Square-Enix’s Yoichi Wada isn’t dazzled by the promise of motion control with the PS3 and Xbox 360. Speaking recently to the Financial Times, the chief executive predicted that their respective impacts could be “small,” because of what he perceives to be limited functionality when compared to the other stuff the consoles can bring to the table, such as Blu-ray- or DVD-playback.
"Present game machines already have a lot of functions: they are a network terminal, a Blu-ray or DVD player, and a gaming machine," he said. "Compared to these three pillars, the [new motion] controllers are quite limited, so the impact may be small. They are an extension of the gaming function."
The argument is valid: these motion controllers (or motion-sensing devices) won’t usher in some golden age of gaming on their respective platforms. With Project Natal in particular, developers and publishers seem to be only looking for ways to enhance their upcoming games with the functionality. The common example is gesturing with your hand to throw a grenade in an FPS, while the other hand continues to grip the actual controller. Not exactly a huge impact, eh?
[via Joystiq]
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
13 comments | showing # 1 to 13
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
8:40 AM on 09.21.2009
| 
That said, I agree that Sony & MicroSoft's motion controls' uses will be limited and aren't going to set any new standard for how games are played. Especially not if that example you give is an indication of their imaginations. Taking your hand off the game pad to gesture and send a grenade flying doesn't sound anywhere near as efficient as just moving your finger a quarter-inch and pressing a button. I'm interested in something actually useful.
Arguably, it would have been better to just start a generation with the new technology than introduce it halfway through. At least then it becomes an industry standard. Right now, motion controls are just a gimmick used in minigame collections, alongside more traditional control schemes, or in Nintendo games.
Now if Natal launched with a Natal exclusive version of Halo 4 on the Xbox 720, there would be wide-scale adoption compared to introducing it mid-cycle and only incorperating it alongside the traditional control scheme. I mean, am I really going to want to spend a hundred extra dollars just so that I can throw a grenade by jerking my controller up?
Motion control for PS3 and 360 just sucks. The sixaxis mechanic in Uncharted didn't necessarily work the wrong way, it's just that balancing across tree branches and tilting to thrown grenades were not cool. Neat idea, but if it's not up to par with everything else in the game play or presentation of the game then why waste time and effort putting it in?
Remember Lair? That's just proof that no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. And motion control won't appeal to the majority of the people who own a 360 or PS3. TO me, I feel like Sony and Microsoft are making an attempting to win over the family demographic only because they've finally realized Nintendo has all of it.
I like the Minority Report interface of Natal (which I feel had more potential than PS3s), but beyond that gamers never asked for this. Whether casuals will indulge in them is the big question. Time will tell, they had better pray the public bite.
However you really cannot compare motion controls to a DVD player.
I think the PS3 might cause somthing to happen if they can make their motion wands look not..........rediculous.
yeah, it would be very unwise of Microsoft to bring in Natal when the 360 is going to be scraped next year anyway.
Hopefully the 720 runs on a form of windows 7 and does not crash or die.