| donathos said: Not faster. Not more accurate. Not for most of us. But better. Most gamers today think that a mouse & keyboard is a superior game control system because it gives them greater accuracy and a greater degree of control than anything else, like analogue sticks or an IR pointer like the Wiimote. But IR is a better control mechanism for FPS' because it is closer to the actual activity involved -- pointing, like a gun, and firing. The Holy Grail in gaming is probably Virtual Reality -- a fantasy holodeck-like scenario in which we actually personally act out and experience scenarios. For a snowboarding game, we would actually "be snowboarding," meaning standing up, shifting weight to change direction, and experiencing the visual and aural rush of going down the mountain. Wii Balance Board controls bring us closer to that experience, though not all the way. Similarly, the better graphics available on HD consoles also bring us closer to that experience, which is why I can say that HD graphics are better than SD graphics. The Wii's IR brings us closer to holding and shooting the gun in an FPS -- it is a better control mechanism for FPS' than analogue sticks. And also better than mouse and keyboard. If we had Virtual Reality tomorrow, many "hardcore" gamers of today would be in deep trouble. They've been glued to their couch or computer chair, and couldn't snowboard or shoot to save their lives. Their gaming has been devoted to developing a specific set of skills -- thumb and finger control -- which would no longer allow them to dominate the competition. They would complain how the Virtual Reality controls allow less accuracy than the old analogue sticks, and they'd be right! It's *harder* to aim and fire with IR than with a mouse and keyboard, especially when all of their practice has been on mouse and keyboard. They would complain that they cannot spin around in a split-second and aim flawlessly, like they can on a computer... which is because they cannot spin around in a split-second and aim flawlessly; none of us can. They would have less control because, like is currently true with many of Wii's control set-ups, they would have to suddenly depend on their own personal coordination and ability, which... is not the forte of the hardcore gaming community. The Wii's more immersive control systems for games like Shaun White and FPS' in general is a first step towards Virtual Reality controls, however well they're currently being implemented. Many self-professed hardcore gamers have reacted poorly to these kinds of controls because, having paid their dues in learning and practicing how to control everything with finger and thumb, they don't want to have to go through games where they're no-longer automatically awesome. They want to keep us snowboarding on our thumbs and "aiming" with a mouse, just so they can keep some silly advantage and pretend that they're "skilled." But the future is coming, and controls will continue to evolve -- away from mouse, keyboard, analogue sticks, d-pads, etc., and towards actual VR-type physical controls -- whether they like it or not. |
I don't really agree that the Wii-mote and nunchuck are better than a keyboard and mouse for immersion. The way I see it, even if the button is a trigger, it's the game itself that has to immerse you, the controls are only part of it. Unless input methods are so good that you're not going to be tripped up by commands not registering or something like that, I would personally stick to the mouse and keyboard today. That isn't to say the Wii isn't fun or isn't interesting or anything, but I'd rather wait until tecnology is precise enough and good enough to put it to task of saying it's superior. Then, that also calls the power of the console into question as well because I'd rather play something like World at War on the PS3/360/PC as opposed to the Wii for the other immersions of graphics, sounds, and bigger online components.
I understand the point you're trying to make about VR, but I'd rather think about the kinds of changes that'll be happening technologically just to get to the point of VR instead of 'what if we were using VR tomorrow'. I say this because perhaps what the Wii is doing will have a factor in changes in the future and while things will slowly change, but just you wait to see what's going to happen once new forms of input are the standard. I think the competition mindset and everything you say HD console and PC people do today will just migrate over and nothing will have change (except of course for the input method). Will it be rocky at first? Heck yes, but we can't predict the future of when and how these things will happen.
