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Forums - Gaming - It's 4 years later why are there still issues with motion controls?

I've been on board with motion controls since I saw Wii Sports revealed/demoed at E3, it's 2010 now and yet some of the complaints back then aren't being improved upon, and in some aspects just flat out worse.

Complaint #1: So many accessories and they cost so much - Wii remote 40 dollars, Nunchuck 20, classic controller 20, this was a major issue before and even having so many add-ons it could get a little confusing as to what exactly you needed for each game, today we have the Move controller being 50 dollars, the navigation controller being 30, and a PS Eye being 50 as well, which is more expensive when you think about how some games require two move controllers for one player.  Kinet tries to remedy this by making it all in one controller but its got its own hefty price which makes mass adoption a little harder.

Complaint #2: The Nunchuck motion controls blow - Yeah it doesn't exactly have the the best precision but for most games especially in the FPS genre it gets its job done well, and at least it has a motion sensor.  For those not in the know, the Navigation controller opts out on any motion sensors at all, if you watch the Killzone 3 videos with the Move being used, all motion is done with the Move controller that also controls your aiming, anyone that has played CoD  on Wii like a  religion (like me, ECC, and the CoD reflex league) everyone knows how every little movement of your right hand hurts your aiming, a steady hand wins you matches time and time again, it's just disappointing to see a missed opportunity.  

In other cases with things like The Fight (and similar games only using two move controllers) and Kinect, they're taking out the nunchuck completely and losing the ability  to control movement in a 3D space, simple things like walking is now having to be done by the game itself, putting it essentially on rails for you.  Like it or not this limits what you can do in a game a LOT, recently Metroid Other M opted out on Nunchuck controls and in turn you couldn't even move in first person mode which was an odd design choice and makes a perfect example of how not having a way to input movement can hinder the game itself.

Complaint #3:  Reliability -  No, the Wii remote nor Nunchuck is far from perfect, and many of its early games had issues of reliability where the motion wouldn't register right, every now and again you see it happen, this is probably the zone where experience with the controller itself comes into play, but these issues have been shown to appear even on the new controllers.

Everyone remembers the infamous bit from E3 2009 with the Kinect Reveal...

And this year at E3 when demoing Move and Tiger Woods it presented a similar issue of reliability that Tiger Woods with Wii Motion Plus has (check 1:30ish to 1:40)

While I have no doubt some really awesome experiences will be had with these new controllers and there are ways around the limitations we must continue to address issues we've had in the past and not falter because of something being new, shiny, and hyped.  It seems like many of these issues of the past have been largely overlooked even by the guys at Sony and Microsoft, but the issues back then are just as much of an issue now especially if you want to claim to have the best motion controls out there.



MaxwellGT2000 - "Does the amount of times you beat it count towards how hardcore you are?"

Wii Friend Code - 5882 9717 7391 0918 (PM me if you add me), PSN - MaxwellGT2000, XBL - BlkKniteCecil, MaxwellGT2000

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#1 Agreed.

#2 Regarding Killzone 3, the developers said that anything that can done with a gesture can be done with a button as well, so the competetive types won't have to worry about that. It is a shame that you have to choose between more accurate motion controls and actual 3D movement though.

#3 To be expected, for now at least.

Something I didn't want to mention at each point because it applies to all three essentially, is that this is the first generation of motion controllers we're seeing, so lessons about SKUs and reliability are more likely to be used in later generations as opposed to this one. And with better hardware in the coming generations, #2 will have a better chance of being covered as well. Everyone is still learning after all.



Rainbird said:

#1 Agreed.

#2 Regarding Killzone 3, the developers said that anything that can done with a gesture can be done with a button as well, so the competetive types won't have to worry about that. It is a shame that you have to choose between more accurate motion controls and actual 3D movement though.

#3 To be expected, for now at least.

Something I didn't want to mention at each point because it applies to all three essentially, is that this is the first generation of motion controllers we're seeing, so lessons about SKUs and reliability are more likely to be used in later generations as opposed to this one. And with better hardware in the coming generations, #2 will have a better chance of being covered as well. Everyone is still learning after all.


My overall point is that these issues that are happening with motion controllers designed after the Wii hit and they are still having the same issues that were major complaints 4 years ago, so in 4 years you're saying they couldn't figure out a way to improve on Nintendos design that was laid out in front of them?



MaxwellGT2000 - "Does the amount of times you beat it count towards how hardcore you are?"

Wii Friend Code - 5882 9717 7391 0918 (PM me if you add me), PSN - MaxwellGT2000, XBL - BlkKniteCecil, MaxwellGT2000

It's 4 YEARS later, is there anything we are still not having issues with , and motion control i the least of them all. Nintendo added the motion plus, Sony just started yesterday and MS hasn't even relaesed there's yet. We need to fix the cost of these games, the review system, why we still have console cost $299 after 4 years. Those are bigger issues.



 Next Gen 

11/20/09 04:25 makingmusic476 Warning Other (Your avatar is borderline NSFW. Please keep it for as long as possible.)

We're paying tobeta test technology that isn't quite there, yet.



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No problems, loved them the first time I touched them.



Above: still the best game of the year.

Because motion control games are a joke. The most precise motion controller will still be far less so than a regular gamepad. Like the killzone example you used, the mere act of making a gesture can screw your aim up, as opposed to a more simple and intuitive button press that lets you keep full control.



ǝןdɯıs ʇı dǝǝʞ oʇ ǝʞıן ı ʍouʞ noʎ 

Ask me about being an elitist jerk

Time for hype

leatherhat said:

Because motion control games are a joke. The most precise motion controller will still be far less so than a regular gamepad. Like the killzone example you used, the mere act of making a gesture can screw your aim up, as opposed to a more simple and intuitive button press that lets you keep full control.


Or you could have a sub controller that has motion sensors in it and it work perfectly and have the best controls that isn't a Mouse and Keyboard and even then with the sub controller you have advantages to the keyboard mostly being analog control lol



MaxwellGT2000 - "Does the amount of times you beat it count towards how hardcore you are?"

Wii Friend Code - 5882 9717 7391 0918 (PM me if you add me), PSN - MaxwellGT2000, XBL - BlkKniteCecil, MaxwellGT2000

Complaint 1: Because people are dumb / willing enough to pay that price. Take your pick and delete the other one.

Complaint 2: It is still early days for the technology in terms of hardware features. You're not going to get a consistant feature set until it is known which features are important and how best to implement them.

Complaint 3: It takes a while before both software/hardware catches up to where we want it to be. If you take early analogue stick games on the PS1 for instance, they were pretty terrible to control for the most part. It really took until this generation before you could be assured a pretty consistant experience with using the new standard which was a dual analogue stick controller both between the improved physical hardware and developer experience.



Tease.

Squilliam said:

Complaint 1: Because people are dumb / willing enough to pay that price. Take your pick and delete the other one.

Complaint 2: It is still early days for the technology in terms of hardware features. You're not going to get a consistant feature set until it is known which features are important and how best to implement them.

Complaint 3: It takes a while before both software/hardware catches up to where we want it to be. If you take early analogue stick games on the PS1 for instance, they were pretty terrible to control for the most part. It really took until this generation before you could be assured a pretty consistant experience with using the new standard which was a dual analogue stick controller both between the improved physical hardware and developer experience.


Obviously these guys in the industry that have reviewed games this gen aren't understanding like you are, or like they were during the PS1 era.  This goes for the gamers that complained about all of that as well. 

Personally I am understanding



MaxwellGT2000 - "Does the amount of times you beat it count towards how hardcore you are?"

Wii Friend Code - 5882 9717 7391 0918 (PM me if you add me), PSN - MaxwellGT2000, XBL - BlkKniteCecil, MaxwellGT2000