Should Xbox have a keyboard and mouse?

[psycho]

I think that it would be a cool thing to have but i definitely dont need it to enjoy the xbox. it would be cool to see what ms xbox could do with that idea. please post replies. i wanna hear what everyone else says.

[Spuz]

I'm all for it, cause it would give the hardcore FPS players a really great peripheral to play them with. To solve any online problems they could always have an option for the servers to be "Keyboard and mouse" servers or "gamepad" servers. At least, having a KB&M would satisfy the people who want one, and those who don't care much about it would be able to use a controller, and then everyone will be able to enjoy the games to their maximum levels suited for them.

[Door69]

sounds good to me

[Azimiza-XBA]

Xbox people like J. Allard have gone on the air to say that they will not be releasing any keyboard/mouse type peripherals for Xbox because Xbox is all about gaming... not about internet or email. It would be pointless to inlcude a keyboard/mouse if you can't surf webpages and receive e-mails and make webpages with. Besides, Xbox already has enough people calling it a PC, which is false because it is only based on PC architecture. And also, I myself am a hardcore FPS fan and I do just fine with a joystick connected to my USB Port.

The fact alone that Microsoft is so ambitious about making Xbox strictly a gaming invention will make me feel good when I spend $300 for it.

[wyst]

<font color='F0064E'><font color="white"><SPAN style="position:relative;
width:5; height:20; filter:glow(Color=red,strength=#5)"> YES </span></font> </font>

[Craiz]

This is supposed to be a "Next Gen" system, so why limit it to the standards of the "Old Gen" systems. A keyboard and a mouse are excellent controller options for some games, just as gamepads work great for other games. This is like asking if a PC should have a gamepad. There is just no reason to restrict it from having a KB&M. I would understand everyone getting all worked up if they were REQUIRING them, but they would only be optional.

I don't see how any type of online gaming can be successful without a keyboard to communicate with. Yes in game communications could be accomplished using voice, but how will pregame communications work. Currently most games have a chat area where you set up who you want to play with, then start or join games. This would be very combersome without a KB.

[Aaron]

Well see theres many different dimensions to this. For one, i would like to see a k/m combo for the system. But only to play Halo and the like, but if they do get one, more people are gonna call it a PC and dismiss it just as quick. I think they need to stress the non-browsing part of the xbox's internet capabilities some more so people get the point.

[Spuz]

There will be a KB/M, eventually. No, I don't know any facts or anything about it, I'm just guessing that once there is no worry about X-Box being called a PC-in-a-box that it will be released. The point that I was trying to make, though nobody seemed to address, is that having a KB/M would make everyone happy. The gamers who want it will be happy, the gamers who don't want it will be happy. I mean, I'll be happy either way--happier with a KB/M, though.

Yes, there are major limitations to Voice chats too over keyboards. There are also limitations to keyboard chats.

For example, you can not have a large chat room of people all doing voice chat--it would simply be Chaos, and nobody would get their point across. However, during game play, a keyboard is awefully disruptive to the flow of the game. You have to stop and type whereas with voice you can simply talk.

Secondly, with a lot of the in-game voice programs nowadays the voices sound awefully similar when crunched with compression and the like. It would be great if X-Box can fix this. You'll always have someone that sounds similar to someone else, though, so sometimes you become confused on who said what. The Keyboard has a similar problem, though, especially in games where there is no chat "beep" sound. You simply miss what someone is saying sometimes. Of course, this can also occur with voice chat easily, as if the sound effects are loud and plenty they will certainly wash away any incoming voice messages. Voice chat is definitely better in-game and I hope Microsoft makes the setup as painless as can be.

There is a reason why the keyboard and mouse combination has been around a long time--it simply is the mose versatile controller combination. No, I wouldn't use it for a lot of console games, but you have to admit that it definitely would improve how fun the gameplay is on some games at least.