So which one do you prefer? If both, what purposes do either of them serve?
Let me just come out and say and first-person shooters belong on the mouse and keyboard. This isn't really disputable. To argue otherwise would be like saying that the Wiimote is the best controller to use for DDR. I'm sure there's someone out there who can do it really, really well. But it's not the best or most intuitive way to do it. There are things that console-style controllers absolutely excel at (can you imagine playing Heavy Rain or Majora's Mask on a mouse and keyboard?), and FPS isn't one of them.
My rule of thumb is as such: More more responsive you need the controls to be, the more you should be leaning towards the mouse and keyboard setup. I'll give you a real-world example of this: FIRST Robotics. In this competition, teams construct robots that they then use to compete in various activities, often similar to sports.. The most popular setup for controlling these robots are the use of multiple joysticks. The second, increasingly popular set of controls is the XBox 360 controller. Why do these controllers work well? Because you're not using your robot to execute finely coordinated activities. You can't rely on these robots to move in finely-tuned millimeter increments. You want them to move in a general direction and perform specific actions with the touch of a button.
In contrast, let's look at RTS and FPS. In either of them, you want to be able to align your mouse right on the pixel. You ain't gettin' there with dual analogs. You've been using your mouse for years to click on tiny buttons on your screen. It works real well because you're not translating motion from your thumb, but your entire arm, which is much more stable. Furthermore, you're not pushing a stick on a pivot where speed is determined by how far you are from the rest position, like the pedal on your car. You're moving your mouse about like it's an actual object on your screen that you're taking and swinging.
That's my theory, anyways. I don't really know much about ergonomics and human kinesthetics, so these are just my observations from playing on many different controllers.
Let me just come out and say and first-person shooters belong on the mouse and keyboard. This isn't really disputable. To argue otherwise would be like saying that the Wiimote is the best controller to use for DDR. I'm sure there's someone out there who can do it really, really well. But it's not the best or most intuitive way to do it. There are things that console-style controllers absolutely excel at (can you imagine playing Heavy Rain or Majora's Mask on a mouse and keyboard?), and FPS isn't one of them.
My rule of thumb is as such: More more responsive you need the controls to be, the more you should be leaning towards the mouse and keyboard setup. I'll give you a real-world example of this: FIRST Robotics. In this competition, teams construct robots that they then use to compete in various activities, often similar to sports.. The most popular setup for controlling these robots are the use of multiple joysticks. The second, increasingly popular set of controls is the XBox 360 controller. Why do these controllers work well? Because you're not using your robot to execute finely coordinated activities. You can't rely on these robots to move in finely-tuned millimeter increments. You want them to move in a general direction and perform specific actions with the touch of a button.
In contrast, let's look at RTS and FPS. In either of them, you want to be able to align your mouse right on the pixel. You ain't gettin' there with dual analogs. You've been using your mouse for years to click on tiny buttons on your screen. It works real well because you're not translating motion from your thumb, but your entire arm, which is much more stable. Furthermore, you're not pushing a stick on a pivot where speed is determined by how far you are from the rest position, like the pedal on your car. You're moving your mouse about like it's an actual object on your screen that you're taking and swinging.
That's my theory, anyways. I don't really know much about ergonomics and human kinesthetics, so these are just my observations from playing on many different controllers.
