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Nintendo Businesses Entertainment Games

CNN Hands-On With The Revolution 150

Posted by Zonk from the wave-your-hands-around dept.
The Game Over column over at CNN has a hands-on look look at the Nintendo Revolution and its unique little controller. From the article: "By adding an auxiliary thumbstick controller, I was able to play through a level of a retrofitted 'Metroid Prime 2' (a GameCube game). Confession time: When it comes to console shooters, I'm terrible. I can finish them, but I'm nowhere near as competent as I am with my mouse/keyboard setup for the PC. In the early stages of the 'Metroid' demo, it looked like this trend would continue, as I was all over the screen. By mid-way, though, I was better able to move and aim - and enjoyed the game far more than I did with the GameCube controller. ('Metroid' fans... well, you're probably already pretty excited.)"
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CNN Hands-On With The Revolution More

CNN Hands-On With The Revolution

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  • I for one Can't WAIT until this machine comes out.

    That controller looks Amazing.

  • First-Person Shooters? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by VickiM ( 920888 ) on Thursday December 15, 2005 @02:10PM (#14266229)
    Seems like someone finally let the reviewer play the demos that came out a long while back.

    "I was a developer for many years before my current role, but I've never been a very good gamer," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told me. "I've never been able to control a first-person shooter, but as soon as I used the Revolution controller, I found it very easy to control the game. So, I think that's a genre that's particularly well suited for the controller."

    I'm not sure first-person shooters would be the way to go, given comments in other threads about the 360. People who play FPS seem to want HD. I personally can't wait to try out the new controller and console, though. I'm hoping the controller inspires more creativity in game developers.

    • Everybody wants HD at some level, but what's so much more important than resolution is assets. I can play counterstrike at 640x480 and then play it at 1280x1024, but it's still the same thing. I've played my Gamecube on a normal TV and on my HDTV with the special cables, and it really isn't amazing. It's better, but it's far from important.
      • Not a surprise that the Gamecube didn't shine like a new penny on your HDTV.

        You need to send an HD signal (Not ED) to get things started. Then you need to have a graphics chip able to actually drive that resolution.

        Nintendo's 480p really wasn't that big of a deal. It's not until you get to 720p, or 1080i (or p for Sony) that things get interesting.
        • 480p is a big deal vs 480i, especially for first person shooters. First off, interlacing is really annoying to look at if you move around really fast, but more importantly, 480i is more-or-less 240 lines. 480p is twice the vertical resolution, at 60 frames per second. 480i is only 30 frames per second, with 2 half-height interlaced fields per frame. Plus, many old regular TVs are lucky if that can achieve 400x300 pixels realistically, so you might be looking at near 3x the detail level simply by playing at
          • It's all relative. 480p might be a lot better than 480i- but it is not going to be impressive, and give a person a good impression of HDTV. If someone is looking at a 480p signal, and they are told 'man, this is on an HDTV, and I got the good cables and everything' (like the original poster) then it really is no big deal.
    • I'm not sure first-person shooters would be the way to go, given comments in other threads about the 360. People who play FPS seem to want HD.

      I dunno... A part of me wants to get the 360 because of it really good looking FPS games, but then I remind myself how they played on the old Xbox and then I fire up Unreal Tournament 2004 on my PC.

      Most console controllers are too clunky for FPS at least for me. The DS pen actually feels pretty good for the Metroid demo and I'd to see how the Rev controller works out.

      • If only MS would support usb mouse and keyboards on the 360...

        They do (well keyboards, at least). Any time there is an onscreen keyboard displayed(like when you recover your gamertag) you can plug in a USB keyboard and it will let you type. See here [thetriangle.org] for the first example I found with a quick search at google. So it is a conscious decision by MS or the developers not to support keyboard and mouse input, not a compatibility issue.

        Besides, how are you going to write e-mails and type in URLs when they

      • If you spend a good amount of time on an Xbox controller, you actually get pretty good for FPSs. Just remember all the practice you've had with using a mouse for general computing- that is one of the reasons keyboard/mouse seems so good. Spend time on an Xbox, and it becomes second nature.

        I played games on a PC for many, many years. The first time I played Halo on an Xbox, I thought the control scheme was an abomination- who the hell thought it would work?

        Now 4 years later, I do great on an Xbox 360..the
        • While it is partly a matter of being unused to the console controls, the range of motion of a mouse is many times greater than that of a joystick, so the mouse is much more accurate.
    • Sweet Turing, please bring me a non-crappy interface for FPS games on a console. This does assume that the Revolution's controller is as wonderful as Nintendo would have me believe, but what we have at the moment sucks hard. A joystick is a crappy way to aim. A joystick has many strengths (ever try a flying game with a mouse?), but it cannot match the speed and precision of a mouse for aiming at targets. There is a reason that auto-aim and auto-correction is a rare thing on PC FPS games, but common cons
  • Fps on a console is nothing new, but IMO ever since the days of goldeneye on N64 all the way up through Halo 2, using an analog stick and a d-pad has always been cumbersome. This new controller is basically like a 3D mouse, and if they do it right (which it looks like they have), this could really be the first time where people like me who only do fps on a PC will go for the consoles. I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on a revolution.

  • Only console I'm seriously considering (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dogmatixpsych ( 786818 ) on Thursday December 15, 2005 @02:23PM (#14266343) Journal
    The Revolution is the only console I am even thinking about getting. Both Microsoft and Sony want to have their machines do everything (and are both bigger than the Revolution, which can fit just about anywhere, it is so small), Nintendo just wants their console to play games. The controller looks intriguing too, of course. Between quality of games, interesting controller, and lower prices, if any console maker gets my money, it will be Nintendo.

  • You know (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Shad_the_protector ( 931920 ) <shad_the_protector@hotmail.com> on Thursday December 15, 2005 @02:48PM (#14266548)
    When I first heared of that controller, I just laugh, and couldn't stop. I was thinking Nintendo was doing another big mistake. But the more I check, and the more I inform myself on "Next-Gen" console, Nintendo is the only one I see making a actually "Next-Gen" imporvement. For now X-Box360 is only very upgraded version of a X-Box. As for what we know of Sony right now, well, it is not much of a different case. Nintendo are trying something new. And actually they are doing better than I expected from the information we actually got, and lately my GC entertained me better than my ps2. I'm seriously considering to switch from Sony to Nintendo for my next primary console....

  • Revolution Controller Rumble (Score:4, Interesting)

    by funny-jack ( 741994 ) on Thursday December 15, 2005 @03:36PM (#14267003) Homepage
    I seem to recall that there has been some debate as to whether the Revolution controller will contain rumble. From the article:
    ...and try some fishing by 'feeling' fish nibble on the line (via a rumble effect)...
    Just thought I would point that out.
  • "Revolution, it should be noted, is just a code name - the system's official name will be announced next year"

    For once they have a good name and it's just the codename WTF. They should stick to it. Sounds a hell lot better than gamecube of N64.

  • Anyone else notice that basically the same exact article is being written over and over and over again?

    There's no new information about the controller... or the system... this is basically just someone else who got to try out the demos from the TGS.

    I get excited when I see news on the Revolution linked on Slashdot... but when it's the same article talking about how Revolutionary the controller is going to be, I get disappointed.
  • When it comes to console shooters, I'm terrible.
    *groans*

    Who else HATES when people say "shooter" meaning first-person shooter, rather than a shoot 'em up? [shmups.com]

  • does this mean Grand Theft Auto will have a new Hot Coffe mode? it could be girl (forward,backward,rumble,up,down,left,right...turn ), boy(forward,backward,up,down,left,right...turn) oriented?

  • not just excited (Score:3, Funny)

    by Lehk228 ( 705449 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:49AM (#14270155) Journal
    i'm not just excited... i am HARD

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