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[Poimandres]

People really underestimate how off putting modern controller can be to the uninitiated. And that just asking people to control the camera is already a barrier as you throw them controlling tow different things in real time at them, much less when you add in the less precises and intuitive nature of sticks.

It's really not THAT hard to pick up. I remember the first time I tried keyboard + mouse controls with Quake it hurt my head, but it took no more than a couple of hours to get a good grip on it and then it was so natural I didn't need to think about it. My girlfriend had never played an FPS before I introduced her to Bioshock in 2010. In a few hours she got the hang of it. It was the many buttons and functions that took longer to grasp than the movement itself.

Yes, these controllers are imposing with multiple buttons but doing anything remotely complex tends to have a learning curve. Here in Australia you need 100 hours before you can even take a test for a drivers license. I sure as hell found driving a car had a steeper learning curve than wrangling a dual stick controller. Using a keyboard for basic word processing has a learning curve.

We are moving towards more intuitive input methods. I've heard from several friend with very young children that they are almost instantly understand touch screens, and get confused when they try to interact with something like a magazine and the picture doesn't do anything when they touch it. But truly instantly intuitive input methods are the exception rather than the norm. Wiimote is straight forward enough. People understand the concept of pointing something or shaking it well enough. Throw a nunchuck into the mix and things are getting complicated.

 

[autoduelist]

Doesn't matter considering int he context of this discussion camera control was used by c stick buttons or analog which achieved the same effect. Lets not be too anal for the sake of discussion when devs weren't as much.

i'm struggling to see how someone saying a game that used digital/analog shouldn't really be considered the game that popularized analog/analog could be considered as 'anal'.

It would be like if someone asked 'what game popularized light guns' and someone suggested a standard fps game because 'clearly this led to light guns'... no, the game that popularized light guns -used- light guns. And the game that popularized analog/analog, by that same merit, used two analogs not some makeshift alternative.

 

[Novocaine]

Halo without a doubt. Even today the first game is a joy to control.

I also really dig the fluency between ground and vehicle control. I think that was the first time I saw a vehicle in a game control like that.

 

[nkarafo]

I just tried this out and its SO clsoe to being fucking sick. BUT strafe is mapped to the right stick, and turn is mapped to the left stick. Ruins it. Still neat though. And maybe the first true example here?

You can change it man. I use the left stick for movement and the right one for looking around.

 

[POWERSPHERE]

Goldeneye with two controllers

 

[BradleyLove]

Probably didn't popularize it, but -

Descent 1994, move/strafe left analog, aim right analog -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR8BqikwYbE

Also came out on PS1 in early 96 with the same setup (using PS1's dual flight stick and later dual analog/shock)

Yeah, I remember playing Descent with dual sticks on ps1?

 

[Crv756]

If you had a dualshock controller to the PSX, Then it was Medal of Honor. But it was wonky and did not work well, so you still used l2 to aim. Halo CE was the ice breaker, no doubt there. The controls on there were amazing.

 

[nkarafo]

Yeah, after all these posts, i can agree that the right answer is Goldeneye, using 2 controllers. It plays exactly like a modern FPS and it feels like holding 2 nunchuks.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Yes, yes it is

Third paragraph

LMFAO "wait for Aliens: Colonial Marines"

oh god.. that is brilliant

 

[StrawberryJam]

That is amazing.

 

[Thicc Enigma]

Syphon Filter?

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

You could dual analog on GoldenEye, you just needed two controllers:

This has 100% blown my fucking mind.

 

[demigod]

I thought it was Gran Turismo that popularized it.

 

[petran79]

http://www.mobygames.com/game/playstation/virtual-pool/mobyrank

Virtual Pool review, 1995

It's about time someone made a serious pool game for a console system. Virtual Pool delivers, but it could be better. Everything you could want in a pool sim is here, including instructional videos and tips on how to make trick shots. The problem lies in control and game speed. For such simple 3-D graphics, VR Pool has a hard time moving them, especially when a lot is on screen. The control is very clumsy and imprecise as a result of the gamepad. If you really like pool, pick this up, along with a PS mouse.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

I thought it was Gran Turismo that popularized it.

Was the first too use it on PS1 (bought a new pad just for it), but not for cameras

 

[Acorn]

A PS1 Game was one of the first recorded instances of using the right stick to aim. Some Alien game. Ironically that game was critically panned because the controls were awful!

Otherwise Halo popularized it.

If you're talking about Alien Triology I'll punch you.

 

[electroshockwave]

I think some of you are really stretching to say that Halo popularised dual analog. It definitely controlled better than many of its peers but considering the games experimenting with the setup in the previous gen, Timesplitters a year earlier, and Medal of Honor: Frontline six months later I don't think there's any doubt that mould for FPS controls on console had already been set.

 

[nkarafo]

I think some of you are really stretching to say that Halo popularised dual analog. It definitely controlled better than many of its peers but considering the games experimenting with the setup in the previous gen, Timesplitters a year earlier, and Medal of Honor: Frontline six months later I don't think there's any doubt that mould for FPS controls on console had already been set.

Plus there is Goldeneye which was released in 1997.

 

[Graphics Horse]

http://www.mobygames.com/game/playstation/virtual-pool/mobyrank

Virtual Pool review, 1995

It's about time someone made a serious pool game for a console system. Virtual Pool delivers, but it could be better. Everything you could want in a pool sim is here, including instructional videos and tips on how to make trick shots. The problem lies in control and game speed. For such simple 3-D graphics, VR Pool has a hard time moving them, especially when a lot is on screen. The control is very clumsy and imprecise as a result of the gamepad. If you really like pool, pick this up, along with a PS mouse.

Virtual pool uses a mouse to physically push the cue forward, no? I'd have thought that would be the main deficiency of using a controller, on top of the aiming problems.

 

[War Eagle]

Mario 64, despite having no second analog stick.
Basically worked like that, influencing the first games that could use a second analog stick.

While this almost feels like cheating due to the lack of an actual second stick, I would have to agree here. The c buttons to control camera laid out the (obvious) groundwork to use a second stick as camera control.

 

[KalBalboa]

Mario 64, despite having no second analog stick.
Basically worked like that, influencing the first games that could use a second analog stick.

I'm sorry, but that's not a second analog stick.

 

[Coll1der]

It was most definitely on PSX, but what most people don't realise is that then 2 sticks were not required and the default PS1 controller didn't have them, as well as the vibration. To circumvent that a lot of games had to use more complex control schemes. Quake 2 had aiming up/down and strafing on SHOULDER PADS. Medal of Honor had you hold one of the shoulder buttons to enter something akin to a on-rails shooter aiming mode, while standing on one spot.

 

[The Lamonster]

I would say Mario 64.

 

[Correctomundo]

If you're talking about Alien Trilogy I'll punch you.

It's Alien Resurrection, as has already been shown repeatedly in this thread. Not that it was a bad control scheme, just that the idiot reviewer couldn't wrap his head around dual analog in a FPS. AR controlled just fine, except for the inability to move completely along the Y axis.

I mean, I'm with you. I adore Alien Trilogy, but it predated the original dual analog PS controller by a year and a half. Vertical camera movement was done by holding a button and pressing one of two other buttons. No one could be talking about it.

 

[Zeta Oni]

I think the word "popularized" is being misunderstood here.

Played goldeneye throughout my early years, and I can count on no hands the amount of people I've seen change the controls outside of people loading up the SP to change the inverted settings.

Played Turok as well, and I'd have to say that's the first game that fits what the OP is looking for, but I don't remember it being a particularly popular control scheme afterwards.

Then Timesplitters.

But if we are talking popularized, it's Halo. Just like CoD wasn't the first shooter with a regenerating health system, then after 4 every modern fps seemed to have it.

 

[petran79]

Virtual pool uses a mouse to physically push the cue forward, no? I'd have thought that would be the main deficiency of using a controller, on top of the aiming problems.

it also has other uses: move ball, raise butt of cue, english: move cue tip. There are also zoom controls.

Much to bothersome on a gamepad.
PS1 version was released in 1997, N64 version in 1999

 

[MuscleMan]

No so much a game as much as the idea of having camera buttons on the N64. These naturally transitioned to a second analog stick that could be used for other purposes as developers saw fit.

I blame this and goldeneye for my only able to to play FPS in southpaw. Thanks a lot!

 

[cireza]

I wanted to mention Duke Nukem 3D on Saturn, which already used this kind of control with the Analog Pad.

You would move with the buttons A B X Y, and aim with the stick.

Don't know if it was the case of Quake and Exhumed however.

Then, all Dreamcast FPS would use this scheme.

 

[nkarafo]

I blame this and goldeneye for my only able to to play FPS in southpaw. Thanks a lot!

Your fault really though since this can be changed to d-pad + analog. And it works great.

 

[NathanS]

It's really not THAT hard to pick up. I remember the first time I tried keyboard + mouse controls with Quake it hurt my head, but it took no more than a couple of hours to get a good grip on it and then it was so natural I didn't need to think about it. My girlfriend had never played an FPS before I introduced her to Bioshock in 2010. In a few hours she got the hang of it. It was the many buttons and functions that took longer to grasp than the movement itself.

Yes, these controllers are imposing with multiple buttons but doing anything remotely complex tends to have a learning curve. Here in Australia you need 100 hours before you can even take a test for a drivers license. I sure as hell found driving a car had a steeper learning curve than wrangling a dual stick controller. Using a keyboard for basic word processing has a learning curve.

We are moving towards more intuitive input methods. I've heard from several friend with very young children that they are almost instantly understand touch screens, and get confused when they try to interact with something like a magazine and the picture doesn't do anything when they touch it. But truly instantly intuitive input methods are the exception rather than the norm. Wiimote is straight forward enough. People understand the concept of pointing something or shaking it well enough. Throw a nunchuck into the mix and things are getting complicated.

That controlling games have gotten complex is rather the point. For most people spending hours trying to learn to walk in a game is not worth it. And Is there really that much of a pay off for all the added complexity? Because again, games were not always like this, is an Uncharted that much deeper then a Megaman or a NES Zelda? I mean your go to example for playing a modern game is learning to drive a car!

Never mind that when things like wii-motes and touch screens come in to try and bring down the obstacles modern gaming has erected around itself gamers lose their minds and call the death of gaming. People HATE the idea of Nintendo trying to make more inviting controllers, what they like is the Steam controller, one that adds even more inputs

Of course the average person is flocking to mobile in these conditions you want a classic style game with easy to learn controls that let you get in too playing? that's your main option. There's a reason Pong is what created the gaming industry and was a massive hit and not Computer Space, one was simple enough for a drunk guy in the bar.

 

[Mael]

I'm pretty sure Virtual On use 2 sticks to control, that's an arcade game from 1995 or something.
It was also very popular.

 

[goonergaz]

I thought it was Timeplitters - PS2 launch

 

[Novocaine]

I think some of you are really stretching to say that Halo popularised dual analog. It definitely controlled better than many of its peers but considering the games experimenting with the setup in the previous gen, Timesplitters a year earlier, and Medal of Honor: Frontline six months later I don't think there's any doubt that mould for FPS controls on console had already been set.

The key word here is "popularised". I don't think anybody would argue it wasn't implemented into games before Halo.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

If we're talking popularized, it'd be Halo.

Some N64 game had a thing where you'd use the analog of a second controller, and other games tried using two-analogs but it didn't stick.

If by "some N64 game" you mean GoldenEye, then yeah.

 

[a.wd]

Goldeneye was the first game I remember doing that

 

[Head.spawn]

Plus there is Goldeneye which was released in 1997.

Golden Eye was a game for sure, but it certainly didn't popularize dual analogs. Notice how a lot of people didn't even know that mode existed.

Fuck, I had the game when it first released and have played it as recently as a month ago... had no fucking clue it had a dual stick mode until a few minutes ago and I bet money I would blow minds of i pointed out to my friends.. who all have played the shot out of the game with more over those years.

 

[Bloodporne]

People really underestimate how off putting modern controller can be to the uninitiated. And that just asking people to control the camera is already a barrier as you throw them controlling tow different things in real time at them, much less when you add in the less precises and intuitive nature of sticks.

My wife, who will only play the occasional NES game from her childhood, really wanted to get into Dark Souls based on her thinking it looked like a cool Horror 3D Zelda absolutely refused after getting her first taste of dual stick controls.

She sees me playing all the time of course but said having to control the camera with 'an awkward little stick' on top of trying to handle the character in a 3D environment is way too much for her to try to learn and dropped the game after about 30 minutes haha.

Sort of off-topic but is Alien Resurrection actually worth getting and worth playing? I missed this one completely back in the day but the gameplay videos look quite cool.

 

[NathanS]

I'm pretty sure Virtual On use 2 sticks to control, that's an arcade game from 1995 or something.
It was also very popular.

By that point arcades were focusing more on a select core then broad audience, but even putting that aside it was two sticks, for buttons with instruction on exactly what each input does sitting right next to you at all times. Well the screen and controls are all right next to each other so glancing at the controls quickly is far easier.

Masayuki Uemura, the Famicom designer , even had the problem of the increased distance of hand from screen in mind as they tried to find a good controller for the system. And this was also after Hiroshi Yamauchi turned down the idea of making a full computer with a keyboard because the more complex control set up of a keyboard could be off putting to the average person.

 

[Bloodporne]

Golden Eye was a game for sure, but it certainly didn't popularize dual analogs. Notice how a lot of people didn't even know that mode existed.

Fuck, I had the game when it first released and have played it as recently as a month ago... had no fucking clue it had a dual stick mode until a few minutes ago and I bet money I would blow minds of i pointed out to my friends.. who all have played the shot out of the game with more over those years.

Agreed, several of my friends and myself had the game and played the shit out of it when it originally came out and I had never even heard of this dual stick mode.

 

[Tivor Tontomo]

POPULARIZED is the keyword. ge nor turok popularized the SECOND stick as many forgot this thread was about. The answer is Halo.

 

[diffusionx]

The game that got me doing it was TimeSplitters at PS2 launch. I'm not sure that popularized it, but I think it legitimized it after a generation where maybe one or two games did it on PS1 and obviously none did it on DC/N64 (using two controllers on N64 does not count). I adjusted to it relatively quickly but I was a young'un. Years later I know why the olds of the time complained so much.

Halo was the game that popularized it and made it standard.

 

[Krappadizzle]

I think some of you are really stretching to say that Halo popularised dual analog. It definitely controlled better than many of its peers but considering the games experimenting with the setup in the previous gen, Timesplitters a year earlier, and Medal of Honor: Frontline six months later I don't think there's any doubt that mould for FPS controls on console had already been set.

Talking purely popularized, I'd say Halo was the one that did it. Easily, not the first, but the best and most accessible. And Halo was unexpected to be what it was when it came out. My friends and I had played Timesplitters and Winback a ton on PS2, but Halo made the dual sticks popular for a wider, general audience.

 

[jblank83]

did you....did you even read the thread title? it has the word 'analog' not 'digital' lol

I... I... did.

The quote being responded too clearly acknowledged he wasn't talking about analog. He was just contributing some thoughts to a conversation on camera control. The response to his post was needlessly derisive of the poster, which is what irritated me. The conversation could have easily expanded to include that line of thought.

 

[lazygecko]

Is this a real quote?

It's from Gamespot's 2000 review of the game. The whole review is amazing. The final paragraph tells you to wait for Aliens Colonial Marines instead.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/alien-resurrection-review/1900-2637344/

Fans of console first-person shooters or the Alien film series will probably be better off waiting for Fox's recently announced Aliens: Colonial Marines for the PlayStation 2. While no concrete details have been announced for the game yet, this is one instance where the unknown is preferable to the devil you know.

 

[Salty Hippo]

GoldenEye was the first and Halo popularized it. Why are people still mentioning shit like Alien Resurrection?

 

[goonergaz]

Was Timesplitters not popular then? Even so to me it was the first game that used it as a default control, from that moment all future FPSs had to use that control method - ergo IMHO Timesplitters is the answer.

People just say Halo because it's a more popular game but I can't think of any FPSs on PS2 that didn't use dualsticks?

 

[goonergaz]

Talking purely popularized, I'd say Halo was the one that did it. Easily, not the first, but the best and most accessible. And Halo was unexpected to be what it was when it came out. My friends and I had played Timesplitters and Winback a ton on PS2, but Halo made the dual sticks popular for a wider, general audience.

What was unexpected about Halo? It was a game 'ripped' from the PC community who were gagging for it, it was always going to sell well - hell the original Xbox has often called a Halo player.

 

[lazygecko]

It was a game 'ripped' from the PC community who were gagging for it

 

[Not Spaceghost]

The first game I encountered it with was Red Faction 2 I think? That or mobile suit gundam Zeonic Front, which was basically a gundam version of rainbow 6.

I wanna say though that it wasn't till Halo 1 where I found myself thinking "this is how I expect all games are going to control from now on"

 

[LCGeek]

i'm struggling to see how someone saying a game that used digital/analog shouldn't really be considered the game that popularized analog/analog could be considered as 'anal'.

It would be like if someone asked 'what game popularized light guns' and someone suggested a standard fps game because 'clearly this led to light guns'... no, the game that popularized light guns -used- light guns. And the game that popularized analog/analog, by that same merit, used two analogs not some makeshift alternative.

Stuggle all you like but it's odd you can't remember history of the PS1 generation or how certain functions being mapped to second analog stick were usedon c stick on n64. Did you forgot Mario 64? Easily the first game and best selling game of its generation to show us this style and then magically regardless of genre or platform tons of developers followed with a similar way to manipulate the camera, This somehow escapes you or becomes a makeshift alternative when it in fact was being used quite commonly then and even more so now. Your use example means jack considering the timesplitters devs went from using this style on n64 straight in to PS2 with little to no problems. You can bring up that line but it almost requires us to ignore the history of how this actually started. The discussion isn't genre limited either it's about inputs and functionality.

Also GE was pretty popular and double analog was pretty known. People can keep trying to rationalize arguments but it's been known for quite sometime and even if most didn't use it we are talking about 8-9 million sales game with various control options. I'd be lying if I said halo had no influence or very little but it did quite a bit. By very definition the OP never said what game most popularized this, he just asked which game popularized which by all accounts what people mentioned does indeed count.