Nintendo Revolution controller revealed

[BWF89]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/15/news_6133335.html

[xequence]

Crazy stuff! It looks just like a tv remote...

Though I dont really have much of a choice for gaming systems. I can get the new xbox 360, but its made by microsoft and I dont much like them. I can get the PS3, but its made by sony and they made my mp3 player windows only. I can get the revolution but nintendo has let me down in many ways.

Or a PC, but then id need windows for games...

[poofyhairguy]

I want one.

[Stormy Eyes]

That thing better be usable by left-handed people; that's all I've got to say.

[tvelocity]

I love it. I'm gona buy it. Definitely. That's all I have to say.

[RastaMahata]

I just love it! :D

[bored2k]

I just love it! :D
I don't see myself playing Tekken/Soul.Calibur type games on that thing. It also looks like its not meant for button mashing ¬_¬.

[Kyral]

Nintendo Strikes Back? Indeed. Can't wait to play a Zelda game with that thing.

Sony and MS are prolly going "WTF is THAT?!"

[escuchamezz]

who came up with that crap controller lol, looks like the NES controller [-X

[bored2k]

Nintendo Strikes Back? Indeed. Can't wait to play a Zelda game with that thing.

Sony and MS are prolly going "WTF is THAT?!"
Strikes back ? We are yet to hear about the actual system specs AND the games.

[Wolki]

I don't see myself playing Tekken/Soul.Calibur type games on that thing. It also looks like its not meant for button mashing ¬_¬.

You can plug additional controller modules into the basic controller. I think for fighting games a 4 button pad will be released. Playing SoulCalibur with a controller that senses movement would be interesting...

[BWF89]

You can plug additional controller modules into the basic controller. I think for fighting games a 4 button pad will be released. Playing SoulCalibur with a controller that senses movement would be interesting...
Companies won't make games for addons and people won't buy addons when no games support them. If you ask me they should package all the addons with the Revolution when it ships.

Heres an interview with Jim Merrick from Nintendo Europe:
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60917

[bored2k]

Companies won't make games for addons and people won't buy addons when no games support them. If you ask me they should package all the addons with the Revolution when it ships.

Heres an interview with Jim Merrick from Nintendo Europe:
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60917
That I agree. So I have to buy EXTRA stuff to play my favorite games ?! Using Nintendo's terms, I'd have to go back in time to the old school era in order to play the games I like ? So much for a Revolution controller, that's just inefficient. Sure, you can play Mario and Zelda (I hope..), but what about fighting games? I'm not into turning Soul Calibur into a contest that "the one with the fastest wrist in the west wins!".

[jensyt]

Sure, you can play Mario and Zelda (I hope..), but what about fighting games? I'm not into turning Soul Calibur into a contest that "the one with the fastest wrist in the west wins!".

Why? Because it might actually take some skill? Or is it because you're lazy and afraid you'll get too much exercise by swinging your arms like a fool?

All 'assholeness' aside, I think this could be a potentially good product for Nintendo. They've been on a steady decline in recent years, and this might actually bring them back. I've seen mixed responses everywhere I looked, but they've been mostly negative. It really sucks to see so many people unwilling to accept change and to give this "revolutionary" concept a try.

I implore you: do you just want an updated version of legacy technology, or do you want something that could very well change the way we think about console gaming?

(Sorry if I offended anyone, it was to get a point out, not to be hostile)

[somuchfortheafter]

i hate to burst everyone's bubble but that isnt a controller its a remote just like the xbox and just like the ps2 remote so umm wait for the real controller that will be used for games.

[Wolki]

That I agree. So I have to buy EXTRA stuff to play my favorite games ?! Using Nintendo's terms, I'd have to go back in time to the old school era in order to play the games I like ? So much for a Revolution controller, that's just inefficient. Sure, you can play Mario and Zelda (I hope..), but what about fighting games? I'm not into turning Soul Calibur into a contest that "the one with the fastest wrist in the west wins!".

No, not really back in time. You just evolve the basic controller, like you would for fps-type games. Maybe they'll even be included with the Revolution, ( (and maybe even Nintendo) don't know yet. But why give the basic controller every button and analog stick imaginable when you can have that as plugins? Nintendo seems like the Firefox/Gnome of the console market ;)

And that Controller could make 3d fighting games truly 3d. point the controller up, move/circle to the background, point it down move/circle to the front. Would be interesting to try, maybe even better than normal systems.

It all depends on how much you like/hate change though. Everyone who wants more of the old and proven stuff can stick to Sony/MS. I like the idea of having a new type of games to play.


i hate to burst everyone's bubble but that isnt a controller its a remote just like the xbox and just like the ps2 remote so umm wait for the real controller that will be used for games.

No, it is the controller. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3143782

[tvelocity]

i hate to burst everyone's bubble but that isnt a controller its a remote just like the xbox and just like the ps2 remote so umm wait for the real controller that will be used for games.

You should really RTFA before judging [-X

[benplaut]

my first thought was "Oh! The minute it comes out, i'm buying it!"

then, logic kicked in... i'll get one when a clone is available for computers :roll:

[somuchfortheafter]

You should really RTFA before judging [-X

it would appear as though i was wrong, now i see that my lost faith in nintendo is truly justifiable. and for the comparison of firefox/gnome they are more of idk whacked out browser/e17 nice to look at and a good idea and in time they ideas will become something useful but in their current state no real point. for referecnces cite the nintendo ds, great idea with the 2 screens and touch pad but holy crap its used as a gimmick 90% of the time.

[PatrickMay16]

who came up with that crap controller lol, looks like the NES controller [-X
I don't understand why people are bashing it. How can anyone know if it's good or not? We haven't even touched it yet.

I'll save my opinion for when I can actually try to use it and see what it feels like.

[TristanMike]

I like the look of it. I defininately said wtf is that? I'm very interested to see how the games react with that "controller". I like the seperate analog feature, it fits me. I feel too constrained with the newer controllers, save the N64 controller, that was pretty sweet. It seems Nintendo is striving for very innovative stuff, I hope it pans out, my faithfullness can only last so long.

[jyank]

It's not only the remote looking piece and an analog addition. Nintendo stated there will be a "shell" like controller which you can attach the remote to. (similar to the dreamcast controller when you plugged the memory cards into) IGN made a mock-up on what it MIGHT look like, because nintendo hasn't released an official picture yet. But this is the IGN picture:

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/article/651/651559/understanding-the-revolution-controller-20050916041026412-000.jpg

and the article:

http://cube.ign.com/articles/651/651559p1.html

Great idea by nintendo, def. will be getting a revolution :)

EDIT: Also just to note, when you have the remote part docked in the shell, you can still have all the same effects from the sensors on the remote

[graigsmith]

Im definately getting this nintendo console. The controller is awesome.

[drizek]

Only problem with the revo is that it isnt high def. Thats not too big a deal, but it should at least be widescreen.

The PS3 has the advantage cause it supports 1080p resolution, runs linux off a hdd and has a bluray player. I just wish i can hook it up to my laptop display using a tv tuner without it lagging.

[mcduck]

Only problem with the revo is that it isnt high def. Thats not too big a deal, but it should at least be widescreen.

The PS3 has the advantage cause it supports 1080p resolution, runs linux off a hdd and has a bluray player. I just wish i can hook it up to my laptop display using a tv tuner without it lagging.
well, the Revolution instead has the advantage of supporting all those old nintendo games.. And it'll probably cost a fraction of it's rivals :)

Anyway, nintendo has all the cool and innovative games. I'll have to get both Revolution and PS3 :) XB/XB360 are the only ones I'm not interested. Not because they are made by Microsoft, but because at least for XB there was like 2 games I would like to play, and that's not enough to make me buy a console.. (and I don't expect that to change with XB360)

[Shampyon]

Revolution will be the first next-gen console I'll buy. I don't carte about HD - I don't own a HDTV, and at over AU$2500 I doubt I will for some time to come. All I care about is the fact that nintendo have never failed to pleasantly surprice me with every console and handheld they've released. I've read reviews for the controller (certain reporters were allowed to use an alpha of the console and control, with ports of Metroid and other games), and they sound positive. At first they say "WTF? How do you use this?" Then it's like "Huh. It's not too bad, I guess..." The five minutes later it's "YES! That move was AWESOME!"

It's a smart idea to take advantage of natural body movement. Most people move along with the games anyway (Ever caught yourself leaning when you're making a sharp turn in a racing game?), so why not integrate that into the control? It can be hald like SNES control or like a wand, which would be good enough for most games. If you ever need it, there's an analogue stick plugin.

To be honest, I'm disappointed with the other consoles for not trying this. They've opted to give us more of the same, just in higher resolution. To hell with that. I want something new.

[drizek]

well, the Revolution instead has the advantage of supporting all those old nintendo games.. And it'll probably cost a fraction of it's rivals :)

Anyway, nintendo has all the cool and innovative games. I'll have to get both Revolution and PS3 :) XB/XB360 are the only ones I'm not interested. Not because they are made by Microsoft, but because at least for XB there was like 2 games I would like to play, and that's not enough to make me buy a console.. (and I don't expect that to change with XB360)

Ya, but im not buying it to play games. The PS3 will be an awesome linux system with bluray playback that Sony is selling at a huge loss.

[mcduck]

Ya, but im not buying it to play games. The PS3 will be an awesome linux system with bluray playback that Sony is selling at a huge loss.
Then you shoul remember that just the fact that it runs Linux doesn't allow you to instantly install any software to it. It has very different CPU and overall architecture from any other computer system, and so pretty much every piece of software will need to be ported for it.. You won't be able to run any binary files available, and even source code will most likely need some work before it runs on PS3, and a lot work before it takes any real advantage of the hardware.. :)

Even if one of the CELL cores is based on PowerPC, I woulnd't expect normal PowerPC binaries or code to run properly with CELL.. And even if it does, you are wasting all 7 other cores, and those are the ones that give CELL it's real power.

[drizek]

gentoo should run just fine on it.

And support for the cell was added in kernel 2.6.16

[mcduck]

gentoo should run just fine on it.

And support for the cell was added in kernel 2.6.16
Well, kernel support is not the problem. That's what you'll get out-of-the-box, if PS3 will really ship with Linux. The problem is that your applications are not coded to use any of the CELL's power. Unless you do that' it's just like running the code on a single-core PowerPC machine. You know, even normal SMP support will not help there, as the SPE's aren't normal CPU's at all.. Not to mention using stream processing (first SPE doing something, and then passing the data to next SPE that does something, and passes the data to third SPE and so on, instead of normal symmetric multiprocessing)..

[drizek]

good point, hadnt really considered that too much. But I thought compiling for cell will handle that. Im assuming that when you compile something for the cell arch it will allow it to be distributed by the ppc to the SPEs. I dont know a lot about this stuff, but shouldnt you be able to run certain multi-threaded apps in smp mode on all the SPEs? I know they were designed to each do a different task, but they are still all the same architecture. Im pretty sure well be able to use them for something like protein folding. It will let us fold 8 proteins at a time and we still have a 3ghz 64bit cpu to run the rest of the system. I dont know how realistic my expectations are, but it seems like the cell has a lot of potential.

[gord]

the cell processor on the ps3 is strange, the power pc core is really the only thing most app's can use, the additional power it has, can only be used when applications are specifically designed for it, else it just all falls back onto the power pc core.

also paying 500 quid or so for a ps3 just to run linux on it is pritty rediclous

[mcduck]

good point, hadnt really considered that too much. But I thought compiling for cell will handle that. Im assuming that when you compile something for the cell arch it will allow it to be distributed by the ppc to the SPEs. I dont know a lot about this stuff, but shouldnt you be able to run certain multi-threaded apps in smp mode on all the SPEs? I know they were designed to each do a different task, but they are still all the same architecture. Im pretty sure well be able to use them for something like protein folding. It will let us fold 8 proteins at a time and we still have a 3ghz 64bit cpu to run the rest of the system. I dont know how realistic my expectations are, but it seems like the cell has a lot of potential.I really hope that their compiler will handle that, at least on some leve. If it doesn't, coders will have some hard times with CELL.. Also, the fact that SPE's are not same kind of procesors as the main core is (if 'processor' is even a right word, as they are more like small RISC machines, with their own local memory and everything) might cause some troubles.

But I remember reading some IBM articles about their compiler, and they promised that it will do at least some work to make running code on all CELL cores easier. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how well it works :)

But the fact that it's not only going to be used by Sony, and not only in PS3, makes me feel that CELL might have some future..

Anyway, I agree that CELL has a lot of potential. A lot more than the x86 architecture, anyway. And if it's a success, perhaps Sony/IBM/Toshiba will come up with CELL2 with true Altivec support. And that would rock hard :D