E3 has come and gone and has again graced the gaming world with a glimpse of where the industry is heading. If it wasn’t pronounced clearly enough by the three media briefs, the industry is shifting from pushing high production benchmarks to changing the way in which we interact with games.
As the ones who ultimately started the motion based gaming revolution, it’s only appropriate to start by talking about Nintendo and their Wii Motion Plus add on for the Wii Remote. Previously incapable of tracking subtle movements, the Wii Remote will no longer be bound to broad strokes and simple “waggle” controls due to the precision granted by the Wii Motion Plus, a small attachment that just barely extends the length of the Wii Remote. Through simple demonstrations of how the new technology will work in Wii Sports Resort, it was clear that this was no gimmick, but a way to completely open up a new realm of what is possible on the Wii. The added precision and ability to have one to one motion tracking will vastly improve the current genres of games such as EA is doing with the revamped Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and the new Grand Slam Tennis. Imagine having your golf swing accurately tracked to point where your hook is perfectly reflected in game. Or how about a Star Wars lightsaber fighting game that not only tracks your movements perfectly, but has the crackle of clashing beams come out of the Wii Remote speaker for another level of immersion. The possibilities are endless.
The one thing getting the most buzz at the moment is Microsoft’s motion tracking camera, the Natal. Like Stephen Spielberg said at the Microsoft conference, “it’s not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about having no wheel at all.” The Natal will be compatible with all Xbox 360 consoles and will track movement and pick up sound from those using it. Judging from the presentation, the technology works and has some true potential for a variety of games. The demonstration of Ricochet, a 3D Breakout-like title that make the user the paddle and tasks them with deflecting a bunch of balls off of their virtual self to break bricks at the end of a corridor. The short demo looks fun and showed that this is truly working in a three dimensional space, not just capturing a 2D representation of yourself like traditional camera peripherals have done in the past. Demos on the show floor including a racing simulator has garnered a lot of positive press and show that the Natal can be applied to current genres and go beyond being a simple gimmick.
Though it’s getting minimal press of the three, Sony’s motion device is blowing many folks away. Maybe it was because the demonstrations were so varied. Maybe it was because my initial perception upon seeing a glowing wand was so low and then immediately picked up when I saw it in action. Whatever it was, it’s Sony’s combination of a remote and its Eye Toy that make it appear to have the most potential of the three. Using what appears to be a glowing ball on the tip of a Wii Remote, the Eye Toy can track the users movements almost flawlessly. At first, the user was standing in a room holding the device, which then transformed into a variety of different things such as a tennis racket, golf club, sword, and (my personal favorite) a plasma whip not far removed from Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. The demonstration only became more engaging when possible mechanics were shown for genre titles such as real time strategy, first person shooting, and melee combat. During the shooting demonstration, the person in control said, “this would be impossible without a trigger.” Though clearly a cheep shot at the Natal, it’s better to look at the statement as a way of justifying multiple motion tracking technologies. For a shooting game, I would probably want to use something that has a trigger like Sony’s controller or Nintendo’s Wii Remote, but if I were playing the demoed Ricochet where a controller clearly isn’t required, then the Natal would be the way to go.
This E3 has shown what the future of gaming will hold. Not content with the confines of controllers and buttons, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have officially broken every wall of gameplay restrictions to the point where literally everything is possible.
