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Kobun Heat's "Ask Me Stuff About The Revolution" Thread

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Kobun Heat

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I'd be lying if I said I've been following the Revolution thread with interest. By the time the shit hit the fan, TGS had started, and my days were a whirlwind of appointments, standing in line, playing games, writing articles, and drinking/singing karaoke.

I got back yesterday and jet lag hit me HARD; I passed out early and didn't regain consciousness until five hours ago.

This was long enough to notice that there are still a lot of questions and misinformation about the controller. I think my Wired News hands-on has been up long enough that I can talk about stuff without distracting attention from the people who pay me.

Since I'm not exactly sure what it is that people still want to know about the play tests, I'm just gonna go ahead and open the floor to questions. I played several demos, the details of which were on the major game enthusiast sites. Go nuts.
 
I want to know how you think Smash Brothers (Rev) would play on that remote. Intuitive? Comfortable?

I keep trying to figure out how it would work, but i draw a blank :/
 
Does the controller need line-of-sight to the sensor bar for gesture control, and does the angle-of-attack between the controller and the sensor bar effect it's operation?

(i.e. If I'm facing *away* from the TV/Console/Sensor Bar is operation affected?)
 
would you say it makes all previous human-to-machine interfaces obsolete, or merely irrelevant?
 
If I could change one thing about the controller, it would be to put a Z trigger under the B trigger. The nunchuck attachment has two, so I'd like to see it balanced out.

Are you talking about playing Super Smash Bros. Melee? If they retrofit the game design to use the controller, I guess the most obvious use of the pointer would be to do smash attacks. So you'd flick it around to choose the direction in which you want to smash.

However, I doubt that a Revolution Smash Bros. would just be the GameCube gameplay with a different controller.
 
masud said:
How did the metriod demo handle turning once you get to the edge of the screen?
Click to expand...
Holy shit dude. THE TV HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CONTROLLER.

You know that sensor you put next to the controller? THAT'S what communicates with the controller. There IS no "edge of the screen." to the controller.

I'm so sick of people asking this question. :lol


Oh, and I have a question, Kobun.










































Will you marry me?
 
How does the controller feel and handle? compared to existing technologies in the market does it handle better?
 
I know man I just worded it wrong. Since there is no way to center the remote I just don't get how you could turn around in an FPS.
 
How heavy was it?
Did you see any kind of charging cradle?
Did they talk about maximum range?
Did they show any tech demos, apart from the Metroid Prime thing?
 
I think Nintendo may move the big A-button to the back side next to the B-button for the final build, but they're probably running a ton of tests with non-gamers right now to see how they react to different layouts.
 
Amir0x said:
Wasn't the Pilot Wings and "Blocky Shooting" thing both tech demos?
Click to expand...
I don't know. I haven't had chance to read anything over the weekend and I wasn't invited to the party myself.
 
Gamespot said:
Count me among the many who were very surprised by what they saw of the Revolution's controller.
Click to expand...
Wired said:
The Revolution will be televised, and so will every movement of your hands.
Click to expand...
Why is Greg Kasavin's lede better than yours?

On topic: When you shake the controller, what happens to Samus?
 
Jonnyram said:
I don't know. I haven't had chance to read anything over the weekend and I wasn't invited to the party myself.
Click to expand...

You're so out of touch. You're not geeky enough. Out of the club!

My question: Which genre do you think will be most well suited for this type of controller (besides, perhaps somewhat obviously, FPS)? Which genre do you think will be most adversely affected by this type of controller?
 
Does it really register "3D movement"? I mean, can it actually keep track of the cooridantes/location of the controller within a space?
 
The controller and attachment were definitely comfortable; the cord was of sufficient length.

There were no snacks. A few of us went to lunch, but that wasn't planned nor part of the day's activity.

I actually can't speak to the vagaries of the sensor, because it's not finalized and Nintendo was clear that we weren't discussing the nuts and bolts of the tech that day. So I really don't know. I can definitely say that you can point the thing at an angle at the TV, because that's the whole point of the device: you're not moving your whole arm around, you're just making very slight inflections with your wrist.

When you hold it sideways, your fingers (or at least mine) don't slide into the slope on the back where the B-trigger sits. I didn't hold it that way for very long but I doubt it's going to make a difference.

The Revolution controller, much like the DS touch screen, takes away a barrier between people and machines. People loved to post that Minority Report screen as a joke, but that's pretty damn close to at least the thought pattern behind the controller -- you just reach out with your hand and start manipulating things on-screen.

For some people, a DualShock controller is just that sort of extension of their person. But it takes a lot -- some would say a lifetime -- of practice to get there.
 
Do you know anything about how the tracking is working?
When you cover the front of the remote do you lose your position tracking yet keep rotation?
Do you think the conditions set up for the demos (red X on the floor, lighting in the room) were important?
Were multiplayer demos using seperate sensor bars or sharing the same ones?

Thanks for taking questions! you are my GAF idol!!

Edit:nm, I guess you just answered what you know about the sensor :( A description of the sensor bars would be nice though, asuming you could tell if they were using IR, ultrasound, RF, or magnetic devices
 
How long did it take you to get accustomed to using the remote?

Could you control velocity in the pilotwings type demo or did the object fly around with constant speed with only direction/orientation being controlled by the player?

Thanks.
 
KobunHeat said:
I can definitely say that you can point the thing at an angle at the TV, because that's the whole point of the device: you're not moving your whole arm around, you're just making very slight inflections with your wrist.
Click to expand...

Several people have mention the controller would be unplayable because the user's arm/hand would grow tired after brief periods of use. I believe comparisons were made to current gyroscopic technologies.

Seems like you're contractiding them. Is that what you are indeed saying?
 
Gahiggidy said:
Does it really register "3D movement"? I mean, can it actually keep track of the cooridantes/location of the controller within a space?
Click to expand...

Seconded!

We need to know if it tracks the location of the controller in the room, as we already know it tracks the rotation and direction. This is key.
 
For the "shooting blocks" demo, is that using "light-gun" technology to target the objects or is it using the 3D "mouse" to move a cursor to the objects? Some are describing it as a "pointer" which connontates that there is a direct beam going from the device to the screen. I know there is a mouselike function going on but perhaps there is also an IR pointer of some sort.
 
Kobun rocks! And yes, fortunately my questions are being covered. But I would like any information you have on how precise the tracking is. If "slight inflections with your wrist" means it can pick up movements in the millimeters (or at least centimeters) I'm super happy.
 
When you used it like a gun, did ripples of energy really come out like in the Nintendo video?
 
did demos like the basketball game, where a cusor appeard on the screen where you were aiming, appear to be using relative motion (the cursor moved relative to your "zero position") or direct motion (the cusor was at the spot you pointed at on the screen).

And I am not trying to imply that you are retarded by explaining each of those, it is just a frame of reference.

EDIT:
Gahiggidy said:
For the "shooting blocks" demo, is that using "light-gun" technology to target the objects or is it using the 3D "mouse" to move a cursor to the objects? Some are describing it as a "pointer" which connontates that there is a direct beam going from the device to the screen. I know there is a mouselike function going on but perhaps there is also an IR pointer of some sort.
Click to expand...
Same question, different wording. HOLOGRAMS UNITE
 
Is the B trigger analog? What about the Z1/Z2 trigger? Or was it similar to the N64's Z-trigger...

How did the D-Pad feel to your thumb (holding it like a remote, with one hand)? Was it too far up on the controller to use for directional movement? It seems unwieldy to put downward pressure on the D-Pad with your thumb without another hand to stabilize the controller.

BTW thanks for holding this little Q&A session =)
 
I can't really compare the controller to existing tech. I can say that the learning curve was practically nonexistent. It's light. It's comfortable. It's goddamned precise.

No charging cradle was shown. No battery life or range were mentioned. There were many different tech demos shown, each of which was meant to show a new gameplay style, not so much an idea for a retail product. Certainly the Kuru Kuru Kururin demo could be a winner.

I think the big A button will definitely stay where it is. I'm not sure what the question about D-pads and buttons means.

Certainly I'm really excited about the possibilities of music games on the Revolution. Samba De Amigo would be awesome as-is, with no big, bulky controller required -- just two standard pads. Or maybe even one controller with an inexpensive attachment that could be packed in.

And that's not even mentioning Ouendan, which I wasn't even the first person to bring up in our meeting.

As far as Metroid Prime 2, the honest answer is that it was so intuitive that I wasn't even thinking about HOW the controller was doing it. All I know is that I was easily able to spin in circles. IIRC: if you move it further and further towards the left or right of the screen, Samus will start to spin around, and if you bring it back to the center she stops.

The 3D movement thing: this is mostly speculation on my part but yes, I believe it can keep track of where the controller is in terms of 3D space. Again, we tried a variety of gameplay demos, but there was no specific, detailed explanation of the tech inside.

But you can definitely do all the things they showed in the video since everything -- location, rotation, distance -- is measured.
 
Does the controller need to be calibrated before every use, or does it just know where it is/what angle it's at? Thanks Kobun!
 
Kobun Heat said:
I can't really compare the controller to existing tech. I can say that the learning curve was practically nonexistent. It's light. It's comfortable. It's goddamned precise.

No charging cradle was shown. No battery life or range were mentioned. There were many different tech demos shown, each of which was meant to show a new gameplay style, not so much an idea for a retail product. Certainly the Kuru Kuru Kururin demo could be a winner.

I think the big A button will definitely stay where it is. I'm not sure what the question about D-pads and buttons means.

Certainly I'm really excited about the possibilities of music games on the Revolution. Samba De Amigo would be awesome as-is, with no big, bulky controller required -- just two standard pads. Or maybe even one controller with an inexpensive attachment that could be packed in.

And that's not even mentioning Ouendan, which I wasn't even the first person to bring up in our meeting.

As far as Metroid Prime 2, the honest answer is that it was so intuitive that I wasn't even thinking about HOW the controller was doing it. All I know is that I was easily able to spin in circles. IIRC: if you move it further and further towards the left or right of the screen, Samus will start to spin around, and if you bring it back to the center she stops.

The 3D movement thing: this is mostly speculation on my part but yes, I believe it can keep track of where the controller is in terms of 3D space. Again, we tried a variety of gameplay demos, but there was no specific, detailed explanation of the tech inside.

But you can definitely do all the things they showed in the video since everything -- location, rotation, distance -- is measured.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answers! Sounds really great, but as someone asked above... did you see any sort of sensor bar or sensors that go on the display?
 
scola said:
did demos like the basketball game, where a cusor appeard on the screen where you were aiming, appear to be using relative motion (the cursor moved relative to your "zero position") or direct motion (the cusor was at the spot you pointed at on the screen).
Click to expand...

I too am interested in this. I wonder if it'll do both.
 
Gahiggidy said:
For the "shooting blocks" demo, is that using "light-gun" technology to target the objects or is it using the 3D "mouse" to move a cursor to the objects? Some are describing it as a "pointer" which connontates that there is a direct beam going from the device to the screen. I know there is a mouselike function going on but perhaps there is also an IR pointer of some sort.
Click to expand...

If IR is being used it is not a pointer, it is sensors detecting the location of an IR light source in 3D space, thus relating information that you could indeed translate into three dimensional coordinates. This all works as long as both sensors can see some of the light source and triangulate the position. The sensors don't even have to be cameras like IR mo-cap uses. Some methods allow tracking with simple photodiodes.

This technology is not new and it is consumer-level cheap. Some of the demos indicated position tracking was occuring, so I'm sure you can get 3D points. The question is whether they are using IR, ultrasound, or some other method. The answer will determine how well the pointer works in certain conditions. Check out the "tech talk" thread for more detailed info. SpoonyBard posted an excellent article explaining every current method of position tracking used in VR
 
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