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There would be two disadvantages compared to traditional mouse-and-keyboard: 1) a low number of total possible bindings, and 2) a lower range of possible moveme

There would be two disadvantages compared to traditional mouse-and-keyboard: 1) a low number of total possible bindings, and 2) a lower range of possible movements compared to a mouse. 1) is straightforward, if you don't have enough input buttons you're out of luck. A problem for games like SC2 and WoW. 2) this problem forces you to use acceleration for input, which is commonly accepted to ruin precision (reproducibility) because you lose the easy mapping between inches and pixels. I'll use Team Fortress 2 (an FPS) as an example for this. First, if 180 degrees takes more than 1 swipe, the controls are effectively unusable. The demonstration indicates this may be the case. You need to be able to flip 180 degrees to check your back, as well as make other large and fast movements like those required by rocket jumping. At the same time, you also need the ability to make very small aim adjustments. It's guaranteed that the trackpad will be weak somewhere along this variety of movements. It's unsurprising that it will be a poor replacement for mouse and keyboard, but existing controllers have demonstrated that people are fine with sacrificing resolution of controls for other advantages like relative simplicity and easily playing with friends.

TheEskimo 13y ago
In regards to the 180 degree spin, this demonstration shows exactly the opposite of what you say. At about 1:34 (elevator in portal 2) he performs a 180 with a single swipe from left to right.
optymizer 13y ago
Having played all StarCraft games so far, somewhat well, I can get by with maybe 8 buttons as Protoss: A, H, E, P, B, V, G, Z. Other races might need other buttons, but 8 is reasonable. If I remember correctly, the Steam Controller has 16 buttons. The other functionality is 1 click away and is (usually) not hat time sensitive, if you are not from Korea :-) obviously it's not for competitive players. Also, flipping the camera 180 degrees can be achieved with a button press. I think I remember Need For Speed having this feature, though they didn't allow you to flip the car, just the camera. Anyway, I think pressing a button to flip 180 is an acceptable solution given the constraints of the controller.
- socillion 13y ago
  > obviously it's not for competitive players. Yep, I just wanted to explain why it isn't :) Having to click rather than press a key is a big downside, but if I remember correctly SC2 already has a keybind mode that limits you to a subset of the full qwerty keyboard. World of Warcraft is a good example of a PC game that uses a huge swathe of keyboard, players often have 30-60 unique keybinds. My point about the 180 was that you need a wide range of different motions. Sometimes it'll be 170, sometimes 145, etc, sometimes only 2.4 degrees, and if a mouse user uses 1 swipe when you need 2 or 3 you're toast. A common tactic for Scouts in TF2 is to stay in the air above your head, which from experience is basically impossible to beat on a trackpad. I'm looking forward to the Steambox/Steam controller, if only because I have quite a few Steam games accumulated and the biggest reason for me to avoid consoles is that I'd be forced to buy multiple copies of games.

TheEskimo 13y ago

In regards to the 180 degree spin, this demonstration shows exactly the opposite of what you say. At about 1:34 (elevator in portal 2) he performs a 180 with a single swipe from left to right.

optymizer 13y ago

Having played all StarCraft games so far, somewhat well, I can get by with maybe 8 buttons as Protoss: A, H, E, P, B, V, G, Z. Other races might need other buttons, but 8 is reasonable. If I remember correctly, the Steam Controller has 16 buttons. The other functionality is 1 click away and is (usually) not hat time sensitive, if you are not from Korea :-) obviously it's not for competitive players. Also, flipping the camera 180 degrees can be achieved with a button press. I think I remember Need For Speed having this feature, though they didn't allow you to flip the car, just the camera. Anyway, I think pressing a button to flip 180 is an acceptable solution given the constraints of the controller.

socillion 13y ago
> obviously it's not for competitive players. Yep, I just wanted to explain why it isn't :) Having to click rather than press a key is a big downside, but if I remember correctly SC2 already has a keybind mode that limits you to a subset of the full qwerty keyboard. World of Warcraft is a good example of a PC game that uses a huge swathe of keyboard, players often have 30-60 unique keybinds. My point about the 180 was that you need a wide range of different motions. Sometimes it'll be 170, sometimes 145, etc, sometimes only 2.4 degrees, and if a mouse user uses 1 swipe when you need 2 or 3 you're toast. A common tactic for Scouts in TF2 is to stay in the air above your head, which from experience is basically impossible to beat on a trackpad. I'm looking forward to the Steambox/Steam controller, if only because I have quite a few Steam games accumulated and the biggest reason for me to avoid consoles is that I'd be forced to buy multiple copies of games.