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My mates at work are trying to get me to buy Modern Warfare 2 for my PS3. I basically don't play FPS games on consoles, because I hate the control mechanism when using a standard controller. Today though, I found out you can get a mouse setup called the Frag FX. It seems to have good reviews, but I wonder if anyone here has used one? If so, how close is it to using a mouse on the PC in an FPS? Also, is it configurable enough to work in all your FPS games?

I was very pleased with the responses I got back when I started this thread. It helped me a lot in my decision to buy one.

Well, I bought one anyway, and CoD MW2, and they're both in the post. I'll report back and let everyone know how similar it is to PC gaming, and how much it helps me own ... if at all.

I'd be dubious, not about whether it'll work or not, but about the actual real quality of the thing. I'm gonna guess that it is not cheap, probably £35 - which would probably get you a reasonable keyboard and mouse set for the PC. So for the PS3 the option is to get a mouse controller thing like you have, or use an adaptor and standard keyboard and mouse.

I'm dubious - because any mouse I ever bought for a console has been terrible. The controller and mouse combo sounds good, and it will be good as long as the mouse is not too bad and you can get a comfortable setup. I think it'd give you a definite advantage as well, in MW2 at least - maybe not so much in other shooters. Thing with MW2 is that you have to be quick, and having that faster aiming with a mouse should put you ahead. Other shooters tend to rely on straffing as much as aiming, so the actual advantage you would get over a controller player is probably less. If people start accusing you of hacking, then your onto something .

The PS3 is really good with USB devices, I plugged in a wireless keyboard with a mouse 'stick' thing, and it worked right away. I think the PS3 is more designed to use a mouse and keyboard than the 360 (which seems strange to me) - I think you'll find a lot of games will embrace the thing.

Cheers for your thoughts Mr B. I did have a go plugging in various USB devices into my PS3 a while ago, and some of them even worked. A standard PC mouse worked to navigate around the menus, but couldn't be used in any way in game.

This Frag FX is supposed to be good. Like you, I'm not 100% convinced. However, IGN is a reasonably reliable source, and they gave it 9.1/10, so there is hope.

As for price, it cost me £40 on ebay, but they seem to go for £50-£60 normally. Hopefully that's an indication of build quality and functionality. I'll let you guys know. If I'm fragging like a pro, then we'll know the mouse lives up to it's name!

Ok, so to continue my almost (apart from Van!) solitary thread, here is my take on the FragFX V2 ...

It comes with firmware version 1.0. For the people who don't know what firmware is (I'm not preaching to you guys, I'm talking about other customers of this product), I dread to think what they'd make of the controller. Out of the box, the movement is incredibly jerky and the special "frag" button, which slows down the mouse movements for precise shooting, didn't work at all. I thought I had bought a dodgy ebay product, it sucked that much!

After that first play through the Killzone demo, as someone who has never got to grips with FPSs using a gamepad, I honestly think I could've done better with the gamepad. It was THAT crap. Since it'd got such good praise online, I was starting to wonder if I was just a complete dexterously challenged fool. Luckily though, I knew Spitfish were actively updating the firmware, so I hoped that extended to just fixing software bugs.

After navigating their rubbish website, I downloaded a firmware update tool, which subsequently didn't work. It was throwing up errors, and Windows kept popping up trying to install new hardware for the device during firmware flashing. So I had to do some googling to get help! Eventually, I happened across a post on a forum by a spitfish employee, who explained how to get it flashed. Finally, after 15 mins or so of messing around, I was updated.

Plugging the thing back into the PS3, I noticed an immediate difference. The mouse finally behaved a lot like a mouse. It moved proportionally, where previously it had moved like it was having a fit. Not only that, but the frag button finally worked, and it was damn useful. I found I could quickly point at different objects in a static scene quite precisely.

So I played through the Killzone demo a few times, and got the hang of it. I can say two things about it now. It's not as good as a PC mouse by a long shot, but it is substantially better than a controller. The only negatives (once it's finally setup correctly) is the old 'picking your mouse up' thing you have to do to keep turning round and round.

My conclusion is, if you're happy with your gamepad, then it's not worth it, unless you're a mega hardcore FPS player and want the best interface you can get. If you find yourself getting frustrated with the gamepad, it'll make a massive difference.

I can't play FPS games with a controller either. It gets on my nerves, I'm horrible at it, and it slows you down. But I also can't shell out that much money for a gaming mouse\controller. I'm happy with my PC gaming.

Glad it's working for you though!

I'm honored. But now VanB feels left out...

This image should make him feel special:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~foe3643/Carter%20County/Adkins-at-Everman-Creek/King-Van-B.jpg

LOL. Yes, a picture of his grave will DEFINITELY fill him with joy.