Greg Mueller Associate Data Producer

Now Playing: Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (GBA), Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC), Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (GBA)

Peripheral Envy

Gamers are usually categorized by their gaming system of choice. Check the system wars forums and you will see the battle lines clearly drawn between the various consoles. The division reaches beyond the big three though, with distinct segregation between PC and console gamers. There are plenty of people who play PC games as well as console games, but for the most part they don't really mix. I consider myself to be primarily a console gamer, probably because I started on the Atari 2600 and the NES rather than the Apple IIe or the Commodore 64. I do cross over once in awhile, especially if there is a lull in the console releases. Although I prefer the simplicity of console gaming, I am jealous of the PC gamers because there are so many cool, quality peripherals and upgrades to enhance the gaming experience.

This is the gaming glove from Steelpad, and this is how you show people you really mean business (image courtesy of www.creativemods.com)

There is a rule in console gaming that states the first-party peripherals are always preferable to the cheaper alternatives. Throughout the history of console gaming there have always been third-party controllers, and none of them have ever been better than their first-party counterparts. The Nintendo 64 exaggerated the phenomenon more than any system before or since. The system only shipped with one controller, but with four ports, so of course gamers eager for non-multitap gaming with their friends headed to stores to fill those leftover ports. Almost immediately there were a plethora of cheap--and awful--N64 controllers on the market. I had a few of these that became literally unusable after only a few hours of use, and none of them improved my game in the slightest. The first-party controllers eventually went bad as well, but they lasted much longer. The problem still exists today because some gamers are swayed by turbo buttons (I haven't needed turbo since Track and Field II and the NES Max controller), stylized rubber grips, clear or neon casing, and slightly lower prices.

Mouse? Mustache Trimmer? Both?

In contrast to the console market, the market for PC peripherals is, in many ways, more vibrant and varied than the actual games. In the PC market, there is no standard equipment. The usual input consists of a mouse and keyboard, but those can differ radically from the budget gear to the high-dollar performance items. There are optical mice with configurable buttons, scroll wheels, and Bluetooth capabilities. Even something as simple as a mouse pad can vary in size, shape, color, and substance, and they can even connect to a USB port, light up, or make you a margarita. Once you have the basics you can explore a veritable wonderland of extreme modded cases, specialized joysticks, trackballs, mouse bungees, gamepads, and much more. There is even a product on the market called a gaming glove--and no it's not like a Power Glove for the PC--it's more like those wrist supports bowlers wear to let other bowlers know they mean business.

This is so much cooler than my platinum GameCube controller.

The reason for such variety is that there is no first party in the PC market. As a result, there is a broader range of products forced to compete for the attention of serious and casual gamers alike. Simply putting a lower price on a product is not quite enough to guarantee sales, since there are already so many other products offered at competing prices. At the same time, a person who spends thousands on a gaming rig is more likely to spend a little extra for some performance peripherals than someone who gets an Xbox or PS2 for his or her birthday. In the console hardware market, the only way third-party products sell is by being cheap or gimmicky. When people buy consoles they already have controllers, so all the third-party accessories are competing for second place right out of the gate. Other than a few fancy arcade sticks, there are no console peripherals that are more expensive than the first-party standards. Is it possible to make a PS2 controller that is comfortable and will actually improve my scores in Madden or help me pull off quicker combos in Guilty Gear X? Better yet, will a $50 mouse, $30 pad, and $20 glove raise my frag count in Unreal Tournament 2004 or give me better control of my troops in Warcraft III? These questions will have to wait until the GameSpot hardware site launches to help us sort this stuff out--but in the meantime, gaming peripherals aren't really meant to make you a better gamer as much as they make the gaming experience more enjoyable.

PC gamers are undoubtedly at an advantage in terms of hardware selection and quality, but that does not mean there aren't bad PC products out there. There are just as many if not more poorly made products for the PC simply due to the sheer volume of different manufacturers and hardware categories. Another problem with increased selection is figuring out whether or not a particular item is compatible with your system. You can plug in a PS2 controller and start playing immediately. PC inputs, on the other hand, sometimes require you to install drivers or configure buttons. Thankfully, manufacturers have made this process fairly easy, but once in awhile users still encounter problems. Also, with technology moving along at a brisk clip, the expensive top-of-the-line gaming gear of today is quickly eclipsed by newer, more advanced products. This means that if you want to keep up with the coolest new gadgets, you will have to spend more money on hardware than on the games you want to play, which can present a problem for those on a budget.

Still, I am jealous of PC gamers because of the sheer number of options available to them. I don't particularly want the console peripheral market to become as varied as that of the PC, because I usually like first-party gear just fine--I just want the option to upgrade if I ever happen to feel so inclined. Even just a couple of quality alternatives that are actually worth the money would be satisfactory. Alas, I think it would be easier for me to just start playing more PC games. And why not? There have been some great PC titles recently, with more to come soon, and when you work at GameSpot it's easy to play new games; they are everywhere. It's easy to get a sense of what is worth playing and what isn't just by listening to the office buzz. Plus, there is a whole mod scene to get into if the game alone isn't enough. For now I will play some Unreal Tournament 2004, Warcraft III, and maybe move on to Painkiller or Far Cry. With any luck, my hardware will wear out just as I start getting better, and then I will have a legitimate reason to blow some cash on the cool gaming gadgets I have missed out on for the past few years.