Nintendo touching on a revolution

March 29th, 2005, 18:42 Posted By: wraggster

An unnamed source from inside EA has revealed exactly how revolutionary the next Nintendo console will be by leaking details of the prototype Revolution control pad, which is devoid of face and shoulder buttons, and also lacks any analogue sticks.

In place of these traditionally crucial joypad features is a touch-screen, which can be programmed to display - and indeed use - any configuration of buttons, levers and steering devices, or anything else developers can devise and see fit to program into their game.

This could provide developers with a level of freedom never before seen when developing control schemes, decreasing limitation and offering more innovative methods for controlling games.

However, despite promising a 'pad for all occasions', it's possible the pad may not work for complex games requiring many buttons. And not being able to feel where buttons are may limit player responses in both judgement and accuracy.

But complexity for future games is definitely not Nintendo's direction according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Speaking recently with Japanese publication Nikkei Business Daily, the Nintendo boss pointed out the need for simplicity in games, in order to draw in causal gamers normally put off by the complexity of modern games.

"A goal of ours with Revolution is to expand the target market for games," said Iwata. "The current consoles are constantly getting more complicated and the number of buttons on joypads has been increasing steadily in recent years. Hardcore players can still manage, but for inexperienced players and beginners the degree of complexity is too big a barrier."

Iwata's comments regarding Revolution being a mass-market device, able to open up gaming to new audiences, echoes Nintendo's sentiment for DS, which, as we know, uses a touch-screen.

This, in our eyes, makes a touch-screen joypad for Revolution highly plausible. Don't rule out the possibility of a built-in microphone either.

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