This E3 we were introduced to two new control schemes for gaming, Sony’s “Playstation Move” and Microsoft’s “Kinect” for Xbox360, and from what I saw, I feel the industry is finally about to deliver on the promises made to gamers back in the 80′s and 90′s.
For as long as I can remember videogames have been depicted in movies of the future as total immersive experiences. For me, ever since I saw the movie Tron I’ve dreamed of being part of the game rather than just looking at it from across the room and making things move with the a controller. Movies like Hackers where “The Plague” (played by Fischer Stevens) is seen playing a fighting game with a VR helmet on his head and controllers wrapped around his closed fists swinging in punching motions or the racing game played by “Jobe” (Jeff Fahey) in The Lawnmower Man. A world where after being strapped in, he takes off in a full 3D while flying, floating and falling; these images helped fuel my imagination of what the future of gaming could be.
The Move and Kinect were preceded in immersive full body gameplay by the likes of the Wii and the Sony Eyetoy, but this generation is taking it to new levels. These days we’ve got faster processors, 3D stereoscopic televisions and 5.1 surround sound; add-to-that gameplay thats not just waving your arms around to “touch” spots but fully motion controlled shooting, driving, dancing, and err…umm petting! While some may find this unimpressive at first, this is just the beginning of the revolution…an advance to a new level.
The Wii showed that the world is ready for a new level of interaction and Sony and Microsoft took notice, they have come up with their own versions and although there are similarities, both have put their own stamp on the control scheme. Fanboyism aside I’m impressed by attributes of both and more importantly what those attributes could mean to the future of gaming. With competition heating up in the motion market, the gamers will reap the benefits; the big 3 will need to push their technology to new heights to capture an audience that has a choice. The push for 3D is also gaining steam, with the 3DS being renowned as the hit of E3 and Sony pushing their line of Bravia TV’s along with the PS3 3D abilities, both are vying to be the front runners in 3D gaming. Nintendo and Sony took steps in different directions to achieve the same goal, but whether you agree or not – this is the beginning of the revolution and eventually this tech will reduce in price and become more widely adopted. Sony’s focus on the partnering of motion and 3D tech is a definite lead in race to full immersion gaming IMO, and the tech i’m most interested in getting my hands on.
The past gave us movies like Avalon and the Star Trek “holodeck”, the future is poised to bring the magic to life. We may not have the flying cars they promised, nor have we colonized Mars…yet, but VR gaming is coming and I want in damn-it!
I can agree with you that it’s definitely changing gaming but right now I don’t think developers and/or gamers are using it correctly or for the right reasons.
I feel Sony and MS jumped on the bandwagon so to speak and are simply trying to grab a piece of the market Nintendo already has locked up. Plus with gaming development being at an all time high developers likely won’t spend a majority of their budget on a hardcore game that uses move/Kinect as the Wii proved that hardcore game+waggle do not sell. Of course all it will take is one major franchise to use the hardware correctly and sell to more than mom and grandma and people will follow suit.
That being said, the tech is still in it’s infantcy and I think it won’t be until the next generation of consoles where we see both the hardware and software shine if Sony and MS continue to move forward with it.
Anywhoo, I’m not a huge motion control backer but I do admit we’ve come a long way since the activater.