Motion Technology In Video Games

Posts Tagged ‘Innovation Description’

Overview

Kinect for Xbox 360 is a “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience” by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 console.  Kinect is similar to the Sony PlayStation Eye camera, detecting user input without the need for a controller.  It enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 by using gestures, spoken commands, or given objects.

What Kind of Disruption Is the Kinect?

Since the Kinect is similar to the PlayStation Eye and Nintendo Wii technology, it can be considered an up-market sustaining innovation.  It isn’t introducing new technology or technological uses.  Like the PlayStation Move, the Kinect is an add on to an already existing console.  You must already own an Xbox 360 in order to use the Kinect, whereas the Nintendo Wii was a standalone console with motion technology introduced from the very beginning.  Since an up-market sustaining innovation improves on an already existing technology, the Kinect for the Xbox 360 can be classified as an up-market sustaining innovation.

Much like the Move again, the Kinect will not revolutionize the video game industry like the Nintendo Wii.  It will simply add to the existing user experience.  However, it remains to be seen how Microsoft will use the technology its traditional games since there is no controller as with the PlayStation Move. For now, the Kinect adds additional features to existing users if they are willing to pay for it.

Overview

PlayStation Move is a motion-sensing game controller for the Playstation 3 video game console by Sony. The Move functions much like the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.  Whereas the Wii uses a sensor bar to track the movement of the Remote and Nunchuk, the Move uses the PlayStation Eye camera to track the controller’s position.  You simply move the controller within range of the PlayStation Eye camera to control the action onscreen.

What Kind of Innovation Is It?

I have chosen to separate the Sony PlayStation Move from the Nintendo Wii with good reason.  The Nintendo Wii was the first console of kind upon its introduction in 2006.  The PlayStation Move, however, was just released this year, a full four years after the Wii.  The Move is different from the Wii in the sense that it is an add on, where as the Wii is fully powered by motion technology.  Therefore, the Sony PlayStation Move cannot be classified as a new-market disruption like the Nintendo Wii.  The Move is simply a sustaining up-market innovation.  Christensen classifies sustaining up-market innovations as those that “make good products better.”  As an add on to an already powerful piece of hardware in the PlayStation 3, the Move adds another dimension to the user experience.  This addition caters to consumers who wanted the power of the PlayStation 3, but liked the use of motion technology on the Nintendo Wii.  For these users, the Wii did not provide enough power, high quality graphics, or game selection that the PlayStation did.

Christensen also states that “incremental sustaining innovations tend to influence an industry less dramatically” than their new-market innovation counterparts.  This holds true for the PlayStation Move. It has not implemented anything not seen from the Nintendo Wii, but it does improve on the accuracy of the motion sensing technology.  Sony knows that it will not be able to compete with Nintendo on party games and the casual gaming experience.  But Sony can succeed by expanding on the experience its powerful hardware already provides with the PlayStation Move.  Nintendo may have invented the wheel with the Wii. But Sony can certainly improve it with the Move.

Overview

The Nintendo Wii is a home based video game console that uses motion sensing technology as it’s core input system.  The Wii system comes with two devices: the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk.  These two devices are at the center of the user’s experience.

The Wii Remote is the primary controller for the console. Its wireless capability enables it to be used as a pointing device and allows users to swing it freely for in game use.  The Wii Remote detects movement in three dimensions thanks to built in accelerometers and infrared sensors that connect to the Sensor Bar that also comes with the system.  If the Remote’s sensors are out of range of the Sensor Bar, the Remote will not be as accurate or responsive.

The Nunchuk is a secondary device that plugs into the bottom of the Wii Remote.  Unlike the Remote, the Nunchuk is not required for all games.  The Nunchuk includes a joystick and a trigger button on the back of the device.  Typically, the device is used for games that are more complex and feature heavy. The game that comes with the system, Wii Sports, is not very in depth, and typically only requires use of the Remote to execute commands.  But for a game that is more realistic, like EA Sports Madden Football games, the user will use the Wii Remote to throw the football, and the Nunchuk to move the player on the field.

What Kind of Innovation Is the Wii?

The Nintendo Wii is a new-market disruptive innovation.  Prior to its introduction in November of 2006, video game gameplay was regulated to button mashing.  The Wii revolutionized the industry by successfully implementing motion technology as the foremost way to play games.  Consumers were able to have an impact on the onscreen actions by moving the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as opposed to only pressing buttons.  Christensen states that “new-market disruptive innovations lack the raw functionality of existing products but bring new benefits such as convenience, customization, or lower prices.”  The Nintendo Wii fits this mold, as it has significantly less power and lower graphics than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.  But it succeeded despite its limitations because it offered something that its competitors did not up until recently: motion technology.  Nintendo realized that there were consumers out there who weren’t interested in playing video games because they weren’t interactive enough.  They found a way to get these former nonconsumers consuming, changing the entire video game industry in the process.  Nintendo’s use of the disruptive technology was so successful that Sony and Microsoft came out with their own versions of motion technology for their respective consoles in an attempt to boost sales.