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GDC 2008 Event Coverage
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February 22, 2008

GDC: Harrison - Game Controller Ease Key To Industry Growth

As part of the GDC Luminaries Lunch attended by Gamasutra, Phil Harrison has been colorfully explaining the over-complexity of current game controllers to the average non-gamer, suggesting: "You hand someone a game controller and it's like you've handed someone a grenade with the pin taken out."

The wide-ranging discussion at the lunch turned to the concept of reaching the wider market when Peter Molyneux asked the provocative question: "Do you think that we've failed as creators when you compare [the 8 million sales of Halo 3] to the 200 million people playing casual games?"

Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor continued the discussion by asking: "I'm curious on how to get a game to these 200 million people who are downloading these Peggles. [It's about] the idea that depth and complexity are not linked... and that simple is not boring."

Sony Worldwide Studios head Harrison then chimed in by suggesting: "You hand someone a game controller and it's like you've handed someone a grenade with the pin taken out", mimicking the act of being handed a 'live' controller.

He then referenced the growth of 'easy' controllers such as those on Sony's Buzz and SingStar and even Guitar Hero, noting: "That democratization has become very powerful", and also commenting of Apple's iPod touch interface: "Apple should be applauded for that innovation."

Finally, Lionhead's Molyneux discussed of his accessibility dreams for Fable 2: "My dream is that someone who has never played games before can sit down and play with someone who's been playing all of their life."

POSTED: 07.04AM PST, 02/22/08 - Christian Nutt, Staff - LINK
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Comments

Anonymous 22 Feb 2008 at 9:00 am PST
Umm....where was this guy three years ago when Nintendo began telling the world about the excessive complexities of modern game controllers? In fact, has Phil Harrison ever SAID anything of genuine insight in the past 3 years or does he just talk a lot? It's like he's just now getting around to reading everything the industry has been talking about for more than five years. After having their ass handed to them in the market place by simpler, more casual designs, NOW Sony decides to start seriously looking at them and acting like they invented the concept? This is ridiculous. With leadership like Phil Harrison in charge, I fail to see where people are getting their data for predicting that Sony will be on top at the end of this hardware generation...
Anonymous 22 Feb 2008 at 9:22 am PST
Honestly, I do not agree with Harrison.
If you take the Xbox 360 controller for instance, its extremely ergonomic and its properly equipped to handle just about any control setup a game developer could want.

I know Nintendo has done some great things with the Wiimote, but that is not how I want to play all of my games.

And its really the Core gaming market that keeps the Industry going, The casual market is large but they don't contribute the dominating numbers in sales.
Anonymous 22 Feb 2008 at 10:10 am PST
3 years ago Phil was over here in Europe making Buzz and Singstar the huge deals they are. I think its a little unfair to be judging. So I think he deserves more credit than you are giving him. Oh and in relation to the comment on the 360 controller being so great...it wasn't his point that it didn't do enough just that its a big barrier to entry to your average person. My mum wont touch a Ps3 pad but she will play the Wii. Yes your right the casual market doesn't contribute as much right now...but the holy grail is finding a game that can change that, and that game will make alot alot of money.
Jan Kubiczek 22 Feb 2008 at 10:32 am PST
One comment: "You will be seeing Motorstorm on your HD screens in Full HD resolution..." [Phil Harrison] Is anyone right now? Mine is 720p with slightly sluggish framerate. Maybe its my Playstation?
Reid Kimball 23 Feb 2008 at 6:38 pm PST
It's great people are finally talking about game accessibility being important. The IGDA Game Accessibility SIG has been talking about the issues Peter Molyneux raises since 2002, give or take a year. We're an advocacy group that lets players know which games are accessible and we help developers build more accessible games for everyone, even the disabled.

http://www.igda.org/accessibility/