Nintendo / Sony: Next Gen Handhelds Need Any-Way-Up Gaming

Posted on | November 8, 2010 | No Comments

We already know what the Nintendo 3DS looks like, and if the leaks are to be believed, we’ve also had a glimpse of Sony’s PSPhone. The thing that I’ve been asking myself is, why are they doing their best to limit the options for game designers?

The rise of the iPhone (iPod Touch) has taken both Sony and Nintendo by surprise, and while the aggressive price of the games is one factor, I think one of its more subtle advantages is in the flexibility of its form. You see, the iPhone is as capable of hosting games in portrait format as it is landscape.

Early arcade machines experimented with using both formats, and landscape eventually became the norm. It’s hard to say whether the designers of the time felt that the upright format didn’t offer the enough options? Or if the landscape format made it easier for more people to gather around, see the action, and pump coins in to play for themselves. More than likely it was the potential to sell arcade games to the masses, via TV based consoles, that directed developers to adopt the TV / landscape format. [1] [2]

TVs screens copied the shape of cinema screens, just as they had previously copied theatre stage layouts, which were wider than they are tall because you can sit more people in front of them (not to mention it’s easier for actors to stand next to each, than on top of each other…). In other words, the screen evolved into its recognised shape without having to consider the requirements of the solitary user.

In any case, home consoles took the landscape route, and when handheld consoles took off they followed. Again, the ability to port from one device to another would have been one reason for this decision, but I find it hard to understand why a portrait format, handheld, gaming device has never really been tried. [3]

It wasn’t until the Nintendo DS came along that designers had any chance to try portrait designs. However, the button configurations meant that this could only be employed sensibly with stylus controlled games, and as such it always felt like an ‘alternative’ rather than an option on equal footing with landscape.

The iPhone – a device that wasn’t designed with games at the top of its functionality checklist – has such a simple form that it doesn’t discriminate between landscape and portrait orientation, and designers haven’t held back from using both.

We’ve been presented with TV-shaped screens for so long that we’ve never really questioned it, or had the opportunity to break the format, until now. But look around – most people using an iPhone or an iPad tend to adopt the portrait view, despite the years of ‘training’. It shouldn’t surprise us; it’s the way that we interact with other human beings. There’s an intimacy to it. Take more established media that we hold and look at; books and newspapers have shown us what humans prefer. Mirrors, especially in the home, tend to be taller than they are wide…Despite the layout of our eyes, when it comes to close up viewing, landscape isn’t our preferred choice.

Given what “iDevices” have taught us about the orientation of screens, why is the next wave of handheld devices opting for portrait-only screens?

The Nintendo 3DS could, in theory [4], be held in a ‘book’ format, but as well as the button layout still hampering the use of portrait mode, they have pretty much dictated how you will hold the device by making the screens unequal. It doesn’t make it impossible to design games to be played on a book-oriented 3DS, but it certainly cuts down the options.

And the PSPhone? Well, the leaked images might not show the final form but if they do, Sony has also opted, via the layout of the buttons, to dictate the orientation of the screen. It is possible that when the unit is closed, the player might be able to play using a touch screen, in which case any-way-up gaming might still be possible. The inclusion of a touchpad leads me to think that even if the unit has a touch screen for phone operations, Sony will expect the pad to be used instead to keep games unique to their system. (If you haven’t seen the alleged PSPhone design, I’ve added it, along with the 3DS, to my collection of designers’ templates – link).

The iPhone has been ‘hijacked’ as a gaming device, rather than being designed as one. Portrait layout games have flourished because the hardware can handle them without prejudice, but more importantly, because the audience embraces them. It seems short-sighted of Sony and Nintendo not to have noticed this.

[1] I’m sure I remember an old console game that had a vertical mode in it, and the player had to turn their incredibly heavy CRT TV on its side to play it.
[2] The Vectrex had an upright, built-in screen, but it was so different to its contemporaries that it’s hard to know if the portrait screen was a factor in its failure to really take off.
[3] The were several portrait-screened LED and LCD games in the late 70s / early 80s, but these were single-game, bespoke products. They weren’t able to host more than one game.
[4] It is also possible that the 3D effect only works when the screen is viewed from the prescribed orientation.

Category: Design, Games, Opinion
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