The new XIM3 input device allows Xbox 360 gamers to add a mouse and keyboard combo to their rig thus improving their first person shooter skills to the PC Gamer level. I’m a PC Gamer at heart and could never really get use to playing with a game pad/controller so this device makes perfect sense to me. However I never really considered the possible advantage it could bring to 360 gamers who where willing to fork over the $149.99 retail price. This also makes me question how fare a cross platform multiplayer game would be if it existed.

As the 3 in XIM3 suggests, there have been 2 earlier models of this device which means it’s here to stay. I don’t see Microsoft or anyone else putting a ban on the device. So like it or not, this input adapter is going to be used by Xbox natives and PC new comers alike.

Some gamers are outraged while others don’t think it will make much of a difference.

NamelessFragger over at Engadget.com wrote

“Keyboard and mouse = cheating? Seriously? The XIM3 and those two peripherals don’t look like wallhacks or aimbots to me.

Is using a full HOTAS + rudder pedals + TrackIR in IL-2 Sturmovik, Falcon 4.0, DCS: Black Shark or DCS: A-10C Warthog cheating?

Is using a racing wheel with a good shifter and pedal set + TrackIR in rFactor, GTR2, Grand Prix Legends, or Richard Burns Rally cheating? (Good luck playing the latter two WITHOUT a wheel. You’ll need it even with one.)

Is using an arcade stick with a great microswitch joystick and buttons in Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, Radiant Silvergun, DoDonPachi, Mushihime-sama, and all other sorts of fighting games and shmups cheating? (You could probably get away without one for the shmups, but good freaking luck pulling off special moves in a fighting game without a good stick! Doubly so if you’re using that awful X360 gamepad’s D-Pad!)

Is using a keyboard and mouse cheating in Command & Conquer, WarCraft, StarCraft, and other RTSs? I wonder why I don’t see a lot of those on consoles…probably for the same reason I don’t see any hardcore flight sims on them.

I look at it as having the right tool for the job. Others just want the interface that impedes them the least and allows them to execute what it is they want to do. Bad controls just add fake difficulty.

As for the XIM3…I’m skeptical that anything that translates mouse movements to analog twiddlystick signals will actually result in the response I’ve come to expect from countless PC FPSs, where I can put the crosshair in the general vicinity of where I want it with a quick flick of the wrist, and some others can put it EXACTLY where they want it in that same flick-often right over someone’s face. The input code of the games in question just wouldn’t allow it, as far as I know.”