Alternative Controllers

[Goldie]

I know there's a lot of hype surrounding Virtual reality now in gaming communities, but I'm personally not sold on it. I think gamers will always prefer just sitting down and pressing buttons instead of having to move your head and your arms to control things within the game, at least that is the case for me.

I see things like these more as a novelty and I think even if people buy into it initially they will eventually tire of it and revert back to traditional controls. That said, however, I still think there are plenty other nifty alternative controllers that have been invented over the years. My favorites are the instruments for Rock Band, as I find them to be very well made and very enjoyable to play. I was also pleasantly surprised by Kinect as I didn't think I would enjoy it at first but I played it with friends and it was so much fun goofing around in it.


What do you think of alternative controllers for video games like gun cons and steering wheels or even dance pads? Which ones are your favorites and which ones did you hate?

 

[Kleineganz]

Personally, I prefer a keyboard and mouse. I've never been much of a console gamer, especially since they did away with the good old-fashioned joy-stick. I don't like the new hand-held controllers, much less all the other fancy contraptions. This is why I stick to PC gaming these days.

 

[Ansp]

Whilst you have your basic controllers such as keyboard and mouse or a gamepad several genres have alternative controllers that are almost mandatory after a certain point.

For example look at online racing such as iRacing - a wheel is almost a requirement to have a hope in hell and most recommend at 'entry level' the G25 which is ~£200.
Then we also have flight sim games which have joysticks. This is because controlling a plane from keyboard is very difficult compared to joy stick.


Because FPS and platformers lend themselves well to keyboard and mouse then gamepad and most gamers play they have become the norm. However people who play games in alternatives genres already have an arsenal of alternative controllers and the reason they exist is because they are such a good addition the games.
The problem with them is that because they aren't mass produced like controllers there isn't a lot of selection and the entry cost is fairly high. This also leads to people sticking with the controller and keyboard and mouse.

 

[smartdude966]

The new VR headsets are cool but I don't know if people really would want to play with it on for long periods of time. The most I would probably wear it is 45 mins. By that time my neck muscles will be aching from all of the head movements. I would be really excited when you will be able to get beamed into the game and be a real character. I would buy that immediately.

 

[Goldie]

The new VR headsets are cool but I don't know if people really would want to play with it on for long periods of time. The most I would probably wear it is 45 mins. By that time my neck muscles will be aching from all of the head movements. I would be really excited when you will be able to get beamed into the game and be a real character. I would buy that immediately.

I'm with you on this. I think moving your neck is a bit too much effort for just playing a video game, but understandably so since this is only the beginning of this technology so I bet it will eventually evolve into something else, hopefully to what you've alluded to which is being beamed into the game itself. That would be awesome.