Next Generation Consoles

[John-Locke]

The article says it's a one handed controller???

WTF??? How in the hell is anyone going to use that piece of shit?

[so sorry]

Terrible. if that really is the controller, this consol is DOOMED. how the fuck do you play a video game one handed????
I'm staring at that thing wondering how the hell you use it with one or two hands!

[burlivesleftnut]

That really is the controller. Been all over Yahoo and CNN today.

[wonkabar]

G@YTARDED: Nintendo Crap

word

[DinoDeLaurentiis]

The one-handed a controller, she's a 'cos a the Nintendo is a releasing a the new "adult" themed games, eh? Anna they figure you gonna need a the other hand for a more... "important" things, eh?

[burlivesleftnut]

HAHHAhahA

[wonkabar]

So when you have two you can play with yourself?

[ThisIsTheGirl]

the interface will be a touch-screen, maybe with a couple of shoulder buttons and possibly even a d-pad. I am so convinced of this, I'm willing to bet a large amount of cash on it.

Sooooo, I lost my shirt on that one, eh? Well, I've been off work a couple of days, and only heard about this little bit of news last night from a friend who phoned me up to check why I hadn't been frantically ringing people asking them for their opinion on the Revolution controller.

One of the first things I thought about was this very thread, and how I would probably return to find opprobrium already heaped lavishly upon my head. So, firstly, let me just thank you all for not ripping the shit out of me in my absence. But, being a masochist, I feel I have to enter into the spirited little round of gleeful Nintendo-bashing which all you Sony and Microsoft catamites have been engaging in for the last couple of days, with a view to perhaps giving some of you a different perspective, since nobody else seems interested in figthing Nintendo's corner.

As some of you may remember, I work in finance, in a fairly IT-oriented role. I hate pretty much everybody I work with, but some less than others. I prefer to take my lunch on my own, but every now and then get invited by one of our traders to come out for a lunchtime pint. He (Sam) and his trader mates are midly amusing, and he supports Liverpool, so I forgive him a multitude of sins and occasionally go for a drink with him.

Now, I don't know how much you know about traders but they work incredibly hard and play even harder. They mostly entertain themselves by either going to strip clubs and blowing thousands of pounds, or consuming huge amounts of Class A drug while attempting to pull birds in nightclubs. They don't have much spare time apart from that, and hence rarely own or play consoles, even if some of them are smart enough to understand that ISS Pro Evo is the greatest football series of all time.....

So, imagine my surprise when one of the traders came running up to me this morning and excitedly blurted out "have you seen that new Nintendo thing??!?". Now, although these boys are obviously familiar with the names Sony and Microsoft, I'm fairly sure I've never heard this guy utter the name Nintendo for as long as I've known him - which is almost 5 years. It turns out, Sam had been alerted to the Revo controller on Monday morning, and spent much of that day trying to finds out more about it.

Sam and a lot of the guys on the trading floor seem to be obssessed with it - he's even printed out a picture and has been showing some of the secretaries, probably in a feeble attempt at striking up a conversation which may lead to sex. But all of these slightly dippy, secretaries in their early 20s , also seem highly impressed by the controller, and I've been wondering what this might all mean.

Then I looked around at all the money-obssessed people around me, and it clicked; the Revolution controller is simply not designed to appeal to people who bought one of the existing consoles - it's designed to get the money of people who have never owned a console in their lives - and, as such, it's clearly doing what it intended, judging by the interest a few pictures and video footage has generated amongst the anti-gamers in my office.

From a cynical city-boy marketing point of view, it's actually a masterstroke. Whereas I thought the easist way to attain mass-appeal would be via touch-screen, they decided to go for an even more radical interface with a much less radical look. IE, instead of asking the uninitiated gamer to master a standard control pad, with all the myriad complications which come with that (standard x-box controller, anyone? I didn't think so, since it's generally regarded as the worst joypad EVER.), what Nintendo has done is to design something which is immediately familiar to somebody who has never played a game in their lives. Few parts of the world have yet to see a remote control, and the parts which haven't yet seen one, probably have bigger things to worry about than console wars anyway.

And.....have you guys actually SEEN any of the videos of the controller in action? You know it has motion sensors both inside and out, right? You know that you can use two at once, play games like Metroid with a single hand, using the motion sensors, or for different functionality, use this other component?




Have any of you played Yoshi's Universal Gravitation or Tilt n Go on the
GBA? Because these can give you some idea of how the interface works. But for the time being, I'd advise this: watch the videos, wait till you actually get to use the thing - and be especially observant when watching the reactions of non-gamers when they see this, because I'm fairly sure that after the Revo comes out, some of those people will no longer be non-gamers.

My comment from last month still stands: the 360 will be the most powerful, PS3 will have the widest selection of games, and the Revo will give you something unique which you can't get elsewhere. But here's another bet I'm gonna make (I know,I never learn - compulsive gambling runs in the family, that's why I work in finance) - I'll say it here first: The Revolution will sell a lot more units than the NGC.

ONe last question, and I don't mean this in a sardonic way, but out of all you X-Box owners: how often do you play a game other than Halo 2? And what game(s) would that be? Are there any games in your collection, other than Halo 2, on which you have clocked up more than 20 hours' playing time? What are they?

There's something to ponder, I'll come back to face your ire tomorrow.....

[burlivesleftnut]

Dude, say as much as you want to justify... it's still way dumb.

[Brocktune]

since nobody else seems interested in figthing Nintendo's corner.

allright, lets draw some battle lines here.
i love nintendo. i hate sony, and i hate microsoft even more, probably almost as much as i hate g.w.b.. and although i own all 3 consoles, i feel dirty every morning when i wake up knowing i actually paid for an xbox. something i swore id never do. i want nintendo to reclaim their rightful title as king of the home console world more than anybody, and im always rooting for the N-dog. i just question some of their descisions, like the virtual boy, and the ds, and mostly, their title selection. 8 year olds dont have the money to buy games, i do. when nintendo is good, they are really fucking good, thats why ill be a nintendo mark fo life.

[Brocktune]

ONe last question, and I don't mean this in a sardonic way, but out of all you X-Box owners: how often do you play a game other than Halo 2? And what game(s) would that be? Are there any games in your collection, other than Halo 2, on which you have clocked up more than 20 hours' playing time? What are they?

amen!
ive said it forever, if you take away first person shooters (which includes strategy games like rainbow six, because its just a glorified fps) and the online component, xbox aint got shit!

[DinoDeLaurentiis]

when nintendo is good, they are really fucking good, thats why ill be a nintendo mark fo life.

[Brocktune]

dino, when you die, may your brain be cryogenically preserved, and reattatched to a robot body as soon as it is possible, so future generations may reap the massive benefits of having you be a part of them!

[DinoDeLaurentiis]

Hehe... I like a how a your new avatar goes a with a your new title! "Cheets onna his a wife" indeed!

[Brocktune]

i was thinking the same thing.

[ThisIsTheGirl]

More proof of Dino's genius? Will it never end?

OK, well doesn't look like anybody's that concerned - which is good, I'm happy for people to pledge allegiance to whatever firm they fancy - but flaming the remaining two is a somewhat pointless exercise, so I'll try not to get involved in that.

Burl thinks it's dumb - that's up to him, and yes: it wouldn't be the first time that Nintendo has done something really done. But underestimate the Biug N at your peril - the only reason you're so used to the current shape of gamepad is because Nintendo taught the world how to design a really good controller. Now, they are saying "look everyone - technology has moved forward enough for us to change the way we think about joysticks".

Just don't forget your history lessons: you use analogue pads because Nintendo introduced them to the world, regardless of what system you own. Nintendo created the Wavebird for Gamecube - suddenly, all the next generation controllers are wireless. Now they are using motion sensor technology, and the truth is, we won't know how good it really is for a couple of months, but don't be too surprised if one day you're playing on your PS4, swinging around a joypad which looks suspiciously like a remote control.

I should come clean and say that I may well be one of the first in line for an X-Box 360, since I think they've made significant enough improvements for me to own one. But I'll only buy one because I'm fortunate to have enough disposable income to buy more than one console. If money was tight, I honestly think I'd wait for the Revolution.

And it fires Death Frizbees, for crying out loud! What do you people want???!?

[wonkabar]

I should come clean and say that I may well be one of the first in line for an X-Box 360, since I think they've made significant enough improvements for me to own one

Recent improvements? Three or four months ago people were saying PS3 was way more powerful than the 360. Did Microsoft do some further tweeking since then, or was the "ps3-rules"-rumour bogus?

[ThisIsTheGirl]

I think the jury's still out over which is truly the most powerful - it depends what you focus on: processor speed, hard drive speed, RAM, graphics engines etc.

But as far as I'm aware, the 360 packs more raw computer power

[wonkabar]

The online features look pretty cool too

[burlivesleftnut]

Let me be clear: I don't give a shit about any console any more.

And as an xbox owner, Halo is not my style of game. The game I played MOST on xbox was Knights of the Old Republic.

[ThisIsTheGirl]

The game I played MOST on xbox was Knights of the Old Republic.

Forgot about that one. Easily the best game on the X after Halo 2

[cinephile2000]

ONe last question, and I don't mean this in a sardonic way, but out of all you X-Box owners: how often do you play a game other than Halo 2? And what game(s) would that be? Are there any games in your collection, other than Halo 2, on which you have clocked up more than 20 hours' playing time? What are they?

amen!
ive said it forever, if you take away first person shooters (which includes strategy games like rainbow six, because its just a glorified fps) and the online component, xbox aint got shit!

Ok I played Buffy the Vampire Slayer both games combined for about 22 hours. I played Grand Theft Auto for a long time thought that dosn't count because of being multiplatform. I played Ninja Gaiden and beat it then played again on hard and didn't about 40 hrs gameplay. Crimson Skies about 45 because of online. Halo 1 about 50 and Halo 2 I would say about a hundred. So Ive played a lot of my games. I was a gamer for a while but I'm debating of not getting a next gen console. I think with college I might want to actually experience other people so... I don't know.