People who buy gaming consoles buy them to play games specifically, so they're hardly "casual" gamers, while many people play games on PCs that were not bought for games.
I don’t see it that way, I look at casual players as people who play games from time to time with a relaxed easy going approach, what could be easier then turning on your console, it boots up in seconds, slapping in a game and then sitting back on a sofa with a controller in hand, looking at the TV in your living room. Their console has become part of their living room entertainment setup, which lets face it, is what consoles are aimed at, being wireless control with HDMI, being used from time to time, when other features of their entertainment centre is not in use.
Consoles are also used for other than games, I have friends who use their console’s to watch Netflix/LoveFilm, connect up a NAS network drive & use them as media player, with the new batch of consoles (Xbox One/Playstation 4), these media playing features have been emphasised even more.
As for a PC, it’s in a set place (even a laptop you have to get out & connect it to the power), in general not in a TV cabinet as part of someone’s living room entertainment setup & don’t kid yourself in thinking this game will run on your general office PC, if you don’t have a GPX chipset from one of the two big guns in PC graphics, this game will struggle, albeit, a low end games rig will suffice.
So there are a lot of PC gamers who play on PC and don't have things like gamepads and joysticks. Most PC games are perfectly playable with a keyboard and a mouse, so a casual gamer wouldn't expect that he has to buy a gamepad or joystick for a PC game in order to be able to play and enjoy it. Frontier should make sure it's possible to play the game comfortably with a mouse or forewarn potential buyers about the necessity of buying additional controls. If they don't, then they shouldn't be surprised when they get many negative reviews about uncomfortable controls from annoyed customers. A gamepad or a joystick shouldn't be required in order to enjoy a PC game, and playing with a mouse&kb should be a viable option.
Agreed & as I’ve mentioned already several times in this thread, many people are reporting good things with mouse usage in the alpha, so I think warning FD about mouse control is a non starter really.
Basically what I’ve been saying & others in this thread, is that you would get a better level of control with a joystick, of course at the end of the day it’s all down to preference. For instance I realise I’d have a better level of control using a driving wheel for a driving game, but would I buy one, no, I’d make do with my joypad, I’d be happy with that & I’d probably get pretty good with it. As is a steering wheel is the real world control mechanism for a car, as a joystick is for a jet fighter (flight model) & as I see a joypad, it’s been solely designed for gaming, so I look at it as a bit of a half-way house. The mouse was designed to be used for a computer’s GUI OS, although it is suitable for most games & looking to be as well with ED, it’s still my optimum controller when it comes to FPS games, I just can’t get with joypads for the likes of COD, like the youngsters today.
As for getting the same level of control with a mouse, then that is simply impossible, FD can’t reinvent the wheel, as Mike Evens a designer at FD, has already stipulated in this very thread:
I think the issue is that the flight model doesn't move as quickly (or quickly enough) as someone can move a mouse which is pretty much the normal way of doing things in space games. The slowness in motion (not response) is a flight model factor that just so happens to not feel bad when using a stick or game pad compared to a mouse where people are used to things moving as fast as or as close as makes no difference to their ability to move the mouse.
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