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Phil Spencer: 'Keyboard and mouse support [on Xbox One] is 'months away'

S

Spring Drive

Banned
Xbox One will soon support keyboard and mouse play

Phil Spencer revealed that Xbox One keyboard and mouse support is 'months away' in an interview with PCGamesN earlier today at E3.

Perhaps some of the best FPS games might be bearable to play on Xbox now?

The Microsoft Head of Xbox let a little detail slip to our intrepid reporter in the field Joel when talking about how the Windows 10 and Xbox One Play Anywhere system will interact.

"I keep talking about it in the press and my platform team keeps shaking their head, because they… Truthfully in our dev kit modes now keyboard works, mouse support is a little bit further away," Spencer said. "I say it because I know it’s not years away, it’s more like months away, but we don’t have an exact date yet."

The topic came up as Spencer discussed how notoriously difficult games to transition from PC to console could also benefit from the Play Anywhere system.

"Trying to take League [of Legends] and play it with a controller… or Dota… I don't know, maybe a designer’s going to try and tackle that problem, but those seem like natural PC games to me," Spencer said. "And I think that’s fine, and in that scenario you can still be an Xbox Live game and still be connected to all your friends, your save game can still flow with you from PC to PC. When we enable PC and mouse on console it’ll be interesting to see how many of those creators think about running their PC and mouse-only game on console, and then this idea of Play Anywhere might get even more interesting for those guys."

With Xbox games on Windows 10, and now playable with keyboard and mouse even if they're not, the singularity is approaching.
Click to expand...
http://www.pcgamesn.com/halo-wars-2/xbox-one-keyboard-and-mouse-support
 
T

Trace

Banned
Sounds like that's mouse and keyboard for Dev kits. I don't see CoD or Destiny on console allowing keyboard/mouse anytime soon.
 
M

Mik2121

Member
Huh. I thought the Xbox supported keyboard and mouse already. PS4 supports it but devs don't use it for actual games (except, that I know, FFXIV).
 
C

crinale

Member
Unreal Tournament for PS3 supported mouse aiming.
I hope one day that becomes standard for all console gaming.
(They supported matchmaking with or without mouse BTW).
 
S

serenewarfare

Banned
Trace said:
Sounds like that's mouse and keyboard for Dev kits. I don't see CoD or Destiny on console allowing keyboard/mouse anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Whether games implement this is another issue, but Spencer has made it clear since they announced they were doing this that this is a consumer move, not just a developer one. This won't be just a dev kit thing.
 
R

RealityCheque

Banned
Is this not going to make a lot of MP games very unbalanced?

There's going to be a majority playing with controllers and a section of players taking advantage of the benefits of M&K.

Say what you like about controllers being fine but I've tried playing battlefield 4 on PC with one and it never ends well.
 
I

Icanplaythat

Member
I would totally play more console games if they supported KB+M.

I don't enjoy moving around a weapon/gun reticle with a right analog stick at all.
 
A

Alfredo

Member
If this happens, I hope already released games, like Doom, get patched to support this.

My $20 tray table is ready to be placed in front of my TV for this.
 
J

Joco

Member
I feel like this will have to be limited in some games. Especially in competitive FPS, where controller players would have an inherent disadvantage.
 
geordiemp

geordiemp

Member
Yuk, I play on console to use a controller on the couch.

I dont want to have to sit at my work desk with a mouse to be competitive.

If mouse is just enabled for PC centric games like maybe league or Dota (if they go to xbox) then thats OK, if its more then that is a huge turn off for me as a console player.

Also console shooter mechanics, recoil and balance is done around controller, its a totally different balance set when you can just click on an enemies head. For example, in BO3 snipers are balanced, on PC some are OP as hell. Nobody uses BO3 Drakon on Console, on PC players moan about it every single day.
 
V

Valhalla Rapids

Member
geordiemp said:
Yuk, I play on console to use a controller on the couch.

I dont want to have to sit at my work desk with a mouse to be competitive.

If mouse is just enabled for PC centric games like maybe league or Dota (if they go to xbox) then thats OK, if its more then that is a huge turn off for me as a console player.

Also console shooter mechanics, recoil and balance is done around controller, its a totally different balance set when you can just click on an enemies head.
Click to expand...

Is anyone forcing you to use this OPTIONAL feature? also, if you think that using a mouse is JUST "clicking on enemy Head" then you do not know mouse play.
 
E

Elixist

Member
good. a game that requires mouse and keyboard should be available for sale. tons of pc titles could see some new life/audience. maybe mouse and keyboard lobbies you can join for Overwatch that plays against pc other M&K users etc.
 
arhra

arhra

Member
badb0y said:
Controller players about to get slaughtered.
Click to expand...

RealityCheque said:
Is this not going to make a lot of MP games very unbalanced?

There's going to be a majority playing with controllers and a section of players taking advantage of the benefits of M&K.

Say what you like about controllers being fine but I've tried playing battlefield 4 on PC with one and it never ends well.
Click to expand...

From a discussion at Build, back in March this year:

With cross-play becoming a priority for Microsoft, how will it handle controller versus mouse and keyboard multiplayer?

I want to be clear on this one – I will never force someone in our games, who is playing with controller or mouse and keyboard, to play against somebody with a different control scheme. Mouse and keyboard rotation speed is faster than controller. We know that. You will lose. I shipped Shadowrun. I was part of that. But, as a platform, I want to enable players to make the choices they want to make. If you and I are playing a co-op game together […] there’s no reason you and I can’t go through a [Destiny] Strike, for example, you on mouse and keyboard, me on controller playing together, and we should be able to talk to each other. I want to completely enable that scenario. But for people who think, I don’t want to get destroyed because some guy drops in with mouse and keyboard and he’s just running a rampage over every match because he’s moving faster – we don’t want to do that. This is about putting tools in the hands of smart creators to make decisions on when it makes sense and when it doesn’t make sense.
Click to expand...
 
L

LewieP

Member
Joco said:
I feel like this will have to be limited in some games. Especially in competitive FPS, where controller players would have an inherent disadvantage.
Click to expand...

Would presumably be possible to disable M&K support by default, but have certain servers/matches/modes that enable support.
 
M

Maximilian Kolbe

Member
Valhalla Rapids said:
Is anyone forcing you to use this OPTIONAL feature? also, if you think that using a mouse is JUST "clicking on enemy Head" then you do not know mouse play.
Click to expand...

Not only it's optional for players, it will mostly also optional for developers, like i can bet COD won't support this feature, but Halo Wars 2 will, developers choice.
 
A

Acinixys

Member
RealityCheque said:
Is this not going to make a lot of MP games very unbalanced?

There's going to be a majority playing with controllers and a section of players taking advantage of the benefits of M&K.

Say what you like about controllers being fine but I've tried playing battlefield 4 on PC with one and it never ends well.
Click to expand...

If it pushes all console users to play on KB+M for multiplayer I see no issue

But then again I only have a PC and have never owned a console so what do I know

:D
 
H

huh1678

Banned
Acinixys said:
If it pushes all console users to play on KB+M for multiplayer I see no issue

But then again I only have a PC and have never owned a console so what do I know

:D
Click to expand...

Except this won't push people to k+m, they will just switch to say ps4. I highly doubt this will be implemented in pvp, coop maybe. But will devlopers even bother with I.e Desinty like the build discussion above said for strikes and than all of a sudden you to switch to controller for pvp. Seems like unneeded work when either way you have to use a joystick for competitive play anyway. Unless they really plan to go in with k+m which will kill balance.
 
T

Tecnniqe

Banned
Keyboard/Mouse allowed in PvE/Coop

Now for versus they can go;
Controller only
KB/M only
Controller + KB/M

You could also just make that a option to toggle on/off.

With this, those who like Destiny raids and PvE can enjoy all that without the hamper of a controller.
 
O

OdysseusVA

Banned
Heh

OdysseusVA said:
Likely?
CiYVeN9UoAAOxQB.jpg:orig


Also
CiYVeOBU4AAhKzh.jpg:orig


I received these last month but wasn't comfortable posting them here
Click to expand...

Scorpio may just be an upgradeable console
 
D

Deadbeat

Banned
Whenever its a thread about controller support on PC, I read countless people say how they are kicking so much ass against K/M users when using a controller. Now here we are with people panicking.

So which is it?
 
S

StrangeTaco

Member
I mean, I can only assume it will be for a limited number of applications otherwise consoles players would migrate over to PS4 in droves.
 
Freeman

Freeman

Banned
Asked for this at the beginning of the gen. Perfect for some genres, no reason not to support it.

Getting those RTS from PC.
 
B

BRocknRolla

Member
MS is going to be stingy/strict about their requirements for implementation.

They have to be.

If your game is that style of game, and requires a mouse + keyboard, you'll be allowed to do it. Maybe you'll even be required to choose it as the only method of input. (Though that creates obvious problems, so maybe not.)

If you're not that type of game, or MP is a big component, you're going to have to stick with controller only, or you'll have to create separate MP hoppers for players using different control methods. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if people figure out how to spoof that, particularly given Bluetooth going forward.)

It's a tough line to walk if you care about gameplay balance.
 
M

messiaen

Member
They've talked about the MKB and controller lobbies already when they introduced cross-play I thought? If you're playing co-op there's no reason you can't have different control schemes. Obviously with multiplayer, they just split the lobbies into MKB only and controller only. Thought it was pretty common sense?
 
K

KenzinFive

Member
If they make a big deal about this, I could honestly see them trying to get League of Legends and other KB&M-only games onto the Xbox. It could be huge for them.

For multiplayer shooters, they can just divide servers into controller & KB&M, I guess? There's no way I would want to go against a KB&M player in Overwatch if I'm on a controller.
 
E

Exploratory

Banned
People are straight up dumb. They aren't going to make you play M+KB vs controller. If that's what you're complaining about stop.
 
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