Revolution controller revealed

[coupes.]

http://cube.ign.com/articles/651/651275p1.html

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-23521-2567-x-x-x&tag=gs_hp_flashtop_bg

http://gamecube.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3143782

[Acrylic]

OMG.

 

I've been waiting for this for so long.

 

Anyways, this is so....different.

 

It looks kinda...gross, but ya know, I betcha this may change the way games are played. Infact, I kinda like it. I think. o_0

[Tyrion]

I like the look of it, reminds me of an Ipod Shuffle. But man, when they said revolutionary...they meant revolutionary.

 

However, this means melee combat in games might, you know, be awesome. Sword slashy for the win.

[Darth Andrew]

 

That's a controller? Looks more like a TV remote. Though the control options sound quite... revolutionary. Meh, I guess I'm more of a fan of the traditional controller.

[abcd1234]

I think this could be either an amazing creation or it could seriously hurt the Revolution. I am very intrigued by it to say the least.

[abespam]

i was scrolling down ign lookin for a pic of the controller, and i was like wtf why are they showing me the tv remote.. then it hit me

 

Its definitely different, and its 'tilting' aspect is something thats definitely revolutionary. Ive been waiting for a new aspect of input in controllers for consoles, the other ones are just the same thing thats been used for the last 10 years.

 

It reminds me a lot of the controller that u get on singapore airline flights, that has a phone on the back.. rofl

 

Im guessing since u can play both left and right handed the design was made specifically like that. Also the fact that u hav to point the controller towards the tv will lead to tired arms, esp if u intend to play for hrs..

 

but yeh wielding a sword in zelda by simply moving the controller around in the direction desired.. that is what i call revolutionary

 

ppl will dislike this mainly because they say it looks like a tv remote, but if u can get past the fact that its not ur basic console controller it has hell a lot of potential.

[acdcfanbill]

uh, man, i dunno, maybe it will work good, who knows :S

[Mike Windu]

Super Smash is so ****ed.

[IG-64]

I think it's awesome.

 

But then again, I would.

[Bob Lion54]

Holy crap!

 

I *think* I like it..........

 

This will be odd getting used to. Its made so you can use it with one hand! Thats cool because its kinda hard to eat while your playing games. Now you can do both!

 

I was not expecting that!

WOWZERS!

 

i was scrolling down ign lookin for a pic of the controller, and i was like wtf why are they showing me the tv remote.. then it hit me

Yea, same here. At first I though it was a DVD remote for it.

[Mike Windu]

I personally don't think that setup is the best. Cause your fingers don't reach up all the way to the top of the controller.

(most people anyway)

It's going to be hard to map controls to that.

 

IGN brings up a good point by the way, about people getting tired of holding their arms in the air for an hour.

[coupes.]

Make sure to watch the teaser video posted here.

[Darth Groovy]

Lame. Third party controllers are gonna go ape **** with this one. "Want a controller that's not retarded? Try this one!!!!"

[Kain]

Makes me glad I hate Nintendo and all its systems.

[ET Warrior]

If they can arrange a solid launch lineup of games that properly use it's capabilites, then this. will. ROCK.

[Hermie]

I like it, the only problem is if the developers can actually take full use of it...

 

but it do set Nintendo further away from multi-platform games.

 

 

 

[edit]full, not fukk >.<

[Kengo]

Whatthe...

 

That controlled definately deserves a double take. I'm pretty dubious myself, except that Nintendo hardly ever get things wrong when it comes to being innovative. I guess this will turn out well, break new ground, then get nicked by Sony and Microsoft and appear in their consoles that will outsell the Nintendo one 10 to 1!

 

I do wonder about 3rd party developers being able to design for it, the Nintendo systems seem less and less about mainstream games from big companies and more about amazing, but occasional in-house stuff. Also, I always feel re-assured by more buttons. You just can't lose when you add another 8 buttons to the 24 the last generation consoles had.

[Lynk Former]

Introduction

This post will be long, but worth the read for those who want to hear my opinion or want to challenge my opinion. I am a Nintendo fan, yes but as some have taunted me with, I am not a mindless fan boy. I would also like to say that while we have seen this new controller from afar, none of us actually knows what it is like to play with it, so the opinions we all have are lacking actual experience with this controller. That said we all still have a lot to say about this controller.

 

 

People Fear Change

When Nintendo said that they were going to create something so different that it would revolutionise the way we played games, we were all doubtful that they could pull it off. I am sure that some of you are still doubtful even after seeing the controller for yourself. Some of you may think that this controller will just not work, that the traditional way is the only way to go. Some will ridicule this controller for as long as it takes. And so you should, it's human nature to do so. This controller is different. Obviously. Anyone and everyone who doesn't like things done too different will not like this controller. Games are played with directional buttons and action buttons, and analog sticks in recent years. The controller has too few buttons, Nintendo is teh d00med!!

 

Neon Genesis

This is a new beginning for gaming. We have two titans, Sony and Microsoft, and one sleeping dragon that is finally awakening from a long slumber, Nintendo. Sony and Microsoft have chosen to stay with traditional console gaming, incorporated some PC gaming elements and have affectively made two separate clones of the same concept. I'm not saying that it’s wrong; the Xbox360 and PS3 will both be very successful because they are built the way people expect consoles to be built. However, they have nothing new. Nintendo on the other hand has kept true to their word and has gone in a completely new direction and created a totally new concept. This new direction has just opened up a completely new way of looking at gaming. Games that could never have been created using the traditional controller design are now achievable with this new concept. Those extra buttons that have been added every generation are about to become redundant. Non-gamers will soon become gamers because now it's as easy as point and click, something that anyone with a TV knows how to do very well indeed.

 

 

Thinking Traditionally

Nintendo has stated that this is a near final prototype, some features such has the batteries and button tags may be changed slightly as well as the look. In any case, let’s look at this from a traditional perspective of how we think a controller should be. The main controller has a

D-Pad

, directly beneath it is an

A button

and on the underside is a

B trigger

. It also has a

Power button

located at the top left corner to switch the console on and off. A

Start button

, the return of the

Select button

and a

Home button

. It also has another set of

a

and

b

buttons near the bottom of the controller. The attachment (nunchaku style) shown in the second pic has an

Analog Stick

and

Z1

and

Z2

buttons for your index and middle finger. All in all, we have 14 buttons and 1 Analog Stick, if we go by the traditional measurements. The GameCube has 12 buttons + 2 hidden buttons = 14 - 1 utility button = 13, and 2 analog sticks. The PS2/PS3 has 14 buttons + 2 hidden buttons = 16 - 2 utility buttons = 14, and 2 analog sticks. The Xbox/Xbox360 has 14 buttons + 2 hidden buttons = 16 - 2 utility buttons = 14, and 2 analog sticks. So we've counted and compared all the buttons in a traditional sense, and yes, even though the Revolution controller has just as many buttons there is still a small problem. 1 of them is a Power button, 3 of them are utility buttons and 2 of them are not even accessible unless you use the Revolution controller in the NES way (as shown in my sig)... which means 14 buttons - 5 = 9. So what the hell can we do with 9 buttons? Well there is one very interesting solution to this problem. The D-Pad provides 4 buttons, hold down B and now you have 4 more buttons using the D-Pad. But think about it, why are we thinking traditionally with this controller when it has features that are beyond tradition? This controller doesn’t even look anywhere near traditional so if we think traditionally with this controller we will find that we can't think of ways to play games using what looks like a DVD remote. So it’s time to stop thinking traditionally and start thinking of new ways to play games. It’s a Revolution remember, tradition is getting its ass kicked.

 

 

Use the Force

Buttons can only do so much, and as I said earlier, with every generation more buttons have been added to the controllers of respective consoles. We all love our many buttons, which is why some of you just do not like this controller, however this controller has just made those extra buttons and analog sticks redundant. The 3D Pointer feature has just turned your controller into an analog stick without the need for an analog stick. It has also turned your controller into what is effectively the equivelant of what the Nintendo DS has. Your TV screen is now one big touch screen in a manner of speaking. The tilt control has given you an extra dimension of control, something that an analog stick cannot recreate. And the ability to add on expansions onto the controller will provide you with unique extras that will further enhance your gameplay.

 

 

The Possibilities

Now let's imagine you're playing Metroid Prime or a similar FPS game. With the main controller in your right hand you are able to look around and point your weapon in whatever direction you want just by pointing your controller in that direction. In your left hand you have that expansion which has the analog stick so you can control the movement of Samus. The D-Pad has four directional buttons, up, left, right and down which are used to select the four available weapons. A button is jump, B button is Fire, Z2 is Morphball and Z2 is where it gets interesting. Hold Z2 and suddenly B becomes your secondary weapon button and the D-Pad is now able to switch between Visors. All you need now is to assign the Map to the Select button and you're set. Hell you could play an FPS game using just the main controller with one hand. Move using the D-Pad, Look using the 3D Pointer control, Lean around corners using the tilt control, fire using B, A is the action button or select weapon, depending on the game, etc, etc.

 

Finishing off for now

Well I love what Nintendo has done, it's a new way to play games. I'm happy. Challenge me if you want, I wanna see what kind of doubts people have about this controller. One thing I do agree with is that this will be a nightmare for ports and for those third party developers who are too lazy to do things differently or just want to do what's comfortable for them.

[toms]

Wow!!

 

Thats unexpected.

My first thought was "a remote, that sucks". Then my second (after reading how it works) was "thats gonna rock". Then my third was "they are gonna have to work very hard to convince existing gamers".

 

I think before anyone comments they need to read the article, and preferably watch the video (above, or here:http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2005/09/16/443527.html).

The video does show some amazing options (drumming etc..) which, if they can get the sensitivity right, could be absolutely stunning.

 

The video also shows they were serious about going for a different market. Its much more of a "eye-toy" market. But then that market is huge. But then you have to think that if the FPS thing works to it's full potential (and with the analogue add-on) then its gonna rock for hardcore gamers.

 

As for the "holding hands in the air gets tired" issue, one of the reviews mentions that if you sit with your arms on your lap like a conventional controller then it works great. Like a better version of the existing controller, but split in two.

 

As I see it there will be 3 main issues:

 

1 - Convincing existing gamers to overcome the difference. This will be hard, but then it does underline the "we want to be diffferent" philosophy that no-one quite believed until now. SO maybe they don't even want those gamers.

 

2 - Getting the sensitivity right. They are gonna need some clever tuning and anti-shake functionality... or it could get very frustrating. It needs to be sensitive enough that it allows real control (not like eyetoy) but not sooooo sensitive that your view shakes all over the place when you try and look around.

 

3 - And this is the big, interesting one - GETTING PEOPLE TO MAKE GAMES FOR IT.

 

I kind of feel like ign when they say

This is a bold step for Nintendo. It will seemingly exclude the Revolution from a lot of third-party release. They'll all have to be tweaked if they hope to work well at all. So, this creates a rather large uphill battle for supporting the system with a consistent flow of content. However, the exciting part is that most games that are actually made for Revolution will be very unique and that's what Nintendo is aiming for. Unfortunately, as the DS has proven, unique doesn't always equal better gameplay.

The n64 and Cube have shown that running a console entirely on first party releases just won't work. They don't come out often enough, making your console look unsupported, and they mean the genres are very limited. Nintendo always makes great games, but they need to get other people to make them too.

It appears they ARE going for different audiences and different types of games, but this means that its gonna cost third party developers more money to develop for the REV. They'll either have to spend more money porting, or develop REV-only games... which is a less profitable deal for them then releasing cross-platform games and getting 3 times the return.

 

After my initial scepticism I think its a great idea, but unless they get people to support it its gonna be a great idea that gets ignored.

[IG-64]

^ I agree with everything Toms just said ^

 

And, i've made a desktop backgorund by removing the hand in that one picture: click

 

And, another pic:

 

Mmmmm, black.

[Rogue Nine]

Wee, now my portable hard drive will have a remote control thingamabobber to go with it.

 

All I can say is that I hope that it does my laundry and picks up my kids from soccer practice too.

[IG-64]

Thanks for the desktop IG!

 

No problem.

 

And, i've just noticed something odd about that picture. It seems the reflecion of the controller is diffrent than the controller itsself. Check it out.

[PoM]

What do you mean?

 

 

Anyway, this is going to make it so simple playing console games...I always had a hard time aiming and stuff with an analog stick, because it's basically...Really hard.

 

First thougt: Right...

After reading more: Hey...

Now: It looks perfect.

 

Comments: I like the gray one

 

 

Edit: Dude! My 777:th post was about N-Rev!

[IG-64]

I just realized what was in the reflection in that pic. I've also realized that the same thing is in that video, and it slipped my notice the first. And it's quite obvious. Take a look:

 

 

It looks like it could be an earlier version of the controller. With X and Y on the 2 lower buttons, which read "b" and "a" when the controller is turned.

 

Weird.

[Bastila]

hmmm looks like an ipod/tv controller, looks a bit hard maybe to play with as well.