The unveiling of the new controller for Nintendo’s Revolution caused many shouts of joy and anger. Some see how this could be great in games and others see how this could be Nintendo’s downfall. And everyone has an opinion. Here is our tilt (pun heavily intended) on things.
The Hurdles.
New concepts and ideas are great, but they don’t always bring in the money or the acceptance the producing company desires (i.e. Virtual Boy). Nintendo has gone down that path, they are quite aware of their mistakes, and they probably are much more sure about going into this than they were about previous failures. Regardless, Nintendo has a couple of hurdles to cross with this new idea.
First up is a marketing issue. “The controller looks like a DVD remote. How will I be able to play games on it (including those old games Nintendo promised we could download)? What exactly is revolutionary in this thing?”
The answers to these questions are mostly easy:
- Yes, it looks like a DVD remote. Which is a good thing for most non-gamers because it is familiar.
- It is controlled by the buttons on the controller and by moving it through the air, so for a flying game you might hold it up and tip the nose of the controller down to move your plane down or tip it left to bank left, etc.
- As far as being able to play older games, you ‘ll notice that if you turn it 90 degrees (without any attachments on it) it looks very similar to the original NES controller.
- Yes, this is innovative for this industry. The technology isn’t new but the implemenation is.
However, even though the answers are easy it is relaying them to the consumer that will be tough. The Nintendo video shown at the Tokyo Game Show did a pretty good job of summing up some of the controls (and the innovative part). The grandad “fishing” with his grandson bit really shows where Nintendo wants to go with this.
Second they face an ergonomic issue. Their engineers have come up with an innovative product, but can they make it fit the hands of millions of people well? And keep it from hurting your fingers or wrists during extended usage? And make it small and light enough that my arms don’t hurt after playing (although my wife would argue that more physical activity would probably be good for me)?
I guess we’ll find out sometime next year.
The third hurdle is developers, developers, developers. They seem to be getting a lot of initial support, but when things cool down who will be sticking it out and actually develop games for the Revolution? This will be the make or break the system regardless of their marketing and ergonomics.
If the developers fall by the wayside and nobody actually develops for the system, then Nintendo might be hurting. Granted, they’ll still have a good first-party lineup, but that won’t cut it for many consumers.
However, if the developers stick by Nintendo, they could hit it big. With the new controller design you can expect many Revolution-only games, since porting them to the other systems would be awkward. The Revolution could be the system that everyone owns, leaving the consumer to decide whether to buy the Xbox 360 or the PS3 as their second system.
Will the Revolution reign supreme? Probably not. The best case scenario for gamers is that each system will be tied at 1/3 of the market share. Competition is good for us.
Regardless of the outcome, we are patiently awaiting the arrival of this new breed so that we can at least test it.
The Ideas.
Finally, here are some very brief game ideas that you can dream about playing if you intend on buying one of these when they come out. If you haven’t watched the video these might not make sense to you.
Zelda or Jedi Knight
Hack and slash your sword like the crazy guy in the video. This could also work a lot like the methods we described in our DS game ideas article where you can not only use it for sword motions, but also for making motions to cast spells and so forth in a Harry Potter game. Very cool.
Harvest Moon
Fishing is shown in the video, so it comes as no surprise. But what about digging, building (use the controller as a hammer/saw/etc), raking, and other labor-type activities? Being able to build your own constructions would be very cool indeed. Granted, this will not bring any new people to the game…if you didn’t like it before this won’t add anything but there could be many people who would enjoy this sort of thing.
Smash TV Remake
If you played this game on the original Nintendo you’ll realize that this new controller could work pretty well for it. Use the attachment analog stick to move your character and move the controller to control where you fire.
Boxing
Use two controllers, one in each hand and the system can detect what kinds of punches you are throwing. You throw an uppercut and your character on the screen throws an uppercut. This could be used for normal fighting games as well.
Nintendogs
It is a hit on the DS, so why not? Instead of petting your dog with a stylus you could pet him with your remote (as a brush). The controller could also act as a ball or a frisbee and allow you to make the motions to throw the item so your dog could chase it. Interoperability with the DS version would be nice too.
FPS
Move your character with the attached analog stick and the controller becomes the barrel of your gun. Point and shoot. Or with games like Beyond Good and Evil the controller could be your camera. I guess those couple of light gun games (like Duck Hunt) will be supported after all.
DDR
Get an optional DDR mat and now you have Advanced Dance Dance Revolution (ADDR). Not only do your feet have to move in the right combinations, but also your hands. Get a couple of friends and you can all dance around like sweaty idiots all night. Friends optional.
Shoe Straps
Strap a couple of these onto your feet (on the tops) and now you control Mario (or whoever) by running and jumping. Use two on your feet and two on your hands and you could literally kick some butt at Street Fighter.
Exercise
Sure you are going to get a little more active with some of these games, and that could be a major selling point for some “games”. Your mother’s workout and Tae Bo videos could start coming out on the Revolution instead of on DVD. You might have a virtual trainer who teaches you the best way to kick your legs or do curls or whatever.
Driving
The controller becomes the steering wheel. Use another one on your foot for the pedals. One on your left foot for the clutch, if you so desire.
Scorched Earth
The angle and direction of your controller is the angle and direction of your cannon. Combine this with the wireless play and you can have your own world war.
Tags: Active games · Game design · Platforms
15 responses so far ↓
1 debian_ // Sep 16, 2005 at 4:22 pm
Games like mario baseball/tennis will transition perfectly to this.
Hopefully a great new WarioWare for the Revolution is planned.
Within the first few moments of reading the controllers specs the duel weild idea with boxing also sprang to my mind. New Punchout?
Strapping a remote to each foot could allow with doing away of the dance mat altogether.
A new Wave Race would benefit greatly from being able to lean and have it actually translate to onscreen shifting of weight.
The drum segment in the video on IGN brings interesting thoughts to DonkeyKonga style games.
Depending on just how precise the movement sensor is, could the remote held like an oversized marker for drawing/writing? Running with this, why stop at pen/marker? How about picks and fine drills. Virtual sculpting? Alot more intuitive than a mouse, and cheaper than 3d pens for the PC. Now players of all ages can be an artist in their living room.
Microphone addon would be perfect for karaoke since you could hold the remote like a microphone.
Speaking of microphone, maybe a headset for voice communication? Either a microphone or headset would be great for a Revolution version of Nintendogs, as well as talking smack on online Smash Bros.
So many possibilities..
2 grant // Sep 19, 2005 at 7:53 am
debian:
Great ideas. Hopefully some developers will pick up a few of them and run with them. Thanks for the comment.
3 jeremiah johnson // Sep 19, 2005 at 1:00 pm
you’ve neglected to mention that there is an accessory for this new hard-for-some-t0-accept controller style, and it is a traditional controller. the above pictured controller plugs into the traditional controller and then everyone is happy. i wish i could remember where i saw that, i’d link it.
there will be an accessory that makes this controller function exactly as a traditional controller.
any controller style that involves strapping, i.e.: “strap one to each foot” will go nowhere fast. nintendo wouldn’t even pretend that this would be a good idea, i don’t think. i could be wrong. maybe i am, but i doubt it.
4 grant // Sep 19, 2005 at 1:10 pm
jeremiah johnson:
Yes, I did see the traditional controller “plugin”. It was a mockup on IGN and isn’t a new accessory.
It has also been reported that the Revolution will support the Gamecubes Wavebird controllers, so if you need a plain jane controller for a game there will be one available.
I personally am hoping that a lot of developers try new things with the new controller before giving up and running back to the safety of the “known”.
5 Valentine // Sep 19, 2005 at 1:17 pm
Every time I hear a developer or an analyst show concern about whether or not their games can be implemented with the new controller I cringe and ask myself “Did they even look at the photos?”
One developer even made a comment that argued that future development for the console would need to be on an individual console basis. As if the fact that the controller has new powers makes it so you have to take advantage of such powers.
Looking at the photos, however, with the scope of attachments that are possible for the controller I don’t see any reason why game companies can’t stick with some of their tried and true game formulas and simply take advantage of the new graphical prowess of the box.
While I’m certainly looking forward to game play based off of the controller’s three dimensional capabilities, I’ve seen plenty of comments that make it seem like traditional game play is mutually exclusive to the new design and other such “sky is falling” rhetoric. I for one am not as worried.
6 grant // Sep 19, 2005 at 1:20 pm
Valentine:
You are right, the new system shouldn’t have any problem handling some of the tried and true game formulas. The problem is getting people to accept that it can. The Revolution has gotten a lot of good publicity and a lot of bad publicity in the last few days. You and I know that the bad publicity is from people that don’t have a clue about the new controller, but that doesn’t stop people from reading and believing it.
7 jeremiah johnson // Sep 19, 2005 at 1:46 pm
i agree. i like the new controller and am very anxious to see how it is used. it will be very cool to control games in new ways. it will lead to new game ideas which will lead to new methods of control.
8 Nick Wagner // Sep 19, 2005 at 2:55 pm
Speaking of attachments, and microphones specifically, an idea struck me yesterday: a lot of people have pointed out that controller gestures could be used to cast spells in a Harry Potter or other wizardry-heavy game. But what if there was a snap-on microphone attachment for the end of the controller, capable of responding to voice commands? Then spells could be either spoken, waved in the air with the “wand,” or a combination of both.
Then if some enterprising 3rd party (or the software company itself) developed a compatible controller, with all the same buttons as Nintendo’s, that had the look and feel of a wooden wand, the emersion factor would be amazing. Similarly, Lucasarts could ship a Lightsaber shell for the controller, and I’m possitive someone will develop a controller for FPSs that has the shape and feel of a gun.
9 grant // Sep 19, 2005 at 3:56 pm
Nick Wagner:
Great points! It is amazing what fans can think of in the way new ideas. If a small ounce or two of that creativity can make it to the developers then we’ll have some pretty cool stuff on our hands next year.
10 RBRBRB // Sep 19, 2005 at 10:26 pm
You left out STABBING games. Hold the controller like a knife and virtually STAB people. YAY
11 grant // Sep 20, 2005 at 8:06 am
RBRBRB:
Uh, yeah, stabbing games. Of course. How could I forget?
12 Nick Wagner // Sep 20, 2005 at 11:36 am
(Cross-posted on Slashdot’s message boards)
Cross platform games are NOT the end of the Revolution. They are the beginning.
I’ve read a lot of people’s comments about how Nintendo is screwing over game companies by making it impossible to port games across platforms. I think people are missing a key insight, which 1up briefly mentions in their article on the controller: “When the two controller pieces are attached, the so-called ‘Nunchaku’ configuration (the two bits are connected by a short cord) can work similarly to current controllers, just with the second analog stick replaced by actual movement of the Revolution controller.”
Think about it. In your left hand, you’ve got an analogue stick with two trigger buttons. In your right hand, you’ve got an analogue controller (more precise, and sensitive along an extra axis), 5-7 face buttons and a trigger button. How is that so impossibly different from the standard controllers of today? It certainly allows for software companies to do *more*, since the control will be much more precise if implemented properly and there’s an extra axis to work with, but it won’t prevent them from continuing to use today’s 3D control paradigm.
Think about TimeSplitters. On PS3 and XBox360, it will work exactly like it does today, but look prettier. On the Revolution, you’ll be pointing your “gun” (controller) at characters on the screen, but from a software standpoint the control paradigm is the same. It’s just another analogue stick. You control forwar/backward and strafing movement with your left thumbstick, and direction/firing with your right hand. This depends a lot on Nintendo implementing a good developer interface that allows for easy mapping of current analogue-stick functions onto the remote control wand. But assuming they do that (and I’m betting they do–I’m guessing that’s how Metroid Prime 2 was updated for the demonstration) then TimeSplitters could easily work on all platforms will just a bit of tweaking. The only real difference would be that the Revolution version will kick a** and the others will be the same as every other console FPS we’ve played for the last nine years.
13 evilkittypiro // Sep 20, 2005 at 2:17 pm
For those of you concerned about wavebird/tethered Gamecube controllers being supported, there’s pics of 4 normal GC ports and 2 memory card ports on the top of the Revolution. Gamespot definitely has pics of that, btw.
Second, what says that games that are incompatible with the new control interface can’t just use old GC controllers when they port it? If the new X360 and PS3 controllers are basically the same layout as their previous incarnations, and the GC controller could play most ports fine, then the Revolution should still play ports fine using the older GC controllers.
Besides, Nintendo has only upgraded how we control games. At any time they can doungrade to normal analog controls. The X360 and PS3 ONLY have basic analog. That puts Nintendo at an advantage, not a disadvantage, as some believe. The only problem I see in regards to competition is raw power of the consoles, which Nintendo may improve in the next year to be very competitive with its rivals.
I’m just happy someone finally realized that graphics and sound are not the only things you can improve in games. Go Nintendo.
14 Teon // Sep 21, 2005 at 12:42 pm
I think that more people will come to enjoy using a new controller configuration, especially since we have all been using the same boring analoge controls since the N64 came out with it… and look where everyone followed? now all consoles have analoge controlers of some sort (excluding the whole gba series) so i think nintendo developing this new tech will work out great and other consoles will be right on its tail adopting the three dimensional controls
15 Barry O Halloran // Sep 23, 2005 at 6:05 am
Not Advanced Dance Dance Revolution (ADDR)
Dance Dance Revolution Revolution (DDRR)
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