What Game Companies Can Learn from Apple

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Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft could take a few lessons from the house that Jobs built.

by Libe Goad on Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Apple made a big splash again on Tuesday, January 15 with the announcement of its ultraportable MacBook Air laptop, new iPhone enhancements and an Apple TV update. As usual, most of these new products are available right away (the MacBook Air ships in two weeks) and as always, Steve Jobs and company put the consumer first -- or at least do a bang-up job of making the customer feel like they come first.

So why aren't game companies taking more notes from Apple?

Game companies can learn a lot from Apple's simple, stylish interfaces and one-finger operation.

1) Consumer-Friendly Design
Like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, Apple creates hardware and software for various platforms (desktops, laptops, media players, etc.) but, unlike these gaming titans, Apple has a reputation for basing every step of every product's development on creating a superior experience for the user.

That's most obvious in the design. The clean, simple, non-bulky iPod, MacBook, etc., designs make these gizmos friendly to even the most adamant technophobe. Uncluttered, graphically driven interfaces make Apple products elegantly browsable (unlike, say, the impossible-to-navigate PlayStation Network store).

2) Simple Operation
Another strength is that Apple products employ a 'one-finger' method of operation. The iPod, iPhone, and even the one-button Mighty Mouse can, for the most part, be manipulated using one finger. Nintendo's Wii comes closest to recreating the Apple experience, with simple menus and one-handed remote (though once the Nunchuck is attached, it gets a little more complicated).

Plowing through games and system menus on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 requires two thumbsticks and a handful of buttons. We can't count how many non-gamer friends struggled to maneuver through the 'blades' on the Xbox Live menu, and the PlayStation 3's Cross Media Bar -- while cool looking -- is more of a puzzle game than an easy experience for newcomers. Updating the system software on the PS3 and Wii is a nightmare, although Microsoft has done a decent job of making that task largely transparent.

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