PS3 Counter-Strike To Support Keyboard and Mouse 168
RogueyWon writes "Eurogamer reports some encouraging news for console-bound fans of online shooters. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the new stand-alone version of the wildly successful Half-Life mod recently announced by Valve, will support mouse and keyboard controls on the PlayStation 3. This isn't entirely unprecedented; 2007's Unreal Tournament 3 had a similar feature, but the idea has never gained momentum. If the idea of allowing PC-style controls on a console does catch on, could this help remove some of the stigma associated with first-person shooters on consoles?"
Players of the Xbox 360 version will still be required to use controllers, and they won't be able to participate in cross-platform play. Valve boss Gabe Newell has had a hard time convincing Microsoft to open up Xbox Live enough to integrate services like Steamworks.
Awesome. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is what the industry needs.
speaking of what the industry needs... Where's my episode 3 Gabe!?
Re:Awesome. (Score:5, Informative)
There was a rumour a while back that the UT players on the PS3 using M+K were just destroying the controller players. Which is not a surprise to me in the least.
I too hope this to become universal. It is the #1 reason I can't play FPSs on consoles, because I feel like I'm playing with one hand tied behind my back when using the controller.
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Re:Awesome. (Score:5, Insightful)
UT3 PS3 allow creation of games with restrictions to the kind of control used. It is the best solution, do you want to play only with controller? search for games that do not allow Keyboard and Mouse, you do not care? search any game. Controller player accuse keyboard player of cheating? tell him to learn to search and kick him
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Was there an option to search for games that allowed either control scheme, but consisted solely of controller users? ;D
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It's fucking counterstrike. I don't think lack of popularity will be an issue.
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Well, as someone who plays UT3 with a controller, I can say that it is more challenging than K+M, however, almost 80% of the challenge is due to the completely assinine and untunable dead zone the coders put into the controller driver. Which is surprising in the case of UT3, given it allows a lot more controller tuning than 99% of the games out there. (You can tune the dead zone, BTW, the choices are 10 levels between "completely unusable" and "I have arthritis so please keep me from walking off cliffs"
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You're forgetting that this is Counter-Strike. Aiming has only a minimal effect on where your bullets will actually land. Except for the very first shot from the AK47, assuming you're crouched and not moving.
You can do this now (Score:2)
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DO NOT buy the XFPS.
XIM3 >> XFPS on all accounts.
Hell the XIM2 was better than the XFPS.
If you are going to get something to use a K+M on your 360, make sure you get the XIM. This is from first hand experience playing on both. If you don't believe it, go check out the XIM forums & all the user submitted videos (Halo, COD, GOW, etc).
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It is called the XIM3 [xim3.com]
Get it, set it, then DESTROY.
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Microsoft tried Xbox Live cros platform play with Windows Live ...
* http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/21/did-microsoft-kill-xbox-livewindows-live-cross-platform-play-because-console-gamers-were-too-bad/ [techcrunch.com]
* http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/numb-thumbs-blog/1724432/console-gamers-pwned-pc-peers [theinquirer.net]
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I don't enjoy the "challenge" of having to move the stick 1/3rd of the way over before it does anything at all, and then watching it jerk way further than I needed. It's actually immensely annoying.
As far as having to take your thumb off the stick to perform certain actions, if you map your UT3 controls correctly (jump and weapon select on L3/R3) melee,fire,alt-fire,and multi-action on L1-2,R1-2 you should pretty much not have to take any of your fingers off anything when it matters. It takes some practic
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I agree with you. I always remember some guy saying he enjoyed a certain pc game but got tired of it when everyone got good enough to bunny hop through a corridor with a sniper rifle pulling off headshot after headshot. I feel like the ease of aiming with a mouse is almost detrimental to FPS games and makes them campy sniper fests. The difficulty in aiming with a controller broadens the width skill and makes the game less about point-and-click and more about movement and strategy.
I like to compare it to
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Automatic is "easier", but you lose a great deal of control over the amount of torque and horsepower at any given time. Manual allows for much finer control. Thus, you got your car analogy exactly backwards.
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Re:Awesome. (Score:4, Informative)
Players 2 through 4 (Score:2)
Nothing stops your from sitting on a couch with a keyboard/ mouse combo and playing games.
Except the fact that one to three other people in your house also want to play, and they didn't bring their own PS3, TV, and copy of the game. I've never seen any practical setup for split-screen gaming with a mouse and keyboard.
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Why can it not be done exactly like the controller version?
Hell, some players could use controller and some mouse and keyboard on the same ps3.
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Why can it not be done exactly like the controller version?
Because either A. Sony's drivers might not allow more than one kb+m on one machine (similar to Windows without an obscure Raw Input API), or B. the developer might choose not to implement it on purpose to make more money by selling one copy of the game per person instead of per household.
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They should have come prepared. :)
Perhaps they didn't "come" at all: they live together. Or perhaps they're too young to work to buy their own system and instead use the system that's property of the whole family.
If everyone doesn't have their own system, you guys aren't playing video games right.
How would having a separate machine per player benefit a fighting game?
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I have not bought ANY fps games on consoles because of this issue (closest is metroid, and that at least had lock-on, and such, and so was OK). And there ARE exclusives, so no, I can't necessarily play some games, so the company is losing money because of this.
If you want to put out separate matches for each type, then fine, have you able to set up matches with controller-only, K+M only, or mixed. But don't just cut it out entirely. They ARE losing sales from this policy.
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> I mean, I can see how you prefer M+K, but it's not really that hard to play with a controller, once you get used to it.
It's not about difficulty, it's about precision, or precisely the LACK of it. Gamepads SUCK for aiming compared to M+K. I currently have over a 50% headshot accuracy on L4D with the AR. There is no way I could even come close to that with a gamepad.
Gamepads are great at some things. But other things, like sniping, they suck ass.
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Ever watch Halo 3 in MLG? Some people are wicked good snipers even with a controller. The difference is it takes a lot of practice. Unlike with a mouse, where everyone is pretty much an expert sniper after playing for two weeks. Personally, I like that the skill cap is so high with a controller. But to each their own, I suppose.
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Personally I would actually preffer MS's idea. Yes K&M players will take gamepad players to the cleaners every time, but sometimes you just want to relax and play the game on a comfortable couch, leaning back with a controller in your hand, in a closed ecosystem where players can only use gamepads, the controls being gimped isn't a huge flaw because the opponents controls are also gimped, you can still have a fair match with both sides being comfortable. You open up precision of a K&M, you take away the option to fairly compete while being comfortable. I don't really get the benefit of cross platform gaming, if you preffer K&M shouldn't you have the game on the PC anyway?
You're right. Why go outside and play football when I can play foosball inside? I'm too tubby to fit out the door anyways...
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You are missing the point, the point is having both options the same and knowing your opponents are playing by the same rules. If I want to play a FPS with my mouse and keyboard, I play it on my PC. If I feel like laying back and playing with a controller, I would play it on a console. Yes it is 2 different fields of gaming, but that dosn't make fooseball a bad game when that is what you feel like playing, but when one person wants to play fooseball, he should have the option to find other people who want to play fooseball, and not lose the game because one player is using the rules of football, and tackles him while he's opperating the fooseball table.
... You do realize that we're not talking about american football vs. fooseball. We're talking about real football vs. the tabletop kind. If you're going to attempt an argument, at least *try* to get with the program prior to posting?
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So, I wasn't trolling you, but you totally over-reacted, and now I'm going to claim I was trolling you
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Where's my episode 3
It's done. In fact, it's been done for years now. But the Valve got so tired of listening to all the whiny bitches complain about it not coming out, that they decided to shelve it permanently. A final gold copy of it sits in a special display case at Valve HQ, along with printouts of a bunch of quotes from fans screaming "WHEN IS IT COMING OUT?! WAAAHHH!!!" Every day employees at Valve walk in, see it and laugh--subtly reminded that whining about a release date won't make it come any sooner.
It's a real sham
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I could see portal being linked directly into HL. Likely this linking point will be EP3. We're close now, as in Portal 2 (spoiler) you leave the facility. There's some links between the things said in it (and Portal) and events in HL.
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Portal 2 takes place hundreds of years after the HL2 episodes, so I'd HOPE Freeman is done with the Combine by then.
The linkage point between HL and Portal remains the Borealis... and possibly also the incendiary lemons.
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Spoliers!
You also leave the facility in Portal - until they retroactively changed the ending. Also, Portal 2 is supposed to take places hundreds of years after the first.
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You're told that... by an AI who's a moron by design and an AI who loves to lie and manipulate...
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I expect that to happen, but those other things you mention are exactly what I was alluding to. I was trying to avoid outright saying it out of consideration for those who haven't played.
Nice (Score:3)
Prepare to see the superiority of mouse and keyboard controls demonstrated definitively.
Of course, we don't really need to see that because it's been done before. Quake 3 on the Dreamcast supported keyboard and mouse controls, and they made a huge difference. Network games between K&M players and gamepad players are totally one sided.
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Re:Nice (Score:4, Insightful)
Prepare to see the superiority of mouse and keyboard controls demonstrated definitively.
I'm not sure I want to. I have no doubt they are, but I don't want to have to set up a table with a keyboard and mouse, and get extra ones for my friends, anytime I want to play a FPS console game in the future and not get destroyed by people using better input controls. Is the controller a perfect input control? Not at all. But it's comfortable, compact, easy to use and doesn't require furniture. I don't want to have to make the choice to either sacrifice all that or get get constantly pwned by people who have in an unfair fight.
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Well stay in the kiddie pool then. If you don't want to be competetive, don't play counterstrike.
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Right. Cause competitive and comfortable are mutually exclusive.
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It'd be good if they had 2 lobbies. If using a KBM you go to the KBM lobby and if you use a gamepad you go to that lobby. It'd let you play however you damn well please.
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Well stay in the kiddie pool then. If you don't want to be competetive, don't play counterstrike.
Don't be ridiculous, you're responding like a die hard K&M fanboy with their panties in a twist
"Ohhh, look at the stupid controller users floundering around in their kiddie pool while us real men use keyboards and mice at the SAME TIME in unthinkable feats of AGILITY and SKILL which we find impossible reconcile with our concurrent claims that keyboards with mice make things easier and indisputably more accurate."
I realize keyboards and mice are more accurate, just as I realize a a Hobie Cat (catamaran
TV tray (Score:2)
I don't want to have to set up a table with a keyboard and mouse
I have a folding table that I've used for frozen dinners, a laptop, or a mouse and keyboard for the HTPC. Let me guess: in your household, nobody's allowed to eat outside the dining room.
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I game with Keyboard and Mouse from my couch all the time.
Wireless keyboard + mouse makes it easy. Of course, I do use a trackball so I don't have to actually be moving my mouse around on the couch. It might be a bit more difficult with a standard mouse.
Well it'd have to (Score:2)
Counter-Strike is about the most serious that games get. Playing against even a moderately-good CS player, while on a gamepad, is a fantastic way to get your ass kicked up and down. Keyboard and mouse is the only way they have a hope of being a challenge. There's just no way on a console to turn rapidly but precisely. You can turn quickly, but imperfectly - or slowly but precisely. You can't fling the mouse across your desk and stop at the right spot.
So this is kind of a given for there to be any meaningful
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Unless you "cheat" and give the gamepads aim assistance... in which case you certainly know a new generation of aimbots will pop up to exploit this functionality.
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True, Quake / PainKiller was all about the quick reflexes and splash damage.
CS is all about the 5 v 5, money & map strategy. A team with superior tactics and good cash prediction can usually take out a team that has sub par strategy but some amazing quick scopin AWPers.
Damnit, looks like I'll be installing Steam when I get home :)
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sub par strategy
AWPers
But you repeat yourself
</troll>
This has me worried.... (Score:4)
"Cross-platform play between PC/Mac and PlayStation 3, as seen with Portal 2, is also confirmed."
So what does this mean for hosting your own server with custom maps/mods????
Any word if the multiplayer aspect is severly limited like in Left 4 Dead, BF: Bad Company 2, etc.??
It seems like theres a growing trend in shrinking the mod community... :-(
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I suspect it means that consoles will have some kind of "suck it" flag which excludes them from hosted content.
Meanwhile PC modders will continue having fun.
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It depends the kind of mod, UT3 PS3 allows modding but no cross platform play. If you arrive to a host with a mod it download it, with the exception of maps that you need to download separately and install on your PS3 using UT3 UI.
Typical microsoft... (Score:2)
Honestly, the USB ports can support a keyboard and mouse. WTF is wrong with them?
if the FPS games sold on the Xbox platform supported Keyboard and mouse they would entice all the PC games to come on over.
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The 360 actually does accept keyboard input, but developers are only allowed to let users use it for text input. Works great for navigating the Guide (or whatever they call it now). Developers cannot allow users to use the keyboard for any gameplay operations.
I'm guessing it has to do with not letting developers "do whatever they want" and "require" a keyboard indirectly (by supporting both and having one be superior) and to maintain a consistent and simplified user experience. I believe that's their reason
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This isn't a key/mouse issue, it is an issue with Xbox Live being open to Steam players.
XBL users pay to be on there, and in return on of the benefits is that cheaters & assholes can by smitten with the ban hammer. They would have no authority over Steam players.
I used to be a big CS:S player on Steam, but now I enjoy using XBL & do all my gaming on there. I miss many things about PC gaming, and if I had the time & money I'd still do it. However, with the available time I have, XBL suits me fin
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No, you do it the easy way. If there's a keyboard and mouse attached to the console - the game is restricted to people playing with same. If you're using a gamepad, you're playing against people with gamepads by default, but have the option of going against people with keyboards and mice.
It's trivial to set up matchmaking like this.
And the Xbox360 does support a keyboard at least - you can use it to enter in messages and
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I honestly think all matchmaking implementations I have used are broken. They match players based on levels that is basically measure how much time have you played the game instead of the gamer statistics, the frequency you kill another player. A good matchmaking system and the control scheme do not matter, there are good controller players and there are bad keyboard and mouse players. What I hate about keyboard and mouse is not its superiority, if your definition of superiority is that you have a better ki
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You are never going to see consoles overtake PCs for serious, competitive FPS gaming, at a high level.
But since the hardware is exactly the same between consoles, wouldn't that make consoles "better" because it's a level playing field and the overclocker guy with the newest video card won't have an advantage, and therefor a true test of skill and not hardware?
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The better hardware you have the more you can benefit from high skill. High level console play has too much randomness because the players are bottlenecked by the controller/autoaim/low fps/small fov/etc. High level PC play often ends in very one-sided matches where small skill differences can be decisive. It's the difference between casual and hardcore play.
If I'm reading this right there's MORE randomness because the players are all using the SAME controller/autoaim/fps/fov. Yeah, that makes sense.
Talk to id about why Doom 3 multiplayer tanked. I'll give you a hint, players discovered they could simply turn off shadows thereby nullifying the ability to hide.
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Duh, finally! (Score:2)
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http://www.grandtec.com/products/video/vik.html#vik [grandtec.com]
not an issue since you can get a VIC for like $24 (so you don't buy Madden Soccer 2010 or DeathSquad 14 and get some proper equipment instead) (and mice are cheap also)
Borrow one from your PC (Score:2)
The downside is you just added the cost of a mouse and keyboard to the cost of the game on consoles.
And how much did the instruments add to Guitar Hero or Rock Band, or the Wii Speak microphone add to Animal Crossing 3? I imagine that most PS3 gamers already have a PC with a USB mouse and keyboard, even if they don't game on it. So it's more like adding a USB hub and cable to the price of the game and possibly including a flyer for NewEgg.
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Xbox360 network and openness (Score:2)
With the release of the Xbox 360, Microsoft became much more controlling over the hosting of multiplayer services. As a developer, you are not allowed to run your own third-party servers. Any multiplayer experiences must be run by Microsoft. They seem to do this for a few reasons.
1) It allows their Xbox subscription charges to cover all multiplayer games. So Xbox owners don't need to pay subscription fees to other providers.
2) MS has full control of the servers. With some studios giving up on the multi
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I almost wish Valve did the same with Steam multiplayer games. Who wants to use some BS Games for Windows system (for instance, one could also point out EA's Origin) on a game downloaded via Steam when Steam already has a (much) better multiplayer system builtin? But, of course, not being a monopoly on PC Valve can't do that. Unfortunately.
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Karma to burn (Score:2)
Prepare to be poon'd, consoles
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USB splitter, $10 incl. shipping (Score:2)
Why not just sell a USB splitter that is designed to bring a keyboard and mouse together as a single controller so I can play these games?
USB splitter, $10 incl. shipping [newegg.com]. Once you know, you NewEgg.
Microsoft's reluctance (Score:2)
I had a thought. Dangerous, I know. But I wonder why Microsoft continues to fight having a keyboard/mouse hooked up to the 360.
It occurs to me that Microsoft is primarily in the business of selling Windows and desktop software. If someone hooks up a keyboard and a mouse to their console, they might actually want to start using the 360 as a full featured computer. I bet that the misguided souls at Microsoft are trying to "protect" sales of Windows by not allowing the 360 to be a "real computer". Their r
haha (Score:2)
"Valve boss Gabe Newell has had a hard time convincing Microsoft to open up Xbox Live enough to integrate services like Steamworks."... uh yeah, it's called competition
More options is good. (Score:2)
More options is always good. The funny thing is, this isn't really new news. Playstation hardware has had occasional keyboard and/or mouse support for PC ports, even on the PSone with the PSone mouse. As was pointed out, several FPS's on the PS2 have keyboard and mouse support, even Dirge of Cerberus has it. (none of those have internet multiplayer though)
While personally you can take my analog stick movement from me only when you pry it from my cold dead hands (I dislike WASD immensely), I like mouse ai
Wow people still play Counterstrike? (Score:2)
And, I say this as a guy still playing Battlefield 2 almost daily.
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I don't know that it's fair to say it's murdering GFWL. GFWL was dead right out of the gates, and it's microsoft's fault.. and GFWL was really just a knockoff of Steam anyway.
Microsoft had several years to look at Steam and copy it before launching GFWL, somehow they did not and instead they... well. They released GFWL. It's terrible. Their XBox service isn't bad, but for PC? Eeeewwwww
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Honestly, I like Steam for delivery, but I really like the Games for Windows Live client built in to games for the shared achievements and such. Would personally love to see Steamworks and Live get along.
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Honestly, I like Steam for delivery, but I really like the Games for Windows Live client built in to games for the shared achievements and such.
Steam does that too. And without needing a crappy UI hard-coded into the game. Rather, it has an overlay process that also happens to work on any game you launch via Steam, even without Steamworks integration.
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Ok, I can see how you read my post that way, but what I meant is that I specifically like the fact that many people I know play console games rather than PC games and having the ability to interact with them (even if only through chat, though some do cross platform) and make use of both the Live and Steam features would be ideal. I actually want to be able to access both networks at the same time since they have different people that are members of each.
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platform that is widely regarded as utterly murdering "Games for Windows Live"
Considering that Game for Windows Live was practically stillborn, I'm not really sure how much murder was really necessary...
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Twas a mercy killing.
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MS is kinda jerky about controllers, for some reason. If you get the RockBand Fender Stratocaster, it's got buttons and a dpad for navigating the menus in the game, which would make it really easy to use.
But due to some MS requirement (I'm guessing "You must have an XBox button and a license for every controller") the buttons are disabled on the 360. You have to use the buttons on the MIDI interface box, which either clips to the bottom of the guitar (awkward), on your belt (awkward), or you set somewhere
Half-Life 1 on the PS2, too (Score:2)
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As did Unreal Tournament on the DreamCast.
Together with VGA out, Ethernet NIC (Broadband adapter), and the ability to play with/against PC players on the maps in common between the two versions.
Nothing short of amazing.
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Some people prefer to play games on dedicated game machines hooked up to much larger screens with more spacious seating arrangements. It's relatively easy to hook a computer to a TV, but if you already have a PS3 hooked up to it, it would be much easier to just use that instead.
I think a better question is why you think having *more* options, even if you ultimately choose the one you already use, is ever a bad thing.
Two mice and two keyboards in split co-op (Score:2)
dedicated game machines hooked up to much larger screens with more spacious seating arrangements
The big advantage of "more spacious seating arrangements" that I can see is when more than one person is in the room. Does Counter-Strike for PLAYSTATION 3 support two mice and two keyboards on two TV trays for split-screen team play, or does it require a separate PS3, TV, and copy of the game for each player?
What Intel GMA really stands for (Score:2)
If you are going to use the traditional PC controllers, why not just play it on the PC
Because the PC that you already own has an Intel graphics processor. According to this chart at Tom's [tomshardware.com], Intel graphics is comparable to the original Xbox's GeForce 3 or to the Wii's Hollywood GPU, whose fill rate matches that of a Radeon 9000. Lately I've been recommending buying PCs with AMD CPUs just to make sure that people get either AMD or NVIDIA graphics, not Intel GMA (nicknamed "Graphics My Arse").
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And there is some advantages to sharing one memory space, particularly if new engines start trending towards heavy texture replacement.
I understand that, and I appreciate the decision to use AMD integrated graphics in Xbox 360. It's just that Intel's integrated graphics has a history of being far outclassed by AMD's. If Intel manages to catch up with the Xbox 360, that'll just make the PC more attractive.
Serious gamers are still going to be buying the discrete cards with 10x the capability of consoles anyway.
But there's a large market to be reached of people other than serious gamers. I'm talking about people who already own a PC, having bought it for homework and Facebook, and are ready to either A. start gaming on it or B. buy a console. Buy
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That may have something to do with the fact that the PS3 version is built for a controller. Just because they'll LET you use a k/m doesn't mean the game is going to act exactly like it would if you were playing on a PC.
It's the console makers' fault (Score:2)
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There is only one way to communicate with Sony, ask Anonymous.