Valve sees potential in the future of motion controllers, but at least one of the studio's writers doesn't sound so optimistic about developers' abilities to make use of new interface technology. Project Natal and the PS3 motion controller Sony will show off at GDC mean that such control schemes won't be confined to the Wii anymore as of the 2010 holiday season. That's going to put pressure on studios to do better than recycled carnival games on their new titles, though.
"Hopefully we've gotten past the point of mini-games," Valve writer Chet Faliszek told CVG. "I'm sick of that [makes arm movement]. That's not a game for me anymore. Let's get some real interaction going."
Promising not to include "the arm movement of sawing off a zombie's head in some tiresome mini-game" in any future "Left 4 Dead" releases, he called on game-makers to do better if they're going to step into motion gaming at all.
"We have these technologies now that let us interact in different, really exciting ways. It's developers' jobs to do something with it," Faliszek said. "Don't just make sh*tty games I wouldn't want to play if I had to use a joystick."
As for what real motion innovations might be coming up down the road from Valve, he offered a simple "We'll see" response, but I support his notion that it's better to leave motion alone if the alternative requires a deviation from a core game experience's focus without accomplishing much more than the appearance of an arbitrary mini-game. This will be bad news, however, if you hoped to see a "Left 4 Dead Skee-Ball & Darts Spectacular" anytime soon.
Do you agree with Faliszek? Would you like to see motion controls in future "L4D" games? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.