Time will tell if the current wave of motion controlled game systems are the way forward or if it is just the gimmick of this generation. What is certain is that motion controls are not as exact as their joypad brethren. For some games this isn’t that big of an issue. Games that were designed with these controls in mind would obviously work fine. However, there are certain genres where these motion controls come up short across the board.

First person shooters are the most obviously affected. Sony and Nintendo aren’t as bad due to the fact that they at least have a controller in your hand to facilitate targeting. The Kinect does not have the luxury of a controller, as they opted to go fully for body recognition. While the technology is very impressive, it does not have the precise control that many games require to play competently.

We are in moment in time where we are losing our ability to precisely control what is happening in the game. They simplify games to compensate, but the experience suffers since the game play is now easier. Games are designed around the controller, and I think we are at a point where that is to the detriment to the games.