Saturday, July 20, 2013

Touch screen gaming

I recently had a small computer mishap which took away my trusty ThinkPad. I replaced it with a nice ASUS touchscreen Netbook. After figuring out how to navigate the "secure boot" fiasco I was able to get Arch installed. I opted to dual boot this time, which allowed me to run some of my Steam games which haven't made a Linux port. The touch screen gimick works great for things like PopCap style games which are relatively simple and mouse resting position doesn't serve to drive the game. The break down occurs for games that rely on alternative clicks (right or left depending on your accessibility setup). The press and hold tactic works in some cases and doesn't in others. Some games in full screen simply don't register the clicks. Then I tried an older favorite of mine "Oblivion". The screen began to spin after loading. After the Steam sale this week I picked up Fallout New Vegas. It seemed to work until I tried shooting with V.A.T.S. and the selected areas began to wildly cycle. Dialog options also were a problem. I disabled the touch screen and tried again and it was much better. Eventually the game crashed between indoor outdoor transitions. Overall the touchscreen provided a marginal enhancement to my gaming experience. Disabling for some games was a necessity.