Blizzard's hate (/love?) relationship with consoles
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 27th 2009 at 9:00AM
Rumors are bubbling up from GDC '09 that Blizzard is finally considering consoles again for their future games. Blizzard seems to have a hate/hate relationship with consoles -- despite the fact that they started out with some extremely popular console games (Lost Vikings was one of the best games on the Sega Genesis), they've become very solidly a PC gaming company in the past few years. Sure, they released Starcraft 64 and the Playstation port of Diablo, but since Starcraft: Ghost left a bad taste in their mouths, they've stayed away from the console market (and some might say that's saved the PC market).The main problem, says Rob Pardo, is one of control: console controllers just don't have the flexibility to do what Blizzard wants to do with their games. "If I were them," he told the press, "I'd be sitting around trying to figure out what's a cool new input device that supports all types of new kinds of games." And he also hinted that he might be trying to do just that -- Blizzard is apparently in talks with Microsoft, not to develop for this generation of consoles, but to help them advance to the next generation. This is a little more than just Diablo III on the Xbox 360 (though that's definitely a possibility) -- it's Blizzard possibly getting the chance to bring what they love about PC gaming to the next console generation.
Heady stuff. Blizzard doesn't need to do anything these days, of course -- if they want to take their next sequel and release it in, say, three separate parts, they can do that and it will likely still be a hit. But if they want to set their sights on innovating in the console space, we'll probably all benefit.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard, Economy, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Serbeus Mar 27th 2009 9:07AM
It would be something else to cast your spells with hand movements by way of the wii controller. i think i could come up with enough combination to cover all my spells. Or why not make a keyboard type device for the consoles.
enkafiles Mar 27th 2009 9:38AM
that would be so beyond cool - I really love the thought of mapping hand motions to caster spells.
havitech Mar 27th 2009 9:59AM
The Wii and PS3 already supports USB keyboards.
As far as WoW goes, gesture-based controls for spells would be fun, but unfortunately very impractical because it wouldn't be as fast as just hitting a key. A lot like how using a mouse to aim in an FPS is much more accurate than using an analog stick.
Jacob Mar 27th 2009 10:04AM
Yes, i agree. It would be fun but not practical. My main is an affliction lock, which many people know, requires some timing. adding in the amount of time to do a movement would just add to the mess. Plus there would be the whole "i did the motion for this spells not that spell". The ability of the remote to detect movement would have to be exact. I don't think the wii is current at that stage =)
rosencratz Mar 27th 2009 10:05AM
Keyboards already work on consoles, it's all just USB these days isn't it?
Gestures are also vastly different, only so many gestures can really, realistically be captured by the wii remote for one thing and it'd be slow enough and clumsy enough that the only thing you could probably play would be Harry Potter wizard dueling.
I imagine Blizzard are thinking of something, somewhere between the standard hand held controllers, which have certain benefits despite "not having enough inputs" and keyboards, which despite having plenty of inputs go mostly unused and are unwieldly to use infront of most home television sets.
additionally it's the combination of mouse AND keyboard that makes the PC more powerful. Just having a mouse means you can click in a hundred places, with left,middle and right buttons with variables from shift,ctrl and alt. Add the rest of the keyboard and you have many options for sure but it's the combinations of not even half of the keyboard + the mouse that gives the combo so much power over the hand held controller.
Possibly a wiimote-style pointer/mouse in right hand + a W,A,S,D/1-5 wrist mounted controller/keyboard in left?
Rest assured, though the options are endless the end result will not be a million miles away from what already exists.
Treason Mar 27th 2009 10:23AM
Say hello to repetitive stress injuries
The wii controler destroys hands, wrists, elbows, backs, etc for extended play. Legend of Zelda HURT to play.
rosencratz Mar 27th 2009 10:27AM
@ Treason - I'm guessing you didn't take the reccommended breaks every 1-2 hours then?
Tiago Mar 27th 2009 11:03AM
Raid Leader: Ok guys, we've been raiding for an hour now, i know we're trying to do the timed achievement but lets all take a 15 minute break to rest our hands and arms.
Paladin: Great, I can't feel my arm anymore from all the FoL spam. :|
Gesture control for WoW in its current form is stupid.
You often spend upwards of 1 or 2 hours casting spells constantly. Do you really want to waggle some remote for 1 straight hour to play?
It would be new and fun for the first 5 minutes and then everyone would turn it off.
Elry Mar 27th 2009 11:46AM
Pressing a button on the keyboard requires very little skill, thats why WoW currently revolves around having to cast a great many heals in quick succession, or creating spell rotations to follow (in PvE). PvP requires more skill, as you are having to pit yourself against someone else who can think freely. However, the abilities in PvP still only require the click of a button and the movement of a mouse, which can be very precisely done with little trouble. This is probably partly why there is a lot of maths and theorycrafting in the game, because those are the areas that players' knowledge and skill or even experimentations can be put to the test.
To use the Wii remote for casting spells, the difficulty of the game would need to be changed from being based on the theory and rotations (our toons' abilities) to being based on our hands/arms being able to correctly immitate the gestures and timing them right once we get the hang of them (our own abilities). This is what makes the Wii so much fun to play in competition with other players. Take golf games for example. At their most basic, non-Wii versions depend on getting the right angle (precisely controllable with the left/right buttons) and holding down the buttons for the correct length of time, while (again at the most basic) Wii versions can take in all the motion data from the controller so each hit depends on the player swinging with the correct force and speed and angle. Twisting the controller in mid-swing can have an effect (maybe not in the Wii Sports version, but the capability is there in the controller). Therefore, some games on the Wii are based more on the player's general skill with what the game is simulating than the player's skill in using a controller. I think this would be fascinating if it were used in the next version of WoW or similar games but we'd no doubt see a lot of QQing from those who currently consider themselves skilled in WoW but wouldn't necessarily be able to get the hang of gestures.
Max Mar 27th 2009 12:04PM
consoles are limited and pre-packaged and inhibit creativity.
lets hope that blizzard stays away from them forever.
Taxidermy Mar 27th 2009 3:55PM
Games are by no means limited to when they ship the box any longer. X360 and PS3 both have harddrives and internet connections, and the games get patched regularly if the system is online. You can download mods and play online and all the other good stuff that you can do with a pc. It just doesn't have as sophisticated a control scheme as a mouse and keyboard.
Kryxx Mar 27th 2009 4:32PM
@ Treason:
Try testing on the Wii for 40+ hours a week for a year, then you can talk. :D
souvlaki Mar 27th 2009 9:13AM
If they want to sell WoW for consoles (besides adjusting the code for them) they just need to make the requirement of attaching a mouse and a keyboard to the console.
"console controllers just don't have the flexibility": well, if mouse and keyboard is flexible enough for the pc version, sure it will be enough for the console version.
It's not like the aren't games in the market that require fancy controllers which are not included with the console when you buy it (Guitar hero?). And all modern consoles come with USB ports (my old PS2 has them).
If they think that console users are not going to buy a keyboard based game, that's another issue.
Slog Mar 27th 2009 9:15AM
I play WoW now with a controller. Not at all difficult, in fact, easier when you map mouse movement to the stick. Good thing as a hunter I only have my rotation shots lol.
mike Mar 27th 2009 9:24AM
I'm not sure how well it do on consoles. I don't think console gamers would put up massive time sinks, bugs, constant re-balancing of the game and monthly fee.
Yeah I know WoW is casual friendly, buts that's only when you compare it to other MMO's. Telling a console gamer that it takes 200+ hours to reach lvl cap will probably result in a heart attack. Also, WoW has such limited game play so the fun factor of doing the same tasks over and over again wouldn't go over well.
Kylenne Mar 27th 2009 10:19AM
You're obviously unfamiliar with the world of the console RPG and the 200+ hour save files my non-WoW playing self had on various Final Fantasy games maxing out stats and the like. I had 300 hours on a Vagrant Story save solely from spending hours in workshops forging weapons and armor.
Console RPGs can be just as grindy as MMOs depending on how you play them. I would also be remiss if I didn't point out FFXI's doing just fine on the 360. I guess Blizzard missed the memo about modern consoles and keyboards.
johnnyamerika Mar 27th 2009 9:35AM
I also play WoW with an Xbox 360 controller currently. I'm a druid, and I basically have buttons 1-10 mapped out on the controller, plus a modifier button to do CTRL 1-10. With multiple forms (I'm feral) that gives me in the range of 60 buttons to play with, which is more than enough. And since I've been doing it since level 10 or so, I have everything completely memorized now. Any class with a stance or a form shift would be great for this - my shaman is a little bit more difficult to use, but I just make some totem macros and off I go.
Silverdragon Mar 27th 2009 9:41AM
How do you set that up??? I would really liked to try that out.
Esk Mar 27th 2009 9:44AM
Platforms suck. That crappy controller doesn't even get close to the flexibility you get by using mouse + keyboard. Thanks Blizzard for focusing on PC games.
Dezcore Mar 27th 2009 9:52AM
Don't see the issue really regarding complexity of controls regarding spell selection on something like the xbox360.
Hold the left trigger enter a 3 button combo and release trigger to cast. Should give a large enough selection for varios moves. Options would allow setting combo's depending on stance etc, for stanceless classes allow 3 bundles of combo's anyway which can be changed around like stances.
Ok, so the above might seem strange or downright dumb, but i feel that the possibilities for a game like WoW on consoles should be more than just wishful thinking.