Input Convergence
People tend to misunderstand Marshall McLuhan’s famous dictum “the medium is the message.” What he means is that the various technical environments we build for ourselves condition the direction our society evolves. The medium of television is itself the message we should be listening to and watching because it is television’s influence on our cognitive, economic and social development as a species that is far more important than anything the television can be used to tell us. Same goes for railroads in the past, and nanotechnology in the future.
Enter Nintendo’s new game controller device(s). In addition to defining a whole new spectrum of repetitive stress disorders, this device is utterly ingenious and utterly familiar. So familiar that I wonder if it isn’t already old, but more on that below. It combines new technologies with old technologies, and it taps into very deep structures already in place for decades. Here is is:
It looks like a remote control, right? Aren’t you immediately thinking “I can drive that”? A whole new spectrum of customers just opened their brains to Nintendo. The potential applications for computing in general are profound as well. If this type of controller is paired with emerging convergence environments like Mac OS X and Windows Media Centre, a lot of people are going to buy in simply because of the phenomenology of the controller. The actual game box itself will go the way of the cassette player as convergence hardware becomes more advanced, but the development platform stays. This can be seen in the fact that Microsoft makes no money from their XBox consoles (at least, that’s the rumor).
The thumbstick game controller was the way to get more people who didn’t have “computers” to play games. This notwithstanding the fact that the game console is a computer. But the Thumbstick Controller is its own little environment. The Remote Control is another. The two have been merged in a motion sensitive device that eliminates the translation of motion into thumbstick motion (the thumbstick you see above is an add-on - the controller is the device on the right, and in the top photo). The result is a less complex, more powerful input device. Extended to the realm of convergence environments, this type of controller could fuel a real mass uptake.
But how long can the whole paradigm of “a device over here to control a device over there” last? It is awkward, un-natural and takes a lot of batteries, never mind the mind-numbing paralysis that results when the remote is lost in the couch. I suggest the future is even more natural and intuitive than the grafted-on remote-consciousness Nintendo is seeking to leverage. The future has to be some combination of voice, biometrics and cybernetics.
Imagine how easy it would be to drive a computer if all commands had a corresponding number you spoke? One of the failings of voice recognition is that it requires training for each individual to be truly fluid and effective. Processing power is still a laggard in the equation as well. Both reqirements could be reduced by coding UI for OS and application environments to utilize a contextual numerical menuing system. To begin from Start, open word, create a new document from a template and run a macro could be as simple as saying “one, five, two, seven.” Repetitive tasks would be as easy as memorizing your PIN and would occur in a fraction of the time. No mouse. No keyboard.
Similarly, some combination of biometrics and cybernetics could allow for even more invisible mediation between input and result. Right now people are controlling mechanical devices with thought in experiments designed to assist disabled individuals. Input could also be tuned to voice characteristics to differentiate between several people in a room. Physical signals from the body could be used to control environmental variables and input prompts. Never mind clap on, clap off. What about blink on, blink off? Drift off and lights gradually lower and the cvolume drops. The system sleeps with you. You remember the UI in Minority report? My professor at UVic, Arthur Kroker, is building a lab to explore visualization and immersive input environments in a wide spectrum of disciplines.
Nintendo is making a bold move, but I wonder what the long-term strategy looks like. Their new controller leverages what has to be a dying paradigm. A device over here to control a device over there must be close to extinction, like the cassette deck. Nintendo better be well on the way to the next generation input paradigm.
