Nintendo have done amazing things with expanding the industry, turning the humble joypad into a more user friendly remote and pioneering motion control as a first party console manufacturer. They've also attracted a lot of people that would have otherwise dodged gaming, something that Sony did before with the PlayStation, but Nintendo has been even more successful at with the Wii.

The Wii may have a lot of low quality mini game collections and a lot of games with tacked on controls, though it is host to some fantastic games (most of which don't sell in huge amounts) as well, and the motion sensing controls are set to get better with MotionPlus proving to be exactly as advertised. But it's expanding the market that gives me cause for concern, what if the more loyal and passionate gamer are completely left out one of these days? What then? Don't get me wrong, I do love my Wii, but I love it as an alternative to my HD consoles - I never dreamed of a future that was all about motion sensing and of companies attempting to outdo each other in this field. All I've wanted are bigger and better experiences, and whilst motion sensing does enhance many games it feels tacked on for a lot of others, and also promotes gaming for everyone and their dogs. The latter is a worry: what if there came a time that the industry and our hobby was completely taken off us? It doesn't bear thinking about, though it's difficult not to.

The Wii may not be bad for your health, though it could be for the future of the industry and us loyal players

It's true that Sony and Microsoft would also want a piece of the pie, the big pie that Nintendo baked to bring about the growth of the industry. Sony already implemented motion sensing in the SIXAXIS, though they're also going to walk the Nintendo path with the release of a wand-like motion controller in the spring of 2010. Microsoft on the other hand are set to pioneer hands-free gaming with the release of Natal, scheduled for release at the end of next year. This could potentially be even more successful than the Wii.

No, I'm not going to go into specifics of how each of these new motion devices work, or completely dismiss them before giving them a try, I'm just worried that motion sensing will eventually take over, resulting in the death of the joypad and, with it, perhaps the death of the better quality games that us passionate gamers enjoy to play.

These questions will only will be answered given some time, though to answer my own, is the gaming future a bleak one? Dropping sales of the Wii may mean that there's light at the end of the tunnel (I love my Wii remember, so I’m not totally happy with the current sales dive), at least to go some way in discouraging complete abandonment of everything that we currently love in our consoles and games.

Words by Chris Wigham