on March 16th, 2020: Microsoft released the full spec of the Xbox Series X while showing a bunch of tech demos, and it was posted on a /r/PS5 subreddit.
I left a comment there, and this person wrote a comment that says along the lines of “good for them: they’re gimmicks”. This has turned into a back-and-forward against those claims, even including the Nerrel videos, and while forcing them to watch the whole video before replying further. (they didn’t like the video.)
They told me to formulate my opinion instead of relying on videos. I replied back by saying, that it was during that time I was on Mobile — but I’ll promise them to formulate “my opinion” with shorter evidence.
they replied with this.
And so: I’ve spent two days (with delays due to real-life duties) writing what is essentially an entire essay’s worth of a “competent argument”, spamming across 6 different comments.
This is where the journey into Gyro Aiming
Chapter 1: The Gyro Beginning
Part 1
Nintendo released the Wii, which solely relies on Motion Controls, but for simplification’s sake, Let’s call them “Gesture Controls” (basically, the TRUE Gimmicks) because that’s what Nintendo wanted to push on as many games as they can.
Despite the focus on “Gesture Controls”, developers who make On-Rail Shooters (even Nintendo jumped in to make their own, video ) took that opportunity to bring it over to the Wii, thanks to the AR Sensors. Let’s call this: “Motion Aiming”.
meanwhile, Treyarch (Call of Duty’s dev team) was like “Yeah, let’s bring Call of Duty to Nintendo Wii” and they did it twice. despite the limited Camera Control (Wiimote and Knuncucks don’t have a right stick, to turn around, you have to move to the edge of the screen) & gesture control (sure, why not!), somehow, it works.
meanwhile, Capcom decided to port Resident Evil 4 into the Wii, and became one of the “best version of Resident Evil 4” list of many Ports/Editions due to the Motion Aiming system.
Sadly, RE4 happens to be the same game that LOVE QTEs, so if you not a big fan of Button Mashing & Rotating your stick, now ya gonna waggle.
Shortly after, Nintendo released Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. As a person who briefly played Metroid Prime 3 on the Wii (my first introduction to Motion Aiming), I think they did a good job with the Control Scheme.
And yes, I know that other Wii shooters use Motion Aiming while using Controller-style Aim Assist, but that will turn into a longer topic entirely, so let’s move on.
As I was saying…
However: they all rely on IR Sensors and not gyroscopic, as the Wiimote can only do accelerometers….until Nintendo decided to add a gyro sensor inside the controller.
The Wiimote ‘MotionPlus’ attachment adds gyroscope for improved accuracy…and, some games take advantage of it. The most notable example is the pack-in game Wii Sport Resort’s Archery minigame as it relies on Gyroscope for Aiming.
but much later on, Nintendo gave it’s Wiimote a revision by basically putting MotionPlus inside it. (read: added Gyroscope sensor, Wiimote Plus now became a 6-axis IMU)
Elsewhere: we look at Sony’s PlayStation Division, and their initial push for Sixaxis Motion Controls, and we all know how that worked out.
As far as I know, both the first three Uncharted games use it for Grenade Throw Distance and LittleBigPlanet uses it for Sackboy’s Head and Body. Both franchises do a decent job at using Sixaxis.
Author’s Note: in the case of Uncharted’s Grenade Throw Distance feature: it became optional (disabled by default) starting in Uncharted 2: Honor Among Thieves.
It wwas removed starting in both Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, alongside its Standalone DLC Expansion: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
after fixing PS3’s reputation: Sony decided to look at Nintendo Wii and they went to Nintendo, “Hi Nintendo, can you do me a favor here?,” and Nintendo said “sure thing”, Sony then ask a favor to Nintendo if they could borrow their homework, Nintendo replied, but say the following, “Don’t make it obvious”.
(Editor’s Note: technically, Sony was first on making their Wiimote, started all the way back in early development of EyeToy, but Nintendo went ahead with it later)
PlayStation Move was born, and despite their strong critical reception and slightly quality lineup post-launch, things also didn’t work out in the short term, reception-wise.
In the misfit of all of this, Media Molecule, developers of LittleBigPlanet, and it’s partners forgo the “bullet point for their advertising campaign“ and it went with traditional Motion Pointer and how it can interact with the environment.
This tech demo led to a side project called Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves.
All of this stuff pays off when Mm added PS Move support to LBP2 alongisde a new DLC (technically, a Expansion Pack) called PS Move Pack with a new story mode: “The Rise of the Cakeling” while adding new creation tools (most of them are useful) for the community to use.
As you would expect, the community takes full advantage of it.
Now that I’m talking about LBP, remember how I mentioned Sixaxis and how Media Molecule uses it? Well, Sixaxis plays a (slightly) role in LBP2 Create Mode, as the Controlinator Logic includes Sixaxis while using Sixaxis for Head and Body Movement for Sackbot.
As a former LBP Creator myself, Sixaxis has become a critical feature for me, especially for Animations.
and keep in mind: “Character Animation Tweaker” logic didn’t exist back then!
Part 2
Now, let’s get back on topic.
Since then, Sony has been slowly moving away from PS Move and focusing on its core audience. (what do you even expect?) Despite that, this won’t be the last we will ever see again.
since I mentioned the Gyroscope earlier, this is where Nintendo started shifting away from IR Sensors in favor of the Gyroscope/Accelerometer with the Nintendo 3DS.
Although it wasn’t used beyond Face Raiders, Nintendo started to experiment with commercially shipped games, starting with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
Instead of integrating it into the main experience (perhaps they learned from Zelda: Skyward Sword), it's mainly used as a first-person view. In this mode, you can look around from Link's perspective, and motion aiming is back. It's used for aiming with the slingshot or bow.
Meanwhile, Sony’s gaming handheld division became TOO ambitious with “Innovation” (or, Gimmicks) with the PS Vita..and boy, look how that turned out…
and it happened to be sitting right in my desk.
Even though we witnessed PS Vita’s demise, it does bring it to the table, as Sony uses Sixaxis (later renamed into “Motion Controls”) more frequently and more games use it. For simplicity’s sake, I’m only going to talk about those three games in particular.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss is one of the launch titles, and just like any launch title, it’s gonna show off its gimmicks.
however, there’s one specific feature that stands out from the rest. Motion Aiming is used, but unlike Nintendo’s implementation of Motion Aiming in the Wii era and Ocarina of Time 3D, you can finally use the Right Stick to move the camera. Bend Studio calls it, “Intu-Aim”.
The way how “Intu-Aim” work is that, when you press the ADS sight, Motion Sensors will be used in conjunction of the Right Stick. The Right Stick can be used for broader movements, while the Motion Sensors can be used for more precise aiming, just by tilting.
it solves the “Limited Camera Control” issue and later on in PS Vita’s short lifespan, the “Intu-Aim” concept has been carried over to Killzone: Mercenaries as an optional feature. This feature practically makes the stealth parts of the game easier.
Oh, and Gravity Rush exists.
Here comes the recycled paragraph…and it also heavily relies on Motion Controls due to the focus on 360-degree flight.
The main protagonist, Kat, can “fall” around the world by manipulating Gravity. Pressing the R button will have her start floating in a 360-degree camera, then you aim the camera with the Right Stick or Tilt your controller and then press the same button again to start ‘falling’ forward.
One of the key benefits of Motion Aiming is that you can quickly make turns while shifting gravity, you can look around with the gyro without using the joystick and you can adjust your aiming during mid-air combat.
It is playable without Motion Aiming and you can turn it off in the settings, but you practically need Motion Aiming for traversal.
(And, it happens to be one of my favorite PS Vita games on the list.)
however, the biggest problem I had with Motion Controls on Handheld is, that you have to physically move the 3DS/PS Vita in order to aim- and it’s unnatural. and the Sensitivity slider is too low for me, even if I increase to the max.
Because of that, I didn’t use Motion Controls on PS Vita for Shooting games that much, except for Killzone: Mercenaries.
Elsewhere: Media Molecule was pretty busy with Tearaway, but later came on to PlayStation Meeting 2013, where Sony Interactive Entertainment introduced the PlayStation 4.
alongside a new Controller that upgrades its Motion Sensor features set alongside the Lightbar for improved Camera Tracking (this was meant for PlayStation VR!).
Within the same presentation: Media Molecule came onboard to talk about how PS4 can be used as a ‘Creative Engine’, using PlayStation Move motion controls as a Mouse-style Input.
This will become very, very important later on, so bear with me on this.
Now, let’s look at Nintendo on their upcoming hardware… they confused the audience with the Wii U. (but it did give us Nintendo Land, and I heard it’s a decent party game)
Later on, Nintendo introduced Splatoon there while trying out a new Motion Aiming method. (ironically, Wii U Gamepad works better there than handhelds)
Unlike Intu-Aiming (which uses ADS for Motion Aiming), Splatoon opts for "Always-On" Motion Aiming. They do provide a Camera Reset option in order to get the player to recenter themselves, while the Right Stick still lets you move the camera but only horizontally (left-right).
First-time players may initially find that control scheme unfamiliar, but after getting used to it and adjusting the settings, they realize that combining Motion Aiming with the Right Stick is superior to traditional joystick controls.
but, players do have an option to disable it, that’s no problem with that and Splatoon is playable without Motion Controls… except for Scopes.
Author’s Note: Splatoon will not let you disable Motion Aiming during the tutorial sequence.
despite Nintendo Wii U’s install-size being small: Splatoon still became the most talked about Multiplayer game of its time, I still remember seeing a lot of Splatoon popping up in my Feed.
By July 24, 2015: Tsubasa Sakaguchi, Splatoon’s co-director confirmed in an interview with Eurogamer: they pointed out that the vast majority of the player base use Motion Aiming, to quote directly:
“About 70–80 per cent of players are using the gyro controls. That’s not to say we’re forcing it on to them. From our point of view, we think that the gyro controls are the best way to play Splatoon, the reason being there are two main movements you need for a shooter. One is moving the body, the other is aiming where you’re shooting. In that sense, we think for Splatoon the gyro gives that subtle movement and more precise actions to be able to really experience the game in a much better way.” -Tsubasa Sakaguchi
This is quite a number, as Motion Aiming solves one of my issues with Shooter Games on Controller where Aim Assist has to be used as a crutch.
Because- and this should’ve been a open secret by now- Thumbstick isn’t good for aiming, no matter the sensitivity setting you work with, it’s not going to be good enough compared to Keyboard/Mouse.
The debate has intensified over the years due to their emphasis on Cross-Platform Play and “Assistance” tools provided by Input Remappers, leading to numerous complaints from prominent Content Creators and Regular Players about the implementation of Aim Assist in 2020s Multiplayer games.
Author’s Note: This will age like fine wine. (more on that on Chapter 3!)
Now, it so happens that Valve Corporation was working on a Controller that aims to bring PC Gaming to the Couch with The Steam Controller.
Using the Dual-Trackpads to bring the precision and accuracy of the Mouse and the simplification of the Controller with a lot of software customization that Valve provides.
And, it so happens that it was released in the same year Splatoon was out, in height of the Splatoon's popularity, SC Owners discovered that Steam Controller happens to use Gyroscopic Sensors and players took full advantage of it.
Valve was surprised about it and decided to add ‘Mouse Joystick’ for it.
And also made the once-hidden Gyroscope Input Style, not so hidden.
Since then, Valve updated and expanded the Steam Controller’s API to support standard controllers, such as Dualshock 4 (which shares the same features as the Steam Controller, in some ways), This update paves the way for future controllers, effectively addressing one of the biggest issues with controller support in PC gaming, especially for non-Xbox controllers.
Meanwhile at Media Molecule, while they were working on their “Creative Engine”, they decided to play around with Dualshock 4’s features, and they were like “Wow, I can see the potential with Dualshock 4…let’s ‘reimagine’ Tearaway on Consoles with it!”
and Tearaway: Unfolded was born and, became one of the more interesting uses of the Dualshock 4’s “gimmicks”.
One of the key features in Tearaway: Unfolded is the Motion Controls (disguised as a Lightbar, as the game puts it), as it can interact with the environment and can be used as a gameplay mechanic.
Not to mention, the Motion Controls can be used to customize the player character and create Paper Cuttouts using DS4’s Touchpad or PS4 Second Screen App and Motion Controls in the style of Photoshop.
Knowing the tools that they provided to us, can be a blessing or a curse.
During the mist: Media Molecule later came to E3 2015 to reveal their “Creative Engine”, now named, Dreams.
It turns out that Dreams is like if LittleBigPlanet and Video Game Engines had a baby, and this “Game Engine” is built with Motion Controls in mind (you can use Dualshock 4’s Motion Sensors to create stuff now).
Since then, both Media Molecule and the Community have been creating amazing stuff with it, with just Motion Controls. (you can now switch to Traditional Sticks instead, which can be useful for SUPER DUPER EXTRA amount of precision)
… it is unfortunate that Dreams has “died” (read: content update discontinued).
But let’s not dwell in the past, let’s get back to the past even further.
Project Gravity/Siren decided to bring Gravity Rush to PS4 under “Gravity Rush Remastered”, ported by the “used-to-be Porting Gods”, Bluepoint Games.
and after that Gravity Rush 2, but on PS4 instead of PS Vita.
After finally playing Gravity Rush Remastered (my third playthrough) and Gravity Rush 2, I realized how much better it is to play with an external controller. It allows me to fully utilize my Gravity Shifting skills without being limited by a handheld device.
Gravity Rush Remastered becomes a little too easy primarily due to the 60fps and game controller, while Gravity Rush 2's combat has been overhauled to make it easier with the use of target locking, yet a little harder than usual.
Just as Gravity Rush 2 was released, it was released two months before Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were to be released.
also, despite most of the industry moving away from Gesture and moving those gestures into VR, Nintendo couldn’t resist the Gesture Controls.
Editor’s Note: ARMS was more successful with Gesture Controls for this one, and offers Traditional Button as a option.
But, Breath of the Wild is where most people got introduced to Motion Aiming.
Later on, Splatoon 2, this time, with Joycons and Pro Controllers instead of a bulky Wii U Gamepad!
Once these two games came onto the Switch, while happens to be a huge success: This is where “Motion Aiming” became mainstream in the public Nintendo eye.
So much so that id Software and Panic Button added Motion Aiming support was added in the Nintendo Switch port of DOOM 2016, as part of the post-release patch.
and many developers follow suit by adding Motion Aiming to their games on Nintendo Switch platforms, even Capcom with Resident Evil 5 and 6….but not Resident Evil 4's Switch Port for some reason.
In the process, “Motion Aiming” got a new name: “Gyro Aiming” (also, ‘Intu-Aiming’ was merged). and more and more people are paying attention to Gyro Aiming and starting their thoughts about it on the web.
In the meantime: the Splatoon influence has slowly spread over to PlayStation platforms, and it all started with both Bend Studios (the same folks who introduced “Intru-Aiming”) and Nightdive Studios added Gyro Aiming support.
For Bend Studios: it was added in Days Gone in Patch 1.40.
for Nightdive Studios: they were surprised to see demands for Gyro Aim on PS4 until 2019–2020 (or rather; after Days Gone’s release) and decided to add it. Future KEX Engine games after DOOM 64 added Gyro Aiming support ever since.
Even a programmer decided to improve Gyro Aiming by offering tools and guides on how to properly implement it while others questioned; “PlayStation Controller has the same Motion Sensor tech as Nintendo Switch controllers…and yet, they don’t add Gyro Aiming?”.
Meanwhile: Valve (and DS4Windows, to an extent) already offered support for Gyro Aiming via Mouse Input or [Camera] In-Game Action on Dualshock 4 and (later) Nintendo Switch Pro Controller alongside Steam Controller a long time ago…
Oh, and it’s even better than the native implementation, as long as you set it up properly.
Chapter 2: The Journey into Gyro-pilled Territory
Anyway….
While more people talk about Gyro Aiming, This is where I found Nerrel’s Motion Control videos there, and they influenced me in some ways.
Sometime later, while I was playing (and livestreamed) Undefeated with a Controller, I was having problems with a boss fight (while dealing with fire) and I decided to fiddle with Steam’s Controller Configuration because I was having trouble trying to beat the boss, I enable Gyroscopic Sensors on my Dualshock 4 and I find it easier to play the whole game that way.
A month later, I finally played Sunset Overdrive, and I was having trouble playing it with the Controller, so I switched to Keyboard/Mouse for the rest of the game, Many Hours (of Play Time) later, I had a dumb idea, I decided to “fix” the Controller with Keyboard/Mouse Emulation and have Gyro Sensors to emulate Mouse Input as a Camera. This took me 4 hours to get this configuration working and It’s so much better than the Default Control Scheme…and also realized Gyro Control’s potential.
All of this, while thinking about that time Notch (pre-dark days) made a tweet years ago…
I decided to make a video on Gyro Controls…while putting my planned (but canceled) Video Review of YIIK: A Postmodern RPG on hold in favor of Gyro Controls.
(This was a blessing in disguise.)
it took me an entire month to play with Gyro Controls, doing deep research and somehow, getting in contact with the same programmer, playtesting Gyro Aiming for a couple of PC Games (including Fate/Stay Night as an inside joke) I selected and I released the video to YouTube.
and later did a Demonstration Livestream showcasing Gyro Aiming on PCs in action using a Dualshock 4 controller.
Once that’s over with: I decided to create a thread about my prior experience, as an attempt to get Notch’s attention. (featuring George Broussard of the 3D Realms series)
I got Notch’s attention, and liked my video. :)
also got George’s attention.
Months later, I found this video on how to get proper Gyro Aiming to work on any PS4 Games using Software tools using Horizon: Zero Dawn as a basis
For context: Horizon: Zero Dawn was released in the same week as Zelda: Breath of the Wild).
I was thinking about whether or not to do it, but I got it working via DS4Windows instead of paying money for software.
and I selected 4 PlayStation first-party titles as a test (I had to playtest it and adjust my Gyro Setting since I’m emulating Right Stick in advance), and I did a livestream of it, but this time, with a working Overlay (VSCView) that can detect Motion Sensors.
Surprisingly, I managed to get Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son/First Light (and that one uses Motion Controls for mini-games only), and Uncharted 4 working extremely well. Infamous: Second Son/First Light, in particular- changes the way how I play InFamous. Uncharted 4 actually works with Gyro Aiming, even better than Uncharted: Golden Abyss’ implementation.*
Killzone: Shadow Fall’s single-player is unplayable due to DS4Windows but Multiplayer (but I chose Botzone for a good reason) works too well, but better than Killzone: Mercenaries implementation. But The Last of Us kinda works but Aim Assist is in use, and Gyro Aiming doesn’t like Aim Assist.
Editor’s Note: In my Uncharted 4 test, I wanted to tryhard my way into replicate E3-style gameplay, but that was big mistake for me, so…
After several months of playing games with Gyro Aiming (most of them are on PC) after not touching it for years…I ultimately became gyro-pilled.
Chapter 3: The [Current] Year of Gyro
We’re back to the present day.
A lot has changed.
like…
a lot.
Since my original comeback post: I co-created a subReddit page dedicated to all things Gyro Gaming. As of this writing: we reached over 1.3 million pageviews during the last 12 months (between September 2023–2024)…I really should pay more attention to the data.
Anyway; there’s been a wave of games that has been adding Motion Sensors onto more games across more platforms than Nintendo Switch, while certain games started to either improve or add Mixed Input support….usually due to Steam Deck’s existence.
in fact: Aperture Desk Job came alongside Steam Deck’s release and has promoted “Gyroscopic Aiming.
before that: the tiny little bot made its non-VR/PlayStation Camera debut with Astro’s Playroom and Astro Bot (respectively) has highlighted Motion Sensor usages for various gameplay sequences, including Gyro Aiming.
As of this writing: the most notable example of games that now feature Gyro Aiming support would be…
- Helldivers 2
- The Finals
- God of War Ragnarök
- Horizon Forbidden West
- The Last of Us Part 1
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- No Man’s Sky (Console version only)
- Dragon’s Dogma II
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5 only, as of this writing)
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Call of Duty HQ-based games (COD: Black Ops 6, COD: Warzone, COD: Modern Warfare III, COD: Modern Warfare II)
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- Star Wars: Outlaws
- Genshin Impact
and so much more…
Alongside that: We even have a smoking bomb (or the quiet part said out loud) that helps reinforce Xbox Controllers holding everything back!
Besides Valorant, the biggest multiplayer free-to-play games still implement Gyro Aiming (and sometimes Flick Stick support). It is now considered the de facto standard for implementing principles applied to selected games today.…
Remember when I mentioned said programmer who did their research on Gyro Aiming and made a program outta it?
Well, the programmer became an input specialist and assisted game developers on Boomerang X, DEATHLOOP, House of the Dead: Remake, and Severed Steel. Where am I going with this?
Yeah…
Fortnite, huh?
Since then: the rate of games with Gyro Aiming standards previously set by Fortnite…kinda exploded…slowly until 2023–2024: the year where the slow explosion radius came ahead swinging.
That radius also happens to be the time when there’s been unease around Input Remappers and Competitive games around cheating and overturned aim assist.
After fellow Input Remapper reWASD was caught with a cheating accusation/scandal: a small wave of the popular eSport games has started to take measures to prevent reWASD from working properly, some of which have taken far more drastic measures by blocking reWASD from…being installed on the computer.
Ultimately: harming legitimate reWASD users in the process, while now giving reWASD a bad name.
Alongside that: some of the more popular games (The Finals, Apex Legends on PC, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6), have started nerfing the overpowered aspects of Aim Assist throughout 2024, after years of complaints. While some either disable Aim Assist based on external programs (The Finals) or finally give you the ability to turn off Aim Magnetism across both input methods (Halo Infinite).
During the making of this Medium Blog post: Fortnite recently got an overhaul on how Aim Assist is being handled.
Alongside the exodus of Aim Assistance after Apex and Black Ops 6: around September 2024: I have observed that some competitive content creators are starting to shift towards aggressively promoting Gyro Aim, and surprisingly, this has caught the attention of some of the more popular content creators in the community.
I personally believe the popularity starting….somewhere in this video?
and then another Apex Content Creator saw it and decided to try it out.
and the rest is history.
what’s interesting is that this specific Apex Content Creator started to signal-boost for Gyro Aiming support on Apex Legends, which is quite interesting given it’s currently a Nintendo Switch-only feature.
I don’t exactly know the timeline of the September 2024 Gyro moment…but I do have two things to share.
Remember earlier where Notch recommends Keyboard/Mouse over Controller — and I made a response years later?
Well, PC Gamer, the global authority on PC games, made this article from May 28th, 2019.
And since then: the PC Gamer publication has reposted the same article at least 6 times now, starting in 2019.
and each time this gets posted: it generates a wide range of reactions: “lmao use keyboard mouse scrub”, “abuse aim assist”,“turn off aim assist”, “use the sticks!”, “you control the button you press!”, “nah this is bait”, “THZI TWEET IS DEI-NG ME”, and you get a variation of “use Gyro Aim! 🙂”.
That’s how it would normally go…
The sixth time,
it was different.
a local game developer unintentionally ratio’d PC Gamer, with this GIF:
It has gotten the most amount of attention to Gyro Aiming within the Twitter-sphere that I have never seen.
It was both amusing and shocking to say.
Almost forgot to mention the first few paragraphs! What about that person who asked me to formulate my own argument in the first place? The reason why I resurrected and repurposed an entire six pages worth of an essay into a Medium blog post?
