Didn’t We Try This Before?
Posted on | September 16, 2005 at 5:14 pm | Comments Off
The big news today, of course, is the announcement last night of the bizarre new one-handed controller for Nintendo’s yet-to-be-released next-gen video game console (codenamed “Revolution”, but that could change). I think it’s safe to say that this thing caught the gaming press by surprise. It looks like a TV remote control, but works in 3D space via wireless tech and sensors that attach to the television set. It also has add-ons for things like an analog stick and other attachments that would make it act and feel like a conventional controller.
As I was reading about this thing, the first thought that popped into my mind was a memory of the Nintendo Power Glove, a peripheral for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 80s, which I bought and used like twice before deciding it was useless. It also had sensors that you attached to the TV in order to detect the coordinates of the controller in the virtual 3D space. But it didn’t work very well. However, this technology has come a long way in 15 years (for example, the new controller uses proven wireless technology that obviously was not available in the 80s) and I’m sure Nintendo wouldn’t be announcing it if it didn’t work pretty well. Indeed, the experiments that the press people have done with it seem to back that up, as these hands-on articles at IGN and Wired point out.
If this device does work as advertised, it does look like it will really revolutionize the home gaming experience. There’s such an incredible amount of ways that it could be utilized to make video games more involving. I may have to actually buy the Revolution when it comes out (no firm date yet – sometime in 2006, I assume). That would be my first Nintendo console since the Super NES. (Though I do have every iteration of the GameBoy plus the DS.) I assume I’m going to buy the next-gen Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles as well. Where will I put it all and when will I actually have time to play the games?
Latre.