Interaction
Devices
This
week’s lecture was actually very interesting to me. We learned about
interaction devices and how things like keyboards and game pads, and the
elements attached to them have changed over time and how they function. By
elements attached I’m strictly referring to things like joysticks, buttons,
triggers and other things that you can find when playing a game or using any
type of digital device these days. Looking back all the way to things like Pac
Man and Pong the devices were at their most basic state of simply moving up and
down and later left and right. Most of us probably weren’t around for the times
of Pong in its prime, so we will probably think it’s not fun.
I
personally grew up originally playing games on the NES. I’ve told the story
before of how I got into video games on my first entry. I’m going to expand
further on that story. The story began with me first playing Super Mario
Brothers 3 that my brother had gotten as a gift. I was finally old enough to
actually play the game with a low skill level and had picked up the forever
loved NES controller for the first time. In my mind the game only had the
Directional Pad buttons and the B button that allowed Luigi to jump on the
screen. My brother really did not enjoy me playing the game so he never told me
that I had to have the A button pressed as I walked in a direction in order to
run faster and have stronger jumps. This was brought up in the lecture where it
actually talked about the console game pads.
Maps
As a huge fan of the RPG
genre of game, maps are a key thing needed to be grasped. In our lecture it is
stated that maps cannot be too complex. This is quite true, but in some games I
believe complexity can also be established due to size. I’m going to use a game
like Final Fantasy X or even the more recent series White Knight Chronicles.
The reason I’ve chosen these games to tlak about maps is because I remember
playing most of the game looking at the map almost every 5 seconds to see where
I was going and what I was doing. It is true that most games do in fact have a
mini map integrated somewhere in the HUD. White Knight Chronicles mapping
system was extremely complex, it made side quests somewhat difficult to
complete because the player would just be dropped in a large area not knowing
which direction to head in. A Star was placed at the destination location but
this was often ignored by the player who would generally wish to explore. Games
like the Dragon Age series are much simpler and easier for players to adapt to…
but what does this have to do with interaction devices?
Current Gen Devices
As an
owner of every game console available, I often do think about the interaction
differences with the different consoles. I also work at Best Buy in the video
game department, so it is a topic that is often brought up by parents who are
entirely clueless. Explaining to them how the Xbox and PlayStation controllers
have changed from the original NES and Sega gamepads, the new controllers
feature more than just the Directional Pad and a couple Buttons. Looking at the
PlayStation controller, we have analog sticks, which can also serve as buttons
(R3 and L3), Left and Right Trigger style buttons that somewhat work based on
how long or how much pressure is applied to the button. The controller also
features six-axis movement in which you can actually move the controller to
perform actions. My most horrendous memory of this would be when I first
purchased the console and had to play Heavenly Sword and aim my each individual
arrow at the enemies in order to kill them. This was new to me so it was very
frustrating to pick up. The Wii was something different for its time as well,
it focused mainly on motion and what I thought was really good about its
marketing strategy is that it has such basic games developed in order to draw
in people other than gamers. Thinking about this topic right now… Microsoft’s
elimination of the gamepad and button interaction with the Kinect sensor is
what really pushed non gamers to go out and purchase an Xbox 360. I personally
don’t play games where I have to stand up and march around unless it’s a simple
WarioWare mini game which I’m sure everyone loves.
Future Gen
Touch
pads and screens these days are really making an impact in the digital tech
market. It has eliminated the necessity for physical buttons on a lot of
things. This can be seen through infrared keyboards; touchscreens found on
almost all major cell phones and tablets, and touch pads used for sliding and
mouse-like interaction. I personally don’t think touchscreen implementation is
that good for the gaming world since its long term use can really screw up and
throw the touch screen of synch. I’m not sure how that works exactly but I often
have customers at my job coming back with screwed up touchscreens on their
Nintendo DS’s or iPod devices. I have recently switched my inferior BlackBerry
Curve device from 4 years ago and upgraded to the new Z10 model for free.
Personally adjusting to using the touchscreen and the touch features has become
a huge pain and inconvenience. In the recent days I have been somewhat
adjusting to it since it has a feature that can predict what words I’m trying
to type based on my mistakes. This can really show how software development can
assist greatly in the learning curve of these new upcoming devices.
References
[Cellphone Comparisons].Retrieved March 31, 2013, from:
URL: (http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2013/02/06/Z10_GS3_iPhone5_screens_610x378.jpg)
[Interaction Devices].Retrieved March 31, 2013, from:
URL: (http://gearcrave.frsucrave.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/interface_610x468.jpg)
[Microsoft Kinect Demonstration].Retrieved March 31, 2013,
from: URL: (http://gamingirresponsibly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/kinect1.jpg)
[Nintendo Controller].Retrieved March 31, 2013, from:
URL: (http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/2634287974241518.JPG.19313260267924226)
