For those console owners who prefer a keyboard and mouse to a controller, there’s this.
Called the Tactical Assault Commander for PlayStation 4, the keyboard and mouse can be also be used with the PS3. The keyboard has arrow keys as well as a “Snipe” key, a “Quick key,” and a “Walk key.” It also has a PlayStation button and a Dpad.
According to My Game News Flash, the Tactical Assault Commander for PlayStation 4 will be out on November 30 in Japan for 14,904 yen ($164).
Neat, but not sure how comfy it would be playing on the sofa.
Comments
23 responses to “An FPS Keyboard And Mouse For The PlayStation 4”
Better than the PS3 Splitfish?
I had to look that up to find out it’s a real thing, it sounded like a euphemism.
Oh man the split fish was terrible, I had the worst experiences using that…
I hope Hori make this for Xbox One… you know the console that actually has decent shooters on it
My thought exaclty, I had the Splitfish and it was rubbish. Didn’t think it through when I first bought it, it will never have the response of a mouse. All it does is map the mouse movement to the right stick of the controller, so you cannot move it faster than the controller can anyway.
Mechanical or membrane?
This is a great idea in theory. Then auto-aim rears its ugly head and ruins it.
You never feel like you have 1 to 1 control and the cursor skips all over the place. Until you can turn auto-aim off as a menu option these kinds of peripherals just can’t live up to expectations.
Yeah, and even with the option off, there’s always a degree of it remains.
Worse still, the nature of analogue-stick aiming results in a certain degree of ‘dead zone’ lag when trying to make larger, sweeping movements, then corrections of minute, precise movements. Most games are only coded on console to handle the sticks, so it’s nothing like aiming with a mouse on a PC.
That’s IF it’s supported by the game at all. And when it comes to competitive FPS that allows it, the only one I’ve seen that supported mouse-aiming (Dust 514) deliberately imposed a huge artificial penalty to sensitivity as a handicap.
Because apparently the universal, utter annihilation that gamepad users experience at the hands of KB&M is unpopular.
It never really took off for gaming on the PS3, but I remember Unreal Tournament 3 let you use a mouse and keyboard and anyone choosing to do so had their own dedicated lobbies. This was a pretty simple way to keep things fair for the controller crowd.
… and it was awesome. Controller in the left hand, mouse in the right – the best of both worlds.
That’s the only way I’m happy with people using k/m (as its intended to work anyway) on console. Give them their own lobbies. Easy.
I doubt the device mentioned in the article handles the dead zone issue, but XIM4 certainly does.
I’m a happy user of the XIM3 for many years on the 360 and the kb/mouse control is spot on perfect. I come from 1000+ hours of CS:S on the PC, so I couldn’t switch over to using a controller on the 360 for FPS.
XIM4 comes with custom download files for each game which specifies the dead zone etc and has pretty much 1-to-1 movements with KB&M on consoles.
Good point, support and balance are extremely important.
Another example of peripherals clashing was GTA V on the PC. Now I know most PC players view lock on as a crutch for console shooters but it’s inescapable that GTA built everything around that mechanic.
Players getting killed by gamepad users became very unpopular and the free aim lobbies ended up causing more problems rather than providing a practical alternative.
Back on topic, it’s a hard nut to crack. On one hand a level playing field is preferred, on the other the choice of control is also a step forward. Split lobbies for peripherals is another direction, but it promotes separation in communities.
My guess is mouse support may be the device that consoles use to open the door to more KB&M games and apps like RTS games and browser like functionality etc while games that work fine with controller might choose to remain that way.
(At least until some kind of proper balance can be struck.)
Right Handed only mouse? Fail.
left hand sinister people!
Says someone who has called themself an enemy of a kotaku journalist
The x (space bar) button is way to far away to be of any use.
I think the XIM4 would be a superior device, and it will let you use whatever kb/mouse combo you would like.
So the price of it – plus the price of a console – and you have the price of a basic PC which still performs better than the PS4
But can it play Uncharted 4?
Yeah but do you need a kb/mouse for Uncharted?
..no?
What’s your point?
its not the prettiest piece of looking kit.
Buy a pc instead
Yeah, but for how long? A console is guaranteed to play any future games that come out. A computer you buy today, will continually need to be upgraded. The Xbox 360 released in 2005 and had games such as Crysis 3 released on it – trying playing Crysis 3 on a computer you bought in 2005 without any upgrades – impossible.