Miyamoto's latest comments @ Gamespy said:
I am surprized this has been ignored. This is quite an indicator of what Nintendo may have meant all along when it comes to complexity vs simplicity. Think of the significance...Miyamoto, Nintendo itself, questioning which is better: the D-PAD or the Analog Stick? Then further Miyamoto said that some people never "got" analog control! From our (the gamer's) perspective, this may not make sense...but to those drop-out gamers and people who are too intimidated by today's controls, this should be a welcomed thing for them. Also from our perspective, it may not make sense to say that today's controllers are "too much for me" 'cos we're used to them...but he's talking about the non-gamer, the casual entry level gamer and the drop-out gamer when he says this...not us!
So, applied to what we know and since this is probably the most recent thing we've heard about the controller, I think it's sorta obvious what the controller is going to do. Miyamoto debating aloud on which is better (D-PAD or Analog Stick) says alot right there. And by the sound of it, it's almost as if the stick would be ousted in favor of the pad going by what he said. Afterall the D-PAD is more familiar to gamers & non-gamers alike, less complex, more inviting...the look and feel of it overall is simplistic, which is what Nintendo has been talking about since before the inception of the Revolution.
I'm not going into all of the features/abilities of the Revolution, I created this thread to focus on that comment. What is better, the D-PAD or the Analog Stick? If anyone should question it, it should be Nintendo, since they pioneered BOTH. And it's funny how they're questioning one over the other when ultimatly one was meant to replace the other. This suggests to me that either Nintendo plans to remove one in favor of the other, or more likely merge the two. Keep the simplistic look/feel of the good ol' fashioned D-PAD and pair it with analog functionality somehow.
In past theories I've presented, I've stuck with two ideals. Both going along with what Nintendo's main aim is: to garner the non-gamer into gaming by "dumbing it down" while keeping the controller overall functional enough to play conventional games (ports from other systems). Ideal #1 is that the controller overall should have less clutter and look less complex...I propose to do this by having 2 thumb possitions instead of 4. With today's controllers, non-gamers don't even know where to put their damn thumbs when they hold the controller for the first time. The right side (which I'm not really theorizing about in this thread) is easy, but in order to keep function the left side is going to be harder to deal with (until now, keep reading...). Ideal #2 is that the Revolution controller should have every function that the GCN controller does in order to be able to play GCN games as well as ports from other systems. This means the analog & digital dirrectional controls must both remain...but how?
By combining them. But how do we practically keep the two (the digital & analog) seperatly functional for games that require both? Do we put a D-PAD on top of the stick or a stick on top of a D-PAD? No...the idea is to be less complex, not more. If non-gamers & early gamers can't get the current analog stick, how are they going to get a more complex one? So how do we combine them? I thought about making it to where the stick could be retractable, but then you lose the function of the D-PAD on top of or underneither it, it still remains complex and it would probably even be less durable. Then I thought about Miyamoto's comment on which was better, and thought...
F*ck the stick! How 'bout putting the digital & analog functions into a more advanced D-PAD? Not merely a pressure sensitive D-PAD...beyond that. Something that would also allow function with games that require both. Something that would be accurate enough for analog control without a stick. I had a theory before about putting a jogball in the center of a pressure sensitive D-PAD...but now I've gone further! I call it the 3D-PAD 'cos it's a D-PAD with 3 seperate features that can be used to play 3D games. So you take the pressure sensitive D-PAD with the protruding jogball in the center of it that I suggested before and now you add a raised touch sensitive analog ring (think iPod) around the circular D-PAD...BAM...full analog control. Yes, you lose the feel of a stick, yes it'll take some getting used to, but it works with what Nintendo's been preaching, it works with what they want to do! Besides, what do you do when you use a stick anyway? You roll your thumb around in a circle...same with the 3D-PAD. In fact I see some games actually playing more fluently 'cos of this design as well thanks to it being a smooth circular ring.
The 3D-PAD will cause a shift, it allows novice gamers to understand analog control by giving them the look & feel of a D-PAD. It is simpler, yet allows for complex control. In fact, moreso complex than a stick since it's a 3 in one design. You have the outer ring for extremity analog control, the pressure sensitive D-PAD for mid-level digital control and the center jogball for highly sensitive analog control. You could use each together with one another or seperatly from each other. Imagine a game where you use the jogball to slowly creep, the ring to run and the D-PAD for more sharp actions like straffing, sidestepping, dodging, ducking, crouching, rolling, dashing, blocking, etc. Since these features can work together or seperatly for games that require digital & analog (seperate from each other) control, ports from other system's are possible, while also keeping backwords compatibility with all of Nintendo's past systems...including the GCN.
I'll have pictures of my latest design soon. To those who don't think this fits with conflicting reports of the controller being layed out like the GCN or how Teddman said that the D-PAD & stick were seperate...keep in mind that early kits may look like the GCN controller 'cos literally my design still allows for digital & analog control too, only in a different way. It was probably cheaper/easier to send a modified GCN controller with early developement kits & it keeps the secret of the combined digital & analog design under wraps. It may also explain why Nintendo hasn't shown the controller yet. If they showed it now and it looked like a dumbed down controller with no stick and a D-PAD in it's place people would think Nintendo is INSANE with their whole simplicity approach, by abandoning analog control.
