It’s not often I bring my personal life to this blog, but I came across something that just hits you hard (in a good way) about the innovation that Nintendo is bringing to gaming.
In an article on Game Daily, the new (and gorgeous) adventure game Super Mario Galaxy introduces a new mode of gameplay, which Nintendo calls a “coaster” mode.
The key quote:
“… the game’s cooperative mode gives the second player an assistive function. As the second player, you don’t get a character on screen, you get a cursor that is used to capture gems, gather coins, help give Mario jump boosts and distract would-be foes. So younger gamers still get to control the primary character, feel like they’re controlling a game and ensures that the game experience lasts longer than what would occur based on their current abilities.”
I was just talking about this with my wife and I, as I was promised a Wii for the holidays this year. I really want to play games that I can play with my three-year-old, but it’s generally difficult because while she wants to play and is clearly excited by the activity on the screen, she lacks the digital (as in finger) dexterity to control with any accuracy items on a virtual plane. So… this will be so awesome for her and me. She gets to play… and so do I.
This just made the must-buy list.
