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Last week we asked about customizable controls in games. In general, people were favorable to having choice, but some just didn’t care. Here are some quotables:
Mr. Jack wrote: More customization is always a good thing. Being able to play a game and apply your own rules and boundaries to a game is fantastic. Re-mapping controls should be completely standard at this point. Countless games have frustrated me with their terrible controls, and if I was able to re-map the buttons those game would actually be playable. Console FPSs are typically the biggest offender. I like to play with the old Goldeneye controls, and most FPSs have completely switched to the Halo invented control scheme. Not being able to choose the old style controls ruins a game for me.
I'm glad to see Smash [Bros. Brawl] implementing an interface that is totally customizable. The PC has had this option for years and years, it's about time the console market started catching up to some of the great parts of PC gaming
Kairon wrote: Ever since the rise of traditional dual-analog, I have burned for customizable controls. I want to MOVE with my right thumb and AIM with my left. I'm not left-handed, but I use the southpaw option in the Halo games when I play 'em. Without customizable controls in FPS', I suck even worse than I already do.
This topic just gave me an idea for a feature a DS game might have... moveable buttons for a user-created UI set-up? Awesome!
ShiftKey wrote: I don't really care [about contrls]. I couldn't even bring myself to read through the whole article [on Smash Bros. controls]. Controls aren't something that I get attached to (even when I play PC games I just use the defaults). Having played first-person games on PC, N64, GC, Xbox and 360 they each have advantages and weaknesses. Mouse and Keyboard comes out on top solely for the aiming control - to each his own.
When I pick up the game (whenever that is) I'll look at what's on offer.
planetidiot wrote: There's absolutely no reason not to have completely customizable controls. The only excuse is developer laziness. If the developer is afraid of confusing poor casual gamers, then hide the option away on an advanced preferences menu. I used to be irritated with "choose one of 3 control options!" instead of complete custom mapping, but now we're lucky if we get any options.
But letting the gamer pick how they want their controls mapped isn't the only reason to allow it. It's simply short sighted to omit control options. How many Virtual Console games are infinitely more playable because the older game had customizable controls? Of course Nintendo could help us out here by letting us customize the Virtual Console button mappings outside of the game. They tend to be the worst offenders here, but maybe Smash Bros. Brawl is a sign of change.
Ian Sane wrote: I think customizable controls should be a console option, not just a game option. Let's say I'm playing a SNES emulator on my PC and I'm using a SNES controller to play (I have an adapter for one). Now a game might not allow me to customize my controls. That's okay because the emulator allows me to map "A" to whatever the hell I want. If you could do that on a videogame console then developer laziness wouldn't be a problem. Now the Wii's motion control makes that harder to do. You can't substitute motion control for the A button in a universal manner. But you can switch A and B and +. You could change the settings for the classic controller or a GameCube controller. A VC game has crappy default controls? No problem because the console itself allows you to make the adjustment. Developers meanwhile can do whatever they want and you the player still always have some options.
Ahtrun Zala wrote: If the controls are well designed, there's no need for customizable controls so, I only care for them in games whose default controllers are crap.
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