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First Impressions of the Revolution Controller
editorial
posted by: George Holomshek
publisher: Nintendo
platform:
keywords:
date posted: 09:32 AM Fri Sep 16th, 2005
last revision: 10:25 AM Fri Sep 16th, 2005



Click to read.For months the rumor mill was abuzz with whispers of a huge announcement at the Tokyo Game Show by none other than President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata. And in a moment that would make \"Ripley\'s Believe it or Not\" proud, Nintendo dropped a serious bomb on the entire gaming world. Now, as the smoke begins to clear and everyone attempts to regain their bearings, one thing is for sure; we may very well have a revolution on our hands.

I must admit, while all the while I have been excited to see what Nintendo would unveil as their \"revolutionary\" controller, I have also been rather frightened: Mainly, that the new controller would be nothing more that a glorified Wavebird. Well, I guess the joke is on me. When the first images of Nintendo\'s new toy came up on my monitor, I nearly went into shock. It\'s not that I didn\'t like it, but I also can\'t say that I did like it. My mind had literally gone blank. After that \"You\'re on Candid Camera!\" feeling wore off and I could read and comprehend again, I discovered what this new remote control was all about. First off, while at first glance it looks nothing like a piece of gaming hardware, it is still very sexy looking. Sleek, smooth, and simple are the three words I would use. However, I do feel that this is going to be one of those thing you are going to have to see and actually play to believe. I personally want to know just how responsive and fluid it really is.

As far as functionality is concerned, I was very surprised at how much is packed into that little white wand. 3D pointing, rumble feature, tilt sensing, standard face buttons, completely wireless, and lets not forget the peripheral port. Of course, with all those features, battery life is one of my burning questions at the moment. Also, word on the street is that each controller will also come packaged with an analog stick peripheral, with additional types of peripherals coming later. This is another area of concern for me as well. Exactly how many more of these little add-ons will there be? And perhaps more importantly, how much will they cost? I don\'t want to spend $60 on extra dongles (heehee) just so my friends and I can play multiplayer. (Although the little LED lights labelled 1,2,3,and 4 on the controller face seems to imply that 4 of these things can connect to the Revolution at once and the light will indicate which player you are -- which kind of implies that Microsoft\'s \"Circle of Light\" concept won\'t be so unique in the next-gen.)

Regardless of any possible issues, this thing is gushing with potential. I look at the device and love the images I see in my mind. I can just imagine using it as a bat, a sword, a pistol, a drumstick, a sniper rifle, a fishing rod, and tons more. While this new form of control may prevent some genres from being as smooth as they could be, it opens an amazing number of doors for developers to go wild with. And I must admit, I\'m proud of Nintendo. Those boys on the island have got some really big balls. Whether or not their very unique controller (if that is even the word for it) will create a revolution remains to be seen. But they gave fans what they wanted: solid information. Perhaps even a revolution.

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