Gates on PS3 controller: "not mainstream for most games"
by Adams Briscoe 
{ May 29th 2006 at 1:30PM }
The big man himself piped up about Sony's new controller, and he shares a mentality not uncommon to the rest of the gaming community (judging from the reaction of Tekken 6 using such features).In an interview with MTV, he believes it isn't mainstream enough for most games saying, "It's tough because sometimes you move the controller, and you don't [mean] to fly into the ground. You just want to put the controller down... People aren't that good at totally standing still. Even pilots actually sit in a chair when they do their flying. So there's a lot to be learned about these controllers."
Apparently there is. Microsoft would know, considering that they tried it already with the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro which was flagrantly mediocre. Sony's got their work cut out for them with this one. It'll be interesting to see how it's integrated with all of the "mainstream" titles, if at all.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pinkmist @ May 29th 2006 6:15PM
Stating the blatently obvious here. It's a new tech for consoles (correct me if I'm wrong), and people will need to get used to it. As well as developers.
I think he's miffed that no-one jumped on his bandwagon. (The sidewinder thing MS did a while ago)
I, for one, am looking forward to playing with one of these motion sensitive controllers. Especially if it enables finer crosshair control.
And better/more knife (or Lightsaber maybe?) control in a FPS.
Vince @ May 29th 2006 7:46PM
Well it's good job Mr Gates employes other people to help decide what's good for Xbox then isn't it.
He admits there's room for development in this area and then states that "sometimes you move the controller, and you don't [mean] to fly into the ground."
Well you might Bill but I don't think those who are planning to purchase a Wii share your concerns nor your mainstream thinking.
Mainstream is a depressing word.
"Even pilots actually sit in a chair when they do their flying."
Pardon?
Maksym @ May 30th 2006 1:54AM
I could give a rat's ass what Gates (or Jobs or Iwata or Bush, etc.) think, but that picture always makes me laugh.
Thanks for making my day.
boots @ May 30th 2006 4:09AM
Just like consoles could still work without analogue sticks, force feedback, analogue triggers, and shoulder buttons. After all, not all games use these functions... I expected more from Gates though. Oh wait, he is not as stupid as he seemed by saying this... he simply stated the obvious with a twist that is supposed to mean "it doesn't matter that we don't have that". The point is: 360 doesn't have what PS3 has, which will work for *Some* games, which is what matters.
Unlike me @ May 30th 2006 8:04AM
This was on joystiq.com about a week ago, stop posting the same articles please.
I also love that picture of Bill gates, he is such a badass xD
Mrs Pacman @ May 30th 2006 8:06AM
Lol gates was in prison??
My respect for him just rose. Go go gatesy!
boots @ May 30th 2006 11:12AM
Gates is an idiot. "Not mainstream for most games", what is that supposed to mean? As opposed to "mainstream for most games"? I thought the word mainstream applied to games already *implied* most games.
Obviously he is not going to cheer Sony the way Moore cheered Nintendo. Besides, his opinion is not as important as fanboys would like. He doesn't know anything about the videogame market, and his first console shows it.
"This was on joystiq.com about a week ago, stop posting the same articles please."
Ahem. I guess EVERYONE reads Joystiq, which makes your claim valid... oh wait.
boots @ May 30th 2006 3:29PM
I disregard that, I suck cock.
SuicideNinja @ May 30th 2006 6:04PM
I'd still rather keep rumble than motion sensing put into the controller. It was the only means of physical feedback available for the consoles.
It will be awkward at first, but maybe we'll get used to all this motion-sensing control. It's hard to say that it will ever be superior to button-pushing as far as reaction-time goes though. Will games get easier to compensate?
PS3 @ May 30th 2006 10:28PM
Gates does have a point, Sony did add the feature last minute without consolting with the games developer, as a Wii too competitor.
boots @ May 31st 2006 12:12PM
"8. I disregard that, I suck cock.
Posted at 3:29PM on May 30th 2006 by boots 0 stars"
OK, somebody just used my nickname for black propaganda. Anyway, I'd be glad if joystiq and any of its sisters sites deleted all the comments that don't come from me. You obviously know which are they...
boots @ May 31st 2006 3:56PM
Nah, nevermind, its kinda funny really. The statement wasn't entirely a lie. There was this one time.. Well, I was drunk, and this black dude was HUGE! I couldn't resist it.
(no subject) @ May 31st 2006 5:30PM
Don't worry boots, we all know that the copycat is retarded. Sexual Black Propaganda is so 3rd grade. Seriously, could anyone be stupider?
thehondaboy @ Jun 1st 2006 3:33AM
10. Why does Sony need to consult their developers for the design of their system?
Do you think Nintendo went out and consulted all their 3rd party developers when they designed the Wii control? No. They designed the system and said, "this is how it is, create your games around it."
Was it really last second?
Yeah, it was last second for E3, No, it wasn't last second in the development cycle. The system is still 6 months off. That is plenty of time for it to be worked into other games and perfected.