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So there was only one video game on a cartridge system I ever liked, and it goes back a long way. One of the early systems, in addition to the silly gamepad, had a pistol attachment and a game for it which had a skeet-shoot mode. And that was a lot of fun, because a pistol was a reasonable way to play that game. Finally, finally, the video game industry has awakened to the opportunity here. After fifteen years of making players do everything imaginable by pushing buttons, they're finally starting to create realistic controls. Steering wheels for driving sims and joysticks for flight sims are passé, but they're starting to get more creative. For example, there's an arcade game now, a fighting game, which has sensors and the player stands on a platform. To fight, you actually have to make fighting moves; the computer detects what you do, makes your avatar do the same thing, and then simulates the outcome. Wanna kick? You kick. Wanna punch? You punch. But that's not cheap, and we won't be seeing those in the home just yet. Someone has created a boxing game where the controls are actually boxing gloves with sensors inside. You swing your fist (at air, not at the other player) and a little plastic guy you control does the same thing to the other player's little plastic guy. There's also a ski-board game now where the control is actually a board that you stand on. Wanna turn? Tilt the board with your feet. Lose your balance and fall off? Your avatar takes a spill. Nor is this confined to single player games. There's a baseball game now for which the primary controls are a ball and a baseball bat. Each one has a wire and presumably they've got accelerometers inside. If you're the defending team, you pitch by flipping your hand holding the ball. (You don't let go.) To bat, you actually swing the bat. Now that's more like it. Screw better graphics, give me better controls any day. (discussion in progress) |
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