Blue Orb announced today that they would be offering support for Warhammer Online with their application that allows players to trade in their keyboard and mouse for an XBox 360 controller.

Blue Orb, Inc., creators of the intuitive SwitchBlade™ application that allows gamers to play PC games with an Xbox 360® controller, today revealed SwitchBlade support for Mythic Entertainment’s upcoming MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR). WAR players can download the free software now and experience WAR using a standard Xbox 360 controller.

“Our aim is to immerse players into the brutal frays of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning by providing them with a hands-on alternative to the traditional keyboard and mouse control scheme,” said Walt Wilson, COO at Blue Orb. “Realm vs. Realm combat is one of the many highlights of WAR, and SwitchBlade brings comfort and a rich new game play experience to the hours-long city sieges players will experience in-game.”

SwitchBlade for WAR comes preconfigured, mapping the most commonly used WAR controls to wired or wireless Xbox 360 controllers. SwitchBlade support for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, gives fans of the classic franchise a powerful and easy to learn new way to experience the much-anticipated game.

“Warhammer Online provides an epic experience that can be enjoyed by all types of gamers,” said Matt Shaw, CTO at Mythic Entertainment. “The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning SwitchBlade support created by Blue Orb offers yet another reason for console and PC gamers alike to appreciate the genre advancing game play of WAR.”

 

You can download it here.

Well, i'm not a fan of the Xbox, but the fact that they have one available is interesting enough.

Call of Duty® 4
Call of Duty® 2
Counter Strike™: Source™
World of Warcraft®
Guild Wars®
Hellgate™: London
Half-Life® 2

With the handful of games that they support now, it is good to see they expect WAR to do so well they made it a priority to have switchblade work with the game.

I'll keep my eyes out and see how well this does.

Like the previous poster, I'm interested in this too.

I've never used a controller for a PC game before, but then again, I've not played a game that feels like WAR before either.

It could be fun, and I'll be giving it a go as soon as the 360 controller I'm about to order arrives :)

To replace a keyboard mouse combo with a xbox controller is probably the most illogical thing you can do in a MMO.  I know there are some not too bright people out there, but it does not take much to realize how much better the mouse and keyboard are over a controller.

I'm not sure how well something like this could be implemented, but I am also interested in trying this.

The only other game on my pc I use a game pad for is the Grand Theft Auto games.  I have them all, and since I also played them on my ps2 and xbox 360, it just seemed natural to play using the controller versus the keyboard. 

Originally posted by Ozmodan

To replace a keyboard mouse combo with a xbox controller is probably the most illogical thing you can do in a MMO.

Exactly was I was thinking, it makes no sense to use a controller, they are just way too limited in their use.

what about chat? i seen a prototype 360 controller with a keyboard on it, did that ever hit the market?

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/08/xbox-360-to-get-keyboard-controller-attachment/

FFXI played well with a controller actually, but you really didn't do much running around while fighting you just camped an area for ahwile and had people pull mobs in.   Im not sure how well it would work for WAR though.

I hope a ton of people do this so i can dominate them. Seriously tho, talk about nerffing yourself.

but wouldnt this potentially reduce carpel tunnel syndrome from using the mouse too much? my wrist is already hurting from my frist day of war yesterday.