Command and control -
June 12, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Er, did I say the GBA would be out today? Flub on my part, if so: as everybody should know by now, preorders were received yesterday, while most general sale stores like Walmart start selling tomorrow. So in a way, today was right on average... ok, lame excuse.
And FFT will be rereleased for cheap! Of course, I already have a copy, and doubtless all this rerelease will do is expose thousands to the game who will play it and say "I expected more from all the hype", but still, good news.
Onward.
| How the Invisible Hand relates to your hands |
| Chris:
Too big, small, wrong, ought to be defined as the point at which the construction of the interface between the player and the game stops the player from spending money on the games.
I've never liked the N64 controller. The damn thing is built funky. The whole thing is imbalanced and the buttons always seem to be where my fingers aren't. It's bad. I hate it. But it isn't so bad that I stopped playing on the console and buying new games for it.
I used to play my GameBoy as much as my consoles. Then I got a GameBoy Color Pocket Micro. The difference between those two systems was minor, but important: I stopped playing the console and stopped buying new games for it. The truth is, I really don't care. There's other games to be played. Nintendo should care, though, because they're getting less of my money.
Too small, too big, or too wrong happen when the interface becomes such an impediment that play is no longer worthwhile. Is Nintendo going to go out of business because I think their hand-held is too dinky? Not a chance. But if I find it too small to bother with (and I had a go on the GBA at Babbage's), odds are good that somebody else will too.
--DarkLao
|
One of the latter letters today questions how much bad ergonomics really effects gameplaying, but there's no question that a bad controller can be an impediment to gaming, and even a minor impediment can slow or stop people buying software for a system.
Of course, the GBA has a disadvantage when it comes to controllers, since a bad standard console controller can always be replaced with a 3rd party item, but there's not much that can be done to improve on a handheld unit.
| It's just you. It's always just you. |
| Do the controllers of old seem to grow with us? Let us all pick up our NES
controllers for a moment. Ah, feel that? That's an insanely tiny, blocky,
and annoying little controller ain't it? But did we notice that on the last
boss of Bubble Bobble? Did we bitch and moan about it when we were in the
midst of playing Mega Man 3? Probably not, and in fact I never did notice it
until recently. Then we move up to Genesis and SNES controllers. Gee, still
kinda small, but slightly larger hm? Rounded too....golly. Skip ahead a few
years to Saturn and Playstation. Now, this fits a teen just fine. However,
the Saturn hasn't seemed to change too much...let's forget about them for a
while. Then the ol' N64 comes out. Wow. That's pretty big. And half of it
is useless after the first generation of games. For a system directed
towards kiddies, this is a huge mother *%(#*' controller. However, it's not
too uncomfortable. Then Dreamcast comes out...eventually. And the
controller fits the hands like a glove, but it's a little tricky to hold it
in that comfortable way and still play the games right sometimes. Almost as
if they tried to purposely make it bigger to make up for the Saturn.
As you can see though, it's been a slow, uphill size growth. And though I
hate to say it, I believe that the PS controller is the best. Not because of
a system bias or anything either. Just because it seems made for teenager
hands. And because that's neither kiddy nor adult size, either can go half
way to cope. it's comfortable on the hands, and not too heavy. Everything
is in reach of fingers, and I've never heard anyone complain about their
hands hurting from having to hold it a funny way. On the other hands, I've
heard complaints from just about every other controller on the market at
least once or twice. Go figure.
GBA? It's not...uncomfortable, if you're not in need of the shoulder
buttons, or have to hold it at a funny angle to get enough light to see
Castlevania. I've been playing it for a few weeks now, and it's nothing you
can't get a used to. Better then playing long hours of Zelda DX on GBC, with
your fingers overlapping on the back. Now they've got a little breathing
room. Just my two cents.
Dah, school. Gotta run.
Redchoco
|
It's true, controllers have gotten bigger as my hands have gotten bigger, although they've pretty well stopped with the PSX. Still, the main problem I had with the PSX wasn't that the controller was too small, but that the directional button's missing center hurt my thumb over long gameplay periods.
Likewise, I may like the Dual Shock the most out of any controller because despite a size slightly smaller than I'd like, the ergonomics are good enough to make long play sessions relatively easy. Following that logic, the XBox controller, which is also pretty well designed, should do well, but there's been so much bad blood over its size that I think few will actually bother to try it out.
| Burning Chrome |
| What's the right size for a controller, and what can be done about different people needing different types of controllers?
A chip implanted into the skull ;)
Until that time comes around, I think we're all stuck with having to use the 'average persons' controller.
|
The sad part is, given the short shrift controller design generally gets, you're probably right.
| Prepare for hypocrisy, DA style! |
| Jaded oldschoolers wishing for their halcyon days yet
again, or newschool teenyboppers who are enamored with
flash-whiz-bang-pop?
You're both wrong. Prepare for hypocracy.
Firstly, 'Brian' admitted to his readers that the
first RPG he played was Secret of Mana. And then he
tries to compare games to their 8-bit predecessors.
For anyone that was there to see the progression the
games have taken, the comparison is simply laughable.
Of course he has room to complain about innovation
when the first 'R.P.G.' (*coughactioncough*) was the
first multiplayer game of its type. The first action
R.P.G. to involve an epic storyline. That was
innovation to those who endured, and enjoyed, the
8-bit days. Spoiled brat.
Second, The fact of the matter is (and sorry Chris),
the reason that R.P.G.s are the way they are, and have
basically remained unchanged at their core elements,
is because anything else ISN'T AN R.P.G. Cloud ducking
around corners to evade his enemies in a real-time 3D
environment is Metal Gear Cloud: The fantasy: part
seven: huge ass sword. You cannot screw with the basic
elements of a genre too much without it becoming a
seperate genre alltogether. Of course, experementation
does happen IE: Vagrant Story and the Bouncer; but
when you come to it, The Bouncer was a
brawler/beat-em-up, and any attempt to mimic Vagrant
Story's engine in another game would quickly be
displayed as just that- an attempt. Classification is
a limiting pain, aye?
Third, as CherryScorn so beautifuly illustrated in his
letter: If you don't like the way games are anymore,
then why play them? Honestly? Quit supporting
something you don't like and do something you do. It
all boils down to taste in the end, and I don't see
why anyone like 'Brian' should tell us otherwise. I,
too am a Gamer. Capital "G". I've watched the same
generations as Brian has. I am Old School...
And I liked Final Fantasy 8. Shh. Don't tell.
-Pisces, Who enjoy's Lynch's Dune's foreboding, dark
atmosphere; while also enjoying The Remake's
resemblance to the book. Old VS new. Booya.
|
I don't think it's impossible to innovate in the RPG genre without leaving it entirely, but you're right, it is hard. Personally, I don't care much, but many define an RPG as a game with a combat menu interface: take that away, and it's not an RPG anymore. The thing is, I did agree with Brian that the menu interface is getting very, very old, but the only way to make it interesting is for things to get so complex that you effectively get a tactical RPG... and as you say, that would put you outside the "pure RPG" boundaries yet again.
Everybody's saying "play what you like", so I'll say this: I liked FF8, I'm excited about what I've seen of FF10, and I think Matsuno's going to do some kickass stuff when his turn comes around as producer, so I'll continue to play FF, and continue to praise the excellence that I've seen in the games so far. Simple, neh?
Boring, neh?
| Push my buttons |
| Ah, controllers! The most important hardware component of a gaming
system is so often neglected or worse -- innovated upon -- that it's a
wonder that we can actually play games. The primary culprit? Lack of
buttons.
It amazes me that even after the failure of the 32/64-bit systems to
deliver a controller versitile enough for many games that this
generation of systems recycles the old designs. Play Metal Gear Solid:
Sons of Liberty -- or even the original MGS -- and tell me you couldn't
use a couple more buttons. Or try to play a Capcom 2D fighter on a
PSX/PS2 controller. Dozens of other games also suffer from the same
problems, which could be alleviated, if not eliminated by simply adding
two more face buttons to the PSX controller along with two more triggers
(preferably Dreamcast style triggers with some travel!).
As for size... I'll admit that no controller has been bulky enough for
me, and as I only have slightly above-average sized hands, I'm sure the
above sentiment is shared by many. The GBP/GBC were quite bad in this
regard, but accessories such as Nyko's Shock 'N' Rock helped add some
much needed size to the system. The GBA *is* playable (drool...
Castlevania: CotM absolutely rocks!), but the triggers are difficult to
hit unless you once again bulk up the system.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to resize console systems' controllers.
The Dreamcast's miniscule controller was terrible, I must say --
fortunately, MadCatz's well done DreamPad solved my problems there, at
least partially. Peripheral manufacturers simply need to create
controllers for larger hands. For the PlayStation 3 or whatnot, I hope
that console manufacturers actually spend some time working with hands
(perhaps still connected the the rest of the body) of various sizes to
design a controller that's ergonomic, yet functional. The GameCube
controller supposedly comes close, but it still seems rather small.
At the same time, controllers should all be designed to allow:
A) one-handed play with thumb on D-pad/stick and fingers on
triggers (useful for RPGs)
B) two-handed play (as most controllers are designed now)
C) finger-only play (like a mini-arcade setup)
I realize I'm asking for a lot, but I'm sure that it can be done. The
question really becomes, is the controller issue really salient to the
market-driven industry? Will the sheep choose a system that pushes 32.1
billion on screen polys to another that pushes 33.6 billion, even if the
32.1 billion poly system has a far superior controller?
Best,
--Imad "(e)magius" Hussain
|
I don't want to see more buttons on controllers, not unless some serious effort is made to differentiate between them. Frankly, the PSX has a few more buttons than I need: some games (MGS) take advantage of all of them in a thoughtful, coherent manner, but many games assign functionality all over the place, and it's hard to keep track of them sometimes. The 4 button sequence originating with the SNES isn't too hard to keep straight in my head, but anything more (such as the 6 button layout on the XBox controller) is likely impossible to deal with.
Your idea for a reconfigurable controller is interesting, although I'd like to see it applied to controller size before controller type: fold out extensions for larger hands sound doable, but I've never felt a burning need to play a game one handed, and only serious players of fighting games really demand arcade style sticks.
| Actually, it's not bad |
| Chris,
Well, of course there is an obvious answer to this question. What is the best size for a controller? In three words: the GameCube Controller.
--Espyonage, eagerly awaiting the day he gets to feel it (the controller, you perverts!)
|
Having tried the Cube controller out at E3, I can say that this is another example of good ergonomics overcoming size issues for big hands. The Gamecube controller's slightly bigger than the basic SNES controller, but nowhere near the size of the N64 controller. It does, however, make the concessions to intelligent button layout that you'd expect of Nintendo - while I did get confused once or twice between the primary and secondary buttons, by and large it was easy to tell them apart by touch, and the entire thing fit comfortably in my hands. I still wouldn't mind a larger version, but what they've got is good enough for now.
| I get to print stuff like this because it's my column, dammit! |
| Chris,
I finally have to write in after seeing you mention Rushmore yet again. Is this movie really that good? I'm sure I would enjoy Bill Murray just because he's a riot, but exactly what about this movie struck your fancy? If you've got time apart from the proper topic, a few words about it would be cool!
alpha_weltall
|
What the hell: Rushmore's a really good movie, but considering the amount of hype it tends to generate, I think most people will be somewhat disappointed the first time they see it. It's not that there aren't plenty of laugh out loud moments, but the jokes aren't quite as numerous as most comedies, and the plot tends towards the anemic side as well.
What the movie does have going for it is a lot of charm and intelligence. Some of the key scenes (mostly the plays) will stay with you for days afterwards, and you may even find yourself picking up the DVD just so you can replay them over and over. Rushmore's also very honest and smart about what teenagers are like; I once read a review which pointed out all the ways that the main character is unlike the characters in most mainstream teen movies, and how each of those characteristics makes him memorable, if not immensely personable.
In short, rent it already, especially if it's a choice between that and something like American Pie 2.
| Old school vs. new school is my life |
| Hey Mr. Jones,
I wanted to add my own two cents to the Old versus New school gaming
debate if I may, even if I am a day or two late. Maybe it's just me,
but I believe the debate in and of itself is inane, not just the
constantly drudged moot-points. When these type of debates rear their
ugly head, I can never help think that when people over-analyze gaming
to such an extent that they take a 100% pro-active preaching stance on
their beliefs while firing out essays and editorials at unclockable
rates, they're missing the entire point of gaming. This is the kind of
diatribe that I play games to take a break from. When it comes down to
it, I could personally classify games into two categories -- 1) Games
that make my brain go "Oooh, nifty!" and 2) Games that make my brain say
"Ugh, next please." Videogames, even if a form of electronic
entertainment media, follow one basic rule of life that you'll find is
true in almost any topic: There's never an absolute when trying to
decide a way to do or create something. A videogame can be good whether
it feels old school or new school, whether it's innovative or a classic
idea done well. The style of creating a videogame are almost
meaningless compared to the end-product. Was the game good for what it
was meant to be? That's what's always going to count in my eyes.
Of course, that's just a personal opinion.
The controller issue brings up a few interesting thoughts. As much as
you'd think it'd be a simple idea for companies to release
multiple-sized controllers, wouldn't you hate being the person who
decides what various sizes to offer, and what quantity to push of each
one? That'd be quite an odd scenario. Hand-size isn't just dictated by
age, so even knowing your demographic wouldn't give you a solid answer.
Furthermore, some people may prefer a bigger or smaller controller, and
even judging the basic consumer demand would be odd, because in
situations like these, people with a complaint to make are almost always
the first ones to voice their opinion, so more people may be content
that it seems. Of course, all of those points are pretty picky, but
it's still rather funny to think of corporate bigwigs trying to figure
out how to handle a situation as seemingly simple as different sized
hands.
So, the GBA should be officially out today. Sadly, I still have some
GBC ground I want to cover, and probably won't be grabbing any new
systems in the immediate future, so I'm not all too worried about it
yet. I have, however, played around on a demo unit, and to be honest I
thought the size was just about right. It could be slightly larger, but
I didn't think enough so to the point that it was unaccomodating. My
only real issue with the GBA is its lack of a backlit screen. Memories
of playing my Sega GameGear at night have long since spoiled me against
having to hold my GBC at the right angle to get a good picture. I, for
one, would've gladly put the extra cost into battery usage to have
stable colors. Ah well.
- Jeremy Steimel
|
I've gotten a lot of letters in the past few days decrying the old school vs. new school debate entirely, although I haven't printed any of them. It's not that there's not a grain of truth in what's said, but, to be blunt, such debates are the lifeblood of this column, and of nearly any forum based on discussing games. So on a personal note, I can't wash my hands of the affair simply because I can't ban such discussions and still have something to discuss.
And that even assumes the discussion's not worth it in the first place, which I disagree with. It's fine and wonderful to say everybody should just enjoy playing what they enjoy playing, leave the rest, and shut up about it, but there's also a lot to be said for listening to what other people have to say about games, and seeing how those viewpoints match up with your own. The problem comes when the same thing gets said over and over again, which is unfortunately the case with old school vs. new school, but is also the case for old school vs. new school vs. no school. I love modern games, and don't think they're somehow degenerate, but I also recognize that older games aren't necessarily unfun, and that graphics aren't everything. (I never claimed otherwise, tho.) All I'm hoping is that someday, someone will start from these basic principles of both sides and make something everybody can go nuts over - that'd make this whole debate worth while.
As for figuring out who gets to select controller sizes, I say turn it over to marketing: let 'em earn their salaries for once.
| Play games and be merry, for tomorrow you're on disability |
| Chris,
Sometimes you gotta grin and bear it. Doing a dragon punch motion with the dreamcast d-pad 200 times was murder on my un-calloused thumbs, but hell, I wanted to play Capcom vs. SNK. Sure, the GBA may be to small for my large American hands, but dammit, I want to play COTN, Tactics Ogre, and countless GBC games that I never got the chance to play, so I'm gonna get one and deal with it. I mean, no one wants arthritis at the age of thirty, but hey, them's the breaks.
P.S. I probably shouldn't be so "lay-down-and-take-it" on this issue (as it is a serious one), but I'm too excited to care.
katarac
|
This actually sums up my position pretty well, and I too feel like I should be doing more about this... but the GBA is so damn shiny, who am I to resist it? Can anyone?
Closing Comments:
Can anyone resist the GBA? Have those who have been playing imports the past few months developed carpal tunnel syndrome yet? And most importantly, as our recent feature reminded us, what about the games? Send in letters on the GBA tomorrow, and I'll print 'em... assuming I can tear myself away from CotM, that is.
-Chris Jones, laptop in one hand, (foam) GBA in another
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