I second (and third) that eMotion
June 18th, 2010 | 
Commodore128
Commodore128
Whatcha gonna do, when the Wii Police come for you??? Stop laughing!
This week I thought I’d crap out some half baked thoughts about E3. Maybe make a top 10 list, or fire off a quip or two about Cliff Bleszinski’s T-shirt fetish, or perhaps even reflect on my undying love for Morgan Webb. Then after I realized I’d really just be rehashing Roo’s earlier E3 post (even though my impressions were quite different… but then again, I’m not a die-hard, Miyamoto crazed, look at my Earthbound T-shirt, Reggie is my baby daddy, any hardware with the letters DS in it must be the pinnacle of Western Civilization, Wii is a good name, Nintendo fanboy) I also realized I’d be doing a disservice to you my dear readers. You’ve come to expect more from me in my posts. So today I want to approach a growing debate in the industry that E3 has only served to highlight. Are motion controls now going to be a staple of video games?
We’ve all waggled our Wiis (I know, it’s still ridiculous), Dance Dance Revolutioned the night away, looked like mindless fools in front of a motion camera, and maybe even hit the floor to pound a PowerPad thus helping us to win an imaginary relay race. Maybe you’ve even bought a Wii Fit balance board, and you start your morning off with a little fake yoga. In any case, we’ve all had the experiences of what motion controls have had to offer up until now, and truthfully, it’s always seemed more gimmick than innovation. Is that the end of the motion control story? Let’s talk about it after the break.
I remember being a kid with a blue, plastic revolver in my hand, blasting bad guys on my TV screen in Mad Dog McCree for my CD-I. To be sure, this was not the best of times for motion control. I remember having to tip the sensor above the TV at an agle toward the ceiling just so it would pick up the gun inputs. Even then it wasn’t very accurate. Eventually the only way we could beat the game was with a wired, standard, controller (which was basically cheating) because the gun just didn’t cut it. But it was still fun in that it brought an entirely new dimension to playing the game. There is something to be said about that sense of immersion that is just close enough to being real without actually being real. Let me see if I can explain better what I mean.
I had this conversation with the class I taught last semester on Video Game documentation. It begins with a question. If the holodeck in Star Trek is the ultimate in terms of virtual (or let’s say videogame) experiences, how would we actually feel inside holodeck versions of the videogame experiences we have today? My feeling on this is that we would be absolutely horrified, not to mention frustrated, traumatized, and more than a little gun shy. Can you imagine standing in front of an eight foot tall Locust from Gears of War, his beady, reptilian eyes glaring at you, his razor sharp teeth dripping with putrid saliva, his scaly skin appearing impervious to anything and everything you could possibly to do him? Folks, this is not an immersive experience, this is a complete nightmare. And I think if we’re all honest with ourselves, we admit that this would not be fun, it would be traumatizing. And truth be told, I’m not sure standing in front of a realistic Sack Boy a from Little Big Planet would be much different (or better for that matter, even if he adorably gave sweet hugs). But I believe we also must concede that the experience we’re looking for is immersive sure, but only immersive enough, without being too realistic to remove all the fun entirely. I think this is the bridge that motion controls provide.
When I’m tilting my Wiimote to control a giant Pokeball containing a Monkey which rolls around a massive labyrinth table, I am patently aware of the disconnection between the game and reality. However, I squirm, yell, and jump around when that damn Monkey rolls right off the edge despite my best efforts to get to the goal. Anybody that thinks Monkeyball is the same on GameCube and Wii is just not being honest. The same goes for one of my favorite games in recent memory, Resident Evil 4. I played this game (many times) on the Gamecube, and continue to play it all over again annually on the Wii just because it’s such a good game. But I also play it perpetually because the experience with the Wii is just fantastic in addition to being completely different than that on the GC or the PS2. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but the experience is just different.
Now, if motion controls don’t change the way we perceive the reality of a game (duh), but instead aid in the immersion of the experience (thus shortening the bridge over the gap between reality and fiction as I described) then I would venture to say that the future holds only better utilization of the concept. Therefore I would also argue that motion controls are a bit more than just a gimmick. Sure many folks are buying Wiis only to watch their investment graciously collect all the dust being blown around by their functioning 360s and PS3s. But then again Nintendo has had more of an issue with support for its motion controls through its lack of software than through any major gimmicky flaw with the controls themselves. Playing Wii sports forever and ever without motion controls at all would be burnout city, so attributing the reason we get tired of it on the motion controls is a bit misguided to say the least.
Dude, I think there's something seriously wrong with your lightsaber...
Now this brings us to our newest entrants to the motion controlling space; Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move. In terms of control for entertainment, I am extremely intrigued by Kinect’s offering here. Long have I desired to control my entertainment via motion and voice. It’s the 21st century people, I don’t want to look for a remote. I just want to tell the system what I want it to do and have it do it without asking questions. I’ve seen Star Trek, I know how the future works (nothing like Windows incidentally)! Now do I want to wave at my TV every time I want to sign in to Xbox Live… Hell No. But the thought of creating and utilizing my own gestures to control the entertainment center is pretty damn cool (like when I flip off that guy from the 5 Hour Energy Commercial (that boring, jabbering, fart knocker). The system automatically senses my finger-flashing anger and changes the channel to cute fluffy things on Animal Planet in order to sooth my rage). And I love Minority Reporting my way around system UI. This is where I think Kinect will really shine as an interface and show us how user experiences for most of our electronics will change.
But in terms of the raw game space, I have to say that I’m liking Playstation Move’s chances more. First of all, when I’m playing games that involve a little more than giving virtual high fives to my TV and watching my avatar hit balloons around a room, I’m gonna need some kind of control for movement. Running in place is awesome for Track and Field type games. But if I’m running to or from the enemy in Battlefield, I ain’t putting in three miles per match. I’ll just take some form of control stick thanks, even if it does nothing to improve my cardiovascular health. Not saying they can’t find a way to do this on Kinect (nor have they confirmed or denied anything to the contrary) but at the moment, the Playstation Move just looks like it has the hardcore gamer in mind right from the get-go (this is not exercise apparatus). And quite honestly, both Sony and Microsoft appear to have much more in store than the Wii could even begin to handle. Ironically, maybe it’ll become extinct precisely because it isn’t a gimmick and will instead be surpassed by evolutions of the same technology it really brought to the space.
There are lots of other questions that have to be answered before I’ll become a true believer. Do I have to stand up and be recognized every time I turn on my console? I noticed calibration seemed to be an absolute necessity, I wonder if this is true for voice and for motion? Does calibration get in the way of getting into the games? If I really am going to look and feel like a total douchebag when I play my racing games with my motion controllers, do I need to go through the added embarrassment of standing up every time I want to play?
Kinect is watching you...
Additionally worth a mention is that the advent of motion controllers for our consoles has also coincided with the advent of utilizing these machines to run our entire entertainment experience from games to video, and even social networking. This is not an accident. Clearly all of these console makers have targeted more of a mass market through their inclusion of motion controls. And the mass market (at least to this point) is interested in performing many more functions with consoles than just games.
However, I think it is pretty clear to me that they aren’t just making this decided shift to simply take a brief grab for market share (that’s simply a bonus they don’t mind), they’re interested in bringing better, and more immersive experiences to greater numbers of people which to me signifies that this motion control thing is somewhere beyond a mere gimmick and somewhere a bit short of the greatest thing gaming has ever seen. While the reality is probably closer to the former, I have to admit that I don’t mind at all and I’ll be throwing down some bucks for these things now and in the future. More immersive and engrossing games means more fun, and greater public attention (and hopefully better understanding) to those experiences. And that is something which should make any true gamer dance around (or maybe just waggle around a little).
What's funny about the name Wii? I don't get it...
I guess what he's trying to say about the wii pun (heh, Irish...okay I 'll stop trying to be funny now.), Is like Wee as either an Irish or bathroom joke (my money is on the bathroom joke.)
Ouns aside, I honestly think the Wii, at the time of release, had the best chances of attracting hardcore gamers on terms of immersive gameplay. the problem I see with it is not with the gamers, but wuith the designers. The gamers saw a lot of crap and simple games that were made to imitate nintendos Wii sports and Wii fit games. you know exersice and minigames. the few games that wern't that were just...seriously WTF they sucked baddly. Red Steel wasn't too bad, but....I mean it still had issues like WAY to big a bounding box. When Games like Metroid Prime Corruption came out they showed the publishers how a bounding box should work. (AKA When you moce the controler within...I think about an inch from the center the camera moves, not at the end of the screen. Well, every FPS after that (What are there liek 2 games) seemed to do a little better in that since. I havent been able to play Red steel 2 or the conduit but I hear they are good games in there own right. on the Minus, However, When I played Mario Galaxy I realy hoped more gamesl iek that would come out. Unfortunitly, Platform games seem to be far and few between since the end of the N64 days. That sucks for me because I love Platform games. I grew up on Banjo Kazooie and mario 64 and I love that degree of freedom and exploration you got from them. Yeah you have sandbox games but those are just not the same. Often time the worlds are too large and you only get a few mediocre worlds instead of several uniqe and often diverse worlds each with there own set of puzzles. As far as open world gameing goes, the puzzles and diversity just doesnt seem there to me.
Now, platforming aside. I think a game with a mouse interface would work wonderfully on the wii. Something like an RTS where you click and open a menu .Heck even a turn based RPG would work as well. the good thing about both of those is that you could use the single Wii remote as opposed to the Wiimote Nunchucka combo. As for RTS's. well, just point and click. use the D-pad to move the map (or point off screen...but seriously I hate doing that in RTS's normally). As for RPG's, well turn the wiimote to the side to move around and like even hold down the B button to tilt the camera.
Oddly enough I see no games period that use this idea. If anything, I see very few games that even use the menu. I mean there is that one Wiiware game thats like an side scroller RTS, but I really dont think it does the genre justice. I seriously thought that RTS's and point and click menus would run rampant on the fields of the wii (I know, metaphors right?) but I mean even for games like Resident Evil 4 the use of Wii based menus are...well, not there. I mean you cant even point at an item and move it. It's not a big terrible deal, but I mean seriosuy...nobody can even do that? I mean correct if Im wrong, and I might be, but I don't think Mario galaxy had Motion controled menus outside of the start screen. It's been far too long since I played it so I could be wrong. (I need to steal...err i mean borrow it back from my sister since I cant get galaxy 2 at the moment.)
And as for FPS's. Seriously? This is all we have? A small handfull of good shooters and Metroid prime 3/trilogy. Oh and a load of terrifingly bad graveware (You know Shovel ware...except you want to kill the people who actualy think it is fun.). i mean I was sure the wii would dominate the FPS market and I gave them the benifet of gthe doubt, until Metroid prime came along. I mean it defined what you had to do right and so far none of theg ames after that follow this except perhaps the two I mentioned above.
Then I saw the Move and Kinect or what ever xbox calls it. I doubt the XBox will be good for all games and I doubt it will work for a lot of games out side of racing and skateboarding. However, the Move seems to work well considering you still have a controler and the system will be able to easily recognise a colored ball thats the same colors, shape, and size no matter who plays with it. With Xbox's thing it has to take into account several hundred (If not thousand) sizes and various shapes to play with each and every persion who plays. Now, I do see some potential with it, if they can do it right. However, I would also like the ability of a controler so I could play my platformers and shooter's, and RPG's with ease. And hey, as for RPG's I could pretend like it's a sword, or better yet, a magic wand.
I CAST FIRE BALL *shake the move around and it's ball turns red*. Okay, Now I cast Magic Missle *Moves ball turns purple or blue...or...wait what color is Magic Missle. damn it, Jim, I'm a Cleric not a Sorcerer.). anyway, you get the idea. It would make Real time RPG's much more fun.
Despite all this, I beleive the Wii can countinue to succede in the market if Nintendo would get the developers to do it right. I mean yeah, they'll have to upgrade there hardeware eventually but they should still well. i mean they have mario, metroid and Zelda holding them up. I'd say the Mother franchise but NoA are jsut compelte idiots when it comes to the greatest series of games ever concieved by man kind.
I think that the 3 big game companies are trying to do what the Ipod, PC or even TV and radio managed to do back in the day. It's about creating a lifestyle experience. Keep the hardcore happy (after all they are the ones bringing the system home probably) but make it friendly for anyone to use it. Maybe your wife doesn't play even casual games but she gets used to watching her films there. Or using facebook. Getting everyone to use it is the goal. To create a need overtime. When I was a kid and I walked down the street without a cell phone I didn't feel like something's missing, but now you get a dumb feeling of isolation (meh..maybe it's just me) if you walk around without being able to call. Same thing happens when internet doesn't work and it will eventually happen with video games.
The motion controls are (in my humble opinion) just part of that. Innovation that while satisfying the usual customer will awake curiosity in those that currently don't care about games. The more people using it, the better chances they have to keep selling their next gen console to that specific home.
It's not a `luxury´item anymore. It's not a satisfaction if you buy it but more like something that society considers that you SHOULD have, just as a TV or a computer.
So that's what your blog inspired me to write.It was a good read Commodore. Thank you.
As always, you're welcome and thank YOU for reading! Two points here that really resonate with me:
The lack of RTSs on Wii is just inexcusabe, I agree entirely. As a big C&C fan, the control possibilities for the Wii are simply mind-boggling. But you're also quite right that it takes developmental support of these concepts to make them work. Nintendo has had a hard time with that on the Wii due to the "quick buck" games you've described that capitalize on (and emulate) Wii Sports. But I would also add that one reason they haven't jumped on with support yet is because the motion control is pretty limited. It has certainly gotten better with Motion+ but I think developers kind of hit a wall with the limitations of the Wii's horsepower to motion control ratio. Now as for the the 3DS.....
The second thing (and you've hit on something I very much want to write about) is the nature of videogames as luxury items. I simply couldn't agree more. Videogames have become as ubiquitous as TVs. The market movers behind them have realized this, and are absolutely trying to scrape up more mass market appeal (Nintendo was completely transparent about this at E3) with it.
Thanks for the feedback!