Wada says impact of upcoming motion devices may be small

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]