Duality

I know this is late. The past week was the last week of summer school for Xero and I have work. But this is too big of an announcement to let slide without commenting.

First, the facts. Above is a picture of the Nintendo Revolution’s controller. The remote in the person’s right hand is the main controller. In addition to the buttons (there’s a trigger below the D-pad), it can sense movement, angle, what part of the screen you’re pointing at, and how far you are from the screen. At the bottom, there is an expansion port. In the picture, an analog stick (with two trigger buttons) is connected to the expansion port. Nintendo has said that there will be a normal style controller that will plug into the expansion port.

Now, your first reaction will be / was either: it’ll be the best thing since sliced bread or good-bye, Nintendo. I’ve read some comments and a lot fall in the latter category. To all the haters, watch Satoru Iwata’s keynote from TGS (Tokyo Game Show). He sells the change and the need for the change really well. I mean, the only way he could’ve sold it any better is if he tag-teamed with Steve Jobs.

It’s a 50-minute keynote, so let me summarize for those of you who want the Cliffs Notes. The goal of the Revolution is the same as that of the DS: expand the market by bringing in people that normally don’t play video games. Those people probably find today’s controllers too complicated or too intimidating. The additional buttons and sticks won’t faze gamers, but they can easily overwhelm non-gamers. The key is to start everyone at the base level by creating new interfaces and new experiences.

The DS—which was criticized early on for being too gimmicky—has already made progress toward the aforementioned goal. Iwata cited Club Nintendo registration data for three DS titles: Nintendogs, Flexible Brain Making Software, and Brain Training (the latter two only available in Japan, btw). All three have a higher percentage of female users than the DS average. The latter two also have a significantly older user base.

And with that, Iwata unveiled the Revolution’s controller with a video that showed people interacting with the controller. A young couple playing tennis against each other, a cook chopping and sautéing, a grandfather and grandson fishing; later on, a teen swordfighting. In each case, the people featured used the controller as if it were a tennis racket / knife / frying pan / fishing rod / sword.

If that doesn’t get you excited, if that doesn’t even make you raise an eyebrow, then I’m not sure what to say. Games are about new experiences and I don’t think anything on the PS3 or XBOX360 will scream “new experiences” like the Revolution.