New Ways to Control Video Games in the Future

Recently, manufacturers of consoles, and some developers say that the game industry will soon change forever. Game pads with their, buttons and levers thing of the past. In their place come new input device that will give players move, while the characters on the screen will repeat their movements. And the future is now. In the middle of the last decade, the Wii console with its Wii Remote subdued market, and now the controller Move for PlayStation 3 and the sensor Kinect for Xbox 360 settled in the homes of millions of people.

But to live in this bright future was not so great as it might seem a few years ago.Move and Kinect , no jokes, wonderful device. They expand the gaming space, remove it beyond the TV screen, attract new audiences, produce so-called “wow-effect”, which at one time made people who do not have the electronic entertainment is not the slightest interest to buy Wii. But the emergence of new devices, Alas, there is little effect on the most important thing in this industry – at the games. The situation is deplorable: the bulk of the projects with the support of kinetic devices – dance and sports simulators, as well as a simple game, which lasts for twenty minutes.

A typical example of this kind of games – Kinect Sports Season 2 . It is colorful, cheerful, sympathetic in terms of control and completely unobtrusive. The player can try forces in six sports: golf, tennis, football, baseball, ski slalom and darts. Game mechanics is predictable and simple. Know yourself jump, machine arms and legs, depicted slashing or bat, and then enjoy a well-deserved victory. The game will certainly demonstrate a record of how ridiculous you look, rumba otplyasyvaya front of the TV and at the same time trying not to run to ruin the sound of a curious cat.Is all this bad? Not at all. Kinect Sports Season 2 – great fun for a few minutes, a good way to add variety to the holiday party and an excuse to move around once again. But when the developers of new control systems of a revolution, many were waiting for quite different.

The main feature of Kinect , Move and Wii Remote in the fact that they are attractive to those who are experienced lovers of video games contemptuously referred to as “kazualov.” Middle managers, housewives and other people who do not have any relation to the games, seeing these devices and want to buy them immediately. With sensory devices are very easy to play, even if a person is struggling to cope with TV remote control. Give this a gamepad, and the next two hours will have to explain what, when and in what sequence to push it. But put that same person in front of Kinect , and within minutes he get the hang himself. While the main credit for new devices and their mission lies in the fact that they open up the world of video games for a completely different audience, who have money and want to spend. In many ways these people Wii owes its dizzying success, they helped Kinect get the “Guinness Book of Records” as the very fastest selling consumer electronic devices. They make all editions fitness trainers, simulators and other dance darling amusements, which are pressed specifically for sensor devices.

What about other games – more than usual, with an interesting plot, vivid characters, in general, so, on what the industry was kept until the Wii Remote , Move andKinect ? They are not. Unfortunately, the developers are in no hurry to do serious projects with support for new devices. Why? But ask them. The number of sold Kinect is large enough to justify the risks associated with the development of expensive games, but they are still there. Maybe it is that nobody now really do not understand how to create a “kinetic” like Call of Duty , so that it retains the dynamic, and the new control scheme did not go in harm?

We can not say that nobody is trying to break that barrier. Last year, Sega released a Rise of Nightmares – thriller with a first-person, also known as “the first Kinect-game, meant only for adult audiences.” For the very attempt of developers should be commended, but here’s the result, to put it mildly disappoint. On the quality of Rise of Nightmares so obviously inferior to representatives of the genre, that they work with conventional gamepad, and her flirtations with touch regularly turned to the players inconvenience and disappointment.

In the event of a competing device for the PlayStation 3 pleasant surprise was the fantasy action game ” Medieval Moves: Attack dice . ” In the role of a living skeleton, Prince has addressed the player must break through the army of the same kill. A full-fledged story with light humor distinguished Medieval Moves from other “kinetic” games. His mechanics also exceed expectations. The Prince waved his sword in strict accordance with your movements, concealed by a shield and shoot a bow – it needs to have a hand with the Move behind your back, as if reaching for an arrow, and then zero in on the screen. But for the life-giving sips of milk (a very, you know, it is useful for bone) present panel is required to overturn the mouth and, like a bottle. One key issue – to levels not you move yourself, and on autopilot – for developers programmed route.

Another rather unexpected example – Kinect: Disneyland Adventures for Xbox 360. Though she and baby, in her example, we can show you how you can develop a full game for Kinect, without falling into senility and not tiring the audience boring design solutions. Disneyland Adventures allows us to reduce child in a virtual Disneyland, where you can run your heart’s content, to perform many tasks and interact with cartoon characters. The developers turned out not set loosely connected mini-games and a full peace with the correct support Kinect . When a child is helpless in his arms to embrace with Donald Duck – it’s not the same as if he just pressed the button on your controller. Here Kinect not for show, not for advertising or refill someone’s wallet, but really out of place.

That these games with support for more sophisticated input devices and for an adult audience would like to see more. Meanwhile, the kinetic scheme in serious projects are content only supporting roles. In last year’s racing simulator Forza Motorsport 4could be using head movements to control the camera. This makes it easy to look in the rearview mirror or consider approaching a turn. And very soon will be released Mass Effect 3 , where with the help Kinect can give voice commands to characters, which should simplify their management during the battle. Is this enough? Obviously not. When the promised revolution is canceled due to the absence of revolutionary – it looks like a strange way. In the case of kinetic devices would like to wait for a more spectacular breakthrough that will transform the toy fitness trainers in the full game controllers. Perhaps to break this wall will have some of the already announced projects such as version Minecraft for Xbox 360, Fable: The Journey , Ryse orStar Wars Kinect , although it is about these games do not know practically nothing.

Right now, Microsoft is preparing to launch Kinect version for the PC. It does not matter that it is produced primarily for business travelers who want to carry the device all the boring conferences and negotiations. At last year’s E3, we’ve already seen how it develops ideas which started this whole mess with the player tracking movements of the company Nintendo. Rumors that the new game system will be equipped with Microsoft Kinect-like device by default, are becoming more like the truth. We can assume that Sony is also not wish to lag behind competitors. In general, these sensors are with us for a long time. So you want them to be useful not only for dancing and sports, but for something more.

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Posted by Ibrahim on January 31, 2012. Filed under Articles, Entertainment, Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry