Touch screens are rubbish for playing games

[Fzero]

but maybe MS are set to change this?


We all know that physical buttons and nubs is the best thing right now, and that pure touch screens are just a nightmare to play on - thinking the overlay graphical dpad on iphone emus for example.


[not to blame the emu devs of course! I understand they have no options here]


but was just reading this:


http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20100295820.PGNR.&OS=DN/20100295820&RS=DN/20100295820


which i linked from NS page:


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19776-microsoft-develops-shapeshifting-touchscreen.html


interesting.


Could be the future of touch screen gaming?


little buttons that appear when you need them and can morph away when not needed.


Im not going to pretend that i actually understand all of that text, but the idea i get


just sharing

 

[milkshake]

I think it really depends on the type game because i really enjoy playing games on touchscreen devices but they are not that good when you need a directional pad.

 

[macsimus]

i personnaly hate to play on a touchscreen, i need real physical controls to have some fun... but perhaps that's just me


big kisses


Mac

 

[SNESFAN]

for the screen to be movable would mean that it is flexible, to be flexible allows it to be prone to scratching, same reason resistive touch screens suck.


my vote... this = fail whale

 

[Eridger]

...same reason resistive touch screens suck.

But... the Pandora is resistive.


Why do you hate the Pandora? Why do you hate... England?

 

[SNESFAN]

But... the Pandora is resistive.

well you can't always get what you want.


but if you try sometimes you might find, you get what you need.

 

[WizardStan]

well you can't always get what you want.


but if you try sometimes you might find, you get what you need.

Indeed, and what the Pandora needed was a resistive touch screen.

 

[Blue Protoman]

He was quoting a song.

 

[WizardStan]

He was quoting a song.

:rolleyes: thanks.

 

[doublebeta]

Great, yet another thing with potential that will major phailwhale because M$ fucking called dibs.

 

[Blue Protoman]

You mean like Kinect?

 

[SNESFAN]

You mean like Kinect?

I am impressed so much by what people are doing with this


the out of box experience with the kinect is so-so but what people are able to do with this has been amazing


I totally didn't see this one comming

 

[RobFord]

I'm even more impressed with the u-turn MS did with the fact that people were hacking it.


They start off trying to see if there is any legal recourse, when they find there isn't because people aren't actually touching their code, they say 'we meant for this to be open and await with baited breath what people come up with'


Big companies, don't ya just love 'em?

 

[- Theo -]

I think we hate touch screens because we've been raised with console buttons, and all our memories and gaming reflexes are built around them. Today's kids who have known touch screens from their gaming birth, will be used to them and won't understand why we make all that fuss about pads ("Daddy, why do you still use that old plastic thing from the 19th century?")


That, plus the evolution of touch screen games that will become better and better (some are already kicking ass, look at something like Aralon for iOS, I never thought that would be possible, and actually fun to play without a pad/mouse). I think touch screens are clearly the future of gaming. It's sad, as I prefer pads myself (hence the Pandora), but still it is.

 

[Prometheus]

("Daddy, why do you still use that old plastic thing from the 19th century?")

19th century?

 

[second exodous]

I think it really depends on the type game because i really enjoy playing games on touchscreen devices but they are not that good when you need a directional pad.

This is how I feel. If the game was designed around a touch screen then it is fine. If the game throws up dpads and buttons on the screen the game has failed.


I was playing a game that had a Diablo type perspective and it still had dpad and buttons on the screen and I thought 'They're copying the look of Diablo and they stopped there? I have to use a sudo dpads and buttons? If they copied the play mechanics of the game also it would be perfect for a touch screen.'


Oh well, kids will get more used to no d-pad and no buttons the people making these games with touch screen buttons are desperately handing on to what they're used to. I'm playing classic games until they can put a jack in the back of my head and I can enter the Matrix. Screw touch screens! I'll skip this odd gaming era.

 

[- Theo -]

19th century?

Yep, that's what they'll say

 

[Austin25]

for the screen to be movable would mean that it is flexible, to be flexible allows it to be prone to scratching, same reason resistive touch screens suck.


my vote... this = fail whale

You can always put a protective cover on it. I prefer resistive touchscreens because you can rest your fingers on it before pressing and you can use it with gloves. The fact that nearly anything works as a stylus is a huge benefit.

 

[SNESFAN]

You can always put a protective cover on it. I prefer resistive touchscreens because you can rest your fingers on it before pressing and you can use it with gloves. The fact that nearly anything works as a stylus is a huge benefit.

I've had plenty of resistive touch screen devices, and plenty of capacitive


I prefer the feeling of actual glass over the plastic coating on resistive touch screens or screen protectors.


I've had 2 devices with "gorilla glass" capacitive touch screens, both had no screen protectors during the entire life of the device, and for about a year and a half later not even the slightest of scratches on either, both lived in my pocket, occasional drops, intentional demos to friends showing how you can't scratch the screen. Taking knifes, nails, keys all types of stuff to it, literally pounding sharp objects into the screen with no sign of wear.


Whereas every single resistive touch screen devices I own has scratched, screen protectors are good, but sometimes slip, or don't protect against really deep gouges and unfortunately scratches are forever. I try to baby those devices knowing how fragile they are, but it doesn't seem to help. My Samsung instinct for example got a scratch right down the center literally a day after I got it.


I'm not even going to go into the very slight haze that my eye is basically trained to now that you get with every resistive touch screen device I've ever seen.


Each technology has it's own unique benefits and disadvantages. Each side feels the benefits of their chosen side greatly outweighs the disadvantages and some feel the disadvantages of their chosen technology are not existent. I feel capacitive touch are better, but to each their own.

 

[Austin25]

Taking knifes, nails, keys all types of stuff to it, literally pounding sharp objects into the screen with no sign of wear.

It's a good thing the Pandora has a clamshell design for protection, eh?

Unfortunately scratches are forever.

I believe they make some sort of glue material that fills in scratches.


Alright though, I don't want flamewars. We all have preferences.