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Industry Response: Revolution Controller

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Developers, the media and analysts tell what they think of Nintendo's vision for the future of game control. There's some skepticism, but many are loving the idea:

 

Click Here.

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I sense Nintendo maturing.

 

I bet most of the games it'll get will be First Persons Shooters/RPG's.

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Similar responses from when the DS was unvieled, however not a lot of developers took advantage of the features on offer.

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"The Wavebird is only second to the Sony controller." Am I the only one who hates the setup of the PS1/2 controller?

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"The Wavebird is only second to the Sony controller." Am I the only one who hates the setup of the PS1/2 controller?

 

The WaveBird/standard controller is way better than the PS2 controller. Even my PS2 fanboy friends say that! The PS2 controller is too small and the left joystick is in the wrong place!

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I think it is very good to hear so many positive opinions about the Revolution - so far I did not see any really negative behaviour by Publishers/Developers. Now only games need to follow.

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"The Wavebird is only second to the Sony controller." Am I the only one who hates the setup of the PS1/2 controller?

Yeah what is he on about?

Nintendo alwaus IMO produce the most comfortable controller each generation; with the wavebird and standard GC controller being EASILY the best yet!

 

Some fantastic responses there!!

Great to see the whole of the Ubisofts team for one, all got excited by it and all began thinking of ideas!!

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I agree about the PS2 controller being incredibly uncomfortable to hold. Maybe it's just because I'm used to the GameCube one, though.

 

It's great to read so many positive comments about the controller, but I just hope developers really take advantage of it, and don't just use it as a gimmicky extra on PS3 / 360 ports. They've got to start taking some risks.

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I think we'll get the best developer comments in Edge magazine where people will actually understand how good it is and what it can do. They'll no doubt have some who have tested it first hand.

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The Wavebird was second only to the Sony controller…

 

Notice how it's the technical director that has a problem, whilst the two designers from the same company love the concept? Anyway, before I had a Gamecube I had a Playstation and I could never quite find a comfortable pad for it, I tried plenty of them including some more unusual 3rd party designs. I've got slightly larger hands and ended up trying larger pads if I could find them, so when I saw the smaller GC pad I was a tad worried. Then I tried it, huge surprise I was able to use it with no trouble at all.

 

I've been fielding interview questions on this new Nintendo controller for a while now, and besides the obvious stuff, I've been personally hoping for Nintendo to offer custom game interfaces.

 

Meaning when a developer designs a game, they can very easily design their own interface at the same time. Their interface component would then (at a very low cost) be included in every game box. (Imagine a small "interface' block that clips in the front of a normal controller.)

 

The main controller (not looking like a remote control) would be designed so you simply plug in the component that came with the game.

 

Nintendo talked about controllers having too many buttons and turning off non-gamers.

 

Fair point, but if they honestly have a problem with too many buttons, then this solves that too. For example, on the faceplate that comes with a simple game, they could actually get rid of all unused buttons by not replicating them. If however I want a more complicated game with 10 buttons and a throttle slider on the faceplate for a Mech game, no problem.

 

This solution covers many needs.

 

The faceplate can also contain artwork (for that game) and tips, like "FIRE" written under the fire button. Trust me, that will help newbie gamers!

 

Can you imagine how excited, and then let down I felt when I found out Nintendo nearly delivered this!

 

I feel a lot of innovation in the original arcade games was increased by the freedom of designers to create new interfaces for their game at the same time. Think Pacman vs. Tempest vs. Missile Command vs. Star Wars vs. Lunar Lander. All radically different but the interface definitely added to the fun.

 

After toying around with this Revolution remote control, and after fighting my grandparents off it, my prediction is that people will be looking to buy a "normal" controller to plug in.

 

So thanks Nintendo for trying. I actually respect the effort a lot!

 

People that know me, know I love big thinking and I LOVE innovation, but I still dream of the day when hardware manufactures stop trying to surprise game developers and actually invite a group of them to brainstorm on the hardware.

 

It would be a great marketing scoop for them (being designed by the top ten game designers in the world), but it would also deliver a bloody cool console / controller.

 

Oh well, just five more years and we can try again.

 

I read that and thought, "What a prat! Did you not see that port in the bottom that allows you to plug-in other controllers, the one Iwata said they were exploring what they could do with it?"

 

Anyone else think the same?

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Yeah I though Perry was a dick too.

Also, I HATE the playstation pads, the sticks may as well be digital they're that respsonive. Also, after about 15 minuts I get blisters on my fingers that rest on the screw holes - batters.

 

I llve the Cube pad (especially the Wavebird).

 

Great respsone. Let us soak in our juices for a month and show us some games.

 

I think NIntendo are playing a very clever, sneaky game to be honest. They show us the controller and what it COULD do. They then scour the boards, listen to media and designers to see what their minds can come up with. They will then log all the good ideas and use them in future games.

 

Cant wait to see stuff though!!

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Notice how it's the technical director that has a problem, whilst the two designers from the same company love the concept? Anyway, before I had a Gamecube I had a Playstation and I could never quite find a comfortable pad for it, I tried plenty of them including some more unusual 3rd party designs. I've got slightly larger hands and ended up trying larger pads if I could find them, so when I saw the smaller GC pad I was a tad worried. Then I tried it, huge surprise I was able to use it with no trouble at all.

 

 

 

I read that and thought, "What a prat! Did you not see that port in the bottom that allows you to plug-in other controllers, the one Iwata said they were exploring what they could do with it?"

 

Anyone else think the same?

 

I thought he came across as a prat too. Perhaps someone should point out that HIS idea is actually plainly the worst idea known to man! It would mean a new button configuration for nearly every game! So much for simplifying things. It would make no difference how well labelled they are, part of using a pad is becoming accustomed to its button layout so you don't even have to think about pressing the keys. Plus it would be tacky, and annoying to have to keep switching the interface of the pad with different games. And his idea doesn't actually change the way we'd play games. Aside from the mention of a slider it just sounds like rejigging the buttons whenever a developer sees fit. Revolution allows for 1 handed (or 2 handed) control and total immersion. There's simplicity, depth and easy modification around the core control.

 

Perhaps that's WHY Nintendo wouldn't ever get the Top 10 developers to design a controller! haha

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The thing I forgot to mention about Dave Perry's piece, as well, he basically wants everything on the wand. Has he tried using anything more than his thumb and forefinger at the same time as holding something? It is possible, but the buttons would have to be all over the controller and your co-ordination would need to be immense.

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I don't know what he's moaning about cause the 360/PS3 controllers are set in stone, at least with the rev controller you can add stuff on, making it the most flexiable controller out there.

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I think many developers are afraid of the Revolution controller aswell simply because they have to make innovative games. That means some developers will have problems because their current game recipe is not working anymore:

 

Next-Gen Game = Graphics (same as current-gen + 25%) + Controller Layout (same as current-gen) + Sound (+ newest Dolby technology) + Mediocre Story (same as current-gen)

 

 

Alright not every developer works like this but many do - and a new controller would mean new game concepts, taking risks and maybe sacrifice some people from the gfx team to the "concept" team!

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Isnt Shiny the company that makes halo games? Hes probably being payed by M$ to bad mouth if it is. (For the record i think Halo is average at best and in no way deserves the awards it got). The majority of feed back is positive and this is whats needed. As for the ps/ps2 pad being the best, WHAT!? after 5 minutes on that pad my hands ache. Its so unnatural to hold and the left stick only makes it worse. Talking about the sticks they are the worst of all consoles that ever had sticks. N64 had the best followed by GC and then xbox. Bah good news overall.

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you do realise that there is only one or 2 noteworthy peopl eon that list?

 

one doesn't like it because its not his idea (and he hates metroid as retro fired him before they made it)

and most of them are hardly insiders, some aren't even in the industry anymore

 

reality check: EA, capcom, square, konomi, sega, namco and ubisoft (among a handful of others) are the ones that matter, on top of the indie devs

 

if they like it, everybody out there will follow

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yes i do mean perry, he is a joke in the gaming world, check out the P-A forums for some real industry prats to slag off

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Isnt Shiny the company that makes halo games? Hes probably being payed by M$ to bad mouth if it is. (For the record i think Halo is average at best and in no way deserves the awards it got)

 

No, you're thinking of Bungie.

 

Shiny made Enter the Matrix.

 

Now you can laugh.

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I bought a new PS2 controller not long ago and the shoulder buttons squeak as you press them and the plastic feels cheap and fragile.

 

Shoddy!

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most normal games will work with the controller anyway in someway, one of them makes a comment about wanting to play splinter cell with a normal controller but it would work just as well with the new controller, cause the 3rd person action game has the same controls more or less as a FPS. Move old sam around using the stick, look around using the remote just like normal, wiggle the remote around to pick locks etc, twist the controller towards a wall to stand against it, twist the opposite way to get off again, move the controller down to crouch etc would work well and lack of buttons won't be a problem plus i think it would make the game better with little or no extra development time so ports are easier, most of the time it might be just replacing the right stick with the controller movements etc so third parties have nothing to complain about really they don't have to re-invent the wheel with every game, but they can if they want or just provide a didn't experience with the same old kind of game and isn't having the option to be able to do something different if you want to or experience something new for an old genre also a mini revolution in itself.

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