This blog post by a game designer was intended to poke fun at contemporary trends in games. But, I think it also applies to a trend in usability. In usability, it’s cliché now to joke about putting something in the manual. Everyone in the field pretends that manuals don’t exist when they’re designing products (unless, of course, said product is the manual). But, I’ve never heard anyone discuss providing too much help or guidance. Sometimes when you don’t provide any guidance, the end user has the most fun and they learn more quickly how do things (like in Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros.).

My suggestion: Provide visual cues when appropriate. Allow for some exploration if it’s not a one-time-only or walk-up-and-use interface (like an ATM or grocery self-checkout). Users are smart and will figure some things out on their own. Don’t interrupt them frequently with tips–put all the help you want in a sub-menu.

This video demonstrates that running in place becomes a lot more interesting with realistic scenery. It combines exercise with visual stimulation and learning. With full-motion video instead of Street View images, this would be a lot better.

Nintendo intends to satisfy all audiences with simple, rendered worlds and playful music. However, adults prefer real music and real world experiences (or at least that’s my guess). That’s why I’m predicting Wii Music will fail.

Try to run on the google street view like a jogging game of wii fit from katsuma on Vimeo.

The idea of games being used for reasons beyond entertainment is nothing new, but there hasn’t been a standout title that crossed the barrier. Nintendo is currently trying their hardest to change the way we think of games. They have been doing this for a while with games like Mario Paint, but more recently they have seen some success with Brain Age.

Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is on fire after the first week of baseball. He is leading all catchers in hitting (even my beloved Victor Martinez). A.J. claims that the Nintendo DS game Flash Focus has helped him improve his reaction time at the plate. So, pick him up if he’s a free agent in your fantasy league.

It will be interesting to follow this trend of learning through gaming in the years to come. Virtual reality has been used for a long time for training purposes (e.g. flight simulators), but Nintendo is bringing the power of learning with games into households for the first time.

(via Gizmodo via The Chicago Sun Times)

The Wii is great, and I highly recommend trying to find one (hint: look at your Sunday ads and try to get to the store at 8:30am). However, the organization of the screens is one of the biggest things that bugs me. In particular, I often struggle to find the home button on the screen. I can understand if games made by different manufacturers place the button in a different area, but I am referring to the applications that Nintendo created. They have very little consistency.

Mii Channel: top-left with circular arrow
Photo Channel: bottom-left button
Shop Channel: mid-bottom left button
Everybody Votes Channel: top-right with circular arrow
Internet Channel: mid-bottom bar with curved down arrow
Forecast Channel: bottom-left button
News Channel: bottom-left button
Message Board: bottom-right circular button
Check Mii Out Channel: bottom-left circular arrow that turns into a rounded corner button
Totals: bottom-left button 3, many designs tied at 1

Does this bug anyone else, or do you just use the dedicated home button on the remote? Check out my Flickr set of Wii screenshots to see the differences.

The biggest kick-in-the-ass from my Wii so far was when I was entering my credit card information:

The occlusion was a bit of a problem, but there also isn’t any auditory feedback when I hit the button! Therefore, I had to move my cursor away to see the month I selected. Out of all the screens on the Wii, one would think Nintendo would carefully design this one. After all, it’s the screen where they make the most money.

Every time you enter a search term and hit “search,” the term is added along with the previous term (e.g. if you search for “usability” you will get one result, and if you then enter “research” and hit “search,” you will get 0 results since there are no jobs with both “usability” and “research” in the description). Most search engines work by only searching for words that are in the text field. This form breaks that de facto standard. To start a completely new search you have to hit the “New Search” button and then enter your new search term(s).

And, no, there are no usability jobs at Nintendo of America. Go figure.