In a recent editorial, industry site next-gen.biz went on the record with various developers concerning their thoughts on the Revolution controller. A number of developer comments have been provided below:
Michel Ancel
Game Designer, Ubisoft
Creator of Rayman, BG&E and King Kong
I feel just like a child with a new toy, opening millions of new doors of possibilities. More than an improvement, this way of playing is creating a new dimension. ItÂ’s simple, when Nintendo unveils its hardware, every member of the team starts imagining crazy ideas. ItÂ’s opening their minds. The fact of adding 3D gestures as the way of communicating with the game is just the perfect kind of innovation that can bring new games to new gamers. To me, it can bring the consoles what the mouse brought to the PC at it time. ItÂ’s a 3D pointer with rotation information! Now, you're going to handle virtual objects, make recognition signs. ItÂ’s closer to the way we act in real world, thatÂ’s why itÂ’s going to be mass market. IÂ’m sure that people will go crazy given the ability to interact so easily with virtual worlds. IÂ’m just mad about it!
Lorne Lanning
President/Creative Director, Oddworld Inhabitants
An interesting innovation for the “small handed” segment of the market. Hopefully a larger version will be available for the larger hand endowed audience that is likely to be more carpal tunnel prone.
Cliff Bleszinski
Lead Designer, Epic Games
It seems as if I Nintendo has found a modular way that they can take the best of the location-based entertainment/arcade experience and bring it home to the user. So all of those games you loved physically interacting with in the arcade – the drum game, the fishing one the, uh, poke your friend in the eye one…can really come to life in the living room. I haven’t been able to hold or use it yet so I’ll refrain from any further judgment until I get hands on as that’s what really, truly matters – feel!
Demian Linn
Reviews Editor, Electronic Gaming Monthly
It's a risk, but it's a smart risk. If Revolution launched with just a conventional controller, it'd offer competitive graphics and Nintendo first-party games—in other words, it'd be in about the same position GameCube was in this generation. But now, Revolution may appeal to more casual or even non-gamers, along with core gamers who are looking for a genuinely new gameplay experience. If Nintendo can really bring a large chunk of non-gamers into the fold, it would be huge—but that’s a big question mark.
Nintendo has always excelled at making its games just feel right from a control perspective, and I’m sure its first-party games are going to do some amazing things with the new controller. Not so sure about third-party publishers. The DS has attracted some good third-party exclusives, but Revolution titles will require a much bigger investment. I hear Nintendo will also offer a "sleeve" that you can slip the main controller into, which will allow for a more traditional button layout; that is absolutely necessary, and it better come in the box. I’m all for innovation, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, throw the baby out with the bathwater, or...well, I can’t think of another cliché that works here. Revolution owners are going to love their gyroscopic rhythm-action-fishing games or whatever, but that doesn’t mean they won’t want to play Splinter Cell again.
Chris Cross
Game Design Director, EA LA
Personally I’m excited about the new controller. It seems like it will be intuitive for most and a very cool alternative to the “standard” control paradigm. If we assume game design starts with the interface, try to imagine what new genres might pop up. I can’t wait to get one in my hands and try it out. Realistically for the first couple years most developers will be adapting their old games to fit this interface with only a couple really taking advantage of it. Give it a couple game cycles and we should see some interesting stuff at E3 '07. I haven’t been this excited since Sony put a second stick on their controller.
Chris Melissinos
Chief Gaming Officer, Sun Microsystems
This is why I love Nintendo. Just when people think that innovation is dead and game design/implementation is becoming a barren wasteland, the House of Mario does something so off the wall that people stand up and take notice. What other game hardware company would have the guts to release a controller that looks like a TV remote? No one but Nintendo.
Not only do I believe that the controller will help usher in a new generation of game design, I think the Revolution has a better chance of succeeding than most analysts and critics believe. The combination of their "motion centric" controller, deep catalog of content spanning 20+ years and kick ass next generation games, puts Nintendo is in the best position to broaden the market and bring those gamers, who stopped playing, back to the television with their family in tow. I want to thank Nintendo for not maintaining the status quo, for constantly pushing the industry to rethink how games can be implemented and, most importantly, for reminding us that how we play is just as important as what we play.
Michel Ancel
Game Designer, Ubisoft
Creator of Rayman, BG&E and King Kong
I feel just like a child with a new toy, opening millions of new doors of possibilities. More than an improvement, this way of playing is creating a new dimension. ItÂ’s simple, when Nintendo unveils its hardware, every member of the team starts imagining crazy ideas. ItÂ’s opening their minds. The fact of adding 3D gestures as the way of communicating with the game is just the perfect kind of innovation that can bring new games to new gamers. To me, it can bring the consoles what the mouse brought to the PC at it time. ItÂ’s a 3D pointer with rotation information! Now, you're going to handle virtual objects, make recognition signs. ItÂ’s closer to the way we act in real world, thatÂ’s why itÂ’s going to be mass market. IÂ’m sure that people will go crazy given the ability to interact so easily with virtual worlds. IÂ’m just mad about it!
Lorne Lanning
President/Creative Director, Oddworld Inhabitants
An interesting innovation for the “small handed” segment of the market. Hopefully a larger version will be available for the larger hand endowed audience that is likely to be more carpal tunnel prone.
Cliff Bleszinski
Lead Designer, Epic Games
It seems as if I Nintendo has found a modular way that they can take the best of the location-based entertainment/arcade experience and bring it home to the user. So all of those games you loved physically interacting with in the arcade – the drum game, the fishing one the, uh, poke your friend in the eye one…can really come to life in the living room. I haven’t been able to hold or use it yet so I’ll refrain from any further judgment until I get hands on as that’s what really, truly matters – feel!
Demian Linn
Reviews Editor, Electronic Gaming Monthly
It's a risk, but it's a smart risk. If Revolution launched with just a conventional controller, it'd offer competitive graphics and Nintendo first-party games—in other words, it'd be in about the same position GameCube was in this generation. But now, Revolution may appeal to more casual or even non-gamers, along with core gamers who are looking for a genuinely new gameplay experience. If Nintendo can really bring a large chunk of non-gamers into the fold, it would be huge—but that’s a big question mark.
Nintendo has always excelled at making its games just feel right from a control perspective, and I’m sure its first-party games are going to do some amazing things with the new controller. Not so sure about third-party publishers. The DS has attracted some good third-party exclusives, but Revolution titles will require a much bigger investment. I hear Nintendo will also offer a "sleeve" that you can slip the main controller into, which will allow for a more traditional button layout; that is absolutely necessary, and it better come in the box. I’m all for innovation, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, throw the baby out with the bathwater, or...well, I can’t think of another cliché that works here. Revolution owners are going to love their gyroscopic rhythm-action-fishing games or whatever, but that doesn’t mean they won’t want to play Splinter Cell again.
Chris Cross
Game Design Director, EA LA
Personally I’m excited about the new controller. It seems like it will be intuitive for most and a very cool alternative to the “standard” control paradigm. If we assume game design starts with the interface, try to imagine what new genres might pop up. I can’t wait to get one in my hands and try it out. Realistically for the first couple years most developers will be adapting their old games to fit this interface with only a couple really taking advantage of it. Give it a couple game cycles and we should see some interesting stuff at E3 '07. I haven’t been this excited since Sony put a second stick on their controller.
Chris Melissinos
Chief Gaming Officer, Sun Microsystems
This is why I love Nintendo. Just when people think that innovation is dead and game design/implementation is becoming a barren wasteland, the House of Mario does something so off the wall that people stand up and take notice. What other game hardware company would have the guts to release a controller that looks like a TV remote? No one but Nintendo.
Not only do I believe that the controller will help usher in a new generation of game design, I think the Revolution has a better chance of succeeding than most analysts and critics believe. The combination of their "motion centric" controller, deep catalog of content spanning 20+ years and kick ass next generation games, puts Nintendo is in the best position to broaden the market and bring those gamers, who stopped playing, back to the television with their family in tow. I want to thank Nintendo for not maintaining the status quo, for constantly pushing the industry to rethink how games can be implemented and, most importantly, for reminding us that how we play is just as important as what we play.
