Remote control

[Cronic]

How do you think the new remote controller game pad thing is going to work? and if it becomes the standard will you follow it?

I'm all for inovative ideas, but I think there should be a distinguishable line between my game pads and my tv remote ...Playing a video game to me can best be compared to driving ...hands at 10, and 2 you hold the wheel and own the road ...same thing works for the controller ....i love video games with my life ...theyve always been there for me, but if i were to go to the store tomorrow and find all systems were orperated by a slim remote control i just couldn't find it as fun.

I got this thought from the previous thread in regards to the ps3 controller and how they might take a note from nintendo ...game design not being called into it the gamecube had by far the least capable controller ...something like 3 fewer buttons etc ...unfortunatly what they didn't realize is that extra buttons if placed well give you more freedom, and a better sense of moves ...for example having to hit start+another button when there could just be a selct button is gay. I thoought they woulda learned from that but aparently not.

This sisn't to say i think it's a terrible horrible idea, but for the love of god there needs to be the option. this sisn't an N bash session and if the ps3 goes remote on me i'd greatly have to consider not owning one, just because i'm that turned off by the interface.

I guess what i'm wondering is are there currently plans for the revolution to have that as an option? or is it the standard control scheme ...Granted i'm a little older than most of ya, and quite stuck in my ways ....25 years of gaming, and the closest i could compare the revolution to in terms of controllers is the paddle from the old atari ...it just seems that usefull for what it does, and about as comfortable.

And i gotta know am i alone in this thinking? in not wanting to adapt to something so arbitrary?

[MottZilla]

I agree with you. For one, I'm against the whole wireless buzz. I like a wired controller. Next, I like a standard controller. I.E. Sega Saturn, SNES, PSX. Obviously analog inputs have their advantages, adding them in isn't too bad. But when you lose basic game playability it sucks. I've heard that supposively the revolution will have a "shell" or something so you can play games with a regular controller of sorts. I do like the exploration into new input devices, but the seeming abandonment of traditional support is not at all nice.

[Grasshopper]

Well, the first system had only a couple buttons at most. Think back to the early years in gaming, NES or Atari, and what about Intellivision or Odyssey which was knobs instead of buttons. The only reason for more buttons is because of an increase in complexity, which is what Nintendo is trying to steer away from. I mean, if you have so many ways to control a character or access a feature that you need its own button, its hard to tell what controllers will look like in the future. Take a keyboard for instance. A standard keyboard has 104 keys, and almost every PC game can use 20-30 keys or maybe more it you like. Thats quite a bit of buttons.

I know thats a bit extreme but its the same idea as "having to hit start+another button when there could just be a select button". Why cycle through my weapons when I can press 'G' to get grenades, and 'F' for a flashlight, and so on. In the past few decades we went from 1 button, to a few buttons, to several buttons, to a lot of buttons, to alot of analog buttons. For crying out loud, how many more buttons do we need?

I'm not really a person to complain about the standard controllers we have now. I have to admit, I thought it was cool when I was a kid, that my controllers had so many buttons. I just loved how my parents would look at it as if it were more complexing then solving a Rubik's Cube. And I can use the controllers just fine, so I have no problem with the complexity.

But I can see where Nintendo is coming from, and it wouldn't really bother me if we loose a little of the buttons. After all, a lot of the functionality of a normal controller is getting translated into movement, so while you don't have the buttons, you don't NEED the buttons. Of course, thats how it is suppose to work.

[Orion]

I'm excited about the possibilities of the Revolution controller--that is if it's done right. I'm a bit apprehensive about how it will be received, and no doubt the technology will go through some changes over time to suit people's needs, as controllers have for the last couple decades. It's exciting and unnerving at the same time, I guess.