Items of Interactivity

Continuing on the subject of sensory informative gadgets other than audio/visual technology, I want to take a look at a few developements into advanced interfaces for games. Namely controllers which have ascended from the realms of joysticks and d-pads. And also further explore the idea that increased sensory input in games could begin to subtract attention from the games virtual enviroment and therefore begin to lose immersion, comparing the idea with Brenda Laurel's concept of "games as performance".

Recently there has been a trend in consoles to take advantage of wireless technology, mostly Nintendos Wii with its motion sensored wiimote and PS3's sixaxis controller which acheives similar results. The result of these controlls is that players are now able to interact with digital games by using motions we relate to what is happening within the game, in order to swing a sword you swing your arms as if swinging the sword itself. I know that this technology is not particularly new, but now that it has been brought into the mainstream it could lead to further developement of unconventional user interfaces.

As part of looking into advanced interactivity within games I looked at the game Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Similar in play style to arcade dance machines, guitar hero has become popular combining popular music with use of a guitar shaped controller. Recently another game similar to Guitar Hero has been released titled Rock Band, which has controllers in the form of guitar, bass, drums and a microphone. These controls create a unique form of interaction with games that hasnt really been explored before. Since the use these instrumental interfaces mimics the use of they're real counterparts, i thought that they would make for an immersive play experience. The problem with these games is that they are basically arcade games and almost lack the properties of a digital enviroment, something i feel is vital to immersion, although you can see a band perform on screen on a stage, having the guitar in your hands removes any involvement with those characters for the player. In games liek Guitar Hero it is as the game occurs in real space rather than a artifical digital space, with the players presence staying with the player. This kind of gameplay can be considered games as performance and under the caption of party games, tend to be more focused around playing with a live audience of freinds rather than a set of artifical personalities.