BioShock PC Demo Nears

Upon the release of the Xbox 360 BioShock demo (story), The Cult of Rapture (thanks Ray Marden) has word that the PC edition of the demo is to be expected "later this month." An official announcement about the PC demo is expected sometime today:
For those of you who are looking for a BioShock demo on the PC, it is in the works and will be out later this month. I'll give you more details about it tomorrow.
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48.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 13, 2007, 15:49
48.
Re: No subject Aug 13, 2007, 15:49
Aug 13, 2007, 15:49
 
My opinion is that gamepads just, simply, are not as accurate. Combine it with the generally lower resolution or lower framerates (with an eye towards animation and smoothness) and you have a triple whammy.

In general, shooters on a console have to accomodate this in one way or another:
  • Reduced accuracy/difficulty of the enemy combatants. Effectively, making the game easier to account for the inferior control method.
  • Giving the player super armor, health, or numerous, plentiful ways to heal. Again, accounting for the less accurate control method.
  • Slowing the game somehow. This can be slowing incoming attacks, giving more time to aim/shoot, all the way to adding in a zoom option, giving accuracy, or simply making the player aim/move really slowly, making it possible for the player to eventually line up an aimed shot.
  • Auto-aim. There are other times where this comes into play, but it's a direct admission of the gamepad's input shortcomings. There can literally be times where you can never get the shot exactly on the target - there are only so many finite positions that the cursor will only be on the left side or right side of the target, but never directly on the target (think of a really small, far away target.) We do not want to screw over the player for this so we'll give them a little boost - we'll let the cursor hit a target within a few positions of where it's placed.

Obviously, there are some additional variations of this, but these are all, on the whole, ways to accomodate the inferior input.

However, I do not think that is inherently wrong. Looking at screwing gamers over or making a small change to play a game and have fun, I am all for it. However, it does cause more issues with you get into competition, especially any PC users versus console user experience. Should the PC user, who only wants accurate control, have gimped input because of the console user? Should the console user routinely die because they cannot be as responsive or accurate? There can be times where one gets the feeling of "unfairness" due to this.

And yes, you can work and learn to help account for these things. The mouse is more accurate than the gamepad, but is the mouse the ultimate input? Absolutely not - I can respond to things in real life much better and accurately than I could with the mouse.

Or how many of use were playing the old shooters with a keyboard? I was lethal in Doom. I was a damn serial killer in Duke Nukem 3D and that added a vertical axis as well. I could run and jump up, switch to a new weapon, shoot this one thing, immediately slide to the side, duck into something, shoot again, and then immediately fly high into the sky, simultaneously strafing to the side and shooting downard.

But now? Umm...I can get around okay. But give me fully robust mouse controls, please! Yes, you can learn to be effective with nearly everything, but if you have already experience something with greater control and response, why would anybody willingly want to go back?
And I won't get into the discussion of how camera's affect gameplay.
And we - or at least I - do that all the time. I always combare something to the "best" I have seen, be it graphics, story, sound, control, options, details, style, etc.

Think of it another way. Even if somebody thinks that gamepads are great, do they make the effort to replace the mouse on their computer with a gamepad? Even if just for gaming? On the whole, they do not. Why not? Because the mouse is superior.

Lastly, trackball users can go to hell. Freaks.

Noting this is not a specific reply to Tumbler, but an overall reply,
Ray

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This comment was edited on Aug 13, 15:50.
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