Harrison: Non-gamers see controllers as live guns

[Bodhesatva]

Borkachev said:

Absolutely, I think it's important we state this too. I agree with it.

My point wasn't to suggest that every game in the world should have precisely one input for control, as Go does. Instead, it was to say (again) that more inputs does not equate to greater depth or intellectual value.

I think for this purpose, Starcraft is the best example. It isn't incredibly simple, as you pointed out. It's just not as complex as many modern RTS (Starcraft is over a decade old), but it's still deeper than almost any of them.

Put simply, this suggests that the number of inputs isn't inversely preportional to the game's depth (that is, games don't actually get simpler and/or "dumber" the more inputs it requires) but rather, that the number of inputs is almost entirely irrelevant to a game's depth. You can make a profoundly deep game with 1 button, with 2, with 3, with 100.

Alright, I think we can agree then.

Where I have a problem is with the extension of Harrison/Molyneux's argument that says game consoles in the future need to go the Wii route and appeal to casual gamers with simplified control schemes. There are benefits there for some types of games, but it would cost us functionality in others.

It just depends on what you mean by "need," because I agree it's not necessary.

I do, however, think it's necessary to capture the lion's share of the audience. And again, that doesn't mean "stupid" or "dumb," as some earlier poster put it, it just means a simpler interface.

I can play Chess with millions of other people, or I can play Supreme Commander with a surviving playerbase a few tens of thousands. If you absolutely do not care about including anyone else in your gameplay, then I agree, it's not "necessary." If you inherently believe that including others is a good thing, which I do, then I absolutely believe that a simpler interface is necessary, yes.

That isn't intended to be a threatening or pejorative statement, by the way. If you don't mind being more niche, then you're golden. For example, I don't mind playing Adventure games, even though they've become niche, as an example.  You can choose for yourself, and either choice is not only fine, but is likely to be catered to in the future.