Been getting lots of private messages and blog posts regarding Nintendo’s Rev controllers in the past week. Seems like a handful of folks want to know my thoughts, and that’s just what they’ll be – THOUGHTS. I can’t offer 100% confirmation on ANY of this information, kids. I’m just as blind as the rest of you until E3…although I may have a few more seeing eye dogs in the kennel than most 😉
Let me preface this by making the following claim – NOBODY can beat Nintendo’s controller design during a console’s life cycle. Deal with it. You know it’s true. They resurrected a dying market in the 80’s. They innovated in the 90’s. The made us fall in love with analog input for software that couldn’t possibly have been as profound in any other configuration. And even the latest offering – useless as its Z-button may well be – just feels right in your hands. Not too big. Not too cluttered. Totally Goldilocks. Proper.
The image above was sent to me as a response to the post on touchscreen integration for the upcoming system. I’ll be the first to say that it looks like a fake – but even WITH such an interface, the truly intriguing aspect lies more in another technology much-discussed on these and other Nintendo lovin’ boards:
I am willing to state this much. The Revolution controller WILL include some from of gyroscopic element a la N’s infamous Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble experiment. Lean the controller left…your character, or cursor, or camera could tilt/move/strafe/shift LEFT. Same with all directions (depending on how it’s programmed to function for that particular nugget of software). Which is potentially very cool for shooters, navigation titles, and exploration games. And these types of games almost always grace a new machine during its launch window, as they’re great ways to showcase horsepower, graphics prowess, and bonus hardware features. Remember this? And this? And this? And you can’t forget this. Exactly.
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In fact, I believe this feature alone supports a long-held thesis that one of the first games for the Rev’ will indeed be a resurrection of THIS franchise. (it was a showcase of new SNES and N64 hardware features, so why not this generation?). If it’s on the hoped-for demo reel at E3, be sure to trumpet where you heard it first. And don’t even get me started on the possibilities if shizz gets integrated with force/haptic feedback! “Touching’s good…feeling is better”…? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
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