Nintendo Revolution Controller Revealed

[Mordecaii]

After seeing that controller, I had 2 thoughts...

First, it's great for what Nintendo wanted to do with backwards compatability on their old game systems. You can buy add-ons for the controller (which just sounds weird to me) so that your controller can act like the old ones, although initially it seems like a NES controller turned sideways. The big question, of course, is will third party devs actually use the advantages this controller has? No multiplatform game will use it, I guarantee you. So people who want to play multiplatform games will assumedly have to buy a Gamecube controller, which wasn't as good as the controllers from Sony and MS because it had 1 less button (and that's not counting the analog stick buttons).

The last few sentences of the paragraph above already pointed out my second thought... This controller is so different from the other 2 companies that it'll be a nightmare for any game that isn't a Revolution exclusive. Also, I believe it remains to be seen how good this controller will be for FPS and other such games.

I guess what it comes down to is, this controller certainly has the ability to create new types of games and we will definately be seeing interesting offerings from Nintendo and lost of fresh ideas. However, as this generation has shown third party games are what really pushes a system over the top and I'm afraid that with such a different controller the Revolution will be left out of the loop there. On top of that, if the system does use a Gamecube controller for a lot of its games, that controller was generally considered the worst of the current gen controllers due to having less buttons and a odd right thumbstick. I'm happy Nintendo is taking a chance and giving people the opportunity to create something original, but I have a feeling that this sword cuts both ways and it's going to hurt them in other ways. Of course this is all speculation but time will tell.

 

[Azrael]

There are no words...

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

Thing is, in my mind, people don't buy a Nintendo console for a 3rd party title. THey buy it for a nintendo title and meh, why 3rd party here and there. Mario 128 WILL be what sells this system, not madden not FF not Tekken not Halo. That's something Nintendo has that others don't. Their 1st party titles sell their system. People buy the system for the games not the games for the syste,.. ... it sounds wierd, but it makes sense. I know it does... I'm sure, yes.

 

[Sis]

There are no words...

And yet your post would seem to prove otherwise.

.Sis

 

[pakotlar]

Deep down I think we all expected this from Nintendo. Every ounce of information we have from them points to a new focus on niche market. Nintendo cannot honestly believe that companies like EA will make multiplatformers for their system, can they? Uhoh.

 

[Kb-Smoker]

wtf

Is this a joke?

that can't be a controller....

 

[speng]

I'm impressed, very very surprised and think it's wierd. But the features and the functionality and the potential to revolutionize how you play games is there.

Definitely different and will likely take some getting used to.

I think it might have been better to also have a 1 button on the digital stick extension. It would flow as other controllers. Typically the D-pad/Stick is not on the same side as the buttons, so this will be a bit wierd if you use the d-pad.

But it's very interesting, but how it's used in games will tell the real story.

Speng.

 

[seismologist]

reminds me of those hardwired consoles where you plug the controller into your TV set.

 

[wco81]

What could make this viable is if it played all the old games using this controller without any SW modification and if developers just code similarly to the GC controller layout and libraries automatically translate the 3D motions as traditional controller input.

Then 3rd-party developers wouldn't have to do anything exotic just for the Revolution versions of their games (but they already will since the HW capabilities will lag the other two significantly). Or maybe Nintendo will have good tools and supporting this controller won't be that much more difficult than a traditional controller.

I can see this thing getting dropped a lot. Or tossed in a fit of anger (of course that's true of all wireless controllers). Without a tether, this thing could get damaged or cause damage to other things.

 

[kyleb]

True, but the mouse input has this same issue: you just pick up the mouse and reposition it back to center. The new controller will have to have something like that as well.

Sure, with the mouse you pick it up and move it, but you already have the remote picked up all the time so that doesn't work. They could have it where you press a button to free the controller for repositioning but that would be awkward and they are already pretty shy on buttons to work with. I'm really at a loss to see how they might pull it off.

I think it should act just like light gun in FPS so it controls the gun. So moving, rotating, strafing are done by analog maybe by some shift key to fit it all on the analog.

That sounds rather awkward as well.

However, one thing I am pleased with is that this controller looks to be the first truey ambidextrous design. Being a lefty I always have to stuggle with custom settings or just making due using my less cordinated hand for what was designed for the dominate hand, With this cotroller system it really looks like it doesn't matter which hand you want to use for what.

 

[doob]

Its out of the ordinary so as usual people will have trouble (in their minds) to accept it.
It offers great controlling options over several game platforms, specially in FPS.

So far imo i think Nintendo should change the lower a and b buttons up to the sides of the capital (A) for an easier access to our thumbs.
Where they stand so low in the current design might be a bit unconforble or should i say require a bit more of hand gimnastic to low our thumb so low, specially for first hand impressions till ppl get used to it.
I like it. I'd prefer also if they made a more sleek design on the right remotepad.

Oh! and, what are those 1,2,3,4 lower led indicators about?

 

[Bad_Boy]

and all this time i thought the ps3 controller was iffy.

 

[Powderkeg]

It offers great controlling options over several game platforms, specially in FPS.

I disagree with that completely, for the reason I stated earlier.

FPS's more than any other game require a per-pixel accuracy, which would be near impossible to do with a controller based on hand movement. Any tiniest twitch of your hand would cause you to miss.

And most people instinctively jerk their hands when they hit a button in stressful situation.

And as was mentioned before, let's say you map the head movement to the movement sensors of the controller, making it work like a mouse. You turn right by moving your hand to the right.

You are walking down a hall, come to a 90 degree corner, beyond which there is an open room with several enemies. You get to the corner, you turn the controller to the right, but now all of your enemies are straight in front of you.

How do you return your hand to center without turning left?

If it requires hitting a button, then that's a button that you no longer have available for other use. (Not to mention it being inconvenient.) Since this controller only has 2 buttons, now you only have one, and I'll assume it's "Fire Weapon."

So much for jump, duck, reload, change weapons, use, and alternate fire. Even if you could use both buttons, 5 of those normal FPS control options couldn't be used with that controller.

 

[doob]

I disagree with that completely, for the reason I stated earlier.

FPS's more than any other game require a per-pixel accuracy, which would be near impossible to do with a controller based on hand movement. Any tiniest twitch of your hand would cause you to miss.

And most people instinctively jerk their hands when they hit a button in stressful situation.

And as was mentioned before, let's say you map the head movement to the movement sensors of the controller, making it work like a mouse. You turn right by moving your hand to the right.

You are walking down a hall, come to a 90 degree corner, beyond which there is an open room with several enemies. You get to the corner, you turn the controller to the right, but now all of your enemies are straight in front of you.

How do you return your hand to center without turning left?

If it requires hitting a button, then that's a button that you no longer have available for other use. (Not to mention it being inconvenient.) Since this controller only has 2 buttons, now you only have one, and I'll assume it's "Fire Weapon."

I believe that nintendo is well aware of that. And that's easyly overcomed with some sort of anti-shackness (if i may use this term) to avoid the problems u stated.
Similer to the common "Mouse Smoothing" and "Acceleration threshold" options found in PC games.
So imo that doesn't face a serious problem for nintendo.

Now about the 90º/centering our hand position without affecting the on-screen position.
Your idea is that your only way to simulate the usual pc mouse is by the joystick alone.

Well the joystick has the potential to let a player straff in 360º and aim at the same time. if you want to do a complete turn of 90º or > i guess the most logical options would be to use the left&right arrows of the righthand controler or one of its buttons to turn around by 180º and the rest of the aiming will be up to the lefthand controler.
Sure it looks complicated doing it even to me while writing this. But actually i find it very easy if such is how it might be done.

Besides we don't know how is the controllers movement "resolution"(precision) compared to a top of the line mouse(or even a common pc mouse)

P.s: Edited for better reading of how i expect Nintendo will solve or provide such solutions.

 

[Boke]

"How do you return your hand to center without turning left?"

Probably works like the Microsoft Sidewinder Dual Strike.

The turning starts when you are aiming close to the edge of the screen. So if your turning left, a right movement of the controller won't cause a right turn until you get close to the right side.

I thought it worked pretty well with the Dual Strike. Much better than an analog stick.

 

[Powderkeg]

I believe that nintendo is well aware of that. And that's easyly overcomed with some sort of anti-shackness (if i may use this term) to avoid the problems u stated.

That would reduce sensitivity. Minor movments would be difficult since you would have to overcompensate your movements to make sure they aren't filtered out.

Similer to the common "Mouse Smoothing" and "Acceleration threshold" options found in PC games.
So imo that doesn't face a serious problem for nintendo.

The difference is a mouse only moves in 2D, this moves in 3D. You have a free floating controller that must be held in a hand, preferrably pointing at the TV, and any movement in any direction causes an input. And that introduces a whole new set of movements.

Consider this. After gaming for a while, your ass starts to hurt, right? Try adjusting your seating position without moving your hands more than a fraction of an inch. See if you can do it naturally, or if it takes effort.

Simply leaning your body moves your hand position, and any movement in any direction will be interpreted as a controller input. So, not only will your arms have to remain near motionless excet for intentional movements, but you can't move the rest of your body either. If the hips or shoulders move, the hands move.

Little kids are going to hate this. Have you ever seen a kid under 10 who could remain perfectly still for 5 minutes?

 

[swaaye]

Awesome. This thing looks totally original. What crazy engineers Nintendo has! I can't wait to give it a shot. My only concern is whether it's big enough for my hands.

Remember when Nintendo brought out the N64 controller and everyone copied it? Well let's see what happens here. I'm all for crazy creative ideas. It's what we need in gaming to keep things interesting

BTW I don't think any of the cross platform games out there are in my library anyway. So if developers can't take the time to port what is often trash, well, good for them. But if this controller is as good as they say you better believe ports will come. Or maybe they'll just start developing primarily for Nintendo.

LOL. I'm amazed on how so many of you immediately doubt such a fresh idea. It's exciting!

 

[Sis]

How do you return your hand to center without turning left?

This is not an intractable problem. People have given this about 4 minutes worth of thought and decided that there's no good solution. Off hand, here's possible solutions:

* Twisting the device on it's edge turns tracking off, allowing you to reposition it.
* Sensors could be sensitive enough that "flicking" the device back to center is not considered a turn, but a reposition
* Lifting the controller to a higher place (raising it into the air) turns off tracking

I'd be willing to bet Nintendo designers have dozens of other possible solutions...

.Sis

 

[Drensch]

http://cubemovies.ign.com/cube/video/article/651/651334/revolutiontrailer_091605_qtlow.mov

That's all there is to be said. That video really exposes possibilities.

 

[Powderkeg]

And no one seems to care that it only has 2 Buttons total.

So every game has to be limited to only 2 button inputs.

Imagine the great racers with only a gas and brake.
All of the great FPS's that have fire, alternate fire, but nothing else.
All of the great fighters with punch, kick, but no block.

More than anything else, people should be concerned about the 2 button limit.