next »

[thewojnartist]

The other day, me and my brother were thinking about the Wii Motion Plus, the Nintendo 3DS, and other "revolutionary" gaming hardware and accessories and wondering what the next generation of gaming hardware could possibly be. We started up with this idea of a big helmet with "goggles" that really act as a screen (I know, movies and television have thought about it before, but it seemed like the next logical step in real life). We then thought of combining it with the 3D technology of the 3DS and with motion-sensitive technology and saw an immersive (though very unhealthy for one's eyes) video game system.

I am now brought to wonder "What makes hardware good for gaming?" I am open to anyone's ideas, especially those that tell me why the "video game helmet" seems so plausible to me even though it sounds so ridiculous and cliche as I type it out.

[tesselode]

Good gaming hardware has to be convenient. And unique. And sufficiently powerful. And not make people look silly, give them headaches, etc. (which makes me kind of doubt your idea; isn't that sort of like the Virtual Boy?)

Actually, good gaming hardware doesn't have to be unique. But in the case of the Wii and the 3DS, it certainly helps.

[voidSkipper]

Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers.

Motion detection doesn't really make games any more immersive. Actually potentially less so, because moving your viewing angle while using a 2d screen kills any sort of illusion of depth.

[imaginationac]

Good hardware means shit with a poorly designed game. The goal of interface designer should be allowing the human to understand what to do in as short amount of time of possible, conveniently, and probably comfortably. One of the reason the Wii Remote works so well: looks like a TV remote (not including the joystick dongle); not a lot of buttons; point and/or move.

3DS is motion-sensitive, FYI; it has a gyroscope.

My idea system of interfacing with a game would be the Holodeck from the Star Trek series. That's a ways off. After motion/touch interfaces become prevalent, I think we're going to aim for more immersion. That means possibly 3D. But I'm thinking someone genius is going to come up with a decent enough voice recognition engine, that the way stories unfold in games (and other interactive forms) will be finally cross the totally immersion threshold.

[gimymblert]

I think the next step will be bio feedback, "brain interface" will be dumb down to more practical body signal reader (face emotion, blinking + eye direction, physical arousal, etc...). Will be a big thing to introduce non verbal communication in gameplay.

Geolocalisation may have a killer app that remove the silly problem of making real life a level design.

Virtual reality glass will have a "HUD screen"  like display (Just like a real TV except virtual) that keep real life around the screen so we can keep an eye on children and the house when it caught fire.

Object tagging beyond "mark recognition" will help new gameplay model with external objects.

EDIT:
ON THE POINT

What makes a good hardware is the interface and the ergonomy. The ideal is the invisible interface (some people thinks it's the holodeck), where thoughts and actions know no barrier, like in a dream actually.

The problem is that even the body is a visible interface, mastering the body takes time before it goes "invisible". Waggle and balance type gameplay got gamer learning back gaming skills, they say it's not responsive and not precise, which is not true and more telling of their lack of mastery. I play a lot wii fit minigame and now i can do things i thought i could not do with such interface, which remind me the first time i played mario 64 and was unable to move a straight line, now i do blind jump and land exactly where i want!