Crytek producer dubs dual-screen gaming as a “novelty”

Nintendo and Microsoft are backing the two-screen horse with full force, as Nintendo’s Wii U console and handheld’s are essentially based around the concept, while Microsoft recently introduced their Smartglass plans to integrate tablets.

Crytek’s producer Mike Read appreciates what Nintendo did with the Wii, although he thinks that dual-screens aren’t the way forward.

“One thing I really love about the Wii, and I’m not sure Nintendo even realised this when it launched, is that the Wii’s demographic was between the age of 6 to 60,” Read told CVG in an interview regarding his take on second screen technology. “I would gladly give a Wii controller to my three-year-old to play that game, but when I saw the Wii U controller I thought, I’m not sure if I’d give that to my child to play with, that’s an expensive piece of hardware.”

“But past that, in terms of the dual screen stuff, I personally believe it’s a bit of a novelty at this point,” continued Read, “and if I would to have to point at anything that really moves into next gen, I think it’s cloud gaming.”

The utilisation of cloud-based technology for gaming consoles is definitely going to be a race all three manufacturers are going to enter, and with Sony’s recent acquisition of cloud-streaming service Gaikai, we should be seeing the next step of console evolution with the forthcoming generation.