¬_¬ (week 9)

So Ive covered the history of gaming and the dark dark middle ages of game development. But ask yourself this one question "How far will the gaming industry go with technology ?". As more and more next gen consoles are released will game designers make using consoles harder and harder? Or will human input become a thing of the mind?

This Week I'm going to tackle the important issue of Human interface and ergonomics in the game industry. So take alook at the current consoles in the shops and homes of thousands of people around the country, its either a Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii. Now compare the controllers and actual interface of the console itself. All three are very different from each other but in all the same ways are the same. Out of the three the Wii controller to this date is the most advanced at smashing cups/flower pots/your brothers nose and so forth and advanced in the way of technology. Using a series of weights and infrared sensors to detect the movement of the player or user it depicts these movements on screen. Sounds simple? Well sort of, the first time and last time i played on a Wii it took me a few hours just to master Wii sports and bowling. Red Steel for the Wii was another ball of effort to master using the controller with the nun chuck thingy. My mind was telling me one thing and my hands were doing something else.

This is one possible future problem for future game/console developers is that people will find some games too hard to master (OK some hardcore people will get it). However most people who play games are looking for a reason to escape reality for afew hours and enjoy a simple game with simple controls, not wresting and smashing windows with a fucking Wii controller. Now the Xbox 360 have hit the nail on the head (this is my honest opinion) with their controller and console interface. For me the controller sits perfectly in my manly hands and their is no cramp or burn in my hands or wrists after playing Tee Bag Your Friends Corpse Till Your Hearts Content in Halo 3 multilayer. The controller interface i believe is diffidently spot on, i don't think anyone else could improve on it, unless to quote Zero Punctuation "It has a force feedback Cod piece".

The PS3, Wow how original they took the old ps2 controller stuck some weights in it and called it six axis crap. Still the same controller and still too small for me, you end up concentrating more on keeping the damn thing from slipping out of your hands like the soap in a prison shower than playing on a game. Its also like a bastard inbred child of the Wii controller, couldn't quite decided whether to be a pig or a bear/man. Either Sony you release a separate controller that's dedicated to six Axis and another normal old school style ps2 controller with force feed back. You cant use two at the same bloody time! You cannot possibly get using to i.e. flying with the analog sticks then start using the six axis, even the bloke who showed the tech demo in front of a few hundered people for the six Axis couldn't even use the bloody thing!

So i don't know whether or not i should look forward to the future of console input or not. Perhaps in time we will be using those gaming consoles in the film eXistence or force feedback cod pieces who knows.