Having tried Minecraft on my tablet and given up because the touchscreen controls were horrendous, I was amazed the other day to see my 9 year old niece whizzing around on the iPhone version, performing tasks at speeds I'd struggle to match with a controller.

Kids are so familiar with touchscreen input devices by that age that a significant proportion much regard 'proper' gaming and controllers as archaic.

The game pad is already a niche product when you put it up against the amount of people gaming with a touchscreen or a mouse. The people that distribute most of the hardcore, big budget PC games have spent the last few years working on a replacement for the mouse and keyboard. Something else is the future, I'm just not sure we've seen it yet. A wand shaped touchscreen pointer with buttons sounds ideal and ridiculous at the same time.

The chuck and lightgun system is really great, I want to see it continue as long as FPS games are still a thing. The Skullo versions of Metroid Prime are definitive.

djchump wrote:

When input matters, you design for a specific, most intuitive, single physical control per action:

I did consider this. Aircraft especially. And of course, Street Fighter (yes... Which is probably still my favourite game, so consider my perspective on this subject). But then we'll have to talk about the games that need this apparent fidelity, their popularity, and possible schemes for replacement... Like the Metroid thing, which sounds like it would reduce the need for a good number of buttons...

The Future Is Now

Vr walking is spackered, I may which to change direction or speed. Only real way to do it would be with a massive kugel ball, like big enough to walk on

If the OR needs some sort of companion treadmill to play games properly, it will have failed as a mainstream consumer device. It will be in the same category of leisure equipment as a pool table, nice to have if you've got the space.

monkey wrote:

If the OR needs some sort of companion treadmill to play games properly, it will have failed as a mainstream consumer device. It will be in the same category of leisure equipment as a pool table, nice to have if you've got the space.

Which is something that I believe it does need to make it truly immersive for any game experience which doesn't involve being strapped into a cockpit, and this is why I don't believe that it's going to herald the revolution in gaming that some people claim.

I'm fine with niche stuff. Preparing any product for a mass market push seems to involve making it terrible. It would be a shame if it's take up is limited by its control limitations though. I doubt I could have any special equipment set up unless it's something like a twister board that you can just wop out when needed and it's takes up no space when stored.

[/moon on a stick]

Sure to bring a massive rise in any man. Wheelchair or not. *wheeze*

http://comicsalliance.com/batman-and-robin-run-away-gifs

Being serious for a minute, the North by Northwest one does translate the appeal of a virtual Op Flash. I think that there would be a niche audience for that. For me, it'd be mostly in winter when the weather stopped me from running outdoors.

A treadmill for the jogging, with a Move-balled rifle (analogue tilt to turn) and a Rift. It's one of the few shooters where your aiming speed isn't a primary concern, with choose-your-own-effort built-in via vehicles. Fitness first, game second, but I think its world would really lend itself.

Cabela's games, also, of course.

Yossarian wrote:

monkey wrote:

If the OR needs some sort of companion treadmill to play games properly, it will have failed as a mainstream consumer device. It will be in the same category of leisure equipment as a pool table, nice to have if you've got the space.

Which is something that I believe it does need to make it truly immersive for any game experience which doesn't involve being strapped into a cockpit, and this is why I don't believe that it's going to herald the revolution in gaming that some people claim.

You don't need a treadmill, you don't need to totally be something to enjoy immersion (its like saying gamepads will never catch on because they don't feel like walking, or monitors will never catch on because real vision is never that small and flat and not-moving) and more appropriately you don't need a human body to be a good game. And it will be niche, I don't think anyone really into it expects it to be a huge thing for everyone, in its current form it's actually a pain in the arse, the technology will instead go into other things that will go on to come back to VR gaming on a large scale when the users had already gotten used to VR technology integrating their phone's OS with their vision

Regarding leap motion and eyewear and related jokes, i'm talking about very complicated and refined technology being extremely small, like you have to squint to see it, made by enormous companies, like google, sony or samsung, big business for massive uptake in several years time, not goofy clunky gaming peripherals from the 80s

I think the only point you'll get to having totally immersive VR where you can move inside an entirely virtual universe as a human being will be when we'll have direct neural stimulation, whenever that is, otherwise I think people will be quite happy being just short of feeling like they can be one with another universe (As a human being. I always find this particular rule or expectation of games quite irritating, mind)

Yoss Stone.

My napkin calculations put it over 4k per eye and I'll have to trust that 60fps is the minimum. Sounds plausible. I can see 60 on a screen, some of the PC master race have got used to >100hz and don't like going back.

IanHamlett wrote:

Twin sticks has always felt like a fudge. It's a mouse and keys control scheme. A pointer does a better job than a mouse and a stick does a better job than keys.

Not convinced by that. A stick is definitely better than keys but a mouse is more precise than a pointer, and for some games that precision really, really matters.