Responses To Nintendo's Revolution Controller

Gamasutra has reactions to last week's Question of the Week, discussing the Nintendo Revolution Controller. While there were a lot of mixed feelings, overall the response seemed to be positive. From the article: " I certainly hope [the controller will be beneficial]. More of the same thinking in terms of developing the future of games can only take us so far. As a lifelong gamer and game developer, I urge everybody in our industry to support the innovation and risks taken by Nintendo on sheer principle. We always lament that there is no creativity and innovation in the games industry anymore. Guys, we have to rally around these initiatives. It brings a tear to my eye that somebody out there in this big brutal word of ROI and risk management still dares to go out on a limb like that to push gaming further. And my mouth waters when I think of designing for such hardware. -Marque Sondergaard, Powerhouse"

Comments

Maybe?

[Now.Imperfect]

I don't really see how it's good or bad, the only direction I'm vaguely excited in is the world of FPS games. I hate console FPSes and this could be just the thing to improve FPS gaming IMHO. I Suppose I agree with the article in the idea that we should encourage attempts at innovations such as this. (though I for one found the plethora of "touching is good" ads for DS somewhat creepy)

Re:Maybe?

[Soul-Burn666]

In the various demos shown to the reporting sites, most of the games on show weren't at all FPS and more than one even not in 3d.
First think about the controller as a mouse pointer. Think about all the games that really sucked to play with a gamepad like strategy games or even RPGs. It's much easier to select an enemy to attack using a mouse/rev-pointer(probably) than scrolling between the targets with the d-pad.
Then think about games where your virtual should be used. For example in a puzzle or quest game, you could reach out, pick up stuff and move it around. Think DS on the big screen.
Think about playing a game like Bushido Blade using this controller, in multiplayer!

And hey... touching IS good. If people hadn't touched, you probably wouldn't have been born.
I'm seriously waiting for the first hentai game for the DS, it could be so perfect!

Re:Gamecube controllers work on Revolution too.

[Castar]

This is definitely Nintendo's biggest problem (both currently, and with the new controller): third party support.

However, look at the DS. Very few developers are saying "Oh, I can't make my touchscreen/dual screen game for the PSP also! Woe is me!" The DS gets a lot of great games.

Now, partially this is due to the fact that the DS has a large marketshare, and to the fact that handhelds are a lot cheaper to develop for, but still the fact remains: platform-exclusivity is not an automatic killer. In fact, for most of the console world's history, titles have been exclusives (was there anything that was on both SNES and Genesis? Or PS1 and Dreamcast?)

So if Nintendo can make enough hardware sales, and can make the platform cheap enough to develop for (signs point to yes on the second one, at least), then they have a shot even without cross-platform games.

Anyway, 3rd parties might be more willing to step up to the plate than you think - EA has already said they're looking forward to using the new controller features in their sports games, and a number of other large publishers have stated support as well. That's not to say they won't back out if things start going downhill, but of course that will be a lot harder once you've started to develop a game around the controller.

A Silly Question

[blueZhift]

Okay okay, it looks like a remote control, but can you actually control the TV with it? Seriously, I think that is a feature that would complete the set. The more I think about it, the better I like this new controller and really want to see the games. So if a person can just pick this up, turn the TV on with it, adjust the volume and channel, turn on the Revolution, and play, that would be perfect! Wow, imagine that people start using this as their primary remote, then they'd always be a click away from playing a game. You know, that's where Nintendo might be going with this. Gaming becomes as casual as using a TV remote.

Re:Gamecube controllers work on Revolution too.

[akhomerun]

"C) Make the game a Revolution exclusive, severely limiting their potential audience, and thus potential sales."

so...then maybe more people should buy the revolution, then the audience wouldn't be limited.

with a cheaper price than the competition, an innovative controller, and of course the download catalog, and free wireless online, i don't see how the revolution won't gain sales over the gamecube.

xbox 360 and ps3 are just the same games with prettier graphics for a high price filled with marketing garbage.

Re:Gamecube controllers work on Revolution too.

[MyDixieWrecked]

was there anything that was on both SNES and Genesis?

mortal kombat.

and I believe, NBA Jam.

*thinks...*

you gotta remember... until recently, game system programming consisted of mostly (if not entirely) ASM code and the controllers for each system diverged quite a bit.

I mean, you've got the original NES with the A and B buttons, and I think the sega master system had 2 buttons, too... and TG16 had 2 buttons. but the genesis had 3 (and there was the 6 button controller) and the SNES had 6 buttons to start. programming for different systems was usually handled by different companies.

now, you've got full SDKs for games. high level programming languages. you can usually code the core part of the game and bring that right from system to system, or system to computer or vice versa. Dreamcast had the advantage in that it was windowsCE based, and I assume it was rather trivial to port Quake3 to it.