I hate motion controls.

Now, I don’t say that as some blind idiot who’s never tried actually using the devices I despise; I’ve played Killzone 3 with a sharpshooter, waggled a remote around Mario Galaxy, and even electric jazzhanded my way to saving Eden this past week in Q? Entertainment’s newest technopop art piece Child of Eden. I’ve given all three systems a fair and proper try, probably more so than most people who have a seething, baby-punching rage from the mere thought of not being able to sit on their couch and just…just hit the damned A button!

I’ve kept this opinion for a while now, since I bought my Wii, honestly. It’s always been tiring, always been a hassle to have the proper space, proper playing area, no obstructions, set up the sensor bar/Kinect/ Playstation Eye properly and besides; I’ve never wanted to get tired playing a game. If I wanted a workout, I’ve gone to the gym. If I wanted to play sports, I’ve smothered that feeling with booze.

But recently, something has changed; I think it’s because I’ve realized that, while I don’t like motion controls, my distaste for the idea is just because I dislike motion controls right now. No matter what I do, every time I watch Iron Man and see Robert Downey Jr. taking apart his suit via hologram image in order to slim it down and make it work, I get excited. When I watch Tron and see the virtual world where anything is possible (and has degraded into Romanesque Colosseum-style battles to the death) because of a computer program I realize something; that is what I want my motion controls to be.

And that’s eventually what it’s going to become. All of the systems in play are just early models of what could become a wholly realistic and amazing virtual experience.  Compare Nintendo’s newest venture into the home console market (the Wii U) to the NES; as a child, I was absolutely amazed by the system and would have never thought it would evolve this far. The graphics have, to an extent, hit a stopping point as have the game-play mechanics we’ve all grown up with. There are only so many different ways you can control Mario, so many different ways you can shoot a terrorist. The next step, from both a business and an entertainment standpoint, has to be motion, has to be realism.

Do I think what we have now is amazing? Hell no. While fun, playing Child of Eden with the Kinect (and its absolute lack of accuracy and insane requirement of eight feet of playing space which, I’ve come to find, is absolutely required.) is incredibly frustrating after 30 minutes. But implementing and using these primitive forms, just like any technology that has come before it, is absolutely required before it’s ever going to get better.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go look like a damned wizard while I shoot things out of my hands to techno music.