When I was a kid, I loved to play games at the arcade. Then I went to college and grad school for 10 years and got too busy to play. When I finally had a chance to play again, gaming technology had advanced and I couldn't figure out how to use the darn controller. Then, I broke my leg. This grounded me long enough to learn how to play a game. I started having fun and even started to get addicted. Then, my leg healed and I went back to work and didn't get to play for a month. When I finally had a chance to play again, I picked up the controller and realized that I forgot how.

So, as you can guess, today I'm not a gamer. But I do love to play sports, and I do love a challenge, and it is very much in my nature to get focused and addicted to things. So, I think I have the DNA to be a gamer, but I definitely don't have the time. On the sports side, it's interesting to note that while I took about 10 years off from riding a bike, playing tennis, and swimming, I got rusty but I never forgot how to play.

Well, there's a change in the industry that's going to make me a gamer again. It's based on the fact that motion sensors are going mainstream, and this is making games more intuitive to play.

Below is a video I recorded as I played a game with the LG SV360 mobile phone at ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong last December. The SV360 has a motion sensor in it that allows you to control the game by tilting the phone. Learning to snowboard was very intuitive- tilt the phone left to lean and turn left, tilt the phone right to lean and turn right, tilt the phone forward to bend down and speed up, and tilt the phone back to stand upright and slow down. I could play instantly, without picking up a manual or asking for help. It was a lot like my real life snowboarding experiences, except I didn't fall. (OK, so you could argue that it's not like real life... It's better.)



At a gaming summit we had at work, I also had a chance to play around with a Nintendo Wii, which has a motion sensor in the controller. You play tennis by swinging a virtual racket, you box by throwing a punch, and you bat by swinging a virtual bat. Again, the controls were so intuitive that I could play instantly, without picking up a manual or asking for help. Some of my gamer colleagues who own the Wii said that they bowled on the Wii, and their Wii scores actually reflected their real-life bowling scores. They also said that boxing can be a real workout on the Wii. The Wii is said to be "the most revelatory, breakthrough gaming experience since the mid 90's" and game developers like EA have committed to making new Wii games.

My main point is that now that motion sensors are becoming mainstream, games are becoming more intuitive to play, and the profile of "the gamer" is going to change significantly. After 20 years, I'm gonna be a gamer again! And, if the games are designed right, I think my mom and dad are gonna be gamers, too!