This Is Exactly Why I Hate Peripherals


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They are gaming's extras. The add-ons. The bits that are outside the core elements. And I hate them. Well, not all of them. Those who have a solid fighting stick or a solid driving wheel, are able to use those peripherals in game after game, experience after experience. These peripherals work best because they are not dedicated to only a handful of titles and they can actual one up the player's experience.

Yes, pictured right up there is the Wii Fit Balance Board. It is the experience. Unlike a fighting game or a driving game or even a light gun game, you must have this peripheral to play. While cleaning out my closet this past weekend, I found it in the back of a closet, wrapped in bubble wrap and covered in dust. I somehow had forgotten that I owned the Balance Board, but there it was, taking up space.

Please be aware that I do not hate Wii Fit. It's a novel, interesting product. What I loathe is that after my Wii Fit experience has ended, and I have moved on to other experiences, I am stuck with a peripheral.

Obviously, the Balance Board can be used with a few other games. I, however, do not own those games. I own Wii Fit.

We live in an age when everything is getting streamlined. My cell phone has a 5 megapixel camera in it. I can listen to music on it. I can send emails with it. I can watch television, movies and talk to my co-workers through my computer. The number of individual items I own has been steadily decreasing, but I still feel like I'm occasionally getting stuck with peripherals: fake gun looking things, steering wheels, plastic instruments and a myriad of controllers.

What irks me the most about these other dedicated peripherals is space. They eat it up. They clutter. They become knick-knacks.

The initial experience with these peripherals, but unlike a standard Wii Remote, DualShock 3 or Xbox 360 Controller, these peripherals do not move smoothly between genres and titles. They are a party favor that exists long after the party has ended. They are gaming's version of a hangover.

So console manufacturers! Publishers! Please, please bear in mind our closets are only so big. We want new experiences, but we just don't want to be overloaded with stuff with those experiences have ended. Project Natal is showing us fewer peripherals ? or barely any ? is possible. More importantly, the Wii Remote have already showed us that. Nintendo made an extremely versatile controller with the Wii-mote. It's works for traditional input, driving, shooting. You just can't stand on it and have it weigh you. Unfortunately.

With the successful of recent games like Rock Band, dedicated peripherals won't be going away anytime in the future. If companies can show that they're not just selling a game, but a gaming platform forged in plastic, gamers can look forward to cluttered closets for years and years to come.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5462961/this-is-exactly-why-i-hate-peripherals

More of an editorial, but I agree with it, my (or mums), WiiFit board is just sitting downstairs doing **** all.

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Well, that's the price you pay for using "exotic" peripherals like the Wii Fit balance board. Personally, I wouldn't waste my money on a peripheral that only truly supports one or two games.

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Reminds me of a comic that Penny-Arcade did a while back (primarily the second frame): http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/18/

It certainly seems to ring true now. The only peripheral that I currently own is a fighting stick, and the only peripheral that I intend to add to that collection is a racing wheel for GT5. I don't have much room in my place as it is, so I'd like to avoid filling it up with things that I'll use for five hours and never touch again.

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I feel the same way. Rock band junk is cluttering up closet, and basement space in my place and we hardly ever use it (in fact i do not believe i have touched them in over a year)

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Yeah I cba even playing with my GH5 stuff any more.

All this plastic crap is going to kill our planet :laugh:

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Yeah I cba even playing with my GH5 stuff any more.

All this plastic crap is going to kill our planet :laugh:

nothing else can be such an appropriate symbol of modern consumerism ...

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People who use Wii Fit properly will get possibly more hours from it than an FPS hardcore gamer will from Battlefield etc ...

People who buy items as a novelty should accept their dumb stupidity and move on. I personally have a Wii Fit in the house for my girlfriend, and she's been using it for a while and I don't see it ending. She uses it to help keep her body in shape. It works.

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Make the decision beforehand to tell yourself... (I don't ever go to the gym... I NEED WII FIT! - aka, it will probably eventually get left in the closet.)

This is what I loved about Dance Dance Revolution. When I stopped using the $20 pad that I bought, I cut it up with an old fleece blanket, pulled out the sew and made matching laptop slip covers as gifts for my friends (couple that plays DDR) Multiuse for the win!

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I don't mind them if they are either really suitable for the game or alternatively they will be used in multiple titles. Something like guitar hero I've reused a fair bit where the light guns from my House of the Dead on the wii sort of sit there gathering dust. But yeah, most don't take up THAT much space so its not a huge deal and I don't own THAT many perephials.

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I feel the same way. Rock band junk is cluttering up closet, and basement space in my place and we hardly ever use it (in fact i do not believe i have touched them in over a year)

at least you dont got it for the 360 and ps3 :(

when I only had my 360 I got the first one. then I got a ps3 and let me sister have my 360 for a few months and got rockband 2 for the ps3 since it was only $100 with the stuff. it sucks having 2 sets of it

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I think its all in peoples interest. When you see it you say "Wow, that's awesome, I want to give that a try"

If you bought the Wii Balance board, OBVIOUSLY you don't think at the time "Well that's really going to clutter up my house"

I have the Wii Fit, I'm really enjoying it. At least its not as big as the GH drum-kits and guitars. I have 2 guitars and fortunately I've lost interest in that before I bothered to buy the full kit.

I'm sure the Wii balance board isn't much of the clutter. It can easily be stored. The guy didn't realise he had the thing until he looked far back in the his closet.

I agree more on the GH peripherals as they're large. Wii fit, not so much.

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