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Making video games easier to handle
July 11, 2007
The video game industry is growing its arsenal of family-friendly controllers as it tries to expand beyond hard-core gamers.
Nintendo has widened the demographic with its motion-sensing Wii controller. It said today that 1 in 3 gamers using its products this year were women, compared to 1 in 5 for the industry as a whole. The proportion of gamers that are over 25 and playing Nintendo games was up from 14 per cent in 2005 to 23 per cent in 2007.
Nintendo today unveiled the Wii Zapper – a $20 machine gun-style controller – the Wii wheel for Super Mario go-kart fans and the strangest controller you can imagine, in that it resembles an everyday household object – the Balance Board.
It looks like a set of bathroom scales, but as well as telling you your body mass index, it can sense your balance and allow you to play games that improve fitness and posture.
Microsoft is also adding peripherals for the less dexterous to the Xbox 360.
On Tuesday, it showed off the Big Button Pad, which consists of just a big red button and smaller green, red, yellow and blue buttons. It is designed for family quizzes, allowing you to press the buzzer and answer multiple-choice questions.
The first game that will use it is Scene It, a movie trivia game that includes clips in high definition.
Microsoft also showed off the multi-peripheral guitar, drums and vocals that will feature in the Rock Band game later this year – a variation on the Guitar Hero blockbuster that gave air-guitarists something to hold.
This could extend the gamer demographic almost to the baby-boomer generation – Rock Band will allow virtual bands to play original songs going as far back as the complete Who’s Next album by The Who from 1971.
Chris,
Has the industry anything to say about the way it is perceived by politicians and non-gamers? and the way it is regulated by the authorities? (ie - as if video games were toys for 5 yrs old)
I think the change in the demographics, technological innovation and maturing game developing and design (clearly still need to improve, but massive progress have been made) that have been underway over the last 10 years indicate to me video games should be regulated like other mediums such as cinema or music and that so-called adult content should be allowed and not banned and censored. (see Manhunt 2)
I dont want to be seen as endorsing pointlessly violent games, but I don’t feel it’s right to ban games. Of course, when pretty mild games get 15 or 18yrs ratings, the truly adult stuff looks like it’s outrageously above and beyond what is tolerable. I think 5min in any video shop will point toward dozens of movies with pretty scary/violent/sexual content that is available and not banned.
Of course, some will point at the “interactive” nature of the content to claim bans are needed.
I just think the same freedom of expression laws should apply to video games as to other mediums. ie some people might not approve of some content, but banning that content makes it worse.
Posted by: a | July 12th, 2007 at 1:15 pm | Report this commentI wasn’t aware of this as an issue at E3, although I did not get chance to speak to Take-Two, publisher of Manhunt and the company that has borne the brunt of criticism. I agree that there are double standards when it comes to tougher censorship of video games compared to other media, although the immersive and interactive nature of such games does give their critics some ammunition.
Posted by: Chris Nuttall | July 13th, 2007 at 9:27 am | Report this comment