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SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?
Posted By: BOLL	Date: 11/12/04 12:09 p.m.
I bought this little thingy, to see if it really was a danger to online multiplayer balance, and because I was curious. The SmartJoy FRAG arrives in a simple bubble-plastic-thingy with a few papers. I wont go into detail what everything is, as that's not really what I want to talk about. The adapter itself has two PS/2 ports color coded for mouse and keyboard, it also has a port on the top where you can attach a memory card or the XBL headset apparatus. I tried to use a few different keyboards and mice, noticing that using a USB keyboard with a PS/2 adaptor worked better than just a PS/2 keyboard. When using a PS/2 keyboard I would get keys that stuck with, not meaning physically stick, but the releasing of the button is never registered, and thus the SmartJoy FRAG thinks it's still being pressed. I have no PS/2 mouse so I couldn't test that, but when using a USB mouse I found the heaviest gave the best feeling, as the movement is kind of smoothed, which feels more awkward with a flimsy mouse. The mouse movement is acceptable, but it feels a little choppy, and not very precise. There is a small delay, it might be really tiny, but compared to PC games tiny is huge. Performance waries pretty much, especially as the device sometimes resets spontaneously causing a few seconds without controls, and if you have changed your settings without saving those will also be reset. I scrapped the predefined controls and overwrite it with my own, making the change a little easier. A few other things than just performance to take into consideration: The feel of triggering a weapon is completely different, as you don't have triggers (with resistance) anymore, just mouse buttons (no change for PC gamers then, I guess). There's no rumble feedback, which IMO really adds to the way you feel connected to the game / immersed. The sensitivity when driving vehicles is much lower, and it makes it hard to drive with the mouse, even if using the highest sensitivity setting in the game, as you have to do several drags when turning. Shooting with the SMGs gets a bit more tiresome, as you have to continuously drag the mouse to keep on target, instead of just adjusting your aim stick. The control scheme just isn't made for a mouse and keyboard setup. The fact you reload, enter vehicles, pick up weapons and activate machines is the same button makes is a little odd to use it on the keyboard, where at least I am used to have different buttons for most actions. Firing gets a little confusing if you have the primary fire on the left mouse button, and then have secondary/grenades on the middle or right button. It works as long as you don't dual wield, as soon as you pick up another weapon you'll notice the problem; the left mouse button fires the right weapon and the middle/right mouse button fires the left weapon. I guess you could invert the buttons, and always fire with the middle/right button, but that would be really awkward if you are used to the left mouse button. Halo2 has several systems made only for gamepad usage and not mouse usage, like the sticky-aim and the decreased vertical sensitivity. It's not very easy to find a stable surface around your TV setup that is really comfortable. You need it mostly for the mouse, but maybe for the keyboard as well. You might get unpopular if you try to use it in split screen multiplayer, even if I right now can't see any real advantages to use it. At the moment I feel like I have more control with a standard controller than with the SmartJoy FRAG, and definitely more immersion and feedback. This isn't really a surprise as Halo2 is not meant to be played with a mouse and keyboard, and has no real support for it. The SmartJoy FRAG is in the end just emulating a gamepad. I will most likely not use the SmartJoy FRAG if I don't have to, as I don't enjoy using it at all, actually. The slipstreamed controls for the standard controller are just that good. So, finally, in my eyes the SmartJoy FRAG is no real threat to online multiplayer, as it isn't close to performing what a mouse does for a PC shooter. Not from what I can tell anyway.

Message Index

SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	BOLL	11/12/04 12:09 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	whswarrior87	11/12/04 12:18 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	Hawaiian Pig	11/12/04 12:18 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	Vidd	11/12/04 12:20 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	CYBRFRK	11/12/04 12:24 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	KP	11/12/04 1:45 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	CYBRFRK	12/3/04 3:20 p.m.
LAG *NM*	KP	12/3/04 9:36 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	Louis Wu	11/12/04 5:24 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	ragereset	11/12/04 9:30 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	full-bore	11/12/04 1:58 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	MarkHawk	11/12/04 2:16 p.m.
Re: SmartJoy FRAG, a threat to online gaming?	kaine904	12/12/04 5:18 p.m.