Revolution Details By End of Year

Reuters is reporting that Nintendo will announce the price, launch date, and further details about their next generation console by the end of this year. Their tight-lipped attitude this E3 is apparently an attempt to ensure they don't tip their hand to rivals. From the article: "Some gamers and industry analysts had criticized Nintendo for providing sparse details on the new machine, comparing it to Sony and Microsoft's unveiling of slicker, graphic-intense next-generation machines...Iwata said the new console is aimed at customers who hate clutter and find current games and the controllers used to play them to be confusing and difficult."

Comments

User Interface

[Nytewynd]

...Iwata said the new console is aimed at customers who hate clutter and find current games and the controllers used to play them to be confusing and difficult." To combat this problem, the next generation console's controller will consist of a single giant, red button. Users will rapidly push this button until the game is beaten.

Re:User Interface

[MindStalker]

And this is different from Tekken how?

Re:User Interface

[NanoGator]

"To combat this problem, the next generation console's controller will consist of a single giant, red button."

Sony, on the other hand, has a lot of faith in the hand-eye coordination of its customers. It will have 16 buttons on the face and 4 more shoulder buttons on each side. All the buttons will be clearly labeled with a variety of simple shapes. For example: The rainbow dodecahedron will typically be used for selecting the second menu option for most games, provided they follow any sort of standard.

Re:User Interface

[Reorax]

Sweet. All my years of using a Mac have finally paid off!

Re:User Interface

[SetupWeasel]

I once walked onto my friends' dorm room in college and saw a bunch of people playing Soul Edge for the PS1. I had never played it, but it looked cool enough, so I got in line for a turn.

When I picked up the controller I found the button for "hit person with ax," and I used it... a lot. Then I found out that up was jump, and I formulated a plan! I would jump away then jump back toward the enemy and hit them with the ax. I played against people that prided themselves on knowing all the moves.

I did not let go of the controller for more than an hour. Everyone lost. Most thought it was hilarious, but I had one person close to tears as he tried over and over to beat me.

Was it beginners luck? Maybe. Did I have any right to beat these people? Probably not. The fact remains that I kicked fucking ass without knowing a thing about the game. BOO YAH!

I don't blame them

[NanoGator]

"Their tight-lipped attitude this E3 is apparently an attempt to ensure they don't tip their hand to rivals."

I can forgive them for that. Shortly after announcing the N-64, the PS1 got the Dual Shock controller and the Saturn got an analog controller.

"Iwata said the new console is aimed at customers who hate clutter and find current games and the controllers used to play them to be confusing and difficult."

Normally I would have called bullshit. But then I thought about some of the 'fun' I've had playing San Andreas lately. Hitting the correct shoulder button is an exercise in "Dammit!". I keep hitting the L3 button by accident whenever I make a sharp turn. (Oh, brilliant design there, Sony. Put a button where I can accidently hit it a LOT.) Then I played that damn dancing level where the button shapes would fly by and I had to hit the right one. Yeah Sony, thanks for using heiroglyphics for your button labels.

Yeah, I'm ready for simpler. I'm also really hoping that the gyro rumor is true. Analog sticks just don't cut it with shooting games.

Re:I don't blame them

[NanoGator]

"No offense man, but if you can't master circle, triangle, X, and square...you aren't going to do much better with A, B, C, D."

Not true. At least with AB/XY, there's a pattern to it. With Sony's Lucky Charms shapes, you have to memorize specifically where each shape is. Eventually it isn't a big deal, but it sure made getting to know my Playstation a lot of unnecessary fun.

"I have never had a problem accidentally hitting shoulder buttons."

L3 isn't a shoulder button. If you push down on the left analog stick (which often happens if you're DRIVING), *click* there it goes. Half the time when I'm in hot pursuit in San Andreas, my car horn's honking. Really f'n annoying.

"Maybe it is just you. I suggest trying an Atari. It has one button and a joystick. Don't get too upset if you accidentally hit its only button though."

That's a pretty bold statement for somebody that hasn't dented any of my points.

Re:I don't blame them

[NanoGator]

" I have never had a problem accidentally hitting shoulder buttons."

Oops, sorry dude, I thought I had deleted my comment on shoulder buttons.

Well, maybe you can memorize button commands really quickly. Fine for you. However, when you're playing a game and one of the shoulder buttons is 'fire' and the other one is 'turn', it actually is quite easy to hit the wrong button. I don't mean "I hit R1 instead of R2", but rather "Uh.. wait, what does R1 do and what does R2 do?"

The problem with two shoulder buttons on each side is that they're rarely used intuitively. They're often used for secondary functions, as opposed to using them because their placement implies that function.

Re:I don't blame them

[NanoGator]

"Sony made a dual shock in japan before the N64 came out..."

Thanks for proving my point, though it was unintentional. The N64 + analog controller were shown a full year before it was released. When the N64 finally reached market, the competition had already tried to soften the blow.

Re:I don't blame them

[NanoGator]

"I know that Nintendo has a reputation for being tight lipped but I think that in their current situation, they have more to gain be announcing details..."

What could they have to gain? Right now, the XBOX 360 and the PS3 are BFD's. If Nintendo announced details now, they'd be competing with those two. (The fun part of that is that for Nintendo to keep up, they'd have to make up numbers like Sony and MS are.) If Nintendo waits a couple of months instead, they'd have the benefit of the PS3 and XBOX 360 being old news.

Nintendo doesn't need a year of hype. (It certainly doesn't need it early enough for the competition to rip off their ideas.) When SpaceWorld debuted the GameCube, lots of people had already made up their minds they were going to get it. They didn't need 12 months to sit on the idea.

Re:I don't blame them

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony and MS, capturing the imaginations of gamers with specs? Nintendo has captured, and is capturing the imaginations of gamers by WITHHOLDING specs. And their whole tease campaign about their controllers has got a whole lot of gamers going back and forth with guesses, mockups, and even hoaxes. Sony and MS have left _nothing_ to gamers' imaginations. We know just about everything there is to know about both in terms of hardware, and the software announcements that were made following both hardware unveilings did NOTHING to drum up excitement for either console. I'd go so far as to say that revealing the design of the PS3 controller was to Sony detriment, since it is ass-ugly and reminds those of us who have held similarly-styled "boomerang" controllers how bad they are (there have been dozens of similar third-party designs for PS and PC, all of which felt uncomfortable).

Consider this: The Revolution is so much smaller than the other two, has already been announced to be backwards compatible with GameCube and all older Nintendo home consoles, and will probably be cheaper than the other two systems. On top of that, the rumor is that it will be between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in overall power (which is not too shabby, since even the Xbox 360 looks like it will be a powerhouse, despite its strange, bandwidth-constrained unified memory arch). Zelda, Mario, and Smash Bros. were announced, with Smash Bros. being a launch title. Without knowing much more than this, plenty of people in the non-Nintendo-specific forums have been promising that the Revolution is a guaranteed sale, while their decisions to buy the either of the other two are dependent on software. The excitement continues to build, without Nintendo revealing so much as a picture of the controller. That's not just the easiest thing for them to do, it's also the smartest.

Release Date......

[DeadBugs]

So this is an announcement about the release date for the release date?

I hate slow news mornings :-(

Re:Release Date......

[telstar]

You think that's bad ... wait until it gets reposted.

Re:Clutter

[Gr33nNight]

What if the controllers are rechargable like the GBA-SP? You get 30 hours of play time before you have to recharge. Sounds good to me.

Re:Clutter

[brkello]

From what I hear, they should be fairly solid. They aren't the IR controllers of the past that required line of sight...and quite frankly were awful. But I don't think they are going to force you to use wireless controllers. Just get a wired controller and don't worry about it.

Re:Clutter

[Gallandro]

I agree with you there. Conceptually, a wireless controller is a Good Thing, but there are a lot of cases where I would greatly prefer a wired controller. Especially with little kids around my house. Right now my Xbox controllers are tethered to the machine, but who knows where the little wretches will take controllers not connected to anything.

I just hope the controllers on the new systems come with a 'page' feature like cordless phones do. Fat chance of that.

Re:Clutter

[Txiasaeia]

I bought a Wavebird for my Cube back in February, and haven't needed to change the batteries yet (AA, not sure what you mean by "remote control batteries"). Not only that, but I've never had any missing "keystrokes" or lag *at all*.

Speaking as a parent of a 14 month old wire-pulling boy, I'm extremely glad that I bought that Wavebird, and happy to hear that the Revolution is going wireless as well.

Yoshi's Island

[goodenoughnickname]

Get her Yoshi's Island -- it's the Trojan Horse to girls playing video games. "Awwww, Mario's a cute widdle baby! OK, I guess I'll give it a try..."

Pretty soon she'll be humiliating you in Mortal Kombat 2. Seriously, your penis will shrink.

Re:Trust me, guys.

[KDR_11k]

Touchscreens can report only one button press at a time and lack tactile feedback, not even Super Mario Bros. would be playable on that since you'd want to hold run AND jump.