Extra Punctuation: Getting Innovation Wrong

[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.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Can't really say that I agree with this much. For one I actually like the 3D effect on the 3DS and find it rather easy to maintain a proper position while playing, nor does it give me a headache or any kind of eyestrain (and this is coming from someone who suffers it watching 3D movies). Also isn't it a little early to call the 3DS 'failed'? I mean sure the launch titles don't have anything particularly impressive, we really won't know for sure until its been out awhile longer. Really I think we need to give it time to get some decent software. The DS had some great titles for it - I have a hard time imagining that things aren't going to pick up for the 3DS.

While motion controls may not have panned out as well as Nintendo would have liked, at least they're trying things - it seems a little hypocritical to bemoan lack of innovation in the same breath as you decry Nintendo for trying new things out because apparently they aren't the "right" innovations. Last time I checked figuring out what works and doesn't tends to involve actually trying them in the first place.

More than anything this article just makes you come off as biased against Nintendo.

 

[Awexsome]

Are people so quickly bashing designs before they've even had a chance to get a preview of them yet?

The 3DS's 3D is a good design. Optional, and was an extra on top of the added power to the handheld. Yeah Yahtzee will complain about the Nintendo franchises but it doesn't stop them from being fun. I mean he hates on a lot of good games and plenty of great ones.

The new controller might work. First off if it incorporates that technology that actually lets you "feel" through the screen then that solves your physical feedback when tapping a button there or something. It will undoubtedly be used for quick time events that you'll have to maybe draw something onto the touch screen and be forced to look away from any events on the TV and that'll probably be bad.

What I think it'll be great for is like a weapon select or inventory system. Something that required menus of navigation just always up in your hands. I think a designer could come up with some innovative way to use that before immedietly dismissing it. You'd rather have Modern Warfare 6?

 

[Optimystic]

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

I just reread my entire post, and don't see a mention of the Wii anywhere in it. I said THE 3DS IS A GIMMICK, and I stand by that statement.

Now show me a hack that makes the 3DS useful.

 

[TaboriHK]

Excuse me, buddy, but I'm pretty sure enslaving Zeus to power our homes is less convenient than just setting them on fire.

 

[I forgot]

"Neither motion controls nor 3D represent the way forward because they both involve making games and movies less immersive"
I'll take games that are more fun than more "immersive". I don't give a shit if I feel like I'm there if the game is boring as hell. Also the whole reason for 3D is because not everyone finds it easy to judge depth on a 2D screen, so it does help.

Immersion is not nor ever was the way forward in gaming.

 

[Beautiful End]

I'm not impressed with the 3D gimmicks at all. The 3DS is selling at a more expensive price than when the PS2 was released (Or even the Gamecube). I know these are different times and inflation and everything but still! My problems with the current consoles are that A) The incredibly ridiculous price tag and B) Developers giving us stuff we don't want/need but end up getting used to. I mean, I get it, developers. If people are buying it, then it works. Keep 'em coming, right?

But 3D? Yahtzee is right; it's not that convenient when you gotta stand still in front of the screen. Move an inch off and whoops! No more 3D! When they said "3D WITH NO GLASSES!", I though "OH SNAP! Holograms like Star Wars?! I'm sold!". I mean, that IS 3D without glasses, right? But instead we got the 3DS that, mind you, it's still very glitchy. I don't want to pretend that Mario is right beside me, teaching me how to speak Italian. I know he's not no matter how real he looks or not. I just wanna play my friggin' game!

I'll admit I bought a PS3 about a year ago after resisting the temptation a hybrid between a computer and my beloved PS2. I already have two computers, Sony! Don't try to sell me another one! And while we're at it, I'm also happy with my PS2's DVD player! I had to buy my PS3 because I was being left behind and well, I'm a gamer. You can't keep me off new, cool games for too long. So here I am.

But still...it seems developers are focusing on everything but gaming. Online playing, internet browsing, Netflix, computer-like gimmicks; all that are things that are irrelevant to gaming and that we don't need that badly. Sure, they're cool gimmicks but hey, I was happy with my PS2. And my SNES. And my 64. And my NES. Now every time I play, I worry about my computer hybrid (PS3) dying on me or needing an update or...getting hacked. I didn't have to worry about that with my other systems...

My point is! The industry needs to focus on a console that goes back to enhancing the gaming experience. Yes, keep online co-op; we're all used to it now. Keep the cool stuff but remember that at the end, people just wanna play their games. They don't want to be forced to stand up and look like a retard in front of the TV, they don't want to be fooled into spending more money on a console that just looks pwetty and they don't want their system to come with a DVD player, blu ray player, a TV, music player, a microwave, a can opener and a banana. Make a better systems, come up with original games and not remakes of old ones, remember that your audience is made of kids whose income is 5 dollars a week to grown ups whose income might be 5 dollars per week or 100 dollars. I don't need gimmicky consoles, I need something that keeps me truly entertained without the fear that it might implode on me due to my lack of computer knowledge.

Man, I wish my PS2 was still cool...

 

[lord.jeff]

I'm not sold on 3-D yet but I think I soon well be. I'm basing this on the experiences with HD with movies it made little difference at first, all it did is triple the price of film, and then they tried to put it on the TV and it made the image worse, in fact HDTV still looks worse then the old standard but I have come around and started to like it as the movie visuals are improving with it and Blu-rays do look nice. Things like this make me wonder how did people react to color and sound getting introduced into movies.

As for the touch screen I look forward to not pausing my game to switch weapons.

 

[BoredDragon]

That's one thing I do like about the XBLA is that they have an indie section where people can program their small scale games and put them up for about $1 for people to buy. Some of my favorite games come from that section of the XBLA. There is Baby-Maker Extreme, Try Not to Fart, and Cthulu Saves the World.

The last in that list I highly recommend, it is turn-based combat but it's not too punishing and the humor that the game has is well worth it

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I disagree. I love 3D, and I love it mainly because of the level of depth it adds to the picture. It makes whatever you're viewing much more like you're experiencing it.

I realize that a ton of people do not share this view, and do not appreciate 3d. Good for them. But at least let me enjoy my 3d, okay?

Amen, brother.

I don't get upset when 3D isn't an option, but when it is it's preferable. I certainly miss it when I boot MK and forget to turn it on before I start a fight. I've also had great fun watching 3D films with my brother. Piranha 3D just a few nights ago, stupid but hilarious.

My only complaint is the price of the 3D blu-rays. If they weren't so dear, I'd own them all.

 

[Antari]

3d was useless in the early 80's and its not much better now. Good to see people are noticing it.