最近几年，平台游戏行业正逐步转向所谓的“社交游戏”，玩家在游戏可以进行更多的互动活动；不再用传统的控制器，而是通过身体活动来玩游戏。尽管很多传统玩家并不喜欢这种游戏形式，但平台游戏制造商们却纷纷开始计划进军任天堂Wii开发出来的家庭游戏市场。

索尼公司，运用PlayStation3的眼球摄像头技术（Eye camera）开发了类似任天堂Wii的新款Playstation Move系统。Move使用的动作控制器与Wii的并没有太大不同，一样可以用于测量深度宽度和长度。

Playstation 3

而另一方面，微软则完全地摆脱了控制器。通过该公司旗下的XBox Kinect系统，玩家可以通过身体活动进行各种操作：菜单导航就像汤姆克鲁斯在《少数派报告》中的那样，玩家的任何动作也都会被模仿到屏幕上。Kinect系统将会在11月10日在UAE正式发售。

但是，游戏制造商并不认为这种新型的操作系统可以完全取代传统的单机游戏形式。微软Gulf公司娱乐和设备分布的领导Armagan Demir相信，Kinect式的游戏环境和操作器的游戏环境是可以并存的。他指出，两种游戏环境是面向不同的玩家群体。其中，核心游戏玩家可能会更钟情于控制器。因为他们的游戏时间长，如果玩家长时间地使用Kinect系统，运用身体动作进行操作，那将是一件十分累人的事情。因此Demir相信两种游戏环境可以想电视和广播那样并存，且不会阻碍彼此的发展。

Xbox 360

控制器类游戏仍将继续

索尼公司认为新的游戏方式是开发了另一个市场，而不是对现有市场的发展。索尼Gulf公司Playstation分布的销售市场总监Tim Stokes表示，虽然Move可以为家庭和儿童玩家带来全新的游戏体验，但核心玩家并没有被遗弃。他指出，新科技的重点是缩短不同玩家的差距，而不是进一步扩大差距。

乍一看，Playstation Move系统与已经面世多年的任天堂Wii极其相似。然而，Stokes指出Move的“三轴操作”及可独立或连用的操作器“提供了更多样的游戏风格”。

核心游戏玩家更喜欢触感良好，更有实体感的控制器。只需回顾一个历来操作器在人体工程学、重量和按键位置上的不断该娘，我们就要知道玩家在玩游戏的同时，也很注重输入设备的舒适性。

新游戏即将发布

在所有发布的游戏中，面向这些系统的游戏仍然很有限。其中很多是硬件游戏的翻版，或者是运动类游戏，类似于早前Wii开发的Wii Sports。

任天堂 Wii

占领社交游戏市场将会是一场激烈而诱人的战役。乍一看Xbox Kinect系统似乎有着瑕疵少，无需控制器的有点。但从另一方面来看，Playstation Move可以凭借自身更加强势的平台效果更好的游戏。但不管结果如何，随着越来越多的游戏公司面向新型的游戏玩家，游戏行业很有可能将再次飞速发展。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）

The console and games industry is moving towards what has been called social gaming, where users are more interactive and use actions to play games rather than just a controller. While this form of gaming may not appeal as much to the traditional users, console manufacturers are increasingly going after the family market which has been exploited so well by the Nintendo Wii.

Sony, utilising its Playstation 3 Eye camera, launched the Playstation Move, the system most like the Nintendo Wii. Using a motion controller not too dissimilar to the Wii’s, it can gauge depth as well as width and length, something the Wii can only do in a limited fashion.

Microsoft on the other hand, ditched the controllers altogether. The Kinect system for the Xbox allows a gamer to control everything on screen using nothing but their movements. Menus are navigated in the same fashion as Tom Cruise does in Minority Report and any action from the user can be mimicked on screen. Kinect will be launched officially in the UAE on November 10.

However, the game manufacturers have been quick to dismiss claims that this new type of controller system will completely replace the traditional forms of console gaming. “We believe that there will be the Kinect type of environment, where you play the game by moving your body, and there will also be controllers and the controller type of gaming, which is for different audiences. I still think the core audience will be using controllers,” Armagan Demir, head of Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division, Gulf, tells AMEinfo.com.

“I still think the core audience will be using controllers. They play a game for extended hours, so if you play eight hours in front of Kinect, that is a very tiring and challenging process because you have to move your entire body. We believe that both of those environments will coexist, it’s like TV and radio – one doesn’t stop the other,” he adds.

Controller-based games set to continue

Sony also believes that this is a move into a separate market, rather than a development of the existing one. “While the Move certainly does offer a new experience to family and children gamers, hardcore gamers are not left behind,” says Tim Stokes, sales & marketing director, Sony Gulf, Playstation Division. “It’s important that new technology abridges all gamers instead of segregating them,” he adds.

The Playstation Move system at first glance would appear to be extremely similar to the Nintendo Wii, which has been available to users for many years. However, Stokes points to the “three axes of control” and the fact the controllers can be used solo or in tandem “offering up and array of gameplay styles”.

“Hardcore gamers will always enjoy the tactile comfort and customisability of a tangible controller; if you look at the evolution of the controller, factors such as ergonomics, weight and button placement have all been improved gradually over time; gamers will always enjoy the comfort of interaction and challenge of mastering an input device,” he adds.

New titles begin to appear

As with all new launches, the titles on offer through these systems are currently limited. Both have come out with signature games to go with the hardware. Both revolve around sports – a similar approach to that taken by Nintendo when launching the Wii.

The battle to conquer the social gaming market will be an intense and intriguing one. At first look, the Xbox Kinect seems to have the advantage with a flawless, no controller system. On the other hand, the Playstation Move could trump it with better titles relying on its more powerful console. Whatever the result, as gaming firms go after an entirely new type of gamer, it seems the industry is set to grow yet again. （Source：Ameinfo）