If you played first-person shooters on your PC in the 90s, you probably remember the hectic, chaotic gameplay they usually featured. In the old days, the only thing that dictated your ability to succeed in a PC shooter was the speed of your wrist. However, twitchy shooters seem to have faded out, replaced by the cover-laden frag fests to which we have all become accustomed.

Tribes Ascend executive producer Todd Harris says the problem isn’t with developers or the evolving tastes of gamers, but with creating multiplatform games. He claims that since shooters have to be simultaneously released on PC and console platforms, it’s much harder for developers to build a quick reflex, twitchy title.

He noted that console controllers dramatically limit the speed at which action can take place, since sensitivity can only go so high before the game becomes impossible to play. He also claimed that developers probably could make a twitchy game for consoles, but it’s easier to aim for the “lowest common denominator” and make tactical shooters instead of the twitchy kind.

Tribes Ascend is currently in closed beta, but will hit digital shelves sometime this spring. Expect the game to demand twitchy, reflexive gameplay—just like the shooters of old.

Unless, of course, it gets ported to PS3 or Xbox.

[PC Gamer]

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