Controllers

Of Mice And More

No matter what any Halo jockey says, there is just no better setup than a keyboard and mouse for fast-paced first person shooters. Back in the day, we worried about the mechanics of the mouse and the speed of the interface, but today, things are totally different. USB has taken care of the interface speed issue, and the optical engine has started to take care of the consistency issue.

When the first optical USB mice came to market, many gamers, particularly hardcore Quakers, found that these 1,500 scan per second mice were not always able to keep up with them when they made quick movements. It turns out that the optical scanner had trouble snapping and analyzing enough images to keep track of such fast movements, so under extreme circumstances, gamers were left holding the bag while the processor sorted out the location. This issue came to the attention of Microsoft, who released an updated 2,000 scan per second engine. Unfortunately, due to the massive variance in mousing surfaces, even that speed was not enough in all cases.

Being the mouse king they are, Microsoft decided to put and end to this problem once and for all and has come out with a new 6,000 scan per second optical engine that they say will be able to keep up with the fastest gamers out there. Yeah, it all sounds good, but there is a hitch. There are two products in this line, one is wireless and the other is wired. The wireless model may scan at 6,000 images per second, but the transmitter receiver seem to have a hard time keeping up and getting things right. If you are a hardcore gamer, your best bet is to stick with the hard-wired version, which does not suffer from this problem at all. It is also not prone to interference, which many wireless devices seem to be, regardless of the frequency. If you have ever used a cordless phone, you can get an idea of some of the problems that occur. Drop-outs at a critical moment could cost you the game, so don't take any chances that low batteries or stray signals will get you down.

Console Contributions

Personally, I'm not a fan of wireless devices over on the PC. I hate replacing batteries, hate it when anything interferes with the signal and find that games like Q3A and UT do better with a wired device. Consoles, however, seem to have an easier time with the lax timing of wireless controllers (or perhaps the console implementations are just better than the current PC ones). High level wireless controllers are coming out for both the PS2 and GameCube consoles, with releases for the Xbox soon to follow. The first hardcore wireless effort for the PS2 that has caught my eye is the Logitech Cordless Controller. This impressive unit is based on their popular WingMan Rumblepad for the PC, but is smoother and more refined. It uses 2.4 GHz cell phone technology and constantly updates with the receiver to ensure a clear channel during game sessions and has a sleep mode to help preserve battery life. Over on the Cube, Nintendo itself is coming out with a cellular wireless controller called the WaveBird that should rock the house. Maybe Microsoft will also do their own wireless controller, though it may be a third party instead.

In terms of console controllers, I think the best of the lot is the standard GameCube controller. The curved analog triggers are easy to use and not nearly as confusing as the four button face on the PS2 controller, and I'm actually glad that the analog sticks don't have a dual function as buttons, because I always end up pressing the buttons when I don't mean to during intense play. The buttons are unique and easy to find in a rush too, though I don't like that lame purple button above the right trigger.

PS2 owners who also hate the shape of the thing may want to check out the Logitech offering when it hits - perhaps it will be better. I do know this: The Xbox controller is just a pathetic lump of stone compared to the sleeker designs of the PS2 and GameCube. Man, is that thing HUGE! How are younger players or players with small hands supposed to get that thing working the way it should? We need a third party solution, and fast.