Concept17 said:
Perhaps you would like to give me some better examples since you're so sold on the notion of it being amazingly useful in every way. Also, that was one example.
I already did
guek said:
Man, this tired argument again? It's not like you're going to be constantly looking back and forth between screens every 3 seconds. It'll all depend on the type of game too. The only real genres it might make a big problem for is twitch gaming such as shooters, in which case the tablet itself will be used minimally for special tasks like setting rally points, customization, determining air strikes, drone vision, and things like defusing bombs.
As for a lack of buttons, motion can serve as a quick easy one. A quick jerk or flick of the tablet could work as a simple input that wouldn't disrupt gameplay, precision, or force the player to look down. It'd be like flicking the nunchuck in some wii games, only likely considerably more precise.
Some other off the head ideas:
- Picture in picture ala detective mode in Batman:AC, though of course if you're too lazy to raise your arms a foot and a half,
nothing is stopping devs from simply giving you the option to toggle it on and off. There's also games like fatal frame where you could be looking through the controller window as a camera. Many adventure or exploratory games could use this feature to look for hidden items on screen or allow you to see multiple vantage points at once. But again if your frail and emaciated body is not up to the task of lifting a lightweight controller, I guess this gameplay element would feel straining. You could even have multiple characters running around with the ones not being directly controlled be controlled by AI. You could keep tabs on the AI player which could have a completely separate objective and switch back and forth between characters seamlessly at all times. You wouldn't have to stare at the tablet to do this, it could just be something you can check from time to time or simply a way to monitor AI progress.
- Real time weapon changes akin to zelda or darksiders would be possible where you wouldn't have to pause gameplay in order to swap equipment. If you really think you can't take half a second during an action game to quickly look at the screen in your hands to press a button with your thumb, you must really suck at games as a whole. Complaining you have to do so is akin to complaining that it's too distracting to look at minimaps and radar that are the main screen. Even if something is on a tv screen, your eyes are incapable of focusing on everything at once. You have to actually focus on a specific point, such as radars, which draw your attention away from main action. Do you have trouble with this in current games? Do you really think it's going to take that much longer to dart your eyes down to your hands? Do you really think muscle memory wont eventually come into play and negate the need to do that altogether? Do you really believe there's no benefit to not pausing a game in order to switch inventory?
Goddamnit, I feel like I'm being trolled here. Fuck it.
- Like I already said, targeting airstrikes or map manipulation as a whole would be great in games that already use it. Looking down at your hands and quickly tapping a location would probably actually save you a second or two during airstrikes in CoD versus dragging your cursor to the spot on the on screen map. Not only that, you can potentially keep an eye on your character on screen and make sure you're not in trouble unlike the current set up where it takes you out of the game entirely. The same thing can be done for setting rally points or marking targets on the field. Ubisoft already showed something like this with Ghost Recon Online with drone control. The drone was controlled using the tablet screen while the TV view remained on your character. That way, if you saw enemies approaching or started taking fire, you could react immediately and know exactly where the trouble is coming from rather than panicking.
- Strategy games as a whole could be much more fluid due having touch screen controls. Now you don't have to slowly toggle between squares or drag cursors around, you can just tap. Yes, this is just a basic functional upgrade, but one that would make the overall experience more enjoyable. You could also
pause the fucking game and draw battle instructions on your tablet before resuming. Rather than using a cursor or squares or a cumbersome option process, you could just select units and give them targets, patrols, or rally points with great ease.
- Online multiplayer with video chat could be incredibly fun. Obviously it wouldn't be useful to have video chat during most multiplayer games, but having lobbies afterwards where you see your teammates face to face could be awesome (although potentially a frightening idea to a company like Nintendo...)
These are just some ideas off the top of my head that I just pulled out of my ass (edit: I just realized that those two idioms don't go together at all...). I don't see how any of these ideas would get in the way or be a detriment to gameplay either. It feels like you're simply looking for reasons to hate the controller without taking the time to try to imagine new ways to play games. Let me ask you, did you own a wii? Are you even considering buying a Wii U? Do you feel like the wii had no good implementations of motion or pointer controls?
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