Cheap, Rugged, Multiplayer Gamepads for Linux 184
IceAgeComing writes "Anyone interested in exploring multiplayer games under Linux should know: you can now pick up a four-way gamepad hub, with four gamepads, for under $15. It is known as the Gravis Multiport, and now it is supported under Linux. The link describes patches for Linux 2.4, but the drivers are now included in Linux 2.6. This input system used to cost more than $100, but it has been abandoned by Gravis since Windows 98. Now it's possible to pick them up extra cheap. Four-player Gauntlet under XMAME, anyone?"
Great! (Score:5, Insightful)
Does anyone out there know of any Linux games that require a joy stick? I'm a keyboard/mouse junkie myself...
Gamepads, and computer gaming (Score:5, Insightful)
Sports titles, racing titles, action titles fill the catalog of PS2 and XBox. Adventure and party-style titles grace the inside of a GameCube. These are suited to the gamepad.
But on the computer, what are the usual games? FPSes, RTSes, first person adventure/role-playing games, games that use the mouse to its fullest (The Sims). The sports titles exist... but I don't believe they are best sellers.
Why? Gamers simply don't play those kinds of games, gamepad games, on computers. Yes I'm sure that SOME do. Most do not. And it's for a reason, computers lend themselves to keyboard-and-mouse games quite nicely, and consoles lend themselves to gamepad style games.
So to me, this is no big deal. I love computer games, but I can't think of one computer game I have played in the last 5 years that I would have liked to play with a gamepad. And I love my PS2 also.
Also... Gauntlet on XMAME? 4 people crowded around your computer desk... I can imagine the comfort level there. 3 people probably can't see the screen well enough, and even if they can, the crowded space will make this interesting for about 20 minutes of gameplay... a novelty.
Nothing against the poster, but use the medium for what it is best at... one player and online multiplayer games, and leave the gamepad games to the consoles...
Mark
Re:Gamepads, and computer gaming (Score:4, Insightful)
OK, but what about console games ported to the PC (Halo, FFXI, etc.)? Or even emulated console games? Emulated arcade games?
I agree that on some titles it's far easier to use a keyboard and mouse-- and those are the predominant titles on the PC. But to ignore a significant-- and growing, if you believe the number of console-first titles announced-- portion of the PC game repertiore just seems a bit misleading.
Re:Great! (Score:2, Insightful)
Example: Terminus (space sim type game, Linux, Mac, Windows one purchase), a joystick (analog) makes the game much more enjoyable.
The multi-controllers would be nice for the stuff like mame in say a dedicated cabinet, no worries about using the keyboard and having too many keys pressed down.
Re:Gamepads, and computer gaming (Score:4, Insightful)
Retro-gaming (8- and 16-bit consoles and, perhaps to a lesser degree, home computers) won't appeal to many new gamers (the games are longer in some cases, and more complex in others, and on the whole just not as pretty), but there's a great deal of nostalgia for those who grew up with older systems (originally Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64, personally, and arcade games of that era), and i reckon that's what this is targeting.
You're unlikely to get four 18 year-olds huddled around a monitor playing Gauntlet, but four 30-something gamers who grew up with it? Different story...
Re:Here's a starter list. (Score:4, Insightful)
Hooray (Score:4, Insightful)
So Linux finally got around to supporting a crappy gamepad setup that was released almost six years ago and isn't even supported by the manufacturer anymore, and we're supposed to...what? Help me out here. In what way could this even be remotely considered news or something that matters?
Re:Great! (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:Are you insane? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd have to utilise 3 fingers, a joypad only required my thumb.
First of all, if you know what you're doing with a keyboard in any FPS, you would be using ASDF as your movement keys, or some kind of equivalent set of 4 in the same row.
Using WASD may seem the most intuitive to most people used to the arrow pad, but moving your middle finger up and down to go forwards/backwards is incredibly inefficient. Using the arrow keys is just plain stupid, you can't press any other keys with the left hand while using the mouse since they're so far away.
The other disadvantage of a gamepad over a mouse is the fact that you can't aim precisely. When you move a gamepad joystick, it only spins your view as fast as its maximum speed is set. The mouse however, just does a translation of your crosshair as far as you move your mouse. There is a reason why we use mice to navigate 2d computer interfaces instead of a joystick. Same for trackballs.
Then there's the case of ease. With the keyboard I'd have to give quick looks to make sure I didn't hit the wrong key.
Learn where the keys are on a keyboard, or at least change your keys for every new FPS you get to be virtually the same as all the others you've played. I've been mapping ASDF for movement and other keys nearby for everything else since Quake 1.
With a gamepad, I never had to look at it, my eyes could remain on the screen 100%
Just because you can't type doesn't mean that a gamepad is better.
And in closing, Turok is just another FPS, with the exact same control as all the rest. You cannot aim, or move quickly but precisely with a gamepad -- nor can you press nearly as many buttons for complicated games. But there aren't complex and detailed games for the console, that's not their market.
Cutting Edge (Score:3, Insightful)
Rus
Re:Here's a starter list. (Score:1, Insightful)
Prince of persia
Need for Speed: Underground
Simpsons Hit and Run
Madden 2004
GTA3
Anyone notice anything about those though? They are all console ports. Yeah you can play them on the computer but they are made for consoles. As I don't own any consoles, it is much easier for me to play all the games I like and only spend a few extra bucks on the controller. Also if you have noticed lately PC games that are console ports are always much cheaper than the console versions. So basically gamepads are GREAT for people playing console games on their computer be it a native game or an emulator. I have several different styles of controllers all plugged into my USB hub and I pick the best one for the type of game I am playing. I personally love it.
Re:Retro Hardware for Retro Gamers! (Score:4, Insightful)
I tried to help a client with Windows 2000 Server, yesterday. He bough a copy of XP Pro because Win2k had stopped being useful (after a virus mangled the registry). I loaded Knoppix and discovered he had dual SCSI drives. No big deal, right? XP Pro would not install because of those drives! (Of course the driver disks and the geek who installed them were long gone, two state lines away.)
But don't tell me Windows has any better support for hardware than Linux. This is not the only occurrence, either: Certain IR mice; Certain monitors; Certain NIC cards; There's a bunch of times Linux "just worked" where Windows has failed. Windows is everywhere and I'm so sick of supporting Windows. I come home exhausted, every day from fighting with this crap (I must reboot this toy OS about a hundred times a day).
On the other hand, I never "sell" Linux to my clients. I sell Mozilla (pop-up-killer - and tabs are nice), OpenOffice.org (upgrade-killer) and applications that run on Apache/PHP/Postgres (Access/ACT!-killer). Someday, they'll be able to switch to Linux -- when Point, QuickBooks and Quicken are supported -- and not skip a beat.
This made sense before USB hubs and gamepads (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been enjoying 4-player MAME for years now, where has the author of this "story" been? The whole point of USB was to do away with complicated, proprietary gadgets like this one that nobody will buy.