It's been a long time since the words "Xbox," "360," and "Warcraft" were uttered in the same sentence. Rumors once flitted about suggesting that World of Warcraft would someday make an appearance on the Xbox 360, but such heady days are long gone. Naturally, one of the chief reasons Blizzard has given for not creating a console port of its massively successful franchise is that it would require compromises. In other words, the control scheme simply wouldn't work. Enter Switchblade, a program from Blue Orb written specifically to allow players to use an Xbox 360 controller to play World of Warcraft. You may recall Blue Orb as the creators of the Texter, a device that converted 360 control stick inputs into keyboard inputs. As with the Texter, we have to question why. Why would a World of Warcraft player want to play with a 360 controller? According to the official site, the goal is to deliver the "console experience." Again, we have to question why someone searching for the console experience would be interested in World of Warcraft, but we digress.
Questions aside, the software actually does look like it makes the controller fairly functional. Of course, in game chat will be a little difficult if you're not near the keyboard, but it might be useful for everyday grinding -- we're not exactly banking on it spurring Blizzard to start 360 development though. The software is available for free at the official website. It's also worth noting that the software is pre-configured for WoW, but is customizable and will presumably receive more downloadable configurations for other games in the future.
This is nothing new :S I've been using a xbox 360 mouse/keyboard mapper for over a year now, nearly 2. Or does wow block normal mappers? If not, then this is just the same technology with presets for wow.
Honestly, Wow would've mattered on the 360 back when the system was launched. Now, not so much. How about bringing Starcraft II the same day as the PC version? The thing will sell like hotcakes in Korea!
There is no way I could play wow with a 360 controller, let alone raid. There are just too many things I need to be able to do that you just can't manage with a console controller. I can't understand why anyone would want to pay extra for gimped controls. I understand that it may be more comfortable or whatever, but still, I would never use this. As for WoW on the 360, the only way it would ever fly is if MS allowed KB/M support for it. I don't see that happening anywhere in the near future though.
@jay, back when the rumours were flying it was about "World of Warcraft: Azeroth Adventures" which I can only assume would've been a watered down version that was easier to play with the controller.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-16-2007 @ 6:22PM
xenocidic said...
Lucky they've just introduced built in voice-chat.
Reply
10-16-2007 @ 6:23PM
James Elliott said...
This is nothing new :S I've been using a xbox 360 mouse/keyboard mapper for over a year now, nearly 2. Or does wow block normal mappers? If not, then this is just the same technology with presets for wow.
Reply
10-16-2007 @ 6:40PM
Slvrgun said...
Chatpad is used for?
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10-16-2007 @ 7:06PM
Jon said...
...so?
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10-16-2007 @ 7:33PM
chatpadfan said...
Agreed. This is exactly what the chatpad was made for! Or not.
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10-16-2007 @ 7:43PM
dynamik123 said...
Voice chat could replace text talk, but yeah, it might now work.
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10-16-2007 @ 8:57PM
mfed3 said...
they should definitely come out with WoW for 360 with the chatpad included in the package
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10-16-2007 @ 9:57PM
Black said...
Can any one get the switchblade program with out signing on to the web site ?
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10-17-2007 @ 12:31AM
MYPS3KilledMy360 said...
how about MS gives up and give people the ability to usea M/K.
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10-17-2007 @ 12:59AM
Magma said...
Too bad this is WAY OLD news. Maybe it wasn't offcially sanctioned until now, but the software was released long ago to play using a 360 controller.
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10-17-2007 @ 9:13AM
DjDATZ said...
WOW = life stealer. My roommate told me. LOL
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10-17-2007 @ 11:27AM
poprocker said...
never understood the addictiveness that is WoW. It's just waaaay to cartoonish for me.
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10-17-2007 @ 11:36AM
Emperor Samoth said...
And the contribution to society is what? :P
Honestly, Wow would've mattered on the 360 back when the system was launched. Now, not so much. How about bringing Starcraft II the same day as the PC version? The thing will sell like hotcakes in Korea!
Reply
10-17-2007 @ 12:38PM
Jay said...
There is no way I could play wow with a 360 controller, let alone raid. There are just too many things I need to be able to do that you just can't manage with a console controller. I can't understand why anyone would want to pay extra for gimped controls. I understand that it may be more comfortable or whatever, but still, I would never use this. As for WoW on the 360, the only way it would ever fly is if MS allowed KB/M support for it. I don't see that happening anywhere in the near future though.
Reply
10-17-2007 @ 2:24PM
xenocidic said...
@jay, back when the rumours were flying it was about "World of Warcraft: Azeroth Adventures" which I can only assume would've been a watered down version that was easier to play with the controller.
Reply
10-17-2007 @ 4:33PM
Jay said...
bah, sounds lame.
Reply
10-18-2007 @ 10:26AM
Valaraukador said...
... ill keep my mouse, my keyboard, and my mage TYVM...
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10-18-2007 @ 4:03PM
Jay said...
@17 haha right on.
Reply