Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Miyamoto Hints At Second Revolution Secret

Posted by Zonk on from the more-than-meets-the-eye dept.

Gamespot reports that despite new information on the Revolution, there is still much we don't know about the console. Shigeru Miyamoto hinted at the DIEC that there was yet more to reveal about the Revolution controller. From the article: "At the Digital Interactive Entertainment Conference held in Kyoto, Japan, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's chief game designer and creator of the Mario and Legend of Zelda franchises, gave the keynote speech. He talked about the history of controllers for Nintendo's various consoles, from the pre-NES systems to current consoles like the GameCube. He ended his lecture with words toward the future, specifically the Revolution, stating that there's more to its controller than what's already known. 'The [Revolution's] controller still has another secret,' stated Miyamoto. 'But it's something that we'll reveal next year.'"

6 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. A list of suspects by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    • Shell for converting the remote-styled controller into a traditional controller
    • Multiple game-specific shells into which the controller can be inserted (gun, steering wheel, chainsaw)
    • Controller can carry games, like those 5-in-1 game kits that plug directly into the TV
    • Controller can be linked to the DS
    • Controller has some other sensor (microphone or something unlikely like a "squeeze" sensor or biometric sensor)
    • Force feedback through a spinning disc (not likely - big battery drain)
    • Heat/cooling feedback (not likely - big battery drain)
    • Vibration pack (not sure if this has already been confirmed)

    My money's on the microphone.

    1. Re:A list of suspects by MindStalker · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Controller can carry games, like those 5-in-1 game kits that plug directly into the TV.

      This is the one I'm betting on, with all personal info included as well.
      Remember you can download old games into the revolution. What if you can put them and your saved game status and other stuff with you. So you just take your controller with you to your friends house and you can share the game (obviously with some DRM on the non-free games so that game won't stay at your friends house). People will take these controller around with them instead of just leaving them at home, the controller itself will be a status symbol.

    2. Re:A list of suspects by Turken · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Controller can carry games, like those 5-in-1 game kits that plug directly into the TV

      Actually, I think you're really on to something here. Not so much that it is a X-in-one game kit, but that the controller also comes with memory built in standard. Your controller is your memory card. It keeps track of all your controller preferences such as any motion calibrations, etc so that it will always be easy to play on any Revolution console with any game and doesn't need a new motion input each time.

      Or, downloaded games can be saved to your controller. Carry the controller to a friends house, and they are available to play as soon as your friend's console finds your controller. Or treat memory the way that they did with the N64. One game that comes to mind was Tetris (forget which version) where they encouraged each player to have a memory pack in their controller so that they could "take home" the lines that they won when playing on someone else's console.

      Really, including a memory function so that your controller becomes your controller wouldn't be too surprising.

  2. Re:gabbo Gabbo GABBO! by manJerk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    boy all this cloak and dagger stuff comming from nintendo has got my interest peaked. It just maybe a marketing ploy to generate a buzz, and for some reason its working on me. [must buy nintendo, must drink blood of non-believers]

    Personnally I am a PC gamer, and I have had time to play the 360 and such, and they are not too impressive. they have gfx that ive seen on PC for years(and at higher res), and FPS games should not be played with a stick, it just doesnt make any sence. Not to mention RTS!

    revolution seems to be getting the idea as to what a console if for, why mimic a PC when you can have a PC(and without the hot Power Supply issues). The revolution looks like it will "define" a console. (nintnedo has done it yet again)

    --
    -Boycot shampoo! demand real poo!
  3. The console wars have changed by pattokun · · Score: 3, Interesting
    When the DS was announced people thought Nintendo were insane. Two screens? What a stupid gimmick! I read an particularly scathing piece in Edge by Mr Biffo, who seemed to think the console would be a failure or Rise of the Robots proportions.

    A lot of the argument was based on the fact that the DS had graphical muscle roughly equivalent to the N64, while the PSP was more like a PS1.75 or something. All this kerfuffle took place before the touch screen was revealed.

    (On a side note, people who claim the DS is gimmicky with its touch and dual screens seem to be missing an obvious point: Nintendo must have originally decided to use touch-sensitive control on its new handheld. At some point in the development process it would have become clear that the hand being used to hold the stylus will cover up some part of the screen. A second, non-touch screen is the obvious solution.)

    Look where we are now: killer titles released regularly on DS, with the system outselling PSP worldwide. Despite its relative lack of power and absolute lack of built-in media convergence features, the DS has, for now, won the next-gen handheld war.

    And now we find ourselves in this situation: XBox 360 and PS3 have or will have graphical power far and above that of current generation consoles, the 360 can manage all your media, etc. And the Revolution will be "only" several times more powerful than the GameCube. Sound familiar? But, bearing in mind Nintendo's announcement that they will not be making public the exact specifications of the Revolution, remember what Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said:

    "Tech specs don't matter. The time when horsepower alone made an important difference is over, and from this time forward we must create unprecedented experiences."

    You know, I think he may just be on to something.

  4. It's a pulse monitor... by Nenorin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'll betcha it's some sort of biofeedback, so that games can monitor a player's levels of agitation and excitement. Imagine: you have a nice little 'Survival Horror' game where your own heartbeat thumps out of the speakers; if you get too excited, the hellhounds will be able to hear you. Or, you know, something like that.

    OR...

    Maybe it will recognise a given player by their pre-recorded bio-profile - skin conductivity, etc - and tailor the gaming experience for them.

    How hard would it be to incorporate something along those likes? Not a vast technological hurdle, anyway. Folks are thinking feedback, feedback, feedback - but I'll bet my eye-teeth (they're fantastic for seeing what you're eating while otherwise blind!) that the big gimmick will be an additional dimension of control.