If there's one topic that's encouraged more bile and hatred from the 'core' gaming community, then it somehow managed to escape me. For better or worse, motion control seems to be a sore subject: a throbbing cock at a christening - spoiling the mood and making us all feel very, very wrong. OK, so perhaps motion control isn't quite that offensive, but with some of the reactions I've witnessed from self-proclaimed 'hardcore' gamers since its mainstream introduction, you'd swear that the likes of Nintendo and Microsoft had just dangled their erect members in the faces of gaming's first-born.

The problem with the villainous motion controlled games is that they so rarely get it right. The public wouldn't hate them half as much and they'd receive half the amount of disgust if they weren't so bloody rotten the majority of the time. I'm an optimistic guy: I like to think of motion control's success stories - Dance Central, Killzone 3, Super Mario Galaxy. Try telling me that motion controls ruined Galaxy: they were perfectly-implemented in a game that is at the very height of classic design. Well done, villains: you're on the way to winning the public's hearts & minds. But wait, what's this? Kinect Carnival Adventures? Heroes on the Move? Oh, oh dear God, not.....Wii Big Family Game Party.

Even villains can redeem themselves with enough hard work and enough dedication, but it seems that for every success story, there's another ten or so train wrecks constructed for the sole purposes of roping in fuck-witted parents desperately trying to find a way to identify with their kids. I want to come out of this as Mr. Positive, trying to make everyone see the brighter side, but then my mind wanders and I start thinking about Let's Dance with Mel B.

Since the Wii, Nintendo have made Motion control standard on both he 3DS and the up-coming Wii U. Like or not, It's definitely here to stay. Even half of our blockbusters now boast Kinect/Move integration. There's no stopping the tide, as they say. We can rant until we're blue in the face about it, but our villains have taken up residency in our fair city, the question is whether or not they'll develop into a hellish ghetto, or a delightful picket-fenced wonderland.

If we are more willing to celebrate successful implementation, I'm positive in my belief that we can change the climate and all embrace a brighter, multi-interface future. Let's take motion-controlled games out of that box I so willingly crammed them into and allow them to run free. Smack the legs of the bad ones and shower praise and cookies onto the good ones.

Sooner or later, motion controls will be as regular as any other input method and it's up to us whether or not we want to embrace that future. We can fight it, become bitter and jaded, or embrace it: offer constructive criticism and continue to lambaste only shitty, evil cash-ins (after all, they deserve it, right?).

As a consumer, I don't want to 'buy into' motion controls. I don't want to buy a motion camera, re-organise my gaming space or make decisions on whether or not to buy the triple-A regular controlled blockbuster or the motion controlled bit of fluff. I want it homogenised, levelled-off and equal. It's coming, but not until the next generation. Right now, you have to pick a side, defend your purchase and protect your investment. When a new hardware generation rolls around, assuming that they have motion controls out of the box, we'll all be friends again. A handful of high quality titles and no need for extra investment is all that our villains need.

On the whole, it seems that us gamers fear change. I don't think anyone one of us could honestly claim not to be weary of new ideas and the prospect that motion controls could amount to little more than a brief affair: an amusing novelty that we all have to endure before normality is restored.



You know how some fools still search for that ever-illusive 'Citizen Kane of Games'? Well, the mentality rings true for this debate. What motion controls need; what the Kinect and the Playstation Move need, to be exact, is their Mario Galaxy. When the pretenders to the throne prove their commitment and give gamers a good enough reason to open up their minds, then we'll be ready for a brighter future.