BioShock: Infinite developer opts not to force motion control on gamers – Laziness or genius?
No one can deny that motion gaming has become an industry standard in the world of video games, whether gamers like it or not.
Ever since Nintendo came out with the Wii, over five years ago, it seems that almost everyone followed suit. That too for good reason, as the Nintendo Wii sold more units than the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 combined in its first few years.
Sony launched its Six Axis enable controller, which was better in concept than execution, before launching the PlayStation Move.
Microsoft did not seem to want to fall behind either, as they went the ‘controller-less’ way, by introducing the Kinect, for the Xbox 360.
While the Wii and the PlayStation 3 still relied on physical controllers, the Kinect enabled players to use their own body as a controller.
Yet, if Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference was anything to go by, it seems that the notion of motion gaming is now being forced down gamers’ throats. The word Kinect was used so much, the crowd became nauseous at the sound of it.
Sony also promoted it’s ‘Move compatibility’ with a number of titles, but thankfully in a much more subtle way.
Now with the Nintendo Wii U, the Kinect line-up Microsoft has planned, and Sony’s backing of the Move, one can rest assured that motion gaming is here to stay. To prove that point, one of the gaming world’s most ‘anti-motion gaming’ developers, Bethesda
Studios, whose top man Ken Levine publicly spoke against motion gaming, seems to have joined the bandwagon as well.
He explained his ‘change of opinion’, in what seemed similar to a confessional at a church, as being a result of a phone call from Sony. Levine explained that he was intrigued by the idea of breaking boundaries with ways to play games.
Yet, credit must be given where credit is due and Mr. Ken Levine, deserves plenty of credit. Even though he may have joined the ‘motion gaming side’, he seems to have done it with a predetermined mindset which everyone should appreciate.
Levine is of the opinion that motion controlled gaming should not be used to replace the core gameplay, but rather to add to it and enhance it. In simpler words, it should be the side order to a main course, its there if one wants it but it does not ruin
the taste of the main dish.
Levine explained that he did not want to experiment on gamers, “Any experience that sits in the realm of motion play needs to be kept separate from the main experience. It needs to be firewalled off so that if this experiment isn’t for you, or doesn’t turn
out to be all that great, you just ignore it.”
The approach seems like a breath of fresh air and should be an industry wide-standard. While Killzone 3 incorporated Move controls into the game, the only point they seemed natural was on the on-rail shooting sections. Even Ghost Recon: Future Warrior seemed
ridiculous – meant to be taken in a negative sense – with the Kinect controls.
What Levine has done is that he has accepted motion gaming, but at the same time acknowledged the fact that it should not be forced on players and that in the end that gamers should choose how to play the game.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do no reflect the official editorial policy of bettor.com
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