Interface: The two-sided sword

Yeah, yeah, I know. Interfaces have changed a lot. I'm guilty of having the motto 'I work at my computer, I'll play away from it'. But interfaces have changes since ALT=Jump and the space bar fired rockets.

The introduction of the dual screens on the Nintendo DS was a shock to, well, all the systems. How do you concentrate on two screens? (For those of you who play World of Warcraft, look the other way.)

It seemed that in all seriousness, this wasn't an issue. Why? Because Nintendo are intelligent people, of course! The Brain Training was the single most brilliant idea they had ever had (apart from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). Here was a portable, slim console that took little time to charge and could actually help your memory! Suddenly, Nintendo had a new niche market: elderly people. There were any number of uses for this neat little gadget which had been invented to boost flagging sales (since the abysmal launch of Gamecube).

Being an awesome company didn't stop there, either. Nintendo then began releasing awesome games that weren't brain-trainers onto this new system. But the best part was this: the dual screen didn't hamper the gameplay. It actually helped. The touch-screen was genius for games like Nintendogs and the movie tie-ins for Harry Potter (which are still an abysmal games all-round, save for the early Gameboy Colour ones). Even the later Final Fantasy releases were oohed and aahhhed over. Sprites representing formerly well-animated models? Okay, that's cool. At least we have better control over them now.

The chat option included on the DS (yes, it's on there. Finish the blog and then go rush off to check it out) was a stroke of brilliance, although from personal experience, having it in a lecture is guaranteed to lower levels of concentration. However, this made console-to-console communication more than just a game issue.

From there, Nintendo gave their adoring public the Wii. Oh joy! A motion-sensor! Finally, what Sony started with the Eyetoy now had mainstream appeal. Although there were still bugs to be worked out (i.e the jerky swordfighting in the movie-tie for Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess), the concept was there and it was a good one. Wii Sports made excellent use of it and recently (see the article below) Nintendo blessed us once again with the nifty Wii-Fit.

While all this has been going on, the Playstation 3 is still battling for it's share of the market. Why? Well, how exactly is a PS3 different to a PS2? Wireless controllers and better graphics. Big deal. I like my old console, thank you. It's served me well and IS backwards compatible, not like the rubbish Sony is churning out now. As for the XBOX360, well. Halo. Enough said.

Something to think about; if Sony changes elements of it's interface for the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 later this year, what could we expect? A keyblade of our very own? Perhaps a magic wand or a shield? For the games that I or anyone else have proposed... what new pieces of hardware could we create to change the user interface?

Let's make gaming as interesting as it can be.