Meet the Revolution's controller.

[Pococurante]

I understand the skepticism here and I share some myself.  I too remember the power glove.  It's all about whether or not they can pull it off, but the concept is, imo, undeniably brilliant.

I come back to form factor.  My hands just don't like to be cribbed into that position for longer than it takes to channel surf.  The closest thing I can think of is actual fishing, but even then I can move my hands in various ways so that I can still feel the bite while letting arms/hands rest in more natural positions.  And my fingers aren't doing much of anything the great majority of the time.

I doubt I'll be taken seriously when I predict at this time, but honestly this product will eventually be pulled due to controversy over tunnel carpal syndrome.

[schild]

It looks like the perfect kind of thing a kid would put in his mouth or a dog would see bouncing around and decide it was food. Dangly bits are pleasing to the simple.

Edit: That's not to say it would matter at all in my house. But a house with a few young kids, this would really be the first non-dumb kid friendly Nintendo product yet. Or maybe I'm wrong. Just seems counter to everything safe. I'll just wait for someone to smack their friend in the head with the analog nubbin.

[Miasma]

I don't see how it could act like a sword, or most of the other examples from that video.  If it is all being transmitted from that infrared part at the top it would be extremely difficult for the base station to detect the motion of the beam, especially if it is being bounced all over the walls.  Just the fact that they made people doing the demos stand on a big red X proves that.  You would have to have everything aligned perfectly, and I assume this was a large space that didn't have any walls to confuse the system.

Unless it is actually using some sort of gyroscope and transmitting all the info over bluetooth or something.

It's so different I can't really dismiss the idea until I have used it though, and I will be in a very pessimistic frame of mind when doing so.

And a quick physics question because I have forgotten most of mine - In the video they use what I will violently call "Stabbing motions", where they move the controller forward and backwards.  Would the base station be able to detect that using infrared, I forget whether or not there is a Doppler type effect for light and even if there is wouldn't you need an incredibly precise sensor?

[Bunk]

My problem with the look of the thing is the left hand portion. Many people I know basically hold a standard controller with primarily just the last two fingers on each hand. I personally have small hands though, and those fingers are not enough to keep a controler stable. So I tend to rely on squeezing the controller between my palms to keep it stable. This also frees up more fingers for hitting buttons.

Now I look at that track ball-in-a-hand thingy, and I can just see it being a nightmare. One hand means you cant brace it against your other hand, and its going to take more fingers to hold on to. Tough shit for anyone who doesn't have the size of hands the ergonomics were designed for.

I don't care either way, I've never bought a Nintendo system and likely never will.

[AOFanboi]

gimmick

You use that word a lot; I do not think you know what it means.

Here, let Merriam-Webster help you:

Main Entry: 1gim·mick
Pronunciation: 'gi-mik
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 a : a mechanical device for secretly and dishonestly controlling gambling apparatus b : an ingenious or novel mechanical device : GADGET
2 a : an important feature that is not immediately apparent : CATCH b : an ingenious and usually new scheme or angle

The word is far more positively charged than you think.

So you are saying it's ingenious, novel, important and new. Yes, we know already.

See, unlike the robot thingy, the glove thingy and the goggle thingy, this is the MAIN input device for the console. You cannot compare those failures to this simply because it's in a whole different ball park. This is the 21st century, full of dance mats, EyeToy and Singstar. What you are doing is exactly what joystick fans did when Nintendo introduced the D-pad: "Where is the stick? This thing will never sell."

Mark my words: it will sell, but not to the market that worships the DualShock 2. But will they like the PS3 boomerang? Time will tell.

[Strazos]

I think I will have to find a way to demo the system before I consider buying it. This controller scheme is just to different to buy on bline faith, or even because the games "look cool."

I may love the controller scheme....or find it excrutiatingly annoying.

[Samwise]

Unless it is actually using some sort of gyroscope and transmitting all the info over bluetooth or something.

I'm fairly certain there are sensors embedded in the thing rather than having the base unit try to figure out its orientation based on the strength and direction of the infrared signal.  This is actually fairly old technology by now; there are a bunch of sports games that do the same thing, and they work surprisingly well.

[Llava]

You use that word a lot; I do not think you know what it means.

Here, let Merriam-Webster help you:

Main Entry: 1gim·mick
Pronunciation: 'gi-mik
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 a : a mechanical device for secretly and dishonestly controlling gambling apparatus b : an ingenious or novel mechanical device : GADGET
2 a : an important feature that is not immediately apparent : CATCH b : an ingenious and usually new scheme or angle

The word is far more positively charged than you think.

So you are saying it's ingenious, novel, important and new. Yes, we know already.

See, unlike the robot thingy, the glove thingy and the goggle thingy, this is the MAIN input device for the console. You cannot compare those failures to this simply because it's in a whole different ball park. This is the 21st century, full of dance mats, EyeToy and Singstar. What you are doing is exactly what joystick fans did when Nintendo introduced the D-pad: "Where is the stick? This thing will never sell."

Mark my words: it will sell, but not to the market that worships the DualShock 2. But will they like the PS3 boomerang? Time will tell.

I think we all know what he means, and whether or not that's the denotative definition, anyone familiar with modern day marketing is well aware of the connotative definition.  Matter of fact, dictionary.com presents a better, more accurate definition:

A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus.

So let's not be douches playing semantics, okay?

I'm still looking forward to playing with it.  I can see how it'll work as a sword, even though it probably won't be able to force itself to stop in midair (duh).  Same reason players lean to one side when they're trying to make their character go that way- if they toss in a rumble effect as a tactile cue when the swords clash, I think you'll see a lot of players unconciously stopping the "sword" in midair themselves.  The other, easier but less interesting possibility, is that swords simply don't lock.  An attack is blocked and does no damage, but the sword just keeps on going until the end of the swing (see just about any fighting game for an example).

[Jain Zar]

See, unlike the robot thingy, the glove thingy and the goggle thingy, this is the MAIN input device for the console. You cannot compare those failures to this simply because it's in a whole different ball park. This is the 21st century, full of dance mats, EyeToy and Singstar. What you are doing is exactly what joystick fans did when Nintendo introduced the D-pad: "Where is the stick? This thing will never sell."

A quick nitpick.  Nintendo didn't invent the d pad.  Its basically an inferior and thumbs hurting version of the Intellivision controller turned into a cross and losing 8 positions of movement.  Lately all I hear is D PAD SO GREAT AND ORIGINAL.

Umm no, no it wasn't.  Just another innovation ignored till some Japanese company ripped it off, tweaked it a tad, and the ignorant spooge over it. 

And for the record?  The NES control pad SUCKED SHIT.  I won't play NES unless I can have my Advantage Joystick, you know, a sturdy controller for the discerning gamer.  Every game controller since shoulda been based on that design IMHO. 

[Llava]

thumbs hurting

I still remember some of the blisters I got playing fighting games.

[MrHat]

Hell, my senior design project was a bunch of gyro's and accelerometers on a golf club.  It's not very hard stuff.

[WindupAtheist]

Is there any reason to think waving your controller around like the hilt of of an incorporeal sword is actually going to make for a more entertaining game?  Because it doesn't sound like it.  It sounds like a gimmicky pain in the ass game concept, cooked up specifically to defend this goofy-ass controller.

[Llava]

Is there any reason to think waving your controller around like the hilt of of an incorporeal sword is actually going to make for a more entertaining game?  Because it doesn't sound like it.

Sounds like it to me.  Sounds like there's potential for some extremely complex and involved combat.

[Shockeye]

Is there any reason to think waving your controller around like the hilt of of an incorporeal sword is actually going to make for a more entertaining game?  Because it doesn't sound like it.

Sounds like it to me.  Sounds like there's potential for some extremely complex and involved combat.

I'm not so sure. You're still dealing with a 2D screen. Perhaps with some of that newfanlged VR stuff this would be more immersive of a control system. However, I'll still interested in trying it out and seeing how it goes.

[Sairon]

I recall playing fishing games on arcade which functions in pretty much the same way, it makes a HUUUUUGE diffrence, it's heaps cooler. To translate it into a sword fighting game, swing the controller in the exact same manner as you would swing the sword and get the same result. You could have really cool stuff togheter with it. The faster you swing the controller/sword the more dmg it will do. You can have piercing, slashing and crushing and that stuff to it as well. If it's going to be cool or teh suck pretty much depends on how precise it is. Another cool thing could be if you have 2 controllers. Sword in one hand and shield in the other.

[Strazos]

If I can't use a hanging guard, it sucks.

[WindupAtheist]

Think of the first-person lightsaber duel in the Star Wars Trilogy arcade game, the one where the joystick acted like the hilt of your saber.  Think of how much ass it sucked, compared to a good round of Bushido Blade.

[schild]

Given that Nintendo will probably be making the most interesting stuff for it, I'm pretty sure this is just going to be another case of one interesting game a year. Despite all my complaining, I still want a mustard yellow one. And I'll buy that one game a year. But I'll still be playing my retro nintendo stuff on my Xbox.

[StGabe]

Should consoles be merging with PC's?  Sure.  Whatever.  I think it probably will happen and I don't really care either way.  Although I have to say that the reason my PC is at a desk is because I have to use a mouse and a keyboard.  And a friend of mine has his PC setup so that he CAN use it with a wireless mouse and keyboard on his couch.  Mostly it's just a pain in the ass to do that though.  So I'm not seeing the big win of having a console with a mouse/keyboard as far as being able to play in the living room.

But a new and innovative control interface has nothing to do with this.  I would agree that we are seeing technologies merge.  I'm guessing that in 10 years your PSP will be your mobile will be your iPod will be your PDA, and eventually your PC -- or at least we'll be well on our way there.

But just because we are merging towards some common functionality does not mean that the point that we merge towards needs to stand still.  In other words, if there is a common thread to standardize, well, that doesn't mean that there can't be innovations on the periphery which may, or may not, end up influencing the standards.

And that's all very healthy, IMO.  It may work, it may not.  If it does then in 10 years the standard may be this crazy controller or some facsimile thereof and if not then nothing has really been lost.  I am impressed with the DS thus far, despite it's "gimmicky" nature.  And so I'll let Nintendo prove themselves here.  If it works then the game world has some new toys and tools to play with.  If not, then oh well, but I'll still applaud Nintendo for having the balls to try and do something new and different.

And it makes me more likely to buy a Revolution.  What I'm seeing here makes me very curious and I really want to try it out.  The day after release I'll drive up to some friendly Nintendo Fanboi's place and try it out.  If I like what I see I'll probably get it.  And I never considered buying a Gamecube nor do I have any intention of getting within 20 feet of a 360.

Gabe.

[Riggswolfe]

Well, I've read most of this thread and have had a good laugh at the expense of the Nintendo fanboys.

I love watching Nintendo implode in slow motion as all their arrogance slowly catches up with them. I own a gamecube, a ps2, and an XBOX and the Gamecube is the only purchase I regret out of those three.

Edit: Though RE4 went a long ways towards redeeming the GC. It actually caused me to dust it off and hook it back up.

[AOFanboi]

Nintendo didn't invent the d pad.

They did invent the mechanics of their particular implementation - at least they claim to hold a patent on that (and the rumble pack used for the N64).

Getting back to how "gimmicks" can turn out to add to the gameplay, I present a sample of tasks I recently have performed in Another Code: Two Memories on the DS:

1) A wood printing block and an unfinished woodprint: The solution was to "press" the block on the paper by snapping the DS shut (which the game detects).
2) A picture covered by dust. Of course the solution was to blow the dust away physically by blowing into the microphone.
3) A hinged picture frame with some symbols on each side: The solution was to bend the DS so that you could see one screen reflected in the other to see the clue.

Solutions like that cannot be implemented on other platforms. The closest you get is old-school text adventures, which are far more versatile in what your character can accomplish simply because they don't add impose limiting action repertoire a "user interface" does.

Like the DS, the Revolution controller(s) add more ways of interacting that the "more of much the same" joystick mk. II controllers do.

[Big Gulp]

You are seriously fucking full of yourself.

Just caught on to that, eh?  Never let it be said that you aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[Big Gulp]

Look, Schild dusted all his games before taking the picture. Also, I have that same Shelf in my office, but in orange.

That entire shelf is a rather sad attempt at kewlness.  Who in the fuck saves boxes from games? 

I have assorted jewel cases floating around, yeah, but certainly in no particular order, and the vast majority of my games (and my movies and music) are stored in discrete, non-space taking up, black binders.  I may be a nerd, yeah, but I also don't need to create a shrine to my sadness.

[Fabricated]

It took two posts to convey that information?

[schild]

I have assorted jewel cases floating around, yeah, but certainly in no particular order, and the vast majority of my games (and my movies and music) are stored in discrete, non-space taking up, black binders.  I may be a nerd, yeah, but I also don't need to create a shrine to my sadness.

You're a member of like 3-4 message boards pretty much devoted to online games, numbnuts. I highly doubt you're swimming in pussy.

Edit: The point being, I'm not ashamed of my games, and I like things organized. When I decide where I want to put them, I'll have another 3 of those bookshelves filled with DVDs.

[Big Gulp]

It took two posts to convey that information?

It was me quoting different posts, so yep.  I won't read an entire thread before commenting; I see something I want to reply to, and I reply to it.  If that means stacking posts back to back, well, too fucking bad.

[Big Gulp]

You're a member of like 3-4 message boards pretty much devoted to online games, numbnuts. I highly doubt you're swimming in pussy.

Yep.  As I said before, I fully acknowledge my addiction.  The difference between me and you is that I don't fucking care about being some l33t gamesmeister with a shrine.  You seem to have some twisted need to shout to the rooftops just how refined your tastes are; be they movies, music, games, or masturbating livestock.  Why this need?

[schild]

Yep.  As I said before, I fully acknowledge my addiction.  The difference between me and you is that I don't fucking care about being some l33t gamesmeister with a shrine.  You seem to have some twisted need to shout to the rooftops just how refined your tastes are; be they movies, music, games, or masturbating livestock.  Why this need?

I like shit organized. Everything. I don't like living in a shithole. I can't stand the boxes that aren't unpacked yet from the move a few weeks ago. All stuff in it's place, etc.

Also, if it's about acknowledging a addiction, why are you posting on any website? You do know that by your words you don't even remotely accept that fact you are a gamer, you're simply admitting to having a problem. Liking games and movies isn't a problem for me. You're a self-loather and you're trying to take your fat aggression out on my message board this morning.

You're too transparent, don't pull this shit again.

[Llava]

Think of the first-person lightsaber duel in the Star Wars Trilogy arcade game, the one where the joystick acted like the hilt of your saber.  Think of how much ass it sucked, compared to a good round of Bushido Blade.

There's a big difference between this and a joystick.

[schild]

Think of the first-person lightsaber duel in the Star Wars Trilogy arcade game, the one where the joystick acted like the hilt of your saber.  Think of how much ass it sucked, compared to a good round of Bushido Blade.

There's a big difference between this and a joystick.

A joystick can be designed to have a limited range of motion and have a real form of resistance resistance attached to it while most of the time the remote control will be flailed about like a flyswatter? There's a reason the Logitech Force Feedback Wheel is so much better than anything else for Gran Turismo 4. Having played a Lot of Virtual Ping Pong, I can say that this is the big issue I will have with that controller.

[Llava]

Think of the first-person lightsaber duel in the Star Wars Trilogy arcade game, the one where the joystick acted like the hilt of your saber.  Think of how much ass it sucked, compared to a good round of Bushido Blade.

There's a big difference between this and a joystick.

A joystick can be designed to have a limited range of motion and have a real form of resistance resistance attached to it while most of the time the remote control will be flailed about like a flyswatter? There's a reason the Logitech Force Feedback Wheel is so much better than anything else for Gran Turismo 4. Having played a Lot of Virtual Ping Pong, I can say that this is the big issue I will have with that controller.

You don't have freedom of motion with a joystick.  It's stick to the desk/table/whatever.  At its base, no less.  An upside down joystick (one which was attached by the top to something and the bottom was left free) would allow for a much more 'realistic' sword fight.  Probably the best sword fight not involving a mechanism like this would have to be an upside down joystick placed in a semicircle with the open end pointing down (and you could move the joystick around mostly anywhere in this semicircle in addition to bending the stick itself, allowing you to change both the angle and position of the sword).  And that last sentence is the point- a joystick only really allows you to either change the angle or position of the sword.  Not both at once.  So with a joystick you're either playing the "try to parry this" game or the "try to time your attacks" game while with this controller, if it works as it would seem to work (and I understand that it may not), would allow for both at the same time.

[schild]

I understand why it's better than a joystick and why on paper it's great. My problem is that the pitfalls of the controller are too readily obvious to me. While there will no doubt be a couple PERFECT uses for this controller, as Nintendo will make sure (or some clever third party will come out with something like Trauma Center), there's too many issues with a free range of motion. It will never truly be able to replace a proper peripheral like a light gun, samba, golf club, etc. Sure, many peripherals aren't safe in a house and a sword definately shouldn't be given to a kid, particularly not to flail around. But I fear that the controller will be in for a history of emulation. Though, they said any peripheral could be attached to it, I guess nothing is stopping them from making a 5 lb vibrating weight with like 100 levels of sensitivity to emulate the hilt of a sword. I'm going to stop talking because it's taking all my willpower to refrain from making more, somehow already cliche, sex toy jokes.

[Kairos]

Unless it is actually using some sort of gyroscope and transmitting all the info over bluetooth or something.

That's pretty close to right, though I'd think it'd be using RF instead, like the Wavebird does. It's absolutely not infrared, though.

[ahoythematey]

Somehow, I would have thought voodoolilly or signe would have posted this by now, or at least shockeye, so if they have...meh.

[Llava]

Somehow, I would have thought voodoolilly or signe would have posted this by now, or at least shockeye, so if they have...meh.

......... I...... u... hma......... wh............. WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?

God.  I'm going to have nightmares.