Something to get you excited (Part 1)

Here are a few examples as to why game design is an exciting area of study and should be taken more seriously in terms of a design, storytelling and interactive medium.

Nintendo Wii
Starting with the obvious, you all know about the Wii - But here is some information you should also know;
The Wii has done something no other home console has managed to achieve and that is to reach a much wider range of audience. Try and name a console, or a game for that matter, other than the Wii that has elderly people playing video games. Or a console that gets the very-young playing as well. Or even a console that encourages such social interaction.

Nintendo DS
The DS is a favourite of mine for so many reasons, I could go on about it all day but don't worry I won't. The DS is a very exciting system for both the gamer and the developer, for the gamer it offers mobile handheld gaming at it's very best. Well 65 Million people can't be wrong. You've all seen the crappy adverts with pointless celebs playing brain training, ignore them the DS is so much more than that.

The touch screen makes gaming a joy and brings a whole new level of interaction in terms of gaming, take Nintendogs for example (see below)- where you play owner to your very own selected dog. The DS touchscreen allows you to touch, poke, prod, stroke, tickle and play with the dog bringing a much more personal approach to the table rather than just pressing 'Button A' on a controller to stroke the dog. Also, with Nintendogs the built in microphone on the DS is utilised superbly - you can call the dog by it's given name through the microphone and the dog will respond to your voice. The microphone is used in such a creative way that really adds to the feel of many games, in MarioKart there is a mode where you have to blow some balloons up to protect your Kart and you do this by blowing into the microphone. On Super Mario Bros. DS there is a mini game where you have to blow a character to the top of the screen as fast as possible.



I think there is still a lot of room for great new creative ideas using and combining these features.

More on this another time...