Turok Demo: No Southpaw or Legacy - Default Only!

That’s right, the Turok demo only offers a default control scheme. Hopefully this will not be the case when the full game is released in February. Special thanks to SQU1FFY for the tip!

UPDATE (Feb. 3rd): Unfortunately, the full version of Turok has a default setting only (no southpaw, no legacy, no button/stick mapping). This puts Propaganda Games on our developer naughty list, as our own SQU1FFY contacted them previously, to which they confirmed that alternate control options would be present. Perhaps Propaganda should hire customer support staff that are actually knowledgeable about their products. Read the rest…

Haze Controls: Customization Mentioned by Creative Director

Let’s consider this a follow-up article to my original posting on Haze, when I discussed how developer Free Radical has consistently been alt-control friendly with their past games. They generally offer the four options of default, southpaw, legacy and southpaw legacy - plus full button mapping. Read the rest…

Gears of War: Roadie Running with Legacy

There’s no question that Gears of War is one of the premiere titles on the Xbox 360, and it’s one of the few third person shooters out there that offers both Southpaw and Legacy. However, many Legacy players find roadie running very difficult. Pretty well anyone that I’ve talked to who has tried Legacy in Gears has run into this problem. A quick Google search on the topic will bring up a number of forum postings on the issue as well. All of us Legacy players have been there. We turn on Gears with anticipation and see the good news that we get to switch to Legacy. Done. We start moving around, practice aiming, and everything feels great. So we rev up our chainsaw bayonet and we’re ready to start taking out the Locust Horde!

But wait! You try to roadie run. Doesn’t work out very well does it? Why? Well, we’re using Legacy, so of course strafing is mapped to the right thumb stick. But we have to hold down the ‘A’ button to roadie run, so we can’t very well use our right thumb to maneuver our character. Then you discover that the left thumb stick does nothing while you roadie run. So all we can do is run in a straight line! Not good. Read the rest…

Incoming XBOX 360 demos

We have a few new demos available on XBOX LIVE that you guys can check and (hopefully) report on for Alt-Controls. Currently there are three that I am aware of and I know that Turok is still available in all regions except North America. If you happen to get your hands on the retail or demo versions of these game please post your findings in the comments section. Enjoy!
Read the rest…

And Then There Was Perfect Dark…

We couldn’t do an article on GoldenEye 007 without mentioning its spiritual sequel, Perfect Dark. This game was the long anticipated follow-up game to GoldenEye, and it introduced us to a new heroin, Joanna Dark. Or basically, Rare’s take on a female James Bond. Perfect Dark was set the not so distant future of 2023. Yet it sported futuristic weapons, spaceships and even flying cars in the background of some levels that would explode with one shot of your pistol. Nice.

This game was supposed to be better than GoldenEye in every way. Thanks to the N64 Expansion Pak, it offered glossy “high-rez” visuals, complete with voice acting; an element that was missing from GoldenEye. The voice acting was actually really well done in this game. Too bad Perfect Dark Zero for the 360 didn’t follow in this game’s footsteps for that. A note to anyone who is yet to try PD Zero: Skip all cut scenes!

Although the first Perfect Dark was fun and really well put together, for many people it did not quite live up to the hype as a sequel to GoldenEye. Some of the single player levels were great. But when aliens were randomly introduced in the last few levels… well, they lost me there. That made the game suddenly feel very ‘un-GoldenEye’ for me. Read the rest…

Looking back at Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

It was 1997, the Nintendo 64 and competing console Playstation had just dropped in price to $200. I only found this out once I got to a local K-Mart (Bonus!!), ready with a wad of cash to blow on the Nintendo console and a copy of Turok. If it wasn’t for that that price drop I wouldn’t have been able to afford the RF Adapter that I would need for the system, so I got lucky.

I got everything home, setup, and began playing the game that would ingrain the southpaw control style into my gaming soul. Read the rest…

Soldier of Fortune: Payback

Alternate control schemes supported:
-Southpaw

Geez, I didn’t think they made games this bad anymore. I guess I have stuck to the widely acclaimed titles these days. Where to start? Hmmm, well, the framerate tends to drop off quite often and you get an example of this in the first steps you make at the beginning of the game as everything gets a little jumpy and the framerate drops below 25 frames per second. The primary goal of this games’ development is gore factor and you will see enemy limbs fall off frequently as blood splatters abundantly and the dying enemies play out over-dramatic death throws. Also, you will notice that the dispatched will often vanish before they hit the ground, and that barrel that they are taking cover behind…..you can shoot right through that. Just like the spoon, it’s not really there. Really, this game is hilariously bad, unless you love gore, then it’s just plain bad. Read the rest…

Why Are Alt-Controls Neglected?

The question that plagues alt-control players everywhere. And it’s a question that led in part to the formation of this website. With so many Southpaw and Legacy players out there, why don’t all developers just automatically include these control layouts? Is it really that difficult? What about complete button mapping and customization? Surely this cannot be that complicated of a task for skilled game developers. Read the rest…

Resistance 2 Coming This Fall

Many gamers are likely aware of this recent announcement. But considering the success of the first installment, no one is overly surprised. Supposedly, Resistance 2 is going to sport an 8-player cooperative mode and 60-player matches. Since Legacy players were left behind in the first game, hopefully they will be able to take part in the frenzy this time around. The game is scheduled to be released this fall. Read the rest…

Remember GoldenEye?

We do. Who could forget this gem? Back in the N64 days, GoldenEye 007 was THE game to play. In fact, for many people, it was the only game to play. Sure, you had other games in your N64 collection (Mario 64, Shadows of the Empire, Turok, Mario Kart, etc). But no matter what, N64 FPS players would always faithfully return to GoldenEye.

You would tool around with other games, try them out, play through them even, but you would always come back to GoldenEye to replay your favorite missions, beat the clock to earn cheats, or take on your buddies in a heated 4-player death match. And this is where multiplayer mayhem has its true origins. To all you guys out there that think Halo is where this all started, take note. So why are we talking about a dusty old N64 cartridge? Well, this has been a tough year for alt-control players out there. We have all (Southpaw and Legacy players) missed out on a handful of Triple-A titles due to the lack of support for our control preferences. And I’m not trying to cry the blues here. Some games will have alt-controls, and some won’t. That’s just the way it is these days. Read the rest…