Unreal Tournament 3 for PS3 to bring keyboard and mouse support

Sure, you can already mouse around on your Linux-booting or web-browsing PS3 system to your heart's content, but Epic wanted to level the FPS playing field just a bit, and is bringing keyboard and mouse support to its PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3. Epic VP Mark Rein was concerned that having multiple control methods would give some players an unfair advantage, but apparently those problems have been worked out. In addition to bringing a potential end to those endless mouse vs. dual stick debates (unlikely), this also might mean we'll be seeing some PC-to-PS3 compatibility for online play, for the ultimate test of fanboy forum smack.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

[thejedipunk @ Aug 5th 2007 1:07AM]

Precision aiming and dedicated buttons for each weapon as well as movements. I prefer my keyboard and mouse combination to the limited span of a console controller.

Personally, I'm would hope that Epic works out a way in which Win/Mac players can square off against both PS3 and 360 players for a true test of skill.

[chris @ Aug 4th 2007 11:57PM]

you cant have an even fight there, mouse movements are completely different than some sticks, i love both my pc and my ps3 but dont make me choose! both systems are great for FPS but a mouse and keyboard along with overclocked hardware will never be a fair fight with any console not just a ps3

[mattweiler @ Aug 5th 2007 9:15AM]

Sorry, but you're never gonna have PS3 to 360 online play.
360 uses their own online system ($$$), while PS3 uses their own free system.
360 players are gonna be playing on MS Live servers while PS3 players will be playing on Sony servers.

Neither company would allow it.

[wslcrew @ Aug 4th 2007 10:42PM]

Nice!!!
Now bring Starcraft 2 to PS3!!! (Yes, I'm Korean)

[Joshua Kleier @ Aug 5th 2007 2:25AM]

Get a better job

[Solomon @ Aug 5th 2007 9:27AM]

bump
(zomg sc2 ftw)

[james @ Aug 5th 2007 4:55PM]

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet...

THIS WILL DESTROY UT3!! Mouse and keyboard is a LOT MORE accurate than the PS3 controller so everyone without a mouse/keyboard will lose all the time. The online game will just be a bunch of people who bought the mouse-keyboard and a few stupid people without it getting owned.

Also, everyone can STFU about how much "better" mouse-keyboard is. Like the one guy said earlier: "I can consistently get headshots with mouse and I can't with the controller" [paraphrase].

EXACTLY!! You know why that is? BECAUSE ANY NOOB CAN USE A MOUSE AND IT TAKES SKILL AND TIME TO BE AN EXPERT WITH THE CONTROLLER.

Mouse is more accurate, but it's not better. Getting headshots and becoming dominant with the controller takes a long time. Any noob can just jump in a console shooter with a mouse/keyboard and start owning immediately. Also, it will change the more tactical-oriented style of console shooters and it will turn them into twitchfests where the person who doesn't poke their shoulder out and knows all the glitches wins.

Stupid. Play PC FPSs if you want mouse-keyboard. Keep that trash away from my PS3 and 360.

[mattclarkie @ Aug 6th 2007 9:40AM]

I hate people who complain about contollers. Of course you can shoot someone easier if you just place the mouse over them and click, but where is the skill, the fact you can see where to put the cursor.

I am totally with James on this.

[mattclarkie @ Aug 6th 2007 9:41AM]

I hate people who complain about contollers. Of course you can shoot someone easier if you just place the mouse over them and click, but where is the skill, the fact you can see where to put the cursor.

I am totally with James on this.

[Nubaeus @ Aug 4th 2007 10:52PM]

...just spend the 600 to upgrade your comp and buy the game for the PC if you're so set on using mouse and keyboard.

[AlexP @ Aug 4th 2007 10:59PM]

"upgrading" mine would involve replacing EVERYTHING except the drives and PCI cards, which would total for well above that 600 that will last me a minimum of 5 years...

[Ben @ Aug 4th 2007 11:01PM]

...or maybe I already have PS3 and don't want to spend another $600 to upgrade my computer every year.

[JJ @ Aug 5th 2007 12:07AM]

To play UT3 for me would mean spending at least $300 to play the game decently. That would be for the video card alone, not the motherboard, memory, and new processor. I would have to spend two times the cost of a PS3 to actually be able to play UT3 with the same graphical fidelity and quality as the PS3-- all bells and whistles at a resolution of at least 1280x1024, or if have the monitor, 1920x1200. So, $600 will not get me a PC able to play this game decently.

[Proteus1935 @ Aug 5th 2007 1:24PM]

the 600$ budget worked for my PC =]
Love my 8800 =] from what I've seen in the past decade consoles have been turning into low cost PCs, providing some level of expandability (storage/communications/wireless guitar =D) while still maintaining software compatibility... This has happened before (look back into the history of the microprocessor)...the first PC was born this way =].
I bet that a decade(being conservative) from now you'll be able to run the SAME code, install the same OS (probably virtualization will take place) on your PlayStation "5" and on your XBox( 8Pi ) and on your generic home made Pc =]

[joe @ Aug 4th 2007 11:02PM]

I think this might be the innovation that will make me buy a PS3. I am sure more games will support mouse/keyboard controls. I can play FPS OK with a gamepad but I can get consistent headshots with a mouse on a PC and feel like I have a much greater level of control with 101 keys and a mouse. Go PS3!

[Mickey Jones @ Aug 5th 2007 7:56PM]

Same here. I've never gotten the hang of a controller. Now I can effectively play FPS on the console without being railgun bait. Throw in a blu-ray player and teh remote possibility that this virtual community thing will amount to anything, and I now possibly have a reason to maybe buy a PS3. Maybe

[Moses Vargas @ Aug 4th 2007 11:17PM]

Nice since my YDL V.5 just had a heart attack now I can use the keyboard and mouse again.

[Steven @ Aug 12th 2007 2:06AM]

Wow Engadget. Read up other news sites every once and awhile. This was confirmed on PSU[.com] over 2 months ago.

[idfk @ Aug 5th 2007 12:26AM]

STFU! I dont read that!

Thanks engadget!

[LukeA @ Aug 5th 2007 10:14AM]

And if Engadget did get this story from somewhere else, you'd be here bitching about how Engadget steals all its news from other sites.

[NeoK182 @ Aug 4th 2007 11:43PM]

now this is something that makes the PS3 worth it. this and Lair lol. I just hope that this opens it up for cross-playform PS3/PC and i hope that the 360 version gets keyboard/mouse support as well.

[NeoK182 @ Aug 4th 2007 11:50PM]

even through the control scheme and the controller is made better for FPS games. NOTHING beats a keyboard and mouse for an FPS. the control is 100 times better. and as for me. i'll be getting UT3 for my PC. but if it comes out for the 360. with keyboard/mouse support and cross-platform via LIVE that would make me happy. nice UT3 partys with me on my PC and everyone else on the 360.

[Roger Zhang @ Aug 5th 2007 10:17AM]

It will be better if PS3, 360, and PC all come together and beat the crap outta each other. Maybe one day Wii will join the party!

[Rosa @ Aug 5th 2007 7:39PM]

I haven't even upgraded myself to the PS3 but this gives me something to think about. I want one bad, it is just dishing out that much money for a console that i am worried about. My husband would probably kill me. I guess that I will have to wait until X-Mas and buy it for the kids(I always tell my husband that it is for them and then I use it). I really enjoyed your site.

Gaje Master

[OmegaRed @ Aug 5th 2007 12:27AM]

The only thing you have to tell someone when they say that console controllers are better than a mouse for shooters is this:

All the top professional PC gamers use mice and keyboards. There have been gamepads for PCs for years, even dual analogs for years. Heck, you can use an Xbox 360 controller to control any FPS on a PC. Does fatality use one? Anyone other pro PC gamer use one? Didn't think so. If they were better they would all use gamepads on their PCs. lol

[Phi Nguyen @ Aug 5th 2007 1:14AM]

Fatal1ty? That camper?!?! LOL.

[Jarrod_Croosh @ Aug 5th 2007 7:04PM]

No one ever said that a controller/gamepad was better than a mouse and keyboard. They just said it takes more skill to use a controller than a mouse and keyboard.

[Borat @ Aug 5th 2007 12:26AM]

I know this will piss off the PC gamers, but I say that the Wiimote has the potential to be better than the mouse-keyboard combo...it just feels comfortable and better overall. Turning has to be made a bit quicker and that's it. You can't just sit on a couch and play with a mouse and keyboard.

(Don't think of me as a Wii fanboy or anything, just telling an opinion).

[OmegaRed @ Aug 5th 2007 12:30AM]

Yes, I am excited about it's potential. So far we don't have a good example though. Bring on Metroid Prime 3. I hope it works well, I want to be playing FPS games on my Wii. I don't see it being better than a mouse, it has the potential to be as good as one, but we don't know if that potential can be realized yet.

[kingofwale @ Aug 5th 2007 12:59AM]

>but I say that the Wiimote has the potential to be better than the mouse-keyboard combo...it just feels comfortable and better overall.

in what game does it give you the feel that Wiimote will EVER be better than mouse-keyboard? Could it possibly be Red Steel? or Far-cry?

or have you been drinking Nintendo's kool-aid when they CLAIMED that Metriod 4 is better than Mouse-keyboard?

saying you aren't a fanboy, but giving so called 'opinion' without backing it up can only be 2 things. fanboyism or you are getting paid to lie through your teeth.

[Phi Nguyen @ Aug 5th 2007 1:22AM]

Wow, calm down. It was just his opinion. I didn't know we had to have facts to back our opinions, but I will say that I did like RE4 Wii Edition's control scheme (except for the fact that there was no strafing). And yes, I know it's not a FPS, but the scheme could work theoretically. So far, I will concede that Wii FPS controls have been subpar but ya never know... maybe MP3:Corruption will finally justify the Wiimote and Nunchuck as a decent FPS controller. And no, I'm not a fanboy.

[Borat @ Aug 5th 2007 1:43AM]

I thought COD 3 was pretty good...if only turning was a tad faster. As for Red Steel, the enormous bounding box was the main problem (and buggy pointer), though you get used to the game after a while.

And thanks for jumping up on me with the whole "you must be paid" attack.

[Patrick @ Aug 5th 2007 2:27AM]

The Wii has the potential to be better than the mouse/keyboard, it combines the precise pointing offered by the mouse with the precise movement of the analog stick. It's just that no game released as of now has pulled off the control scheme, but when one does, most FPS' after will probably follow that example.

[Juaquin @ Aug 5th 2007 4:39AM]

Unfortunately I'm going to have to agree (without the senseless bashing, however). So far the Wii's FPS controls have actually been more convoluted than a standard controller. I think that Corruption may do better, but I have a feeling I may just end up using the "classic" controller. I'd pay good money to play Corruption with a mouse and keyboard.

[NeoK182 @ Aug 6th 2007 12:58AM]

i gotta admit. playing half life 2 with a wiimote was fun as hell lol.

[Richard Lai @ Aug 5th 2007 12:49AM]

Might as well use the PS3 as my PC. Mac OS or Windoze?

[Geir E @ Aug 5th 2007 8:47AM]

Linux, freely available for ps3

[Will @ Aug 5th 2007 1:06AM]

Literally dozens of PS3 owners wait with baited breath.

[Poom @ Aug 5th 2007 1:22AM]

Wow... No PS3 bashing...

I hope it continues this way!

[Phi Nguyen @ Aug 5th 2007 1:31AM]

PS3 SUCKS!!! LOL. Just kidding. Metal Gear 4 FTW!!!!

[Josh @ Aug 5th 2007 1:50AM]

This is great news for PS3 owners, i have a friend who just sprung the 500 for the counsel and is having difficulties getting used to using a controller again for resistance ( he is addicted to CoD on the PC ) and after playing a PS3 shooter, i pretty much feel the pains of relearning how to play a counsel FPS, where as mouse/keyboard combos generally allow the user to reprogram the game to fit the player's style, something i have found great over the past few years (nothing beats setting everything to that classic CS control scheme)

I only wish i had that cash to afford a PS3 - but at the point i am at, a 6800GTS is still cheaper than a PS3, and will allow me to hook up my computer to any HDTV that i please as well as my monitor.

just my .02

[eyehategod @ Aug 5th 2007 2:26AM]

Whats next? A PS3 Printer? Ive played FPS on PC, N64, PS2 and now on a Wii. Wii has the best FPS experiance!

[KawF @ Aug 5th 2007 5:31AM]

You can already print pictures from the PS3 with a USB connected printer.

http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/index_printersettings.html

[Solomon @ Aug 5th 2007 9:38AM]

Yeah, since System 1.8, we could use printers. List:
http://www.us.playstation.com/Content/PS3NetworkPlatform/Updates/printer.html

[eyehategod @ Aug 5th 2007 12:05PM]

Well i'll be damned. Not bad.

[jaime @ Aug 5th 2007 2:38AM]

Unleash the SIXAXIS !!!!
Im totally sold if they allow me customize my sixaxis control.
Just incline the sixaxis to the left or rigth and you are dodging to that direction.
Just incline the sixaxis to the front and you jump.
Just incline the sixaxix to the back and you reload.
And many more shortcuts custom for change weapon, enter/exit vehicule, adrenaline combos (if they exist in UT3), orders, etc.

[Pedro @ Aug 5th 2007 3:21AM]

When have you ever had to reload in a UT game?

[jaime @ Aug 5th 2007 5:35AM]

lol
now that you mention it and i remember playing it (i have not played in years) i feel so stupid.
play to much killzone that i forget... thank you for remind me.
something similar happend to me when blizzard anounce starcraft 2, i dont remember some units until i see them in the videoingame, lol

and as with starcraft, im already installing UT as i type, so i can have a good games and dont forget, at least for some months, lol
i loved the gothic map from the original UT so much, that will be the first to replay.

[Laz @ Aug 5th 2007 1:40PM]

"Unleash the SIXAXIS !!!!
Im totally sold if they allow me customize my sixaxis control.
Just incline the sixaxis to the left or rigth and you are dodging to that direction.
Just incline the sixaxis to the front and you jump.
Just incline the sixaxix to the back and you reload."


yes and try doing this in the middle of gameplay and having your character jump instead of dodging left...etc.

[paloooz @ Aug 5th 2007 1:44PM]

What "coding" do you have to do to get Ubuntu to run?

Pressing "Next" several times on the installer? I didn't know that was coding...