Usually we dont talk about other sites reviews, but we have to talk about the current situation going on with gamers and their bias towards Wii controls. You may have seen the new review for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex for Wii from Game Informer. You may have read the review, and like us, may have had your jaw dropped by it and the state of gaming in general.
First let congratulate Game Informer for letting someone who doesnt like fps controls on Wii review a fps on Wii. Now this may be extreme, but would you let an employee from PETA review hunting rifles? The obvious answer would be no, because of their bias towards the material. This reviewer compromises his whole review when he states that using the Wii Remote as a pointer for first-person shooters sucks. An obvious bias towards the Wii remotes pointer controls makes for an also obvious low score, wouldnt you think?
He continues, controlling my character still felt like a struggle a shame when the original MW controlled so smoothly.[1]
This reminds us of another Game Informer review where the score was compromised due to the fact that the reviewer didnt like the Wii controls to begin with, Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Aiming and panning your view with the remote is inferior in every way to the traditional controls scheme from the GameCube title.[2]
The above two examples from the same publication is further proof that the hardcore are afraid of the Wiis impact on gaming. To honestly base a review off of your preference of inferior controls is shocking to say the least. When the core gamer would rather have clunky, unresponsive controls rather than a pointer based system tells us things are changing. The same reaction was given toward the D-Pad when it was released. Gamers couldnt believe that anything other than a joystick could work for video gaming. The statements made in these reviews are dripping with ignorance. Not only are pointer controls more accurate, but also more intuitive. Their defense will be that eveything is opinionated and if it aint broke, dont fix it.
These are the same gamers who are asking Sony for a dual analog set-up on the PSP Go instead of a touch screen which seems to be working for both the DS and iPhone. This complete disregard for interface evolution is eye opening though as new comers to gaming with the DS and Wii will never have this point of view.
Non-gamers will always think analog controls are unintuitive, and they should. The more interesting part to the story is how hard it is right now for core gamers on the HD twins to change their control scheme after 10 years. Its simple, the core are mad that their dual analog controls are becoming obsolete, and that the new solution is pointer based. They better get used to it though as Sony and Microsoft are joining in on motion controls and pointer based gaming.
Is it not interesting that 4 of the 6 major paragraphs written in that Call of Duty review complains about the inferior graphics while they would rather play with inferior controls?
The motion/pointer control train is leaving the station, regardless of who wants them or not will you be on it when it leaves for the future, or will you be stuck here in the past with Game Informer?