Casual Games, Game Design, Gamer Culture, Nintendo Wii
Simplification for the masses.
Nintendo’s doing it, catering to the casual crowd with its dreck for the Wii, and Microsoft aims to do the same with Project Natal.
“Blasphemy!” old-time gamers say. But simplifying things really isn’t so bad. Simple games like Today, I Die show the benefits of paring games down to their core, and by becoming increasingly accessible, games can become experienced rather than played.
The Nintendo Wii ignited a popular fascination with gaming. Its motion-based controls appeared to be the future. With Microsoft and Sony both developing their own answers to the Wii, it certainly appears that motion controls are now going to be around for a long time.
While many are excited for this, real gamers are left weeping. To real gamers, the idea of having to deal with these gimmicky devices is as appealing as rubbing shards of glass in one’s eyes.
With that painful imagery aside, let me just say that classic controllers > those things that make you move and wave your hands in an awkward fashion. That is not fun. That is just stupid.
Gamer Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Sony, Technology
Tom Cruise was my first thought when Microsoft announced Project Natal.
Motion sensing technology? For your whole body? Of course I wanted one of the computers Tom used in Minority Report, which he manipulated with his hands, a kind of futuristic touch screen on steroids.
Most gamers can generally be divided into two major groups, you’re either a PC gamer or a console gamer. Yes, some can be a little bit of both and there are also some exceptions (handhelds to name one), but for the most part, gamers tend to favor one over the other.
And up until now, the two groups were both closely related species, but with the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Project Natal, it is clear that console games have begun to deviate on their own evolutionary path.
Console, Gamer Culture, Nintendo Wii, Press Releases, Xbox 360
E3 has come and gone leaving in its wake an ocean of new games and fascinating gadgetry that will keep us salivating for at least another year. Microsoft may have had one of the most intriguing displays we have yet to see come from the annual E3 convention.
