Revolution Realized
We all have vivid memories of our gaming youth. Games released in the early days captivated the minds of children and adults alike. For many, it was Shigeru Miyamoto's creation, Super Mario Bros., that would forever open their minds to new worlds and ideas that could be presented in the form of a video game.
Super Mario Bros. was something else. To compare it to the flashy visuals and complex buttons schemes of today would be a great disservice to the title's legacy. The game brought about an era of tight gameplay that consisted of more than just a couple of flashy colors to try and wax the eyes of keen onlookers. Nay, the game was much more than a pretty picture. It showed that interacting with a character on screen could entertain for hours, even with only a handful of different obstacles. The suspender-clad hero had a great sense of weight and momentum while controlling. He could also interact with objects around him, such as jumping on enemies and smashing bricks with his bare fist. In short, Mario did what nothing else on the market did; it went to the proverbial drawing board and smashed it to pieces. Mario, along with much of the break-out games on the NES, started a true gaming revolution.
The year is now 2004. In the place of the simple-yet-functional two button controller we have 7+ buttons, dual analog sticks that can be moved in 360 degrees, analog shoulder buttons with 256 degrees of sensitivity, and a digital pad. In order to progress you need to control the position of your character with your left thumb, use your right hand to move the camera, lock on ("lock on!?") to enemies, and god help you if you get the camera stuck on a wall. The days of telling your grandmother to press the button under her thumb to jump have come and gone. While pressing those two buttons could probably entertain her for hours in the past, it holds little to no relevance in today's games.
What happened is simple; we have reached an age where games and their controls are getting more and more complicated. As so called "hardcore" gamers it is sometimes difficult to see the problem at all. We have been so involved in these complex gameplay systems and interfaces from their inception that we have learned incrementally. People new to videogames do not have this luxury. Imagine, if you would, someone who stops reading comics in the series' infancy and then attempts to get back into the story 20 years later where the characters and even the medium in which the story is told has all changed. The president of Nintendo, Mr. Satoru Iwata, seems to feel strongly about this point:
"I think the number of game players will decrease if the game industry continues to pursue its current strategy of making software more complicated and luxurious, which in turn requires customers to consume enormous time and energy. Customers now find themselves hard-pressed to keep up with the game developers' approach. If we put the brakes on such a trend, we would be able to put the industry back on a growth path. Nintendo was aware of this early on. We would like to market such software and expand the sales of game machines." - Satoru Iwata
The Nintendo chief paints a bleak picture of the crisis that is perhaps more tame than the real-world scenario. Unlike movies, interactive software requires the input of a live human being, and if the interface and gameplay systems are too complex, what will compel people to even consider playing "catch up" and adapt to the more complex games of today? If Super Mario Bros. taught us anything it is that the degree of fun is not necessarily proportional to the complexity of the controls or gameplay system.
And lo! Nintendo has set the stage to bring all players back to the "starting line." The Nintendo DS is the first glimpse of the new Nintendo strategy. The touch screen, perhaps the main draw of the system, can potentially remove any learning barriers by providing a completely natural interface with your game. Simply take your finger or stylus and draw Pacman. Simply take your finger or stylus and slice vegetables in Wario Ware DS. Heck, just draw goofy pictures and play virtual Pictionary with Picto Chat. No need for finger gymnastics or half hour seminars on lock-on targeting.
The other part of the plan is promising to be even more of a deviation through the code-named Nintendo Revolution. Little is actually known about Nintendo's next console save for a couple of very intriguing quotes from Nintendo themselves. In short, the system is being aimed at creating a true gaming revolution and not just upgrading the technical specs as is current trend in the industry. In trade of only upgraded visuals, Nintendo has made it clear that it will have technical merits, but more importantly it will bring new ideas in an easy-to-swallow form. We are here to try and explore these exciting propositions.
Before we continue, we need to be clear on one thing: we aim to look at what is entirely plausible as well as some fairly imaginative ideas. In an effort to minimize confusion, we will be rating any examples as "plausible", "moderately plausible", and "no way." We begin our first scenario design with what is possibly the mother of all "plausible" theories; the gyroscope sensor system.