As part of its ongoing mission to improve the way iPad and iPhone apps run on M1 Macs, Apple has added game controller emulation to the current 11.3 beta of macOS Big Sur. Basically, Apple is trying to make its Macs M1 more like gaming PCs.
Conformable MacRumors, running an iPad or iPhone application on a Mac M1 adds a new game control option when you open Application Preferences. When enabled, the new option maps the buttons on the controller to the keyboard and mouse so you can play games with those peripherals instead of the controller.
The left finger of the controller is mapped to the WASD keys, and the right finger to the mouse. (Logically.) The A button becomes the space bar, the X button becomes the Q key, the Y button the E key, and the B key the F key. Finally, L1 is linked to the Tab, L2 to the Shift, R1 to the R, and R2 to the mouse.
But instead of having dedicated key links for specific actions in the game, it seems that whatthe A or L2 buttons will never be mapped to certain keys on a Mac keyboard without a way to reconnect them. This can change from game to game, depending on how the developers associated the actions in the game with the controller buttons. From a PC gaming perspective, this could make some keyboard and mouse games on the Mac uncomfortable and cumbersome – and confusing from game to game.
Suppose the Tab key makes your character squat in one game, but opens your inventory in another game. And maybe the A button allows you to jump in some games, but you use it to pick up objects from other games. There are certain key links that have become a tradition in many genres in PC games (such as spacebar to jump and ctrl to crouch) that Apple does not account for here. Stardew Valleyfor example, it has its own keyboard commands for macOS, so why not let someone use them instead of mapping the controller buttons from the iOS version of the game to different keys?
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It also looks like things might get a little confusing if you map a PlayStation controller to your keyboard and mouse instead of an Xbox controller. Would the Q key be the PlayStation X button or the PlayStation Square button because it is in the same position on the controller as the Xbox X button? It seems pretty annoying (and confusing) to remember what keyboard keys are for which game controller button and what keys do what in each game. Apple would rather let users link their own keys to the games they play instead of forcing them to use a specific look for each game.
M1 Macs support PS and Xbox controllers, not to mention the Big Sur beta, which adds support for PS5 and Xbox One X controllers. So why does Apple choose to handle game controls this way instead of letting Application developers to map the best key links for their games is not clear. Right now It isFor example, sticking with a controller to play iPad or iPhone games on the M1 is the best way to go here.