Like the 6 Degree of Freedom SpaceOrb device, having an "organic" method of movement input changes the way the game is played, unlike the SpaceOrb, it doesn't take an hour before you can control your movement enough to actually play. With Microsoft's Tilt, what you see is what you get- and it's pretty close to being a cinch when trying to adapt to playing games. Those 6DOFs are a bit much to take on all at once, give me a few DOFs at a time please. After relatively few encounters, I was bobbing and weaving circles around my three axis joystick enabled nemesis and flashing some pretty nasty rants across the message channel. Isn't this why the net was invented in the first place?
I also tried playing Microsoft Motocross Madness and this is where the Tilt really came into it's own. It really did change the whole gaming experience and it made me feel like I was getting much more in-tune with the game. Weaving side to side was really a lot more fun than waggling a joystick side to side. It felt that bit more realistic and gave you a bit more control.
Yes I did try it with Quake 2 and guess what? It.. um.. well sucked. Microsoft make other controllers for Quake2 so I don't have any beef with them on that score. What you need for Quake2 is indeed a new USB Microsoft Intellimouse Pro. Still for gamers such as Blue from Blue's News, the Tilt will make Quake2 more enjoyable than a touch pad…
And no I didn't try the Tilt with Trophy Bass 2. I know that the Force Feedback is supposed to be truly wonderful (sharkasm of the week) with that most amazing game (yet more sharkasm) but I just don't fish in real-time or in real-time 3D on the PC either. Period. Nuff' said, hang up your rod.
According to those PR know-it-alls over at Microsoft, Bill Gates was last seen jousting with Alex St. John um no? Actually this is the first game controller to "provide universal control, simultaneously delivering the proportional (analog) flexibility of a joystick and the digital precision of a game pad. The SideWinder Freestyle Pro gives gamers freedom of movement in a wide variety of joystick- and game pad-compatible game genres, such as arcade-style flying and driving." Man, those guys really know how to write eh? Fancy a job MS Press Release people?
"In its motion-sensing mode, the SideWinder Freestyle Pro is a great match for many arcade-style drive-
and-shoot and fly-and-shoot titles in which gamers maneuver vehicles within a 3-D landscape while aiming head, body or weapons."
It "uses sophisticated solid-state motion-sensing technology to deliver immersive, intuitive, proportional (sometimes referred to as analog) PC game control in supported games. Gamers control onscreen action along the X-axis by tipping the device left or right, and along the Y-axis by tipping the unit forward or backward." Sounds like the very thing to have bedside for those personal emergencies with the wife. But what did you expect from the guys that brought us the vibrating Force Feedback bundle of joy last year?
