Touching on touch screen gaming

When I was growing up, the idea of directly interacting with what was on the screen was amazing.  I'm not talking about using a controller like a remote control for my virtual avatar, but the idea of pointing with something to the screen (a pen, a gun, etc) and seeing that the TV knew where you were pointing and responded.  For whatever reason, that was the thing that made gaming real to me.

The "game" I remember the most was one where a maroon light pen was used to draw.  I remember my dad and brother working on other things with it (I can't quite remember exactly what, I think my dad was programming some game that tracked the pen but I'm not sure), but really the ability to paint on the black canvas of the TV was amazing to me.  Sure it had the same result as using crayons, in fact it was less effective than crayons because back in that day you couldn't even save the drawing (or if you could, the cost would be huge) but it was just fun.  I fumbled, I scribbled, I tapped on the TV too hard so my dad thought I would break the screen.  Reaching up to the screen so high above was hard for my little arms, but I loved every second of it.  I loved it so much, that even when the system was off, I loved that light pen with the curled cord and played with it.  I now know that it was little more than a photo resistor and a good timing connection, but back then it was magic.

I now look at my children and wonder what they think when they use a tablet.  I had a slight glimpse into this when, back before A was born, I was reading G one of those Little Mr books.  On the back, there are pictures of all the other Mr and Mrs characters to advertise the other books for sale.  In my youth I would look at them and imagine what their stories would be, but my daughter did something different.  She tapped a Mr and then opened the book again.  Looking confused she closed the book, looked at the back, tapped a Mr, and opened it again.  It dawned on me that she was trying to press the icon for a different story and load up new pages.  Maybe that will happen one day, but not yet, so I had to explain to my disappointed 2 year old that this was the only story and she would have to pick up another book from the shelf.

Now my 3 year old son remembers our 4 digit unlock password for our tablet after having been told it once on a car trip.  Both A and G flick and swipe Sonic through randomly generated stages.  They both drop blocks in seemingly random places in Cubify for me to print their creations in 3D.  Instead of waiting for an infomercial to stop before their favorite show comes on they have never experienced such a thing and instead flip through an endless array of shows on Netflix.  An endless stream of diversions all made infinitely more possible because of them being able to touch.

And still, every now and then, both the kids pull out an app that is just a black canvas where they can draw vibrant colors, sometimes with sound effects and rainbow lines.  They fumble, and scribble, and tap on the screen.  At those times, I think I know exactly what they are thinking.

Spreading to a new generation...

So both my kids have started to seriously play games now.  A (the 3 year old) definitely prefers classic games, with Mario and PacMan being his favorites at the moment.  My mom insists that A is better at PacMan than her, although I have not seen her play so I don't know if that is just grandmother speak for being impressed.  Frankly I am impressed that A not only dodged a few goombas, but navigated over pipes and chasams, killed a goomba or two, and managed to make it to the half way spawn point.  I really need to go through my NES collection to see if I can find something that isn't "Nintendo hard."

G (the 5 year old) on the other hand seems to prefer the 3D games.  This is odd to me, since I feel like there is a huge leap in the ability to understand using a controller when you shift from 2D to 3D.  I originally started her off way back when Skyward Sword came out, and she certainly had trouble with going where she wanted to go (in fact, both of them were shouting out the solutions to the puzzles when I was playing, sometimes faster than I could figure it out).  Fast forward to today (just two and a half years later) and G is playing Super Mario 3D World right along side me. Once she even beat my score and got the crown (which she promptly lost on the next stage).

It's awesome to see the unashamed movements when G is trying to get Peach to do her bidding.  The classic "tilt the controller to steer" that we watched our parents attempt to do is amplified in this new world where the control stick is no longer attached to the control buttons, and the Wii-mote nunchuck slowly grows closer to G's mothers face as G tries to get Peach to move a little faster to the right.  I swear she would turn backwards if her head would still be able to still face the TV.

It has been a while since I last posted, and since then we have played through Zelda: Skyward Sword, Pikmin 3, Sonic Generations, and New Super Mario Brothers Wii U (I can't wait until they make that name even longer with New Super Mario Brothers Wii U Two).  In terms of starting we are going through Super Mario 3D World (which is just as good as they say), Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (which is beautiful in art and story if not lacking a bit in gameplay), and Zelda: Windwaker HD.  Each of those is worthy of a post in itself and I hope to get into that in the coming weeks.

I will say G and A have started their own games of Pikmin 3 which they love (although they play with a different flavor).  G plays all on her own which is really impressive to see, except when there are enemies at which point she thrusts the controller into my hands and I get to save the day.  A on the other hand just loves sitting in my lap and occasionally pressing the "throw" and "call" buttons.  I can't say I mind.