Article: Stand Up and Play

The Wii has made a bold attempt at changing the way controllers work.  The PS Move copied it, then the Xbox Kinect brought it to the next level, eliminating plastic altogether in favor of the player's body becoming the controller.

The Kinect will be a gimmick for a bit, but I think that the next gen consoles will feature such a device as the primary means of control.

This is a great thing for getting non-gamers gaming and putting consoles in every home, making them as much a part of normal life as the television they're attached to.

I remember the first time I ever stayed up all night.  I was playing Dinopark Tycoon, and I had no idea how long I had been playing until it was already four in the morning.  I was shocked; I didn't expect it to be later than nine PM!

Dinopark Tycoon.  Awesome.

I think this happened because my brain was moving but my body wasn't.  My body had no physical exhaustion to make me tired and tell me to go to bed.  This has been a problem with videogames for a long time.

But now the much more physical controllers are changing that.  Not only are they more user-friendly for non-gamers, but they tire you out.  Sure, playing Wii Tennis is not as exhausting as real tennis, but it's a step up from sitting down with a controller in your hands.

Nintendo didn't need to come up with the Wii Fit, because people will start to get in shape from normal Wii games, and getting in better physical shape makes you a better player, whether you're playing a physical game or not.

Physical shape has a direct correlation with mental agility, which is evident from kids to Alzheimer's patients.  Long have older generations claimed that videogames will make you lazy and rot your brain, but we can now prove them wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Some hardcore gamers backlashed against the Wii when it first came out, claiming that it was more a baby's toy than a console.  Hardcore gamers who bought it discovered that much more subtle movements could be made to achieve the same effects in games like Wii Sports, so they sat on the couch and played the Wii as they'd always played videogames.

Not pictured:  how the Wii is supposed to be played.

It was strange to me that such a reaction would occur.  There was actual resistance to getting up and moving while playing videogames, rather than a huge welcome and a thanks from gamers tired of the overused two-handed controller.

While Nintendo tried to get new gamers, they alienated the old.  Now, with Sony's and Microsoft's attempt at similar schemes, hardcore gamers are grudgingly accepting that this is the way games are moving.

I find it funny that the original gamers were tech geeks pioneering the field, and now those same gamers are hesitant to try new things.  It's like being a movie buff when the talkies came out, and disliking the fact that you actually have to listen to movies now.

Videogames are still in an early era, and we should embrace every new invention that comes along, until it has demonstrated itself to be a failure, rather than jumping on the bandwagon and disliking anything new.