alt Hacker NewsPotentially dumb question; how well do these kinds of trackball mice work with games like Arkanoid of Breakout?
I've never been able to get used to those games with a mouse or trackpad, and there aren't a ton of rotary controllers being produced now as far as I know.
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Kinda works ok for these types of games.
A lot of modern trackballs are fairly small and lightweight. They don't have the sort of mass and quality of bearings, most of the time, that will make them move around properly and roll like classic arcade balls.
Arcade trackballs are kinda designed to hammered sideways and pushed by the bottom of your palm. Can't really do that with a computer trackball.
The Kensington Slime Blade pro is the closest in terms of physical size. The ball will go flying if you try to get too energetic with it, though. It is just sitting in a depression.
The Ploopy Adept is another possible option with similar issues. It uses a smaller billiard (1.75 inches) ball as its central ball. It does have high quality sensors, which makes a big difference. Since it is open source I thought about buying one and modding it for a full sized USA-style pool ball (2.25 inch). Which would be awesome.
Of course you can actually just go and buy a genuine arcade cabinet quality ball that will support USB. You'll need to make a custom gaming panel for it, though.
There are tons of rotary options these days, what is your criteria?
I play a fair amount of breakout with a Kensington Expert trackball, works fairly well and a considerable improvement over a mouse or trackpad. I do not see the ergonomic track balls working well here but never tried, the small trackball means control drops quickly as speed goes up.