How to Properly Implement Motion Controls

The Nintendo 3DS release date is rocketing towards us, and fans of handheld gaming are being swept up in a maelstrom of excitement. The hype, however, is also tinged with a thread of concern. The 3DS has a whack of new features, including a glasses-free 3D display, an gyroscope, and an accelerometer. All three can potentially make for a personal gaming experience like no other. But what if developers feel obligated to implement one (or all) of these shiny new toys into their games instead of integrating them naturally at points when the gameplay will truly benefit?

For instance, later this year, Namco will be releasing Pac-Man Tilt and Galaga 3D Impact for the 3DS. Galaga will presumably make use of the 3DS’s screen, and Pac-Man Tilt will use the system’s built-in gyroscope to let players guide the Pacster through a neon-colored world. Kotaku’s Michael McWhertor wonders if both games are the beginning of the 3DS’s “growing pains.”

“[Pac-Man Tilt and Galaga 3D Impact] may represent inventive uses of the Nintendo 3DS hardware,” McWhertor writes, “but like one of the first Pac-Man efforts for the Nintendo DS, the quirky, draw your own Pac-Man game Pac-Pix, may also be indicative of the early growing pains of development for a new system.”

“Not to say that 2005′s Pac-Pix was a bad game or the type of unusual effort we don’t want to see on the Nintendo 3DS,” he continues. “But I may be saying that trying to retain a stereoscopic 3D focus on the Nintendo 3DS’s top screen while swinging the handheld wildly may represent a disconnect between capitalizing on the unique capabilities of the 3DS and delivering something we’d want to play in public, on a plane or on a subway car.”

When the Nintendo DS first hit the market, it introduced gamers to touch-screen controls–whether said gamers wanted to make its acquaintance or not. So there existed games like Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, which looked beautiful and played brilliantly, but would freeze the fun and force the player to fumble for the stylus and scribble symbols on the touch screen to “seal away” a defeated boss. With the Nintendo 3DS’s stack of new hardware features crying out “Try us, try us!!” it’s not hard to determine why McWhertor is a little paranoid about what developers have in store for games that would otherwise get by just fine with classic controls.

On the other hand, is there any indication that Pac-Man Tilt or Galaga 3D Impact will make awkward, forced use of the Nintendo 3DS’s features? We don’t know very much about either game just yet, though the illustrations in the original Famitsu article indicate that “big, sweeping motions” (to quote McWhertor) will be required to control Galaga. Indeed, the figure in the image accompanying the story appears to be swinging his 3DS with gusto. But it’s hard to believe such energetic movements will be necessary to play Galaga. After all, a “How-To” illustration must demonstrate how to. There’s also no indication that the Galaga will lack traditional or even stylus-driven controls for anyone who’d rather play the old fashioned way.

What little we know about Pac-Man Tilt indicates that the game is built up around the gyroscope, which is far preferable to having gyroscope-based controls stuffed into the title as an afterthought. True, Pac-Pix wasn’t an A+ title, but its likely Namco has learned a few things about implementing new technology into a game since Pac-Pix was developed. Pac-Man Tilt might wind up an early example of how to make full use of the 3DS’s technology, much the way Kirby’s Canvas Curse and Nintendogs illustrated how to properly weave a game around stylus controls.

Our enjoyment of the Nintendo 3DS’s features will hinge on developers’ ability to work with those features, not in spite of them. Above all else, developers shouldn’t feel forced to give us tilt controls where the d-pad or circle pad will suffice. This applies to the Kinect, Move-enabled games, and the Wii, as well as the Nintendo 3DS. Even though offering control options might put a damper on some cool new gameplay feature that utilizes tilt controls, it’s far better than seeding resentment by forcing a buying audience into playing by one set of rigid, non-negotiable rules.

About Nadia Oxford
Nadia is a freelance writer living in Toronto. She played her first game at four, decided games were awesome, and has maintained her position since. She writes for 1UP.com, Slide to Play, GamePro and other publications, and is About.com’s Guide to the Nintendo DS.

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