Impact of Motion Control on Console Gaming?
Written By Ben Salter
Where is console gaming headed? In 10 years will it essentially be the same as what we play today with advanced technology, or will it be completely different? One answer lies within the advancement, and success, of motion control. It’s been a massive revelation for Nintendo with the Wii, and Microsoft and Sony are preparing to cash in on the phenomenon with their respective motion devices. Is this the beginning of the end of good ol’ fashion console gaming with the standard controller?
Motion control in gaming was the hot topic at E3 this year as Microsoft announced Project Natal and Sony revealed their new Motion control device. To be fair, neither of these are looking to take the place of the traditional controller on their respective consoles, but it would be an understatement to say they are looking to take advantage of the new audience Nintendo has found with the Wii.
Microsoft’s Natal impresses me more than Sony’s Wand as it seriously appears to be taking motion control to another level. In fact, it has forgone the controller all together by using just a camera to scan the player’s movements. It looked impressive on stage, and those who played it behind doors said it played just as well, but I think it’s best only to believe it when we experience it for ourselves. Sony’s Wand on the other hand makes use of both a camera and a remote-like controller. To me it appears to be a blatant rip off of the Wii Remote; however, it does appear to be better than Nintendo’s MotionPlus. Maybe that’s a little harsh; almost every innovation in gaming is quickly copied (and in some cases improved on) by competitors, in saying that it’s normally a little less obvious.
There’s two groups, or perhaps moods, of gamers that are going to strongly oppose motion control. First are the serious gamers who want to have complete control over everything at a touch of a button. A controller is like a key it the city, it gives you access to everything and places a power over everything in the palm of your hand. They want the accurate and complex control that motion control is yet to provide. The second is when we can’t be bothered with all those extravagant movements. That’s not to say we’re lazy, sometimes you play games to relax and moving around hysterically is the last thing you want to do. Other times you want to put in a few solid hours and would much prefer to sit back with a controller. If all three consoles start placing a greater emphasis on motion control gamers feeling these ways are going to become excluded from modern console gaming. In an effort to attract new audiences developers may be driving away their loyal fans.
What about our game genres? First person shooters are the king on the Xbox 360, and very popular on the PlayStation 3. Meanwhile they’re nowhere to be seen on the Wii. Next month’s The Conduit is the first FPS on the Wii since it launched almost 3 years ago that isn’t a port from the PS2 (that I can think of). When I compare the Wii Remote to Natal and Sony’s Wand it appears to be the best of the lot for FPS games with its IR pointer, and yet the genre has been snubbed thus far in the console’s life. Each console has its fair share of shovelware, but it’s more prominent on the Wii due to ‘casual’ games that don’t appeal to ‘core’ gamers, bad core games and bad casual games. I’m not a fan of the whole ‘casual’ or ‘core’ gamer labelling, because I would consider myself to sit somewhere in between; however, there’s a clear distinction between the two types of games and one that is needed to the categorise them. Does this mean we will get more games aimed at a casual audience on future Microsoft or Sony consoles? Will the success of motion control lead to classic franchises, such as God of War and Halo, be made easier and more family friendly so they appeal to a wider audience and to get core gamers to upgrade to motion control?
I don’t think that the standard controller is going anywhere this generation. If anything Microsoft and Sony are throwing their lines into the water to see what they can catch with the lure of motion gaming. If they are anywhere near as successful as Nintendo has been surely they’ll have no choice but to place a greater emphasis on it in the future from a business perspective. It’s that point in time that I’m worried about. Sure maybe developers will offer the option for motion or classic control, but the chance of studios putting effort into two completely different control schemes for one game seems minimal. I don’t mean to sound completely against motion gaming, because I’m not, I’m just weary of promising devices disappointing ala the Wii Remote. I was impressed with Wii MotionPlus in Grand Slam Tennis, and with that being the first game to make use of the device it’s only going to get better. But it took Nintendo two-and-a-half years to rectify their controller, and get it to the level initially promised. The Wii, and motion control, is great for social situations, it’s great for people unfamiliar with videogames, but at the end of the day I think I’ll always prefer to go back to the traditional control pad.
What do you think about the future of motion control? What impact will it have on console gaming? Before anyone says it I realise you could buy a gaming PC to avoid all of this, but there are still those of us out here who deep down are console gamers.
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