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."

Comments

Motion gaming on consoles already is 50%

[WiiVault]

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%.

Re:Motion gaming on consoles already is 50%

[Nursie]

1. You ignore the PC, phone and handheld segments

2. Whilst the Wii has sold well I'd be surprised (but I guess not too surprised) if it made up 50% of the living room console market when games are taken into account.

Re:Motion gaming on consoles already is 50%

[ColdWetDog]

My wii gets used when someone comes over, and even then the fad has kind of worn off.

You know, that happens as people get older. Nothing to be ashamed of. Get some Viagra if it bothers you.

Re:Motion gaming on consoles already is 50%

[theaceoffire]

Yet most Wii games don't really use motion controls at all... They either ignore it, or convert "Waggle" to a button press.

Motion control doesn't work

[Rik Sweeney]

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.

Daw...

[buttfscking]

Does anyone else prefer just a standard controller?

I don't know about this...

[east coast]

Replace "motion controller" with "virtual reality" and see if you can remember reading this same article circa 1990.

Re:I remember the power glove

[PaintyThePirate]

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.

Re:I remember the power glove

[Dutch Gun]

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.