A recent study put its subjects through 18 rounds of virtual putting, with some using motion-controls and others using conventional controller inputs. The 161 participants in the study then took part in real putting, and the results are exactly what you would expect.
Those who played the game with motion-controls performed “significantly better” than the group that played the games with traditional inputs.
Edward Downs, one of the researchers, said that, “the putting motion in the game maps onto a real putting behavior closely enough”, and that this allowed the motion-controlled group to perform better. Downs continued on to say, “video games are no longer just video games anymore, they have become simulators.”
Motion-controls have fallen off a little in the last two years, but eventually they’ll probably find their way back to popularity – especially as virtual reality begins to make a bigger push into mainstream use. We’ll probably see motion-controls become more important as developers for virtual reality look to improve user interaction.
Have motion-controls ever proved more useful to you in a game? Was there ever a situation where motion-controls made you better at a real-life task? Leave a reply below!
