| Ishy said: There first foray into casual gaming was the cube. The big A button was there 2 make games simpler for casuals. |
The big button was there - as well as the color-coding, to facilitate usability in general, not just to cater to casuals.
A:
- most used button, should be largest
- normally assigned for menu confirmation, give it a green for "yay"
B:
- secondary button, less prominent
- normally assigned for cancel actions, give it a red for "nay"
Everyone, both "hardcore" and "casual" gamers (god, I hate those words) benefits from better usability.
Actually, I would attribue a large part of Nintendo's success to having adopted excellent usability and accessibility with its product design.
DS:
Touchscreen - everyone knows and uses a pen or pencil in their daily lives, so having touch mitigates the intimidation factor of too many button, plus users know what to do with a pen - not necessarily buttons and a D-pad, especially if you've never used one before.
Wii:
Motion - no matter who you are, it is more natural (not more efficient or more accurate, but more natural) to use natural motions to bat, to bowl, to punch, even to fish. There is no memory load for these actions, making gameplay instantly accessible. With buttons, you have to associate buttons to actions, which places cognitive and memory loads on the user.
With that Wario spinning game, I think Nintendo was testing the waters, but then again, if the GCN controller is any indication, Nintendo has been pursuing better usability and accessibility goals since the last generation. Only this generation are they reaping the rewards.
