Plural noun [treated as sing.]
1. (used with a sing. verb) The applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. Also called biotechnology, human engineering, human factors engineering.
2. (used with a pl. verb) Design factors, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by minimizing operator fatigue and discomfort: The ergonomics of the new office were felt to be optimal.
Right, to tell you the truth I had no idea what this word meant until I looked it up. yeah, yeah I'm clearly retarded but that doesn't matter. All I need is the F12 button on my trusty MacBook to check a massive database of words. In other words, a dictionary. Woo! Apple; helping idiots everywhere. Also a good example of ergonomics in everyday life. I could have taken a extra few seconds traversing the web to Dictionary.com or opening up word to uncover the meaning, but some clever person somewhere decided to make things easier. That's people for you.
Humans are constantly trying to make life easier and nicer to live through various inventions and designs. Look at the television. It was invented for communication and entertainment purposes and while it still serves this function today it's been through many stages in it's lifetime, all the way from black and white to high definition.
Video game consoles are exactly the same. The developers are constantly trying to find new ways to make a game easier and more fun to control, look at the difference between the PS and PS2 controllers and the original PS3 controller concept. The developers claimed, and gave examples, of why you'd essentially be using a boomerang to control games. It seemed that the shape is more natural for the human hand and required less strain to perform actions, so basically, "intended to maximize productivity by minimizing operator fatigue and discomfort". Good job, Sony! That's ergonomics down to a tee. So WHY buckle under the pressure of the public who have never used the thing and complain about how "weird" it looks? Not so impressive that they reverted back to the original PS2 design with just a few new features. I understand the if it 'aint broke, don't fix it idea but I think they were onto a good thing.
Banana or boomerang? You decide.
Still on the topic of controllers, it seems that wireless is here to stay. This is great! It means that you can sit back without fear of pulling your £180+ investment onto your bedroom floor. However, Sony seem to be the only ones that realize that batteries are annoying, since you can plug their wireless device into the console for some juice.
Nintendo's latest offering is the most interesting. Being able to pick up motion and transfer this into the game is the next big step in video games history. Nintendo tried a similar thing years ago but it failed miserably, but since then they've learned and now their latest contribution to the industry is here. The "wiimote" actually uses tiny 1-millimeter x 1-millimeter disks that move against each other and pick up even the tiniest movement and transfer it to the console via bluetooth. This technology is also used in missiles to direct them to their targets (Just run if the controller comes hurtling back towards you when you put it down).
The Wii goes against the whole "intended to maximize productivity by minimizing operator fatigue and discomfort" thing though, since many gamers and non-gamers alike have been reporting fatigue AND discomfort because of over-exertion. Despite this though, the control system makes for easier gameplay and allows someone that has never picked up a video game controller before to get straight into the action.
Put it this way, Nintendo have rarely been wrong with their controllers. In fact, most of features on modern controllers were designed by their designers so keep an eye on 'em, things are going to get good.
Since I haven't played the Wii or PS3 I can't really include their interfaces into my own personal experience, though I have heard great things about both.
The console with the easiest interface for me would be the N64. This is because there was no need for memory cards or sticks to mess around with and the saving was near-instantaneous. Start menus and such in consoles were non-existant back then so it was all as simple as slotting the cartridge in and turning on the power button. no fuss.
As to the nicest looking console I've played, I'd go for the gamecube. It's simple, small and pretty cool looking. The PS3 is definitely the nicest console ever, though.
Mmmm...
No comments:
Post a Comment