Ted Pikul
eXistenZ (1999)
In 1999, David Cronenberg wrote and directed a mind-bending vision of gaming in the 21st century. Reality and hyper-reality merged into one as the characters in eXistenZ are "jacked in" to a game through bioports which interface with their spinal cords.
Plugging directly into the senses, the game provides the ultimate in virtual reality, with game sequences barely distinguishable from actual events.
And while games peripherals are still a long way from the kind of bioactive interface which would enable Cronenberg's vision to become reality, each new release hallows an increasingly immersive gaming experience.
The current generation of games devices have certainly embraced the experiential aspect of gaming, as the gamer demographic extends from preschoolers to thirty-somethings and beyond. The latest in games hardware melds with the entertainment environment, interacting with the television, and stereo to create a more holistic gaming experience.
"The Xbox was designed with entertainment convergence in mind," explains Alan Bowman, regional director of Xbox Australia. "The device plays a huge role in brining gaming in to mainstream entertainment. You can play your own music on CD during the game, and play DVD movies as well."
However, the push towards entertainment system integration hasn't taken away from the core need to provide a great gaming experience; rather, it has combined an ever-widening spiral of console flexibility and peripheral options with significant improvements in sound technology and visual quality.
And when it comes to games-focussed hardware and peripherals, the message is clear and the goal is universal: more realism, more feedback, and every higher interaction between player and game.
According to Andrew Carter, vice president of development at Melbourne-based games developer Infogrames, there have been three defining moments in the development of games hardware and peripherals.
"The first was the development of the archaic joysticks, and the Atari 2600 game console that came in the late seventies, because they enabled a much greater level of interaction with the movement of the game," Carter says. "Then Nintendo invented a thing called the Joypad, which is still the basis of what people were using on their PlayStation."
According to Carter, the Joypad was revolutionary for the time because it was the first peripheral games device which was easy to use and comfortable to hold, and essentially set the standard for games devices still in use today.
"The third step was the Nintendo 64 analogue controller," Carter says. "For the first time games could go beyond stop and start, because the controller actually interacted with the game in proportion to how much force was used."
However, Carter is sceptical as to whether gamers will see another quantum leap in the form factor of games peripherals.
"Maybe the form is almost perfect," Carter says. "Sony didn't change the controller on the PlayStation 2, and the GameCube controller isn't a million miles away from the Sony controller. The shape is good and people are used to it so I don't believe it will change all that much."
I dont get it, they mention the Logitech name for the wheel BUT the I-TOY (Camera) AND the Socom Navy Seals headset are also both Logitech products. Whats going on?