Mirror’s Edge Demo: Southpaw!

It looks like DICE has come through for all the lefties out there: The Mirror’s Edge demo that was released today supports the Southpaw control scheme. Legacy is MIA, though.

Even without support for Legacy, I’m still pretty excited about this game including Southpaw. I believe this is the first EA game to offer any form of alternative controls.* Here’s hoping that the next Battlefield game offers all four stick layouts and (why not?) customization.

Thanks need to go out to Nathan Rain and soulwarrior for the tips.

*Edit: First EA game on the next-gen systems to support an alternate control configuration, to be precise!

DICE Investigating Support for Alternate Controls

A couple days ago I received an interesting email from a developer working for DICE, of Battlefield: Bad Company fame. Out of respect for this gentleman’s privacy, I’m not going to publish his name or email address here.

I will say, however, that DICE have taken note of our site and our control needs. The gentleman asked me a number of questions about our control preferences. I did my best to represent our site well in my reply and essentially stressed the importance of including the four standard stick layouts and controller customization so that each player can find a setting that suits their own personal tastes.

Some of his questions related to the re-mapping of the triggers and stick-presses while using alternate controls. They appear to be unsure if these should be switched as well. I stressed that this is a matter of personal taste and reiterated the fact that button mapping should be readily available since some players prefer these options switched, while others do not. This may shed some light on the fact why alternate controls are not included in certain games and stresses the point that if people speak up in a mature, professional manner, game companies will listen to their consumers.

So does this mean that the next game from DICE is guaranteed to support our control preferences? No… this means that they are taking the time to look into the matter and obviously care about the needs of their consumers. This is a great start and a much greater stride than some developers have been willing to take.

Thank you, DICE, for taking note of our site and for looking into the importance of alternative & customizable controls.

And to our members and visitors that have been speaking up to developers about Alt-Controls.com and our site goals, well done and thanks. It seems that we have gotten the attention of at least one developer who has taken the matter seriously.

Fallout 3: More Southpaw, even less Legacy

Well, I can finally confirm that Fallout 3 (Xbox360) has two good things going for it:

1) Fully customizable button mapping.

2) Support (through the Xbox 360 dashboard) for the Southpaw control scheme.

Once again, there is no Legacy option. I’m starting to notice something of a trend that basically no games are including Legacy controls this year. (My control style of choice) Read down the list of recent releases on alt-controls, and Legacy gamers will be severely disappointed. (Fingers still crossed on GOW2 to come through for us again!)

I can’t comment on gameplay for Fallout 3 yet, as I’ll probably pick up the PC version soon. IGN gave it a 9.6 and Gamespot gave it a 9.0. I’d say if you can find a system with controls to your liking it will definitely be worth a look to see the post-apocalyptic world created by the folks who made Oblivion.

Resistance 2 Multiplayer Beta

Alternative Controls Supported:
-Southpaw

I’ll start this post off by getting to the point because rest is all my opinions of the game and the journey of getting to play this beta. Sad to say but the options in this title are the same as those found in the original Resistance:FOM. Southpaw is supported, but no Legacy. Players still have the option the change the buttons layout in any way they see fit. You can actually retain 4 custom layouts across campaign and mulitiplayer modes which is great if you have friends over and prefer a different layout than one they use (see: all of you that have friends). Close but no cigar, I guess nobody hounded Insomniac over the past months. If you did bother them, then why didn’t we know about it?! As it’s the norm around here, pictures of the control options screen can be found at the end of the article.
Read the rest…

Sequels on the way for Dead Space, Army of Two, BF: Bad Company

Kotaku recently reported that evil game corporation EA plans to develop sequels for Dead Space (already?), Army of Two and Battlefield: Bad Company.

According to EA Games president Frank Gibeau and EA Redwood Shores general manager Glenn Schofield, EA is planning on producing sequels to recent hits Army of Two, Battlefield: Bad Company and Dead Space. We’ll agree that it’s about as shocking as finding one’s nose still attached to one’s face, but it illustrates just how important original intellectual property is to the company. That’s why they’ve been doing all that brand building recently, y’know. Via Kotaku

Now of course, EA is going to garner some criticism for this. Everyone loves to pick on EA, the money-hungry games giant. But they’re a business; they’ve released some successful IPs this year, so why not develop sequels?

The real issue, in my opinion is the fact that these are three games that left out alternate controls, and sold pretty damn well. Likelihood of the sequels including your control style of choice: slim to none.

That is of course, unless you make your voices heard now. Why not take a few minutes of your time to get in touch with EA and DICE?

If nothing else, it at least gives you the right to bitch and moan if your controls are left out. Kind of like voting - you can’t really complain about who’s in office if you didn’t head to the polls on Election Day to voice your opinion.

Far Cry 2

Alternate Controls Available: Southpaw

Well my good pal McLovin is going to be pissed off. Far Cry 2 supports a Southpaw control scheme, but it doesn’t appear to offer a Legacy configuration.

This is a real disappointment for Legacy players. Not only did the first game support Legacy, but this is another Ubisoft title that has neglected the configuration.

2008 is officially shaping up to be the worst year in history for Legacy players. Only three games have actually offered this option all year: Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Unreal Tournament 3 and the COD: W@W beta.

Thanks go out to Mr. Madness and soulwarrior for the tips. For control configuration screen shots, check out the official boards.

Update: PS3 Customizable Controls via Firmware Petition

First of all I would like to thank all the 68 persons who have already signed the petition “Customizable game controls at the firmware level for PS3″. It is still open and I would like to invite everybody who agrees with the message to sign it.

So far I have already sent an email to “webmaster@playstation.sony.com” to make SCEA aware of this petition.

This is the standard reply I got from them:

We appreciate your enthusiasm and continued support for our PlayStation(R) family line of products. As you may have guessed, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) receives great suggestions from our consumers, as well as from our own employees, and employees of our affiliates, on a daily basis.

SCEA is continuously engaged in extensive research and development in many areas, including without limitation, consumer toys and games, computer and video entertainment products, and other products for consumer marketplace. SCEA may have developed, or may in the future develop, materials similar or identical to those presented to SCEA by you. Due to the overwhelming submission of ideas, concepts, and designs for products and our continual research and development, SCEA is unable to accept ideas and inventions, which have not been requested by SCEA. In addition, we are sorry to tell you that you will not be compensated if a product that is similar or identical to your suggestion is produced. We hope you understand our position on this matter and we apologize for the inconvenience.

It basically means that SCEA will not take any suggestions from outsiders If any employee from SCEA reads this post and agrees with the message, please submit the idea to your internal suggestions database

Next I will try to contact Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS), Sony Computer Entertainment, Incorporated (SCEI) and also Sony Computer Entertainement Europe (SCEE). I will keep you posted on any progress.

Valkyria Chronicles Demo

Being a fan of turn-based strategy games and also FPS games I anticipate the release of Valkyria Chronicles, which could be described as a combination of both categories. It looks quite pretty using the SEGA’s CANVAS 3D graphics engine. The entire game looks like a watercolor painting in motion.

In the turn-based command mode you have an overview over your units on a map. When you select a unit you switch to the real time first person view. Here you can move around the unit with the left stick and look around with the right stick. Pressing R1 puts you in the target mode, where you can aim with the left stick. This should suit people used to southpaw controls.

Unfortunately there are no alternate game controls available in the demo for Valkyria Chronicles.

The release date is set for the November 14th.

Dead Space

As I suspected, Dead Space, the zero-gravity shooter from EA does not support alternate controls or any customizable options, aside from axis inversion. This should not come as a major surprise considering that EA has historically omitted alternative controls from their games.

Thanks go out to a couple of our readers for throwing the confirmation our way. And sorry to those that were looking forward to this one.

On the positive side, a number of games will be available soon that should support alternate controls including Gears of War 2, Quantum of Solace, and we have already confirmed that COD: World at War delivers the goods.

Southpaws can play the recently released Fracture in the meantime, and Legacy players… well… what can I say, you’re used to having nothing to play. But you can always check out my Legacy game suggestions until something new comes our way.

Call of Duty: World at War MP Beta

Beta trials for the Treyarch’s COD:WaW have started and if you pre-ordered the Xbox 360 version of game from a certain retail giant I don’t personally care for Gamestop/EB Games you should be receiving your beta keys soon or have them already. Yes, there is no PS3 beta…far as I know. A good friend of mine has taken the time to let me know about a few details of the game including controls, MP details, and impressions.

It comes as no surprise to me that Treyarch has again included the standard four control layouts in this title and all control options are said to be “the same as COD4″. Which is good news for all of us. So we should all be able to pick up this game day one.

If you don’t know already Treyarch has opted to stick very close to COD4 formula and is using the Infinity Ward developed game engine. Here is a brief rundown of the details I got in the few minutes I had. Read the rest…