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By its very nature computer games are an interactive experience, the use of a controller to input your desired actions is as old as the sun. In fact it is what we have come to expect, when a new controller is released there is always that question stirring at the back of your mind, “What is the controller like?” If the controller doesn’t feel right, the chances are you are never going to enjoy the way the games play.
From the eras dating back as far as the Atari/Amiga days, the joystick or control pad has been the established way that you interact with a computer game, that’s just the way it is. It therefore comes consistently as a surprise that we strive to find more ways to interact with our games.
Perhaps in the constant struggle for realism there has been a calling for newer ways to play with our games.
In the beginning, harking back to the days of the NES there was Duck Hunt, a simplistic concept; Shoot the ducks on screen. But it featured a rather inventive system of play, it used a light gun, and what’s more it was accurate. It was like having an arcade in your home, only without the massive coin-op and without the need for a pocket full of change. The light gun went on to feature and still does feature in many consoles line up, except the N64’s which I thought was a bit of a shame.
During the 16-bit era Street Fighter 2 was all the rage. Here was a beat em up which featured balanced characters and excellent scope for mastery, and multiplayer action. This lead to massive blood lust, people were pumped with adrenaline, and wanted to feel more like they were in a real street fight, except obviously without the eye gouging and the groin kicking, because that’s just dirty fighting. Therefore it seemed only natural that a suit was made which reacted to character movement and allowed you to feel the blows that your onscreen character received. Unfortunately however the suit was tosh, it cost too much money, and people realised that they didn’t even want to feel pain while they were gaming anyway.
However more recently there is now a platform, which, using advanced virtual reality techniques allows you to transfer your movements in real life, to movements inside the game. When you punch, your character kicks, when you kick, your character punches, when you fall down with a sprained ankle your character headbutts. Quite frankly the machine is useless, the virtual reality technology can’t distinguish between a punch and a kick and in the end you end up prancing about like a loon, in a vague attempt to look professional.
More pleasantly however there is a craze which is good stuff. The dance mat. After the continued embarrassment of falling over your feet in front of the local hoodlums whilst trying to progress in “Dance Dance Revolution” You can now do it in the privacy of your own home. Perhaps the best thing about this peripheral is that it actually acts as exercise, something that most videogamers lack. What’s more it can provide countless hours of hilarity at a party full of drunks.
Now we have progressed to the present, and most importantly, the bizarre. A game by the name of Steel Battalion, which will feature on the Xbox boasts a control deck 40 buttons strong is nearing completion. Controlling a Mech with this massive behemoth is a strange concept indeed, however I think that it may work. So far the Mech games haven’t really involved the player, we are led to believe we are in a massive mechanical machine, but we can’t really feel it. Instead we sit tapping away at 5-6 buttons, and expect to feel some of the atmosphere, sorry but I can’t feel it.
Now we move to a device that I’m not even sure is still going ahead. The development for Diddy Kong pilot on the GBA was set to use a Tilting control mechanism which used the movements of the GBA to control the direction of the plane. If implemented correctly this could add some much needed depth to the flying/simulation genre, as well as giving a decent excuse as to why you are holding your GBA 180 degrees to the horizontal, and shouting “Turn you stupid monkey!”
Lastly and probably leastly, is the E-reader. This “innovation” allows you to scan trading card stats into your trading card games, and boost your card stats. Excuse me while I contain my excitement. But I thought the whole trading card phenomena was all about bartering, a playground exercise which bonds kids, and teaches them the value of property. Admittedly it creates fights, especially when you fob someone off with a photocopied Charizard, but that’s part of growing up.
Perhaps we are taking this gaming thing too seriously. Gaming is supposed to be fun, for a laugh, but here we are inventing all sorts of crazy devises to make it more real. Admittedly playing with a light-gun can be great fun, and the dance mat is a colourful idea, but is it not just an excuse for another cash-in? Maybe.
Thanks for reading.
From the eras dating back as far as the Atari/Amiga days, the joystick or control pad has been the established way that you interact with a computer game, that’s just the way it is. It therefore comes consistently as a surprise that we strive to find more ways to interact with our games.
Perhaps in the constant struggle for realism there has been a calling for newer ways to play with our games.
In the beginning, harking back to the days of the NES there was Duck Hunt, a simplistic concept; Shoot the ducks on screen. But it featured a rather inventive system of play, it used a light gun, and what’s more it was accurate. It was like having an arcade in your home, only without the massive coin-op and without the need for a pocket full of change. The light gun went on to feature and still does feature in many consoles line up, except the N64’s which I thought was a bit of a shame.
During the 16-bit era Street Fighter 2 was all the rage. Here was a beat em up which featured balanced characters and excellent scope for mastery, and multiplayer action. This lead to massive blood lust, people were pumped with adrenaline, and wanted to feel more like they were in a real street fight, except obviously without the eye gouging and the groin kicking, because that’s just dirty fighting. Therefore it seemed only natural that a suit was made which reacted to character movement and allowed you to feel the blows that your onscreen character received. Unfortunately however the suit was tosh, it cost too much money, and people realised that they didn’t even want to feel pain while they were gaming anyway.
However more recently there is now a platform, which, using advanced virtual reality techniques allows you to transfer your movements in real life, to movements inside the game. When you punch, your character kicks, when you kick, your character punches, when you fall down with a sprained ankle your character headbutts. Quite frankly the machine is useless, the virtual reality technology can’t distinguish between a punch and a kick and in the end you end up prancing about like a loon, in a vague attempt to look professional.
More pleasantly however there is a craze which is good stuff. The dance mat. After the continued embarrassment of falling over your feet in front of the local hoodlums whilst trying to progress in “Dance Dance Revolution” You can now do it in the privacy of your own home. Perhaps the best thing about this peripheral is that it actually acts as exercise, something that most videogamers lack. What’s more it can provide countless hours of hilarity at a party full of drunks.
Now we have progressed to the present, and most importantly, the bizarre. A game by the name of Steel Battalion, which will feature on the Xbox boasts a control deck 40 buttons strong is nearing completion. Controlling a Mech with this massive behemoth is a strange concept indeed, however I think that it may work. So far the Mech games haven’t really involved the player, we are led to believe we are in a massive mechanical machine, but we can’t really feel it. Instead we sit tapping away at 5-6 buttons, and expect to feel some of the atmosphere, sorry but I can’t feel it.
Now we move to a device that I’m not even sure is still going ahead. The development for Diddy Kong pilot on the GBA was set to use a Tilting control mechanism which used the movements of the GBA to control the direction of the plane. If implemented correctly this could add some much needed depth to the flying/simulation genre, as well as giving a decent excuse as to why you are holding your GBA 180 degrees to the horizontal, and shouting “Turn you stupid monkey!”
Lastly and probably leastly, is the E-reader. This “innovation” allows you to scan trading card stats into your trading card games, and boost your card stats. Excuse me while I contain my excitement. But I thought the whole trading card phenomena was all about bartering, a playground exercise which bonds kids, and teaches them the value of property. Admittedly it creates fights, especially when you fob someone off with a photocopied Charizard, but that’s part of growing up.
Perhaps we are taking this gaming thing too seriously. Gaming is supposed to be fun, for a laugh, but here we are inventing all sorts of crazy devises to make it more real. Admittedly playing with a light-gun can be great fun, and the dance mat is a colourful idea, but is it not just an excuse for another cash-in? Maybe.
Thanks for reading.
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By its very nature computer games are an interactive experience, the use of a controller to input your desired actions is as old as the sun. In fact it is what we have come to expect, when a new controller is released there is always that question stirring at the back of your mind, “What is the controller like?” If the controller doesn’t feel right, the chances are you are never going to enjoy the way the games play.
From the eras dating back as far as the Atari/Amiga days, the joystick or control pad has been the established way that you interact with a computer game, that’s just the way it is. It therefore comes consistently as a surprise that we strive to find more ways to interact with our games.
Perhaps in the constant struggle for realism there has been a calling for newer ways to play with our games.
In the beginning, harking back to the days of the NES there was Duck Hunt, a simplistic concept; Shoot the ducks on screen. But it featured a rather inventive system of play, it used a light gun, and what’s more it was accurate. It was like having an arcade in your home, only without the massive coin-op and without the need for a pocket full of change. The light gun went on to feature and still does feature in many consoles line up, except the N64’s which I thought was a bit of a shame.
During the 16-bit era Street Fighter 2 was all the rage. Here was a beat em up which featured balanced characters and excellent scope for mastery, and multiplayer action. This lead to massive blood lust, people were pumped with adrenaline, and wanted to feel more like they were in a real street fight, except obviously without the eye gouging and the groin kicking, because that’s just dirty fighting. Therefore it seemed only natural that a suit was made which reacted to character movement and allowed you to feel the blows that your onscreen character received. Unfortunately however the suit was tosh, it cost too much money, and people realised that they didn’t even want to feel pain while they were gaming anyway.
However more recently there is now a platform, which, using advanced virtual reality techniques allows you to transfer your movements in real life, to movements inside the game. When you punch, your character kicks, when you kick, your character punches, when you fall down with a sprained ankle your character headbutts. Quite frankly the machine is useless, the virtual reality technology can’t distinguish between a punch and a kick and in the end you end up prancing about like a loon, in a vague attempt to look professional.
More pleasantly however there is a craze which is good stuff. The dance mat. After the continued embarrassment of falling over your feet in front of the local hoodlums whilst trying to progress in “Dance Dance Revolution” You can now do it in the privacy of your own home. Perhaps the best thing about this peripheral is that it actually acts as exercise, something that most videogamers lack. What’s more it can provide countless hours of hilarity at a party full of drunks.
Now we have progressed to the present, and most importantly, the bizarre. A game by the name of Steel Battalion, which will feature on the Xbox boasts a control deck 40 buttons strong is nearing completion. Controlling a Mech with this massive behemoth is a strange concept indeed, however I think that it may work. So far the Mech games haven’t really involved the player, we are led to believe we are in a massive mechanical machine, but we can’t really feel it. Instead we sit tapping away at 5-6 buttons, and expect to feel some of the atmosphere, sorry but I can’t feel it.
Now we move to a device that I’m not even sure is still going ahead. The development for Diddy Kong pilot on the GBA was set to use a Tilting control mechanism which used the movements of the GBA to control the direction of the plane. If implemented correctly this could add some much needed depth to the flying/simulation genre, as well as giving a decent excuse as to why you are holding your GBA 180 degrees to the horizontal, and shouting “Turn you stupid monkey!”
Lastly and probably leastly, is the E-reader. This “innovation” allows you to scan trading card stats into your trading card games, and boost your card stats. Excuse me while I contain my excitement. But I thought the whole trading card phenomena was all about bartering, a playground exercise which bonds kids, and teaches them the value of property. Admittedly it creates fights, especially when you fob someone off with a photocopied Charizard, but that’s part of growing up.
Perhaps we are taking this gaming thing too seriously. Gaming is supposed to be fun, for a laugh, but here we are inventing all sorts of crazy devises to make it more real. Admittedly playing with a light-gun can be great fun, and the dance mat is a colourful idea, but is it not just an excuse for another cash-in? Maybe.
Thanks for reading.
From the eras dating back as far as the Atari/Amiga days, the joystick or control pad has been the established way that you interact with a computer game, that’s just the way it is. It therefore comes consistently as a surprise that we strive to find more ways to interact with our games.
Perhaps in the constant struggle for realism there has been a calling for newer ways to play with our games.
In the beginning, harking back to the days of the NES there was Duck Hunt, a simplistic concept; Shoot the ducks on screen. But it featured a rather inventive system of play, it used a light gun, and what’s more it was accurate. It was like having an arcade in your home, only without the massive coin-op and without the need for a pocket full of change. The light gun went on to feature and still does feature in many consoles line up, except the N64’s which I thought was a bit of a shame.
During the 16-bit era Street Fighter 2 was all the rage. Here was a beat em up which featured balanced characters and excellent scope for mastery, and multiplayer action. This lead to massive blood lust, people were pumped with adrenaline, and wanted to feel more like they were in a real street fight, except obviously without the eye gouging and the groin kicking, because that’s just dirty fighting. Therefore it seemed only natural that a suit was made which reacted to character movement and allowed you to feel the blows that your onscreen character received. Unfortunately however the suit was tosh, it cost too much money, and people realised that they didn’t even want to feel pain while they were gaming anyway.
However more recently there is now a platform, which, using advanced virtual reality techniques allows you to transfer your movements in real life, to movements inside the game. When you punch, your character kicks, when you kick, your character punches, when you fall down with a sprained ankle your character headbutts. Quite frankly the machine is useless, the virtual reality technology can’t distinguish between a punch and a kick and in the end you end up prancing about like a loon, in a vague attempt to look professional.
More pleasantly however there is a craze which is good stuff. The dance mat. After the continued embarrassment of falling over your feet in front of the local hoodlums whilst trying to progress in “Dance Dance Revolution” You can now do it in the privacy of your own home. Perhaps the best thing about this peripheral is that it actually acts as exercise, something that most videogamers lack. What’s more it can provide countless hours of hilarity at a party full of drunks.
Now we have progressed to the present, and most importantly, the bizarre. A game by the name of Steel Battalion, which will feature on the Xbox boasts a control deck 40 buttons strong is nearing completion. Controlling a Mech with this massive behemoth is a strange concept indeed, however I think that it may work. So far the Mech games haven’t really involved the player, we are led to believe we are in a massive mechanical machine, but we can’t really feel it. Instead we sit tapping away at 5-6 buttons, and expect to feel some of the atmosphere, sorry but I can’t feel it.
Now we move to a device that I’m not even sure is still going ahead. The development for Diddy Kong pilot on the GBA was set to use a Tilting control mechanism which used the movements of the GBA to control the direction of the plane. If implemented correctly this could add some much needed depth to the flying/simulation genre, as well as giving a decent excuse as to why you are holding your GBA 180 degrees to the horizontal, and shouting “Turn you stupid monkey!”
Lastly and probably leastly, is the E-reader. This “innovation” allows you to scan trading card stats into your trading card games, and boost your card stats. Excuse me while I contain my excitement. But I thought the whole trading card phenomena was all about bartering, a playground exercise which bonds kids, and teaches them the value of property. Admittedly it creates fights, especially when you fob someone off with a photocopied Charizard, but that’s part of growing up.
Perhaps we are taking this gaming thing too seriously. Gaming is supposed to be fun, for a laugh, but here we are inventing all sorts of crazy devises to make it more real. Admittedly playing with a light-gun can be great fun, and the dance mat is a colourful idea, but is it not just an excuse for another cash-in? Maybe.
Thanks for reading.