Click and drag on console (or the gaming world seems to have amnesia)

[Spygon]

I am a big fan of RTS games i used to play them mainly on my PC where RTS games are at home.But i do not game on my PC anymore as i cant afford to buy a new rig just to play RTS titles.

So i was looking into my 360 to get my RTS fix and the 360 offered a decent array of games that looked like they would do the job.I have play quite a few of them and keeping coming down to the same problem like most gamers have noticed that consoles do not have a mouse so without this you cant do click and drag right?.So instead game companies are trying to think of every way possible to get a RTS game to work without click and drag.

My question is why?

As either i dreamt it but the original command and conquers on the PlayStation you pressed the "X" button and then dragged the box across the screen to select mass units this was very simple as it was pretty much click and drag.So why does it seem all the console RTS games have forgotten that westwood were doing this 10 years ago and it worked really well so i am confused why suddenly everybody is saying click and drag doesn't work on console so we have to make wheel,squad buttons or flow charts just to select our units as this seems to be really backwards.So i was wondering what happened to "press and drag" on consoles RTS games?.

 

[AlphaOmega]

It works for moving bit groups of enemies, but you cant double click a unit to select all of that type, or ctrl/shift click to add/remove them from selection for your micromanagement.

Thats is imo what breaks a console RTS; because at a basis using those sliders/monu's isnt that different from f/e pressing the "barracks" and the "archer" key to build something.

 

[Deviluk]

You don't need a great rig to play most RTS games, unless you want it on highest graphics settings (and who doesnt?).

They should make a mouse attachment for consoles, that would make RTS a viable option on the console.

 

[Spygon]

It works for moving bit groups of enemies, but you cant double click a unit to select all of that type, or ctrl/shift click to add/remove them from selection for your micromanagement.

Why not as the mouse is a two button controller that you can move.I understand you wouldnt be able to do really complex stuff like the ctrl/shift but the basic double click worked on command and conquer by pressing the "x" button twice.

 

[j0z]

I am not sure, it does seem like a fairly easy way to do it. Then again, I haven't played many console RTS games.
I don't know if there can ever be a console RTS that has a good, easy, control system, mainly because the lack of buttons on the controller. How about a scheme where you press a button to show the traditional RTS UI, and have all the buttons there, Some of the most common commands could be mapped to the controller, but everything else is on the hidable UI. Why hideable? Because so mainy RTS games have such space-wasting UIs

 

[walls of cetepedes]

That's what annoyed me about C&C3 on the 360. I was used to the 'Click and drag' premise. I mean, Red Alert 1 used a click and drag system, so it wasn't that difficult.

I felt RA1 worked rather well on the console.

 

[lostclause]

It's simply difficult to move it fast enough without it being permanently hypersensitive. Plus you can't bind units to numbers, not enough keys as it is.
However an rts for the wii might work, the wiimote could emulate a mouse quite accurately with both slow and quick movements. Would probably need motion plus though.

 

[DrDeath3191]

RTSs don't control well with dual-analog setups. I would like to see someone try to make one on the Wii, as that has the closest thing to a mouse on consoles.

 

[Katana314]

Hey, maybe they could go the Guitar Hero route, and invent some controller specifically designed for RTS games. It's a free moneymaker too. If someone plays with just the controller, have every Loading tip just say "So you didn't get the SuperAwesomeRTS Controller? Well, good luck winning a single game!"

 

[x434343]

The only way to fix the "click and drag" is with voice command (See EndWar). The why is to make more money.

 

[Amnestic]

The only way to fix the "click and drag" is with voice command (See EndWar). The why is to make more money.

Yeah, except that worked terribly for me at it kept mistaking my instructions. 'Fixed' indeed.

Frankly, until I see a console RTS with mouse+keyboard support, it'll always be behind the PC. Grouping your units and micro managing them is just so much easier the aforementioned peripherals.

Until then, I'll stick to my PC RTS games where they belong.

 

[Xyphon]

You don't need a great rig to play most RTS games, unless you want it on highest graphics settings (and who doesnt?).

They should make a mouse attachment for consoles, that would make RTS a viable option on the console.

If I remember right, they DID make a mouse for one of the old school consoles. I forgot which one it was, but I think it may of been the SNES or the Sega Genesis.

 

[fix-the-spade]

It works for moving bit groups of enemies, but you cant double click a unit to select all of that type, or ctrl/shift click to add/remove them from selection for your micromanagement.

You could micromanage effectively on the Ps1 command and conquers. Pretty much all the mouse options were there as button presses/button combos.

Besides the tracking speed there isn't really a good reason RTS can't work on consoles, Red Alert worked fine (still got it too) and you could select all of one type of unit, organise quick selectable squads (but only 4 of them) and navigate the map quickly. You could also build units/buildings rapidly without going through the menus.

It's not the controller that's the problem by massive stretch. It's that developres are too lazy to think through the cotrol schemes properly and players are too ignorant collectively to learn anything new.

Of course even that could be solved just by adding usb mouse/keyboard support. It's not like the current generation can't take them.

 

[fix-the-spade]

If I remember right, they DID make a mouse for one of the old school consoles. I forgot which one it was, but I think it may of been the SNES or the Sega Genesis.

PS1 and 2 had offical mouse controllers, PS1 had a keyboard too.

 

[Undeadsee]

If I remember right, they DID make a mouse for one of the old school consoles. I forgot which one it was, but I think it may of been the SNES or the Sega Genesis.

PS1 and 2 had offical mouse controllers, PS1 had a keyboard too.

Yup I still have my PS1 mouse which i played "Z" on ^^