I imagine there are some console gamers who don't like the idea of a game constantly taking control away from them to show them things.
Some, I imagine. That part is just fucking dumb, it feels more like they got feedback from retarded playtesters who whined about not knowing what they were supposed to do next. That centre-the-screen-on-whatever's-important thing is a logical solution to that problem, and one that's easy to implement across the board. As are the various notifications.
Or, put another way, they <<cough>> expanded their focus group, from Planescape: Torment fans to
everybody vaguely interested in arr pee gees Numenera fans: people who want to play something that's quick and simple and forgiving and narrative-friendly, i.e. who don't like to be challenged, let alone frustrated.
The part I was bitching about just now though -- everything animated -- does appear to flow from the constraints you have when designing for a console. Text has to be big enough that it's easily legible from the couch, which means the UI takes up a lot of space, which means it has to fold out of the way when you're not in dialog, so you see more of the actual game. Give just a leetle bit of pressure to "make it look cool" and you start animating things, and there you are.
