CliffyB Calls for Less Buttons with New Xbox, Mentions Wii as Example
I know this isn’t exactly Nintendo news (although it does affect Nintendo), but it is interesting to note that even one of the industry’s biggest supporters of Hi-def graphics is calling for a change in controls/interaction:
“I hope if there’s a new Xbox that there’ll be fewer buttons on the controller,” “I think you could do things with a built-in camera or a little motion sensitivity. You look at the Wii controller with less buttons – they added functionality by doing waggle. Not a lot of games use the waggle well, but Super Mario Galaxy for example uses it perfectly. Zak and Wiki uses it rather well,” he said.
“There are other ways of providing interactivity without having every single finger doing something at once on a friggin’ controller.”
This is very interesting indeed. This might be in reference to the rumors surrounding Microsoft releasing a Wiimote-clone at E3. Time will tell, but I think everyone in the gaming industry is finally recognizing that games, despite graphics, will need to eventually add more intuitive/immersive controls.