So what did you play?
I played the Retro-fitted version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
And ...?
It played far better than the original controls. Turning and aiming were instantaneous. Control was absolutely precise.
At a certain point during the demo, one of our designers did a double-jump over a gap and spun a full 180 degrees in midair before landing on the opposite side. When I saw this my arm literally started shaking and had to grab and squeeze the cup holder on my theater seat like Doctor Strangelove to hold my arm steady.
Then he circle-strafed around a Space Pirate.
Yes, circle-strafed.
In Metroid Prime 2.
And that's without target-locking.
How were the controls set up?
It was set up in the "nunchaku" configuration described in the article. On the left controller, the thumbstick controlled player movement, the upper trigger button was assigned to visor-switching, and the lower trigger was assigned to the "scan" function and locking onto a target. On the right controller, the controller itself moved the player's gun independently of the player's view (yes, you could fire at any point on the screen without changing the player view -- the gun tilted to face toward the aim point), the trigger button fired the gun, and three of the buttons controlled jumping, firing missiles, and switching to morphball mode.
How does it compare to a mouse?
>From what I experienced, it seemed to be more precise than a mouse, but it's also much faster because it requires only a much smaller movement of the hand to achieve the desired effect. You just instantly point the controller at any part of the screen and bam!, that's where you're looking.
There is no lag.
There is no error.
It took a while to get used to the idea of how little effort is required to play a game with this controller. I kept wanting to lean forward and move the controller closer to the screen, and it took some practice to just sit back and just calmly move my hand ever so slightly.
At one point, someone said, "If you were to play a game with this against someone using a mouse, they'd have no chance against you." I had to admit it was true.
I've been using a mouse and keyboard for gaming for almost as long as I've been a gamer. I've logged over 80 hours so far in Battlefield 2 and I have a level 60 World of WarCraft character. If somebody had tried to tell me before now that a better controller would come along, I would have laughed at them.
But it only took me 5 minutes with the Revolution controller to realize that I don't need to use a mouse ever again.
Let's take a first-person shooter as an example. With a flick of the wrist, you can completely change your aim point from one corner of the screen to the other. Changing your aim point that way would require you to move a mouse all the way across a gamepad and could potentially take up to several seconds of pushing on a thumbstick with a standard console game controller.
Add to that the fact that the controller can correctly interpret roll (rotation of the controller clockwise and counterclockwise) and movement toward the screen or away from it, and you start to get an idea of the universe of new gameplay possibilities that Revolution games will be able to explore.
Gizzard: I would worry that if its in any way sloppily implemented, it will suck bigtime.
No worries in that category. If there was any sloppiness whatsoever, I didn't see it.
I do not expect to be using any other controllers ever again once the Revolution comes out.
The Angriest Smurf: This is cool as a novelty, but how does this lend itself to extended play sessions?
Try it yourself. Then see if you can still call it a novelty.
Trust me, I was very skeptical going into this. That skepticism is gone.
Could you imagine playing an FPS for over an hour with this without your hands getting tired?
Hell yeah, brother.
I often play Battlefield 2 for up to 3-4 hours in an evening (yes, I'm an addict), and after 10 minutes with the Revolution I'm ready to throw my mouse out the window for good.
When you take into account that the Revolution controller is very light (it seemed to me a bit lighter than I'd expect a TV remote of the same size) and that it's basically effortless to play with it, extended play sessions are a non-issue.
My concern is with playing today's standard genres of games. How do I play a racing game? Do I spin the controller around like a steering wheel?
That would be one way to do it.
Given the number of buttons available in the "nunchaku" configuration, combined with the tilt/rotate/push/pull aspects of the controller, I can't think of a game you couldn't easily adapt to the Revolution controller.
(Naysayer: "It's just not going to work"
I have played it. It works brilliantly.
So now that you've played it, what kinds of things do you think are possible with it that weren't possible before?
Off the top of my head:
A tennis game where your motions control the racket directly, and you never have to press a button the entire game.
A Harry Potter game where you can control Harry Potter's magic wand with the Revolution controller, and cast "Expelliarmus" with a few flicks of the wand.
... and where you steer your Quidditch broom just by steering your controller.
A boat racing game that lets you steer entirely by rotating the controller clockwise and counterclockwise.
A fencing game where you can slash, parry, and stab with the controller.
A Nintendogs game that lets you pet your dogs, pull on a leash, or throw a frisbee with the Revolution controller.
A real-time strategy game ... yes, on a console.
Furthermore, I want this RTS game to have a special cargo helicopter unit. Move the controller forward, and the cargo chopper descends and grabs hold of a tank sitting underneath it. Pull the controller toward you, and the cargo chopper lifts the tank into the air. Then you tilt the controller wherever, and the chopper flies over there, and you move the controller forward a bit to lower the tank to the ground again.
