First Person Shooters: The Mouse is King

Since the beginning, games have had a place in our society. Now video games and computer games have a large place in our society. Ever since the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released video games have continued to gain more and more popularity. The reason for the rapid rise in sales is due to its unique entertainment experience. Games give an unparalleled amount of control that you can’t get when watching movies, TV or reading books. As video games improve, the level of control and entertainment value continues to rise. Now with the beginning of the seventh generation of console games, being acquainted with the likes of the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 will give a new, heightened sense of realism and immersion into the gaming experience.

Console gaming changes every few years, in every generation a new set of game consoles are released to the market and the bar is set higher. However computer games have always been constantly and gradually improving. With specialty hardware to "up" computer game’s visuals, its tough to say what looks better: console or computer?

For some reason the mass market tends to like different things on the computer and on the console. Why is this? RTS (Real Time Strategy) games accounted for over a quarter of the market of computer games, yet when an hugely popular RTS game like Starcraft was ported to the Nintendo 64 under the name "Starcraft 64" it was a bust.

Likewise action/adventure games (third person fun platforming sometimes fighting game (think Mario and Devil May Cry)) and sports games are primarily attributed to the console, whereas MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) are mainly a computer deal. Other genres like fighting, simulation and puzzle games seem to be evenly distributed.

There is one genre, however, that needs to be talked about at length. The First Person Shooter (FPS) genre is a veritable revenue generator. The genre has been successful from its outset and continues to be wildly popular, but this popularity isn’t one sided. Console FPS’s and computer FPS’s continue to compete, and for that matter mix and port and generally transcend just one platform. But the reason that there is a difference in the preferred games of each platform is due to one principle: "control". The amount of control I possess of the game I happen to be playing is a major factor in the entertainment value of games in general. The different forms of control from the computer and console’s play a major part in why computer players like to play different games than "consolers".

On a console from the inception of the NES we’ve used a handheld device called a controller. The controller has evolved into a very efficient device and serves its purposes very well. However it physically cannot possess the accurate qualities of a computer mouse. A mouse gives unparalleled accuracy to pinpoint shooting and "clicking" that you would need in a split second offered in RTS and FPS games. Using the keyboard and mouse in conjunction brings speed only dreamed about using a controller, it’s a wonder that any first person shooters sell at all on console based platforms. The mouse rules; A track pad on a laptop even is a preferable alternative when playing a fast-paced real-time-strategy game like Warcraft III.

You can’t deny the control and accuracy of a mouse when it comes to the RTS genre. So why is it that FPS’s are also popular on the console as well? This I can only guess at, although slower in comparison the dual joystick controllers, with practice, can rival the mouse. Also the production values in genre leaders like Goldeneye 007 and Halo 1&2 are almost incomparable; these are truly classics of the genre.

When talking about game controllers I can’t help but mention the new developments with the Nintendo Wii remote. Can someone say "Hello Future"? I believe this will change the market of not only the FPS, but of all games. By simply moving the remote developers can program their games to react in a way only imagined. Playing FPS’s with the Wii remote will be as intuitive as pointing a gun and shooting it in real life. I predict that this unrivaled immersive ness could bring Nintendo to the forefront of the seventh generation, despite PS3’s ridiculous graphics.

Jesse Smith is a Client Account Specialist for 10xMarketing: Looking for high quality Computer Mice? Check out www.cirque.com for new technology in the business. EasyCat, Track pad, Microsoft Mouse