Jenny McCarthy and Ubisoft help remind us that camera-based gaming is already here with the new Your Shape fitness title that’s out this week. It’s interesting to note that this is a rudimentary form of what Natal is expected to deliver. Then again, PS2 had the EyeToy and I even had an Intel webcam back in 1999 that had the same basic functionality, nearly the same time Jenny was jiggling on MTV’s Singled Out (with Attack of the Show’s Chris Hardwick!)
So, uh, yeah .. cameras or what?
I shudder to think where video games would be today without Wii. There would still be games worth playing, but the focus on control, new ideas, and the realization of fresher experiences wouldn’t be as pronounced as they are now.
Like d-pads and analog sticks, motion control is now standard. Well, sort of. While Sony and Microsoft are expected to launch their motion controlling gadetry for PS3 and Xbox 360 next year, both products are add-on devices, not required devices like the Wii Remote is to the Wii.
Oh, Mark. Come now. Games with color and some silliness now and then aren’t going to make your balls shrivel up and die. Live a little!
Regardless, it’s the horsepower fallacy all over again. Wii’s motion controls are kiddie and weak, and once the “powerful” Natal arrives (with Sony’s still unnamed “Motion Controller” licking at its heels for hypothetical sloppy seconds), the game is over for Nintendo. Hell, the media isn’t talking about Nintendo anymore—it’s all “what will 2010 bring with these masterful motion control strokes from MS and Sony?!” Meanwhile, price, release date and software are about as vaporware as they come (kind of like the Vitality Sensor, actually).
And we all heard the same thing when Killzone 2, et al, was supposed to arrive. And LittleBigPlanet. The song is getting beyond old, just as many of you have complained that my biased pro-Nintendo rants are predictable. And yet, oh well, here both sides are, continuing to peddle their wares.
But back to being serious. I’m sure everything’s fine in “core gaming land.” I mean, how else to explain the raised $70 price point for Modern Warfare 2 than… oh wait… maybe that’s a bad example. Perhaps 2009 NPD software sales numbers will show that $100 million development budgets and shooting games are just peachy keen… hrmm… OK, core gamers, I’ll get back to you with something positive soon. I promise. Meanwhile, Wii Sports Resort is ascendant.
