I play a lot of games on my DS and I don’t remember noticing the stylus very much. If you can ignore the mouse indicator, over look the HUD on the screen, and gloss over the fact that when you pause the world stops just for you, I think you can ignore your finger/stylus too.

I don’t like playing games on my droid phone or the iphone because of the feedback and touch response issues.

Shutting off all sight, sound, and touch from the real world has never been possible.

That line alone made this one of the best gaming-related pieces of writing I have read in a very long time. Thank you so much for writing this — and writing it clearly, and of a high-quality, and in a manner that very well represents concepts I feel I can relate to. Bravo.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I know you are busy ^_^. Incidentally, my undergrad was in both art and philosophy, so I am familiar with some of phenomenology. I was fortunate to have a professor who was taught by Albert Borgmann (a direct student of Heidegger’s), creating an interesting lineage.

I did incorporate Heidegger into my thesis in the end, but it’s been many years since then. My memory of his work, Borgmann, Ponty, Marcel, and others is now vague. What stuck with me the most perhaps is the Device Paradigm, which applies here in some ways I suppose. Every once in a while I still get a bit philosophical though, much to the chagrin of those around me ^^;

Michal

I’m heading over to your post right now. As my article implies a whole background philosophy (borrowed from Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, and other expressivist philosophers) I am very interested in this book. (I had not heard of it until now – thanks for the recommendation!).

Certainly the idea of “gestural” interfaces should be more natural for us, given that our everyday expressive activity is full of all kinds of gestures – but I suspect that what programmers/designers mean by “gesture” is very different from the kinds of gestures that we automatically and idiosyncratically while we speak.

Linked back!
- Chris

That’s very true re: the transferability (ugh, I already hate that word) of skills on the Wii. Many non-gamers can simply pick it up and “get it” in under 30 seconds. There isn’t a learning curve to it, and you can have “maximum grip” (borrowing from Hubert Dreyfus) on the controls in a matter of moments.

Completely agree with your comment about marrying old formulas to new controls – StarFox Command for the DS (in my opinion) is a perfect example of a game that undermines its playability by adding touch support. Sort of like trying to fly a Soviet MIG using an etch-a-sketch instead of a flightstick.

Thanks for the thoughts!
- Chris

I blogged recently about a book you ought to check out called Philosophy Through Video Games: http://infinitelag.blogspot.com/2010/07/literature-review-philosophy-through.html

In chapter 2, the authors discuss theories of perception and the self, all the way back to Descartes. They come to some pretty remarkable conclusions about the implications for game interfaces. By the end of the chapter, I’d come around to a much greater understanding of why motion controls actually do (or can, anyway) make more sense than a traditional controller. I won’t say I’ll be first in line for Kinect, but I’m certainly a lot more open to the possibilities for gestural-based control schemes. Would be interested to see what you think.

P.S. Linking your site now!

As I mentioned on Brainy Gamer, I rather like motion controls on the Wii. They do feel more natural, and the fact that games like Wii Sports/Resort, which implement the control scheme well, have been easy to pick up for retirees in nursing homes seems to me proof that it is more akin to our muscle memory than using a d-pad/button combo.

When it comes to touch control, I have a little less experience. While I still have a Tapwave Zodiac, which had some touch-based games, the interaction there was using a stylus. That I think is somewhat less obtrusive than sticking your whole finger into the screen (not something that I enjoy). Some games work well with this also, while some do not. Again, I believe that each control method has specific games that work especially well with it. The problem arises when developers try to marry traditional game formulas with these new control schemes (or do straight-up ports), which is where we get very mixed results.