14 DAY TRIAL // Ken Levine, the creator of the BioShock franchise and leader of Irrational Games, has expressed his views on the PlayStation Move motion controller and stereoscopic 3D, two trends that are being used by quite a few new titles these days.
Levine has been critically praised for the original BioShock game, and is now getting ready for the third installment in the series, BioShock Infinite, which changes up pretty much everything but the core mechanics of the series.
Now, the designer has talked with Play magazine about the use of motion controls like the PlayStation Move, and said that if you were to add the support and not do anything special with it, gamers would just feel cheated.
"I’d never want to throw in Move support just because it’s going to make some first party happy or because some marketing department wants it on the box because, at the end of the day, gamers know," he explained. "If you don’t have anything special to say about that control device gamers are going to know."
More and more games these days are supporting devices like the Move besides regular controllers, including Sony exclusives like Killzone 3 or the upcoming SOCOM 4.
Levine ultimately exemplifies his words with the classic choice from BioShock 1 and 2, saying, "Do you want to play BioShock and it’s like, ‘okay, do you want to harvest or save Little Sister? Waggle left to harvest, waggle right to save!’ You can have Move support on your box but people are going to know you’re cheating them."
More and more games are also backing up 3D technology, not just Sony exclusives but also titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, so Levine shared his insight on this subject as well.
"3D is a little bit different ... it’s something I’d be more open to. I’m not saying whether we’re doing that or not but it’s sort of a passive integration. Unlike movies, you don’t just shoot it differently. Games are 3D. But I think if you’re going to get out, front and centre on something, you have to be able to say you’re doing something special with it. Especially with a control device."
From the first video we saw of BioShock Infinite, the game is looking extremely sharp and promises to deliver some unique experiences, so at least support for 3D might be something worthwhile.