Nintendo was not the first company to make gamers look like total arseholes via the gift of technology. Before the Wii we had the EyeToy on the PlayStation 2, and its creators are casting a critical eye on their rivals.
“I think that [with You’re In the Movies] they’re probably going to have some technical difficulties to wrestle with,” expounded designer Sany Spangler. “They’re using some technical elements that are not reliable, at least not according to our experience. They’re using background subtraction to put you in the movie, and it’s not very robust, that’s why we haven’t done it in any of our games. If the white shifts in the room or something, it can stop working. Good luck to them.”
Spangler also criticized Microsoft’s poor handling of the Live Vision camera up until now, stating that it’s “surprising” how little use the peripheral has with gaming. Moving onto Nintendo, the designer confidently stated that the Wii is simply not as intuitive as the EyeToy:
“[EyeToy is] more intuitive, it’s very clear, as opposed to trying to figure out how to … use the Wii remote in ways that maybe naturally don’t make sense – you wave it a lot to do activities where you wouldn’t be waving in real life. Whereas what we always try and do with our games is make a direct correlation between the motion that you’re doing and the action on screen, the effect you’re having on the game.”
While I lack the expertise to talk about You’re In the Movies‘ tech, I can at least state that I agree with the criticisms of the Wiimote. It’s rare that games released for the Wii really feel very interactive, and it’s difficult to find new ways to make the technology work outside of random waggling. Maybe the MotionPlus accessory will change all that, but it remains to be seen.
