Nintendo may catch lots of flack for bringing gaming to the casual market, but their methods have certainly not fallen on death ears.  While the DS was far from the first touch-screen device, it was one of the first mass-market commercial ones.  It has since been followed up by Apple’s iPhone and a slew of other touch phones.  Now, Microsoft is getting in on the party.

Microsoft recently previewed some of the tech for their Windows 7 OS (one can hardly wait for Windows X OS) and the big hoopla seemed to be over the addition of multi-touch capability.  If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s essentially the same tech in the iPhone.  Not only that, many of the demos shown (rotating and resizing photos, zooming in on maps) are ripped directly from the iPhone’s interface.  So, great, Microsoft rips off Apple again, right?  What does it have to do with gaming?  Plenty.

The DS has been incredibly successful by any standard in consumer electronics.  Right now, it fairly easily dominates the portable gaming market over Sony’s PSP.  Additionally, Nintendo’s Wii may not dominate the home console market, but that seems to only be because they can’t produce enough units for customers.  As it is, Nintendo looks prone to dominate this console generation in both the home and handheld market.

Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft both continue to fight it out in the cell phone/PDA, OS, and set-top box markets.  With recent news that Sony and cable companies were looking to make the cable company provided set-top box obsolete, there seems to be even more incentive for companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and Apple to make their box the dominant leader.  Still, touch-screen televisions are a ways off, but for the other two fronts this new technology holds great promise.

In a few more years, you will likely see touch-screens in all cell phones and laptops.  Even before Windows 7 launches computer manufacturers are going to want to tout Vista systems as “Windows 7 compatible.”  Apple has already built some experience with the iPhone and so are even more likely to launch touch-screen laptops in the near future.  So with most, if not all, computers and cell phones packing touch-screens, what does this mean for games?

The DS has been rather hit or miss with touch games.  Some, such as Kirby’s Canvas Curse, have utilized the feature extremely well.  Others, such as parts of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass have failed miserably with its use.  Apple has shown some early games using its touch screen, including a very impressive demo of Super Monkey Ball.  More games are sure to follow, but why?  What does touch screen bring that traditional control methods do not?

In the case of Kirby the difference was obvious.  One could attempt using a joystick to draw a path on screen, but surely a more direct approach allows for more precision.  Even with a mouse, there is still some disconnect between user and the screen.  The possibility arises for strategy titles that are entirely touch interface based.  Imagine controlling a sub game as fast as you can reach portions of the screen.  No more laborious labeling of keyboard shortcuts, as it could all be done much faster with direct input from your hands than even a mouse.  Such systems also allow for some form of tactile feedback, so that touching a button would feel, as least somewhat, like touching a button.

The importance of Windows 7 is that it makes such tech standard in computing, assuming Apple leads or follows-suit.  Game companies will not have to worry about adoption of such tech (like with physics processors), because after a few years anyone purchasing a new computer will have it built in.  That means Nintendo’s DS no longer becomes the odd innovative duck, but instead the standard for much of new game development.  Of course, just because the tools are there doesn’t mean every game will use them, but it does mean more effort will be put into how to effectively use them.  In the long term, this is good news for gamers as new control methods become standardized for multi-platform titles.  In the short term, get ready for a bumpy ride that DS fans are already used to.