Comments on: Lamentations of a sinister gamer

By: The Renaissance Man

The Renaissance Man — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:00:29 +0000

I actually did that instinctually with the wii the first time I played it. I was running a race on Mario Kart, and sucked it up. Then I realized my flaw. It is a bit more comfortable to hold it reversed, but the thumb movements are a tough habit to break.

By: Dan Bruno

Dan Bruno — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:36:47 +0000

Peter: Oh god. That sounds like it would drive me absolutely insane!

Here’s another thing I just thought of. Back in the early 90s I played a lot of platformers on the computer — Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, all of those Apogee titles like Bio Menace and Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure. By default, those games used the arrow keys for movement (right hand) and some combination of Ctrl, Alt, and the spacebar for actions (left hand). Eventually, of course, that system was supplanted by the now-standard WASD keys, which put directional control back in the left hand. Maybe that’s why I managed to do all right when flipping my Wii controls — I had some experience doing it both ways already.

Also, “flipping my Wii controls” sounds funny.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:01:36 +0000

Interesting experiments! I’m a lefty too. I’ve never tried switching hands on a game, although I did once reverse the keyboard on my digital piano so the high notes were on the left and the low ones on the right. I hoped my left hand would be better than my right at scales and fast melodic figuration, but years of piano lessons have effectively crippled it.

The other thing was that although diatonic scales still felt diatonic, major chords and minor chords were swapped. That took some getting used to!

By: Dan Bruno

Dan Bruno — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:41:11 +0000

Michael: I hope you’re talking about the part where you have to help Mr. Orange do that tree-sprouting dance, because I had trouble with that too and it’d be good to know that the worst is over. :-)

Rayna: Even though I’m very much a lefty, I too have tried playing all the Remote + Nunchuk games both ways. Mario Kart Wii was a disaster when I tried steering with my right hand, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl was…well, that one is still pretty much a disaster either way. I don’t think I can blame my ineptness on the controls there. :-) I agree with you, though — it’s nice to have options.

One interesting side effect of the separated Remote + Nunchuk controller is that I often play with my arms folded. My housemates mock me for it, since it looks like I’m pretending to be all nonchalant. Really, though, it’s pretty comfortable.

By: Rayna

Rayna — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:15:46 +0000

I’m actually ambidextrous and do most things with my right but some others with my left (for instance I golf right, but play hockey left). One of the things I found with the Wii is when the game is played with just the remote, I’d often just switch hands. When it came to using the nunchuck, I’d sometimes swap them too without realizing it. I think that’s great! It’s nice to be able to have that kind of freedom with the controls:)

By: Michael Abbott

Michael Abbott — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:46:59 +0000

I’m having a hard time remembering the exact moment in Okami that almost drove me from the game, but it had something to do with drawing circles and slashes around a series of critters (in trees as I recall) to the rhythm of a tune in a limited amount of time. If the game doesn’t recognize one of your circles, you fail and must start over.

Thankfully, I made it through after about 25 attempts and never experienced a similar moment later, but for awhile my beloved Okami was the bane of my existence and the cause of much lamentation. :-)