Monday, February 21, 2011

Maximus XIM: Playing Xbox 360 With A Mouse And Keyboard Part Deux


So after I tried out the MaxShooter, I decided I wanted to give an Xbox Input Machine (XIM) a fair try. I sold the MaxShooter on Ebay and picked up a Maximus XIM. The Maximus XIM is a first generation XIM modified to work for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

Their are a few differences between a XIM and the MaxShooter or an XFPS type adapter:

  • The XIM requires a computer running software, and uses the computer's keyboard and mouse for input.
  • XIM software helps account for the "dead space" I talked about with the MaxShooter.
  • The Maximus XIM does not plug directly into the Xbox 360, rather it plugs into a Playstation 2 port. A PS3/Xbox to PS2 adapter is required.
  • Bot still require a wired Xbox 360 controller.
So after owning this for a few weeks, I've learned a lot. The first thing you should know, is this is a really expensive solution. The XIM itself can cost upwards of $250. The wired controller will run you another $35, then you'll probably want to make sure you have a gaming mouse with adjustable DPI ($40-$70), and of course there's the cost of a computer if you don't have one.

As for computer specs necessary: There really isn't a set of hardware requirements, PC-wise for the XIM software. It's got to be a Windows-based PC, and that's pretty much it. I've learned that there are some fine points to computer selection though. Initially, I was running my XIM off of my wife's netbook. The XIM worked, and it was pretty smooth, much better than the MaxShooter. However, it was still a little laggy at times, and not super responsive for fine movements and long range aiming.

After a took a little break from using it, I moved the XIM downstairs to my other Xbox 360 (everyone has two, right?) which is hooked up to the same 25" 1080p monitor my PC is. That way I can hook it up between that 360 an my desktop which is an older Intel quad core Q6600 with 6GB of ram. (I know, it's time for an upgrade!). Suffice to say my desktop is much more beefy than the little Atom powered netbook with 2GB of ram. The results of hooking the XIM up to a faster machine were shocking. The XIM performed twice as well on my desktop and control in-game was much more fine-grained and responsive.

While my initial impressions of the XIM with the netbook were so-so: It worked well, but it was still just about as accurate as a thumbstick, maybe only a littler better, and it didn't seem to improve my game at all. My impressions of the XIM when it was hooked up to my PC were night-and-day different: The control offered by the XIM absolutely made a difference in my gaming. My accuracy jumped by about 7% (that's big really: 11% to 18%), and I could, without fear take a stand against two or three assaulting opponents at the same time, shooting each one before any one of them could hone a bead on me. I played the two best games I've ever played on COD: Black Ops thanks to the XIM. Getting a record of 41 kills in a single round and a record 17 kills in a row in another game where I went 23 and 1. Prior to the XIM, my best record was 21 kills in a round and 9 kills in a row. I'm not a very good player to begin with, and I'm still not, there are definitely better. If someone is good at a game and they have thumbsticks, they are still likely to beat you because they're probably using better strategy. However, if someone with thumbsticks meets someone with a mouse head-on (i.e. not from behind) the person with the thumbsticks is going to die unless he gets terribly lucky. I mean, I admittedly suck in comparison to your average gamer and I don't even flinch when I'm facing the other team's top killer in a virtual showdown. Unless I'm busy scratching something, I'm going to aim faster and there's not much he can do about it.

Added bonus with the XIM over other solutions: Programmers like myself (or even hobbiests) can use tools like AutoHotKey or even .NET to create very complex macros to be run in-game. A chain of moves for example, or a simple set of commands that you have to do repeatedly can be done in a single key stroke.

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