[Q] Direction pad on fighting games good? - Xperia Play General

Hi.
I'm still on the fence on buying the XP. So I'd like to ask how you street fighter players find the dpad on the device. My phat psp was really painful to play street fighter alpha 3 for more than 10 minutes. It was hard to do qcf, fdf and the like.
I hope the dpad is at least as good as those found on the gba micro (that thing rocked for fighting games, except for the size).

It's the same dpad as psp
Sent from my R800a using XDA App

Which PSP? I heard the go has the better diagonals and such but the original psp has an awful dpad for fighting games like street fighter.
Can anyone with street fighter 2 like games try doing 10 hadoukens and check if it is detected correctly.

Don't get this for fighting games. If you use the middle of your thumb, like I believe most do, it's difficult to press UP on the dpad. Mostly due to the crampedness (you end up hitting the top section of the phone - the part where it meets with the slideout bottom).
It's great for platformers and rpgs, however, as you don't really have to use the middle of your thumb for those.

i can do 20 fireballs in a row on the play, 20 dragon punches, this is on sf2, sfa3, sfex, kof94-2002, snk vs capcom, marvel vs capcom. the dpad is similar to the pspgos

@jkr284. Thanks for the info. I'll probably buy the xperia play now due to your comment since I am an addict when it comes to fighting games, if only paintown fully works for mugen characters. Hopefully the dpad doesn't have issues like the dpad in ds lite, where the diagonals have to be trained in order to work.

I find playing fighters on this phone a little difficult. Everything else is ace on it though.
I am not much of a fighter fan though.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App

I've played Samurai Showdown, a game which requires lots and lots of diagonals, without trouble. I guess it's a matter of personal preference.

Flinq said:
Don't get this for fighting games. If you use the middle of your thumb, like I believe most do, it's difficult to press UP on the dpad. Mostly due to the crampedness (you end up hitting the top section of the phone - the part where it meets with the slideout bottom).
It's great for platformers and rpgs, however, as you don't really have to use the middle of your thumb for those.
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Thankyou. Totally agree.
Made a thread on that very issue and most people on here dismissed it because only mongs use the middle of their thumbs apparently. You're meant to use the tip like everyone else.

Red_Kop said:
Thankyou. Totally agree.
Made a thread on that very issue and most people on here dismissed it because only mongs use the middle of their thumbs apparently. You're meant to use the tip like everyone else.
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Haha, strange. I'd like to see how the people who use the tip of their thumb play. I've never seen a serious fighter fan play in that way.
To me - fighters are near unplayable on the Play. Even worse if you use a case. I'm hoping the second gen Xperia Play will lower the dpad a bit. That would make pressing up with the middle of your thumb SO much easier, and make the overall experience SO much better.

I've never heard of anyone using the middle of their thumb for playing *anything* on a dpad. Xperia Play's dpad is perfectly fine for fighting games. The original fat PSP was nearly impossible to deal with though... and this is far far better than that ever was.

zerojay said:
I've never heard of anyone using the middle of their thumb for playing *anything* on a dpad. Xperia Play's dpad is perfectly fine for fighting games. The original fat PSP was nearly impossible to deal with though... and this is far far better than that ever was.
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You must live in an alternate universe:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434463
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SHa7jyk9V4&feature=related
There, you've just seen/heard from a few ;p
"Gamer's thumb" has been a term used for a long while, and it directly refers to the flesh on the middle part of the thumb. As you can see from the first thread, most people into fighters use the middle, while people who play other games use the tip/both.
Per first link:
"When its fighting games, I've always used the middle of my thumb. Its because of that habit, that I try as much as possible to use a joystick, because I always end up getting callouses from playing a lot of fighting games. Only recently I've been trying to use the analog stick instead of the D-pad for fighting games, when I'm too lazy to pull out the trusty joystick."
"Sometimes I use the tip of my thumb if I'm playing something that's not too intense like an RPG, but I use the middle part when I want precision. I have what they used to call "Nintendo thumb" from the NES and SNES days. Mostly from playing SF2 with a SNES pad I think."
"I use the midsection for the d-pad, face buttons, and analog sticks."
"I use the bottom/middle mostly."
"I think most people use a combination of both."
"The "top" part of my thumb never touches anything. I kind of roll my thumb around and the middle/joint part does all pushing. My thumb is always straight as a board."

fvig2001 said:
@jkr284. Thanks for the info. I'll probably buy the xperia play now due to your comment since I am an addict when it comes to fighting games, if only paintown fully works for mugen characters. Hopefully the dpad doesn't have issues like the dpad in ds lite, where the diagonals have to be trained in order to work.
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Your welcome! The diagonals dont have to be trained on the emulators i use:
Snes9x, tiger gba, tigermame, gensoid, n64oid, fpse, gearoid, ill post my games home page just to wet your appetite!!
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A long time ago, something called analog stick appeared, and most people (emphasis on most) started using it as it is a much more efficient way to perform diagonals than most D-pads, which are much better suited for giving simpler directions (Up, Down, Left, Right).
Actually, most people who do play fighting games seriously (as in, hardcore fighting gamers) won't kill their thumbs with the D-Pad, but they'll acquire a good dedicated fighting stick such as this: http://www.amazon.com/PS3-Fighting-Stick-3-Playstation/dp/B000MWE3BI
Personally, I use the analog stick mostly, and I am up to any challenge in Soul Calibur 4

I'm a competitive fighting game player and game developer. The few people that don't use arcade sticks all use the tip of their thumbs when playing pad. Since I'm waiting for a build at work right now (we're on crunch time atm), I asked around the office here. 45 people, not a single one uses middle and quite a few looked at me like I was pulling their chain when I showed them. I don't even know where they would get the idea to play that way to begin with. It's like thinking you're supposed to run with the sides of your ankles. Nintendo thumb always meant having the tip of your thumb callused over everywhere I've been. Only time most people use the middle of their thumb is on the button side so they can cover square and X or triangle and circle at the same time.
But in the end, yes, it sucks that you guys who do play with the middle are having problems, but... eh... maybe when they aren't a tiny minority or you guys tell SE about it they'll change it with future revisions. (Sorry, a 2 page NeoGAF thread isn't remotely convincing.)

zerojay said:
I'm a competitive fighting game player and game developer. The few people that don't use arcade sticks all use the tip of their thumbs when playing pad. Since I'm waiting for a build at work right now (we're on crunch time atm), I asked around the office here. 45 people, not a single one uses middle and quite a few looked at me like I was pulling their chain when I showed them. I don't even know where they would get the idea to play that way to begin with. It's like thinking you're supposed to run with the sides of your ankles. Nintendo thumb always meant having the tip of your thumb callused over everywhere I've been. Only time most people use the middle of their thumb is on the button side so they can cover square and X or triangle and circle at the same time.
But in the end, yes, it sucks that you guys who do play with the middle are having problems, but... eh... maybe when they aren't a tiny minority or you guys tell SE about it they'll change it with future revisions. (Sorry, a 2 page NeoGAF thread isn't remotely convincing.)
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NeoGaf is arguably the biggest gaming forum on the internet, and it seems pretty evenly split, so I think it's a pretty good idea of how people play.
Not sure why that is unconvincing, but your work place is?

You don't find people you know face to face more convincing than random people posting on the internet? Anyways, done responding to this.

Played SF on my play. Terrible d pad experience in my opinion. Even worse than my PSP 2000. Or maybe I just suck at fighting games huh.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Are you just having problems executing or what? I'm having no problems at all doing all my same combos from the arcade versions without an issue. Can destroy the car bonus stage in SFII with nothing but constant dragon punches. Maybe your Play has a hardware defect because this is nothing like the problems I had on my PSP 1000 which was so bad, I had to cut and place a piece of plastic under the dpad to throw a fireball at all.

Flinq said:
Haha, strange. I'd like to see how the people who use the tip of their thumb play. I've never seen a serious fighter fan play in that way.
To me - fighters are near unplayable on the Play. Even worse if you use a case. I'm hoping the second gen Xperia Play will lower the dpad a bit. That would make pressing up with the middle of your thumb SO much easier, and make the overall experience SO much better.
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I'm not a huge beat em up fan so I can live with it, my favourite is Tekken and that doesn't require much uppage on the dpad so I am kind of fine.
Where it kills me though is in football games. I love football games, I am a huge fan. Running up or diagonally up/left or up/right is a major hassle with the PLAY.
They should have thought about this. Playing with the tip of your thumb is just so strange to me, and most of the people I know.
Out of curiosity...is this what the PSP Go is like?
It's pretty sad really cos the pad is good quality and is fine otherwise.

Related

Did you guys know? (Vibrant Multitouch)

So...........I did a few multitouch tests last night for ****s and giggles and on one test it sensed 5 contact points (I was like when i saw this BTW) and the other performed pretty well also the only way i could get the two contact points to get stuck together was when i slid one finger under the other.
so after having my Nexus and trying these tests which were a huge FAIL and giving up on my Game Emulators that i purchased back in my G1 days I decided to give it another go on my Vibrant and the only thing i have to say is HOLY ****!!! My GBA, SNES, SEGA, and NES emulators run INSANE, the multitouch is on par, and it only made me fall way more in love with my Vibrant
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Just some screenies of my 2 hours of fun last night
+1 for vibrant
LatinSilEighty said:
So...........I did a few multitouch tests last night for ****s and giggles and on one test it sensed 5 contact points (I was like when i saw this BTW) and the other performed pretty well also the only way i could get the two contact points to get stuck together was when i slid one finger under the other.
so after having my Nexus and trying these tests which were a huge FAIL and giving up on my Game Emulators that i purchased back in my G1 days I decided to give it another go on my Vibrant and the only thing i have to say is HOLY ****!!! My GBA, SNES, SEGA, and NES emulators run INSANE, the multitouch is on par, and it only made me fall way more in love with my Vibrant
Just some screenies of my 2 hours of fun last night
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Click to collapse
NICE!!! Thanks for sharing...very informative. I'm curious how the new iphone will stack up to these tests as well. hhmmm...
how easy is it to get those games going on the vibrant? slowly learning here =)
Yep. Part of the SAMOLED specs was a better touch panel. Nice to see it's as good as they claim!
I also notice that if you use the Samsung input method instead of Swype, you almost get a full multitouch keyboard.
eff0rtless said:
how easy is it to get those games going on the vibrant? slowly learning here =)
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Go to the market and download
NESOID (Nintendo)
SNESOID (Super Nintendo)
GENSOID (Sega Genesis)
GAMEBOID (Game Boy Advanced)
or anything by a developer called "yongzh"
he also has a Game Boy classic and a Game Gear emulator
then get RomBuddy on the market to get the games the GBA emulator needs a "BIOS" file to play it you can find it on RomBuddy or you can do it like I did and search the internet for hours and test out what games work and don't
keep in mind these are all payed apps and both the apps and the roms (games) are illegal to distribute so before you ask just in case NO i wont post up any APK's or ROM's and no the roms dont cost anything just the emulators and Rombuddy <---Easiest way to find the roms
Type in "yongzh" in your search bar on the market and he has some "lite" versions of his emulators so you can try it out before buying
rembonjaski said:
I also notice that if you use the Samsung input method instead of Swype, you almost get a full multitouch keyboard.
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Click to collapse
yeah i use Better Keyboard and its runs really well on the phone also BTW its not quite yet multitouch yet but its pretty close, most keyboards claim to be but i dont think theres is one yet
another thing i tested were some of the piano apps on the market that poped up when i typed in "multitouch" in the search bar on the market and those all worked pretty well you could push two keys at a time but i kind of forgot to see if maybe more than two fingers would work?
I know the emulators were reacting to more than two fingers (not that you would want to fit more than two fingers on a 4" screen while playing a game )
LatinSilEighty said:
Go to the market and download
NESOID (Nintendo)
SNESOID (Super Nintendo)
GENSOID (Sega Genesis)
GAMEBOID (Game Boy Advanced)
or anything by a developer called "yongzh"
he also has a Game Boy classic and a Game Gear emulator
then get RomBuddy on the market to get the games the GBA emulator needs a "BIOS" file to play it you can find it on RomBuddy or you can do it like I did and search the internet for hours and test out what games work and don't
keep in mind these are all payed apps and both the apps and the roms (games) are illegal to distribute so before you ask just in case NO i wont post up any APK's or ROM's and no the roms dont cost anything just the emulators and Rombuddy <---Easiest way to find the roms
Type in "yongzh" in your search bar on the market and he has some "lite" versions of his emulators so you can try it out before buying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, how good is rombuddy if I may ask? I understand that this stuff is illegal, but in the spirit of sharing, I would like to say that the website known as emuparadise is also good for roms. They have every GBA game ever, and a good selection of others I believe. Now sure how easy it is since you'd probably be downloading onto your computer and putting the rom files in the right folder, unless you can download to a certain folder on android, but it is free at least. People who are downloading illegal emulators and roms probably want to be as cheap as possible after all.
Im pretty sure the 5 contact points is not a thing with the Vibrant, the Nexus One just had a really bad touch sensor.
Multitouch on the Vibrant/GALAXY S series is excellent. I think most of us we're apprised to that. Just trying out pinch to zoom in the web browser and GPS maps shows how awesome the touch pad on this phone is. It's easily at the level of the iPhone.
Blueman101 said:
Im pretty sure the 5 contact points is not a thing with the Vibrant, the Nexus One just had a really bad touch sensor.
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what do you mean by "is not a thing with the vibrant"? and unless both my boys nexus and mine had a bad touch sensor I think you sir would be wrong. It was a hardware issue theres many many videos out on it, Im not bashing the Nexus because i loved mine but the Vibrants screen is better IMO
Download Multitouch Test by "Greenrobot" and if you tell me that you put 5 fingers on the screen (at the same time )and it pops up with five points then Ill call my friend up and tell him he has a defective Nexus
The Galaxy S is using one of the best touch sensor available, its made by a company call Atmel, the one being use in the Galaxy S supports unlimited touch.
LatinSilEighty said:
what do you mean by "is not a thing with the vibrant"? and unless both my boys nexus and mine had a bad touch sensor I think you sir would be wrong. It was a hardware issue theres many many videos out on it, Im not bashing the Nexus because i loved mine but the Vibrants screen is better IMO
Download Multitouch Test by "Greenrobot" and if you tell me that you put 5 fingers on the screen (at the same time )and it pops up with five points then Ill call my friend up and tell him he has a defective Nexus
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Click to collapse
No i was just getting at the nexus one had a flawed touch sensor to begin with. Others like the Droid X or the Incredible have touch screens similar to the Vibrant.
Blueman101 said:
No i was just getting at the nexus one had a flawed touch sensor to begin with. Others like the Droid X or the Incredible have touch screens similar to the Vibrant.
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oh sorry i got all on the defensive, yeah i think the Evo is also on the list of good screens
I used to prefer the resistive screen of my Nokia n900 over any other capacitive screen. However, this phone has since changed my opinion of capacitive touch screens and on screen keyboards. A stylus would still be nice though
Actually, the Incredible (and the Evo/HD2) have the same crappy sensor as the N1 and the Desire.
Multi-touch on those Snapdragon phones is a hack job, the actual hardware used doesn't even support it directly. Every wonder why the Sony X10 doesn't support multi-touch at all? It's not because of Android 1.6, it's the hardware. It has the same touchscreen hardware as the HTC devices (and is probably co-designed/manufactured by HTC too), but they didn't try to make it work with a driver hack like HTC did.
The Milestone/Droid, which has an EXCELLENT sensor and used to be the best in the business until the Galaxy S came to town, only supports two inputs. Which, btw, is plenty, it'll be a rare rare application that can take advantage of multi-multi-touch.
Not sure what's on the Droid X, but I imagine the hardware will be at least as good as the Droid.
Croak said:
Actually, the Incredible (and the Evo/HD2) have the same crappy sensor as the N1 and the Desire.
Multi-touch on those Snapdragon phones is a hack job, the actual hardware used doesn't even support it directly. Every wonder why the Sony X10 doesn't support multi-touch at all? It's not because of Android 1.6, it's the hardware. It has the same touchscreen hardware as the HTC devices (and is probably co-designed/manufactured by HTC too), but they didn't try to make it work with a driver hack like HTC did.
The Milestone/Droid, which has an EXCELLENT sensor and used to be the best in the business until the Galaxy S came to town, only supports two inputs. Which, btw, is plenty, it'll be a rare rare application that can take advantage of multi-multi-touch.
Not sure what's on the Droid X, but I imagine the hardware will be at least as good as the Droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you know how many inputs the iphone4 can handle? Very curious...they use our cpu made by samsung along with other components, I wonder how similar our touch screen tech is....
Croak said:
Actually, the Incredible (and the Evo/HD2) have the same crappy sensor as the N1 and the Desire.
Multi-touch on those Snapdragon phones is a hack job, the actual hardware used doesn't even support it directly. Every wonder why the Sony X10 doesn't support multi-touch at all? It's not because of Android 1.6, it's the hardware. It has the same touchscreen hardware as the HTC devices (and is probably co-designed/manufactured by HTC too), but they didn't try to make it work with a driver hack like HTC did.
The Milestone/Droid, which has an EXCELLENT sensor and used to be the best in the business until the Galaxy S came to town, only supports two inputs. Which, btw, is plenty, it'll be a rare rare application that can take advantage of multi-multi-touch.
Not sure what's on the Droid X, but I imagine the hardware will be at least as good as the Droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is all this information fact? i really like HTC and i would hate to think that their screens couldn't get better by a small fix, so would you say that Samsungs screen is one of the best screens out and if not the best who would be its direct competitor or what place would you put Samsung in?
Nevermind I got it to work

Right Joypad swiping needs to be fixed- Will minecraft do it differently?

I'm not trying to be negative. I Just want to talk about the swiping issue on this phones joypad.
I am looking forward to seeing Minecraft come to Xperia play, I love what xperia play has done for gamers so far.
I have an xplay and have been extremely upset about the right joyPAD on a number of games. I've been hoping that notch will make it work better in his game.
Unfortunately after watching a pretty official video I can tell that he did NOT create a solution for Minecraft on xperia play. I'm talking about a solution for the amount of swiping you need to do to the right joystick.
Look at the you tube video called 'Minecraft gameplay on Xperia PLAY'
I'll point out the amazing Gameloft shooters like nova 2, rainbow six and modern combat.
In these games the LEFT joyPAD DOES NOT act the same as the right joyPad and that is a huge issue. A lot of people have issues with this.
With the LEFT joypad you can constantly strafe or move forwards/backwards without taking your thumb off. The right joypad is the opposite, you have to swipe over and over to make your character do a full turn.
YES you can change sensitivity but when you are millimetre away from a head shot and you try to correct you will over correct. Nova 2 does a good job at auto aim but that is not good enough.
At first I thought that this was just overlooked by the designers but it’s so obvious that they must have made the decision to stick with swiping and not give any option.
It’s not hard to get used to swiping but it’s still dumb. I won’t say games are unplayable but they become un-enjoyable. I payed for Gameloft games and I can see how good the quality is...I just wish I could play them and get excited about them. I wish they would patch the controls.
I am still hoping notch will fix the swiping issue or at least give an option. I have a really hard time believing that it’s the hardware or the right Joypad can’t be reprogrammed.
I’m an indie designer and just want the best for games and the future of games.
I really hope someone working on minecraft reads this.
Please write your personal opinion on the swiping issue I described. I think gamers need to speak up in order to get this changed or fixed in the future.
I totaly agree , all games right analogue pad are not accurate and poor implementation, only one thats ok is backstab and dungeon defenders second wave that make good use of it
Check out this thread on rainbow six
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1136744
"the right joyPAD DOES NOT act the same as the right joyPad"
...what?
In a multiplayer game where phones that have no control pad exists.... You think it's fair to "fix" the right pad!? You already have the advantage.....anymore would make the other players not play multi cuz you'll be owning more
Sent from my XPlay using XDA App.
In Modern Combat 2 at least you can the control scheme to "Virtual Sticks" and both pads will behave as the left one does. It's pretty bad though, I found the left as analog, right as swipey works much better.
I think that's more a problem with their implementation though as Battle Bears -1 has the right pad as analog and it's pretty good. Battle Bears doesn't really require precision though so that might be the difference.
sry zerojay , you are right, that didnt make sense,, I edited my post now
I played battlefield and the Right joypad was working properly. No swiping needed.
The joypads are still crappy though

Cametel (detachable gamepad) = xPlay competition

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Not sure if it has a touchpad but it has similar looking oval area as on our Plays. If it does maybe more and more games will support the touchpad.
I still prefer integrated xperia Play solution
There's plenty of alternatives out there. Its the fact that its incorporated and is actually nice looking
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Honestly, I don't even consider that thing to be a viable competition to the Xperia PLAY.
This has been done before quite a few times... and none of them ever get to the point that Xperia PLAY has because they barely get past old, outdated emulator content. A good controller solution actually has to bring a system's own games beyond mediocrity... this'll half-work with a couple general keyboard-compatible games like Zenonia, but it's not breaking any mold that Xperia PLAY didn't break twice.
• Flaw #1: Peripherals are cumbersome!: First and foremost, who wants to have to carry around an additional device with their cellphone and have to do on-field assembly every time they wanna play a game? Not only that, but with the time any proper gaming device has already started up, owners of this would still be left dickin' around with the pairing/connection process.
• Flaw #2: Bluetooth Connection Drains Battery Life: Battery life for gaming is beyond decent on Xperia PLAY thanks to a lot of optimizing technology (the screen, the Elpida chip, etc)... for most other Android phones, however, battery life is crap... and even crappier for gaming. I don't know if you've ever tried out the current BT controller solutions (BGP100, iControlPad) but this equates to even worse battery when you've got a constant BT connection going.
• Flaw #3: Lack of Analogs: The major revolution of the Xperia PLAY is that we get to see so many games get a hit of true dual-analog a generation early. The OpenPandora and iControlPad also attempted this, but the game selection didn't go past emulated content... so neither of them really broke any mold. Xperia PLAY, on the other hand, allows true dual analog control on games of THIS generation. Of course Gameloft's quality is iffy at times, but when these touch-pads fall in the hands of a competent developer, we get experiences like Dead Space that are absolutely on another level compared to their touch-screen counterparts.
• Flaw #4: Game Selection ALWAYS Sucks: This is, by far and large, the biggest reason these all never skyrocket. These solutions always work well for emulators, but barely ever anything more. When a user buys something like the iControlPador one of these, this should mean that they never, ever have to put up with trying to control a system's own fighting games, platformers or FPS with touch screen nonsense (SFIV: Volt, KoF-i) again. Xperia PLAY delivers on this front.
This Gametel thing, however, will leave 'ya hangin' in the past... with all those famously imbalanced old-school fighters, horribly-translated/imbalanced/slow-paced RPGs that we probably wouldn't have played if we were old enough to have a grasp on quality, platformers with the most ridiculous physics ever, all those horrid aberrations of tried-and-failed control schemes that came with past-gen FPS... and even if we do happen to enjoy it, it a short-winded humor for the nostagia-drunken at best... and if we were to be honest, we've probably all gone through the trials of downloading a bunch of emulators we barely ever use.
Xperia PLAY; on the other hand, doesn't have to piggyback off the successes of SNES/PSX/GBA/GB/GEN/N64/GG/SMS generation because it already has near 200 games playable with it's controls. It's a badass emulator, but it's the only solution out there that actually has some lasting appeal after people sober up from their nostalgic intoxication and realize how poorly their old school games aged.
Long story short... this ain't got **** on the Xperia PLAY. Not even close.
TLRtheory said:
Honestly, I don't even consider that thing to be a viable competition to the Xperia PLAY.
This has been done before quite a few times... and none of them ever get to the point that Xperia PLAY has because they barely get past old, outdated emulator content. A good controller solution actually has to bring a system's own games beyond mediocrity... this'll half-work with a couple general keyboard-compatible games like Zenonia, but it's not breaking any mold that Xperia PLAY didn't break twice.
• Flaw #1: Peripherals are cumbersome!: First and foremost, who wants to have to carry around an additional device with their cellphone and have to do on-field assembly every time they wanna play a game? Not only that, but with the time any proper gaming device has already started up, owners of this would still be left dickin' around with the pairing/connection process.
• Flaw #2: Bluetooth Connection Drains Battery Life: Battery life for gaming is beyond decent on Xperia PLAY thanks to a lot of optimizing technology (the screen, the Elpida chip, etc)... for most other Android phones, however, battery life is crap... and even crappier for gaming. I don't know if you've ever tried out the current BT controller solutions (BGP100, iControlPad) but this equates to even worse battery when you've got a constant BT connection going.
• Flaw #3: Lack of Analogs: The major revolution of the Xperia PLAY is that we get to see so many games get a hit of true dual-analog a generation early. The OpenPandora and iControlPad also attempted this, but the game selection didn't go past emulated content... so neither of them really broke any mold. Xperia PLAY, on the other hand, allows true dual analog control on games of THIS generation. Of course Gameloft's quality is iffy at times, but when these touch-pads fall in the hands of a competent developer, we get experiences like Dead Space that are absolutely on another level compared to their touch-screen counterparts.
• Flaw #4: Game Selection ALWAYS Sucks: This is, by far and large, the biggest reason these all never skyrocket. These solutions always work well for emulators, but barely ever anything more. When a user buys something like the iControlPador one of these, this should mean that they never, ever have to put up with trying to control a system's own fighting games, platformers or FPS with touch screen nonsense (SFIV: Volt, KoF-i) again. Xperia PLAY delivers on this front.
This Gametel thing, however, will leave 'ya hangin' in the past... with all those famously imbalanced old-school fighters, horribly-translated/imbalanced/slow-paced RPGs that we probably wouldn't have played if we were old enough to have a grasp on quality, platformers with the most ridiculous physics ever, all those horrid aberrations of tried-and-failed control schemes that came with past-gen FPS... and even if we do happen to enjoy it, it a short-winded humor for the nostagia-drunken at best... and if we were to be honest, we've probably all gone through the trials of downloading a bunch of emulators we barely ever use.
Xperia PLAY; on the other hand, doesn't have to piggyback off the successes of SNES/PSX/GBA/GB/GEN/N64/GG/SMS generation because it already has near 200 games playable with it's controls. It's a badass emulator, but it's the only solution out there that actually has some lasting appeal after people sober up from their nostalgic intoxication and realize how poorly their old school games aged.
Long story short... this ain't got **** on the Xperia PLAY. Not even close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree - but I was intrigued to see that they have this oval area which looks like our touchpad for analog controls - I think it is not functional on their's but I'm not sure. If their's is non-functional I think they would be better off not having this confusion and putting physical keyboard buttons instead. More people would justify purchasing it I think

still worth?

Hello guys
my first android was a Motorola Atrix, then a Atrix 2, now i have the samsung Galaxy S duos, but i saw the Xperia play with friend(for the first time) and i loved play with him.
i want to buy a new one, my Galaxy is more expensive than a Xperia play so i can "change" and doesnt waste nothing, but i want to know if it has problems or i can buy without hesitating.
so it have problems like... my earlyer Atrix have a fingerprint reader but with ICS it have issues...
thanks
mucego said:
Hello guys
my first android was a Motorola Atrix, then a Atrix 2, now i have the samsung Galaxy S duos, but i saw the Xperia play with friend(for the first time) and i loved play with him.
i want to buy a new one, my Galaxy is more expensive than a Xperia play so i can "change" and doesnt waste nothing, but i want to know if it has problems or i can buy without hesitating.
so it have problems like... my earlyer Atrix have a fingerprint reader but with ICS it have issues...
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend getting a more powerful phone and using a bluetooth controller. The play is really outdated now IMHO.
chick3n564 said:
I would recommend getting a more powerful phone and using a bluetooth controller. The play is really outdated now IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd probably do this aswell
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
Right now it's not a smart choice. Yes, its gamepad it's a gem to play anywhere but its official rom it's outdated and has some limitations about RAM and internal memory.
If you want to sort these limitations you will have to take some time installing a custom rom and tuning the configuration so, imho, if you don't mind about try some custom roms and you can find it cheap then go ahead, otherwise look for a more logical choice.
Since there is absolutely, positively not a single Bluetooth gamepad on this planet with as much software support as Xperia Play has, it's still the best choice for gamers.
There's a lotta better specs out there, but with so little necessitating all that power, their best use is for... well... **** measuring. Xperia Play handles things just fine with what it has regardless of whether it's old or new. Doesn't legally get 4.x.x, but since this is not iOS, we have many app supplements that net us 4.x.x features...and we get that extraordinary stability/software support that was compromised by newer FWs.
Honestly, I don't know the first thing about tweaks, yet my YouTube is constantly blown up with questions about what I do to make my Xperia Play so smooth. All I've ever been doing is running a debloated stock ROM to get iPhone-tier fluidity...and with link2sd, the onboard storage complaint even becomes invalid.
Only thing I wouldn't recommend is using a contract upgrade on a phone that's so low-cost... and that's just 'cause there's more strategic ways to work the system.
The Xperia Play is; however, still a good phone.
Sent from my R800a using xda app-developers app
tbh, if you can put up with a few fps drops here and there on heavy 3d games (e.g. modern combat, wild blood, dark knight rises, gta etc) and also play them at low settings then its a good gaming phone. Yes the hardware is outdated but if you get a custom ROM and then overclock your phone then it should be alright.
Honestly the phone feel fairly smooth using stock or NXT rom. If you use a light rom or debloat it, it feel smooth overall. It only slow down once you install custom ICS or JB roms.
The one thing I miss is can't do is play high bitrates HD movies like newer phones. Also having to stay on GB you get the speed, but miss out ICS features and apps that aren't compatible with GB.
Sent from my R800i
mucego said:
Hello guys
my first android was a Motorola Atrix, then a Atrix 2, now i have the samsung Galaxy S duos, but i saw the Xperia play with friend(for the first time) and i loved play with him.
i want to buy a new one, my Galaxy is more expensive than a Xperia play so i can "change" and doesnt waste nothing, but i want to know if it has problems or i can buy without hesitating.
so it have problems like... my earlyer Atrix have a fingerprint reader but with ICS it have issues...
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check this thread and post No.5
TLRtheory said:
Since there is absolutely, positively not a single Bluetooth gamepad on this planet with as much software support as Xperia Play has, it's still the best choice for gamers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to be a **** or anything, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. The MOGA in my opinion is starting to gain a ton of support from developers and the hardware itself works very well. When you couple this with the MOGA universal IME app, it gains all the capabilities of the ps3 controller. I love my Play, but I will take my GSIII and MOGA over the Play when playing Dead Trigger any day.
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LegionTHEFecalExcretion said:
Not to be a **** or anything, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. The MOGA in my opinion is starting to gain a ton of support from developers and the hardware itself works very well. When you couple this with the MOGA universal IME app, it gains all the capabilities of the ps3 controller. I love my Play, but I will take my GSIII and MOGA over the Play when playing Dead Trigger any day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree with that. We were sent a couple of MOGA's to use/review with are Xperia S, T and V but find for portable gaming it just does not work as good as you would want.
To start with the connection takes along time to kick in and then disconnects time to time during game play (Normally with Gameloft games). Having the MOGA app always running in the background gives the system more to process which cause's lag in games, they also seam to have a mined of their own (Keep moving in the same direction after you let go and are very inaccurate overall). The controller is not supported as a generic HID device meaning you need a 3rd party app and root to be able to play emulators and Non MOGA support games.
The other issues are to do with the physical form. The weight when the controller holds a phone is unevenly distributed (The phone weights a lot more then the controller meaning its top heavy (Not great for long periods of gaming), that's why there is a lip on the back of the controller to prop it all up. The sticks are stiff with no grip (Easy grip fix, take the foam pads out so they cup round your finger) and are useless for any FPS (Try out online multiplayer MC4, Nova 3). The lack of buttons (No d-pad, No L2, R2) and plus the fact you need AAA battery's to power it (Not ideal).
I could go on and on but Moga is no competition for the Xperia Play (purpose built for gaming, not an add-on) . If on public transport and want to play a quick game, its much better to slide the play open and play compared to getting the MOGA out of your bag or pocket, turn on bluetooth, clip in phone, wait for moga to connect to device and so on.
The list of games are on the increase but still only around 40 compared to the 400 on the Xperia Play. Its a novel way to play games at the moment and that's why some game developers are supporting it. But cant see this being a long time thing.
IMO ps3 pad with gameklip is the best setup maybe not so portable but for actually gaming its better than the xperia play
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
Wow, I honestly think that you both got a bad unit and haven't spent much time with it since launch.
First of all, in regards to the game selection, its true if you only use the company provided Pivot app, it only supports around 50 games. But what you are forgetting/ignoring is the MOGA universal driver app that makes it work as a standard HID controller just like the ps3 that allows it to play ANY game that works with HID contollers plus act as an ime that can emulate PLAY controls. There is not a single Play game that I cannot play without controls on my SGS III. Not a single one. This includes emulators. I can even use gamekeyboard if I wanted. I like my play too, but you are just ignoring the facts here.
Second, the connection honestly takes around 2-3 seconds for me and I have NEVER had a disconnect, not once. I have run quadrant with the pivot app and without and have seen no noticable difference, and it is the same with gameplay. I have one of the heaviest devices available and it does not seem top heavy at all. I think the comment people make about the sticks being stick is due to the fact that it is a smaller controller than normal so of course the sticks would have less travel area, it is just a matter of getting used to it just like it was with the Play touchpads. I have played several FPS's with the pad, MC4, Dead Trigger, Shadowgun, ETC, and have actually been impressed at the sensitivity and ease of use.
The argument that it is a pain to carry around is I think a weak one as it easily fits into any coat pocket and is smaller than some android phones Ive owned. I have used it daily for weeks now.
Again, I can play every Play game out there, so I feel like I my gaming experience just got way better. I also got a laugh of you calling it a novelty that wont catch on, thats what they said about the Play too.
Anyways, just a few thoughts, no offense meant my friend.
---------- Post added at 09:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:22 AM ----------
ILikeTheWayYouMove2 said:
IMO ps3 pad with gameklip is the best setup maybe not so portable but for actually gaming its better than the xperia play
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, ever since the MOGA got ps3 controller capability, I was in heaven.
LegionTHEFecalExcretion said:
Not to be a **** or anything, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. The MOGA in my opinion is starting to gain a ton of support from developers and the hardware itself works very well. When you couple this with the MOGA universal IME app, it gains all the capabilities of the ps3 controller. I love my Play, but I will take my GSIII and MOGA over the Play when playing Dead Trigger any day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually got my father a MOGA to go along with the EVO 3D I got him... and I'd actually even agree that it's support is far above and beyond the rest of those BT controllers... and I hope to see it get even more support because I'll likely get one for myself come January when my upgrade is available... but at the time being, not even the universal IME app brings it anywhere near being even a fourth of what the Xperia Play is.
From personal experience, I can vouch for the statement that it does greatly expand what it can be done outside of the pivot app, but it doesn't have all the specialized support Xperia Play has from having hardware menu navigation and all the precision of games tweaked to work especially with it's hardware, which results in cases like a *generic-converted* Eternal Legacy requiring an incredibly awkward form of still having to mostly use the touch-screen. While I didn't particularly find it as uncomfortable as poo-tang, the clip didn't really seem like it was designed to accomodate any kind of phone that has decent protection... meaning that my father was put in an awkward position where he'd either lose the convenience of his MOGA clip, or lose the protection of his EVO's ballistic case... this is particularly frustrating because I can use all the high-end protection that I want without sacrificing. Then the actual pivot app itself and the games involved don't seem entirely foolproof without all the tweaking options Xperia Play's given... NOVA 3, for example, has more natural feeling aiming... and all that aside, it's missing a major method of locomotion control by lacking that d-pad (which is a huge deal for precise input in 2D games). On a lesser note, I was quite shocked to find that it uses AAA batteries as opposed to having a rechargeable lithium like iControlPad does.
I do like the MOGA a lot more than other solutions because - honestly - even with all the minuses, there's still no other option on the market that allows well-done controls outside of just emulating tons of old content. Any cheap piece of plastic can emulate nowadays but the Xperia Play brought something truly special where we could play present-gen games like Wild Blood with physical controls, and the MOGA's actually picking up a lot of support for that audience with striking momentum. For that I give the MOGA credit above the iControlPad, Gametel, 60Beat, Red Samurai, Nyko Playpad and all others... but it's got a looooooong way to go before it's up there with Xperia Play... and with the ever-lasting hardware limitation (plus the burden of pairing per every game session), it may not even be possible that the MOGA can ever be up there with Xperia Play.
I will definitely agree that the lack of a true dpad is a disadvantage. There is a larger edition coming out later that has one built in, but its bigger which is both good and bad, but at least theres a choice I guess.
One thing that has actually made it not bad at all for me is the analog stick is very sensitive so as soon as there is any movement at all to either the left or right axis it registers immediately, something Metal Slug on my phone can attest to. I am not just saying this, platformers have not been an issue at all. What kind of case does your father use? I am using the shell/holster combo case and have not had it have problems.
I have never been a fan of shooters on the play, touch pad was always a frustrating experience at best and a nightmare at worse, at least for fps's. Twin Stick shooter kick ass on the play.
You mention a "everlasting hardware limitation" could you elaborate? Wouldn't the same apply to any game console, even the play? In other words, you can't upgrade hardware with an ota, which I know you know Im just illustrating my point.
Pushing the power button and then opening the pivot/universal ime app is a bit less seamless than sliding out the gamepad but I don't think it takes away from the experience. I have the whole process down to about 5 seconds before I pick my game.

Steam controller... remind you of anything?

Steam has just revealed the new controller to go with their new OS/Console:
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http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamController/
Notice anything familiar? The Xperia Play's dual touchpads were oft overlooked, but were the device's best-kept secret.
I wrote about why they were a revelation a year ago on Xperia Gamer: http://www.xperiagamer.com/Blog3/xperia-play-touch-pads-a-touch-of-genius.html#!
Xperia Play: ahead of its time? Only time will tell.
flat_steve said:
Xperia Play: ahead of its time? Only time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with this.
Once i opened my Play (for flex replacement) i was amazed how that Play's dual touchpads is just one single touchpad like in laptops, with a simple connection to the motherboard. And i've seen so many opened laptops that even in Play's case i am surtain that ordinary PS/2 protocol is used (just as in laptops)
I'm glad to see more hardware that is based on touchpads instead of analog stick.
I really like using touchpads more often than analog sticks. The touchpad is like using a mouse, more accuracy and more speed (e.g. First/Third Person Shooters).
RoboticBuddy said:
I really like using touchpads more often than analog sticks. The touchpad is like using a mouse, more accuracy and more speed (e.g. First/Third Person Shooters).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The touchpads on the Play are God-awful. Way to sensitive and half time my thumb slides off them. They are best left in the past
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
CTU_Loscombe said:
The touchpads on the Play are God-awful. Way to sensitive and half time my thumb slides off them. They are best left in the past
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree, it has the edges around it and the center pokes out a bit also. I think it really depends on how its implemented, some games control better than others.
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
korrectmethod said:
I disagree, it has the edges around it and the center pokes out a bit also. I think it really depends on how its implemented, some games control better than others.
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid CTU_Loscombe was correct, or at least for the most part. The dual touch pads on the Xperia play, for the most part, looked (and played) like utter crap, but those few titles produced by those developers that 'got' them hinted at something surprisingly innovative.
They were generally unloved and unused by developers and gamers alike. However, a handful of developers understood what they actually had in front of them: a pair of laptop-style mouse touchpads. And once you code with this in mind, you can end up with a control mechanism that more resembles the hallowed, devastating Mouse-and-Keyboard combo beloved of PC gamers. Fire up Dead Space, ShadowGun or Minecraft - three games that utterly nail the dual touchpad controls - and it looks for all the world like you are using a mouse and keyboard.
I'm not saying Valve have copied and built on what Sony Ericsson have done here - I think it's more a case of convergent evolution, but either way I've already had a taste of what this new controller can potentially do, and - naysayers and pessimists aside - I think the status quo is in for a pleasant surprise.
flat_steve said:
I'm afraid CTU_Loscombe was correct, or at least for the most part. The dual touch pads on the Xperia play, for the most part, looked (and played) like utter crap, but those few titles produced by those developers that 'got' them hinted at something surprisingly innovative.
They were generally unloved and unused by developers and gamers alike. However, a handful of developers understood what they actually had in front of them: a pair of laptop-style mouse touchpads. And once you code with this in mind, you can end up with a control mechanism that more resembles the hallowed, devastating Mouse-and-Keyboard combo beloved of PC gamers. Fire up Dead Space, ShadowGun or Minecraft - three games that utterly nail the dual touchpad controls - and it looks for all the world like you are using a mouse and keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I did say it depends on the game and how its implemented. You listed 3 great games that did it right, and I'd add MC4, nova 3, and pewpew to that list.
Just because the play isn't fully supported by the app world doesnt mean its crap hardware that doesnt work. It's just an esoteric device and developers dont always put in the hours to code it specifically for our phone.
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
flat_steve said:
I'm afraid CTU_Loscombe was correct, or at least for the most part. The dual touch pads on the Xperia play, for the most part, looked (and played) like utter crap, but those few titles produced by those developers that 'got' them hinted at something surprisingly innovative.
They were generally unloved and unused by developers and gamers alike. However, a handful of developers understood what they actually had in front of them: a pair of laptop-style mouse touchpads. And once you code with this in mind, you can end up with a control mechanism that more resembles the hallowed, devastating Mouse-and-Keyboard combo beloved of PC gamers. Fire up Dead Space, ShadowGun or Minecraft - three games that utterly nail the dual touchpad controls - and it looks for all the world like you are using a mouse and keyboard.
I'm not saying Valve have copied and built on what Sony Ericsson have done here - I think it's more a case of convergent evolution, but either way I've already had a taste of what this new controller can potentially do, and - naysayers and pessimists aside - I think the status quo is in for a pleasant surprise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree. Most titles used it quite well: Fifa 12, Gun Bros, Modern Combat 4 ect.
Wonder if the Steam Controller will pull through
Steam controller looks so ugly .The contoller looks waaay Futuristic.Something like a 1996's movie that talk about the year 2100.
flat_steve said:
Steam has just revealed the new controller to go with their new OS/Console:
http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamController/
Notice anything familiar? The Xperia Play's dual touchpads were oft overlooked, but were the device's best-kept secret.
I wrote about why they were a revelation a year ago on Xperia Gamer: http://www.xperiagamer.com/Blog3/xperia-play-touch-pads-a-touch-of-genius.html#!
Xperia Play: ahead of its time? Only time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey steeeeve ! is that you , i always read your articles
why xperia gamer is stopped man ?
Hi mehdi.moha, thanks for your comments. I was just a contributor to the site, it wasn't run by me. The site has gone a bit quiet as of late, I think the guys that run it have been looking to do something new. I'd love to write for another website again but I'm not sure where my meagre time constraints (and, ahem, talent) would fit in.
flat_steve said:
Hi mehdi.moha, thanks for your comments. I was just a contributor to the site, it wasn't run by me. The site has gone a bit quiet as of late, I think the guys that run it have been looking to do something new. I'd love to write for another website again but I'm not sure where my meagre time constraints (and, ahem, talent) would fit in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good luck steve
i wish some day i'll be read your article about xperia play 2 - review ... :fingers-crossed:
The only problem with Play's pads is that they are small. When you move your big thumb around on a small area, its way too sensitive.
You need to use "thumb roll" when you finetune your aim.
I dont think that touchpads will replace analogs sticks in the near future. There needs to be some sort of feedback to your fingers (much like when you write on the touchscreen, you always get that nice vibration)
I think that they said somewhere that Steam controllers bads "give in" just a tiny bit so that the surfaces isnt just solid piece of plastic ? Not sure though if I understood it correctly.
Steam controller could work decently with those touchpads.

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