Half Life 2 - trackpad?

[smartalic34]

I will be getting half life 2 (well, the orange box to be precise) in a few days for my MBP (see sig). I currently don't have a mouse.

is it easy to play half life 2 with a trackpad? this is my first foray into computer gaming... I've been all-console up until now, so I have no idea what I'm in for

or, is a mouse a necessity?

 

[Bfat567]

necessity?

Bingo

 

[TheVendor]

I used to play with a trackpad, but it's MUCH easier to play using a mouse.

 

[JackAxe]

Get a mouse, even a cheap one. The trackpad will only cause frustration.

 

[jabingla2810]

I picked up a mouse for £2 odd in ASDA so you've got no excuse not to get involved

if your going to gaming, it really is worth it......

 

[drichards]

Get yourself a gaming mouse for steam. You won't get headshots with the trackpad.

$35-90, depends primarily on brand. I have a Razor and I like it, but I don't use it enough. A wired gaming mouse (cheaper, no lag) gets pushed off to the side in favor of my wireless mightymouse usually. Ideazon has some great mice for cheap, they resell other manufacturers best mice.

You might want an external keyboard too. Jabbing at the command buttons in HL2 (ok well, in CS:S and TF2) on the macbook pro's keyboard will et you headshott'd.

 

[Huntn]

Mouse/trackball, u needs it.

 

[smartalic34]

looks like I'm gonna go and get myself a mouse! thanks!

also, for those who have the orange box:

how much hard drive space will I need? I'd like to make my windows partition as small as possible, and I won't be putting more than 2-3 games on it. I've seen anywhere from 5GB to 25GB needed for the orange box- which number is right?

 

[cathyy]

You could try. I tend to play Left 4 Dead & HL2 with a touchpad a lot because it doesn't require precision shooting. Occasionally I would play TF2 with a touchpad too, but mainly only with classes that don't require much aiming. I wouldn't dare to play CS:S with a touchpad though.

 

[eLbanana]

looks like I'm gonna go and get myself a mouse! thanks!

also, for those who have the orange box:

how much hard drive space will I need? I'd like to make my windows partition as small as possible, and I won't be putting more than 2-3 games on it. I've seen anywhere from 5GB to 25GB needed for the orange box- which number is right?

For 2-3 Games you will need about 10Gb. Use Windows XP, it need less space.

 

[smartalic34]

will definitely be using Windows XP!

does anyone know for sure how much space the orange box uses?

 

[cathyy]

A lot.

Team Fortress 2 - 7GB
HL2 - 3.4GB
Portal - 4.9GB

There's still HL2:EP1 & HL2:EP2.

 

[Consultant]

Logitech mouse works pretty well with me. But getting some Razer to try them out.
Buy.com currently offers the refurbished Razer Diamondback 3G Gaming Mouse for $20. I just got one.

If you play TF2 on servers with third party custom maps or content, you will download a lot of custom content. My MBP has 7GB of extra content from TF2 alone.

 

[cathyy]

Logitech mouse works pretty well with me. But getting some Razer to try them out.
Buy.com currently offers the refurbished Razer Diamondback 3G Gaming Mouse for $20. I just got one.

If you play TF2 on servers with third party custom maps or content, you will download a lot of custom content. My MBP has 7GB of extra content from TF2 alone.

I really don't know what you downloaded to hit up to 7GB of extra content. That's practically the same size of the game.

 

[0098386]

My TF2 takes up 2.8gb according to Explorer, but Valve games share resources to keep sizes down overall.

And no to a trackpad. I just got a MB and thought I'd give the trackpad a go, nah. Doesn't work great for GTA games either, or pretty much anything! Graphics tablet is okay though. My A4 one was pretty useful when playing as a sniper in TF2. Now I just stick to my Diamondback 3G, bought one yesterday for £35 new. Might trade it in for a Copperhead though, I think it's a higher model but the shop were out of stock.