Video Games: XIM3 for PC Gamers

(Updated June 14, 2011)

I grew up as one of the earlier generation of video gamers, starting with games on the Apple II/IIe, then discovering the First Person Shooters (FPS) games like Doom on Windows PCs.  The first console that I had in my household was the Nintendo 64, and Goldeneye was the game of choice with my buddies.  Otherwise, I stuck to PC gaming because:

1. I had a PC anyway, so it was cheaper than a console since I didn't have to buy any extra hardware.*
2. PC game titles tend to be cheaper than console games, because they are not burdened with paying the royalties to the console makers
3. Graphics quality of the games on PCs is almost always better than console, because PC hardware tends to be several generations newer than the console, thus you have a much more powerful CPU and GPU to run the games
4. I never really got used to using the thumb controllers for the console video games, as my brain and hands had been trained to use keyboard and mouse since I started actively playing PC games in 1993.  We're talking 17 years of "training" and it's hard to teach an older dog like me new tricks.  The console thumbstick controller is an inherently less precise pointing device compared to a mouse as it uses your thumb to point.

*Side note: this argument of PC gaming being cheaper than consoles went away starting with XBox/PS2 and is not really the case anymore.  PC games require you to buy a $150+ graphics card and to upgrade it just about every year, not to mention needing to upgrade the PC itself about every 2 years to keep it relatively modern.  A console costs around $200 and does not ever need to get upgraded for its entire life, which is typically 7-8 years.

Well, a few things started happening that made me think long and hard about trying to make the transition from PC to console gaming:

1. I got tired of sinking money into my PC just for the sake of gaming.  We're talking about minor $100-200 upgrades each year, and a whole new PC every 2.0-2.5 years.
2. All the popular video game titles were going to the console first, and either never came or would come much later to the PC. So availability of quality content became an issue on the PC.
3. More and more of my "old dude" buddies started getting XBox 360s and leveling up on Halo 3, leaving me to playing with mostly strangers online on the PC.  Playing games online with your friends is much more fun and your team tends to play much better vs. playing with strangers.

So I pulled the trigger and bought an XBox 360 and figured I would put myself through the painful task of  learning to use the thumb stick controller.  I played and played, and found myself frustrated at my lack of control and precision.  I even tried switching to playing left handed (since I am left handed), but my brain and hands have been trained to play right handed as I had learned to use a mouse right handed (result of growing up at a time when lefties did not get much equal treatment with tech equipment).  My right hand is trained to aim, while my left hand is trained to control the movement.  After plenty of  practicing, I got to the point of being barely ok using the controller, but not what I would consider "good" and it was still very frustrating.  So I actually went back to the PC, beaten into submitting and accepting the fact that I'll get what I get when it comes to PC game titles.  Then, I read about something called the "XIM" which stands for XBox Input Machine.  Hallelujah!

Basically, the XIM is a device that allow you to use a standard USB PC keyboard and mouse to replace the XBox controller for playing games.  A few companies attempted to make such a device in the past, but they were all fairly simplistic in how they worked, which resulted in making you feel like you're struggling and fighting to make it work.  Then along came an incredibly sharp and inventive engineer in northern California who goes by the call name of "OBsiv" (Obsessive) who was experiencing the exact same dilemma as me: the desire to be able to competently use a mouse and keyboard on an XBox 360.  Details about his 2 generations of the XIM devices are detailed here on the XIM website.

With the 2nd gen XIM, OBsiv built not only the hardware to translate mouse and keyboard signals into an XBox controller signal, but also a software application that would perform real time translation that takes many complex and subtle behaviors into account.  For example, each XBox game accounts for a "dead zone" where it ignores the first minuscule movements of the thumb sticks so that you don't get unintentional movement when your thumbs are just resting on the sticks.  The size and shape of this dead zone varies by game.  In addition, some games are fairly non-linear in how much movement it makes as the stick moves from the center to the full edge.  All these behaviors vary by game, and thus software is needed to account for this on a game by game basis.  The XIM is the only device out there that does this.

I pulled the trigger and puchased the 2nd generation XIM as a pre-built device.  I'll cut to the chase now by saying that it worked great, achieving a feeling that is 95+% as good as playing a native mouse/keyboard game on a PC.  The last 5% is due to the fact that all XBox games have a maximum turning look speed that is somewhat less than the maximum turning look speed you can achieve on a PC game (in other words, no device can make a 100% PC-like experience on a console).

The main downside to the 2nd gen XIM is that it requires a PC to be on and run the software while you're playing on the console.  So you have your mouse and keyboard plugged into your PC via USB.  Then the XIM device acts as the bridge by plugging one end into your PC via USB, and the other end into your XBox also via USB.  The keyboard and mouse signals get converted and real time translated/calibrated initially by the software on the PC, then sent to the XIM device which then converts them into signals that look and feel exactly like a wired XBox controller to the XBox. The XIM device uses an actual wired XBox controller, in fact, with a custom designed chip to do the conversions from the PC signals.  Here's a diagram of the setup:

Here's a diagram of the XIM2 setup with a PC client:

All this happens in real time with no perceivable lag. This setup is not a huge deal for me since I have a PC right next to my XBox, but I have occasionally suffered from a Windows crash while playing, which means that my game is toast until the PC reboots.  Also, this means that the device is not exactly portable if I want to play at a friend's house.

Then in Nov 2009, OBsiv announced that he was working on a third generation "XIM3" in a development blog which eliminates the PC completely and has all the calibrated motion profiles (called Smart Translators) for the most popular games build into the XIM3's software.  Brilliant!

I'm proud to say that I was able to get the XIM3 when the first batch went on sale via the XIM3 website on Feb 4, 2011.  I will admit that I took my laptop into the bathroom when the store went live out of fear that I would miss the ordering window. There was such a huge volume of orders that the server was brought down, and the fulfillment team couldn't keep up with all the orders.  There continued to be a pretty big backlog of orders for the first several months, but now it's readily available from the XIM3 store.

My review of the XIM3?  Excellent!  It is noticeably better than the previous gen XIM, particularly with all the Smart Translator profiles which are perfectly calibrated to give the same 1-to-1 feel for the mouse movement.  The unit has never crashed, is very flexible with the ability to customize controls and sensitivities, and there have been regular releases of new Smart Translators for new games as they get released along with updates to the firmware to improve performance.  Despite being a relatively old gamer (I'm 40 years old), I usually finish as one of the top 3 players with online multiplayer in Call of Duty Black Ops (my typical Kill/Death ratio is around 2.5), so I must be doing something right to be able to beat most of those kids who play a lot more than me.

Here are some pics of my setup (detailed list of my hardware available in this blog article), and examples of how other XIM3 users have setup their systems.  It's easy to just sit down and fire it up, and the wires have been organized in a manner that they don't tangle up.

My armoire which serves dual roles as my desktop PC and console station (click to zoom)

Close up of the keypad, mouse, monitor and headset (click to zoom)

Under the hood: the XIM3 with XBox wired controller and Astro Mixamp (click to zoom)

In case you're worried about the XIM3 getting banned by XBox Live, there's even thread on that to make you feel at ease.  First of all, the XIM3 looks exactly like a real controller to the console, so it's impossible to be detected.  Secondly, it does not violate the XBox Live terms of use, which a Microsoft staffer confirmed.

So in summary, if you're an old school PC gamer who is looking for a way to ease into console gaming, the XIM3 is for you.  Highly recommended!