Longtime PC Mouse + Keyboard FPS player on consoles: XIM4 adapter

So I broke down and ordered one of these adapters. It’s pretty amazing now I can play Destiny on PS4 and Halo on XBO with mouse and keyboard. A bit overpriced though.

Hmm… Good thing that didn’t exist when I started really getting into console gaming back in 2005, or I’d probably never have developed decent controller gaming skills. Took a long time, kind of like touch-typing, before it got natural.

Okay, engage debate about whether this is cheating! Go!

I don’t play online, only campaign.

Oh, I know you’re good people, rei. It’s just whenever these kinds of devices come up, there’s usually a debate about whether using them online is cheating.

How is the feel compared to PC mouse/keyboard games? The only time I tried one of these, way back in the original Xbox days, the movement felt weird compared to PC games since the games were tuned for the controller. But they’ve had 10 years to tweak this tech since then…

It feels great almost like native pc game limited only by the range of the analog sticks. Easy intuitive setup too: http://youtu.be/q11rnJUleuI

I notice major kvm maker Aten has their own called SPhantom or something too.

That XIM adapter is a really cool idea I’d never heard of before. The video does a good job of showing off the technology. I agree the price seems a bit high. Plus there’s the nagging feeling in the back of my head that if I actually buckled down and used a controller that I’d eventually get used to (as Denny says).

I’ve tried for years now and I’m still not capable at moving and aiming with the game pad.

Mouse+keyboard adapters for consoles have been around for many, many years, but they’ve always sucked. These guys0 acknowledge that and say their product finally doesn’t suck, which is somewhat encouraging.

It grants a substantial in-game advantage not shared by other players so yes, it is obviously cheating.

Looks like major peripheral manufacturers Iogear and Aten (who make Iogear’s KVMs) have the PHANTOM-S and a rebranded version called the KeyMander.

I also looked at the CronusMax and Titan One but those two products have some sort of flamewar snit between the two and the communities are a mess. The products are clones of each other, same for the website.

XIM4 had the most thorough community and support.

Holy crap, the price on those things!

I often feel like I will never, ever have proper fps skills with a controller as well.

It was like touch typing: One day it just became second nature and stopped feeling awkward.

That said, in my CGW days on mouse and keyboard I’d rank my FPS skills as maybe 7 out of 10, 8 in the original Team Fortress. But nowadays? In multiplayer with a controller I’m a 6 on a good day.

Then again, in my CGW days I was in my early 30s, and I am now in my late 40s, so there is noise in the data. :)

I got bad news for ya, Denny (re: aging) - it gets worse before it gets better!

Not sure if italics are emphasis or sarcasm in your post, but how is this any different than someone using a fighting stick or a racing wheel?

Those controllers are certified for use on the console.

Also while they may be better suited for their respective genres, the in-game advantage using a fighting stick in street fighter 64 gamma force XVIII HD is nothing like a mouse in a FPS where you transition from relative aiming to absolute and can do a 180 in a split second.

The advantage given by things like the XIM is massively larger than those given by a fighting stick, or a racing wheel (most folks would tend to say the racing wheel is actually a disadvantage).

I recently saw some videos of folks playing with this, and yeah, if you are using it online, you are cheating.

So much this.

In the modern crop of shooters where people die in a second, the ability to accurately target vital areas of the enemy significantly faster than the enemy can is a huge advantage.

I can’t imagine Microsoft won’t try to push back against this if it becomes more wide spread. They do not want pc players and xbox players in the same game precisely for this reason.

But i don’t play multiplayer games on my ps4 and don’t mind using a gamepad in single player shooters as long as they decently made for gamepads (ie Destiny and NOT sony’s resistance series).

Watching videos of people using this online in games like Call of Duty or Destiny PvP would probably piss me off if i did those things though.

You can watch videos of folks playing destiny, and see that even in a game like that the xim4 is an absolutely massive advantage.

With weapons like thorn or the last word, being able to target heads with mouse precision, while your opponents are using a game pad, is damn near a win button.

It’s becoming more widespread online now, especially at the higher skill tiers in matchmaking, and it’s damaging to the integrity of the game.

Oh i completely agree.

Destiny proved to me not that the gamepad was equal to the mouse/keyboard for shooters (because it isn’t), but that it could be a fun experience. This is something i was not expecting after playing some console shooters that were not well done at all when it came to controls.