9. Motion Controls
When Nintendo announced that their next console, the Nintendo Wii, would implement motion controls, no one could have predicted the ripple effect it had in the industry, With the Wiis success, Microsoft and Sony had to jump on the band wagon. Sony announced the Playstation Move, a direct rip off of the Wii, while Microsoft at least tried to be a little different with the Kinect. All three companies marketed their motion controls as the next step in video games that would revolutionize the industry and the way we play games. What we got, however, was anything but revolutionary. Instead of changing the way we play games, motion controls have mostly been used for mini-games that exist as ten minute distractions. Neither the PS Move nor the Kinect have offered gamers anything of substance, and any attempts to do so have failed spectacularly, showing how misguided the attempt to implement motion controls really is. The fact is that motion controls dont offer the precision and tangibility of a controller, and they are only good at getting your grandmother to play a video game, hence the continued emphasis on mini-games. In the years since their introduction, the PS Move has pretty much been forgotten, and the Kinect is only good at navigating the menu, living examples of their failure at appealing to anyone beyond the casual. Only Nintendo and the Wii have demonstrated the potential of motion controls, and even their attempts have been mixed. Now all that being said, motion controls in themselves are not a blight on the gaming industry, and I admit there is potential. However, it is the way the companies keep insisting upon its use and forcing it into games that dont need it that is of great annoyance. Motion controls, despite potential, have so far only been a nuisance in modern gaming.