A defense for motion control in games
Last night I read a screed on The Verge forums from a guy who lamented the fact that games have become too accessible. He remembers fondly the time spent as a youth when he played difficult games, and calls out the new Zelda game (Skyward Sword) as example of a "soft, hit-detection-free experience."
Even though I've just started playing the game, I don't feel this way about Skyward Sword at all. In fact, I'm finding it more difficult than other Zelda games I've played. There are a few reasons for this: mostly because of the precision motion control required, but also due to other changes, such as a shield that wears down over time, and fewer randomly found hearts. Playing this morning, I actually died to the first dungeon boss. While it could have been that my sleep-deprived mind couldn't recognize patterns effectively, it's also true that I played through Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask without ever coming close to dying.
Some Wii games certainly do have "floaty" controls, but these are games that have a broad audience (such as Wii Sports). However, most of the other games I've played on the Wii use the remote/nunchuck combo for a more traditional control scheme; perhaps they use the remote for pointing a cursor on the screen as well. While the Wii made broad strokes into a "blue ocean" of non-gamers, it still has a lot to offer to those who were raised on the original NES.
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