TGS 2005: Nintendo Unveils Revolution Controller: Game News

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TGS 2005: Nintendo Unveils Revolution Controller

September 15, 2005

After months of speculation, Nintendo has finally unveiled the controller for their upcoming console, the Revolution. They haven't gone with gyroscopic technology, touch screens, of dark magicks like many of the rumors floating around have suggested. What they plan to do, though, is introduce a one-handed controller, flying in the face of game interface standards over the last 20 or so years.

With an aesthetic reminiscent of a television remote control, the Revolution controller will have a digital direction pad at the top of it, with an A button slightly below, and corresponding B button on the reverse side of the controller. Below this one can find a "Home" button, as well as buttons for "Start" and "Select". At the bottom of the controller, additional vertically placed A and B buttons, as well as four lights can be found. By rotating the controller 90 degrees, one can use the directional pad, and lower A / B buttons to control games in a similar fashion to that found in classic games on the original NES. The four lights represent which controller is the first, second, third, and fourth player in a multiplayer game, where each button left to right signifies which player is which.

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What is particularly interesting about this highly stripped down controller is that it contains a number of sensors within it capable of detecting when the unit is being tilted and rotated, as well as detecting the controller moving toward and away from the TV screen. As such, if someone were to play a racing game, they could simply tilt the controller to turn the car, or if it were a fishing game, one could move the controller about as though they were casting a line, and the actions

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would be recreated in-game, and as a final example, if someone was playing a sword-swinging action game, they could move the controller around like a sword, and these actions too would be recreated in-game. Additional peripherals can also be attached to the bottom of the controller, which at this point is an analogue paddle.

This abrupt about-face from conventional controllers is a continuance of Nintendo's recent attempts to tap into non-traditional markets, something that the company started on with their recent handheld, the Nintendo DS. With this new controller, they hope to provide something that isn't overly intimidating to new gamers, while still being versatile enough to keep long time gamer enthusiasts interested.