Why not? The two consoles' controllers are fairly similar

May 7, 2007 22:46 GMT  ·  By

Word on the Internet is that the latest Splinter Cell installment from Ubisoft, Conviction, is not as possible with the PS3 as with the Xbox 360. Developers say that the Xbox 360's control scheme is much more advanced and allows a more complex amount of options that seem to be quite impossible with the PS3's SIXAXIS, as MyGen reports.

What's up with that? It's the first time I'm hearing that a game can't launch on both PS3 and Xbox 360 because of the controllers differences. With the Wii I can understand that certain aiming features or character movements aren't possible because of the player's high possibility of inputting an accidental command, but the 360 and PS3 have fairly similar controllers.

Even the R and L buttons have gradual input in both cases, both have analog sticks, both are wireless, heck the PS3's SIXAXIS even has some extra features: that motion sensibility feature that nobody wants to talk about and a couple of extra L and R buttons. (L1 and R1 and L2 and R2, the latter two featuring gradual input).

However, there might be two aspects to look at here, if we're to believe that Splinter Cell Conviction will indeed make better use of the 360's controller:

1 - the Xbox 360's controller features force-feedback (rumble/vibration/shakes in your hand when you make a mistake or when being attacked, just so everyone's on the same level); 2 - the Xbox 360's controller is slightly different in terms of D-pad (directional pad) placing and left analog stick placing: they're slightly... what am I saying here? They're very asymmetrically placed on the controller and that's probably why it makes a better controller for Ubisoft's series.

Whatever the reason, my guess is that if the PS3 had sold better, the developer would have taken a deeper look at the PS3's controller. Thus, there's no reason for extra work on something that will probably gather dust on store shelves.