Motion Controls: A burning desire...By Iodine

Nintendo attempted a revolution with the advent of the Wii’s new fangled controller. That spark of innovation has benefited their bottom line immensely. As well as introduced a fresh crowd to the world of video games. It’s a situation that a lot of companies strive for, but rarely acquire.

The real question is whether this is a change that can sustain momentum or not. With competitors jumping into the fray and console sales hitting a saturation point, I find myself wondering more and more about that. There’s also a disconcerting gap between the quality regular gamers expect and what the casual market is more than happy with.

Let’s focus on the experience for now. Being with the Wii controller is like going on an amazing first date. She pulls some impressive tricks that grab your attention. And the next thing you’re in complete bliss on cloud nine. As the days stray on, you find yourself imaging what the future holds for the two of you. And it’s nothing but greatness. Months pass by. The Wii is still in your life, but you’re not giving it the attention you once did. Your private dreams slowly give way to the realty of the situation. She tries to dress herself up and even beckons nostalgia to spark your fire. But her tricks have become routine. Her limitations stand out like cracks in a mirror. Love is over. Before long the Wii collects dust as it sits neglected. It might even get tucked away into the closet. Bad end. Obviously this isn’t how every experience with the Wii is. But it seems to be consensus among the crowd I hang with.

I think Nintendo realizes this. That their gimmick can only go so far. This is where the Motion Plus comes into play. It’s a twenty dollar add-on that promises to make everything better with its gyroscopic technology. The ultimate promise being that it’s really, really close to 1:1 motion. The device has only made me realize that it should have been implemented in the controller’s design from the start. Now Nintendo sits in a position where their market is divided between the converted (those with) and the sinners (those without). Too bad for them the sinners make up most of their market. To attract new buyers and correct the market balance, Nintendo has combined the Motion Plus and Wii Controller into a unified plastic husk all for a mere $40. What a bargain! The problem remains that so few games bother to utilize the add-on. There’s hardly an incentive to invest or upgrade with the new red bundle (diehard Nintendo fans aside).

 

Now we get into the software. WiiSports was the perfect showcase for the new motion technology. Granted it’s more an assortment of tech demos, but it’s all Nintendo needed to dazzle audiences. The actual controls are primitive to keep it accessible. And modeling the game after real world activities gave the casual gamer something they could relate to. A flood of imitators would soon hit the Wii trying to duplicate WiiSports’ success. The themes and licenses may vary per title, but they’re all essentially mini-games collections. That’s not particularly appealing to the average gamer. They’ve become accustomed to epic storylines, the highest tier in graphics and sounds. And most importantly were raised on multi-faceted controllers with a dizzying amount of buttons. When a sophisticated title does hit the Wii, it typically lands with a dull thud. The mainstay gamer simply isn’t there.

This leads me to the competitors, Microsoft and Sony. Each has put out their own take on the motion control phenomenon. Microsoft dropped the controller altogether in favor of a camera based system. The caveat being that the new model 360 can power the device whereas an external power supply is needed to make it work with older consoles. Sony deployed a compartmentalized controller that operates alongside their own camera. Technical differences aside, the end goal is the same. Where these companies could have made the difference is in their marketing and software. Unfortunately both companies seem perfectly happy to follow after Nintendo’s PR. It starts with the ads showing people of various ethnic and age groups with big smiles swishing their limbs about like loose noodles. And it will end with the presence of cookie-cutter games that don’t excite. At a point people will get bored with the limited variety and on move to more exciting endeavors. This leaves the regular audience, but they’ve already exited onto greener pastures. The customer pool is getting shallow. When it finally dries up, the big companies will keep throwing out ideas until they get one that brings the masses shambling back.

For all the potential that motion controls have, the very companies behind them are sabotaging their own products with inept implementation. I would like to think that this technology could be taken seriously and that it’s here to stay, but the current path is keeping it squarely in fad territory. Now only if we can get Kojima to a produce an all motion controlled game. Then we’d be talking about changing the face of the industry.