I think the point of motion controls as they apply to immersion didn't really get explored deeply enough. Both points were completely valid, but the reasoning was more to do with the games in question, not the control scheme itself.
Yes, motion controls damage immersion. This is something primal in humans; when we are using our bodies our minds becomes more aware of our surroundings. It's an old instinct we've had since we were painting naked people on cave walls (last Sunday). When the body is inactive, the mind becomes more focused and more naturally shuts out the local environment to better contemplate problem solving or just explore ideas. A body at rest can be very, very focused on a book, movie or game. you ever try to watch the A clockwork orange while running on a treadmill? Doesn't work. Translating what's being said into coherent speech requires a focused mind, which requires a resting body. And likewise, games that aim for immersion will require a resting body because immersion requires that we shut out our local surroundings. Games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill wouldn't work with real motion controls, be they programmed or 1:1 mapped, because the active body would pull the mind out of the game and into it's locality. Games that don't rely on immersion, however, are not only fine with motion controls but enhanced by them. The big one on this front is probably Wii Sports. At no point does the game ever ask you to believe that you're in a bowling alley, throwing a bowling ball. It's actually the opposite - you're fully expected to realize that the technology is allowing you to simulate bowling in your living room. That's the first thing a lot of us realised when we got our Wii home that christmas so many years ago - 'Jesus, I'm playing golf in my own front room'. The draw of those games isn't that they're trying to tell you a story, all they're doing is asking you to enjoy playing for it's own sake. That's why games that try motion control and immersion miss big. Red Steel 2? No. 0 immersion. You could have textured that whole game in prime colours and had the enemies running around in floppy clown shoes and it wouldn't have mattered. The selling point was the 1:1 sword mapping, which is something you were expected to enjoy for it's own sake O HI WII SPORTS RESORT.
So yes, motion controls damage immersion, but that's not a bad thing, it's simply something developers need to be aware of when they're trying to design an immersive game.
(1) - I don't consider the occasional wrist shake to be motion control. That's just an alternative button.
(2) - the thing I notice most about the Wii when going back to older console controls is that my hands wern't glued together. I could sit in my armchair with one arm on each armwrest without damaging my ability to control the game. Seperating the hands allowed comfort to come first. The motion controls took a back seat for me compared to being able to scratch my ass while still beating up gannondorf on horseback without pausing the game.
(3) - can people stop just beating off over the concept behind this column and actually discuss it? don't need 4 pages of 'Hey guis this is a good idea'.
