Revolution
I am ridiculously excited to see what developers can do with the Nintendo Revolution controller. There’s an article on Gamasutra right now where developers weigh in on what they want to see from the Revolution controller. Some excerpts:
“I thought up ideas like kayaking and being a matador as a joke, but I then realized that I would love those games!”
“Much like the analog thumb stick was added to the Playstation controller I expect within two years of the launch of the Revolution, both Sony and Microsoft will be packaging controllers with similar functionality with their consoles–and if Sony manages to really nail the functionality of the EyeToy, the combination of a spatially aware controller and the camera will be one that people will wonder how we ever lived without.”
“samurai sword-slashing”
I close with my personal favorite:
“As much as I’m excited about the possibilities of new genres, I’m also very excited about playing existing genres in new, and possibly better, ways. Here’s an obvious example: A Harry Potter adventure game. Yeah, you can wave the wand around and cast spells, everybody’s said that, but that alone is boring. What I want to see is this: You walk and turn with the thumb stick attachment, using the buttons for actions and to lock onto targets and circle them like in Metroid Prime (no aiming with the wand in this game, Harry Potter isn’t about head shots). The wand is used to case spells - in conjunction with a microphone attachment!
Imagine having to speak the spell you want to cast, and using different wand movements to create variations on the spell (maybe the closer you are to a ‘correct’ movement the more powerful it is, or maybe you can flick it in different directions to throw people about). This would add a whole new level of immersion to the game. No more lame button pressing or cycling through a spell list, just speak and cast like a real wizard! And learning spells would be much more fun to, having to recite the incantation (so that you match the preset words while at the same time the game recognizes the uniqueness of your voice).
Finally, let people create their characters and spend a year at Hogwarts – the kids would go nuts over it – and hell, even I’d buy it.”
