticed a trend in games recently to try to limit the number of controls available and to keep the number of keys low, even if it means removing functionality.

This is a problem primarily because I like complicated games that generally have or need a lot of controls, such as RPGs and RTSes. I'll admit I've never played an RTS on a console (are there even any?), and frankly I can't imagine one being controllable at all without a keyboard and mouse. I can barely manage to play strategy games on my laptop's trackpad, and that's still a more precise pointer manipulation device than a console controller would be.


My other major issue with consoles, and games which are geared towards consoles, is the complete lack of moddability. While I was using Fallout 3 as an example of what I see as a "consolised" control scheme, it is still, at its heart, a PC game, and has very strong editor support for the PC, yet no mods for the XBox.
I recently played Dead Space (which I consider to be a 'geared-for-consoles' game) on the PC, and spent some time trying to hunt down a mod to adjust the camera angle so that it was more centered, without any luck. After idly switching to third-person view in Fallout 3, I noticed that it had a similar off-centre third-person camera (albeit not as extreme), and it took me less than five minutes to track down a mod to 'fix' it for me (even though I don't really intend to play in third person anyway). That wouldn't have been possible on the XBox version.

Mmm too long, no one in their right mind will read this wall of text.
</rant>

june gloom on 6/1/2010 at 04:33

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So what you're saying is you want a big overly complicated control scheme because god forbid developers streamline an experience instead of forcing players to memorize six million keystrokes that all do different things. I agree that there's such a thing as going too far (PRESS A TO WIN AAAAAAAAAAA YOU WIN) but for fuck's sake you are complaining that holding down a key to do something different as opposed to merely tapping it amounts to consolitis. Thank you for proving my point towards Shadowcat. What's next, complaining that subtitle text being larger than 8-point is too large and obviously dumbed down for console tards?

ps: scots needs to learn that forum defaults are stupid

Nameless Voice on 6/1/2010 at 04:43

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Well... yes. Reloading a gun and holstering it are two completely different actions, why should they share a key?
And, the better and more important point is: why should they have to share a key? There's absolutely no reason why they couldn't have made it possible to customise a separate key to perform that function, while keeping the same functionality on the reload key.

And the interface text in Oblivion and Fallout 3 is way too big by default. But that's more of a case of it not really reacting to screen resolution properly than anything else.

I do think quicktime events are generally stupid, too. But that has nothing to do with consoles per se, just foolish developers.

Edit: and it's still page 2.