Next Gen, the end of proper pads??

Chris [BEANS]

Chris [BEANS]

Chris [BEANS]

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I know nobody can say for sure, there are no official details out for the next gen of consoles, but they are expected next year and there must be some well educated guesses flying about.

My concern is that the next gen will be the end of sitting on your sofa while you game :(

Top of the line TV's all come with movement recognition, gesture based control and it's a dead cert that all new consoles will too.

Beyond that, it seems new controllers are full of motion sensors and will probably have touch screens in them.

Technology now allows game devs to do some incredible things and I've no doubt that game devs are envisioning fantastic things to come. However, to implement these things they don't want to be limited by the functionality of the controller. They will need the ways for the game and the the player to interact to be diverse and dynamic.

I fear this means the end for sitting back on the sofa with a pad, casually playing a game.

I like to simply chill. I don't want to stand, I certainly don't want to be jumping about, ducking projectiles etc, I don't want to wear goggles, I don't want to be waving my arms about, I don't even want to be forced to tilt the pad or shake it, or talk to it.
I want to relax, proper pad in hand, controlling my on screen guy with my thumbs like a grown up.

Am I now too old to buy a new console? Has the technology passed me by? Will there be any proper, traditionally controlled games left?


Those in the know, feel free to reassure me :(
 
Theres not a chance movement recognition in whatever form will be the only input type for all games on the new consoles, just like TVs that allow gesture based controls still have traditional remotes that provide those functions. I very much doubt most game devs look forward to using motion control as the primary input, the granularity allowed is just pathetic...

By time it does happen we will all have had kids.

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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Unless we get ports to our brains so it's seamless control i would never game without a pad/controller/wheel/keyboard etc.

No way I'm gonna jump about like an idiot just to control a game when i can go out and do something more enjoyable and exercise at least a little bit :p
 
The next Gen will have pads.

They may be borked by being built around gimmicks like huge touch screens (WiiU) or be focused on movement control (PS Move), but the thumb sticks and buttons interface will still be there, somewhere.
 
The biggest games on each platform are either not supported by Move/Kinect, or they are simply supported for the sake of it, while adding nothing to the playability of those games. As much as I dislike FIFA and CoD, they are the biggest sellers and they'll probably continue to be in the future too, those games are completely unplayable with anything other than a control pad or keyboard and mouse so why would Sony and Microsoft do away with controllers considering their two biggest sellers are completely reliant on that control type?
 
The other problem is that these controllers are optional, so for most games they have to accommodate both standard and any "special" controllers.

For any motion or gesture controller to replace normal pads it must be the standard and only control option for the console. As much as they might like that idea, I can't imagine any of the console makers would have much luck pushing £100 controllers onto its users. Imagine if the only controller that worked with the Wii U was the tablet thing, or if the only way to control the Xbox was through Kinect?

However, I would gladly see the back of the same PS controller design. Compared to the 360 pad its terrible.
 
Sony held a competition a few months ago where people could submit their skins for the next-gen Playstation controller - they specifically stated that the Dualshock controllers are going to remain untouched in terms of appearance/button layout, but they'd select a winning skin to produce from the community. So I think as far as the Playstation goes we can still expect a pad (which I'm glad for, I love that Dualshock's stayed the same since the analog addition on PS1) and I'm assuming the Xbox will be using a controller too. Don't think Sony/Microsoft's main audiences would be too keen on having full-on motion control for their games, since they aren't primarily housewives.

EDIT: Nevermind, found the article and I must have remembered it wrong as it was a skin for a PS3 controller (it's been a long day) :p Either way, I doubt the NextBox and PS4 will scrap controllers, and can't see any reason as to why they would anytime soon. Controllers are convenient, familiar, and do their job better than gimmicky motion controls do. While they might have additions like Sixaxis it still feels natural and isn't forced on you in most games (and some games like Folklore have some really neat uses for it).
 
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