Our intern Sal thinks that the controls for "Resistance: Retribution" is the only way shooters on the PSP should play.

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By Sal Basile

I often daydream of a world where the PSP has two analog sticks. But I'm not sure if that dream will ever become a reality.

Until then, Sony Bend is the closest developer to date to get as close to the feeling of having two analog sticks as possible. The studio tossed aside the traditional use of certain buttons and created a control scheme that works for the game, and not just the system. The studio's latest game, "Resistance: Retribution", follows the same overall control scheme Bend used in its "Syphon Filter" games. Using the "shape" buttons for something other than changing weapons or other actions, Bend added a level of fluidity to "Retribution" not found in other PSP shooters.

Using the Triangle, Square, Circle, and X buttons for aiming and the analog stick for movement, "Retribution" does the best with what the PSP has. Fortunately, this isn't a bad thing. The aiming controls are easy to get used to thanks to the addition of an aim assist function that locks on to enemies and a useful "cover" mechanic reminiscent of "Gears of War."

When these three features come together, the result is an intense third-person shooter for the PSP. If no second analog stick is in the works for the PSP, other third-person shooters such as the "SOCOM" franchise (of which I was a huge fan) would be received much better if it adopted these controls. Then again, if PSP shooters all together adopted these controls, we could possibly have the first great PSP first-person shooter. I would happily by a portable version of "F.E.A.R." or "Far Cry" if the game used these controls.

I tip my hat to Sony Bend. But what do you guys think?

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"Resident Evil 4" was a big step forward for the "Resident Evil" series in a lot of ways, perhaps most notably for ditching the tank controls that had plagued the series. But the world has moved on to cover systems and freedom of movement since "RE4," something Capcom may not have anticipated while planning "Resident Evil 5."

This week's "RE5" demo introduces gamers to another substantial revamp of the series' controls, albeit an optional one. You can still play with the "RE4" controls, which just might be the way to play, if the clunky "Resident Evil" take on "Gears of War"-style controls aren't addressed before the game's March 13 release date.

"Dead Space" got it right. It took the fast action we're accustomed to and married it with action horror. The "Resident Evil" series is no longer meant to be scary, but it is designed to be tense -- same as "Dead Space." You never thought about the controls in "Dead Space," but in "RE5," they're at the forefront. Movement in "Dead Space," feels smooth and natural. You can focus on what's really important: killing things.

Capcom only went halfway with "RE5"'s new controls. You can run and "look" simultaneously, but not run and shoot ("Dead Space" did not make this mistake." In "RE5," you still need to stop, line up a shot, holster the gun and run away. Even though the enemies in the "RE5" demo are slow moving, they come in great numbers and often sneak up behind you. The inability to run 'n gun combined with a too-close camera that obscures enemies not right in front of you makes "RE5" unnecessarily frustrating at times.

The lack of run 'n gun is the big problem. Even though camera in "Dead Space" is just as tightly packed behind the main character, "Dead Space"'s slick feel leaves players blaming themselves for dying, not the game.

Perhaps it would have made more sense to have only kept the "RE4" controls; from enemy design to level layout, "RE5" designed for them. This half-hearted attempt may only confuse gamers who start moving around and expecting "Gears of War" or "Dead Space" fidelity and instead die over and over again.

Are you guys having trouble with the "RE5" controls, too?

Got a comment you can’t bring yourself to share below this post? Drop me an e-mail.

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In 2008, my greatest elation with a video game had nothing to do with me.

Slowly but surely, I have tried to convince my girlfriend she would enjoy video games.

She loves "Tetris," "Super Smash Bros." and "Mario Kart," but this year, she made great strides to enjoy the medium on another level.

She played "Braid" a few months ago, but what most impressed me was when she asked to play "Left 4 Dead" -- a ridiculously fast-paced shooter -- alongside me online.

Coming to grips with "Left 4 Dead" was not an easy task for her (or for me, her teammate). The concept of independent movement and aim was both foreign and frustrating, but something she took to with great gusto.

Outside of "Left 4 Dead," she hasn't shown much interest in playing more complex games on her own. She likes how "Prince of Persia" looks, but doesn't want to play it. She thought the stories of post-apocalyptia in "Fallout 3" were interesting, but hasn't picked up the controller.

But she played "Left 4 Dead" and wants to play more. For me, that's enough.

As I quickly learned while watching my girlfriend play "Left 4 Dead," modern games are tough for newcomers to sit down and play.

Controllers as complicated as the Xbox 360's and PlayStation 3's are here to stay, but games need to do a better job of educating new gamers.

"Bionic Commando" isn't the game I expected to do that. But while checking out the game's addictive multiplayer at a San Francisco event last week, I noticed the game's flashy-but-effective introduction.

The screen above shows up while the game is loading. Press a button on the controller and the game gives a text explanation of what it does. A welcome addition would be a video or some kind of graphic showing that action in real-time, but this is a step in the right direction and one I'm hopeful will be included in the final version of "Bionic Commando" next year.

Tap a button. Get an explanation. So simple.

Do you guys know of any other games that introduce their controls as effectively?

My girlfriend is the definition of a casual gamer. She loves the "LEGO" series, carries a Nintendo DS everywhere and balks at the idea of touching an Xbox 360 controller. But she also thinks many Wii games are too simple.

She has never shown an interest in the more complicated games I enjoy. Then, "Left 4 Dead" showed up. She loves horror movies. The idea of starring in a personalized "Night of the Living Dead" adventure was too much to pass up.

There was a minor setback, though: she has never played a shooter before.

Yes, people like that still exist. And it was fascinating to watch her come to grips with it. When she asked "how do I aim?" and I pointed out the second stick, she gasped. "I can look around? I thought I could only look forward!"

She just blew my mind.

We take for granted our skills moving through the 3D spaces of video games. My girlfriend is quickly teaching me how much our ability to enjoy frantic 3D games is based on the dozens of similar games we've played dozens before. This is a wild and foreign concept that my girlfriend has never even thought about before.

Her first instinct was to try and avoid aiming entirely. But when navigating around doors became an issue, she was forced to figure out what the second analog stick did. I felt bad for her. We were playing online with friends of ours, while she quickly sunk the team in almost every scenario we played. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she would plea, as she tried to climb up the stairs.

I started taking mental notes as she would run into stumbling blocks. In her first two and a half hours with a 3D shooter ever, these are the things that most frustrated her:

* The difference between left button and left trigger ("Why are there two?")
* Having to literally look up to climb a ladder ("Why do I keep falling off?")
* Moving and shooting at the same time ("I always have to stop and aim")
* The amount of buttons on the controller ("I keep tapping X instead of Y")

She made me chuckle and remember my first experiences in 3D. I couldn't have been the only person who used to move their controller around in the air as they made a turn in "Gran Turismo." In "Left 4 Dead," my girlfriend would bob and weave as she would moved. She turned her head as she aimed.

To be fair, "Left 4 Dead" was probably the worst kind of shooter to have my girlfriend understand shooters, but it had to happen this way. The reason she was interested wasn't because "Left 4 Dead" had cool weapons, awesome online multiplayer or any press release other bullet point -- she wanted to blow up zombies. She showed no interest in "Resistance 2" (she thought the aliens looked lame) or "Gears of War 2" (no response whatsoever), but "Left 4 Dead" nabbed her.

It’s easy to roll your eyes at the people who look at an Xbox 360 controller and say it’s too complicated

Two sessions later, she was starting to get the hang of things. She could climb ladders with ease. Aiming proved to be the hardest bit. Moving and shooting simultaneously remained a remarkable obstacle. But the addictiveness of "Left 4 Dead," and the fact that friends can be around to help her in a jam, meant she kept playing and wasn't becoming frustrated enough to quit.

It's easy to roll your eyes at the people who look at an Xbox 360 controller or Dual Shock and say it's too complicated. "Left 4 Dead" proves there are hardcore experiences -- not just Wii and DS games -- that can draw them in…but the controller remains a challenge that won't be easily overcome.

I'm proud of my girlfriend for taking this bold (and scary) move, but now this brings up another problem to deal with: she's going to want to use my TV!

There is much we don't know about LucasArts and BioWare's newly announced, currently PC-only MMO "Star Wars: The Old Republic."

This week's announcement didn't explain many important aspects to the game, including how combat works. It is slow? Fast? Turn-based? Action-centric?

I spent time on Tuesday with BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk, who attempted to explain -- as much as he could -- what "The Old Republic"'s combat is like, using extreme points of comparison: "World of WarCraft" and "EverQuest" against "Age of Conan" and "The Force Unleashed."

Here's what Zeschuck said.

MTV Multiplayer: I really like "The Force Unleashed," and that's one end, an action take on "Star Wars." And then you have traditional MMOs like "World of Warcraft," "EverQuest" -- you're pressing a button, it's doing an action. And then you have, more recently, MMOs like "Age of Conan," which introduced a combo system. You've talked about how you want to introduce visceral combat. If we take, on one hand, "EverQuest," where you press a button and it does something, and a more action-oriented MMO like "Age of Conan," where would you place "The Old Republic"?

Greg Zeschuk, BioWare co-founder: That's a good question. At some level, I can't tell you. Not in the sense that "because I can'" [because it's a secret] but because we don't know quite yet. What really what it comes down to is the gameplay and the iteration and trying it out. We have a lot of ideas.

MTV Multiplayer: Would you consider it action-oriented? More hands-on?

Zeschuk: That's a tough one. I mean, I think the main goal, the key thing we're trying to solve, is that…does it look, from the user's perspective, that it could be cut from the movie? That's the very first thing, and then how we got there…to certain degrees, it's yet to be determined. We have a system that works and 'hey, it looks like the movie' but what do you to get there is the key next question. I don't think we have a good answer for that yet. The way we tend to develop is we hit one goal and then we go, 'okay, let's start iterating.'

MTV Multiplayer: How can we take that to the next level?

Zeschuk: Yeah. So I think the interesting thing is…the key thing you want to have is capturing the sense that the player has a really good sense of control and that's the key thing to solve for us, is that visceral level. If it looks good, now we're onto the 'how do they feel like they've got the control while it's looking good?' That's kind of where we're at.

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Readers, what style of combat do you want in "The Old Republic"? Do you want it to be as hands-on as "The Force Unleashed" or as removed as "World of WarCraft"?

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Common inquiries involve:

1) the size of the city -- no, it doesn't feel bigger than "San Andreas," but it feels more dense

2) the game's new animation technology -- yes, it looks good

I think the most common question I'm asked is: Are the controls any better this time?

I'm certain I've addressed this before. I know I'm on record about it. But I also know why it's hard to believe. "Grand Theft Auto" controls have been less then ideal since 2001, at least.

So let me tell you about a moment in the game that I experienced on Monday, a moment that convinced me that "GTA IV" is the "GTA" that finally has good controls.

The moment in the game is the type of moment that sounds horrible if you're thinking in real-world terms, but not so bad if you're thinking in terms of being an actor in a crime drama: I'm talking about a moment of being surrounded by a squad of virtual "GTA" SWAT officers, wielding a machine gun and trying to take them out.

I still remember my frustration during such a moment in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," when I performed some no-good act and was swarmed by virtual cops. I tried to shoot back at all of them, accidentally killed a civilian and got mowed down by the law. I blamed the controls. They wouldn't properly target the people who were against me. If you played the game, I'm sure you had the same experience.

I remember having an easier time during such a moment in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." It was easier because that game allowed me to tap my controller's shoulder button to cycle a targeting reticule from one enemy to the next. But even that made it hard to fend off a rushing cluster of policemen.

Earlier this week, however, I finally had no trouble with that kind of situation. I was playing a mission of Hangman's NOOSE, a co-op mission that involves trying to rescue a criminal boss from a SWAT siege on an airport tarmac. This multiplayer mission required me and three other players to get the guy out of there. One of the other players ran off to grab a getaway van. I think the other two players went with him.

I was left alone near the crowd of angry NOOSE troopers. My character had a machine gun. I held the Xbox 360's left trigger to activate a zoomed aim. I used the right trigger to fire. And -- this is the key new feature -- I used the right thumbstick to flick my targeting reticule from one NOOSE trooper to the next. With each flick it moved to lock on to the next trooper. I could still adjust the aim manually, but the lock-on-and-flick technique let me swiftly and accurately cycle through my targets. Because we were playing on easy I didn't take much damage. But I dealt plenty and took out at least a dozen guys.

Because this is "GTA" I'm writing about, it feels awkward to highlight this feature. I recognize that, to some, the ability to shoot cops more easily and accurately than before will not be taken as a positive.

But judging "GTA" as a game, viewing it as a cops vs. robbers action-adventure that a player would want to function in a responsive and smooth fashion, the point here is that the very fundamental actions that were hardest to commit in previous "GTA" games are now a cinch. The developers have taken a flick-targeting technique that was pioneered by the makers of "Advent Rising," Donald and Geremy Mustard, and used it to remedy one of the series' nagging issues. Strange how I didn't feel uncomfortable at all when I wrote about flick-targeting for the Mustards' games.

So to answer the common question: Yes, the controls are much improved. They work now. They work well.