techokami

Techokami

@techokami

For use only on NTSC Genesis Systems.
Avatar image by CyanSorcery!

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techokami
@techokami
lifning
@lifning
lifning
@lifning

compromises your gaming experience

hm.

darkwitchclaire
@darkwitchclaire

imagine just even having a preference for an uncommon type of controller

nope, you gotta do accessibility the microsoft way™

lifning
@lifning

microsoft doesn't want us cheating (on them)

they thought we had something special together! that we would never go behind their back for accessibility's sake. can't we just let them be our everything? look at how hard their accessibility team works. how could we do this to them.

techokami
@techokami

wait

I thought Microsoft already made a fairly robust and official means to create special controllers for accessibility?

Yeah it lets you build an entire control setup with your desired input methods plugged into the box. Unfortunately it isn't cheap, but afaik when you're getting into this realm of accessibility everything gets kinda pricey?
The image in the OP is still a really shitty thing to see from Microsoft though.

EDIT: It has come to my attention via the comments that the linked device isn't the most optimal solution and this change will obliterate more practical solutions.
What the fuck, Microsoft

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in reply to @kelly's post:

kelly
@kelly

me too! i am leveraging what's left of my accessibility consulting past to grab the ear of anyone who'll listen (writers, people On The Inside, etc) so at least they can't pretend they're not aware of the ramifications of this

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mcc
@mcc

Why would I even care people are cheating online. We didn't pay for Xbox Live, so we're not allowed to play online anyway. How is it they think I'm going to cheat online if I can't play online in the first place

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kelly
@kelly

cheating is the most public-facing problem (because of how massively popular those games are) but i imagine this is like Sony's PS5 policy in that they simply want to recover the "lost" revenue from licensed accessory sales, which have surely slowed as adaptors such as brook's have become more common. either that or someone found a way to get into the system through the usb port that has them in a panic. i certainly don't agree with this action personally but that's probably where some line-go-up boss man's head's at with this

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kelly
@kelly

i am always interested in things like this, but i'm not a technical enough person to understand this. i'm happy it exists, of course! frankly, i shouldn't have to be a computer science person to use a human interface device without physical pain. i avoid PC gaming for similar reasons. and now with all 3 console manufacturers showing themselves willing to patch out support for things i already own, i'm going to be a lot less confident investing in any new control solution, even after the dust clears and we have a clearer picture of what will or will not be allowed on my platform of choice.

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spitfire
@spitfire

basically the way auth passthrough currently works is:

  • you build a custom controller, or an adapter, using this firmware
  • you plug in an official/authorized gamepad into an extra USB port on the custom controller
  • the custom controller sits in the middle and passes any auth requests to the official gamepad (also, both controllers in this configuration work in-game and can be used at the same time). to the console this is indistinguishable from a regular gamepad

and yeah it's still in active development, so it requires technical knowledge to use at the moment. but the goal is to make it as end-user-friendly as possible, with a simple graphical interface app for configuration.

i was beta-testing it recently, and besides GH guitars working on any platform, i now have an adapter that allows me to use basically any gamepad on any console (i personally tested PS2, X360, Switch and PC; but XB1, Series X, PS3 and PS4 are also confirmed working), for a fraction of the price of a cronus or any other decent commercially-available solution

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kelly
@kelly

was it tested with the new Series S|X policy that started disabling peripherals as of just yesterday? having a vestigial OEM controller dangling off my fight stick isn't ideal but if it's what i gotta do then it's what i'll do... if i can be assured MS won't just patch it out if more FPS players complain about cheaters too loudly

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spitfire
@spitfire

yep, was confirmed yesterday it shows up as a legitimate controller. i don't think it can ever be patched, for all intents and purposes the console is talking directly to the OEM controller during auth

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in reply to @lifning's post:

in reply to @darkwitchclaire's post:

NotMiki
@NotMiki

cannot BELIEVE you are doubting Microsoft's motives here. truly there is no less restrictive way to prevent CoD cheating in ranked matches than to disable literally every third-party controller for every program.

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kelly
@kelly

they're pretty liberal with licensing and this only affects a very small number of unlicensed (usually foreign or hobbyist-made) devices, but the number of compatible devices that they should be disabling is still zero

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MisutaaAsriel
@MisutaaAsriel

Don't they have a modular controller accessibility hub? I genuinely wonder how hard it would be for hobbyists to work around that? Make something that connects through it rather than directly, in such a way that it'd register as the XBOX Adaptive Controller instead of an "unauthorized accessory".

Not saying they should be disabling controllers. Just that I wonder if there's a genuine way around this for accessibility.

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kelly
@kelly

i've got one of those and unfortunately it won't help here. it's a singular device which sends standard inputs mostly through 3.5mm jacks and the few inputs it has on the face. there are two USB ports but those are only to intercept and send analog signals for use as sticks or triggers. to use the device i wanted to use on my Series X, i had to buy one of the Brook adaptors which is now being blacklisted system-level.

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in reply to @lifning's post:

in reply to @techokami's post:

kelly
@kelly

i've got one of those and unfortunately it won't help me here. it's a singular device which sends standard inputs mostly through 3.5mm jacks (input devices not included) and the few controller functions it has on the face. there are two USB ports but those are only to intercept and send analog signals for use as sticks or triggers. to use the device i wanted to use on my Series X, i had to buy one of the Brook adaptors which is now being blacklisted system-level.

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kelly
@kelly

also let's not overlook the fact that the Adaptive Controller, as well-designed as it is for its use cases, is $100 just on its own. one small switch unit costs around $30 (bigger buttons or foot switches are pricier) and external analog sticks are about $60. with 19 ports and 2 USB ports, to duplicate the functionality of a standard controller, assuming the user can operate its built-in face controls, that's a $610 setup, not including shipping. whereas my current setup works just fine on the $50 adapter they're patching out support for. so you can understand why people in my position are not happy!

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lifning
@lifning

exactly my point. perhaps microsoft is upset that disabled people have options that aren't their expensive 3.5mm breakout doohickey, or perhaps they think they've ticked the box already for "okay, we gracefully and progressively have given people with disabilities permission to play our video games for the first time in history and soaked up all the good press from our funny controller, surely we don't have to worry about their use cases at all from here on out." but at no point should we accept a world where "c'mon now, just throw out the thing that was working for you and pay the official microsoft disabled player tax and then construct something with it if you wanna play a game so bad" is acceptable (now, i personally am of the opinion that executives signing off on decisions that abuse disabled people (or any ol' player with a third party controller, really) like this should lose a finger each time they do it, but that's beside the point)

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kelly
@kelly

i am still angry that Sony only allowed the DualSense to be used for PS5 games (and dragged their heels licensing third-party controllers, all of which are expensive specialty items) but in a way now in comparison it's almost like, well hey, at least they were up front about it and i knew that when i bought their system. y'know rather than letting me have three years of control flexibility only to disable it in firmware

i do want to clarify though, most third party controllers that general audiences own and bought from a retail store will be unaffected. (their messaging does not make this clear at all.) but they shouldn't be patching out ANY devices that ANYONE owns!

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