I love Mass Effect 2. Story wise it’s great, and the UI is much improved over the last game. However the interface is not perfect, it seems while it looks great on an HDTV when it comes to SD televisions the onscreen text shrinks and is unreadable. I wish I could say this shocks me, but having played both Mass Effect and Dragon Age, I can’t say I’m surprised by a BioWare title once again having problems with it’s interface. When it comes to UI their titles constantly been plagued with poor design decisions. Mass Effect 2 was a nice step in the right direction for them, but this SDTV issues have caused a pretty big reaction within the community. It’s a shame that such an amazing title is now shadowed with what really is an easily avoidable problem.

It’s simple, UI designers need to constantly be mindful that not everyone is playing a game on a top-of-the-line system, half of gamers still have standard definition TVs. Half. That’s a big enough percentage that we need to keep the lowest common denominator in mind. Ignoring them is abandoning half your audience. The mobile market is one of the few time where we can guarantee players are going to be experiencing a game the same way as everyone else. When it comes to consoles or PC gaming variables are introduced. Screens change in size, resolutions fluctuate, it should be common place to design around that.

A successful interface, be it menus or the HUD, needs to do two things: 1.) display relevant information, and 2.) do so in a way that the player isn’t pulled out of their experience. An “enhanced” UI can look great on a HDTV but if it doesn’t scale properly, causing information displayed to be unreadable then you haven’t done your job as a UI designer. That’s the truth. No amount of “design choice” can change it.

Today Apple announced their IPad. A new, bigger version of what essentially is the IPhone minus the phone. Like most folks in the tech world I was interested in what Apple would bring to the table. Especially when it came to mobile gaming on the IPhone/IPad/IPod. I’ve been a critic in the past, and I was hoping to see something new. I wanted to see Apple move beyond the control problems that have plagued the IPhone/IPod from becoming a viable platform for games.

I wasn’t impressed. Apple brought nothing new to mobile gaming, especially when it comes to controls. Sure, the screen is bigger (9.7 inches) and the frame rate is improved, but this will come at a price. Weighing in at 1.5 pounds with the larger footprint will only makes motion controls clunkier, holding it up for long periods will making gaming strenuous. In the end tilting the larger screen to steer your car in EA‘s Need for Speed Shift won’t be “funner” it’ll just be more annoying. Couple this with more replicated traditional controllers as opposed to solid real world buttons and joysticks just rings towards more of the same coming from Apple.

Frankly, I don’t see this being a viable platform for gaming. Mobile Internet, fine. Doing some typing with the Keyboard dock, okay. When it comes to gaming on the go, I still think a user is going to be much better off with a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP. The IPad just isn’t going to cut it, despite what Apple may try to tell us in the future.

I wrote a post a few months ago lauding EA Sports for the default no-HUD direction in Fight Night Round 3. It was a prefect system, feedback was communicated by the animations and camera effects. I loved it and encouraged all games to do their best and follow this approach. It seemed like a real world example of one of my favorite quotes by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry. He said, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Fight Night Round 3 had taken this to heart, the lack of HUD added more to the gameplay than the inclusion of a HUD ever could.

When I downloaded the demo for Fight Night Round 4 I was excited too see what else was added to the game, what else EA Sports had found to communicate as brilliantly as it’s predecessor. I have to say after trying the demo out I am left a little disappointed, the HUD is now defaulted to on. This new HUD is distracting. Instead of feeling like I am controlling a live fight, I am now left with meters describing a character’s Health, Stamina and Block. Reintroducing the HUD as a default option into a game that already communicates the information in other ways is adding unnecessary noise.

Boxing is just as much of a head game as it is game about speed, accuracy, timing, and power. Not knowing exactly where the other fighter stands or how much time is on the clock is as equally important as a fighters endurance. It no longer feels a true to boxing as Round 3 did, the head game is lost.

EA Sports did say that the HUD could be turned off, I am unsure if that turns off the HUD for both players in online matchups or if that switch is turning the HUD off for just yourself. Either way, it’s unfortunate to see extra noise reintroduced into such a ground breaking franchise.

Hit the jump if you want to see a video of the HUD in action.

Found this impressive video from the crew at EA’s Need for Speed: Shift on Joystiq and it has me all a titter. If what this video shows is an accurate gameplay experience, not only is it embracing the idea of no-HUD gameplay I talked about at length. The gameplay is also doing a fine job of communicating pertinent information to the player video other clever ways. The G forces effect in particular, the blurring of the peripheral vision, perspective shifts, the drivers view bobbing around. All this enhances the players experience by giving them then information they need without interrupting the immersion.

BioShock 2 returns to Rapture

The internet quaked with excitement as 2K released the first BioShock 2 game play footage via GameTrailers. I loved BioShock, even with it’s mediocre ending, it was still one of the most engrossing and memorable games I have played in ages, and it’ll hold a special place in my heart. So seeing the new footage excited me.

If you haven’t played and beaten the first game you may want to avoid the video after the jump. Otherwise, give it a look. It’s still in development, and it’s a very short video, but the game is looking very playable. The video shows some new faces and some old friends, and a quick peek at a neat underwater scene (I’d like to see more of this.) I’m going to wait for more game play footage before I really delve into commenting about the UI. My initial reaction is it’d be nice to see some of it toned back and moved more along the lines of EA‘s DeadSpace or take a page from Fight Night’s strategy.

Check the video after the jump, and leave a comment, what do you think?