SpawnPoint

One thing that has kept me away from FPS games for consoles in the past was the fact that you had to use a controller joystick to aim rather than a mouse and a keyboard. For those of us who were annoyed with this for the Xbox, there was the SmartJoy FRAG, an incredible adapter that allowed one to connect a mouse and keyboard and play games such as Halo2 seemlessly. However, until recently there has been nothing out there for the Xbox 360 to do the same. 

A company known as XCM has created the XFPS 360 and the XFPS 360 pro. I just ordered an XFPS 360 pro yesterday with the total coming to about $100 with shipping. This seems pretty steep, but with the hours and hours that my SmartJoy for XBOX extended the lasting appeal of Halo 2 for me, I think it will be worth it, especially with the release of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. 

I've read many reviews about the XFPS 360 pro and I've comprised a list of some of the pros and cons.

Pros:

- Being able to hook up a mouse and keyboard to your xbox 360. I mean it instantly allows you to be quicker and more precise in FPS games. 

- The X and Y precision wheels eliminates most of the deadzone issues from the original XFPS 360. The deadzone is a certain range which Microsoft has imprinted into the XBOX in which the crosshair won't move. This is to account for the slight amount of movement that a joystick will experience. This is perfect for controllers, but a very noticeable and bad thing for a mouse.

- Works with almost any mouse and keyboard on the market.

- Programmable.

- Also allows you to plug in your PS2 controllers and use them for the 360.

Cons:

- You need a corded Xbox 360 controller to run the XFPS every time that you start up your box. The controller connects to the XFPS and initializes the connection. Essentially, this is an extra cost of $39.99.

- There is no headset plugin in the XFPS. Most of us will want to communicate with our team when playing a FPS game. However, there is a solution to this problem. The Microsoft wireless headset will work with this setup (however, this headset has its own problems). This is an extra cost of $59.99..

I'm very excited to give this a try and I'll post an update as soon as I can. Here's a video of the XFPS pro in action:

jmulford1337 @ 2007-09-02 04:40:48
i got my xfps360 pro and i feel like i wasted 100 bucks. mine worked like it was supposed to, but there were a couple let downs: 1st, i usually play my fps games with the arrow keys to move around. yes, u can configure the keys, EXCEPT for the keys assigned to the analog thumbsticks. the left thumbstick has wasd assigned permanatley. This meant i have to play a way im not used to...not a big deal to others though. the real big bummer is that there is still considerable deadzone. You have to move the mouse about 3-5 millimeters before it registers....this makes delicate adjustments when aiming impossible. I found i was more accurate with aiming just using the regular controller. don't buy this, its not worth it.

fdp3 @ 2007-08-21 11:34:50

I'd be very interested to hear about your experience. I read the generally bad user reviews of the pre-pro version of the XFPS and balked. I received the Pro version last week and have not been very happy with it.

Even with the sensitivity wheels wound all the way to full there is still a dead zone, or rather a sleepy zone, that causes quick movements of the mouse to register as slow and short movements on the screen. A long slow sweep of the mouse will spin your POV fairly quickly as the device translates that into acceleration, but a quick jerk of the mouse to track a target or dodge an attack results in very little movement.

I've only tried this with three mice, a chorded Apple mouse does not work at all. An ancient Microsoft mouse and a brand new logitech yield the same frustrating results.

Games are playable with this device. The results are.... better than trying to use a set of thumb-sticks, but still LOTS of work and a severe degradation of a true keyboard and mouse experience.

If you find a mouse that yields decent performance PLEASE share.

Thanks!

fdp3

subolicious @ 2007-08-24 19:21:57
I'll definetely post an update when I get mine... if you had a SJF for the XBOX, there is a way that you can hook it up to the XFPS... requires some soldering, but google it.