Hello!
Recent Nintendo results (especially in the home department) spawned lots of debates about what the company should do in the future, with lots of threads being created, most discussing general subjects about hardware and software.
What I want to do is a little different: I'd like to generate discussions about specific points that I feel can be very interesting to talk about. Then, this is the first of a series of discussions about these specific subjects. They are all dedicated to what I think are interesting points for the next Nintendo platform (then, the 3DS successor).
So, here's the first subject: implementing haptic technologies.
What's haptic?
This recent article talks about what this technology allows:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/...eeling-and-texture-to-touchscreens-and-beyond
Basically: the next major step for touch-screens: letting users feel with their fingers, giving them the feedback. Which means much better usability for digital keyboards, buttons and...digital pads. Especially them.
Here's more in the specific how haptic technology could be a great choice for the screen(s) of the next Nintendo portable system.
A great catch for general audience
So far, touchscreens only allowed people to interact with software, without giving them any kind of tactile feeling. But think about if you can not just view clothing articles, but also feeling their textures. Or (gaming example) feeling you are really controlling a mech in Steel Battalion, and not just touching stuff on a screen with no sensation. It's the evolution of interaction between human and machine, and certainly something that lots of people can see as magical.
Moreover, this is something that everyone can enjoy, without problems like the 3D feature of 3DS, a feature that many people see as not that useful and even damaging for their eyes.
Being the first to use it, at a good price
If next Nintendo handheld uses haptic technology, it'll be the first major device with it, and considering how next hardware price shouldn't be over 200 $, they would provide such a big evolution step for a great price. This depends on haptic screens prices in late 2016 (when I suppose it'll be launched). Mobile development will surely help in making having a portable Wii U graphics-wise possible and cheap enough, but screens are a different matter, since they'd be different.
Gaming possibilities
Think again about the Steel Battalion example mentioned above. But also touching animal furs in children titles, or feeling the parts of a specific environment in a graphic adventure...but, above all, it would allow to finally have digital analogues and buttons that give you a feedback, that make you feel you're seriously controlling the game and not just touching a screen without being sure of controlling a game as you wish.
Control customisation
You can have the physical controls, but you have problems with them because, maybe, buttons are too little for your hands, or their placement is not ideal. Digital contols + haptic screens should solve this problem: customers could customise their setup as they can. Think about a platform with both top and bottom haptic touch screen. Copying myself from another thread where I already expressed this idea (even if more extreme than what I'm doing here):
-You can put both analogues, d-pad and buttons on the top screen, when you play with the console wide open
- You can put them all on the bottom screen, if you play in a classic DS-like portable style
- You can put some of them on the top screen, other on the bottom
- You can change size and position of single bottons
- You can customize the single parts, with special skins for the background, bottons and what else (they could be unlockable through completing Nintendo's version of Achievements/Trophies)
- Becoming the best emulator system ever. Yeah: to play older games with much bigger fidelity than ever, just select that console's control scheme, and go. Think about replaying Super Smash Bros. Melee with all your favourite Nintendo Gamecube analogues and buttons (the great A!), just as an example
- Letting developers creating special control setupus just for specific games. Like, a Street Fighter game having an arcade like setup, with simulated arcade sticks and arcade buttons, in conjunction with something similar to SSFIV's touch functions. Or, a Steel Battalion game where there are many things to touch on both sides of the top screen, for a bigger immersion in the game itself
This would seriously make possible for everyone to play, if physical controls doesn't satisfy you, especially for Virtual Console titles.
These are the main reasons I think this tech would seriously help Nintendo in making their next platform attractive to lots of people, from casual customers to developers themselves. The real problem, right now, are the costs, how much could it cost using it in two-three years een-masse. If it's fiesable, they should totally implement it IMHO.
I could put other reasons in the OP in the next hours, while the secod thread in the series could appear in the next days or in a week. Now, let's discuss about this possibility.
Recent Nintendo results (especially in the home department) spawned lots of debates about what the company should do in the future, with lots of threads being created, most discussing general subjects about hardware and software.
What I want to do is a little different: I'd like to generate discussions about specific points that I feel can be very interesting to talk about. Then, this is the first of a series of discussions about these specific subjects. They are all dedicated to what I think are interesting points for the next Nintendo platform (then, the 3DS successor).
So, here's the first subject: implementing haptic technologies.
What's haptic?
This recent article talks about what this technology allows:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/...eeling-and-texture-to-touchscreens-and-beyond
Basically: the next major step for touch-screens: letting users feel with their fingers, giving them the feedback. Which means much better usability for digital keyboards, buttons and...digital pads. Especially them.
Here's more in the specific how haptic technology could be a great choice for the screen(s) of the next Nintendo portable system.
A great catch for general audience
So far, touchscreens only allowed people to interact with software, without giving them any kind of tactile feeling. But think about if you can not just view clothing articles, but also feeling their textures. Or (gaming example) feeling you are really controlling a mech in Steel Battalion, and not just touching stuff on a screen with no sensation. It's the evolution of interaction between human and machine, and certainly something that lots of people can see as magical.
Moreover, this is something that everyone can enjoy, without problems like the 3D feature of 3DS, a feature that many people see as not that useful and even damaging for their eyes.
Being the first to use it, at a good price
If next Nintendo handheld uses haptic technology, it'll be the first major device with it, and considering how next hardware price shouldn't be over 200 $, they would provide such a big evolution step for a great price. This depends on haptic screens prices in late 2016 (when I suppose it'll be launched). Mobile development will surely help in making having a portable Wii U graphics-wise possible and cheap enough, but screens are a different matter, since they'd be different.
Gaming possibilities
Think again about the Steel Battalion example mentioned above. But also touching animal furs in children titles, or feeling the parts of a specific environment in a graphic adventure...but, above all, it would allow to finally have digital analogues and buttons that give you a feedback, that make you feel you're seriously controlling the game and not just touching a screen without being sure of controlling a game as you wish.
Control customisation
You can have the physical controls, but you have problems with them because, maybe, buttons are too little for your hands, or their placement is not ideal. Digital contols + haptic screens should solve this problem: customers could customise their setup as they can. Think about a platform with both top and bottom haptic touch screen. Copying myself from another thread where I already expressed this idea (even if more extreme than what I'm doing here):
-You can put both analogues, d-pad and buttons on the top screen, when you play with the console wide open
- You can put them all on the bottom screen, if you play in a classic DS-like portable style
- You can put some of them on the top screen, other on the bottom
- You can change size and position of single bottons
- You can customize the single parts, with special skins for the background, bottons and what else (they could be unlockable through completing Nintendo's version of Achievements/Trophies)
- Becoming the best emulator system ever. Yeah: to play older games with much bigger fidelity than ever, just select that console's control scheme, and go. Think about replaying Super Smash Bros. Melee with all your favourite Nintendo Gamecube analogues and buttons (the great A!), just as an example
- Letting developers creating special control setupus just for specific games. Like, a Street Fighter game having an arcade like setup, with simulated arcade sticks and arcade buttons, in conjunction with something similar to SSFIV's touch functions. Or, a Steel Battalion game where there are many things to touch on both sides of the top screen, for a bigger immersion in the game itself
This would seriously make possible for everyone to play, if physical controls doesn't satisfy you, especially for Virtual Console titles.
Special reason: conquering the otaku market
Yep, haptic tech means also finally reaching an audience that, so far, has been more or less in Sony hands.
Think about it: haptic tech allows for feeling textures, even those of clothes. And it makes you feel superficies, then also when they're curve...do I need to go on with this explanation? :lol
Yep, haptic tech means also finally reaching an audience that, so far, has been more or less in Sony hands.
Think about it: haptic tech allows for feeling textures, even those of clothes. And it makes you feel superficies, then also when they're curve...do I need to go on with this explanation? :lol
These are the main reasons I think this tech would seriously help Nintendo in making their next platform attractive to lots of people, from casual customers to developers themselves. The real problem, right now, are the costs, how much could it cost using it in two-three years een-masse. If it's fiesable, they should totally implement it IMHO.
I could put other reasons in the OP in the next hours, while the secod thread in the series could appear in the next days or in a week. Now, let's discuss about this possibility.
...
