Design Sense: The Evolution of Form and Function

Being classified as a ‘generation Y’ individual has some distinct advantages. One of these is that we have (supposedly) matured by now. Well, so has the video game industry. Sure, ColecoVision and Atari may have been a tad before our time, but the true genesis (see that, kids? that’s what we call a play on words) of the video game industry as we know it, was the ushering-in of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

But what exactly does that mean? Technology has advanced to allow for Direct X and Open GL to give us 3D games with normal mapped detail and core processing, allowing for much better gameplay across the board. But what about the fact that today’s Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 have become high fashion icons on par with the iPod? Until the average American male hits his teens (that is, until he discovers that girls give him a weird, tingly feeling inside), he really doesn’t care terribly much about what brand of clothes he wears, how he looks in them, or what that outward appearance means. But the moment those naughty, curly hairs begin sprouting, that changes. Did these inherent changes act as a catalyst for the explosion of the MP3 player (via the iPod) and the maturation of the design of video game systems?

Chad wasn’t old enough to enjoy the ColecoVision. Boo Chad.

I’ll be honest, I picked up my Wii because of the revolutionary gameplay. More on that in another column. But I’m not gonna lie, the fact that it’s such a formal piece is really what did it for me. It’s a sleek, geometric, perfect addition to my Bravia and AppleTv-dominated living room. As a designer, these things are obviously important to me, and provoke much thought. But what role do they play in everybody else’s lives? If Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft didn’t feel that design was important, would the Wii be another boxy incarnation of the NES? If design didn’t matter as technology improved, would there be second and third generation Genesis’s (Genesi?) and PS2’s that are much sleeker then their predecessors?

Chad thinks the Wii is pretty… tool

It’s interesting to think about how the iPod, popularized by our generation, was the first MP3 player to take off. It was most definitely a perfect storm of impeccable timing, ease of use (see: iTunes), and public readiness for this new paradigm (also, Steve Jobs’ prophetic, Midas Touch didn’t hurt either), but MP3 players had been around for 4 years on a mass-market scale before that. The design and its cultural implications have to have something to do with it.

The parallels between the design of video game systems, the iPod as the catalyst for change to MP3 players, and the maturation of our generation are intriguing. It leads me to think about what the future will be like. “Virtual Reality” is a thing of the past. It was a flawed gimmick (see: Nintendo’s hapless Virtual Boy). But the Wii, in an interactive sense, is the current incarnation of virtual reality. It has inspired immense change, and has managed to tap previously uncharted demographics. Is this going to change? Will the Wii-mote and Nunchuck be replaced by something else in 10 years? Will that something else be on par with our mid 30’s generation’s view on life and design in general? Whatever the case may be, you can bet that the shape and dimensions of the consoles of a then-mature ‘Generation Z’ will tap into the collective spirit of the populace, as it speaks volumes about who we are.