It’s day one of E3, and we have already seen some exciting stuff! E3 can be a bit overwhelming at times, as you are surrounded by flashing lights, huge displays, and a plethora of new games. However, we managed to find our way over to PPGun to demo their unique gun controller.
The PPGun is a gun controller designed to take your first person shooter gameplay to the next level. Rather than sitting on your couch and suffering through the pain of your thumbs cramping up, you can now stand up and move around as if you were physically in the game. (Maybe even burn a calorie or two!)
The gun is aimed to bring a better experience to first-person shooters on mobile devices. First-person shooters are among the most popular games played on PC and gaming consoles. However, they have yet to truly take off on mobile devices. If you have every played a first person shooter on a mobile device you know exactly what I am talking about. Whether you are using the gyro in the device, or simply using the controls on the screen, navigating a first person shooter with your thumbs on the screen is difficult and annoying. While the gun is not perfect by any means, I was thoroughly impressed with its ability to bring enjoyment to first person shooter gaming on mobile devices. In its simplest form, the gun is a large control that connects to your mobile device via Bluetooth that allows you to bust a virtual cap.
The PPGun at times seemed a bit laggy while aiming but not enough to overly impact the experience in a negative way. It’s worth pointing out that the lagginess of the controls is more attributed to the hardware of the tablet than the PPgun itself. Just like any game, you need the appropriate hardware to ensure smooth and seamless gameplay.
Currently, the PPGun is supported on iOS, Android, and the PC (HDMI is required). The gun can also be used with the Oculus Rift to make VR shooters more realistic. There are two versions of the PPGun, a small handgun and a larger rifle. The gun looks like something that would come out of Halo as it does not resemble any real-world guns I have seen. The gun comes in red, white, and orange; and all have black accents. The clip on the gun is detachable and can also be used as an external power supply for your mobile device to extend your gameplay sessions.
Because you attach your mobile device to the gun, it is easy to worry that your $800 smartphone will go flying through the air due to your cat-like-reflex-reactions. I was also worried about this and when first playing I “took it easy” to prevent any unwanted accidents. However, after a minute or so you will realize that the device is secure and your movement will get more and more intense (as you can see in the video).
At this time, the PPGun is being funded through Kickstarter with pledges starting at $69 for the pistol and $179 for the rifle. If you decide to support the PPGun on Kickstarter, it is estimated that the gun will be shipped by October 2015.
While at E3 we were able to talk with Haihua Zhu (Rex) and got our hands on the PPGun for the first time. Take a look at our hands on experience below.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the PPGun help improve the experience of first-person shooters on mobile devices? Let us know what you think in the comment section below