John Bedford (Modojo): What a strange thing it is to find ourselves reminiscing about a game that ten years ago was the ultimate nostalgia experience for gamers who grew up in the 80s, honing their gaming skills on primitive hardware to the soundtrack of a Billboard chart that was eclectic to say the least. At the time of Vice City's original release in 2002, this ambitious game felt like a salute to the early bedroom warriors, and a glorious celebration for developers and gamers alike to say "Look how far we've come".
An editorial by Pixelvolt editor Kory McGaughey looks at the concerns of touch and motion controls and how these alternate control methods will affect the traditional controller's future.
I don't think motion controls or touchscreens will ever replace traditional controllers.
Thanks for the article, Jimmy.
I could never imagine playing certain games without buttons. Especially fighting games. THe sore thumbs I've gotten are badges of honor and its part of the experience.
I don't think the Move controller was meant to replace traditional controls. It was given to us as an option.
The Wii, however, straight up replaced traditional controls for motion controls and with a limited number of buttons. That is a sin that cannot be forgiven.
Nah the Move was a straight up replacement. Not in the sense that they would ever stop making the Dualshock but you can't possibly use the DS in tandem with the Move. Which segregated Move to games to being EXCLUSIVELY Move games.
In a way you're right the wii was meant to focus on the wii remote, but at the same time they produced or supported the classic controller, gamecube, and classic controller pro. The main problem is for whatever reason no one ever supported them even though they were always a good option. The wii u thankfully has all traditional inputs.
I find when hardware companies leave it to developers to support an option most often they don't. I think Sony's move with Vita controls for most if not all PS4 games as long as it's compatible with the Vita will be playable natively. My guess is that time is money and implementing something that's an option is often opted out.
And that is why Nintendo didnt offer the Gamepad as an option, but made it available for every Wii U owner, so Devs actually know for sure, that the Wii U player has a Gamepad and so they can fully use the Gamepad for important stuff of the game, instead of being some gimmick. This is also why Xbox1 puts kinect 2.0 bundled with the console. On PS4 on the other hand, both will be options, options, that will never be more than a mere gimmick on that console.
I understand the aprehension with these different controller types as familiarity is comfortable. However, their design has always been changing. After the Activision Joystick, the D-pad became popular, and after that we gained the analog stick. If the Steam Machine is a success, trackpads may become the main movement input.
The same applies to the shape of the controller. Up until the fourth generation, the rectangular design was popular. Now we have controllers where the focus is comfort.
The controller design is a constantly altering thing and I believe that we should embrace these new, possibly superb, designs before shunning them due to the comfort we have with familiarity.
(EDIT) as we gain a more perfected design of controller, the development process must try completly new things to continue to innovate, and since we can't improve on comfort as much now'a'days. Touch screens and motion have been experimented with.
I don't think they will ever replace traditional controls. But with that being said it can definitely improve our game play experience if implemented in the appropriate manner. Like give us more ways of accessing features that are otherwise cumbersome to utilize. Or making gestures for things typically assigned to the controller to free up space for more performable actions.
Personally that's why I like the concept of Kinect more than the Move or Wii-Mote, because it can be used in tandem with traditional controls rather than outright replacing them. I wish they would show this demo more publicly but there was a demo at E3 where it was a very crude shooter but all the traditional controls were mapped to the pad, but the Kinect was used for more extraneous stuff. Like tapping your right temple to activate night vision. Or leaning left and right to peek around corners. Making those actions Kinect based can free up valuable controller real estate.
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In this editorial, Pixelvolt editor Kory McGaughey speaks about the good and bad when it comes to mobile gaming.
Oli Smith takes a look back at Grand Theft Auto Vice City on IOS.
The camera is free and I personally dislike that due to it being on a small, button-free device.