Microsoft Praises Revolution Controller

JoaoPinheiro writes "In an unexpected change from the big three companies slagging each other off, Microsoft's Peter Moore gives kudos to Nintendo's new controller! Xbox VP Peter Moore has said he wanted 'to give kudos [to] Nintendo for its attempt at innovation with the new controller.' Whether the word attempt is meant to hint at some slight sarcasm is debatable, though the overall message was positive. Moore commented the new device would 'bring people in that, as Iwata-san said, are either lapsed gamers or gamers that are intimidated by the complexity of the controller.' He referenced Microsoft's E3 speech, where it was said the company wanted a billion consumers touched by the gaming industry next generation. 'That was an industry message. Certainly, we can see Nintendo rallying to that cry and reiterating what Robbie said on May 16th; I heard the same words come from Iwata-san of Nintendo yesterday.'"

Comments

obviously they were being condescending

[draccip]

just another way of saying nintendo is niche now. and not really a competitor.

Re:obviously they were being condescending

[ilyaaohell]

Microsoft isn't in direct competition with Nintendo. The people who buy Xboxes are looking for and expecting a different type of game from Nintendo's offerings. What's wrong with that? Nintendo makes awesome platformers and cartoon-style adveture games, and Sony and Microsoft gamers prefer realistic war games and MTV-style presentations. To each their own.

funny

[xutopia]

"to give kudos [to] Nintendo for its attempt at innovation"

Only Microsoft can innovate. Other people attempt to innovate! :)

Microsoft Kudos

[dakirw]

It's nice to see that Microsoft admires the courage behind the decision to change the controller interface. Of course, they're probably hoping that the Revolution falls flat on its face so that it really will only be a two horse console race.

Wouldn't be too surprised to see an imitation controller from Microsoft down the road if the Revolution reviews are good. Embrace and extend, right?

Re:Microsoft Kudos

[Pxtl]

I doubt it would matter. First rule of gaming - it will be fringe until it works with the default hardware. PC gaming had a horrible problem throughout the '90s with expecting users to own joysticks - many top-quality titles fell by the wayside because of that. The successful titles were the ones that aimed at mouse and keyboard.

Look how badly the extended hardware has always done - did you see a lot of superscope games? The only ones that get away with it are megahits like DDR, and those generally come with the relevant controller.

There will be no such animal - except maybe a fringe one.

Re:Microsoft Kudos

[Castar]

Yeah, I don't think MS could get away with making a Revolution look-alike. You really have to plan your whole strategy around the controller - not just the hardware and software, but the target audience and marketing, as well.

However, there's no guarantee that if it does really well, the other companies wouldn't sneak in the aspects that work, like the gyroscopic controls.

Or Sony could see the appeal of nonstandard control schemes and focus more heavily on the EyeToy - a fantastic peripheral with only one really great game for it (AntiGrav).

Nintendo's Response

[popo]

Rumour has it that Nintendo promptly extended kudos back to Microsoft for their attempt at a console.

Frankie praises it too

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Frankie of Bungie.net fame praised the controller in his Weekly Update last week, which covered his visit to the Tokyo Game Show.

"Oh. And I know what the Revolution controller is. You will too soon enough. I am not going to enrage our friends at Nintendo by revealing that here. But it is gonna be a big talking point." Again, this is from Frankie, of Bungie, owned by Microsoft, who admits earlier in the story that he'll be pushing the MS stuff.



Offtopic: For all the defense of Microsoft that Slashdot does whenever someone attacks them without reason (e.g., here), we sure do a lot of attacking them without reason....

Nintendo has something here... MS knows it!

[RUFFyamahaRYDER]

They couldn't all out bash Nintendo and call the controller stupid because that would show they have a weakness and Nintendo might actually have something here. They also couldn't say it was an awesome innovation for the same reason.

MS is playing their cards right and took the middle road... They weren't obvious about being condenscending at all, since you can read into the "attempt" word in any way you like.

Truth is MS responded, and that Nintendo does have something here or else MS would have just completely ignored the controller.

Re:Stupid Headline

[badasscat]

Microsoft didn't praise the controller. One guy who happens to work at Microsoft praised the controller.

One guy acting as Microsoft's representative "praised" the controller. It's not stupid to suggest "Microsoft" praised the controller. Peter Moore is Microsoft in this context. He is the VP in charge of Xbox marketing, and he was speaking on company time.

Now, I put "praised" in quotes because it's obvious that this was pretty backhanded (it's not "debateable", as Zonk said it was, it's completely obvious what he meant). This is not the kind of praise I'd want if somebody said something similar about me. (As in, "that's a nice attempt at building a bookshelf" or "that's a nice attempt at a good haircut.") But the distinction you're trying to make between "one guy" and the company of Microsoft is meaningless.