Soundwave said:
My issue with this design is while it looks good in a static photo, in a moving game in actual use there are a lot of practicality issues. How would you play a game like Smash Brothers where there is action all over the screen if the left side and the right side of the playing field are obscured by your hands? Even a split second a character being blocked/obscured by your hand can lead to a lot of frustration. Even in a Mario Kart game, what happens if a kart is coming up on you from the right side or a hole in the track is sitting there? You could go flying into it simply because you didn't see it. Ditto for a Zelda game ... you can't have a boss that moves rapidly right to left for example because it could easily get obscured by ones hand. I dunno. Maybe Nintendo is crazy enough or desperate enough for a gimmick to do something like this, but it doesn't seem very practical to me. Look at these mockups, now put your hands on them to simulate the playing position ... it's pretty easy to see how this set up would become annoying after 2-3 minutes of play even. |
To be honest my main concern with this possible solution it's price, since we don't know how much those sharp screens are expansive.
I perfectly understand you point though, but the solution could simply come form game design. At the moment we are accostumed with 16:9 screens. As the second image from Neogaf shows, game developers should cut-off a 16:9 safe zone on the screen center whre you should have all the "normal" action, and then add additional space on top/bottom and on sides for info, virtual buttons and stats. It's quite difficult to expalin on words but you shouldn't imagine the "standard" came view stretched on all the console surface but you'll rather have wider view angle (a panoramic view) where you have all the usual stuff in the center.
I don't know if I've expaned myself...
