Wii U’s unveiling at E3 last week may have come as a disappointment for some. It certainly did for the stockholders, as Nintendo stock dropped almost ten per cent following the announcement.
But why the disappointment? Over the past few years in particular, Nintendo has built a reputation for innovation, differentiating itself from its competition by offering gamers an experience that is not available on any other platform. However, Wii U seems to only offer what consumers already have, and it’s from here that the discontentment seems to stem.
Perhaps it’s because we’re a features-driven society that we want to clearly ‘see’ a new thing before we can begin to understand how it will benefit our lives. Marketing departments like product features, because they allow for tick boxes on packaging and comparison charts on websites. But what Nintendo presented Wii U to offer, a new experience, does not fit well here.
Does this all sound familiar? When iPad was announced, many detractors said it was just a big iPod. What they didn't appreciate was the new range of experiences that a large handheld screen would offer the user. iPad went on to become the fastest selling consumer electronic device (though Kinect is now the title holder), so it seems that we’re not well suited to judging the success of new products by tech specs alone. The lesson: don’t focus on the tech specs, focus on the experience the specs afford.
During Wii U’s reveal, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that the goal of the original Wii was to ‘expand the gaming population’, with the result, he claimed, that now, nearly five years after launch, the boundary which once divided gamers by gender, personality or age is erased. However, what still remains is the division of gamers by platform choice, with Wii attracting the more casual gamer.
His goal for a new Nintendo console is clear: to create a gaming platform which is equally satisfying for all players, both casual and core. Iwata said Nintendo will achieve this by going ‘wider and deeper’.
Before designing a new console, in particular a new controller, Nintendo would have considered all its options. Let’s look at some of the current trends in human-computer interaction in games that it would have examined:
Gesture input - the use of body movement to control a game (either via camera tech or other sensors)
Touch input - allowing input by means of a stylus or fingers
Body input - physiological sensors, such as heart rate or brain waves, attached to the player’s body which capture data for use as input to various game parameters
Remember that Nintendo’s aim is to design a controller which is accessible to a wide audience while still offering the necessary features to keep core gamers happy.
So which approach should Nintendo have explored further if it is to achieve its aim of making a controller for everyone? First, let’s rule out the body input method. Yes, it’s very exciting and will probably lead to a new wave in gaming, but it’s still much closer to research rather than a commercial product. We’ll return to this concept in a future column.
What about gestures then? Kinect has sold spectacularly well but I’m not sure it’s particularly accessible or deep. Wii is incredibly simple, using a mouse metaphor which almost everyone understands of having a single cursor, but controlling it with a Wiimote. Kinect, however, has no comparable metaphor to which new users can relate, and anyone looking at it in use could easily be confused as to how the game is being controlled. Are they controlling the game using their hands, fingers, body posture, speech? I’ve watched both casual and core players make all of these guesses in user tests.
And a quick look at the games on offer also shows that gesture-based games on all platforms do not lend themselves well to the styles of games that tend to satisfy core gamers.
Which leaves us with touch interfaces. Let’s consider our first requirement: are these accessible? Definitely. To make a controller accessible is to factor in at least two core components: a comparable metaphor that taps into users’ previous experiences, and intuitiveness. Touch devices offer both of these. There are over 150 million DSes and 200 million iOS devices out there, aiding experience, and iPads are now regularly used in schools and nurseries for children too young to either read or write, proving intuitiveness.
But although touch devices meet the accessible criteria, they do run into difficulty meeting the needs of core gamers.
To build upon this accessible starting point up to meeting the needs of the core gamer, Nintendo has magically fused the DNA of an Xbox 360 controller with an iPad. The hope here is that the dual sticks, triggers and shoulder buttons keep the core audience happy, while the large touch screen, which dominates the form factor of the controller, gives it an accessible appearance.
What Nintendo have created, then, is genuinely unique. Here we have a controller that anyone could pick up and use via the touch interface, but also offers depth in the form of motion control, or even more depth in the form of dual sticks and triggers. Perhaps you could think of these control modes as rookie, advanced and veteran.
The two controller requirements of accessible and powerful are not necessarily mutually exclusive either. In the same way that some addictive games are accessible at the beginning and then keep you playing with their depth, the Wii U controller seems to possess a similar design philosophy. Yes, it caters to casual and core separately, but it also has the potential to teach the casual player how to use more complex game controls over time.
Has Nintendo created a ‘gateway’ controller, a device that can potentially transmute the casual gamers into core gamers?
Nintendo made a brave move to announce that its new controller is fundamentally a fusion of other devices that you probably already own. But it is this familiarity that will make the device accessible, while its new combination of features might just be enough to excite core gamers.
Ironically, at a time when tablets and other tangible devices represent the cutting edge of gaming, Nintendo’s latest innovation is the intangible, the player experience.
Graham McAllister is director of game usability lab Vertical Slice. Read and follow his other columns on his topic page.