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Xbox Announces Mouse and Keyboard Support (ign.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the gaming-peripherals dept.

Xbox's Phil Spencer announced today that mouse and keyboard support is coming to Xbox One. Crytek's Warface will be the first game to test the feature when it becomes available in October via the Xbox Insider Program. IGN reports: The idea behind mouse and keyboard support will be as a tool for developers, so they can choose how they want the control style integrated, if they want it integrated at all. "If you're a dominant FPS player right now on controller and you're worried that all the sudden you're gonna get swamped because a bunch of mouse and keyboard players are gonna get flooded into your game, that's not what we're doing," said Spencer. "We're putting choice into the hands of the developers about the games that they want to bring." We can expect to hear more about mouse and keyboard support during the XO18 fan event in Mexico City on November 10.

34 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. I hope this makes ports better on the PC by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hope this makes ports better on the PC

    1. Re:I hope this makes ports better on the PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      > I hope this makes ports better on the PC

      They already have USB and HDMI ports. The last thing we need is another standard.

    2. Re:I hope this makes ports better on the PC by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      Menus for ports should be better at least... I won't hold my breath for anything else though.

  2. Death of the controller by Quake1v1 · · Score: 2

    Putting KBM on a console will effectively kill the controller market when it comes to competitive play, because there's no comparison as to which is faster/more accurate.

    1. Re:Death of the controller by RickyShade · · Score: 1

      I wager console jocks will not let go of sitting on their couches holding a controller in favor of sitting at a desk with a mouse and keyboard. They like the comfort and sociability of gaming systems. They're OK with aim assist being a thing.

    2. Re: Death of the controller by dnaumov · · Score: 1

      Skill-based matchmaking makes this a complete non-issue. You get matched against people of roughly your own performance level, regardless on input method used.

    3. Re: Death of the controller by citizenr · · Score: 2

      This would lead to all the "dominant FPS players" (whatever that means lol) to be matched with below average KB+M shitters.

      --
      Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
    4. Re:Death of the controller by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 had keyboard and mouse support (I know, because I had keyboard and mouse on both), and I think Playstation 4 does too. Didn't seem to kill the controller market there. In fact, Logitech made a keyboard/controller combo for the PS2; I still have mine.

    5. Re: Death of the controller by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      Skill-based matchmaking makes this a complete non-issue. You get matched against people of roughly your own performance level, regardless on input method used.

      Exactly. A game might also automatically detect and sort controller from M+KB users too.

      Controllers will die out for higher level competition, but they aren't now anyway. Controller-only competition is like the paralympics of gaming... they have skills despite their handicap, but no handicap would be better.

  3. Go WASD Yourself by sexconker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you're a dominant FPS player right now on controller and you're worried that all the sudden you're gonna get swamped because a bunch of mouse and keyboard players are gonna get flooded into your game, that's not what we're doing.

    I'm more worried that this overpaid knob, or the overpaid knob quoting him, considers "all the sudden" to be cromulent.

    1. Re:Go WASD Yourself by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      Grandparent is modded insightful, while any reply to the contrary is modded offtopic or troll. Way to moderate, Slashdot.

    2. Re:Go WASD Yourself by sexconker · · Score: 1

      You are free to use the correct form, but pointing out the inferiority of the newer, sloppier ones does not make you look particularly good, even to those who know where you're coming from.

      Of course it does. I know because when others do the same thing they look good to me.

    3. Re:Go WASD Yourself by sexconker · · Score: 1

      It's not about Shakespeare winning. It's about the incorrect one losing.

      Fast forward 500 years from now, and someone could point to this story as evidence that "all the sudden" was used in an attempt to justify it.
      That doesn't mean it was used CORRECTLY.

      Pointing to past usage isn't an argument. They had idiots in the past, too.

    4. Re:Go WASD Yourself by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      It's not about Shakespeare winning. It's about the incorrect one losing. ...

      Pointing to past usage isn't an argument. They had idiots in the past, too.

      It's an idiom - there is no "incorrect one."

      Idiom: "a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light )."

      Please, provide your argument for why "all of a sudden" is correct but "all of the sudden" is not. I'm looking forward to reasoning as to how centuries old usage of one is correct and the other is not, and how present usage of one is correct and the other is not, when the sina qua non is by definition usage, not grammarian approval.

    5. Re:Go WASD Yourself by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

      Of course it does. I know because when others do the same thing they look good to me.

      Then you shouldn't be using neologisms such as "cromulent," because grammarians have not accepted it, and look upon you with derision.

  4. Quake III on the Dreamcast by m0gely · · Score: 1

    I remember when playing Q3 that players would chat about going and finding a DC server to pillage. They weren't kidding. I'm guessing the DC players didn't have much fun most of the time. Later on, I modded my original Xbox and got a port for Q3 for fun. A friend sometime after that was over that was leagues better than me at console play. Usually the best player at an Xbox lan party. That guy. He started talking about console vs PC, taking digs at my preference to PC gaming. I was trying to explain to him there really wasn't a comparison, but he wouldn't relent. So I booted the modded Xbox and ran Quake 3. I gave him 30 minutes to tweak the controls and run through some single player rounds until he felt confident at least that he wasn't going to lose badly. I got both of us connected to a dedicated server I set up while he was practicing. It's been a while, but I don't think he got one kill on me after 30 minutes of play. I eventually just used the pistol and melee, and he just quit in frustration. I told him hey man, don't worry about it. Two diff worlds and a game that was never meant for this anyway. At least he stopped the PC smack talk. :)

    1. Re:Quake III on the Dreamcast by Zmobie · · Score: 1

      So true. I remember the glory days of Halo 2/3 on console and many of my more "bro-like" friends talking about how they could kick anyone's ass at the game (later it became whatever call of duty game was out) and that PC players were just elitist nerds. At the time, I played both console and PC (PC master race now) and tried to explain to them that playing with a controller SIGNIFICANTLY slowed down gameplay and was way inferior to KBM. They kept that opinion up for years until one day they actually saw me playing TF2 and could not believe how fast the game moved and that there was no aim assist in the game. I almost wish the Microsoft cross platform plans happened back in those days just to prove the point that it wasn't even a comparison, but it would have lost all novelty after a couple of hours.

  5. Welcome to 1990 Xbox! by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

    I know that you can use a keyboard on the PS3 / PS4 for text input. Not aware of any games that supported the Keyboard + Mouse combo though.

    It will be interesting if see if any FPS games on the console will finally take off the aim-assists now that you have a proper, high fidelity aim? One of the reasons cross-platform FPSs was declined was the excuse that it was "unfair." i.e. PC gamers with Mouse+Keyboard would completely destroy / wreck all the console gamers using the gamepad.

    1. Re:Welcome to 1990 Xbox! by Zmobie · · Score: 1

      If I remember correctly, they experimented with cross-platform support at MS many moons ago. From what I recall, as a viability experiment they got some of the top console gamers they could find and then grabbed some average PC gamers to try it out. The results were BRUTAL. The guy they interviewed wouldn't give specifics but he said (not word for word) it was like watching 5 year old pee wee players (console gamers) go against an NFL pro bowl team (PC players). They tried a couple more times and did a few variants (FPS, third-person, etc.) and most of them were the exact same result. The program was immediately shut down.

    2. Re:Welcome to 1990 Xbox! by kamapuaa · · Score: 1

      They had keyboard and mouse support for a few Dreamcast FPS. I had it but almost never used it, it was completely pointless. Who wants to sit in front of their TV with a mouse and keyboard?

      I guess people if use their console at a desk it sort of make sense, but even a shitty laptop can play Fortnite (from what I understand).

      --
      Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
    3. Re:Welcome to 1990 Xbox! by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Not aware of any games that supported the Keyboard + Mouse combo though.

      I've mentioned several on Slashdot in other discussions, there are some, mostly MMO's and ports. Note that there might be more that I don't know about.

      PS2: Deus Ex, Half-Life, Tribes, Dirge of Cerberus, Unreal Tournament 2003, Final Fantasy XI. EQOA the MMO has keyboard but not mouse support, you can play the game entirely with the keyboard if you want. Gran Turismo 4 has mouse support for menus.

      PS3: Unreal Tournament, DCUO, FFXIV, Dust514,

      PS4: Fortnite, DCUO, FFXIV, Onigiri, War Thunder. I highly recommend a mouse for War Thunder...not for playing the game, but for the menus.

      It will be interesting if see if any FPS games on the console will finally take off the aim-assists

      Every console shooter I've played that has mouse support lets you turn it off. In fact, I recommend turning it off in Half-Life on the PS2, even if you use the controller.

      PC gamers with Mouse+Keyboard would completely destroy / wreck all the console gamers using the gamepad.

      I remember the pre-mouse-aiming shooter players saying that mouse-aiming was "easy mode" for johnny-come-lately dudebros whose first shooter was Quake II on their college network. And it IS. Someone who can get headshots with a controller IS more skilled than some mouse pointing "casual", And PC games are designed around the mouse, meaning they place high importance on aiming and lower importance on movement/positioning. The ONE console shooter that I felt didn't need the mouse was the SOCOM series, which in singleplayer is a tactical, realistic, stealth-centric game where how you move and where you move to is important.

      Personally I prefer a hybrid control scheme if I can get it. Moving with the analog stick, but aiming with the mouse. It works VERY well in games that support it.

    4. Re:Welcome to 1990 Xbox! by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Who wants to sit in front of their TV with a mouse and keyboard?

      Someone who wants to play a console game with mouse/keyboard support? TV trays and lap-pads are a thing.

      I guess people if use their console at a desk it sort of make sense

      I've used a desktop setup with PlayStations since 2002. But I had Linux on the PS2/PS3 and have/do play MMO's/MMO-ish games on console. My PC running Linux/PS3/PS4 are all hooked up to the same display on a desk.

      but even a shitty laptop can play Fortnite (from what I understand)

      The Battle Royale mode for filthy casuals, yes. But the Save the World mode has higher requirements.

  6. Maybe they can add keyboard support to win10 by technosaurus · · Score: 1

    How annoying is it to open something with the keyboard only to get a mouse only dialog window. I shouldn't have to enable accessibility features just to be able to navigate quickly.

    1. Re:Maybe they can add keyboard support to win10 by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Agreed. I wonder what time frame this changed?

      This is because MS no longer cares about UI "Accelerators" aka hotkeys or shortcuts. Notice how there is no longer an "underscore" in menu items unless you specifically hit the ALT key. Although I see Firefox (v45) shows the underscore at all times.

      I'm surprised they haven't broken the TAB key to move between UI elements. LOL.

    2. Re:Maybe they can add keyboard support to win10 by technosaurus · · Score: 1

      Speaking of the Tab key. Why do I (randomly) have to hit the tab key (or use the mouse) to get newly opened dialogs to grab focus. I used to be able to navigate with one hand.

    3. Re:Maybe they can add keyboard support to win10 by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Although I see Firefox (v45) shows the underscore at all times.

      v45? Isn't 62 current?

      The underscores show with v62 on Fedora as well.

    4. Re:Maybe they can add keyboard support to win10 by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Yeah, Firefox v45 is old. Don't feel like upgrading and breaking all my extensions. =P

      Good to know the later version still shows the underscores!

  7. But doesn't Xbox run WINDOWS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Microsoft has been telling everyone since 2013 that Xbox One runs REAL WINDOWS! It even runs Universal Windows Apps!

    So why is it only now supporting mouse and keyboard, something that Windows has supported since 1985?

  8. What is happening?? by xgerrit · · Score: 2

    So tablets are using touchscreens to kill off the mouse, trackpad and keyboard, but game consoles are adding mouse and keyboard support.. ?

  9. Welcome to the 20th century, Microsoft by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    This is sure to fill out a much-needed gap in the gaming world.

  10. Re:Wow! 1983 all over again by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    The PS3/PS4 have web browsers and Google Keep/Google Docs is just a click away.

  11. right by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    "...The idea behind mouse and keyboard support will be as a tool for developers..."
    Bullshit.
    Other game companies are starting to unify their player base between consoles and PCs, and the problem is that mouse+kb users consistently ANNIHILATE people stuck with gamepad vector controllers (that are actually astonishingly shitty when it comes to precision movement).

    This bias meant that historically Sony, Nintendo, and MS *had* to wall off their console players from PC players even in online games, or face the consequences of their marquee product owners routinely losing. The only other alternative was to implement aiming-assistance code that amounted to basically aimbot cheats that helped the console players stay competitive.

    As online games have become the majority (in particular competitive esports where actual money is on the line), this walled-garden approach has seemed less and less tenable, and the aimbot-training-wheels absolutely unacceptable...perhaps console makers simply recognized the fact that kb+mouse was - for shooters at least - the better control set, no matter how many million$ were dumped into 'ergonomic' control pads. /pcmasterrace

    --
    -Styopa
  12. Catching up to the PlayStation 3 by doconnor · · Score: 1

    I used a USB keyboard to play Final Fantasy 11 on the PS3 years ago. I would alternate between using the controller for battle and the keyboard for other other tasks.

    It also supports Bluetooth keyboards. I would assume that the PS4 does as well.

  13. next announcement by sad_ · · Score: 1

    xbox will now run windows 10!
    and the circle will be round.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.