Hochiminh’s Rant Day 14

According to Matt’s blog on IGN, http://blogs.ign.com/matt-ign, he talks about the control scheme behind the two launch first-person shooter titles, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Red Steel.  I will elaborate and agree with his statement.

I think that they DO need to change this scheme.  I think it needs to be like Gamecube first-person shooters, in which when you turn the analog stick, you also turn the screen (shown below).

And this is exactly how it should work with the Wiimote.  When you move the pointer throughout the screen, the screen should move with it so that the camera is centered.  When Matt played Metroid Prime, for instance, he proclaimed that when he utilized the pointer, the camera wouldn’t move as long as it was in the screen’s box (shown below).

This is confusing and eliminates the PC mouse control that games nowadays are completely fimiliar with.  But, as Matt said, if the pointer is “outside” the box, then the screen would move.  It probably will move pretty fast too, which isn’t good either.  The camera, therefore, would be disoriented and clunky, plus it would take a precious second to adjust and even get a shot off at an enemy behind you without it being inaccurate.  Of course, I haven’t played a Wii game, so maybe it adjusts right away, but we really don’t know that yet.  He further somes it up by pronouncing that “other developers hopefully will catch on to my idea and follow suit”.  I hope this does become the control scheme, and NOT the ones in Metroid Prime 3 and Red Steel.  But I’m sure with about 15 minutes of playing time, I could probably get used to it.  Nevertheless, if a different FPS comes along with a PC control scheme for the Wii, then I may be thoroughly confused that I wouldn’t be able to adjust from Metroid Prime 3.

Your thoughts and opinions.  Please elaborate…



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  • http://theboxes.org/ BK

    I’m not sure what to think about this either. I kinda think it’s a good idea, although confusing, I’m sure. It seems a bit more realistic to be able to look around, and then actually aim the gun. I for one am used to the keyboard mouse combination for FPS. I have NEVER been able to get used to console FPS. The controls just don’t work for me. I’m not sure, maybe they need a change like this to be more “intuitive” and I think that’s what Nintendo is going for with the Wii in the first place.

  • http://theboxes.org BK

    I’m not sure what to think about this either. I kinda think it’s a good idea, although confusing, I’m sure. It seems a bit more realistic to be able to look around, and then actually aim the gun. I for one am used to the keyboard mouse combination for FPS. I have NEVER been able to get used to console FPS. The controls just don’t work for me. I’m not sure, maybe they need a change like this to be more “intuitive” and I think that’s what Nintendo is going for with the Wii in the first place.

  • Corngood

    The way the aiming works in these games is similar to the R-trigger aiming in 007 for N64. The majority of the controller travel is used to position a cursor on the screen, and the outside edges are used to turn the view. You could also compare it to how many mouse controlled strategy games work (overhead view), by scrolling when the cursor is at the screen edge.

    This system didn’t work well for general movement on an analogue stick (007), which is why it was the alternate aiming mode. It’ll certainly be better on the Wii controller, but it’s clearly not what people were imagining.

    Some of you think you know how it could be done better, but I fail to see how.

    One method would be to treat the cursor how the right stick is treated in Halo: the more it is moved away from the center of the screen, the faster the view moves in that direction, and the crosshairs stay in the center of the screen (or skew slightly). With this method, you have none of the absolute positioning that makes the mouse so accurate, and it’s just an airbourne analogue stick.

    Another method would be to use absolute orientation of the controller, similar to how a mouse is used, and with the crosshairs centered as well. The problem with this is re-centering the controller. How do you expect to turn 180 degrees, point the controller at yourself? So you up the sensitivity, and a flick can turn you 180; now what happens when you turn right more than you turn left, and eventually you are no longer pointing at the screen? With a mouse you can just pick up and recenter.

    The only solution I can think of is to have a button which equates to lifting the mouse, by disabling view rotation, so that you can hold it down and point back at the screen. Because the pointing device only works when the controller has line-of sight to the sensor bar, so you really don’t have much room to manouver, so you’ll need to re-center often. It’s a possibility, but it seems like it would be much more awkward and far less intuitive than the system they have now. Perhaps they will try it as an option, because it would surely be more accurate for aiming.

  • Corngood

    The way the aiming works in these games is similar to the R-trigger aiming in 007 for N64. The majority of the controller travel is used to position a cursor on the screen, and the outside edges are used to turn the view. You could also compare it to how many mouse controlled strategy games work (overhead view), by scrolling when the cursor is at the screen edge.

    This system didn’t work well for general movement on an analogue stick (007), which is why it was the alternate aiming mode. It’ll certainly be better on the Wii controller, but it’s clearly not what people were imagining.

    Some of you think you know how it could be done better, but I fail to see how.

    One method would be to treat the cursor how the right stick is treated in Halo: the more it is moved away from the center of the screen, the faster the view moves in that direction, and the crosshairs stay in the center of the screen (or skew slightly). With this method, you have none of the absolute positioning that makes the mouse so accurate, and it’s just an airbourne analogue stick.

    Another method would be to use absolute orientation of the controller, similar to how a mouse is used, and with the crosshairs centered as well. The problem with this is re-centering the controller. How do you expect to turn 180 degrees, point the controller at yourself? So you up the sensitivity, and a flick can turn you 180; now what happens when you turn right more than you turn left, and eventually you are no longer pointing at the screen? With a mouse you can just pick up and recenter.

    The only solution I can think of is to have a button which equates to lifting the mouse, by disabling view rotation, so that you can hold it down and point back at the screen. Because the pointing device only works when the controller has line-of sight to the sensor bar, so you really don’t have much room to manouver, so you’ll need to re-center often. It’s a possibility, but it seems like it would be much more awkward and far less intuitive than the system they have now. Perhaps they will try it as an option, because it would surely be more accurate for aiming.

  • Hochiminh

    Good points. I didn’t think of Goldeneye’s alternate control by holding the R Button. The conrollers may not be as hard as I thought.

  • Hochiminh

    Good points. I didn’t think of Goldeneye’s alternate control by holding the R Button. The conrollers may not be as hard as I thought.

  • http://www.4colorrebellion.com/ Nick

    Just so you know, I spoke with a developer on Prime 3 at E3 and he confirmed that there are two control schemes. The first one you speak of is the “easy” scheme for people who haven’t played a lot of games. They call the second scheme “expert” and feel that while it’s the best, it might be too hard for newbies. According to the guy I spoke with they are still tweaking the controls but will probably include both options.

  • http://www.4colorrebellion.com Nick

    Just so you know, I spoke with a developer on Prime 3 at E3 and he confirmed that there are two control schemes. The first one you speak of is the “easy” scheme for people who haven’t played a lot of games. They call the second scheme “expert” and feel that while it’s the best, it might be too hard for newbies. According to the guy I spoke with they are still tweaking the controls but will probably include both options.

  • Hochiminh

    Seriously. That would ROCK!

  • Hochiminh

    Seriously. That would ROCK!