You Say You Want A Revolution?

rafemonkey writes "Looks like the first hard info on a revolution game has hit the internet. The game, from Ubisoft, is called Red Steel. It's a FPS where the Revo's positional controller takes the place of the mouse. And, for those of you that were worried, the graphics look nice." PointlessWasteofTime points out that it doesn't actually look like an FPS, but more of a GunCon title, in a piece called A FanBoy Intervention. Elite Bastards has a brief history of the Revolution console. From the Waste of Time article: "Look at the Red Steel screens again. Never mind that Ubisoft has a habit of publishing concept renders and claiming they're in-game screenshots, and never mind that shots like that in magazines tend to have usually been 'touched up' a bit. Just look at the screens, then look at the inset photos of the people pointing and shooting with their Rev controllers: Guys... it's just a freaking light gun game. Tell me it's not. This isn't a badass 'Halo killer.' It's next-gen Duck Hunt."

Comments

Not leaked

[Programmer_In_Traini]

I was reading some of the comments on the blog.

I find it funny how people like to believe its a leak.

I am much more enclined to believe the big N is building up hype around its now famous revolution controller. Which makes perfect sense since they're getting close to release now.

Wireless mouse

[scolby]

Anyone ever try using one of those wireless mice that works win midair? Ever notice how difficult it is to click on ANYTHING while operating the mouse in midair? What's to keep the Revolution controller from being just as frustrating, except maybe a really cheap auto-targeting feature?

duck hunt halo

[crabpeople]

"Guys... it's just a freaking light gun game. Tell me it's not. This isn't a badass "Halo killer." It's next-gen Duck Hunt. "

I cant be the only one thought that duck hunt owned, and that halo was just a scripted version of counterstrike, can i?
whats with all this duck hunt hate? that game was AWESOME...
when was the last time you played a light gun FPS? SNES? its about time another one came along. just like the arcades, except you dont have to pay 2$ for 5 minutes of play.

Who?

[ChTh]

PointlessWasteofTime? EliteBastards? Slashdot is really scraping the most obscure parts of the Internet to get news these days...

"Freakin" light gun game?

[LithiumX]

Do you have any idea how many people I'd be willing to kill for a GOOD light-gun game at home?

The arcade games are all rail-shooters. No control.

Standard FPS games give you control, but lack the realism of actually aiming and firing (only your entire view aims - not your hand alone).

I would do obscene things for something on the level of say Quake, but with a light gun for my firing (and view independant of gun). I'd sit in front of my big screen, jerry-rig whatever control system I had to, and bask in the heavenly glow of light-gun ultraviolence.

And I liked Duck Hunt, dammit. Utterly hated Halo for that matter - it's one of the few games I got tired of before I could even finish it.

Re:"Freakin" light gun game?

[meringuoid]

I would do obscene things for something on the level of say Quake, but with a light gun for my firing (and view independant of gun). I'd sit in front of my big screen, jerry-rig whatever control system I had to, and bask in the heavenly glow of light-gun ultraviolence.

The Quake source code was released years ago, and the internet's awash with fan-made hacks of it. Let's see... you'd want a joystick for motion around the map, and a mouse for targetting; a gyro mouse if you can get one, for Revolution-style control. It sounds entirely doable. I wonder if anyone has?

* vanishes off in the direction of Google, 'cos this does indeed sound like fun... *

Re:Duck Hunt? Not!

[JordanL]

Which would be impressive, considering that their Gamecube controller just didn't live up to its predecessors.

The GameCube controller was, in my opinion, absolutely spectacular. I don't understand why some people don't like it. The thing didn't have any awkward buttons.

Missing the point

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Nintendo does have a habit of offering gimmicky features with their game systems. From light guns to interactive robots, to power gloves and two screen gameboys, Nintendo loves its gimmicks. But look at the market they are targeting.

Nintendo doesn't make Nintendo's for North America or Europe, they do it for Japan, an excessive fad/trend based society that spazzes out over anything novel and new by throwing heaping wads of money at it. The Japanese are quick adopters of new ideas (the good, the bad, and the absolute ridiculous), and Nintendo can pretty much bank roll the entire Revolution R&D costs within the first week of selling it in Japan. By the time the Revolution hits North America, its just gravy, pure profit for the company. Even if sales are slow for the Revolution in North America, Nintendo will just churn away at releasing regional games that are huge hits in Japan. If some of those trends make it to North America, then again, its icing on the cake.

Nintendo doesn't care if North Americans or Europeans thinks the new Revolution game controller is a joke, people in Japan are already planning their Revolution launch day activities, which will include lots of stretching before hours of epileptic gameplay with whatever cutesy Duck Hunt/Mario/Zelda creation Nintendo whips up for the system. Six months later, Japanese customers will still be twitching and jerking in front of a TV with the Revolution long after the rest of the world tires of the novelty of the new gaming remote.

Nintendo is a Japanese company that caters to the Japanese market, and they are largely unapologetic for it. If Japanese trends and fads like Sudoku or Pokemon make its way overseas, its just gravy, and easy way to earn more profit when the rest of the world follows Japan's lead in entertainment and novelty acts.

Nintendo won't die because Japan won't let them. Xbox hardly has any impact in Japan. Sony wants the world to accept its PlayStation, they invest way too much money into the technology behind the PS3, and they can't simply cater to Japan's fad based culture. Even if Nintendo continues to fail in markets outside of Japan, they will simply redouble their efforts to continue to create innovative and gimmicky entertainment products that appeal to Japan.

In the end, this guy misses the point completely. When did gaming every become serious or respectful. Why is it now that its all about the frame rates and number of polygons and vertex shaders? When did a beautifully rendered game take the place of pure fun? Nintendo knows how to entertain people, they have been in this business longer then Sony and Microsoft combined and while the Revolution may not be the MOST popular game console released in this next generation console war, it is looking to offer the most enjoyment for the money.

If the Xbox360 is any indicator of how the next generation consoles are supposed to be received (with its what, 150,000 in unit sales) and the PS3 might be pushed back to release end 2006/early 2007, I think Nintendo may be in the unique position to capture a large market of people looking for instant gratification out of a next generation system as opposed to waiting for one company to fix up their bugs, and another simply to release the product.

Re:Missing the point

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not entirely true. Nintendo created that NES robot for the US market. In the inital New York only release, it did not have the robot companion. However, alot of people weren't supportive of a new gaming device when the sales of the Atari and other systems (what few there were) was in a falling market. To win subtanial consumer support, they created that robot and advertised that this system was more than just a child's toy. It worked and support for the new system went up.

Of course, I cann't think of any game that actually used the robot for anything, but it's a gimmick that serviced it's purpose. Other marketing gimmicks/decisions is the design of the console itself. Many times, the US version is customized to the Western audience while the Japanese console is stylized to the way they like design.

Re:Missing the point

[DeadCatX2]

Even if Nintendo continues to fail in markets outside of Japan

Really? Nintendo is failing outside of Japan?

This means that Nintendo's yearly profit was 22 percent of its net sales

Courtesy of http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/teardowns. ars/2.

And for some anecdotal evidence, check college dorm rooms. You'll see GameCubes with Smash Bros. and Mario Kart all over the place, next to their PS2 and/or XBox.

Or go to an anime convention, and witness the 10-to-1 ratio of Nintendo DS to Sony PSP.

Just because Nintendo is far more successful in Japan doesn't mean that they're failing elsewhere. That's like saying some city is dry because some other city gets more rain.

Re:Missing the point

[Logic and Reason]

Nintendo does have a habit of offering gimmicky features with their game systems.

What's the difference between a "gimmick" and a revolutionary (no pun intended) new feature? Degree of success. Nintendo has always experimented with new and interesting control schemes, gameplay styles, etc. Some of them succeed, and some of them don't. Was the analog joystick a "gimmick"? Shoulder buttons? I'm sure there were people who thought so at the time.

Only time will tell whether the Revolution controller becomes a success. To dismiss it this early as a "gimmick" targeted at "an excessive fad/trend based society that spazzes out over anything novel and new by throwing heaping wads of money at it" is unfair and short-sighted.

Re:I won't argue that this is it, but...

[u16084]

I couldnt agree more, Im making the transition from PC to xbox360... the analogs are KICKING my ass... Mouse aiming is alot FASTER and PRECISE... something needs to be done.

Fish food, get your fish food...

[RyoShin]

Guys... it's just a freaking light gun game. Tell me it's not. This isn't a badass 'Halo killer.' It's next-gen Duck Hunt.

Since I'm sitting in class bored, I'm going to mince that line apart.

Guys...

While it's likely that's just a common euphamism for "You all", it shows a little bit more; most console gamers are guys. However, only roughly half of all humans are guys. That leaves a lot of potential consumers, and this is one thing that Nintendo has really been pushing for since we got the DS. Games like Super Princess Peach, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing have been pulling in female gamers by the bucket load, and Nintendo wants to extend that to your average parent and grandparent as well with the Revolution.

it's just a freaking light gun game. Tell me it's not.

Light gun games require the controller to interact with the light cascading from a television. In the case of the afformentioned Duck Hunt, the screen briefly changes its colors to highlight the location of said duck, and the gun reads those colors to see if you hit it or not.

Nintendo's controller, on the other hand, uses spacial recognition in co-operation with gyroscopes to measure height, distance, arc, pitch, yaw, and alignment. Light gun game my ass.

This isn't a badass 'Halo killer.'

It very well may not be, but what it shows is how the Revoltion controller can do for FPS games. Say you're chasing someone (or they're chasing ou) on the run down a hallway, and baddies pop out of side doors to shoot at you. To shoot them back, you'd have to turn your character to face them (or lock on), shoot them, and turn your character back to look at the guy you're after and continue forward. In this time he's gained ground on you.

With the Revolution controller, you never stray off the path. You keep holding forward, and simply move your hand to point the gun to your right, left, or whatever, cap the guy's ass, and continue as if nothing happened.

This controller adds a whole new layer of immersion to many titles, especially FPS. A good majority of people complain that regular console controllers suck for FPSes, citing various reasons. I'm really interested to see how the remote controller will fair in this.

It's next-gen Duck Hunt.

If you ask me, we're overdue for an updated Duck Hunt. None of this hiding in the bushes shit of other hunting games, either- you just sit there with a gun in a patch of grass while endless numbers of birds of different types fly out. Your dog (you would get to choose the breed- maybe even import a dog from Nintendogs!) would then fetch the bird and/or scare up more. Every so often you'd get to shoot the dog when it gets too damned annoying.

Bonus levels would including shooting flamingos in Florida and a form of skeet shooting where penguins launch down ice ramps into the air and you try to get them before they land on the other side.