Can't really blame them, as mouse look and what not weren't really all that common when System Shock was first released.

Now if they released SS today with that control system heads would roll.

That's the default control scheme for pretty much every FPS since Unreal Tournament, though. What's wrong with DX2 specifically? Does the game not allow you to remap the movement keys?

Exactly, if DX:IW is crippled by WASD, then so is every single FPS game from at least the last 10 years, which is simply not true.

Resident Evil 4.

I really hated it on Dead Space. Aiming felt weird and slow. Kinda like stuck on tar.

MDK, I should look into getting that set up with xpadder, but the keyboard controls are just ridiculous.

Force V-sync on Nvidia's control panel and the problem is solved.

Pretty much, their insane key mapping had me nearly uninstall the game. I was too pissed that night and by pure serendipity gave it another shot the next day. It turns out the game was amazing, at least to me.

I can't recall what they picked for "pick up" as a command, but it was non-obvious, something like right-shift+enter or some such.

Alone in the Dark 2008. There were a lot of problems, but awful controls were certainly one of them. I'm still pissed that Microsoft killed the path they said was coming...

The beef I have is that it seems that developers are starting to make controls uncomfortable for PC gamers whom refuse to invest in 360 controller to play their games.

The 1.2 patch alters The Invisible War so any external mapping software will be canceled upon game load however opening one of the cfg files with notepad reveals the patch scripted the game for an XBox controller specifically.

Granted you can still use Deus Ex's internal mapping options for a third party controller but it thwarts being able to use your second analogue stick, like a mouse.

With Undergarden there is a specific action scripted to only be compatible with an 360 controller when it would've been just as easy to allow mapping of that action to an actual key on the keyboard.

It appears that the developers want less experienced users to feel that the 360 controller is a necessary and quality device by going out of their way to make the games artificially difficult to control without one.

Not only does this frustrate people like me using third party game pads but hinders PC gamers whom prefer using just keyboard and mouse.

That reminds me Assassin's Creed was borderline unplayable without an XBox360 controller, even if you do manage to figure out what buttons represent the ones that the game is telling you to push.

Hmm. Was the original X-Box controller compatible with Windows (was it even USB)? I don't recall people using them with their PCs, anyway, and DX2 predates both the X-Box 360 and Microsoft's "Games for Windows" branding. Given that the game was a terrible port in the first place, I wouldn't be surprised to find leftover junk files from X-Box development (or lousy gamepad support, for that matter).

I agree heartily with this. I hate the fact that some of my games will not work with my perfectly fine Saitek P990, but would "just work" if I invested up to $60 in an Xbox controller. However, that doesn't mean that using the WASD controls is crippling. Most PC gamers are going to prefer that over a gamepad anyway and the game developers know this, hence why they don't bother with robust gamepad support beyond the insanely easy to implement Xbox controller support. It's not really a case of developers going out of their way to push the Xbox controller, it's just that much easier to include Xbox controller support with the game since that support is exactly the same on both the Xbox and the PC. It would actually be harder and take more effort to strip that out and add back in generic gamepad support for a PC version of a game.

Look up the mouselook mod that changes those awkward controls ....