Comments on: Walaber Wobbles Less, Leaps More

By: TreeFrog

TreeFrog — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:47:49 +0000

You’d think a company that’s been successfully prosecuted for anti-competitive practices on several occasions might make it simpler to support the F CKING MILLIONS of controllers already out there rather than requiring the purchase of an “Approved” one. How long would it have taken to put a wrapper around DirectInput? God almighty.

By: Max

Max — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:10:05 +0000

Fired it up on my PC, great fun. I have a wireless 360 pad so no woes for me.

Cheers for the link, RPS!

*makes brum brum noises*

By: MindBrain

MindBrain — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:57:19 +0000

Geeze this game looks freaking boring

By: Stromko

Stromko — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:43:52 +0000

Well when it started out I thought, “Oh man, they think they can put physics on anything and make a game? Pfft”

Then I saw the gymnast doing all sorts of fly moves and realized not every game needs you saving a princess or thwarting terrorists to have a POINT.

(edit: removed boob-ish explanation of what the video was since it’s working now)

By: lalahsghost

lalahsghost — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:38:06 +0000

*Post Edited*
Blurb. Sorry. Youtube stated the video was down, but I tried again and there it was… I blame myself for looking like an ass.

By: Walaber

Walaber — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:23:15 +0000

That is correct, XNA Game Studio is based on the XInput library, which does not support “backwards compatibility” with devices designed for the older DirectInput libraries using the HID standard.

anyway, this means that standard XNA games that do not seperately utilize DirectInput currently only support gamepads that are Microsoft approved, AKA will work on the Xbox 360 (which also uses XInput). This means that all first party controllers, and any officially-licensed Xbox 360 controllers (including rock band guitars, drums, and third-party replacement controllers) all work.

as for Gymnast, it has been designed specifically around the Xbox 360 controller, so keyboard + mouse support will just be clunky and hard to control. The game already requires a fair bit of finesse to play well, so unfortunately the game will definately require a gamepad to play.

The main platform for this game is Xbox 360, once the “Community Games” platform goes live it will be available for download directly from Xbox Live.

By: Ging

Ging — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:19:45 +0000

XNA does only support the 360 pad to the best of my knowledge, which sort of makes sense when it’s targeted at the 360 just as much as it as at the PC.

By: Mal

Mal — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:30:27 +0000

It appears that, for some reason I do not understand, that MS has chosen to implement 360 Pad support as a separate part of DirectX called XInput, rather than using the the old stalwart DirectInput. Hmm.

Ah – this page explains the reasoning. Summarizing: While the 360 pad can be used under the older DirectInput standard…
* the left and right trigger buttons will act as a single button, not independently
* The vibration effects will not be available
* Querying for headset devices will not be available

I would also suspect if you are using XNA then XInput is all you get.

By: John Walker

John Walker — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:29:31 +0000

Well, of all the analogue pads I’ve used, the 360 one is by far the best. So that’s why I’d opt for that one.

However, what I worried about in parentheses was the incredibly troubling concern that a crop of games are appearing that *only* recognise the 360 pad on PC. Which is clearly a bad thing.

As for this game, it’s because it has analogue controls. I’m sure it will support mouse/keyboard. The point is, you won’t get the best of it with digital controls.

By: Zeno, Internetographer

Zeno, Internetographer — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:05:07 +0000

If it doesn’t support keyboard/mouse, then to hell with it.

By: Theory

Theory — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:45:26 +0000

I’ve had a wired 360 Controller for a while now. I’ve only ever used it for platformers, GTA and Bioshock (which is much creepier when you don’t have pinpoint accuracy), but I still feel like I made a worthwhile investment. It’s a damn fine piece of hardware.

I am a little peeved that it doesn’t work on older games though. I was looking forward to playing MW4 without a joystick. :(

Edit: As for JelloCar – an annoying fiddlefest that I’ve just uninstalled.

By: Babs

Babs — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:59:31 +0000

I took it to mean ‘games require a gamepad with opposable thumbsticks and has no mouse/keyboard controls’. DirectX should allow the use of any pad, I’ve used a Dual Shock to play Lego Star Wars before.