TwoStick text entry system speeds up console keyboarding

While it seems like voice chat has taken over as the dominant trash-talk medium for online console gaming, there's still a lot of tedious onscreen keyboarding to be done -- entering Wii friend codes leaps to mind, for one. With any luck, those chores will be made easier in the future with the TwoStick system recently developed in Vienna. The system assigns characters to a Sodoku-like 9x3 grid, letting the user select a quadrant with the left stick and select a letter from within the quadrant with the right. According to the developers, TwoStick users are around 2 words per minute faster than regular on-screen keyboarders after just a little practice. No word on if we might see the system hit the current-gen systems, but we're definitely holding out hope for the 720 and PS4. Peep a video of TwoStick in action after the break.

[Via Joystiq]

[Chuckles McGee @ Jun 25th 2007 9:24AM]

Assuming a deal gets worked out, there's no reason why the 360 and PS3 couldn't incorporate the features as a firmware update.

[snoozy @ Jun 25th 2007 9:27AM]

First used in the original PS2 Killzone.

[Greg @ Jun 25th 2007 9:41AM]

Neat, but I think voice recognition and command will be the norm by the time this becomes mainstream enough.

It's also worth considering that touchscreens/tablets will play a large role in the next generation's input technology.

[pete @ Jun 25th 2007 9:52AM]

On a side note - where the hell is the 360 thumb keyboard?
It's like July already.

[Justin @ Jun 25th 2007 10:12AM]

this bears a very strong resemblance to the entry system on the Magellan gps units. it's handy on their system as it's predictive as well, reducing the number of letters to only real words as you continue to type.

[Decon @ Jun 25th 2007 10:28AM]

This really isn't something new. It was used in Killzone on the PS2 and it has been around on the PSP homebrew scenes for more than a year now. Sony and MS should REALLY pick this one up, though I think that Sony has done a pretty good job with the "T9" thingie. What they really should do though is to support a real T9 dictionary. Maybe they could even make it so that you could map different buttons to different keys.

[gullum @ Jun 25th 2007 10:34AM]

Yeah this was great for text entry in Killzone. I always wished Sony would use it in other games.

[ntj @ Jun 25th 2007 10:59AM]

This is just a run-of-the-mill text-based augmentative communication solution that has been around for a decade now. Stephen Hawking uses similar software (EZ Keys i believe its called) with a clicker in lieu of a 360 controller.

[PizzashaX @ Jun 25th 2007 11:01AM]

It was also used on the PS2 Online Registration.

[Zachary Lewis @ Jun 25th 2007 11:05AM]

Should be a 9x9 grid or 9 3x3 grids, not a 9x3 grid.

[MadChad @ Jun 25th 2007 11:12AM]

Sony was using this 5 years ago when they brought out their network adapter. Way to research your stuff engadget.

[Whackmushrooms @ Jun 25th 2007 11:45AM]

i thought i saw this in killzone.

[peshue @ Jun 25th 2007 12:16PM]

Riiiiiight, I'd still rather just have a thumb keyboard that have to learn to use that with any sort of efficiency.

[bergolas @ Jun 25th 2007 12:48PM]

Well, I think I can remember the exact same input method on several alternative xbox1 dashboards...

[sorahn @ Jun 25th 2007 1:27PM]

This was also in most of the Modded Xbox Dashboards.

[Aaron @ Jun 25th 2007 2:39PM]

How about you plug one of the USB keyboards you probably have lying around into your 360/PS3 and just type? I know, I'm missing the point, which is to have a better on-screen text input solution, but damn, you can use a real keyboard...

[Tristan @ Jun 25th 2007 4:42PM]

How will this help you in typing Wii friend codes when the Wii has only one thumbstick and its own point and click scheme?

[Alex Yee @ Jun 25th 2007 5:10PM]

As someone has mentioned that this is killzone. How could it have just been developed in vienna?

[Tom @ Jun 25th 2007 5:44PM]

It seems like they waste a lot of cells by making backspace and space available everywhere instead of just assigning it to one of the many buttons on a normal controller.

I remember using a keyboard on some gamecube game where the characters were laid out along a spiral and you moved along the spiral by pushing your stick around in a circle like you were rotating something and then hit a button to select your character. I found it very natural and fast, I think because I wasn't trying to navigate on a grid or remember how many times to push a button to get to the character I wanted. The motions felt very game like.

[Oliver Taylor @ Jun 26th 2007 4:54PM]

KILLZONE! Not Vienna. LOL