w00tage said:
I don't and won't use a controller (or own a console). The console companies deliberately didn't go with mouse/keyboard so they could sell more expensive (and less effective) controllers instead, which led to the dumbed-down aimbotted console games you have now. So screw them, they can't have my money and I won't ever know how to use a controller. Not missing a thing imo.
PC elitist, much? Gamepads have been available on the PC since the early IBM machines, and Joysticks have been part of PC gaming since at least the Commodore 64, if not earlier machines like the ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro. The console companies chose to use controllers for their game consoles because controllers are specifically designed to play games with, and are significantly better than a mouse and keyboard for most traditionally console based genres. All three major consoles have USB ports this gen, and at least two of them have native keyboard support, with one of those also having mouse support. Just because the devs decide not to use it doesn't mean it's not an option.
This is coming from a PC gamer who hates playing FPS games with anything but a mouse and keyboard, by the way.
OT: As others have said, the idea of using one hand to look and the other to move is not intuitive, and it takes time to learn. When I first discovered games that used WASD and a mouse for movement and looking, instead of the arrow keys, page up, and page down, it took me forever to get comfortable with it. I imagine non-gamers who are handed a controller for the first time go through the same adjustment period. There's also the fact that it takes time to build the muscle memory necessary to find everything on a controller; my dad, for example, can't play the Wii without having to look for every button you tell him to push. I think this is also why so many people don't like mouse and keyboard for FPS games; they have the muscle memory for controllers, but never learned to touch type, so they frequently have to look at the keyboard while they're playing. As a touch typist and a PC gamer, I typed this response up without even looking at the keyboard, but non-PC gamers often have a hard time with it.
Edit: And I can guarantee that both the joystick on the Atari 2600 and the controller on the NES were significantly cheaper than the keyboards of the day. Consoles still use controllers in the NES mode because that's how it's been for almost 30 years now, not so they can sell expensive hardware.
