By By Ronald Diemicke
Nintendo is preparing to fight back against competitors, such as Microsoft and Sony, with their new secret weapon- Revolution.
This new Nintendo game system, which was unveiled on Sept. 16, features an innovative design for its controller. Unlike any other game system controller, it resembles a DVD remote design. It comes in a sleek pearl white that offsets the solid shiny black Revolution system. The controller is enabled with a d-pad, start button, select button, home button and four other main game buttons (one mounted on the bottom like a trigger, one below the d-pad and two below the home button).
Imagine playing the new Mario baseball game and instead of hitting a button to bat, you could get up and swing as if you were on the screen. How about if you were playing a Tiger Woods game and could actually stand up and swing the remote like a golf club? Well, Nintendo’s new controller will give people the chance to experience such thrills.
The 3-D built-in sensor alllows players’ movements to be tracked within a 3-D radius of the controller. This means whichever way the player moves, the controller can be tracked and the movements will be represented in a game.
Many of the existing games on the market would have significant issues with the use of this new controller design at first. Making full use of the controller is going to require developers to not only give extra time to planning how the controller will be used, but also how the control schemes will be done on the PS3 and 360 if the game is multi-platform. The result – extra time and money.
According to Nintendo, “The response from all major publishers worldwide has been extremely positive.”
One of Revolution’s neatest features will be the ability to play Nintendo’s entire back catalog of games from each of their home consoles. However, some questions have been raised as to how controlling them will work. The NES won’t be much of an issue because if you turn the controller to the side, it has the same layout as the NES. But the controller doesn’t have enough buttons to emulate either the SNES or N64 controllers.
It appears as Nintendo is aware of this problem. They showed off a peripheral that attaches to the back of the Revolution controller and is a separate wired attached analog stick. Even though this add-on doesn’t fix the button problem, controlling N64 games should be somewhat easier. The attachment creates interesting game play options if used in conjunction with the controller. Imagine playing “Metroid Prime,” moving yourself with the analog stick and aiming your gun by moving the controller.
With no real titles announced and a possible third place launch position, Nintendo will be fighting an uphill battle against Microsoft, which is launching its product in November and Sony, whose juggernaut system may beat the Revolution.
Nintendo’s controller, the likes of which no one has ever seen,and the force of more than 15 years worth of gaming available at launch, may just be enough to tip the balance of power. One thing is for sure, you can never count Nintendo out.
New Nintendo game system, Revolution, is defying controller design schemes (Image Courtesy www.nintendo.com)