This Year's Top Game Design Innovations

Next Generation has one of those end of the year 'top 10' lists we all love so much, with plenty of room for discussion on this one. They claim to have picked out the top 10 game design innovations of 2007. It's hard to argue with elements like Portal's portals or Mass Effect's conversation wheel, but was Metroid Prime 3 on the Wii really as good as a mouse-and-keyboard PC FPS? "When people ask 'How do we make a good shooter on a console' what they really mean is 'how do we make a shooter that feels as quick and responsive as a PC shooter on the console?' Apparently the answer is the Wii mote. I was blown away by this fact. Nintendo had always been the 'family friendly' console to me so I didn't consider the FPS ramifications of the Wiimote but clearly it's the best tool for the job. With some tweaking and some refinement down the line I could see the Wii (or a console with Wii like controls) becoming the platform of choice for hardcore FPSers, even over the PC. If this does become the case it will owe it all to Metroid Prime 3."

Re:Wii FPS controls

[G Fab]

I completely disagree, my friend.

"was Metroid Prime 3 on the Wii really as good as a mouse-and-keyboard PC FPS?" This is an absurd question. The wiimote is twitchy as all get out. I know a bunch of people love Metroid 3, so I have to acknowledge that, even if I hate it, it's a successful and good product, but man that game is just not that good. I prefer the dual analog sticks, slow as they are, for moving about a 3d world, if I can't have a mouse. Also, the graphics on Metroid just seem pretty weak to me (and yeah, I know a lot of people think they are excellent).

I guess I may just have weird tastes in this, and more power to Nintendo for the new ideas, but I own Metroid 3 and most other major wii games (well, my kids do), and I really don't like them that much. They are basically obvious motion adaptations of well worn and nostalgic Nintendo greats. That's a solid biz model, but top design innovation? Well, ok, maybe it is, but only because there aren't many real innovations out there. This is like including the powerglove with all NESs. yeah, it's different.

And is a wiimote better than a sixaxis (granting that Sony gets no innovation points for knocking off the wiimote)? I guess. If you point it at the TV, it aims and twitches, and that's a feature only teh wii has, but is this a good feature or just a unique feature? Games like HVB are showing that the sixaxis can be pretty damn nice in the hands of a competent programmer (so sad that this is one of the best PS3 games, huh?).

Wii mote in first person shooters

[Lazerf4rt]

There's no way the Wii mote compares to a mouse and keyboard for shooters.

The only reason it's usable at all in Metroid Prime 3 is because the Z button auto-locks your view onto the target.

If it wasn't for that feature, the controls would be hopeless.

Wii Controls are already better than PC.

[trdrstv]

The only reason this is controversial is because the wiimote doesn't have good enough aim. It's often off by an inch or more on smaller tv's. This is hard on hard core FPS fans, but for me this isn't a problem. First, between wrestling with the auto-aim feature on a lot of shooters and using two analog sticks to control my movement and aim, I find correcting for the wiimote's bad aim to be easy by comparison. I'd rather have faster, more responsive aim that's off by a consistent amount than have to use a regular controller.

I didn't have that issue with a big screen. I wonder where that line really diverges, is it bad on say 19" TV, but Sweet at 42"+ ? Dunno. It was pretty easy for me to pick off people in the distance on my projector and I have a 92" screen on that.

I know I'll get flamed to hell for this, but unlike the article I think the Wii Controls are already better than the PC's (and there is still room for improvement*). The Advanced sensitivity on Metroid Prime 3 is "Nearly, but not quite as sensitive as a mouse", but for what little sensitivity is lost, the Analog on the Nunchuck kicks the shit out of WASD, and there is simply nothing that can compare on the PC with the visceral immersion of the Grapple gun.

Using your left arm to throw a grapple on you're opponent's shield, then jerking your arm back to pull the shield out of their hand so you can blast them with your arm cannon is something you can't get elsewhere. Add that with full analog movement, and you have an experience that not only rivals, but betters the competition.

*Games are already improving on the design, play Medal of Honor Heroes 2 and customize your aim sensitivity to achieve mouse level precision if you like.

Re:Wii FPS controls

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. The number one thing to remember is "the Wii-mote is not a lightgun." It's like using a mouse - motion is relative. I don't have an exact spot on my desk that corresponds to the center of my screen, but when my cursor is too far to the left, I move the mouse to the right.

It's up to the developers to keep this in mind when creating the control scheme for the game. Some are really trying to treat it like a lightgun, and their games suck terribly because of it.

Re:What I really wonder

[ucblockhead]

Years ago, I used a trackball extensively instead of a mouse. I liked it...preferred it even. But I had to give it up because it gave me serious RSI troubles in my thumb.

Re:What I really wonder

[hidannik]

There are other solutions - including ones that keep the current twin-stick controller setup.

I've written a fairly extensive article on this at my blog: http://hansonvideogaming.blogspot.com/2006/10/levelling-playing-field-mice-and.html [blogspot.com]

In short, if the graph of rotational speed vs stick deflection looked like a U instead of the more common V, twin-stick players could get both the precision and speed that a mouse provides.

Anyone who's played a shooter on a laptop using the "eraser" pointer stick and with mouse acceleration on will have an idea what I'm referring to. I played through Half-Life that way and preferred it to a regular mouse.

Hans

Re:Wii Controls are already better than PC.

[trdrstv]

*Games are already improving on the design, play Medal of Honor Heroes 2 and customize your aim sensitivity to achieve mouse level precision if you like.

almost every PC shooter allow you to customize your mouse sensitivity, from Quake to Counter Strike... Dont know what PC gamers would ever do without that. But Medal of Honor did innovate upon the shooting scheme but allowing you to manually look over covers at the direction you want.

Sorry if I was unclear. I was not commenting on customization as an innovation in this particular game, rather I was commenting on how MoH Heroes 2 (with its' customization options) can actually reach mouse levels of sensitivity on the Wii, and how that was an improvement on the Metroid Prime 3's (Still wonderful) controls.

Thanks.

Re:Wii mote in first person shooters

[IceCreamGuy]

I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree; I find that the shooting in Metroid, once you get used to it, becomes second nature, and it's a lot more satisfying for me to add that extra level of interactivity in the game. I certainly don't feel it takes away from the adventure aspect, just adds another layer to it with a little patience. As far as OoT is concerned, to me and every other Zelda fan I know, the Z-lock inhibits advanced gameplay by creating an extra mechanical action while targeting; with it on you have to hit the button three times to change targets. It's good for beginners because it helps them stay on a target until it's defeated, however when you need to quickly switch between targets or position the camera during combat, it is extremely prohibitive. On a different note, another reason I think the Metroid controls trump at least other FPSs on consoles is the simple fact that you can aim while doing other actions. I was so damn pissed when I realized while playing HL2 on the 360 that I had to move my finger off the stick just to jump or duck, and then it occurred to me that you can't jump, duck and aim all at once in any FPS on a console, and they're simply designed from the ground up to work around this. I think that sucks balls, but Metroid Prime: Corruption changed that and I hope other developers learn from it. Sorry if I sounded like a jerk before, the GP just got me (a Nintendo fanboi) a little fired up by bashing Metroid.

Re:conversation wheel?

[Jonathan_S]

Hmm, that's unfortunate. What's so great about having less precision? And they present it like somehow reading dialog is a bad thing. IMO, the more dialog the better. And since I can read faster than I can listen, I'd rather have it all printed anyway

I'm not sure you really have less precision. How many dialog trees offer more than 6 options anyway?

And I can see your point about reading faster than listening, that's the case for me as well. On the other hand, for selecting my side of the dialog it does break the flow to read 4 to 6 full sentence (or multi-sentence) choices that are totally different from one another. I can see where it could flow faster to just pick in essence from: I agree, I disagree, I'm skeptical, etc. Once you do that you still get the your full sentence expressed, you simple don't see the full text of all the unchosen options.
The more interesting bits of the dialog are the NPC responses, since they include new information, and those are still fully intact (although spoken, which does slow down delivery).

And from the little I've seen watching my friends play Mass Effect, there is still plenty of pure written material outside the dialog mechanism.

Re:I'm a believer...

[Rowan_u]

Sorry to be a naysayer, but you're completely wrong here. I've played and loved console and PC FPS games from Quake and Goldeneye to Crysis and Halo 3. The game that finally swapped me was Bioshock. Played it first on the 360, then over to the PC. It's not the console games that are twitchy, it's that damn WASD walking on the pc. In Bioshock on the pc, you are ether standing still or running. You'll literally miss half the game if you play it on the PC, with so many environments that must be strolled through to be enjoyed. Same thing with the aiming, sure you're going to be less accurate on a stick. Much less accurate actually. However, try and do a smooth pan using a mouse . . . impossible. Herky Jerky award goes to the pc again. Both reasons why I went out and bought a 360 wireless adapter for my PC to enjoy the superior graphics of a pc (projected up onto a ten foot wide 720p screen) combined with the superior controls . . . of a console.

Written much more about this below on my blog.
http://www.jakepcw.com/muyuubyou/?p=578 [jakepcw.com]

Re:Wii Controls are already better than PC.

[buffer-overflowed]

I would rather have the interface that doesn't have to compensate for it's failings. In the holodeck example, I'd rather be on the holodeck than using a keyboard + mouse. If the design/control scheme has to compensate for a lack of immersion/precision within the controls, it's an inferior interface.

Because to compensate, it has to interfere and take away control. I'd rather have the control than not. I don't want what's stopping me from headshotting enemy A to be the controls/interface, I'd rather it be my own skill. This is why a holodeck would be superior to KB+Mouse and why KB+Mouse is superior to dual analog and why the Wiimote is superior to dual analog.

At present, consoles are inferior in that respect for a number of genres, barring, maybe, the Wii. Auto-aim and various other compensation methods are the Clippys of the gameplay world. They help you make due with a subpar interface.