EA: Motion control is not a thread to the industry
“I think they’re really interesting. What Nintendo have done is shown a fabulous interface for a mass market population. The appetite for video games has grown significantly because you don’t have to button mash. It makes the whole thing much more accessible. You’ve only got to watch who doesn’t play games as a hobby, who plays games casually, their ability to get straight into a game on the Wii is far greater than when they have to press buttons. It seems a logical step for Microsoft and Sony to have motion sensors or visual sensors to enable that interface with the games. It’s fantastic. It will work particularly well on some genres, maybe not so well on others, but overall I think it’s going to be a great benefit to the industry. Nintendo have shown just how it can be exploited. People look back too much instead of looking forward. What these devices and mechanics bring, a lot of stuff we haven’t even figured out yet. We’re going to be doing that over the next few years. The opportunities are much greater by having numerous interfaces between the player and the content. Your opportunities become so much greater. Is there a threat to the industry? No, not in any way, shape or form. Complete the opposite. This allows us to go into an area of entertainment that isn’t thought of… while there remains an audience for certain traditional types of core games, and it’s a financially viable audience, companies are still going to make those games. Of course they are.” – EA UK boss Keith Ramsdale
I remember that when I first heard of the Wii controller’s functionality, I was very skeptical and even a bit disheartened that it would be motion-focused, mainly because it was completely different than anything we had seen before. However, I am now completely on board with the Wiimote. It actually grew on me very, very quickly. Motion control can really add something new to games, and as we have seen with Wii MotionPlus, games can feel much more realistic. So, at this point, I would have to say that motion control is not a threat to the industry at all.
