MoreCooler.com: It's more cooler with the thing

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/thief3/preview_6...

Oh oh oh! I want, I want! I love the Thief games, particularly because I enjoyed watching Martin play them in his room back at Woodside.

This time around it's for the XBOX and the PC, and -- at least on the XBOX -- you have to pick locks manually by using the analog stick and feeling the vibrations of the controller to know whether you're close or not.

It looks like they stayed very true to the framework of the previous games. One thing not mentioned was the zombie/undead stuff. Personally, I would not miss that at all. It seemed like something added to help sell the game. "Don't like sneaking around? We have zombies!"

If they're not there, I won't miss them. Those and the Hammerhaunts? Give me a blanket to hide under.

The XBox is killing many games lately; it sounds as though it just might claim one more victim here. Because porting from PC to XBox is so easy (after all, the XBox is just a bargain-basement PC), many studios are bringing their previously PC-only titles to the console. The problem is that to do that, they have to vastly simplify the interface, both to appeal to the typically younger audience that consoles represent and to allow for easier navigation using the control pad. This results in PC/Xbox games that are "dumbed down" even in their PC versions.

Last I read, Thief III was supposed to be more "action oriented" than the previous entries in the series, which would be tragic. The article you link above even refers to the controls as "simple," and that's a quote form the developer.

A current example of this phenomenon is in Deus Ex: Invisible War, made by the same company as Deus Ex. They just released a demo either today or yesterday. This is the much-anticipated sequel to the PC-only Deus Ex, only now it's PC/XBox, and guess what the chief complaint among the highly mixed reviews greeting the demo was? Simplistic gameplay.

My brother can site many more examples than I can because this problem is apparently even more rampant in the wargaming genre (with which I'm not terribly familiar). You think I'm anti-Microsoft, you mention "XBox" around him and there will be bloodshed.