Extra Punctuation: Getting Innovation Wrong

[Canadamus Prime]

Don't be fooled by 3D. Just ... don't. 3D is nothing more than an expensive experiment being carried out by the entertainment industry. Not a technological experiment, mind, a psychological one. The entire entertainment industry is trying to determine if it's possible to pass off an inferior gimmick as the next step towards the technological singularity simply by having every media outlet on the planet tell everyone that it is.

Ah, kinda like HD then eh?

One way Nintendo's new controller concept could work would be in a situation like in LoZ: Four Swords Adventures on GameCube where if you hooked up a GBA as the controller, then every time you went in a house or a cave in the game the action would switch to your GBA. So they could work it where when you enter certain areas, the action would switch to the controller's screen.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Meh I like the 3D gimmick in movies and games. It makes me feel like I'm living in the "future"

except there are still no jet packs or flying cars and nothing is covered in chrome....

FFFUUUUUUTTTTTUUURRRRREEEEE

 

[Flishiz]

I think that it's both quite clear and alarmingly unmentioned that consoles, like most of the developed computer world with it, are moving towards the information infrastructure. I think the next console to be built needn't have that much greater graphic potential than the 360/PS3, but rather should have the interface and infrastructure set to be most accessible for groups of people playing together online.

Though Microsoft did this marvelously with the 360's Xbox Live, it is not beyond belief that a similar attempt could be made by Nintendo or Sony (if they can get over the massive trust loss from the hacking fiasco), just so long as they implement the best system for making a console a social network as much as it is a gaming machine. It cannot veer in either direction, or it ends up as superexpensive solo campaigns with little market potential, or social-only "games" like Playstation Home, which are cool and junk but exceedingly boring after walking in people's way a dozen times.

My brother and I hardly play Call of Duty to get great games done or unlock new stuff; we play because it's fun to have a controller in our hands and flashy lights on the screen while we chat about stuff with all of our friends online.

 

[108Stitches]

I guess the touchscreen can work well if it's used only as a touchpad or tablet - we can use those easily and it might work. I for one do like using the touchpad.

If it's used truly as a screen however... Well... What good was the Dreamcast controller screen good for again?

Glad I wasn't the only one who remembered the DC having that tiny little worthless screen in it's controller.

 

[Delusibeta]

Nice bit of pandering the crowd there Yahtzee. The Escapist forums in general hates Nintendo irrationally, and seems to be set in their ways. Had the forums been around at the time, I'd have expected the people in here would have declared the rumble pack or the analogue stick a gimmick.

The point is, declaring something a gimmick does not make it a gimmick. Kinect has sold enough that I fully expect Microsoft to try again next generation, and Sony will probably still want some of the casual gaming pie. I find it hard to believe that Nintendo will want to throw that sector away, so expect some form of Wiimote in there as well. Touchscreens are very much part of the furniture for handhelds (and mobile phones), and I expect motion controls will be present in a major way on all three consoles. After all, it's the only way they've come up with to differentiate home consoles from all the tablets, app stores and stuff like OnLive that's come onto the market.

 

[hazard99]

The screen on the controller reminds me of the GBA uplink for the Gamecube. Got to love Zelda FSA.

 

[Optimystic]

And you know what? Blue Ray and HD-DVD were exactly the same thing- a technological gimmick that nobody even needed.

I disagree. Those technologies (particularly Blue Ray) heralded the long-awaited beginning of the end for "disc swapping," which has to be the most irritating hurdle console games have ever had to contend with since the loading screen. Thanks to high-storage media, we can have suitably epic and graphically appealing games without losing the "pop in and play" appeal that consoles have.

ME2 on the 360 reminded me just how much I hated that godawful mechanic, and it's my hope that gaming can one day be done with it forever. Unfortunately, until "cloud gaming" takes off, a physical storage medium will be a fixture for the AAA titles.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

I don't think that motion controls or 3D is the right thing to head towards for the future. Its like Yahtzee said, motion controls increase the time it takes for a thought to become an action in a game. Normal controls: Thought, small finger moves, action. Motion controls: Thought, large body or arm moves, then a moment for it to read your moves (if you did it right), then action. Also 3D can't get you more in to the game because for it to work you have to notice it working meaning you have to be reminded your playing a game! Plus, like he said to make it work better they have to lower the image quality. I don't agree with Yahtzee completely that motion controls or 3D are a step backwards, and I don't think that they couldn't be used at all. However, I think they are a step sideways. They don't regress the Games industry, or its progress on their own, but they do stop us from finding the right path.
p.s.Before they kill us, why don't we overthrow them first?! Then Yahtzee can make them make better games!

 

[Zom-B]

And you know what? Blue Ray and HD-DVD were exactly the same thing- a technological gimmick that nobody even needed.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD weren't "gimmicks". I'm not even sure how to respond to you on that one. It's just mind-boggling that you would even say that.

Is more megapixels in a digital camera a "gimmick"? What about bigger flash drives? Or the storage on your PC? Are better graphics cards gimmicks?

I get the sense that you don't even know what "gimmick" means.

Finally, this: "I'm trying to think of ways to employ a touch screen and a TV, and the problem I keep bumping against is that the player can only look at one screen at a time." You're right, they can only look at one screen at a time, that explains why the Nintendo DS has flopped completely... oh wait, it's the highest selling handheld of all time (if you use the numbers for all its iterations).

The difference being that with a DS, the screens are side by side in your hand, as opposed to one held in your hands down in your lap (or where ever you hold your controller) and one anywhere from 6 to 12 feet away from you. The screens would be of hugely different sizes and on different focal planes. So instead of flicking your eyes back and forth between two adjacent screens, you'd most likely be forced not only to change where you're looking and where you're focussing, but you might even need to change the angle of your head and neck. I think that's the main issue, not that there's literally two displays, just that it would be more problematic to play games using both.

 

[pigmy wurm]

At least with the 3DS I see the 3D as more of an extra added on to a more powerful DS.

 

[cfehunter]

Good points yahtzee.

Motion controls are still the future mind, but they need a hell of alot of work before I'll be willing to give up my dual-analogue pad.

I also really really hope that those pads are fake. Think about it for a moment. They have more electronic hardware in them than the DS, meaning they will cost more to produce than the DS, meaning stupidly over-priced hardware.

 

[Optimystic]

Nice bit of pandering the crowd there Yahtzee. The Escapist forums in general hates Nintendo irrationally, and seems to be set in their ways. Had the forums been around at the time, I'd have expected the people in here would have declared the rumble pack or the analogue stick a gimmick.

Kinect is not a gimmick. It has far more utility outside of the gaming sphere Microsoft intended it for.

3DS IS a gimmick. Hand-held 3D does nothing to advance gaming as either art or science. It's all flash (bad flash at that) with no substance, and all the prominent gamers (Penny-Arcade, IGN, the Escapist themselves) that end up just turning the damn thing off during play prove what a monumental failure it's been.

And screens-inside-controllers are also a gimmick, simply because the human mind can only process one at a time. Again we have Nintendo devoting resources to a feature that adds nothing.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

Motion controls kinda worked because there were games that actually required you to use them. I don't see how having certain images pop up in front of me is going to be vital to my gameplay unless I'm taking a DMV eye test.

 

[Delusibeta]

Nice bit of pandering the crowd there Yahtzee. The Escapist forums in general hates Nintendo irrationally, and seems to be set in their ways. Had the forums been around at the time, I'd have expected the people in here would have declared the rumble pack or the analogue stick a gimmick.

Kinect is not a gimmick. It has far more utility outside of the gaming sphere Microsoft intended it for.

3DS IS a gimmick. Hand-held 3D does nothing to advance gaming as either art or science. It's all flash (bad flash at that) with no substance, and all the prominent gamers (Penny-Arcade, IGN, the Escapist themselves) that end up just turning the damn thing off during play prove what a monumental failure it's been.

And screens-inside-controllers are also a gimmick, simply because the human mind can only process one at a time. Again we have Nintendo devoting resources to a feature that adds nothing.

Thank you for proving my point.

There are several hacks floating around for people using the Wii remote far beyond your standard motion controls. Here's an example:

Does that make the Wii remote less of a "gimmick" to you?

I'd also think you'll find that your argument against screens-in-controls have been floating around since the reveal of the DS, and has hence been disproved.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Nice bit of pandering the crowd there Yahtzee. The Escapist forums in general hates Nintendo irrationally, and seems to be set in their ways.

Eh.. I've always seen it as actually being willing to call Nintendo out for their faults and mistakes, unlike most game related media which trips all over itself to praise anything and everything Nintendo does. Bear in mind that there are many here who also aren't afraid to list recent Nintendo series iterations as some of their favourites, regardless of actually allowing themselves to be critical.