[QUOTE="mjarantilla"]
A good user interface shouldn't need ANY practice before someone can start using it competently. Sure, practice can make you better at using it, but that's all.
In CliffyB's own words, "Expecting a person to figure out how to use a traditional controller is like saying, 'Hey, you need to learn Spanish before you can enjoy this game.'"
This isn't a problem with PCs, because with PCs, in most tasks the keyboard is very straightforward. You hit a button with a letter painted on it, and the computer prints out the letter of the button you hit. But with consoles, and with most PC games, extra layers of abstraction are added so that nothing is straightforward anymore. The simpler those layers of abstraction can be, the more accessible the game becomes and the more enjoyable it becomes to everyone.
Bgrngod
Controllers aren't a UI. They are an input device, as well as an output device, depending on the controller. There is a huge difference. If you want a "good UI" they would need to ship unique controllers for each game. The controllers now are used for all of the thousands of games that are released on consoles.
The 360/PS3 controllers are reaching the pinnacle of perfection as far as game pad controllers go. They have just the right number of intuitive buttons. It takes all of maybe 30 minutes to figure out what most games do just by tapping keys, or *GASP* going through a simple tutorial that lays it all out. It's called a learning curve. Every game out there, regardless of control method, has a learning curve. There is no way around it. Changing the controller around by removing buttons could just as easily extend the time of the learning curve as well as shorten it.
That Cliffy B. quote you provided, is quite honestly, retarded. Learning spanish takes a long time. Figuring out how to use a controller can be done in one sitting.
Input devices ARE UIs. And you don't need unique controllers for each game, just a generic enough controller that can be utilized in many different methods. That's what the Wiimote is (or what it was supposed to be, if they ever figure out gesture control). For human beings, gestures are how we interact with the world, not buttons, and it's a lot easier to learn gestures than it is to learn button configurations.
And the Dual Shock-sty1e controllers are FAR from reaching the "pinnacle of perfection." As I said, a good UI shouldn't require any kind of tutorial or introduction. Yes, there will be a learning curve, but any UI (or input device, if you want to be specific) should be usable from the very beginning. Right now, that's not the case. Even though a tutorial might teach the basic controls, most games require far more competence than just "the basics" even on the first levels. The learning curve for ANY user interface or input device should BEGIN at "conscious competence" and peak at "unconscious mastery," but currently, the learning curve for Dual Shock-sty1e controllers begins at "conscious incompetence," which is the most difficult phase to work through. In other words, it doesn't have a curve: it has a wall.
Most regular gamers are already past this wall, but potential gamers are not, and that's the point of the CliffyB quote: that modern Dual Shock-type controllers have a barrier for entry associated with them that discourages people from playing games, just like learning a language. With no real benefit to playing a game, and thus no motivation to begin playing, combined with the barrier for entry, no one who doesn't already play games will want to learn how to use a controller in the first place.
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