A few months ago, Kokoromi Collective announced that next year’s installment of the Gamma game showcase would coincide with the Game Developers Conference in March rather than at the Montreal Game Summit. What they did not announce was this year’s theme. The three previous years’ themes have been audio as input, 256 px² resolution, and 3D. Today, the theme of Gamma 4 was unveiled – only one button. Games presented at the showcase will only be allowed one button as the sole means of control. While the official controller is still that of an Xbox 360, input can only be taken from the ABXY buttons, and all must be mapped identically. Sounds like a challenge, but given the boom in simpler gaming (pick up and play) and simpler devices (iPhone/iPod Touch), we’ve already seen some great single-button games in the wild (Canabalt, for example). Devs have about two months to get their projects together, with more details at the Gamma 4 website.

Gamma 4 via Gamasutra