XBox vx PS3 vs PC - TTLG Forums

june gloom on 11/12/2010 at 17:32

Can we quit with the idiotic platform weenie-waving and focus on the only thing that matters: the games?

Koki on 11/12/2010 at 17:49

I laughed out loud when Super Meat Boy told me I should plug in a controller. Hardcore platforming where one bad move means death is the last kind of game where I'd want to fuck around with analog controls.

CCCToad on 11/12/2010 at 17:58

Why would we discuss the games when so many of them are the same? :P

Seriously though, they all have some pretty awesome exclusives. Without my PS3, I never would have been able to play Demon's Souls or Uncharted, while without my Xbox I never would have gotten to play the Mass Effect games, beat Gears of War with my roomate, or Teabag people who are D-bags on Halo.

Previously, I would have stated that the PS3 is a better hardware platform while the 360 has better games. I now retract that statement: With a few exceptions PS3 exclusives are better and more interesting games than Xbox exclusives. However, it is still true that the 360 has a far more robust online architecture (so much so as to almost justify the cost) and a better interface. I also find the 360 controller to be a much more ergonomic design than Dualshock 3.

When I get too much spare time on my hands (not likely to happen any time in the near future, unfortunately) I need to do that mod where you put a dualshock's parts in an 360 controller shell.

Zerker on 11/12/2010 at 18:07

Quote Posted by Koki

Gamepads also have a D-Pad for that sort of thing. Meatboy's an odd case, though. From what I understand, it uses Xinput, which limits it to the 360 controller and is awkward D-Pad (although there's the newer one with improved D-pad lately). Or awkward XInput emulator DLL swapping.

Regardless, when I pick it up, I plan to play that with my SNES pad and joystick -> keyboard software.

EDIT: As I have picked it up since this was posted, it appears to work fine with DirectInput gamepads too. Didn't need to do anything funny to use with my Snes -> PC or PS2 -> PC adapters.

Koki on 11/12/2010 at 18:27

The problem with D-pad is that you use only one finger to press four buttons. With keyboard you have three fingers on three out of four available buttons at all times.

Quote Posted by CCCToad

Seriously though, they all have some pretty awesome exclusives. Without my PS3, I never would have been able to play Demon's Souls or Uncharted, while without my Xbox I never would have gotten to play the Mass Effect games, beat Gears of War with my roomate, or Teabag people who are D-bags on Halo.

Mass Effect, Gears of War and Halo are all on the PC bro.

Enchantermon on 11/12/2010 at 18:36

Quote Posted by EvaUnit02

No. PC versions are auto-aim free for obvious reasons.

That's what I thought. Hence my point.

Quote Posted by Sulphur

Two things: Yak's talking about moving, not aiming. Analogue movement allows for more freedom because a key on a PC can only have an on or off state when pressed, whereas analogue can read in-between states and translate that to move faster/slower etc.

It's fairly easy to compensate for this however; for example in Thief and SS2 your speed is modified by the Shift key; in Thief it makes you run and in SS2 is makes you slow down. I guess it could be considered more clumsy, but it certainly doesn't feel like it is.

EDIT: Sorry, Eva already said that.

Quote Posted by Sulphur

Also, forward movement in a PC FPS is tied to where you're aiming with the mouse, whereas analogue stick movement functions a) independently of the camera position so you don't need to adjust your view to move forward at an angle and b) along any combination of axes - moving diagonally solely via the keyboard, for example, involves two fingers. It's a tiny advantage but it's compensated for on PCs by the mouse's sheer speed and precision.

All true. The advantage is there, but when you can aim so much better with the mouse it hardly matters.

Sulphur on 11/12/2010 at 18:55

Quote Posted by Enchantermon

True, but you don't get as much granularity through a toggle switch, or at least you don't get it as easily compared to an analogue stick.

The first bunch of Splinter Cells had an ingenious solution to that problem: they mapped movement speed to the mouse's scroll wheel. It worked brilliantly, as you can imagine. I don't understand why today's stealth games don't use this to their advantage.

Aja on 11/12/2010 at 18:57

I've been playing Stalker and I find it pretty annoying that I have to use two speed modifiers to move stealthily. Someone should make a Wii nunchuck-style controller for the PC, that way you could have analogue movement while still aiming with the mouse. And if they could fit four or five buttons on it, you'd barely need a keyboard at all. I've been enjoying my foray into new PC gaming, but man, the keyboard's limitations for 3D movement have become very obvious, very quickly. Not to mention the discomfort of having to keep an outstretched arm at all times.

Phatose on 11/12/2010 at 19:19

You know, I don't think I've ever played a console game where analog movement was actually helpful. When it's used as a speed modifier, the imprecision of the sticks main it a pain, and I've always had an easier time using a modifier key and the keyboard.

The extra angular precision hasn't been useful either - never run into a situation where 4 degrees left of center is loads more useful then just straight. Run into some occasions where there being 16 different shades of almost straight has been a pain though.

Koki on 11/12/2010 at 19:26

Quote Posted by Sulphur

True, but you don't get as much granularity through a toggle switch, or at least you don't get it as easily compared to an analogue stick.

But do you NEED the granularity? Can you seriously name some games in which changing your movement speed wasn't just a gimmick?

And if it was not - I'd much rather have a "sneak" button which, when I press it, I am sure enables the sneak mode rather than worrying if I'm not pushing the analog stick too far out all the time.