Written by Jose Martin  on February 05, 2007

Accessory Review: Do you need your Halo fix but you want it with a mouse and keyboard? Then maybe the XFPS 360 is for you.

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Some of you younger readers may not be aware of this, but in the pantheon of PC history, long before it became common for Mom and Dad to do their taxes and everyone was surfing the net, computers were still being used. For what you may ask? Well, other than programmers, the major home users were gamers. There wasn't online gaming in those early years but damn, it was still fun to shoot up aliens and monsters in the virtual world.

So for those of us who grew up on PC gaming, the eventual domination of consoles in the gaming universe was sort of a mixed blessing. Sure, we loved some of the console games, you could play with your friends if you happened to have any and it was a heck of a lot cheaper than PC gaming. Many of us, however, just couldn't get over the loss of our tried and true method of sublime control, our beloved keyboard and our trusty mouse. It didn't really matter much while playing Football or racing around the track but while playing the PC gamer's favorite style of game, the First Person Shooter, well, how could you possibly replace a keyboard and mouse with a controller?? The control pad was simply a nightmare in the hands of former elite PC fragmasters.

Some movements were generally decent but aiming, that was a different matter entirely. It was floaty and could never be paired with the word УaccurateФ in any way, shape or form. What was the purpose of playing an FPS on a console if you couldn't put the crosshairs precisely dead center between the eyes of your enemy, the millisecond you spotted him? That's the kind of control veteran PC gamers were used to. It was difficult for them to make the adjustment to the console pad's limitations.

Some of us grudgingly accepted the inevitable and practiced hard to hone our console skills, other PC diehards swore off playing FPS games on consoles and stayed away. Luckily, a foreign manufacturer, Lik Sang, took up the cause of the disillusioned computer gaming crowd and introduced a Keyboard/Mouse adapter for the original Xbox named the SmartJoy Frag. (Too bad Sony felt it necessary to force Lik Sang out of business through lawsuits, for of all things, selling legally obtained PSP's....but that's another story)

Now, for the new generation, Team X-tender has come to the rescue and released their XCM XFPS 360 adapter.

Setup
Setting up the XFPS is a simple affair. The package contains your XFPS 360 device and a small foldout instruction sheet. The adapter is about as wide as your 360 controller measuring from one boomerang tip to the other but tapers off into a triangular shape. Basically, to get up and running, all you need to do is plug your 360 pad into the XFPS, plug a mouse and keyboard into the XFPS and plug the XFPS into your 360's controller port. Sound simple? Well, it is Ц a definite plus when dealing with any device. No one wants to spend 4 hours figuring out how a peripheral works so the plug and play functionality is welcome here.

Once you turn on your 360 and see some green lights come on the XFPS, you're ready to go. There is a default setting which is diagrammed in the instructions. So if you feel the urge to start gaming immediately, there is no need to wait.

Features
The XFPS has some pretty cool features. Of course, most PC gamers live to program every single key on their keyboard just the way they want it. So it's a good thing that the XFPS is almost fully customizable. Again, this is a straightforward and painless activity. Move the default switch over to the УSetФ position, hold down the programming button for a second until the red light appears and the device is now ready to accept binds.

Next, simply press any button on your 360 controller until the programming red light on the XFPS starts flashing. Finally, press any key on your keyboard or a button on your mouse and the 360 button you selected will now be bound to that Keyboard or Mouse button.

Notice I said, Уalmost fully customizableФ. There are a few things you cannot change. The left analog stick is permanently bound to the Keyboard's W/S/A/D keys. This, however, is the default movement configuration setup for most PC FPS gamers so it shouldn't annoy too many people. The right analog 360 stick is always bound to the mouse's analogue up/down/left/right movements. Lastly, the D-pad's Up/Down buttons are bound to your mouse wheel's up/down scroll function. This permanent bind is not that bad though, because the XFPS will still accept an additional bind for these D-pad buttons so you can group all four D-pad directions into its own group on your keyboard if it makes it easier for you.

After each binding, you'll be happy to know that the XFPS will retain that new bind in its internal memory even after you unplug it and/or turn off your 360. One problem with the memory does stop the customization process from being near perfect. Once you bind a key, you cannot overwrite that bind. If you make a mistake, your only choice is to hold down the programming button for 5 seconds. This will erase all the binds in the customization memory, forcing you to start from the beginning, so be careful when choosing your keys.

Connectivity options are exactly what you would need. The XFPS sports 2 USB ports, 2 PS/2 style ports and even a PSX port for use with your cherished PS2 Dual Shock 2 controller. This PSX slot also accepts other PS2 peripherals such as Light Guns, Racing Wheels, Dancing mats and Guitars. That's a nice value feature. So whether you have a USB Mouse and Keyboard, a PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard or a combination of the two types, you will have no problems hooking your stuff up and getting it all to work. ( Note: Some wireless mice are compatible too.)

You will also appreciate the idea to include turbo buttons along the top of the XFPS. It doesn't matter if you use the default binds or your own layout, flipping any of these switches into the УTurboФ position will initiate an auto-repeat function to the corresponding 360 controller button and its Keyboard counterpart.

Gameplay
When deciding whether this type of adapter might be worth purchasing, you have to consider your expectations.
If you are a longtime console jockey and have never or rarely used a Keyboard/Mouse combo for gaming, you will probably find the transition to the PC controls frustrating. This is not to say that you can't get much better with many hours of practice, because you can. The question is, how comfortable and skilled are you with your current 360 controller. If the answer is: УI'm leet you Nooblet, I'll own your punk ass anyday of the week and twice on SundayФ, then you should probably stick your controller.

The reason I say this is simple. The XFPS has little chance of substantially improving the game of highly skilled control pad users. Let me explain. The beauty of a traditional Keyboard/Mouse PC setup is its precise nature. On a PC, a skilled player can jump diagonally to the right off a ledge and spin 180 degrees to face and headshot an opponent before he lands. You just can't do that with a console controller, at least not with any certainty or frequency. The problem with the XFPS lies in the controller's analogue stick being emulated to the mouse. The precision just isn't there. There is a noticeable center dead zone when you move the mouse. You can adjust the sensitivity of your pad's analog through a game's options menu but this doesn't seem to alleviate the dead zone problem much.

Once the crosshairs start moving though, you definitely get more precision than you would with the analog stick. This dual personality means that using your mouse through the XFPS, improves a single player experience by allowing you to make more headshots. The downside is evident in the much faster paced arena of online play. When you connect to Xbox live, there are no more repetitive AI patterns and stationary targets to line up. This is where that dead zone really kills you. The split second it takes to get the aiming point to start moving is a death sentence when facing good control pad players with fast reflexes and unpredictable movement patterns. Again, I stress that a lot of practice would help somewhat but the nature of the mouse control via the XFPS cannot be overlooked.

If you are a veteran PC gamer looking to get the same control you enjoy on a PC, you won't find it here (or anywhere else). Unfortunately the XFPS is not your ticket to dominating console gamers the way you already dominate PC gamers. However, if you can't stand Console Control Pads and have avoided playing Console Shooters, then getting the XFPS could be a way for you to at least enjoy yourself and feel comfortable in the console environment. A longtime computer gamer, with some practice, could definitely get used to the dead zone of the mouse and compete quite adequately. If you are a console gamer who already does very well with a controller, there is nothing here that would necessitate spending $80. If you're a console gamer who doesn't do very well against most of your friends, the XFPS may improve your kill rates after some time with it.