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XCM XFPS XBox360 Adapter

Written by DM on Monday, May 07 2007

No support for keyboard and mouse on the Xbox360 has been something that PC users and FPS fanatics alike have been griping about since the next-gen MS console was released. Despite the fact that all the games on the system are hard-coded to utilize and respond to commands issues from a joypad, the die-hard gamers still hold out hope that a kb and mouse control system will be implemented one day. Well, that day may never come, but in the meantime there is the XCP XFPS Xbox360 keyboard, mouse, and PSX/PS2 gamepad adapter. The unit is made by the guys over at XCM, a team which produces many next-gen acessories. Does the unit really live up to what it promises? Let’s find out.

Before I go on, there are a few technical aspects of using a mouse and keyboard on the Xbox360 that I want to relate. First of all, it is important to understand just how the control system of console games is built. Since all console hardware is uniform, and everyone has the same technology, the response levels and turning speeds of the in-game controls are hard-coded into the game. This means that no matter how fast you actually move the mouse that is connected to the XCM XFPS, the game will only respond to the mouse movement as fast as a control pad would be able to.

In other words, if the fastest that a game can respond to a left-to-right movement is 1 second, even if you move the mouse from left to right in .5 seconds, the reticule on-screen will only move from left to right at the 1-second rate. This, of course, leads to control issues such as lag and the need to keep the mouse moving for longer. This means that ultimately, any device that allows gamers to use a mouse and keyboard on a console, will only benefit the user in the fact that it may provide a control system that the user is more familiar with. Do not get me wrong though, this can surely lead to better game performance based on the comfortability factor alone. Now, on to the actual hardware review.

The Xbox360 itself has a device lockout when it comes to control pads. This means that Microsoft must provide a chip which unlocks the control port to any device that plugs into the console for the purpose of movement control. This is the main reason why there are virtually no adapters made for the MS console which allows gamers to plug in their favorite control pads and devices made for other consoles, and that includes the original Xbox. The XCM XFPS circumvents this protection in a very clever way.

The XCM XFPS requires that you own an Xbox360 wired pad in order to utilize the adapter. The XFPS has two USB slots on the front, and before you can use the adapter, an official Xbox360 wired pad must be plugged into one of these slots. Once you have plugged in the 360 wired pad, and either a mouse/kb combination or a PSX/PS2 pad, just power on the Xbox360 console and wait a minute or so until the adapter lights up. The lights indicate that the XCM XFPS has used the official wired pad to unlock the console’s control pad port. Once it is unlocked, it is a simple matter to use the PSX/PS2 or kb/mouse connected to the XFPS to control the on-screen action. It is a very ingenious way to bypass the MS control pad lockout, and technically speaking, it works great. To answer your question, yes, once the XFPS has recognized and unlocked the control port using the wired Xbox360 pad, you can remove it from the XFPS USB port. I recommend keeping the unit plugged in though, as it is used to tell the XFPS what buttons you want to re-map the keyboard keys to.

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