Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
Really? I wasn't aware that Duck Hunt allowed you free-movement in a 3D environment. Oooohhh, that's right. It didn't.
This isn't the next Duck Hunt, and (unless it's on rails, which apparently it's not) it's not the next Time Crisis either. What it is, is a new generation of First Person Shooters that actually work on a console. No more fidgeting with those tiny analog controllers! You can now take aim and fire, all while strafing, running, jumping, (can we do Matrix style flipping, puullleeeazze?), and dodging. If this works out, Nintendo will have again revolutionized the console controller! Which would be impressive, considering that their Gamecube controller just didn't live up to its predecessors.
Of course, that's a pretty big "if". Nintendo is telling us that they've developed inexpensive positional monitors that are more natural than a light gun with target-painting, but with a full controller built in. Given that most of us remember how horrid the Power Glove was (Lucas: "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad." Yeah, right.) and that target painting doesn't work on LCD screens, Nintendo has one heck of a tall order to fill.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
"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."
It's not JUST a freaking light gun game. It's a light gun first person shooter, which is almost unheard of. I'm pretty sure that the "Next Gen Duck Hunt" and Halo-Killer could be one in the same, if the game is built right. This looks REALLY fun, and I think it has the potential to be a lot funner than any traditional FPS that I've played. There hasn't been a whole lot of change in FPS gameplay for years, this might be just what it needs.
The one interface not allowed for a First Person shooter is, you know, a gun-like interface?
Keyboard and mouse interface: Yup, it's a shooter!
Gamepad interface: Yup, it's a shooter!
Gun interface: OMGWTFBBQ, it's Duck hunt!
What kind of stupid fanboy do you have to be to make that kind of argument?
Judging by the first screen shot, Jake Gyllenhaal is a Revolution tester.
Until some of us actually get some real trigger time on the Revo's controller (E3?) I think that any "opinions" about it are just a lot of hot air. Maybe "Red Steel" will be a shallow, gimmicky game. Time will tell.
Look, you have to understand. If you want to be a "Halo Killer" (and every single game is a halo killer, these days! Don't bother judging the game on its own merits. The only question is, does it kill Halo?), you have to match the control scheme that made Halo popular. And that control scheme is: A clumsy replication of PC FPS controls shoehorned into a Dual Shock II workalike format.
After all, everyone knows that what made Halo popular was the radical and unnatural retraining that is required when you take a control scheme that was designed and perfected for a mouse and keyboard, and just jam it unceremoniously underneath two thumb-controlled joysticks and a maze of randomly positioned multicolored buttons. Unless Nintendo can replicate that kind of hand-eye coordination dissonance, they'll never get anywhere with their Halo killing, I mean console, business. My suggestion: They should duct-tape a cinderblock to the Revolution remote. Then everyone will just eat it right up!
Sony and Microsoft will copy it immediately. And that will leave the Revolution where, exactly?
As the market leader? As AMD can tell you, it's much nicer to make the other guy dance to your tune rather than dancing to his. The customers will see you as The Source(TM) for the latest and greatest, and mostly ignore the copycats.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Lawsuits abound involving the new Waichowski Brothers game, "Bouncing Duracell", in which children are encouraged to jump around while playing the game. A Chandeliers Manufacturers of America spokesperson was quoted as saying, "This game has caused us to rethink our product in order to prevent more wrongful death suits from falling glass. The inverted flip sequence especially has caused more innocent children to be impaled by our product than ever before."
Can we take a deep breath from the hype for a second and realize we're talking about a remote control here? I have one word for you about flipping and jumping: PowerPad.
If you scroll down to read the rest of that web log, it's almost 100% Nintendo bashing. The author is clearly trolling Ninentdo fans. Please don't feed the troll.
P.S. Has "fair and balanced" journalism finally arrived at slashdot? Is every story going to feature, alongside the actual news, an obvious troll?
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?
...Sony and Microsoft will copy it immediately. And that will leave the Revolution where, exactly? Maybe one generation ahead? Being as how the current console lifecycle is anywhere from 3-5 years, it will be about 3-5 years for Nintendo to pave the way ahead for their new controller design. IF the games are good enough, and IF the technology works well enough, that could mean Nintendo becomes everybody's second console by default, which could put them at #1 in overall sales. Cost, features, and (if it holds up) games like this would make this easily everybody's first or second choice in console. Speculation though (even mine), is pointless right now. Wait AT LEAST until E3 to make anything approaching half-assed guesses.
I'd guess that 90% of households don't have large screen hidef TV's yet. And since the only HD content available these days is Xbox 360 games and a handful of broadcast and premium cable channels, I don't think HDTV adoption is going to be a factor until the console generation AFTER this coming one.
"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.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
I think not.
Moz la Punk got ahold of details on the Game Informer article from which this news emerged, and that includes the control mechanism. Check it out. You actually use the controller to push obstacles down to use for cover. You nod your head or shake it in order to interact with NPCs. How awesome is that?
Apparently the game uses the controller's assets in the most obvious way--that is, sword and gunplay--but from what I've read so far, it's hardly gimmicky. The gameplay appears to be pretty deep.
The summary is biased and stupid, by the way, in an attempt to get a reaction from Nintendo people. Nice job, Slashdot.
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.
Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".
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.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Wow. How does this get by so many people and then make it to so many outlets? Can that many people be asleep at the wheel at every juncture for drivel like this to get published not once but a multitude of times? Apparently so.
Red Steel has been known to be a full movement FPS for some time now, and if someone with half a brain would look you plainly see the cord going to the nunchaku attachment in use... 3D movement. Aha! Tough one. Not to mention it *clearly states* that it is not on rail in the article... but who has time to read shit before flying off half-cocked and stating Red Steel is the next Duck Hunt.
The Revolution is the first console in 10 years to even make me stop and notice. Something new and different awaits us, and the MS/Sony fanboi's just can't stand to think that maybe, just maybe, the days of cliche, tired, overextended genres may be coming closer to being over. I'm actually upset that the first published game is an FPS, since it is not revolutionary in the least... I will say though that the controller is made for FPS games. The control is intuitive and slick, Metroid Prime was being demoed originally and it was pure heaven to play with the controller. My only actually anticipated sequel would be to Luigi's Mansion, if ever there was a perfect setup for the Revo that is it.
I'm most interested in seeing the truly new and 100% original content, that is where the Revo will begin to steal some thunder. Can we stop jumping to conclusions and trying to diss the Revo until we actually know even slightly substantiated rumors?
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
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.
I swear, I've always backed you guys up when you screwed up, I've always had Zonk's back, but this report I will not take sitting down: THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT.
Of all the Red Steel coverage floating around the net, you chose the links to people calling BS on the screenshots? No reports on how awesome this game looks and how wonderful the system will be if it works like they say, just the "oh, this can't be this good" speculation.
No, you only looked at the bad. You pointed out the guy who said that these pictures were probably "touched up", but ignored Ubisoft's own claims that these are totally legit, real screenshots. You blatantly called it a GunCon game, while completely ignoring Game Informer's quote about it feeling like a true FPS, and NOT a lightgun game.
In other words, you only looked at one side of the story, the negative one. The one with no facts to back it up. This is one of the most intriguing games I've seen in damn long time. Sure, you have to take stuff like this with a grain of salt, but to completely ignore how amazing this is and just calling it BS is bullshit itself on a level I have trouble comprehending.
The game looks amazing. Period. There is not a reason in hell anyone should have a reason to question the graphics. If the Gamecube can pull off Resident Evil 4, the Revolution can pull off this. As for the controls, well, I don't think you should judge until you try it for yourself, but I also think it's stupid to think Ubisoft has Game Informer in their pocket and GI was lying when they talked about how great the game felt to play.
I'm damn ashamed and quite frankly pissed off at you Slashdot. Get your act straight.