Motion controls will be a great step forward in videogame storytelling, says BioWare VP Greg Zeschuk.
There’s a section in Mass Effect 2 where you can pull the right trigger to shove a mercenary out of a very high window, and then make a quip as he plummets to the ground far, far below. But how much more immersive would it be if rather than pushing a button to defenestrate the unlucky hired gun, it was triggered by a shove from the player?
Zeschuk believes that it’s at moments like this that motion controls can really enhance hardcore games, and says that developers examining what can be done with them is inevitable. “The new motion controls are very interesting,” he said. “Where it gets really interesting is when developers like [BioWare] can tear it all down and ask ‘what can we actually do in a game like Mass Effect?’ … The reality is it’s going to have a really positive impact.”
Turning the player into an “actor” in a scene, rather than “voyeur” simply watching it, could be very powerful, says Zeschuk, and that being able to control a character in a much more natural way could be a great boon to storytelling. But developers will have to careful about the gestures they include in a game, he says, as something as simple as looking away from the screen can shatter the immersion.
Zeschuk also acknowledges that there will always be a certain degree of resistance from hardcore gamers when it comes to motion controls: “There’s that impediment of a controller but hardcore gamers are never going to give that up,” he said. “It might be nice to see a hybrid of a controller used with additional gesture on the side for immersive elements.”
Source: Games Industry
