The future of gaming
The future of gaming is going to be completely different from what we know now – in my opinion anyway! Devices such as the Wii, Kinect and Motion are just the start of what will be a long journey towards greater interaction with games. If Microsoft and Sony can pull it off, then gaming will move away from the best graphics towards the different forms of input.
It’s not difficult to start thinking about where games will be in five or even ten years time. I think it’s almost impossible to predict, but I would bet that the major companies have lots of ideas in mind. Nintendo, at least, will have to do something to respond to the new hardware from Sony and Microsoft. Even though they were the first to come out with motion sensing technology, they risk being overtaken.
In the end, it’s all going to come down to the developers. As long as they stay away from gimmicks and make good use of the motion controllers then they will be a big success.
With that said, I can’t see there ever not being a need for a standard controller in some situations. Shooting games nearly always work best with a controller, as you often have to be doing several things at once. Complex sports games such as FIFA or Madden also will need a controller to be played fully. I think we’ll see integration of the controller and motion detecting, rather than just using one or the other. The Wii is obviously an example of this, but I predict that it will seem extremely dated in a few short years.