Sony may have waited until the release of the Vita to afford players a second analogue stick, but developers came up with a software solution for the missing hardware: face buttons being used as a second stick. Games like Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker worked with this set-up brilliantly (MGS:PW was one of my favourite games of 2010). I also played a few hours Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D after my time with the downloadable demo and found the game to handle fine; even in boss fights. Considering that you can't move and shoot at the same time, I'm not sure how the second stick is going to anything other than look like a missed opportunity.

But you CAN move while shooting. How thoroughly did you play the demo?

As above, 5 times over. How do you move while shooting?

Hold down L, same as in Mercs. With the circle pad, it acts as if you have L held down all the time, so it basically becomes Dead Space in terms of controls. You can circle strafe for the first time. Gives you a HUGE advantage.

As an aside, thoroughly doesn't mean how many times you did something.

So there you go, there's a software solution already. Why bother with all this extra, tacky-looking plastic?

Go back and try it. Go on. Hold down L and move while shooting. The advantage of a second stick should hit you immediately if you're paying attention.

You're missing my point. Developers are smart: they can acknowledge the constraints of hardware and make games within them. Yes, an extra stick would be helpful (it would've been in MGS:PW as well); but that does not mean it is necessary. Bottom line is: not every game will use this, and 3DS owners will have another seldom-used hunk of plastic sitting around the house.

You're missing MY point. You made some assumptions about the functionality of the pad and didn't thoroughly test the controls before stating that the pad was unnecessary. Your whole initial point was based on functionality you perceive to be there/not be there in the game that you didn't test before posting. Your response about the knee jerk nature of the circle pad was knee jerk in itself.

The game functions well enough with it, but it runs FANTASTIC with it, and you get the extra benefit you would expect. In case you didn't go back to try it:

L allows you to move while shooting, but you can't change your point of aim because movement is now tied to the Circle Pad. With two Circle Pads, one can move, one can aim, so you get the total TPS control.

I can play Mercs 3D and Revelations just fine without the pad. They play like RE4 with an optional "move and spray" mechanic. And that works. With the extra pad, it's a better experience. That's not to say it doesn't function well without it. It's just better with it. Monster Hunter will support it, but can be played without it. Most games won't support it because most games won't NEED it. No game right now NEEDS the extra pad. It's just for ease of use for hardcore Capcom fans, right now. The 3DS isn't supposed to be a FPS-laden platform.

Maybe you're not the target market for the pad. I know I am, and I'm really excited to add that hunk of plastic to my system because I know I don't need it, but it'll not only give me a better grip on what is ostensibly a difficult-to-hold system, but it'll also give me the extra functionality I can personally benefit from when playing the games I'm most excited for.

I'm not missing anything, Michael. If anything, your response supports my argument. Most games won't support the pad or "NEED it" as you say. All it does is alienate early adopters of the system who can quite rightly assume that they won't get full enjoyment out of a select number of games without the peripheral.

What is the target market for the add-on? How many "hardcore Capcom" fans are there outside of Japan? That being said, the Monster Hunter series moved millions of units on the PSP in Japan (I'm not sure about its success abroad); which as stated above, does not have a second analogue stick/nub.

I also reject the assertion that I didn't thoroughly test the controls. It's a demo, and while instructional prompts were included for aiming, using the touch screen and using herbs, there was no mention of using the L button to strafe/move. It's not like you're flashed a screen that details the controls before the action starts either. I could be wrong, but I also don't recall seeing instructions for strafing in Mercs 3D's 2 sets of levels' worth of tutorials. Unless I'm explicitly told I can do something, how am I to know that I can; particularly in a demo?

I'm not saying that Revelations/Monster Hunter 3G/Kid Icarus (if you're a leftie) won't run "FANTASTIC" with the Circle Pad Pro. What I am arguing, however, is that those games will run just fine without them.

So you let the game hold your hand, didn't experiment with buttons the game did not tell you to hit, and never checked the options for a control map. I take it back. You did your research.

I'll concede that I didn't research the control scheme, but as I said "it's a demo." I played demos for Asura's Wrath and The Darkness II on the weekend. Asura's Wrath shows players the control scheme and relevant mechanics before the start of each episode. The Darkness II prompts the players with control prompts whenever a new ability is introduced.

I don't expect a game to hold my hand, but if it's a limited trial of a game, I do expect it to tell me how to play.

Sorry, I just realised that I'm now missing the point. I now seem to eb arguing what constitutes a good, user-friendly demo.

Even without knowing that I could strafe by using the L button, the game controlled just fine. So how do you justify the second analogue stick apart from the ease of use for harcores argument? Further to that, how does tha ability to strafe with the L button run counter to my argument? It doesn't: it supports it, as the devs have come up with a software solution for a hardware problem. 

Have you tried playing the demo on type c controls, using the face buttons to control the camera? They allow you to move and aim and shoot like Peace Walker. It's a solution, but it's TERRIBLE. Your point here is that we don't need an add-on because a software solution -- an inellegant one -- to a design flaw is all we need, when the CPP simply makes the experience more ergonomic and ultimately playable. There's no need for it, according to you, even though it's infinitely easier to hold and operate the system with it attached. It has some real potential.

As to why your not knowing anything about the controls, from L-strafing to the options menu to what the CPP even does, it's about your ethical appeal. You admitted freely to not researching the controls of the game before you wrote this. You didn't experiment. You didn't delve deeper. You took what was given to you on the ABSOLUTE surface and used that as your entire argument. You didn't even touch all the buttons, and you're writing about game controls!

Your ethical appeal is all you have as a writer, and it's all you can build up with your audience. It's also the easiest way for someone to destroy your entire argument. If your character is poor, then by extension, so are your points. Things that can bring down your perceived character (ethical appeal) in rhetoric are little things like, I dunno, saying you didn't research and only did what you were told in "exploring" the issue. Who wants to read the opinion of a writer who has done less work on the topic than the person reading it likely did?

Anything you say after that, no matter how truthful, is suddenly useless because you've wrecked your credibility with your audience. That's the way it is. Here on Bitmob, editors don't fact-check details like this, and the community is super casual and forgiving and generally excited about ANY writing that gets front-paged, quality nonwithstanding, so nothing bad will come of it. Before you try to write professionally, though, I advise you to rethink your approach to writing and be a little more thorough before you let your jerky knee hold your pen instead of your hand.

That's all I have to say on the matter.

Thank you for the tips on ethics in writing, Michael. I do sincerely mean that.

I will ask, however, how can this one error derail the argument with the other evidence presented? I think you're being a little dramatic, trying to attack me personally as opposed to the arguments provided in the article as a whole. You've become fixated on one point and are therefore unable to engage with any of the other examples I provided in the post.

For example: What is the value in using a peripheral - with limited application as it is- in a game like Kid Icarus: Uprising where there'll be no dual-analogue aiming?

I apologise sincerely for the misinformation I presented, but it still doesn't affect the argument as a whole.

Exactly. I liked how Metroid Prime: Hunters dealt with the hardware constraints of the original DS. It was exhausting after a while, but played in short bursts it proved an elegant alternative to conventional FPS controls.

Point taken. Once again though, this is beside the point. The developers have already come up with a software solution to the hardware problem. There is no justification for the add-on itself.

I think you've come up with some pretty extreme examples there. For starters, a pessimist like me would take issue with the Move in the first place: what must-play Move titles have been released? None. It was a cynical answer to the Wii and Kinect. I'm against the OPTIONAL peripheral because it alienates early adopters who've already seen those that come late to the party with cheaper hardware. Now we have to buy an ugly peripheral for an ill-conceived system. Still, I thought the initial tone of the post was optimistic. Praising a good demo and asking for devs to work with what they have to deliver good games, not heap more expense on the consumer. Ah well....

My apologies, Chase. I was trying to articulate myself on a smart phone, which never bodes well.

My intent was never to be outright - let alone startlingly - pessimistic with this piece. The 3DS works just fine without the CCP, and I'd prefer that - at least when it comes to handhelds - that devs and hardware makers stick to the hands that they're dealt.

The CCP is an argument against dedicated portable gaming consoles. With a smartphone or tablet device, you've got your controls right there; there is no additional cost to enjoying all of the titles available on your chosen platform. That's not the case with the 3DS or the Vita. With the 3DS you need to purchase the CCP if you want to enjoy certain games to the fullest. With the Vita, you need to buy proprietary memory cards to save your game in some cases.

I'm not trying to cynical or pessimistic. I'm trying to be conservative, frugal. Let's work within the economy of space and buttons that hardware makers have afforded us, or else most will just throw dedicated portable game consoles in the "too hard basket" and return to their smartphones.

I want to see a resurgence of this particular medium. I don't want it to sink under the weight of expensive add-ons.