Why is it that all three console formats are insisting that I stand up to play my games these days? Nintendo started it off years ago with the remote waggling, unresponsive and fairly inaccurate Wii and Sony and Microsoft have subsequently jumped on board the motion sensitive train with the Move and Kinect respectively.
In their credit both of these later additions into the current trend (3D being the one that is surely set to follow) are much better than what the Wii has to offer, even since the motion plus was introduced which admittedly did make it better. My issue is the fact that the whole thing is simply ridiculous. Coming from the viewpoint of a ‘hardcore gamer’ as the companies would label me, all this jumping, waving and general awkwardness takes away from games rather than enhancing them. I get the theory, on the surface it seems like it would be more immersive but what has been achieved is making games less precise. Why would I want to replace the pressing of a button which takes a fraction of a second with a movement which could take a second or more? What they should be doing is working on some kind of technology to allow me to control my games with my mind… Ok that may be a ways off but hell it’s better than sticking a tennis ball on a Wii remote and claiming it’s a revolutionary new idea, we noticed Sony, there’s no hiding it.
When we play games we do it to relax, sitting of slouching comfortably on a bed, chair or sofa and this is how it should be. Games are a great form of escapism and fun which lends itself well to being comfortable, introducing things like Kinect which actively forces you to stand and jump about like a buffoon to get results doesn’t actually help in what they are trying to do.
The games for these devices are all pretty much the same sorts of thing too, with dancing or fitness games being pretty much the sole releases for Kinect and the best sellers on the Wii, granted Move has slightly more variety but with the exception of Heavy Rain compatibility (which if I’m honest I can see working beautifully) it’s all just not as good as a controller. Take Killzone 3 as an example. It has move compatibility and 3D, 2 fads with one stone there, both of which severely detract from the experience of playing the game. The move controls are clunky and ineffective so you will very quickly find yourself switching back to a standard controller to get the precision you want, nay, need in an FPS. Even the 3D isn’t great, sure it looks cool and everything but turn it off and the entire game just comes to life. So what they’ve done is thrown money at a game to make it compatible with all these different things which won’t get used for more than 10 minutes because they take away the fun.
Some may cry that this is simply a gamer conforming to stereotype and being a lazy, sofa bound nerd who shirks exercise and natural light in favour of the glow of a monitor. I assure you this is not the case. I’d be 100% willing to give these things the time and money if they could improve my gaming experience, until that point they will not even be remotely considered. My Wii is in effect an N64 and SNES rolled into one, with Super Smash Bros: Brawl and a few choice GameCube titles left over – none of which use the motion controls. I have no desire to pay £50 for Move in order to play the one game I’ve already finished and Kinect has so many problems I don’t know where to start, but let’s have a go anyway. It’s expensive, unresponsive, needs a 6 foot gap between you and the screen and has no game support unless you like to dance or do yoga or whatever…which I do not.
So in an attempt to wrap up my rant here, listen up games developers. Nice try with the whole aim stuff at super happy casual gaming families (which don’t exist in the way the adverts depict) and get people up and moving. It’s time to realise that this is just a phase you need to get over and go back to making awesome games instead of new ways to control crappy ones. Controllers have been around for a long time now and there’s a reason, they work. Also while you’re at it please take steps to minimise 3D stuff, most of us can’t afford a 3D TV anyway so it’s really not worth it.
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