Motion control in theory

[scotland]

Watching kids play a motion controller mini golf game over the weekend and enjoying it. Later that night I tried a golf game with a standard joypad,ooking at a bar meter, pressing for power, pressing again for timing, etc

Motion control was better - more immersive, more intuitive, more fun.

I have another game with a motion control yoke for flying - also 'better' in the same ways.

I don't want VR, but is decent motion control really beyond us, or beyond being a viable product?

[pacman000]

I remember trying a tilting controller when our family was looking for a new PC in the late 90's. The salesman showed us a dirt bike game, & you could tilt the controller to simulate a steering wheel/bike handles. Fun.

Motion controls must be designed carefully, but they can enhance the game play experience. Mario Karts Wii is fun because it's easy & intuitive to tilt the controller like you're steering a car. Shoot, I already tilted the controller a bit when playing Crash Team Racing; tilting to steer seemed natural. Lair wasn't as much fun because the controls weren't intuitive. You had to hold the controller at a certain angle to avoid accidentally turning or changing altitude, & jerking up on the controller to make a 180-degree turn didn't work as well as it should've; pressing the shoulder buttons to force a more narrow turn would've worked better.

A lot of people expected too much from motion controls; you're not going to get a realistic sword game any time soon. But would you really want a realistic sword game? I'd think sword play would take years of practice to get right; no one wants to spend years learning to control a game.

[Sut]

Personally I don’t like motion control as I play video games for relaxation and stress relief or I wish to be transported to another world (like watching a movie).
For me to be immersed or to engender this sensation I like to kick back on the sofa or in a comfy chair.
I don’t want to be flailing around, I play sports for that.

[scotland]

Personally I don’t like motion control as I play video games for relaxation and stress relief or I wish to be transported to another world (like watching a movie).
For me to be immersed or to engender this sensation I like to kick back on the sofa or in a comfy chair.
I don’t want to be flailing around, I play sports for that.

I guess I still have that arcade feeling where each game was not just visually different, but you interacted with it differently.

Who wants to play whack a mole with a game controller? You want a mallet. Same for claw games or spinning wheels or dropping balls or whatever.

Motion controllers offer the variety of ways to connect to the game. Should be a place for that.

[Sut]

Motion controllers offer the variety of ways to connect to the game. Should be a place for that.

Agreed. And if I’m in that kind of mood great. What I hate is when games are really neither ie regular controls with motion controls thrown in. Playing Heavy Rain recently reminded me of that, I usually let out a sigh when the motion control aspects appeared.

So either be motion controlled or not.

Conversely light gun games are a kind of motion control and I love light gun games !

[VideoGameCritic]

The thing is, I think the early motion controllers gave the whole concept a bad name.

Recall the first versions of the Wii-mote weren't very precise, resulting in an inordinate number of "waggling" games.

Then there was the Kinect, which took an hour to set up and wasn't particularly accurate.

Now gamers want nothing to do with it. Note how Nintendo Switch games push the motion options, but nobody really uses them.

And it's also true that most gamers really don't want to get their body involved, especially when sitting down and pressing buttons have the same effect.

[Tron]

I loved Wii Sports and Sports Resort, but nothing else. I was excited for the PS version, but it just felt like a copycat. I played the Kinect, but never wanted to buy it. I think the motion control craze has died. Maybe in 10 years it will come back better than ever.

[Rev]

I think after living and surviving the Wii craze it is safe to say most people don't want anything to do with motion anymore. However, I think that is a bit sad as there are many games that offer benefits off "precise" motion controls. Where the medium gets a bad name is from all the games that simply added motion controls to add them. Also, I think motion controls offer a lot of benefit for VR games which is something that seems to go naturally with the medium. I mean, not always, but with games that have you interact with the environment, they are a huge plus.

[pacman000]

When the Wii came out I thought motion controls had finally come of age; I thought all future systems would need some form of motion control.

I'm a bit sad that didn't happen; even if they don't work for every game, they do enhance some games, like golf games or driving games. Aiming at the screen to hit a target is fun.

[scotland]

I get the wagging was awful, but in a way, it reminded me of games like Decathlon where I had to waggle a joystick back and forth too. And I recall when the Wii was in its heyday, some stores were loaded with various motion control add ons. There was a lot of enthusiasm, and it did broaden the gamer community.

Games like bowling and golf and light gun games *should* be motion controls. I don't have an answer for light guns, but bowling and golf don't really take that much precision (and in fact, a degree of imprecision is beneficial).

I don't have an answer, it just seems that "Well, they were awful a decade ago" shouldn't be the end of it. I mean, if video games can rise like a Phoenix after 2 years from the '84 North American gaming crash, why can't motion controls at least find a place.