Game Room
With the Wii, Xbox, Playstation, and all the connections that go with them, arcades are hardly as popular as they used to be. Why leave the house to play games that aren’t as well made as the ones you play on the sofa? What need is there to leave the house to see people when you can talk to them from home on a headset?
Well, perhaps there still is something special about the arcade experience but Xbox is hoping to close whatever gap that remains with its Game Room. Opening this spring the Game Room will offer classic arcade games (for a price) that will then always be accessible on your game console as well as on your PC (if you have one). With the Xbox 360 you’ll be able to go up against friends live. But lets be honest, arcade games are much more fun with the big buttons and old school joystick than with a hand controller.
Real Motion
Forget the Wii mote, now you’re really going to have to move to play.
At this June’s E3 conference Microsoft revealed its newest Xbox accessory, the “Natal” Motion Controller. The controller is a box of sorts that is meant to sit below the TV screen. It supposedly has incredibly detailed body tracking for game play (and can track more than one player at a time). Demo games included an art game and a skateboarding game you control all by yourself.
Word is we won’t see the “Natal” on the market until at least next year, but hey, it gives them time to work any remaining bugs out of the system.
Fighting it Out Old School
Video games have come a long way, but there’s something about those old fashioned arcade joystick controllers that can’t be duplicated by a mere Wiimote or Xbox controller.
Thus, there is Street Fighter IV Fightstick. For those unaware of what Street Fighter is, it’s a video game, and it’s exactly the sort of game it sounds like. It’s a good old fashioned one on one fist fight and it’s just as good, if not more fun, than most games out there today.
Street Fighter is old school and classic and thus the Fighstick controller is the perfect addition to any game and console. It’s a controller specifically built for the Street Fighter game with old school joystick and traditional buttons, and it looks totally sweet!
Also coming out this week is the Dominator Joystick for playstation three. Again, a sweet old school joystick set up for the game of your choice (plus blue LED’s for moos lighting). Both are a little expensive, but what price can you put on nostalgia?
The Cost of Telekinesis
So, video games. It’s one thing to be able to swing a Wii remote and pretend to play tennis, but it’s a completely different game when it comes to games with magical types of movement.
Emotiv Systems, a San Francisco based company, has developed just that next step for a completely different game. There gaming revolution of sorts is a new headset that uses electrical activity from the brain, as well as muscle reactions, to control on screen action with a thought rather than a button. It’s the kind of new gaming gadget that could get people really excited.
What kid didn’t want telekinetic powers? Just one run in with X-men and you’re totally hooked! Conceptually, this headset is totally awesome! Supposedly, this awesomeness should be available around Christmas.
The problem is really design in general. Sure, there’s a market for thought controlled gaming, but how big will that market be? I know quite a few people with some version of the Xbox Head Set communicator for interactive player to player conversations during a game of Halo , but the Emotiv headset is much more involved to say the least. The Emotiv headset is definitely a fashion statement in and of itself, what kind of statement is the real question.
I’m more than willing to try the headset out once it’s released, but I’m also much more willing to play super powered digital telekinetic in the safety of my own home than I am in the middle of a college dormitory lounge.
