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The best mechanical keyboards
By Kimber Streams, Dan Frakes, and Ryan Whitwam This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. If you spend most of your day typing, a mechanical keyboard can be a worthwhile upgrade: Mechanical keyboards are more durable, responsive, comfortable, and customizable than other types of keyboards. The best for you depends a lot on personal preference and what you're using it for, but after spending months testing 31 top-rated keyboards with a four-person panel, we unanimously agree that the WASD Code 87-Key is a great place to start because of its fantastic key feel, build quality, and elegant design.
Penguin United's Eagle Eye brings WASD to your PS3 shooters, disrespect to your enemies (video)
With the PS3's plethora of USB ports scattered across the front, you'd think it'd be a no-brainer that all shooters on the console would support keyboard and mouse controls to make the FPS purists happy. Sadly that's not nearly the case, so it's up to companies like Penguin United (creators of a fine array of silly Wii peripherals) to fill the void. The Eagle Eye is its attempt, a surprisingly sizable box with an unfortunately short 2-foot USB cable and inputs for mouse and keyboard. Using buttons on that box you assign controller inputs to keys and away you go, hunting the Helgath's worst in WASD. The cost is a bit steep at $60 when it ships later this month, but nobody said having a (possibly imaginary) unfair advantage over the competition would be cheap.
3D Realm: Prey coming to the iPhone
This is pretty exciting -- 3D Realms has announced that their 2006 first-person shooter, Prey, is coming to the iPhone. IGN has a preview up now, and it looks pretty impressive -- the texture work is very well done, and the gravity-defying puzzles that helped the original game stand out as an above-average shooter are back as well.As you can see above, the controls are overlaid on the touchscreen, and while IGN says they take a little getting used to (they're obviously not the usual WASD and mouse movement that most shooter fans are used to), they do work well once you figure them out (and you can change the transparency of the controls, so they won't get in your way while you're blasting aliens). 3D Realms says there's no release date yet (the port is being done by a company called MachineWorks Northwest), but it'll definitely be something to watch out for. Thanks, Nick!
The Daily Grind: Do controls make or break an MMO for you?
With all the different options for controls in MMOs, some are devotedly tied to keyboards for movement - either the WASD crowd, the arrow keys, or occasionally the folks who use the numeric keypad. Other players we know who love PvP tend to be heavily mouse-driven, often with macros tied to different buttons on their mouse, able to unleash a devastating string of attacks with just a couple of clicks. In the Western market, we tend to see a combination of controls, offering users their choice. As we play through the Eastern free-to-play titles, we notice a great many that are click-to-move, offering limited keyboard/remapping support. This of course started discussion on our end. Some of the team are dedicated keyboard fans, and really dislike playing click-to-move only type games. Others are very used to using their mice and the idea of being required to use keyboard for movement seems clunky and slow. What we thought we'd ask today is this - if you found a game you were interested in playing, but it locked you into a control for movement that you didn't like (such as click-to-move, or WASD only if you're an arrow-key fan) would it cause you to put down the game? Or would you try to get used to a completely foreign set of control/movement keys? Do control options (or the lack thereof if you can't change your keymap) make or break an MMO for you?
The Daily Grind: WASD or click-to-move?
In an ideal world, we wouldn't have to choose between the two modes -- they'd be options configurable in the preferences tab. Until then, we'll have to make do with one or the other as they're presented to us. Click-to-move games free up a hand to access keyboard commands, but at the cost of increased difficulty in simultaneous travel and camera movement. Mabinogi features this control.WASD, on the other hand, seems a perfect fit for 3D movement, and by now it's a well-accepted standard, but having to cluster frequently-used keys near to your movement hand can sometimes be awkward. Which is your preference? Does it depend on the type of game?
The Daily Grind: Preferred control scheme?
A very large amount of MMO players use the tried-and-true WASD keyboard configuration to play their game of choice. However, we know that there are people out there who shun tradition, and have taken another option. Perhaps you use the typically-neglected arrow keys for movement, or the point-and-click style movement that some MMOs offer? Maybe you've shuffled to the right, along to the ESDF setup, to take advantage of some extra hotkeys? Or are you using something so crazy we may not have even heard of it?Then there's the possibility that you've left the keyboard behind altogether. In games where you have a choice between versions (like FFXI and Phantasy Star Universe), do you prefer the console or PC controls? Have you found yourself looking up applications like Switchblade for use with your favorite MMO, to get that familiar controller back in your grasp? Tell us about any other ways that you like to take control of your MMO.
Aion gameplay video shows some personality
Over at Curse there's an interesting video preview of NCsoft's upcoming Aion as well as a couple of screenshots showing off the game's flexible user interface. The entire interface can be adjusted to however a player would prefer and in the screenshot above you can see that Aion is well aware of the popularized WoW-style layout. We're always in favor of letting players easily organize their interface in the way they see fit.
First Impressions: Mabinogi
Mabinogi is an engaging MMO by Nexon, the makers of Maple Story, Audition, and Kart Rider. The name is derived from the Mabinogion, a collection of old Welsh stories. In that sense, it's well-named; Mabinogi is billed as 'your fantasy life', and much of what happens in the game follows a gentle, pastoral atmosphere -- even the combat, to a certain degree. We had the chance to check this out, now that it's in open beta, and here's what we found. Keep in mind that this is not a guide -- we have no insider knowledge to report. This is merely a record of our opinions and experience playing this game for the first few hours. Excelsior!%Gallery-18335%
Eye Gaze project to enable the disabled
Someone is always working on a way to let differently-abled people interact with virtual worlds and games. This video shows someone playing World of Warcraft using a system called the Eye Gaze, which tracks eye movement and somehow (I'll say magically) converts the signals into mouse clicks and WASD movement.This could be big for people with conditions that affect motor control, such as muscular dystrophy or polio. There's also a Second Life demonstration video. Though the team's website is currently down, there's a lot of food for thought in these videos. I can see a system like this dramatically improving quality of life for people with crippling disabilities, and also for, as one commenter put it, 'insanely lazy people'.Videos after the break![Thanks, Aki!]
New MMOSG: Sociotown
A new MMOSG (that's Massively Multiplayer Online Social Game, which I don't recall seeing before, but sure, why not?) has sprung up, and it's called Sociotown. Now, not to knock something before it's even been released, but when I hear 'socio-' anything, I immediately think sociopath. And that's not the image you want to send across for a virtual world.Regardless, from looking at the latest footage, there are a few things I need to comment on. Won't you follow along with me? First of all, point-and-click movement is awkward. I've never liked it, despite the fun to be had in Diablo and Mythos, and prefer WASD movement. Second of all, the look of this world is similar to a lot of other similar social spaces, so no innovation there. Third, there is some interest in not being able to immediately see another person's name, forcing you to introduce yourself to him/her. Fourth, 'Socio dollars' is just more awkwardness -- why not SoBucks?
