Microsoft to start blocking "unauthorized" peripherals

[BrandonLatzig]

On 11/24/2023 at 2:07 PM, Emberstone said:

A bit late, but fighting game players use all kinds of different controllers (arcade sticks, Hotboxes, Mixboxes, keyboards, etc.) and this will effectively destroy those communities on Xbox unless you're one of the few competitive people who use a stock Xbox controller for games like Guilty Gear Strive or SF6.

i mean, there is official fight sticks for xbox, though pricy, idk how much a normal fight stick costs

[Emberstone]

On 11/26/2023 at 12:07 AM, BrandonLatzig said:

i mean, there is official fight sticks for xbox, though pricy, idk how much a normal fight stick costs

Not all are made equal, even from an input processing point of view. Consistent performance is key when a single frame can decide a game. There's a reason Brook boards/etc. have been around so long.

 

But even if some fightsticks are available, that alienates people who use other controllers which aren't sticks, like those who prefer Hitboxes or Mixboxes, which require something like a Brook board to connect to an Xbox.

[BrandonLatzig]

27 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

Not all are made equal, even from an input processing point of view. Consistent performance is key when a single frame can decide a game. There's a reason Brook boards/etc. have been around so long.

 

But even if some fightsticks are available, that alienates people who use other controllers which aren't sticks, like those who prefer Hitboxes or Mixboxes, which require something like a Brook board to connect to an Xbox.

it does seem brook boards has been the legit one bad call from this, but i heard that they were working with microsoft to get that fixed

[Kisai]

Sony is now blocking at least one peripherals for the same reasons.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/01/playstation-has-blocked-hardware-cheating-device-cronus-zen-others-may-follow/

Quote

The Cronus Zen describes itself as a hardware tool for "universal controller compatibility," letting you plug in a third-party controller, an Xbox controller into a PlayStation, or even your keyboard and mouse into a console. But you can also use its scripting engine to "amplify your game" and set up "GamePacks" to do things like reduce recoil animations in games like Call of Duty. And that is where Cronus seems to have gotten into trouble.

 

Basically this is an accessibility device that is primarily being used as a hardware "macro keyboard/mouse" type of cheat device.

 

I think that might be something that needs to be considered for "next gen" systems beyond the PS5, how to enable accessibility without enabling cheating. Like most players of FPS games end up turning all the accessibility features the game has in the first place so they don't end up at a disadvantage to someone who is using the features when they don't need it.

 

Apparently the entire "K+M" on a console bit seems to be a cheat in itself, at least against other console players. So I don't really know what to feel about this. Maybe if the device wasn't being marketed as a way to cheat and had learned from what happened with macro keyboard and mice before over the last two decades in PC games that prohibit it.

 

I did not feel this needed a new thread since is pretty much the the same topic just the cronus (the device targeted by microsoft) being banned by sony, not just microsoft now.

 

[NF-F12]

The fact that the No1 subscribed Twitch channel almost exclusively plays competitive Rainbow Six: Siege on Xbox and has to deal with players using XIM is probably a big reason.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

On 2/5/2024 at 1:31 PM, NF-F12 said:

The fact that the No1 subscribed Twitch channel almost exclusively plays competitive Rainbow Six: Siege on Xbox and has to deal with players using XIM is probably a big reason.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a significant portion of streamers and content creators out there using such devices if not outright using cheating software. We've seen many get banned live and there will always be more.