Tuesday, July 3, 2007

EA Sport's "Wii Family Play": A turning point for the industry

Again, I'm sorry for not posting yesterday (See previous article for further details). Also, sorry for the article being somewhat shorter than usual, but I figure I may as well make it short and sweet rather than letting myself ramble on. Things should be back up to par as of tomorrow.



On IGN today it was revealed that Electronics Arts Sports will be programming alternate control schemes into their upcoming titles, such as NBA Live 08 and Madden NFL 08. These control schemes are much simpler and more non-gamer friendly, but still allow a fairly complete gaming experience to be had. Instead of the traditional Nunchuk style, these "Wii Family Play" modes will use only the Wii remote's motion sensors and a few buttons. This way the whole family can get in on the fun!

In my opinion, this is a major turning point for the entire gaming industry. If more developers can integrate simpler control schemes into their games, the audience would increase exponentially. Of course, it would be near impossible to integrate this into some games, such as Metroid or Battalion Wars, but this is surely a start.

Perhaps the greatest thing about this is how many more games will be accessible to the less skilled gaming newcomers. Instead of being restricted to titles such as Wii Sports and Big Brain Academy (Not that they're bad, mind you), a whole new world of possibilities will soon be available to this new audience.

I applaud Electronic Arts for all the extra things they're doing for the Wii. As of now, no third-party has gone so out of their way to deliver a unique experience to the Wii in the form of a multi-platform title. Bravo, EA, bravo.

The Duck Has Spoken.

1 comment:

CMM1215 said...

This is definitely the most exciting announcement that I've read this week...and yes, the week is still quite early, but that's beside the point.

This really opens up a new set of possibilities with Wii. It's proof that both gamers and non-gamers can enjoy the same kinds of experiences, without either player's play-style hindering the experience.

I hope more developers take the hint and try to take existing genres and open them up to players who have never enjoyed them in the past.

I think this will be huge.