Fads, phases and funky new peripherals
While some versions of the two-handed, thumb and finger controller have carved an important niche for themselves in the games peripheral market, there are other notable peripherals on the market which are showing promise.
No discussion of games peripherals is complete without referring to the role played by the steering wheel. While other game-specific peripherals come and go, the popularity and diversity of driving games has ensured its enduring success. In its latest incarnation, the force feedback steering wheel created by companies like Logitech has sparked a revival of interest in racing games.
"Hardware development is all about adding to the experience," says James McKinlay, Australian public relations and promotions manager for games publisher Electronic Arts. "With these wheels you can actually feel the feedback, you can feel the vehicle hugging the corner like you would a normal car. Add to that surround sound from the stereo system, and you can feel your heart pounding as you feel it all around you."
However, McKinlay points out that further development of peripherals has to be consumer-driven, easy to use, and price-point-conscious.
"The VR helmets provided a great game experience, but they were never at the price point where people could buy into them," McKinlay says.
Infogrames' Carter says the key driver of a successful peripheral is the number of games to which the device can be made applicable.
"As soon as you step away from controllers that work on lots and lots of games, and beginning to get more niche you have problems keeping up a market," Carter says, pointing to a Maraca set which came with a game by the name of Samba del Amigo, and boxing gloves with built-in motion sensors. "These things work in arcade games, but they don't make good consumer products when they add up to AU$200 to the price of a game."
However, some niche peripherals have proved to be creeper products, starting slowly but finding markets improved when the games associated with them found an audience.
According to Patrick Lagana, product manager for hardware and peripherals at Sony computer entertainment Australia, the Dance Mat originally brought out for Konami's Dance Dance Revolution, didn't take off in Australia until a more culturally appropriate game hit the market.
"It began to take off when we brought out a game featuring Britney Spears," Lagana says. "Prior to this, the games were really aimed for the Japanese market, but with the right product here it began to sell."
Lagana believes interactive devices which require physical as well as mental exertion will become increasingly the norm in the games peripherals market place.
"There's no reason why a games developer can't create a game to help you to lose weight, and do exercise using a dance mat or some other device," Lagana says. "When you're exercising with a video there is very little feedback, whereas a game can measure your movement and your pulse and respond to what you are doing."
More immediately however, Lagana points to a series of devices designed to capture sound and movement.
"The headset peripheral comes bundled with Socom US Navy Seals, and allows you to communicate with the other players in your team," Lagana said. "The game also includes voice recognition when you are playing by yourself, so that the computer generated characters react to words you speak into the headset."
Similarly, Microsoft aims to extend the gaming experience to voice, and plans to release a live controller with a head set and microphone in November this year.
Sony is also releasing a motion capture device called the iToy, which will allow users to mime using a wand in Harry Potter, practice martial arts in fighting games, or battle with light sabres in science fiction titles.
These new peripherals may well break through the two dimensional barrier which Andrew Carter portrays as the next frontier of games development.
"There are still no controllers that allow you to move things in 3D space ... all the games give you is two planes."
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?