Gears Of War designer praises PSP2 legacy control layout
Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski believes smartphones are naturally at odds with the most prevalent controller layout in gaming.
“Dual-analogue touch-screen controls do not work,” he said in an interview with Play magazine.
“They’re fun for 15 seconds and then it’s just friction-burn.”
Bleszinski’s observation comes as smartphone games sector continues to grow at an extraordinary pace.
Apple has generated over $2 billion from games on the App Store, the company recently claimed.
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Many iPhone developers, including Epic Games, have in the past attempted to map dual-analogue to multi-touch-screens, though Bleszinski suggests the approach needs a rethink.
Bleszinski proceeded to praise the upcoming high-end PSP2 – Sony’s latest bid to thrive in the mobile and handheld market.
“As much as I love iPad and iPhone gaming, I’m glad to see a portable that has actual buttons and dual analogue on it,” he said.
He also theorised that, should the planets align, a game such as Bulletstorm could one day be released on PSP2.
As testimony to the rapidly advancing technical sophistication of mobile devices, iPhone games can be built on Epic Games’ high-end Unreal Development Kit.
Last year, when Epic vice president Mark Rein began to exhibit Unreal Engine on mobile devices, he did so with a dual-analogue controlled demo.
That demo was released for free on the App Store under the name Epic Citadel, and again tasked the player with navigating worlds via dual-analogue controls. Yet Epic’s eventual commercial product based on the tech, the iOS game Infinity Blade, featured no such control set-up. Instead it plays via clicks and swipe motions.
Unreal Engine tech has been adapted to support NGP, Epic Games recently announced.
There's a shitload of games for iOS but most of them have really sucky controls.
He's 100% right. The whole "wouldn't it be cool if" thing has to work within the parameters of appropriate use of technology. Maybe its because touch screens & even other control types like motion control have been around a relatively short period of time but so many people don't seem to get/prioritise this stuff.
According to Cliffy B Sony can't do anything right. Kinect is the ultimate shit, Move is garbage, XBL price hike is the most awesome shit to happen to us, PSN is garbage and NGP is garbage.
Cliffy is saying what other developers are thinking, yet again.
He's spot on with the whole dual-analog-touch thing the iOS got going.
@SDK69 - Do you have trouble reading or did you just not read the whole thing?
He never said anything about the stuff you mentioned and on top of that he praised the NGP/PSP2.
Get a life you effin' troll!
