Xbox One - Almost a PC

After years of unfulfilled promises and a few weeks of

build-up, the Xbox One family finally supports keyboards

and mice. Alright, so it's still a feature reserved for

members of the beta-esque Xbox Insider Program and

few games actually work with the different control scheme,

but it's here nevertheless. Keyboards, mice and consoles

aren't an abnormal pairing. I remember playing Unreal

Tournament on the Dreamcast with keys and clicks, and the

PS4 has supported the alternative peripherals for years, even

if developers have largely ignored them. It's a slightly bigger

deal on Xbox One, though. After all, it technically runs Windows

10, the OS of choice for PC gamers, albeit with the clunky Xbox

UI on top. The line between console and computer, then,

becomes ever blurrier.

In the immediate future, the impact of keyboard and mouse

support on Xbox One is negligible. Games that work with the

control option on day one or within the next few weeks include

Bomber Crew, Children of Morta, Deep Rock Galactic, Minion

Master, Moonlighter, Strange Brigade, Vigor, War Thunder,

Warface, Warframe, Wargroove, Warhammer: Vermintide 2and

X-Morph Defense. I know little to nothing about any of these titles.

DayZ on the other hand, I am familiar with, but that's been a

dead game for a while now.

Adapters that trick the Xbox One into accepting keyboard and

mouse inputs have existed since the console launched, but

official support is something different. There's going to be a

special Designed for Xbox program for approved peripherals

that include an Xbox home button, for instance -- the first product

of which is likely to come from well-known gamer brand Razer

early next year. More importantly, developers will have to actually

consider the control scheme when creating or updating games,

rather than simply translating inputs into pad-speak as adapters do.