The innovation in gaming isn't on the screen

This evening with the kids, somewhere between the Wiimote and RC Simulator controller, or perhaps the DS stylus or Guitar Hero axe, I realized that all real innovation in the videogame industry these days seems to be in input devices. As the industry finds it harder and harder to come up with really new gameplay modes on-screen (I thought Gears of War was basically an updated Area 51), the spread of dedicated controllers that make you get off the couch and move are reinventing the medium and creating an excitement about gaming I haven't see in years.

Beyond the above, there's the DDR dancepad, the Sixaxis controller, the Xbox Live Cam and the Nunchuck. And that's just current gen in our house. In the past we've played with everything from the Steel Battalion control panel to a light saber game.

The only downside of this wave of UI innovation is that each game costs more and when you're done with it you've got a useless piece of hardware to go with your useless plastic disc. But the upside is that we're interacting with games in a way we never have before and the intuitive nature of these dedicated input devices is making gameplay more natural--less cerebral and more physical. In other words, it's all more fun. Which was supposed the be the point all along.

Comments

[Georgia Harper]

Interesting observations and good point about the downside. Hope you are recycling all that stuff when it's not any fun anymore. Environmental issues are going to continue to be a problem for any society as consumer-oriented as we are, and recognizing that companies and consumers need to take responsibility for minimizing damage is important. Folks with kids, as well as kids themselves, are probably more open to the implications.

[Neil]

Nintendo's controller innovations will influence not just console interfaces, but future PC interfaces as well. Just look at the creative adaptations of the Wiimote' bluetooth connectivity on YouTube - people have written apps to use it to control Google Earth, drum machines and virtual decks.

[Dan]

I agree. I think this is why you see the Wii being so popular and the PS3 struggling. The Wii is controller innovation, whereas the PS3 is just graphics. But computer game graphics were always just as good as the PS3. So why don't more people just play the cpu games? Because of the controllers.

I remember the launch of Fight Night when they had the new controller of using the joystick to punch. This was innovative (instead of just pressing buttons to punch) and it drove the popularity of a once dead game.

[Eric]

I've been making this observation for a long time; the biggest innovations in games have always been about how we interact with them; and it's always been Nintendo that excelled in this area. It may not seem like it today, but the NES controller was a pretty big leap forward, as was the NES advantage, which really made a difference for porting that generation's arcade games to the console.

I also maintain that 3D games were an innovation of input rather than graphics; they needed the analog stick to be playable - all the graphics in the world wouldn't make Mario 64 or GTA III possible on a D-Pad.

[Pierre-Denis Autric]

Your point is right. I want just to add, that as the games foretale the Human interactions design, we will see new approach of input devices in our day to day electronic devices (i.e. an entire keyboard with only six keys)

Regards,

Pierre-Denis

[Sagirubin]

Here's a glimpse into the next generation of input device:
www.primesense.com

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[Rogers Place]

Some new things like the Wii games may be good. One can get off the coach and get a little exercise playing these interactive games.

[Joel]

I fucking called it: http://www.slate.com/id/2132417/

NAILED IT

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[t-shirts]

Excellent insight. I'm yet to play the light-sabre game, but one things for sure – it looks really cool!
One of the issues I have, though, with computer gaming is there is a certain niche that is trying to push the real element of gaming incredibly far – in other words, they want things to be more real and real. Now, while this has it's advantages, the disadvantages are that the game no longer becomes a game once it gets too real. There will be nothing sad than a full virtual reality world like the Simms which functions on the same laws and rules as the real world. Where's the fun in that? What makes gaming fun is the fantasy, and that you can do things there that you can't do here. I hope they never lose this element for the sake of cool graphics and 'real-world' playability.