Yesterday Nintendo finally reveiled the controller for their upcomming next generation console, Nintendo Revolution. And I tell ya, this is different. I’ve looked at A LOT of fan mock-ups of the controller and nothing I’ve seen comes close to what Nintendo showed at Tokyo Game Show yesterday.
Main Controller Features
- 3D Pointing. Sensors understand up, down, left, right, forward and backward.
- Tilt Sensitive. Controller can be rotated or rolled from side-to-side.
- Buttons Included. Has a trigger on its backside, face buttons, and a D-Pad.
- Multifunctional. Has an expansion port which can be used with different types of controller peripherals. Analog stick with two trigger buttons planned for left hand.
- Wireless. Totally wire-free. Currently there are no details on the max distance, source or power, or otherwise.
- Rumble Built-in. Included as a standard in all the controllers.
Source: IGN
On the DS, Nintendo split the screen in two, with Revolution they’re splitting the controller in two!
You may think “What the fuck are you gonna use this thing for?”, well, imagine a first person shooter game, you could control the player with the left-hand D-pad and aim your gun with the right-hand remote-like controller, you could also use the remote for a flash light.
Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, also said, during his keynote at TGS, that the Revolution controller is very expandable, in the back end of the remote you will find a little plug for add-ons. During E3 Iwata said that it will be possible to download old Nintendo games off the web and play them on Revolution, for this, Nintendo will be designing a classic-style controller so that those older games will feel more like playing it on the actual older Nintendo console.
Personally I’m really excited about this new controller, when it comes to real innovation, no one beats Nintendo, after all, they has over 20 years of experience with video games! 😉
IGN has some very good in-depth articles about this new controller, go check ’em out!
Links:
Satoru Iwata’s announcement of the controller at TGS 2005 (Video)
IGN articles:
TGS 2005: Hands-on the Revolution Controller
TGS 2005: Revolution Controller: The Possibilities
TGS 2005: Developers Comment on Revolution Controller
TGS 2005: Feedback: Revolution Controller