Nintendo Revolution controller unveiled tonight

Nintendo is sometimes revolutionary in their controller design, and sometimes overreaching. For instance, the N64 controller and Nintendo DS both require 3 hands to take advantage of all the functionality at once. I think they've been using mutants in their focus groups or something.

This controller just seems like it's going to be tiring to use, waving it about. Also I'm not too keen on the rather non-ergonomic shape.

I'll probably disagree with myself in a few years, but right now Mouse + Keyboard + Large Flat Horizontal Surface = all the controller I need.

Besides, aren't we supposed to have VR by now? WHERE'S MY HOLODECK, DANG IT? NINTENDO? HOLODECK? Oh, right, you just want to let me play all the old games some more. That's great. Thanks. Yeah. I just can't get enough Duck Hunt.

HOLODECK. Seriously.
 
Last edited:
For me, it's the sucess of the Nintendo DS that really makes me wonder about this controller. A lot of naysayers were bashing the DS, trying to figure just what good a touch sensitive pad and a microphone was going to be, and all of the early games didn't really make much use of it or just felt like tech demos.

Now people are going ape of Nintendogs, among other great DS games, and developers are really catching on and creating some really innovative things with the unit.

My initial reaction to the "revolution remote" was kind of "whhaaaa?" But the possibilities, the options...my only concern is that we're not going to see classic game types/genres brought over to the Revolution because the controller isn't, say, fighting game friendly. That being said, it seems to be that if you actually want to have an entirely different video gaming experience and not just the same ol' thing but with more polys, Nintendo's going to be the place to be. They just have to convince everybody else (read: third-party developers) that not only is this true, but that it makes financial sense.
 
Last edited:
I read 1 UP's Feature on the history of controllers. It was a pretty interesting read, though it's five pages, so be prepared to devote a few minutes if you want to read it.

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3143627

Anyway, one of the things they pointed out was that even though Nintendo was the first to implement a digital (it's actually not analog) stick on their controller, Sega responded and beat them to the market with their own version.
 
kraniac said:
Besides, aren't we supposed to have VR by now? WHERE'S MY HOLODECK, DANG IT? NINTENDO? HOLODECK? Oh, right, you just want to let me play all the old games some more. That's great. Thanks. Yeah. I just can't get enough Duck Hunt.

HOLODECK. Seriously.
Click to expand...
Fo real.
 
kraniac said:
Oh, right, you just want to let me play all the old games some more. That's great. Thanks. Yeah. I just can't get enough Duck Hunt.
Click to expand...
So true.

In the immortal words of Penny Arcade: "1984 called. They want their games back."

The controller, while it may yet prove successful, proves an old theory of mine: Since Sega dropped out of the console market, Nintendo has been hard-pressed to deliver quality innovation. Yes, the DS may have been a financial success, but it hasn't won over the public nearly as quickly and effectively as the Gameboy Advance SP. The most widely acclaimed Nintendo hardware venture to date, the Wavebird, is little more than an improvement on what other companies had already created. Nintendo, as always, is at their best when they're copying and improving on someone else's invention.
 
Nintendo was the first to implement a "joystick" that actually worked on a console controller. It was digital and small enough to be controlled by a thumb. Sega and Sony added joysticks to their controllers after the N64 controller was revealed, though Sega did beat Nintendo to the market with their response. Nintendo was also the first to implement a rumble feature in a console controller. Nintendo's WaveBird was the first wireless controller that you'd actually want to play a videogame with, thanks in part to utilizing RF signals. While it's fair to say Sega pushed Nintendo to be more competitive when the two were positioning for the top spot in the industry, where is there an example of where Nintendo took something that Sega did first and improved upon it?

The Nintendo DS may have not matched the Nintendo Game Boy Advance's torrent sales pace right out of the gate, but it has moved over five million units already. That's not bad, and happens to be ahead of the highly touted and assumed champion Sony PSP. The GBA also had the benefit of launching under the "Game Boy" name, launching with more than just one awesome title, and being able to play every game in the Game Boy library when it launched. Sony's PS2 succeeded under a similar formula, except it didn't launch with the awesome software. Sales don't reflect the quality of the product, rather they reflect consumer interest. If the former was true, the Sega Dreamcast would have obliterated the PS2 when Sony launched it.
 
Last edited:
Oh, right, you just want to let me play all the old games some more. That's great. Thanks. Yeah. I just can't get enough Duck Hunt.
Click to expand...
:) Ah come on, just because Nintendo is going to let you walk down memory lane doesn't mean they're not going to push forward as well. With a controller like that, it practically FORCES them to do inventive things with it. Yea, no holo deck, but perhaps at least a proper, working, accurate "light" gun. :)

@Tek re: DS not making the spash the SP did...well, you have to admit that the SP was pretty hard to top. It's a heckuvalot of gaming power stuffed in a very, portable space with a backlit screen and rechargable batteries. I can't actually think of any *faults* in the SP's industrial design except for the wonky power/head phone jack thing and a case that's a little too scratch prone. Otherwise, it's the perfect portable gaming system. *Anybody* would be hard pressed to improve on that.

At any rate, sales of DS units are up, thanks to Nintendogs (250,000 units moved in the first week alone); it took a year, but I believe the DS is hitting its stride. Remember that the original GBA was not without its problems (that terrible screen) but they did it right with the SP. We just need a Nintendo DS mark 2 to put all that cool stuff into a less hand-cramp inducing package.

Great article here discussing and disecting just what the heck Nintendo is actually going after, and it makes a heck of a lot of sense. They've placed themselves in an area that has them competing only with themselves, while the XBox and PS3 duke it out in the high-poly, multi-media device arena using the same old ideas from a generation ago.
 
Last edited:
Actually, interesting tidbit from that article I listed above: "The real kicker is that the Nintendo DS only costs $338, 286 a title to develop for, even less than the Gameboy."

Another quote:
I see this changing somewhat with the DS. We are starting to get some wacky ideas from smaller companies and Nintendo seems to be a bit more welcoming of others. Nintendo needs to pursue this path further by allowing new companies to join the experimentation stage.
Click to expand...
My secret wish is that some of the really cool stuff that we see happening the freeware PC game scene gets polished up and turned into something bigger, and Nintendo will be the platform of choice when they want to make the leap.
 
Last edited:
Shagz said:
My secret wish is that some of the really cool stuff that we see happening the freeware PC game scene gets polished up and turned into something bigger, and Nintendo will be the platform of choice when they want to make the leap.
Click to expand...
Nintendo working with smaller developers? Doubtful. If homebrew developers want to develop and distribute a title, it seems their best chance is the GP2X.
 
Ok, so maybe not homebrew, that was probably the wrong word. But the next layer up from that, the fledgling video game developers out there who want a chance to step up to the plate and reach an audience outside of the usual game geeks, who are the guys and girls downloading freeware, homebrew games.

With a low cost to develop and a readily accesible market, if a small dev shop wanted to break through into the console world, Nintendo would be the platform to do it on. I just hope that Nintendo will do something to foster and develop that potential relationship, like selling small dev shop games through the same mechanism they plan to distribute the old Nintendo games, there by reducing costs. Call it "Mario Steam". :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top