Buttons and Controllers

Buttons and Controllers

So it will be a little while before we actually get to our show on this, but it's been on my mind more and more lately. Anyone who listens to the show on a regular basis knows that none of us are really fans of the idea that something like the iPhone can be a "legitimate" portable gaming device, something that can rival the PSP or the DS. While the iPhone and other phones like it certainly have their place in mobile gaming, there is something to be said for having physical buttons on a device - buttons that you can actually *feel* when you push them.

The same concept applies to this new fad of motion-controlled gaming. Microsoft, with their Project Natal, has even gone so far as to infer that the controller is a hindrance to gaming. This page uses the phrase "No Controller Required", as if the controller is something that we shouldn't have to use - or even buy.

While I'll be the first to admit that the idea of gaming in a holodeck would be the "ultimate" videogame, I'll also be the first to say that I believe there will always be a place in the market for "traditional" games. I use that word with quotes because I'm a little worried that in the next five or ten years, gaming as we know it could take a drastic change away from controllers and buttons, and turn towards direct interaction gaming where we touch everything, or control everything simply by our own, natural movements.

Is the technology cool? Absolutely. Do we necessarily want to have it? Probably. But do we really need to have the attitude that we've been playing games *wrong* for the past 30 years, and that we shouldn't be limited by buttons and controllers? Absolutely not. I'll gladly replace my GameBoy Micro and my Nintendo DS once I can get two things from my cell phone: deep, interactive, engaging gaming experiences, and tactile feedback. Games that put a pseudo D-pad on a touchphone's screen simply won't cut it - ever.

As far as console gaming goes, I think we all have a dream of being able to actually *experience* our games holodeck-style. Both Sony's Magic Wand and Microsoft's Project Natal are undoubtedly baby steps towards this future of gaming, and it's going to be awesome, but I think there will always be a time where you'll just want to plop down in a chair in front of Frank's 2000" TV with a controller in your hands and just play a game the way we've all been playing as long as we've been alive.

Bring on the future, absolutely, but at the same time: Long Live the Controller!

-Phil