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Diablo III Will Supports Console-Style Controllers…After Release

Spiteful dickwad that I am, I kind of hope this news bunches the collective panties of the sort of PC gamers who regard consoles with haughty condescension. In an interview with PC Gamer (via The Escapist), Diablo 3 game director Jay Wilson spoke highly of the idea: "With some of our early experiments in putting a direct control scheme into the game via a 360-like analogue controller, I’ve been 'Oh this feels even better, with direct control…'" He went on to mention "if we decide to do a console version," further hinting at Blizzard toying with the idea of taking Diablo 3 into the console market. However, he doubts that such plans would be ready to go by the time the game launches on PC, the date of which has yet to be announced.

The PC faithful need not worry that their mice and keyboards will be left behind, and would do well to remember that the first Diablo game was actually ported to the PlayStation, back in the days before analog sticks were standard on console controllers. Anyone else think a gamepad option for a game like this is a sweet idea? I tend to find the more action-intensive the game, the more I like the "feel" of the controller. Shooter enthusiasts point out that you can be more precise with a mouse and keyboard, but there's something more visceral about the feel of the controller in your hand with an actual trigger you can pull (at least on the 360) that a little *click* of a finger on a mouse just can't replicate. And I could see analog sticks being vastly superior to the mouse and keyboard for navigating in an isometric perspective like Diablo has. Perhaps menu navigation would be less nimble, but I would consider that an acceptable trade-off.