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Mirror's Edge could influence future Battlefield FPS controls

• By Jack Loftus
• September 25, 2008 05:17 AM PST
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EA's parkour FPS Mirror's Edge isn't even out yet, but its fresh control scheme is already being eyed for future Battlefield titles.

Dizziness: Coming to another FPS near you

The new Parkour-inspired FPS controls found in EA's soon-to-be-released Mirror's Edge are so fresh that they're influencing the design of future Battlefield titles and beyond.

So said DICE senior producer Owen O'Brien and producer Tom Farrer when asked by 1up about the title's affect on the series and the genre.

"I'm not sure [about] wall-running, but certainly the others -- certainly the sense of physicality in the world: the running, jumping, vaulting, [and] sliding," O'Brien said. "I think, yeah, we will definitely try to incorporate them into future Battlefield games."

The endorsement arrives amidst a slew of accolades for the title, due out in about two months on November 11.

Beyond Battlefield, however, this development could signal a refresh of sorts for the FPS genre. Much like what Wii Sports did for the motion control gaming market, when someone plays Mirror's Edge, they don't really want to go back to the way things "used to be" with FPS games.

"Going back and playing other first-person games, for me, there's a real sense of loss, Farrer said. "Returning to the kind of floating camera, you sort of really lose that sense of being there."

And while Farrer said it won't be a matter of simply skinning future FPS's with Mirror's Edge controls, there are a number of "smaller aspects" that should be easily incorporated into other titles, he said.

Mirror's Edge arrives for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 11. Below is one of the original proof of concept videos that eventually ended up defining the game's final form.