Television sets as a medium

Consider the television. I don't really know for what need it was created, but early uses of the TV include news broadcasts and programs that were often performed and taped in front of a live audience. TV programs were originally aimed at sending infromation to an audience.

Consider now video games (specifically, 'modern' video games). The purpose of most games these days (especially first person shooters and most action/adventure games that are played with an 'over-the-shoulder' view) is to immerse the player in a virtual setting. I hope that immediately you can discern the difference between these two audiences. One brings the esperience to you, while the other tries to bring you to the experience.

TVs haven't changed much over the years. They still display things on a rectangular screen and not much else. Television programs have changed drastically in style (American Idol still treats viewers as an audience, but consider CSI or 24 which have fabricated environments, if you understand), but still only output information to viewers.

Video games however, are fundamentally different: they require interaction with the player. It is this interaction that makes gaming a distinct experience from television. Let's break video games into three distinct parts: input, output, and processing. If we consider now the 'next generation' consoles (PS3, XBox360, Wii), we see that PS3 and X360 are focusing on increasing the processing capabilities of the experience, while Nintendo is expanding the definition of what the input is.

In terms of the output, all systems are limited by their medium: televisions. They are increasing the number of polygons on screen at one time through processing, creating more 'realistic' images, but I argue that in this context, 'realistic' is a comparison to the realism that televisions are capable of, which is a program intended for an audience. They're still just dots on a screen. Until the big three rethink the output phase of the gaming experience, they will be limited in how immersive their games are. I certainly don't have any revolutionary ideas about what the new output medium could be, but that's not my job.

All in all, I'd like to congratulate Nintendo for being the first to truly revolutionize the input part of the equation. PS3 and X360 have embraced things like tilt control, analog buttons, and even camera input, but 95% of the games out there still use controllers just as they would have ten years ago (though I suppose analog control has become standard). Nintendo is trying to do away with the generic design while still keeping it an option.

Sorry if this is a terrible entry, but I'm just sort of typing whatever comes to mind as it comes to me.

Listening to... Ozma - Flight of the Bootymaster
Link of the moment... I don't know if I'll wind up buying a next gen or not.