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Holographic Projected Rumour Control
Gamespot's always enlightening Rumour Control series tackles several weighty issues this week. Included in their analysis is the backwards compatibility of the Xbox 360, the possibility of 3D Projection from the Revolution, 360 controllers being PC compatible, and the imminent announcement of Diablo III. From the article: "RUMOR #5: Some postproduction work on Diablo III has been completed. Source: Blizzard fan site Diabloii.net. The official story: 'We'd definitely like to revisit the Diablo universe in the future, but we haven't announced any plans to do so at this time.'--Blizzard rep."
On of the PC game market's biggest problems is that there aren't any decent controller available, thus making it not very fun to play anything that isn't designed for a mouse/keyboard setup (ie..FPS,RTS & MMORPGs). This could really help alot of small/independent developers who'd like to release console quality games without paying thousands of dollars for the "privalege" to release their games on each console. I just hope someone can come up with an open source driver for the Linux and Mac gamers.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Releasing the 3d projection/hologram hardware or whatever it is... as an optional piece of hardware would put alot of developers in a tough position, you'd most likely have to design your game for that or a regular TV as the game experience would be completely different. If this is even remotely true, Nintendo needs to pick one and stick with it. The game industry has proven time and time again that peripherals are almost always a failure.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Crap - I bet it's gonna be fantastic - I can already feel my finger clicking away.
..........FULL STOP.
At GDC, Microsoft discussed pushing a standard cotroller scheme for PCs they called the "Common Controller." It will be the same configuration as the X-Box 2, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if X-Box 2 controllers could actually work on PCs, and if any PC controller that meets this standard could work on the next X-Box.
As for Nintendo, am I the only one that remembers them doing research for projecting 3D images about 10 years ago? Around the time the virtual boy game out, they talked about researching this technology but deciding they would not go with it. The research was with another company, I believe it may have been Hasbro (I may have the name mixed up).
But wasn't it confirmed long ago that Revolution would hook up to a computer monitor? I can't find the original source, but here's a snippet from IGN's Revolution FAQ:
Q: Will Revolution hook up to a television?
A: Yes. It will also be able to interface with a computer monitor. In June 2004 Nintendo engineer Genyo Takeda said: "You'll be able to play [Revolution] not just by linking up to a television but to a computer monitor as well."
I honestly don't think Nintendo's new idea will be in how you look at the games, but rather how you play them.
To add, everybody knows how to look at a TV, but not everybody knows how to play a video game. Iwata has stated time and time again that one of Revolution's goals is to expand the target market -- to get the casual- and non-players playing more. Some sort of 3D projection system/put these glasses on your face way of playing video games isn't going to fly with casual gamers. Nope, Nintendo's next system will be much simplier than everyone is predicting.
I'm saying that Revolution will be a sleek, non-Gamecube-looking box that hooks up to your TV. It will accept the same media as the Gamecube (to insure backwards compatibility). And what's the big "revolution"? A simple, ergonomic controller that's not controlled by sticks and buttons, but by a touch screen and a gyro. Instead of pushing "A", you push "Jump". What supports this claim? If you look at first party games like Wind Waker or Super Mario Sunshine, you'll notice that in a corner they always have the controller buttons attached to images, letting you know what to press to perform that image's action. But when Mom plays the game, she has to SEE that the X button changes the water cannon, and then she has to FIND X before she can press it. With that information on the touch-screen, alls Mom has to do is press the image of the cannon and see it turn into the water-backpack*.
And as for the gyro: Ever see Mom play a racing game? Yeah, this idea should have been implimented years ago!
* denotes that I don't know the official terminology of Super Mario Sunshine because that game was really bad.