Gamer Chat: Motion Control

 

This week's community discussion comes thanks to Ulrich (our work experience extraordinaire) who thought the recent hardware sensation "Leap Motion" would be a good opportunity for you to chat about motion controls and gaming.

 

Ulrich:

 

The upcoming motion control device from Leap motion aims to make your mice and controllers obsolete. Apparently the sensor will be able to detect movements 200 times better than the Kinect, allowing you to control your console or PC with just your fingers. These promising features have already attracted an incredible 23 000 developers wanting to develop for the device, many of them aiming to create games taking advantage of this technology.

 

 

All of this sounds exciting, but could this really mark the end of conventional controllers or is it merely a fading craze? Do you think we should join the multitude of developers making games for leap motion?

 

Which Square Enix games do you think would work best with motion control? And is this really the future of gaming?

 

Share your opinions with us in the comments. Feel free to discuss the topic and engage with each other’s ideas but please be nice, there are no wrong answers.

 

Comments

I think it should go with playStation move!!
I really dislike motion control in gaming. It kind of ruined Zelda for me with Skyward Sword as an example. I would've enjoyed it much more if it wasn't forced upon you, but rather have a choice to use a traditional controller.

I hope that most companies will keep in mind with (especially) their current franchises that not everyone is excited for motion control and will keep the option to use a controller and don't force motion control in a genre where it absolutely has no place (like RPG's) just for the sake of using the technology.
I'm honestly a skeptic about these motion controls. It looks really gimmicky to me.

The only games that seem like they could benefit greatly from these controls are shooters since the motion controls could better simulate using a mouse for targeting.

I also imagine myself getting my hands tired more quickly waving them around than playing with a controller, lol.
I think motion controls would only work for a first person game and there is always a problem if the room is small so I think just making a good game is enough with a simple controller. Less ingame mistakes occur from controllers than motion control.
Looking at the Leap Motion website, I guess another fault I've noticed is that it probably wouldn't work well for those who use a TV as a computer monitor, since it's a computer peripheral at the moment. I use a 32" TV for my computer so I would either have to go right up to my TV and not be able to see it properly (and probably have a massive headache), or find some way to use the sensor away from it. Either way, I would find that really inconvenient, especially if I would have to keep recalibrating it...
Hack n Slash and Sport games would work best for this sort of technology, also Dance games. Flight Simulators are a possibility to add more realism. Controllers will still be needed in many games however, as motion control would just not work with many games, such as racers', JRPG's, some FPS's and when it comes to building Sims, that are becoming more and more ported over to consoles.
Yeah, I also see that fault. It is quite small and you would look like an idiot. But I suppose if your having fun it won't matter about looking like an idiot! :D And I just realised that I wrote 'city' instead of 'TV'. O.o
How I don't know! :D
Ahhh... looks like it's a small sensor like the Wii Motion Sensor. As cool as that looks, I don't think I would use that for gaming.

Yeah, I agree about how some JRPG's like Final Fantasy wouldn't work well with it. There's just so many actions, it would probably be impossible to try and come up with multiple hand/pen gestures for all of them. Unless it was similar to FFCC: The Crystal Bearers, since there was pretty much only one action you could do. Of course, you could just point at the menus on screen if you were to use JRPG's, but I would find that less interactive compared to using a controller. I think Kingdom Hearts would work really well with it though because of the style of gameplay it uses. However, again it would then be another issue with trying to come up with gestures for abilities, but there's a lot less compared to FF, so that would be easier to overcome. I haven't played Deus Ex so I don't know the game play so I wouldn't know if it would work, and from what I've seen of the new Tomb Raider, I think it would work well as long as it's done right of course.

I think motion control could become a common feature on consoles in the future (well, it sort of already is), but I find it hard to believe that they would replace standard controllers. Motion control wouldn't have a major affect on some games (like I mentioned with FF) so another control method will need to be in place. And I agree with zumo about the technology. They all have flaws. I mean the Wii, despite being older than the Xbox 360 Kinect and Playstation Move, works really well, even better than them in some cases. But even then, they've incorporated physical controls into their controllers, simply because some games don't work with just motion control.

I personally would not want to use motion sensing technology to control something. If I'm going to control something, I would rather use a touchscreen or object, and not wave my hands in mid-air and probably look like an idiot doing it at the same time.
I didn't get how the person in the video was playing the FPS... He only used one hand and he managed to move, swap his weapon and fire holding one hand gesture? That's pretty incredible! As for a Square Enix game, I couldn't see a very popular title like Final Fantasy performing too well on this type of device. Since it would be simple move and selecting from menus. Might as well just use a control. But an Action-RPG like Kingdom Hearts I can see performing very well with this type of platform. Waving your hand frantically to slash your sword, using your other hand to activate skills. Could have heaps of potential. Deus Ex would also be another game that would work quite well. And perhaps Tomb Raider.

As for the future of gaming, I can't see every console being motion control. Nintendo Wii is currently the closest (and best form of) console with motion sensor. The Kinect for xbox 360 is awful. You have to stand so far away it's ridiculous and it's doesn't even pick up movement that well. I haven't ever used Playstation Move so I can't comment on that. But I can see all games working on a platform like this. Controls/Keyboards will still be needed to play games. Plus not everyone want's a motion sensor console. Especially if we have to sit that close to the city!