Wii vs 3

Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of buzz in the last few weeks about the contrast between Sony’s new Play Station 3 console and the new Nintendo Wii–including some earlier posts (here) (here) in the epistemic games blog.

On one hand, there are those who are wowed by the power of the PS3 to render almost life-like graphics and a impressively realistic physical interactions. In a recent article, Scott Miller of 3D Realms points out:

Physics allows for environments and gameplay situations that aren’t scripted.

Get the physics right, and you can really let players do what they want in a virtual world. Andrew Goldman, who runs Pandemic Studios, argues that soon, players might be able to do something as sophisticated as “pour petrol on the ground, watch it spread out and then set fire to it.”

The other side of the argument is in the Nintendo, which has focused on interface–and in particular on the way that the interface makes it possible to interact in a game more like you interact with things in the real world. When you bowl with the Wii, it feels like bowling. As Atari founder Nolan Bushnell says (originally available at: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20021&hed=Atari+Founder+Bullish+on+Social+Gaming%2c+Wii+):

I see active games as a solid trend–Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, for example. I believe that this is something that important [and is] going to get better and better.

Apparently the market agrees with him at the moment.

Although the sales figures are hard to interpret because of supply issues (there would be many more sales if more units were available at the moment), demand for the Wii seems to be exceeding the PS3. (Figures here.)

Perhaps that isn’t surprising. In the same week I saw PS3 players talking about how amazing it was that you could see Shaq sweat and read articles about how Wii players are themselves working up a sweat. Both might be fun, but one is clearly more transformative of game play at the moment. In fact, at a meeting today, two game designers told me that Wii games are the first games that their own wives would play with them.

On the other hand, both developments in simulation technology are important for epistemic games. Both expand the range of things you can do in a game–and thus the worlds in which you can play.