Motion Gaming 5 Years Later

[BreakABone]

I know controlled environment, but hard to say motion controls aren't precise for aiming



Actually... may I make a suggestion... I think we should splinter this discussion because at this point, not really about Zelda.

[KillerGremlin]

That video shows the advantages of motion control and the disadvantages.

Some subtle observations:

-the hit boxes look fairly large
-there are never any moments where the cursor is every steady or still

Advantages motion controls have over a mouse or analog stick:

-it looks easier to make large sweeps across the screen
-in some ways they are more organic since they seem to replicate a real gun; this may be better for games like duck hunt which is essentially a play on skeet shooting

Onto point one of the advantages, I've seen creative solutions for PC gamers. Mice have adjustable DPIs, so you can increase the DPI for twitch movements and drop it back done. I knew a guy who would make the DPI very high for high sensitivity when he was running in Counter-Strike. When he needed to shoot people he would notch the DPI back down. I've tried this set up and found it to be too cumbersome.

Skeet shooting simulation =/= first person shooter. If you add in elements like strafing, I suspect overall precision will go down. Again, the Wii may be better at handling sweep movements, but I still question surgical-like precision.

All-in-all I think you provide a fair counterpoint. And simulation type games would be more fun on the Wii than on a classic mouse or controller. A Wii hunting game or Wii duck hunt would be very fun.

Just compare the Duck Hunt video to the Counter-Strike video I posted, and I think you do see differences with hit-boxes, keeping your cursor stable, and twitch-to-precision movements. The Wii video you posted never slows down, it's a stream of quick shots being fired. You can hide big hit boxes in a stream of action like that.

[Blix]

OK. So I've been working on some projects and have to get back to them soon so I just read a couple of posts of yours, I suppose they have the central, essential idea and I'm going to reply to just that. I played Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 and it is a true FPS on the Wii. It was developed with motion controls in mind and I don't think they left anything you normally see in a traditional FPS out of the game. It did control well, the online was nice and I never felt that it would be better on a regular controller or KB & M. Conduit also gave me a good time online and people were doing head shots like nobody's business. Except me, of course, because my time to play videogames is very limited right now and I fell prey to the young kids and teens who play as much as I used to. But I did feel the Wii mote met the necesities of the games. I'd say if anything, developers have to take a bit of time into thinking how to get things right on the controls and that's about it. They have to spend some thinking of meaninful gestures, what benefits from motion controls and what should stay confined to button presses and how to make it all feel natural and immersive instead of taking you out of the game for unnecessary motions. And The Kinect is very different from both, the PS Move and the Wii and Nunchuck.

Needless to say the kind of game will dictate if it really benefits from motion controls more and the competence of the development teams will have a lot of impact on if it really works for the better or for the worse. But I do believe that a good developer who puts effort into their game will actually be able to make games that leave a special feeling where the player would actually prefer those controls over more traditional ones. I find this similar to how games work nice on controllers for consoles but you should rework the controls before porting them for PC because what works on consoles is bad on PCs and the other way around. I hope this is clear enough.

[Typhoid]

I would never play TF2 on Xbox or console. Too many controls and buttons that you lose. Number shortcuts for weapons, keyboard shortcuts for context menus. Spy management is on par with micro management in a RTS.

But on a console everyone has the same disadvantage, so it becomes 100% moot. It doesn't matter if you can't immediately cycle to your favourite gun from your other favourite gun - because neither can anyone else - unless of course you're able to actually use a keyboard/mouse with the game/system.

Playing MAG with motion controls is actually super fun. It's like a computer/console hybrid. You have the freedom of aiming with your hand, like a mouse - and the comfort of a controller, opposed to keyboard - to move/strafe etc.




Anyways, I used to be super anti-motion controls, but now I don't give a shit. As long as when I'm an old man (who will still no doubt play games) I can understand and comprehend the concept behind how to play the games of that generation. I hope the controller never goes extinct.


Edit: Hey, you guys remember memory cards? Remember how much of a different social experience playing a game used to be?

"Oh, you just bought ______? I've got that game too I'll bring my memory card over and show you what to do when you get to ________"

opposed to

"Hey man, I just got- "
"I know, I saw when you signed in."