Drums, hand signals and cell phones are just a few of the ways that gamers will play video games as the industry tries to wean people away from mashing buttons on a control pad.
At the opening of the video game industry's main exposition, gamers at Nintendo's booth were dancing in step to its upcoming "Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix" and thumping on the bongos to play "Donkey Konga 2" on its GameCube console.
Since the advent of Atari's "Pong" over three decades ago, the gaming industry has grown into a medium that has made an icon out of the intensely focused teenager sitting on a couch, in front of a television, his thumbs a blur as he whacks buttons on a controller.
But that is changing — not necessarily because mashing on a controller is bad for you, but because game makers realise there can be a more entertaining variety of ways for players to interact with a game.
"I think we will see a lot more games that people can interact with in much more personal ways, in much more direct ways than with a controller and a set of wires coming out of it," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the industry trade group behind the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles this week.
{{/usCountry}}"I think we will see a lot more games that people can interact with in much more personal ways, in much more direct ways than with a controller and a set of wires coming out of it," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the industry trade group behind the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles this week.
{{/usCountry}}Game fans are already familiar with beyond-button arcade games. They dance to Konami Corp's "Dance Dance Revolution" and strum an electronic guitar to play "GuitarFreaks," for instance.
Arcade games also simulate flying and race on simulated snowboards, cars and bicycles. Game companies want to bring that excitement and action to the living room.
Dancing And Drumming
At E3, designers were promoting their newest gadgets in full force, hoping to entice users to spend more than what they would ordinarily pay for a gaming console and library.