I noticed a trend at this year's E3. The big three were all serious about interactivity. Nintendo already has a hold on the market with Sony and Microsoft working on their own iterations to try to steal a piece.
So what do we have. Wii Motion Plus, Project Natal, and the EyeToy Wand. The main focus was 1:1 Motion Capturing. I don't know if they actually believe that this is the technology that will become the future of video games, but I would just like to point out that Making progress in game development and Making progress in company earnings are two goals that don't necessarily go hand in hand. Just because they said it was important, doesn't mean it actually is.
Everyone has seen the videos on the three. We've made our jokes. Pointed out their faults. Now the important step is to try to make some good games that actually takes advantage of this "technology." Make a game, not mini-game, that will use the 1:1 for gameplay and use it to actually further the industry.
The problem is, we're a long way from anything worthwhile. I've played around with Motion Plus and it's nothing fantastic, so far. Who knows if it ever will be? We're at least a good year out before Sony or Microsoft's products will be on the table and when those do come out, it will only be a couple of first party titles. Xbox and Playstation are "gamers" brands. The audience motion control captures are minorities for Microsoft and Sony. The established group is not going to be intested. So why would third party developers start making games for unproven technology? Sure, they want to make money and waggle games are selling like hotcakes, but the reason we see so much support for the Wii is because there is a foundation built already.
Developers know going in that the Wii has people who are interested in those games. Nintendo had Wii Sports. Then Wii Fit. The resources are there just waiting to be tapped. It'll be a lot harder to convince people that you've got something on your console that is different enough to jump ship. We've already seen console exclusivity go the way of the dinosaur. Companies want to minimize loss. They don't care about the prestige that comes with exclusivity. They want to get the game in the hands of as many people as possible. So why would any company want to take a chance to create games for a console using specific technology that limits themselves to a specific consoles' sales?
If you ask me, Microsoft and Sony need to find a way that their technologies can be shared, which of course is impossible. If they could make it so that developers would have two consoles to sell across, I could see the possibility of some good games coming along. I didn't say good games, I said the possibility of some good games.
I'm not trying to be a hater but it's just Microsoft and Sony have huge mountains to climb if they're actually trying to take this Motion Shit seriously. If it's just a side project that they're not really banking on, then I guess no big deal. I don't want to finish this post off letting Nintendo get off the hook. As the company I look forward to hearing about the most, they've got problems too. Last year was an embarrassment and this year was only slightly better. None of the three are perfect and it's easy for me to sit here to point out problems after everything has been laid out on the table.
That's why they say hind sight is 20-20.
Or I guess in this case, it's 1:1.
David
