The Wii has innovated the way we control games with it's unique Remote, but Nintendo's next console may not have a controller at all.
That's the prediction of major microchip manufacturer, Intel, who thinks that something more similar to Sony's Eye Toy could be the future of videogame control.
Speaking of the next generation of games consoles, the company's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, said: "We imagine some future generation of [Nintendo's] Wii won't have hand controllers," reports Digital Spy.
"You just set up the cameras around the room and wave your hand like you're playing tennis," he added, presumably imagining a Wii Sports Tennis-style game.
These come amid discussions regarding the microchips that will power the next generation of consoles. Intel, who is keen to provide those chips (as oppose to IBM who makes the brains of current consoles) says it has a chip that can process 1 trillion calculations per second. (PS3's Cell chip does 256 million calculations per second).
That's a big number with lots of 0s so it must be good.
what!!! don't be redicoulous. what on earth would you have to do to press a shoulder button for instance. twitch your nose! and the right analogue stick would be my k**b! oh no, hang on a second, that would get in the way of the tv screen
what!!! don't be redicoulous. what on earth would you have to do to press a shoulder button for instance. twitch your nose! and the right analogue stick would be my k**b! oh no, hang on a second, that would get in the way of the tv screen
Sod that! There's no chance I'd be able to play Mario platformers for any more than 10 minutes. All that jumping around, yelling 'WAHOO' will be exhausting - and the butt-stomping...!
They've just gone and given Sony and Microsoft some ideas.
As stated above, there have been great advances into brain control for interacting with computers, so it's not unbelievable, but still a way off surely.
The eyetoy has proved that camera gaming is pretty basic and prone to tracking problems. Cameras just can't differentiate between one hand and the other or if a hand crosses your face etc.
Awful idea. Imagine the effort that would go into setting it up. And by casting the player as the main character they would get rid of the current main characters, which are after all half of any game's appeal.
I'm just glad that Nintendo think up the consoles and not Intel.
I just wish people would stop putting the control interface above everything else. Most games that use motion sensing (or tilt sensing) don't really need it, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the DS games I've played would've been better without the stylus control shoe-horned in there.
And is the speculation of some idiot at Intel *insert irritating jingle just because I mentioned Intel* really anything more than just speculation? How is this news?!
I think this is an awful idea. And I'm usually positive about everything.
That, or Futurama style headset things that wire up to your brain so you're actually in the game.
You'd be surprised as to how far along the research into brian-computer interfaces is...
Wouldn't that end in some sort of i-robot scenario where the computers kill everyone and take over? Or maybe some sort of Matrix thing where people begin to think the 'game' is real life and stay in it? Or have I been watching too many movies?
Agreed - we've already seen how the Wii controller and it's lack of buttons and other 'conventional controls' have limited it - it's great for games that are designed for it from the ground up, but multi format games range from 'functional' to full on awful.
Removing the controller completely is a crazy move. Just how would they replicate 12 button controllers with simply an Eye Toy type camera? Not gonna happen. Leave it to Intel to design it, I say.
Sod that! There's no chance I'd be able to play Mario platformers for any more than 10 minutes. All that jumping around, yelling 'WAHOO' will be exhausting - and the butt-stomping...!
You can just imagine the lawsuit Nintendo would get, when little Timmy broke his cocyx doing a butt-stomp.
It might work for certain games, but I doubt they'll abandon a tangible controller altogether simply because it would HARM immersion in certain games, such as anything with guns.
what!!! don't be redicoulous. what on earth would you have to do to press a shoulder button for instance. twitch your nose! and the right analogue stick would be my k**b! oh no, hang on a second, that would get in the way of the tv screen
Wouldn't it be ironic if Nintendo, credited with revitalizing the videogame industry following the infamous crash in the 80's, were to bring it down again if s**t like this comes to fruition?
But anyway, Someone did that Helmet thing before the Wii was officialy announced, and that looked quite cool. Not sure if anyone else remembers it? It had the person's view change into a Metroid Prime-style game & there was the thing with the Mario 64 castle etc.
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and the right analogue stick would be my k**b! oh no, hang on a second, that would get in the way of the tv screen 
. I suspect an upgraded Wii-mote and some other stuff...
Sod that! There's no chance I'd be able to play Mario platformers for any more than 10 minutes. All that jumping around, yelling 'WAHOO' will be exhausting - and the butt-stomping...!
