lol that was a mixed-feelings mini-review! I actually liked the concept, maybe in flight-simulators games this kind of periferal can find it's place. I remember mapping over 20 keys to be able to play Descent in the 90's. a Xbox controller is not enough to this game even today. but with 1 of these boards it could work.
Well, I don't even know if the game works on current hardware, but it is nice to imagine it.
asdf to strafe, qe to roll (not needed often), space forward ctrl back, mouse for turning and firing and wheel for changing weapons. its not all that different from a normal shooter, you just have two new strafe directions that are somewhat equivalent to crouch/jump, especially in games where you can occasionally swim underwater.
"its not all that different from a normal shooter, you just have two new strafe directions that are somewhat equivalent to crouch/jump"
Unreal Tournament got me used to space for jumping and C for crouching (way back in the day), so I use those keys to strafe up and down, and W and S to move forward and back. Otherwise, yeah, A and D to strafe left and right, Q and E if you need to correct your roll, mouse for pitch and yaw.
I made it through the first Descent on "I'm a wuss" mode and got distracted partway through the second, and while I'm certain I would get obliterated if I were to play competitive multiplayer, this configuration allows me to enjoy a really great classic game.
I don't remember if I finished the game or not, and with the help of the guys at DXX-rebirth I'm giving this great classic a second shot. Will try to configure a xbox 360 controller this time =D
I'm curious as to how well the Stinky footboard worked when doing non-gaming tasks. Particularly when compared to the Kinesis Ergo stuff (still waiting on your review of the Advantage keyboard, Dustin).
As someone who dealt with early stage CTS, using foot switches (and good ergos in general) to offload ctrl/alt/del/etc helped significantly. I can even enjoy PC gaming more frequently than I used to (although most times I still look for PC titles with gamepad support).
You know, you made a lot of great points there, but the one that I think would impact most people is the idea that this kind of thing could make a great way to activate a modifier like Alt, Cntrl, or a Shift. I have some difficulty remember to hit ALT+another key in a game to activate another option, for example. I can do it in non-gaming, but in the heat of battle I just don't intuit that.
This, however, I think I might could learn because I imagine if my fight or flight response is engaged, jamming my foot would seem obvious and second nature after a short learning period.
One market you are forgetting is the disabled market. Traditionally foot pedal devices have been marketed to those whom have lost use of one or more arms. I'm not one of those, but unlike you I hotkey everything, and I'm a mouser so when I ran out of buttons on my mouse I was looking for a good way to activate my Ventrillo mic, thus the peddle fit in very well. If all you do is play with friends in a realaively quite room then just use the auto-on settings, but I don't my entire party hear me yelling at the kids in the other room :)
A niche market no doubt but compared to some of the other products like this, I can say from experience this one is MILES ahead. This is the one I've used before, and by comparison is really pretty lame compared to this. http://www.pedalpax.com/Pedalpax_Foot_Pedal_Produc...
I'm interested, but not for 90 bucks. Also, agreed on the name. I wonder if they're going kickstarter because corporate sponsors wanted them to change the name and they didn't want to... hmmmm...
The name is off-putting at first, but it does make the thing very easy to google and really stand out. I doubt I would even have clicked this review if it hadn't had the word, "Stinky" in it. It's just not a word I see on this site in a headline very often and so I just had to click it and see what the hell was up.
That's why they used the word and that's what worked, so...
He has some good ideas on how to use a footswitch, like mapping "W" to it and use it for walking forward in FPS-games or mapping the Windows-key to it to be able to use modern shortcuts while using an old keyboard.
That was amusing. I wouldn't knock it because of its name, its kind of catchy really. It can't be worse than those Twix candy bar commercial with all those incredibly disgusting chewing noises. Instead of buying I want to barf.
Back when I played Descent in the mid 90s, I remember it was the first true 3D environment I ever encountered, and I had great difficultly controlling things.
I was using a joystick, with lots of switches (logitech?), but that and a keyboard was just confusing me.
I ended up putting the keyboard on the floor with my big toes on the opposing CTRL-Keys (or was it shift?) for the z-axis controls, left foot down, right foot up, and using all the switches on the joystick for the weapons and such.
That worked better for me then trying to use the hat switch or one hand on the stick and one on the keyboard.
I drive manual transmission cars, and open doors with my toes when my hands are full, so I guess I'm accustomed to thinking with my hobbity feet.
Oh, and I've used pedals that map to keyboard keys since, and $80 is too much for something that can be hacked from a $9 keyboard and a set of pedals.
Or these days, hacked together with an Arduino and pedals.
"its not all that different from a normal shooter, you just have two new strafe directions that are somewhat equivalent to crouch/jump"
Unreal Tournament got me used to space for jumping and C for crouching (way back in the day), so I use those keys to strafe up and down, and W and S to move forward and back. Otherwise, yeah, A and D to strafe left and right, Q and E if you need to correct your roll, mouse for pitch and yaw.
I made it through the first Descent on "I'm a wuss" mode and got distracted partway through the second, and while I'm certain I would get obliterated if I were to play competitive multiplayer, this configuration allows me to enjoy a really great classic game.
If there was a simple foot rocker for A/D yawing without all the fuss and anal construction of a flight sim pedal set, and a variably compressable pedal for an accellerator/throttle kind of input, and the switches, it would be an amazingly useful peripheral, but just switches?
I could knock up a foot panel in about an hour from a radio shack/maplin kit box and some two dollar pedal switches and solder those in place of the switches on a cheap usb gamepad. $25 at most for half a dozen switches if all bought new.
When ive figuring out what to use as a rocker assembly ill make my own yaw rocker in a similar way since it appears there is no commercially available solution.
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marc1000 - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
lol that was a mixed-feelings mini-review! I actually liked the concept, maybe in flight-simulators games this kind of periferal can find it's place. I remember mapping over 20 keys to be able to play Descent in the 90's. a Xbox controller is not enough to this game even today. but with 1 of these boards it could work.Well, I don't even know if the game works on current hardware, but it is nice to imagine it.
PS: yes, the name is terrible indeed.
Visual - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
asdf to strafe, qe to roll (not needed often), space forward ctrl back, mouse for turning and firing and wheel for changing weapons.its not all that different from a normal shooter, you just have two new strafe directions that are somewhat equivalent to crouch/jump, especially in games where you can occasionally swim underwater.
marc1000 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
wow, nice layout suggestion. i didn't use a mouse back then, but it makes sense.Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
"its not all that different from a normal shooter, you just have two new strafe directions that are somewhat equivalent to crouch/jump"Unreal Tournament got me used to space for jumping and C for crouching (way back in the day), so I use those keys to strafe up and down, and W and S to move forward and back. Otherwise, yeah, A and D to strafe left and right, Q and E if you need to correct your roll, mouse for pitch and yaw.
I made it through the first Descent on "I'm a wuss" mode and got distracted partway through the second, and while I'm certain I would get obliterated if I were to play competitive multiplayer, this configuration allows me to enjoy a really great classic game.
marc1000 - Sunday, April 28, 2013 - link
I don't remember if I finished the game or not, and with the help of the guys at DXX-rebirth I'm giving this great classic a second shot. Will try to configure a xbox 360 controller this time =DI could make use of this board if I had one...
coconutboy - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
I'm curious as to how well the Stinky footboard worked when doing non-gaming tasks. Particularly when compared to the Kinesis Ergo stuff (still waiting on your review of the Advantage keyboard, Dustin).As someone who dealt with early stage CTS, using foot switches (and good ergos in general) to offload ctrl/alt/del/etc helped significantly. I can even enjoy PC gaming more frequently than I used to (although most times I still look for PC titles with gamepad support).
coconutboy - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
oops! Looks like Jarred is the AT staffer working on the Kinesis Advantage review.HisDivineOrder - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
You know, you made a lot of great points there, but the one that I think would impact most people is the idea that this kind of thing could make a great way to activate a modifier like Alt, Cntrl, or a Shift. I have some difficulty remember to hit ALT+another key in a game to activate another option, for example. I can do it in non-gaming, but in the heat of battle I just don't intuit that.This, however, I think I might could learn because I imagine if my fight or flight response is engaged, jamming my foot would seem obvious and second nature after a short learning period.
bah12 - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
One market you are forgetting is the disabled market. Traditionally foot pedal devices have been marketed to those whom have lost use of one or more arms. I'm not one of those, but unlike you I hotkey everything, and I'm a mouser so when I ran out of buttons on my mouse I was looking for a good way to activate my Ventrillo mic, thus the peddle fit in very well. If all you do is play with friends in a realaively quite room then just use the auto-on settings, but I don't my entire party hear me yelling at the kids in the other room :)A niche market no doubt but compared to some of the other products like this, I can say from experience this one is MILES ahead. This is the one I've used before, and by comparison is really pretty lame compared to this. http://www.pedalpax.com/Pedalpax_Foot_Pedal_Produc...
Hrel - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
I'm interested, but not for 90 bucks. Also, agreed on the name. I wonder if they're going kickstarter because corporate sponsors wanted them to change the name and they didn't want to... hmmmm...Houdani - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
I may not play with either, but pairing this with an Oculus Rift could make a decent use case.HisDivineOrder - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
I had the same thought. It does seem like it would fit it well.HisDivineOrder - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
The name is off-putting at first, but it does make the thing very easy to google and really stand out. I doubt I would even have clicked this review if it hadn't had the word, "Stinky" in it. It's just not a word I see on this site in a headline very often and so I just had to click it and see what the hell was up.That's why they used the word and that's what worked, so...
Sleepingforest - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link
Dustin, are you a Kurt Vonnegut fan? Or just a Tralfamadorian fan?snajk138 - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
Reading this I remember that Dan (from Dans data) reviewed something similar a while back: http://www.dansdata.com/footswitch.htmHe has some good ideas on how to use a footswitch, like mapping "W" to it and use it for walking forward in FPS-games or mapping the Windows-key to it to be able to use modern shortcuts while using an old keyboard.
warezme - Friday, April 26, 2013 - link
That was amusing. I wouldn't knock it because of its name, its kind of catchy really. It can't be worse than those Twix candy bar commercial with all those incredibly disgusting chewing noises. Instead of buying I want to barf.PaulDriver - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
Back when I played Descent in the mid 90s, I remember it was the first true 3D environment I ever encountered, and I had great difficultly controlling things.I was using a joystick, with lots of switches (logitech?), but that and a keyboard was just confusing me.
I ended up putting the keyboard on the floor with my big toes on the opposing CTRL-Keys (or was it shift?) for the z-axis controls, left foot down, right foot up, and using all the switches on the joystick for the weapons and such.
That worked better for me then trying to use the hat switch or one hand on the stick and one on the keyboard.
I drive manual transmission cars, and open doors with my toes when my hands are full, so I guess I'm accustomed to thinking with my hobbity feet.
Oh, and I've used pedals that map to keyboard keys since, and $80 is too much for something that can be hacked from a $9 keyboard and a set of pedals.
Or these days, hacked together with an Arduino and pedals.
:)
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
"its not all that different from a normal shooter, you just have two new strafe directions that are somewhat equivalent to crouch/jump"Unreal Tournament got me used to space for jumping and C for crouching (way back in the day), so I use those keys to strafe up and down, and W and S to move forward and back. Otherwise, yeah, A and D to strafe left and right, Q and E if you need to correct your roll, mouse for pitch and yaw.
I made it through the first Descent on "I'm a wuss" mode and got distracted partway through the second, and while I'm certain I would get obliterated if I were to play competitive multiplayer, this configuration allows me to enjoy a really great classic game.
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Saturday, April 27, 2013 - link
Whoops, this wasn't supposed to end up here...MadAd - Sunday, May 19, 2013 - link
Only switches? Thats boring.If there was a simple foot rocker for A/D yawing without all the fuss and anal construction of a flight sim pedal set, and a variably compressable pedal for an accellerator/throttle kind of input, and the switches, it would be an amazingly useful peripheral, but just switches?
I could knock up a foot panel in about an hour from a radio shack/maplin kit box and some two dollar pedal switches and solder those in place of the switches on a cheap usb gamepad. $25 at most for half a dozen switches if all bought new.
When ive figuring out what to use as a rocker assembly ill make my own yaw rocker in a similar way since it appears there is no commercially available solution.