Does the unique control method for the Nintendo Wii make it a niche gaming system?

Yes

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by Wayne Leon Learmond

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There is a yes and no answer to this. When the Nintendo Wii burst onto the console scene back in the year 2006, it was unique in the way the control method worked. The control method worked in such a way so as to immerse the player fully within the games world. Instead of sitting down controlling a character on the screen, you actually became that character. Motion sensors picking up your body movements using the wireless controller would translate those movements into actions upon the screen. Whatever actions you performed would be replicated within the games world by your character or indeed, vehicle.. This actually was not unique to Nintendo, as other games companies through the years had tried without success to get this technology off the ground. It was a niche that was always waiting to be filled.

Indeed, all those who remember the arcade game Dragons Lair, {Cinematronics 1983,} in which the hero, Dirk the Daring, { a much harder looking pre-curser to Nintendo's Mario,} would set out to rescue his girl, Daphne from various dangerous scenarios. This game worked by using a laser disc { which was very unusual at that particular time,.} housed within the arcade cabinet.. The unique control method of this game was unlike any that was out at that time too.

In this game, instead of controlling your main character {Dirk} you had to direct him through scenes within the game. In other words, you became Dirk himself. Whichever way you directed him, it would be picked up and accessed by the laser disc - according to which order was given. Indeed the game covered between 38-42 episodes with well over one thousand life and death situations. There were also over two hundred decisions to make { all different in their own way.} All this gave an overwhelming sense that you were actually that character you were directing. This arcade game was a massive success and raked in millions for the creators of the system.

Throughout the years there have been numerous examples of arcade games programmers trying to introduce virtual reality into the mainstream of the video game industry, all have had limited success. The Wii goes someway into bringing virtual reality games into the home. You could say that fifty years from now people will look back at this time and remember one of the earliest types of Virtual Reality consoles...the Nintendo Wii.

Because that is what this system is. I would call this system an early prototype of what is certain to follow. Sure, Nintendo have worked it so the games player feels a part of the game world, and not just a bystander controlling random characters. Yes, the controllers we use for this system are wireless enabled - which makes the immersion so much better. And I have noticed that Microsoft have followed suit with their own control system for their X-Box 360 - loosely-based on the way Nintendo wants us to control the characters on the Wii.

Microsoft have taken this five times further, not one, by freeing completely the need to hold a control. They have called this system 'Project Natal'. Yes, it does sound like some sort of secret government project, but Microsoft have a reputation of changing the name of their products before they are put out for sale. Cameras and a microphone which are housed within the Natal are used to detect the user and also to recognize movements. It can recognize talking, and also it can tell the difference between two different people.

This system, as I have explained, comes with voice recognition, and everything else you would expect, such as speech commands, and video chats. Do you fancy watching a film...? then scroll through the list of films...using your hand. Yes, just wave your hand in the air and pick a film. Once you have found a film you want to watch, just call out 'Play Movie', and you are away. You want to play a driving game on your X-Box 360? Simple just pull out an imaginary steering wheel, grip on it, and away you go, you are in a race. I have to stress that this is not a console, but rather a peripheral add on for the X-Box 360. It will fit all 360s without a problem. This peripheral, as far as I know, is not in the shops as yet as it is still being tested.. But, if Microsoft get this right, then this peripheral alone has the potential to blow Nintendo's Wii out of the water. If Microsoft gets it wrong then we will all be dusting down our Wii's again. But, so far, all is looking good for their peripheral.

With this add-on for the 360 along with what Nintendo have produced, it is a most definite example yet of what is to come for the future of arcade/video games. Could true Virtual Reality games really be only a step away? I believe that we are closer than some people think we are. My one gripe with both the peripheral for the 360 and also the Wiil console is this, that we still have that barrier of the screen separating the games player from the action. There will come a time, I am certain of it, when we will no longer need a TV Screen, or a PC Screen separating us from what is going on within the games world for, my friends, we will truly be INSIDE the games world itself. How far away am I talking about here? Well, Nintendo and Microsoft are serious players in this, and they have now begun the ball rolling to try and immerse the games players as much as they can, into the games.

We stand at the dawn of a breakthrough in computer games technology. We stand at the dawn when no longer will we be separated by a screen, yet still controlling our characters, indeed, for we WILL be those characters. We WILL, one day make a system which is so immersive, so inclusive, so realistic, that you would even be able to smell, touch, taste feel, everything within the games world itself. That, my friends, is true immersion of the ultimate kind. In fact it is the Holy Grail of the gaming world.

So, to sum up:

For a moment the Nintendo Wii did have 'niche' of sorts, but other companies, such as Microsoft, have latched onto the fact that there is big money to be made in motion sensor controllers. Microsoft, with their 'Natal' peripheral, which houses a camera and microphone within a sensor bar, have done away with having to use controllers altogether. So already we have seen an improvement in this technology, surpassing that of the Wii's motion sensor. Technology will move on, and with it the gaming world too. The two are linked to one another, and, yes, I do believe that we are beginning, at long last, to see the start of true Virtual Reality Gaming, coming to the fore in the 21st Century.

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