interaction design

since their inception games consoles have become more advanced in every way imaginable, from graphics and sound to controllers and data formats. The more evolved the systems the more evolved the way we interact with them becomes as in certain aspects games and consoles are increasingly complex in design and how we control them. luckily for me i grew up with this evolution so its second nature however to someone like my parents it seems mindblowingly complicated however they can just about manage a wii .

evolution of game controllers

early games had a very limited amount of controls compared to today's standards as usually it would be a joystick this then moved onto more of a recognisable controller but still with only a few buttons and d pad. many controllers later you end up with the ps1 with dual analog sticks although there was an incarnation that didn't feature any.

 

the way we interact with games has changed a lot since the release of the ps2 (2000) onwards.as far as I'm aware the use of motion control on a console started with the eye toy on the ps2 then after that was the wii in which the main contoller was a wireless motion control device which works nicely for most games e.g sports or sword games. the playstation 3's controller also has six axis motion control while xbox developed their kinect, not forgetting the playstaion move controller. its fair to say motion controllers have become the in thing with consoles and except for the wii im not a fan of Sony or Microsoft's developments and find that they are trying to appeal to the casual gaming markets with them which is fair enough as its a growing one.

wii controller

 

with the rise of music and rhythm based games there are a range of peripherals available to use from guitars, microphones, drums and even DJ decks. the guitar hero franchise started on the ps2 and Xbox and went on to next generation consoles also with the rock band franchise which is essentially the same jumping on the band wagon. it was around guitars hero 2's release that using a plastic guitar to play a game became increasingly popular this was obviously why they began to increase the product range to the whole band. in current times however these games have become a bit less popular as the companies can't really do much else to the formula to make sales as new songs are literally there only point of interest.

instrument controllers

with the possibility of the ps4 and xbox 720/durango being released this years it will interesting to see what new fangled add-ons will be available for them. there are rumours that

"Microsoft recently filed a patent relating to projecting augmented reality 3D images onto the walls of the room you're gaming in, in an effort to more fully immerse you in the experience. "

schematic for microsofts augemented reality glasses

 

all this new technology means more work for games developers to be able to utilise these new features in their games and will definitey have an effect on how games are created.

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/xbox-720-release-date-news-and-rumours-937167

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/nov/27/microsoft-augmented-reality-glass-google-apple