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The Fall and Rise of Motion Control For Games
Eurogamer has a story about how the design of motion-control input devices has evolved over the years, ranging from the Nintendo Power Glove and Sega Activator up to modern devices like the Wii Remote and the upcoming projects by Sony and Microsoft. Now that the technology has caught up with the ideas, EA CEO John Riccitello said he expects motion-control gaming to rapidly expand, eventually occupying half the total games market. He said, "We almost invested to create a platform extension like that for some of the games we're working on. We're very pleased, frankly, that it showed up at Microsoft, because I'd rather them pay for that. They can leverage it better, and we can build software. But I felt the market wanted that technology and I'm glad it's coming."
I find it odd to hear EA talking about how motion controls will "someday" make up 50% of console gaming. Meanwhile the Wii has about 50% marketshare already according to stats put out by the big 3. Seems to me we are already at about 50%.
I'm sure it's great for party games and other casual things, but I can't imagine playing a first person shooter, or, God forbid a fighter. Can you imagine the conversations you'd overhear?
1st man : What's wrong with you?
2nd man : I'm knackered, I was playing Gears of War for an hour last night, I had to rearrange my living room to make adequate room for the cover spots.
1st man : Yeah, chainsawing is a bitch too
2nd man : Hey, where's Billy?
1st man : Didn't you hear? He was playing Street Fighter 4, did a screw pile driver and broke his Coccyx.
Summation 2
Does anyone else prefer just a standard controller?
The Wii controller is alot more useful than its given credit for, its a bluetooth HID and actually works really well on a computer, with a driver for it of course. I seen them used to control everything from WoW to a presentation.
Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
Replace "motion controller" with "virtual reality" and see if you can remember reading this same article circa 1990.
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Wii Motion+ seems to me like the kind of feature that the Wiimote should have shipped with in the first place. You shouldn't have to replace core functionality with better hardware halfway through your product's lifecycle.
Why not? If it wasn't ready then it's not like the original product didn't work. You choose if you want to upgrade by spending the money or not. I don't see why people don't PREFER options, vs. abhorring them.
I want a kunfu game where my actions dodge or hit the enemies. And I don't want it to be cheesy where my moves are interpreted into a set move that could have been done with a joystick or keyboard. I want my punch's(or kick) velocity and hit placement to determine the damage dealt.
God spoke to me.
The Sixaxis, as utilized in the otherwise middling PS3 Super Smash Brothers clone Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, does exactly what I'd hoped Nintendo would have done with SSB on the Wii.
The controls are generally as you would expect, but there are some wonderful little motion-based touches: Want to try pulling off a particularly big whack? You jolt the controller in the direction you're punching. Ground-pound area-of-effect attack? Jolt the controller downward as you punch.
Oh, and there's a "meditate" mode where you can float in the air, trading off becoming a sitting duck for some health regeneration -- you do this by flipping the controller upside down. Brilliant!
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Cheap MEMS gyroscopes didn't exist in 2006. They did as good as they could have for a consumer product at the time.
It isn't an ideal situation, but it's better for Nintendo than letting Natal and the Sony wand completely obsolete the Wii hardware.
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What?
I love the powerglove. It's so... bad.
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Except maybe the two games out right now that are bundled with it, Tiger 2010 and Grand Slam Tennis?
I don't see a very practical use for all this motion control in turn-based strategy games - you know, the sort of games that work the mind rather than the reflexes. I suspect that increased availability of these devices and the technology will make FPS and "arcade" style games even more dominant than they already are. They will entice kids to "think with their hands" instead of their heads. It may be true that the majority are already inclined or predisposed to that, but it doesn't help shift the Bell Curve when Big Business panders to the median for the sake of profit rather than trying to help shift the median to the right a little.
It's not that people abhor options, but you do have to look pragmatically at both the pros and cons of add-on peripherals in the console marketplace.
From a simple numbers perspective, it means you've split your consumer-base. An add-on peripheral is never going to be as widely supported as original hardware. It also means that developers will be much less likely to *design* an entire game around the functionality of that new add-on, because they also have to think about how to make the game functional and fun for original Wii hardware.
Unless it comes with EVERY Wii, new hardware simply won't be taken advantage of to same degree, and with the substantial improvements of Wii Motion plus, it just seems a shame it wasn't working like that to begin with.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
I don't see a very practical use for all this motion control in turn-based strategy games - you know, the sort of games that work the mind, but not the reflexes. They will entice kids to "think with their hands" in addition to their heads.
There. I fixed it for you.
But seriously, while I am disappointed the direction arcades, in general, have gone (all fps/racing/fighting; hardly any variation on themes), I don't think adding motion means that the games are going to be any more mindless. If you go from "A = Punch; B = Kick; C = Dodge" to "Thrust High = Punch; Thrust Low = Kick; Point up = Dodge", the game is just about as mindless, but it is at least more active.
Motion sensing opens up a whole new range of game possibilities. How much they suck is up to the people who make the games and the people who buy them.
I was playing a puzzle game on the Wii called Boom Blox. It's an idea similar to Jenga. You could have some something basic without motion sensing. But instead, you can have something with a rather impressive physics engine, such that understanding a thing or two about weight distribution and leverage can give you an edge. Here is a simple game where understanding and thought can give you a competitive edge.
As far as turn-based games go, I enjoy them a lot. There is nothing in a motion sensing controller that would prevent someone from making a turn-based game, and there are turn-based games for the current motion-sensing platforms.
As far as your subject, 'No use for TSB games'. There is still more possibilities with motion-sensing controls when it comes to giving your turns input. How much they make use of it depends on the developer and the game they are developing.
Intelligent developers would have a two-mode support - if you've got it, use it, but if you don't, fall back to the old method. It worked for Sony with the original PSX/PS1 controllers and their Dual-shock replacements with analogue sticks + rumble - by the end of the PS1's life, most games had support for analogue sticks, with fall-back to the d-pad (less ideal) for those who still had the original controllers. Helped that the dual-shock was bundled with the console shortly after its introduction too, though.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
I'm very concerned about the implications physical interfaces will have on future geeks. If game controllers evolve to the point where the user is running, jumping, swinging their arms, etc... gamers will start to develop physical attributes not conducive to the geek culture. Take for instance the young and unawares teen who plays first person shooters for two hours per day. That amount of physical activity would leave the poor individual thin and buff. A person in that condition would NEVER fit in with a crowd of today's geeks. I say ban these devices before any harm can be done!
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