Topic Essay
Entry compiled by: Steve Nathanson
The first topic I picked is PC gaming versus console gaming, and I would like to go into the main differences of each, which type of gaming is meant for what type of gamer, as well as the future for both types. I have been playing video games since I was born, starting on MS-DOS and up to today’s XBOX360 as well as anything and everything in between. I have often debated with many people which type of gaming is superior, PC or console, and I will say that they both have their upsides as well as their downsides.
First of all, the most important thing about playing video games is the games you want to play. There are many types of games including first person shooter, 3rd person adventure, role playing games, MMOs, strategy, puzzle, as well as many others. MMOs and strategy games have been strictly PC games up until recently with the release of Final Fantasy 11 on PS2 and XBOX360 and Command and Conquer 3 on the XBOX360. Even with the release of these games, I still think MMOs and strategy games should both be played on the PC because the keyboard and mouse control is a lot easier to use for both of these types of games. All other games are better on console with a controller (this statement is actually more of an opinion but the majority of people feel the same as I do on this).
One main reason why people choose consoles over PCs is because once you buy a console you can play every game that comes out for that console where as with a PC you need to upgrade it whenever a new game comes out so your computer is powerful enough to play the game. Also PCs are not specialized for gaming so they can crash unexpectedly due to unknown errors with the operating system. One thing PCs have over consoles is that usually a game will ship with a level editor that lets players create their own maps or items for the game and release modifications that can extend the play time of a game infinitely. Consoles such as the XBOX360 and PlayStation 3 have marketplaces where gamers can purchase new content created by the game developers, but this can become costly, as new maps and items for games can cost anywhere from 1 to 10 dollars a piece.
Another reason many people chose PCs in the past is for the online multiplayer but once XBOX LIVE came out in 2002, console multiplayer has grown immensely. XBOX LIVE makes it easy for millions of gamers to play any game together by giving them one screen name, or gamertag, that they can give to their friends and it will stay the same no matter what game they are playing. On PCs it is a much more difficult process. I have wasted hours of my life on the phone with friends trying to join the same match of Half Life or Counter Strike or Unreal Tournament.
I could go on forever with this topic but I must also talk about the other topic. I originally picked mimetic messaging but I think I would rather discuss interfaces and how PC and Console game interfaces differ, as well as how the users interaction with them differ. Before I start playing a PC game I always go into the interface options and customize it to my liking. I am always very aware of what is on the Heads Up Display (HUD) and it helps to only put up what I need.
When playing a console game, one is usually sitting at least 5 feet away from the screen, which is probably a television, using a controller consisting of several joysticks, buttons, and triggers, and you usually play with a couple friends. When playing a PC game, one is usually sitting not much more than a foot away from the screen, which is usually a computer monitor, using a mouse and a keyboard to control the game, and all PC games are played by yourself. Most console controllers in this generation of gaming have about 10-13 buttons, 2 joysticks, and a D-pad. To interact with an interface on a console, a player must scroll through every option until they reach the one they one and then they can select it. On a PC, selecting options can go much quicker because of the mouse and keyboard combination. The user can simply use the mouse to select options and the process goes a lot quicker, especially when you need to enter text. Some console games require text input and when they do this they never have the letters in keyboard formation, they are always alphabetical. This is a huge problem in my opinion. I am so used to the QWERTY configuration that if I see them in alphabetical order it throws me off and takes me twice as long to find the letters. Very few games give you the option to switch between ABC and QWERTY and it makes me so angry.
Also most PC games with multiplayer do not use voice chat because the user can type in a chatbox to other players. On XBOX360 every single multiplayer game has voicechat built in so it makes communication a lot easier. Often times in the past PC interfaces used to display a lot more information due to the higher resolution settings but since most video games now can display in 1080p this problem has stopped. PC interfaces are usually a lot more customizable though, letting you change the color and the layout and even what type of crosshair you can use. Console games rarely allow customization of the HUD. Most of the time in console games the only HUD options you have are either on or off.
Another recent trend I have been seeing is games with very very little interface. Games such as Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, a real time strategy game(RTS), are usually known for their massive interfaces with way too much information on them but what LOTR: BFME did is narrowed the interface down to only the most important information such as the map and units seen on screen but all building options are invoked only when you click on a plot to build or when you have a building selected. All other RTS games before this would clog up more than half of the screen with interface and it distracted from the visuals of the game.
I think that the less you have on screen, the more accessible the game is for a wider audience. If I were to show my mom an RTS, there is no way she would have any idea what is going on and she would not want to take time to learn how to play that game but I have showed my mom the Wii and WiiSports. WiiSports is a collection of mini sports games for the Wii and the only thing you see on screen is you character and the sport you are playing. Obviously it is not only the interface that attracts my mom as well as many non gamers to this game, but imagine if everything was the same except it had an interface like an RTS game where you had to chose the power level, direction, stance of your player, type of swing, etc. Most non gamers would not want to play a game like that.
In conclusion, I think a main point I have illustrated is that PC gaming is a very niche market where only the hardcore gamers are drawn into because of the need to have the best PC to play the game, the one player at a time aspect of it, the complex interfaces, and the tight selection of games. Console games these days, especially with the Wii coming out, have really opened the market to more of a casual gaming audience, where a bunch of friends can sit around a television and have a social experience together. This is definitely a topic I can elaborate on and discuss in much more detail when the time comes.
Interfaces: PC and Console Customization and Future Interfaces
Video Game Interfaces
Entry compiled by: Steve Nathanson
The interface design of a video game can be the most important aspect of game design. A good interface will make a game easy to pick up and play without ever seeing it before, while a poor interface can make a game unplayable.
The interface of a video game is anything visual on-screen that the user needs to interact with in order to play the game, but not the characters or objects within the game world. Some examples would be user health or lives, ammunition, special abilities, a map, a reticle, and all game menus. The way a game designer chooses to integrate this information into the game should be subtle yet noticeable. Putting too much information on the screen at one time can take the user out of the experience, but making it unclear where information can be found is also detrimental to the user.
In first person shooter (FPS) games the interfaces are pretty standard. The user needs to know how much health he has, how many bullets he has left in his weapon, which weapons he has, where enemies are, and where he is getting hit from. Depending on the game, this information can be shown in various ways. In a game like Halo 3, developed by Bungie in 2007, the character’s health is shield based, meaning once their shield is depleted, one more hit will kill. The health is represented by a translucent bar at the top of the screen. Once the shield is depleted it will blink and a rapid beeping sound is played to alert the user. The Heads-Up Display (HUD) is integrated graphically to look like it is the inside of the characters helmet. A feature like this can immerse the user into the experience better than a game that will just display the information in a numerical form on the side of the screen. The ammunition is shown in a numerical form at the top right of the screen, and depending if the weapon is human or alien, it will show a graphical representation of the bullets left in the clip or the plasma overheat bar respectively. Some weapons have a tiny display on them and the number of bullets left can be seen on it as well. In order to see where your teammates are, the game designers have integrated a system where the user can input a three character code that will always be displayed above their character’s heads and can be seen through the walls and obstacles for easy recognition of who is who and where everyone is on the map. As for enemies, there is a radar system in the bottom right of the screen and all enemies in the area show up as a red dot. Another helpful interface update is the ability to see where you are being shot from. When the user is hit, the screen will flash red and a red bar will appear on screen in the direction of the shots fired. In Halo, the user can only carry 2 weapons, so the icon of the weapon the user does not have out is shown next to the ammo left in the top right. The interface of Halo can change graphically depending on if you play as a spartan or an elite (human or alien) but all the mechanics and location of the interface components remain the same. Halo 3 is also strictly an XBOX 360 game and there is no way to customize the interface whatsoever on console games. The same cannot be said for PC games however.
In the PC FPS game Unreal Tournament 2004, developed by Epic Games in 2004, the interface is highly customizable. Unreal features the same interface elements as in Halo such as the health status (in numerical form) in the bottom left, a graphical representation of every weapon along the bottom of the screen, and the ammo left (in numerical form) at the bottom right. There is no graphical representation of the bullets left in the clip because there is no reloading in this game. The bar along the bottom shows every weapon attainable in the game. If the user has a weapon, that weapon is showed in color with a bar below it showing how much ammo is left. If the user does not have the weapon then it grayed out and cannot be used. The weapon in use is elevated a tiny bit from the others and lit up. The user has the ability to customize the interface to fit their liking. All colors and graphics can be customized from the options menu as well as the size, layout, and opacity of the interface. All this can be done without “modding” the software.
The real time strategy (RTS) genre is known for its use of extensive interfaces. In the computer game Star Craft, developed by Blizzard Entertainment in 1998, all actions must be executed through the interface. The game requires players to erect buildings that produce units, and then use the units to attack and defeat the other players in the game. The interface takes up the bottom third of the screen while the world view takes up the rest of the screen. The far left of the interface is a detailed map that can be customized to show buildings, units, and terrain. The user can customize what they want to see through the options menu, enabling or disabling certain aspects based on their preference. The far right of the interface is where all commands are issued. Depending on what the player has selected these options will change. If the player has a build unit selected then the interface will show all the possible buildings the player can erect. If a building is selected, the interface will show everything that specific building can create such as units, vehicles, or upgrades. When the user selects a unit, their specific abilities come up on the interface, with options such as move, attack, stop, defend, and special abilities that can vary unit to unit. In the center of the interface is a 3D representation of the unit selected and any specific information needed to know about the unit, such as its health and upgrade level. If multiple units are selected the interface shows icons of every unit in the group, which can be clicked on to access individual unit abilities. A game that tried to redefine the RTS user interface is The Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth, developed by EA Games in 2004. LOTR: BFME is a game based on The Lord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The game features all the races and characters from the movies and allows the player to take control of one race and its heros to battle against other players. What makes this game different from other RTS games is the interface only appears when it is needed, and it does not appear in the conventional way. In order to erect buildings, the player clicks on predetermined spots to build and a group of circles appear around that plot with all the available builds to build. Once the player chooses which building he wants the interface spins away and the building begins production. There are certain aspects that appear on the screen at all times and those are the map at the bottom right, the special abilities on the left side of the screen, and the hero units are easily selectable from their portraits on the bottom of the screen. When the user has heros or units selected, their control options appear in a circle next to the map. The game developers wanted to create the smallest possible interface so the user could become more engaged in the world of LOTR, and it works, however there is no way to customize the interface whatsoever.
The most customizable interfaces are those in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) genre. The most widely known game of this genre is World of Warcraft, developed by Blizzard Entertainment in 2005, and its interface is the easiest to customize of all PC games. The game requires users to chose a character race and class, which determines their skills and abilities. The interface of the game features a grid of empty boxes on the bottom and sides of the the screen. When the user obtains new abilities, he can chose where he wants to place them by simply opening up the spell book and dragging the icon of the spell to any open box on the grid. The characters health points and magic points are in bars at the top left of the screen and an experience bar is located at the bottom. The mini-map located at the top right features a detailed view of the surrounding area, featuring icons for different players and special non-playable characters (NPC) that need to be interacted with. There is a dialog box the user types into to talk to other players in the game which can be customized to the users liking. The font size, color, opacity, and location can all be changed and even sorted out into multiple chat windows. There are many “mods” or modifications which enhance the user interface of the game as well. In the game there are areas called “instances” which are dungeons that are not mapped out in the game, but there is a downloadable “mod” that generates maps for these dungeons, showing which direction to go and where to locate the best treasure. There are even more advanced “mods” that can completely change the look of the interface, adding more bars to add spells, and allowing the user to drag any piece of the interface to any part of the screen they like. The addition of this “mod” makes an already heavily customizable interface into the most customizable interface of any game to date.
The future of interface design should incorporate options from Halo 3, where they integrate the interface into an aspect of the game so it is less obtrusive and blends into the game better. RTS games can be more engaging when the interface only comes up when it is needed, like in BFME. In games like Supreme Commander, developed by Gas Powered Games in 2007, the interface is large, taking up more than half of the screen, and nearly impossible to pick up and play. The game takes several hours just to learn how to use the interface, which covers far too much of the screen. There is a duel screen option which splits the interface up among both screens, but that just makes it twice as hard to find which button to press. With games like World of Warcraft allowing the user to customize every aspect of the interface, the future interfaces of games need to allow for this intricate customization if they want to be as successful.
