Speak softly and tilt a slick stick!
I know most of you (excluding Phil, who is a cool cat, ya dig?) either will despise Nintendo's new Revolution controller, or not know/care at all about it, but I for one am looking forward to it.
It has a terrific potential, as evidenced by this video shown at the Tokyo Game Show (scroll down just a bit).
It is simple, yet very expandable with the attachment port. It can be held in many different ways to accomodate different types of play. The tilt-senitivity is also awesome, taking gameplay to a different level. Not to mention, the complete backlog of Nintendo games, as well as the potential of a backlog of third-party games as well.
Imagine, instead of having to steer a race car with a control stick, just tilting the controller to the sides (probably holding it length-wise between both hands). Or pointing the controller and pulling on the B trigger button on the bottom for precision aiming in a first-person shooter. Swing the controller like a baseball bat, golf club, or tennis racket, or cast your fishing rod. Point and select team members, giving them their tasks, in a squad or team-based game (military or sports). Use the controller as a flashlight to explore a dark house, poke at things to see if they react or move, get in real close to inspect things.
The possibilities are nigh-endless.
The only problem is getting developers to actually take advantage of this opportunity, instead of worrying about not being able to just port a game to all of the consoles.. The upside, as many gaming sites have pointed out, is that rather than simply having just the same games as the other systems, thus limiting a game's potential, it will attract more creative and fun games, things you will not be able to find anywhere else. Nintendo set out to distance themselves from the competition between X-Box and Playstation, and they are accomplishing just that. Maybe now people will realize that Nintendo can't be compared the same way, because they're doing a completely different thing altogether. Maybe they'll realize that creative games are fun, and don't have to be the same old thing rehashed the same way a million times.
People fear change. They fear the unknown. Hopefully, though, people will realize that change can be good.
It has a terrific potential, as evidenced by this video shown at the Tokyo Game Show (scroll down just a bit).
It is simple, yet very expandable with the attachment port. It can be held in many different ways to accomodate different types of play. The tilt-senitivity is also awesome, taking gameplay to a different level. Not to mention, the complete backlog of Nintendo games, as well as the potential of a backlog of third-party games as well.
Imagine, instead of having to steer a race car with a control stick, just tilting the controller to the sides (probably holding it length-wise between both hands). Or pointing the controller and pulling on the B trigger button on the bottom for precision aiming in a first-person shooter. Swing the controller like a baseball bat, golf club, or tennis racket, or cast your fishing rod. Point and select team members, giving them their tasks, in a squad or team-based game (military or sports). Use the controller as a flashlight to explore a dark house, poke at things to see if they react or move, get in real close to inspect things.
The possibilities are nigh-endless.
The only problem is getting developers to actually take advantage of this opportunity, instead of worrying about not being able to just port a game to all of the consoles.. The upside, as many gaming sites have pointed out, is that rather than simply having just the same games as the other systems, thus limiting a game's potential, it will attract more creative and fun games, things you will not be able to find anywhere else. Nintendo set out to distance themselves from the competition between X-Box and Playstation, and they are accomplishing just that. Maybe now people will realize that Nintendo can't be compared the same way, because they're doing a completely different thing altogether. Maybe they'll realize that creative games are fun, and don't have to be the same old thing rehashed the same way a million times.
People fear change. They fear the unknown. Hopefully, though, people will realize that change can be good.