For a traditional experience though, the WiiMote sucks. Probably my biggest complaint about New Super Mario is that it forces you to use the WiiMote and didn’t include any support for the classic controller (the new elements in game that need the WiiMote are gimicy at best). Added to the poor controller is the graphically lackings of the Wii and I find that I almost always choose an Xbox version of the game if one is available.

Don’t get me wrong… I really enjoy my Wii… but only for a different, new breed of game. And quite frankly, they’re not making many of those style of games.

I love you’re article and it cements what I’ve been feeling already in how weak the wii’s addiction may be.

However, I also believe that another potent reason of why no one plays their wii anymore is because many non-traditional gamers purchased the wii. You’re correct in saying that many individuals and families purchased their wii’s because of aesthetics or simply because of buzz or popularity. Yet most of these people are not true gamers. They don’t possess the gamer mentality or endurance of what it takes to sit down and invest their time and energy in progressing through a video game. Others purchase the wii without making the decision to schedule in time during their busy days to play with it.

I simply believe that the audience that Nintendo has targeted and acquired aren’t real gamers, they just wanted to try something new, experienced it, and have moved on. I don’t think it’s because of a lack or originality in game or system design, but because the American public has a short attention span.

Have you researched such statistics in Japan, where Nintendo has a bigger following…I’m curious.

And another reason, putting innovation aside, the Wii’s library of games suck.

But one nulti player game really knock me out : Boom Bloxx

That was a very interesting article.

It should be interesting to see what the next couple years bring. I think it will be a case of revolution and evolution. In the case of Natal perhaps a revolution of the general user interface although I don’t really anticipate any major paradigm shits as far as development for the “core” game playing audience is concerned. The Sony Motion control looks to be a refinement and evolution of the hand held motion control.

The difference lies in the degrees of freedom (DoF) that each input device offers. The Sony device, should it work as advertised, would allow players to navigate and orient themselves in game space while simultaneously allowing them to manipulate an object (possibly two) with six DoF. Granted doing all that would most likely require two wands and not one.

As you said the Wii keeps track of three DoF for rotation (yaw,roll,pitch) using the accelerometer and fudges the distance calculation with vague shake indicators that register little more than a button press. Sony is supposedly offering the real deal within the limitations of the system of course ie. keep within camera view etc.

Natal on the other hand is something different. I do not have very high hopes for it in terms of triple A game development, but I think it may prove quite popular as an interface choice.

Natal is revolutionary, but it is the software that drives it that is revolutionary. Multi-camera visual recognition systems aren’t new or unique. The algorithms that the system uses to accurately identify individuals and objects is what is amazing. In the end I believe the end product will be rather humdrum, but effective at simplifying the human computer interface.

From what I can tell Natal gathers information in three DoF for motion (left/right,up/down,forward/backward). It can gather this information on an arbitrary set of points and uses it to derive all sorts of other useful information.

What is new is that Natal gathers depth information. I used a system similar to this that worked in 2 dimensions when I was a child. It allowed any number of people to play with a virtual volley ball that was depicted on a screen of LEDs. The camera captured the users and displayed their silhouettes on the same LED screen while the computer calculated the sprite based interactions.

Fast forward to today and someone is finally ready to introduce a similar system in 3 dimensions. I doubt very much that Natal offers true full body motion control. I’m sure it works best under ideal conditions and then fudges the rest as best it can.
Like the Wii I believe it is mostly ascetic from the full body motion control input device perspective.

Even if it does offer such functionality it cannot reach it’s true potential without a means for navigating the 3D environment. In all of the Natal demos you never once see the camera move. The response time also seems to lag similar to the wee. I am dubious whether or not accurate quick controls required for fast action oriented game play will be possible on first generation hardware. Natal would no doubt benefit from parallel processing, but I will leave that discussion for another time.

I know I my seem down on Natal, but I think it’s true strength lies in general input. Natal has the potential to bring the ease of use of a touch screen style interface into the living room where it has been heretofore unfeasible. Whether it can live up to that hype remains to be seen, but I think it is a good idea.

I believe a big part of the reason why people do not interact with the internet from their living room is the hassle of having to use a remote or a controller. Creating a touch screen context via Natal makes navigation nearly as simple as using the hallowed mouse. I say almost because gesturing and motioning lacks the tactile feedback of actually pressing a screen or button. For example, you know whether or not you have touched an iphone even though it does not vibrate. This will not be the case for Natal. You will have to gesture or move your hand some arbitrary distance forward to interact with it.

Consequently, game types that require mouse like interactions will benefit greatly. Various strategy games will become viable, but it is the simplicity of the user interactions with content that I think will be the great boon for Natal.

The claims of full body motion control are just there to keep the competition at bay. The games and effects industry rely on full body motion capture to obtain motion data for visual effects and cinematics. The minute they can do that better without a room full of cameras and ping pong balls, I’m sure they will switch. They may in fact be in the process of switching now. I do however, know that even if they used a system like Natal they would need more than one unit to capture the necessary data.

Natal may open the door wider for motion controlled input devices in the future, but I seriously doubt that true full body motion control will be sitting under anybody’s tree come next winter. They may, however, find a nifty new way to navigate their digital content along with a few fun little tech demos thrown into the bargain.

John

For the fact that Wii’s are played less than other consoles, that comes from a Neilsen report released last April. (http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/stateofvgamer_040609_fnl1.pdf) The report states that users played the Wii only 6.8% of the possible playtime available during the study, compared to 10.6% and 11.4% for PS3 and 360, respectively.

As for the attach rates, we’re actually both mistaken. When I researched the numbers for 2008 just now, then the Wii and PS3 were very close (about 5:1), and both under the 360 (about 6.5:1) (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20988). When writing I was only thinking of third-party sales, but that isn’t clear from the article. Nintendo sells much more first party software titles per console than Sony or Microsoft.

As for innovative developers and the players who enjoy their games (“Lost Winds” comes to mind), yes, it is a triumph to do what they’ve done. But the possibilities for innovation are more limited than first appear.

I agree that Nintendo never lied to consumers; the article never says that directly. The problem is in what consumers (mostly gamers and those who became experts with the Wii) brought THEMSELVES to expect. Players of Wii sports tennis always begin with large looping forehands, but eventually they inevitably reduce it to flicking only their wrists.

The Wii was an absolutely necessary starting point for motion control; it was not necessary (and likely would have been business suicide) to wait until true motion capture could be developed. All that was necessary was to open gamers to the concept and to broaden the market, and that goal was achieved hands down.

My point is that to continue BEYOND this, to continue to satisfy the craving of players who mastered the Wii-remote, to continue to allow developers to create new Base Mechanics that are impossible on other consoles, the Wii is not enough. Something more entirely is needed. The Wii brought us this far, but it can bring us no further.

The article has been edited; thanks for the feedback!

“Isn’t it odd, that though so many Wii’s have been sold, so few of them are still played?”

Where do you base this information on? Personal anecdotal evidence would have me believe the opposite of this completely.

“Isn’t it strange that despite its success, the attach rate (ratio between console and game purchases) is significantly lower than other systems?”

While technically true, it wasn’t until recently that the PS3’s tie ratio reached above the Wii’s, so saying it’s “significantly lower” than both is misleading. In fact, in 2008 the Wii’s software sales were much higher than either of the other consoles.

I would be interested to know the PS2’s attach ratio at the end of the day, merely for comparison.

As for the rest of the article, I think it does a disservice to developers who have done interesting or innovative things that wouldn’t be possible on any other console, as well as the gamers who have played them.

Personally, I don’t think Nintendo lied to anyone with marketing the Wii at all. The TGS 2005 teaser was a bit much, but almost every “sketch” concept found its way into a Wii game one way or another. Find me the press release or CEO statement where Nintendo said the Wii Remote would detect full body gestures with 100% accuracy, and I might have an improved lookout on this article.

One thing about Wii’s controller is that it’s perfect for the younger kids. My 3 year old loves playing Mario Kart