While there was a lot of talk about the PlayStation Move, Microsoft Kinect, and stereoscopic 3D at E3, not every publisher thinks these elements will define the future of gaming. Activision COO Thomas Tippl, for instance, wants to see greater install bases for Move and Kinect, and even then, he says it won’t be the right choice for all games.
“A lot of that will depend on the price point they choose,” Tippl said to Gamasutra. “We have a few franchises where we think this could be an interesting value to improve the experience for the player. Tony Hawk is an example. We have our Rapala Fishing franchise. But it’s not going to be something that will be in every game, because I don’t think it’s one size fits all. It’s not going to enhance the experience for every game.”
Meanwhile, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada labels stereoscopic 3D as “not bad, but only so-so” and Kinect as “just a small extension to what is already available” thinking, instead, that network services are the future.
“The innovations that we hear about during this E3 are only minimal additions to the existing technologies,” offered Wada to GI.biz. “What is not visible today is the quiet change that’s taking place at the network level. What the motion controls and other new technology will do is extend the lives of the consoles, but they themselves are not the true battlefield. The true battlefield is the respective network services that support consoles, whether or not they can truly establish these network services will have the definitive effect on the future of games consoles.”
