tegan

I Had a Random Thought (About Video Games)

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Personally, I use a wired 360 controller on my computer. I ended up buying four for multiplayer gaming using a laptop hooked up to our TV. I've never had a 360 controller die on me (I think I have 3 wireless ones as well as the 4 wired ones mentioned earlier,) but maybe I'm just lucky. The thumbstick on one of my originals is fairly loose and registers movement when you're not touching the stick occasionally, but that's it.

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I've had issues with the shoulder buttons and left analog stick breaking on my 360 controllers.  My last two 360 controllers both ended up with a shoulder button shooting crap.  I bet I've gone though 6 or 7 controllers since the 360 was released.  But I may be particularly hard on controllers as well. 

 

Edited to add: Holy fuck, the Razor Wildcat costs $150.  Razor, whatryoudoing.  I can buy like 3-4 other controllers for that. 

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I've had my current wired 360 controller since I've owned an Xbox and it still works fine for the most part (the back button sticks and the triggers squeak but I can deal with that). 

 

I've heard good things about the Xbox One Elite controller but $150 is probably more than you're looking to spend.

 

The Steam controller has a lot of flexibility but there's a time investment required, both in configuring it the way you want and just getting used to it in general.  The configuration part is largely mitigated by the ability to import community configs for games but getting used to it is a bit of a hurdle.  I had to force myself to use it for a while before I hit the point where I was comfortable, and even then there are games I prefer to use the 360 controller.

 

I've not used a Playstation controller with a PC.

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I've not used a Playstation controller with a PC.

 

Before the kiddo moved out to Seattle, I had her PS4 around the house and used one of those controllers on the PC to try it out and it worked really well.  A little bit of setup with the fan drivers, but once it was setup it just worked with everything.  I think I'm leaning towards picking up one of those.  I've always preferred the analog placement on Playstation controllers over the offset analogs on 360 (even though I've used 360 controllers a lot more over the years). 

 

Yeah, $150 for a controller, any controller, is just way more than I'm willing to spend on a controller. 

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Before the kiddo moved out to Seattle, I had her PS4 around the house and used one of those controllers on the PC to try it out and it worked really well.  A little bit of setup with the fan drivers, but once it was setup it just worked with everything.  I think I'm leaning towards picking up one of those.  I've always preferred the analog placement on Playstation controllers over the offset analogs on 360 (even though I've used 360 controllers a lot more over the years). 

 

Yeah, $150 for a controller, any controller, is just way more than I'm willing to spend on a controller. 

I have always liked Sony's controllers more as well. My problem is that I liked how the PS2 controller felt over PS3 and PS4 controllers, I don't think my favorite will ever be available for PC :( 

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I personally find the 360 layout to be more comfortable.  Reaching into the middle of the controller feels like I'm stretching my thumbs even though I have large hands.  The 360 placement felt more neutral and relaxing to me, at least outside of shooters where you mainly use the right stick.  It's actually one of my nitpicks with the Steam controller since it places the left analog stick and face buttons in the same locations as the Playstation analog sticks, meaning that the majority of the time my thumbs have that stretched out feeling.  I do however prefer the rounded feel of the stick on the Playstation over the harder cap on the Xbox.

 

My main beef with most controllers is the d-pad, something the Steam controller only partially works at.  The 360 d-pad is just awful and I never really liked the Playstation one.  Obviously Nintendo's are the best but that's not really a viable option on the PC.

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I think the X1 controller just works if you plug it in with a USB cable. Maybe I'll try that tonight.

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I think the X1 controller just works if you plug it in with a USB cable. Maybe I'll try that tonight.

That is what I ended up doing since it seemed like the simplest solution.

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The X1 controller is superb, and has the best d-pad I've used since the SNES. It does "just work" if you plug it in via USB, even if the micro-usb connection is incredibly flimsy and I go through cables like there's no tomorrow.

I've heard that you have to buy an adaptor (pricey) and have W10 if you want to use it wirelessly though, which is shadey as fuck, Micro$oft.

Edit: works fine on W7, 8.1 and 10 now, it seems

Got a Steam pad for crimbo, and it generally feels good but will definitely take some serious getting used to and they still need to iron out bugs with the software

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The debate for me would be between a 360 controller and an X1 controller, and that would be over how important the D-pad is to you. I'm halfway considering moving from a 360 to an X1 for that reason, even though everything else works basically well (the left analog stick drifts but is basically fine). I have a PS4, and that's a great controller but when I tried it for Elite: D instead of the 360 something really bugged my hands. In my case, being relatively controller agnostic, sticking with a Microsoft controller on a Windows machine for the Just Works aspect is good for me.

 

The adapter thing sucks but isn't shady at all. The hardware and software are built into an Xbox and not into a PC.

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Yeah, I've had a couple of 360 controllers die as well, but over the summer decided to quit messing around with the PS4 fan drivers and plug in an Xbone controller to see how it works. Turns out it's great, and I've played 50 hours of both Just Cause 3 and The Witcher 3 on it. It's an awesome PC controller, especially if you're already a fan of the 360 button placement.

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I just don't see why MS can't get it to work with any version of Windows except 10? Seems like a pretty transparent ploy to get people to upgrade. Also, they could stick a cable in the box, those cheapskates

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Ended up ordering a new DS4, but then realized there are a bunch of people selling used Steam Controllers on eBay for around $25 (usually no dongle, so wired only).  Went ahead and bought one of those, for $25 it's worth checking out, and if I hate it, I'll just sell it for a similar amount and it will have cost me a few bucks to check out. 

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I use ps3 controllers in my office (i found a new set of drivers that is much more stable and easy to setup VS the old MotionJoy mess. i can link later if someone is interested)

 

And the steam controller and an old Xbox360 when on the TV downstairs.  Kind of covers all the bases? i prefer ps over xbox just because i've always a playstaion vs xbox product.  I also dont know if could get a bluetooth dongle into the steamlink and use PS3 controllers at the TV...seems like a little bit of playtest/running up and down stairs not super interested in doing for no reason.

 

 

The Steam controller is super neat and really do enjoy playing most games with it.  I haevnt played a twitchy/FPS yet, but been great for platformers and some RPG's i've going through - especially the ones not necessarily setup for full controller support and need to use the touch pad as a mouse cursor.

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I was playing Helldivers the other day when I had the best troll encounter.  Some guy joined the game and when we got to the next objective he tried to be an asshole by dropping four nukes (shredder missiles) on top of us.  Except as soon as he did that he got swarmed by bugs and downed.  We all ran away and the only thing the nukes killed were him and all the bugs around him.  He was promptly kicked, but not before we got a good laugh at his expense.

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I only just realised how weird it is how the footmen in Warcraft 3 say "Don't ask, don't tell." That's a weird thing to reference in your fantasy RTS!

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That's pretty in line with what I would expect from blizzard humor. "Here's a thing from the real world, but an orc said it so it's funny"

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I jumped into the Planet Coaster alpha earlier this week since it is now open. It's made by Frontier Developments, and I got 10% off of the "Early Bird" edition that includes the alpha as a thank you for being a Kickstarter backer for Elite Dangerous. I was initially uninterested, but got swayed a few months ago by this Dev Diary, which goes into really impressive crowd tech, and shows an incredibly charming style (in my opinion).

 

I was wondering if there was enough interest to start a new topic?

 

The alpha is very much an alpha: it took me an hour or so even to get the game running! It includes a whole bunch of parks to start you off, and a host of building options, as well as a number of "flat rides" such as boat swings, ferris wheels etc. Coasters are included if you input a cheat code; they are not officially being supported until Alpha 2, but if you type in a cheat code then you can access them now; I think this is quite a clever way to set expectations. I've built my first coaster that went all the way round, but there's plenty of room for improvement (it initially stopped at the top of the first hill).

 

The launch livestream is a great demo of what is already possible; one of the artists is constantly working on one of his parks while the other guys are talking, and nearly everything looks spectacular; hence clicking just about anywhere in the time line shows something cool :).

 

Frontier are using a similar pricing model to that of Elite Dangerous, with alpha access substantially more expensive than the full game: the "Early Bird" alpha costs 50 GBP / $75, while preorders currently cost 20 GBP / $30. Again, some people don't like this, but I think that this strategy reflects the current digital pc game market, where you can get just about any game you want at any price if you are willing to wait long enough, but if you really want it now you are willing to pay more. 

 

I jumped in because I thought it looked cool, and enjoyed the alpha feedback process for Elite Dangerous. I am not advocating that anyone should  buy into alpha or pre-order unless they fancy it   :).

 

EDIT The fix I had to do to get it to work was to remove all copies of MS Visual C++ and install the ones associated with the game manually. This seems to have borked a whole bunch of other games, meaning I'll have to download them again or something, grrr!

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I'm struggling to find a game that will hold my attention at the moment. I don't know whether it's just I've played my favourites too much, and new stuff isn't interesting, or whether I need to take a few months break from games.

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I tend to get bogged down in one game and focus on getting it done, usually forgetting to enjoy it. So I've been flitting between games recently doing a level here and there before moving on, and it's been fun. Turns out Pokemon Red, Bayonetta, Yoshi's Woolly World, Actraiser & Bare Knuckle 3 is a winning combination.

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I am falling more and more in love with BlazBlue (I mean bought even the visual novel), even if really bad at fighting games, thanks the game does have the "stylish" mode where you can just press buttons and most complex combos are automatic,so I can enjoy the characters, the story modes and gag reels.

 

Another thing, is that I am enjoying playing with the english voices, Hazama, Ragna, Bang,  and a lot of other character had really good voice work.

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I'm struggling to find a game that will hold my attention at the moment. I don't know whether it's just I've played my favourites too much, and new stuff isn't interesting, or whether I need to take a few months break from games.

I go into that state quite often. Maybe one or two games a year will really grab me and make me want to keep playing, or make me think about them when I'm not playing. It might have to do with games being so iterative. When you've played games for years you quickly identify what the game is, what its possiblity space is etc. At that point you need something that stands out for it to hook you.

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