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[Aostia]

1. yes they are

2. ok then the screen is wasted. why even both with the design in that case?

3. I can only judge on what I see. hopefully the final product is improved but what I'm looking at looks like uncomfortable garbage.

I dont get how you can judge the possible haptic morphing buttons and the ergonomics with your eyes. Really.
And you can also see with your eyes how the free form screen could be programmed via software in many simulations in order to not waste nor covering info with the thumbs

 

[Richie]

...but... your post is the reason why the 3DS is the one that needs to be replaced. We're kind of agreeing...

If you have a failed product and a successful both coming to the end of their lives, then it's the successful one you need to make sure you replace, as that's what's supporting your business.

I can see that logic, but I also think Nintendo stands to lose a lot of mindshare if they don't replace the Wii U this year. (They have already lost plenty of mindshare this gen, much as it pains me to admit it). The 3DS can hold on just a little longer just fine, with all the late localizations coming on this year plus the new Pokémon gen. But imagine heading into these holidays with only the Wii U? More so when the likes of PS VR will be there getting attention (not even counting the rumors of the PS4.5). No, it's imperative they move forward and it's got to be this year.

Not that they can rest on their laurels and delay the 3DS' successor much further (hell, I'm of the opinion that these two forms should release simultaneously, actually), but if it's between the console and the handheld, Ninty can't stand to send the corpse that's the Wii U to fight for them in the war that will be these holidays.

(I really shouldn't do 2:35am posting...)

 

[BGBW]

It would be great if at E3 the screen went dark, and that demo came up again in a playable form with the new engine ( updated of course to X1 level graphics). That would be a nice nod and sort of reminiscent of the FF7/Shemune reveals in a way. It would get people onside, and sort of say sorry guys for the mistakes of the Wii U. Maybe.

Right after they sold Wii U owners Twilight Princess HD?

 

[Silphonica]

i need buttons man

 

[Fess]

Yeah, but still, man, it looks very bad. The difference with smartphones is that you usually don't keep fingers in one single spot - you move them around. Therefore they give you the illusion that all the screen is available. On the contrary, by playing on such NX controller you need to keep several fingers on the left and right. The portion of the screen being busy is much larger. And, also important, the heavily shaped oval design doesn't help at all.

On a regular handheld there is no screen where the hands are, you just have a rectangular screen in the middle, so I only see it as a bonus that the sides are now showing some things too instead of just being plastic. And I'm sure the devs could choose to only show the game screen in a rectangle in the middle here too if there are too much complaints. It's just a screen, they can use it any way they like.

Or check this

Look at this:

https://youtu.be/udkU101fFOk?t=33

if you only could see the rectangle and not the complete screen, would that be better?

Ofcourse not, the 3d sticks blocking some parts of the screens doenst matter.


I want to just to have this kind of handheld, it would make me happy

 

[Nurgtrad]

And what about this?

isnt an a reallistic idea?

One central screen and two lateral screens for digital buttons.

 

[GlamFM]

This thing is real.

It´s also very sad.

 

[crinale]

I kinda like the look of this device, but that's only assuming if I could keep my eyes on this screen. If I play action games on this that requires my eyes peeled to gaze at main screen I can imagine me making a lot of mistakes, and that should pull me away from such games..

 

[ZombAid82]

I knew it was real, typical Nintendo, that thingy!
Let's just hope it has enough shoulder buttons, maybe bottom buttons like the elite controller would be nice.
Also, can' wait for the presentation, I wanna know, what games this concept is gonna make glory...

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

This thing is real.

It´s also very sad.

It is. And I find it funny how, for years a lot of Nintendo fans said that the reason Nintendo would never make mobile games is because of a lack of physical buttons.

Now all of a sudden because there is a possibility that the NX controller or handheld may have none, it's okay and Nintendo will 'make it work'. Haptic feedback is not a catch all solution to lack of buttons, no matter how well it ends up being implemented. It'd be a big mistake not to include any or even a goddamn physical d-pad, but let's wait until the reveal.

Interesting times ahead.

 

[Griss]

It is. And I find it funny how, for years a lot of Nintendo fans said that the reason Nintendo would never make mobile games is because of a lack of physical buttons.

Now all of a sudden because there is a possibility that the NX controller or handheld may have none, it's okay and Nintendo will 'make it work'. Haptic feedback is not a catch all solution to lack of buttons, no matter how well it ends up being implemented. It'd be a big mistake not to include any or even a goddamn physical d-pad, but let's wait until the reveal.

Interesting times ahead.

To be fair, the majority of the reaction from Nintendo fans to the lack of buttons hasn't been 'I never wanted buttons anyway' or 'It'll be fine, it's Nintendo', but has been either 'Can't be real, no buttons', or 'How could they do this to me!?!'

Of course, there have been some examples of the first two, but by and large the Nintendo fans have been consistent here.

But as always, the point is that Nintendo fans saying 'Nintendo will never do X because they've never done it before' is the height of stupidity.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

It doesn't aesthetically look horrible, but it's also not immediately clear to me what the advantage of this is. Here's my thinking:

- An oval screen has less screen real estate than an equivalently long/wide rectangle screen
- With the analogue sticks inside the screen, any grip angle will cover a portion of the screen "outside" the sticks
- Ergo, developers will not use the outside of the screen, so the effective screen real estate is more like the area inside of the sticks.

Given this, I'd rather a rectangular screen with the sticks outside the screen on a bezel, which also has the side-effect of allowing buttons.

- Touch screen controls are OK
- But they've been OK on my phone for the last 8 years so it's not clear to me why I wouldn't just use my phone. It's clear to me why Nintendo wouldn't want people to just use their phones, but it's not clear to me why I wouldn't just want to use my phone.
- Also if touch screen controls are OK, I'm not sure why I'd care much about the analogue sticks. It seems to me that I'd rather buttons and no sticks than sticks and no buttons.

Especially the last point is important. Maybe they found out that a touch-analog stick would be never as comfortable, but at the expenses of the entire design and usability. Honestly, I can't believe that after so much time this is the best they could come up with.

 

[Panajev2001a]

what if there was a set up provided by nintendo so that the game could be dropped easily into a 'safe place' on the screen while the buttons to the left and right could be customized in space just for buttons?

from a creative standpoint, does it get you thinking about different design possibilities at least?

Honestly, unless they have a major trick up their sleeve that nobody has yet grasped in terms of touchscreens (good luck with supply chain management there btw), what kind of unspoken creative possibilities would you get that iOS devices do not deliver too? Also, is it possible that they are trying to maximise the amount of titles that they can easily port to and from smartphones? Crazy new innovative touchscreen technology would not make it easy at all, but then again that may be intentional too.

 

[Trike]

idk why people are shopping rectangle screens onto this thing. It's not like you guys are devs years after the release of NX already giving up on the freeform display gimmick.

 

[Silent_Ocarina]

It is. And I find it funny how, for years a lot of Nintendo fans said that the reason Nintendo would never make mobile games is because of a lack of physical buttons.

Now all of a sudden because there is a possibility that the NX controller or handheld may have none, it's okay and Nintendo will 'make it work'. Haptic feedback is not a catch all solution to lack of buttons, no matter how well it ends up being implemented. It'd be a big mistake not to include any or even a goddamn physical d-pad, but let's wait until the reveal.

Interesting times ahead.

This "Nintendo fans think it's okay now because Nintendo's doing it" narrative is so overplayed. The vast majority of people in this thread acknowledge that it's a bad idea.

 

[Champion]

I dont get how you can judge the possible haptic morphing buttons and the ergonomics with your eyes. Really.

Under most circumstances I would agree but 2 is clearly more ergonomic and comfortable than 1.

My hands hurt just looking at the first image.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

It is. And I find it funny how, for years a lot of Nintendo fans said that the reason Nintendo would never make mobile games is because of a lack of physical buttons.

Now all of a sudden because there is a possibility that the NX controller or handheld may have none, it's okay and Nintendo will 'make it work'. Haptic feedback is not a catch all solution to lack of buttons, no matter how well it ends up being implemented. It'd be a big mistake not to include any or even a goddamn physical d-pad, but let's wait until the reveal.

Interesting times ahead.

Have you not been seeing this thread, man? It ain't as apologist as you're making it out to be.

That being said, I'm still in the "Nintendo console must have buttons" camp, but I also acknowledge that different control schemes, as novel as they are, cannot be totally understood until they are handled or presented in the context in which they work. So if it DOES end up being the real thing, I will see how it goes and maybe even try to adjust.

 

[ekim]

This thing is real.

It´s also very sad.

I think it's fake.

 

[Gizuko]

And what about this?

isnt an a reallistic idea?

One central screen and two lateral screens for digital buttons.

I don't think having the buttons there would be confortable, but this is actually a good idea. Having a variable amount of buttons with different images displayed on them is a nice twist - ergonomics aside.

 

[pringles]

Under most circumstances I would agree but 2 is clearly more ergonomic and comfortable than 1.

My hands hurt just looking at the first image.

Nintendo won't release an uncomfortable controller.

 

[KingSnake]

Especially the last point is important. Maybe they found out that a touch-analog stick would be never as comfortable, but at the expenses of the entire design and usability. Honestly, I can't believe that after so much time this is the best they could come up with.

As someone who played a bit of mobile games, using touch controls for direction is the most pain in the ass thing. Touching to jump is really not that complicated if the screen is responsive enough.

 

[Strife91]

So what if you could put like a transparent face-plate on the screen with buttons on it? And you could have like different layouts for different games.

 

[Fess]

Especially the last point is important. Maybe they found out that a touch-analog stick would be never as comfortable, but at the expenses of the entire design and usability. Honestly, I can't believe that after so much time this is the best they could come up with.

Touch analogs are crap, I tried using it on the Steam controller but I eventually switched back to the 360 controller. Touch Dpad have similar problems. The only thing that works with touch inputs are gesture based controls and point and click inputs, think Infinity Blade on iOS.
If this thing isn't going to fail among core gamers they need to make the games from the ground up with this inputs in mind. Porting a regular game to this controller would in all scenarios be worse from my point of view. Which means, say bye bye to multiplats on NX.

 

[Branduil]

The ergonomics(this thing is obviously just based off of the patent design, how often do designs actually look exactly like the patent?) is one of the biggest reasons to think this is a fake.

 

[magnetic]

I try to really savor threads like these. Sitting down with some nice tea, taking plenty of screenshots. Wild speculation and meltdowns don't happen that often in this intensity - PS4.5 and NX rumors back to back are almost exhausting.

I can't wait until NX is finally revealed, but until then, threads like these are the reason why I even visit this forum.

 

[Trike]

Under most circumstances I would agree but 2 is clearly more ergonomic and comfortable than 1.

My hands hurt just looking at the first image.

I like that both mockups have the same amount of buttons as the real controller.

 

[DieH@rd]

Nintendo won't release an uncomfortable controller.

They did with N64

[I say that as a player who spent 200+ hours on Goldeneye. That gamepad was never good in any game I played on that system].

 

[Cygnus X-1]

How are they practical for FPS? I don't really play that genre.

On the simplest, they can be used to change weapons and for adjusting the camera. More recently, they have been used for leaning to the left or to the right. Two different scrolls would allow players to move in 3D space freely. Star Fox and Metroid would benefit from this system, for example. F-Zero would as well. It's not new tech, but so far probably is the most interesting feature of this controller.

 

[MLH]

The problem is this is that the two analog sticks block part of the vision and overall looks really ugly.

Nah, the problem is that's a poor attempt at showing how it'll work. They've taken a 16:9 image and cropped it over the entire screen, so information is lost and the screen looks crowded. Actual games running would be a different aspect ratio and games would be have a higher FOV to compensate, example:

The same information and gameplay area is in the centre, but the vertical resolution has increased along with the FOV. Your thumbs would be covering an area that wouldn't be seen playing on a 16:9 TV anyway, so nothing is lost.

 

[Bitch Pudding]

Remember the Wii Remote and the panic???

Then the nunchuk was revealed and it simmered down a bit.

I expect the same here, just have no idea in what form.

I don't. First of all, Nintendo delivered games which made perfect use of those controls. Hardcore gamers still preferred classic controllers to play Mario Kart or Mario Galaxy. Second, Wii's motion control attracted a whole new audience for video games. It was Wii's ultimate key to success. But here, all I see is a fancy looking new device which doesn't deliver any additional value for games.

On the contrary, the missing buttons concept alienates gamers while "Generation Smartphone" won't give a shit about it anyhow...

 

[GlamFM]

I think it's fake.

Booyah! You give me hope.

Do you have any knowledge or are you guessing like the rest of us?

 

[KeRaSh]

Look at this:

https://youtu.be/udkU101fFOk?t=33

if you only could see the rectangle and not the complete screen, would that be better?

Ofcourse not, the 3d sticks blocking some parts of the screens doenst matter.


I want to just to have this kind of handheld, it would make me happy

Why did I have to click that link? Now I will forever know what could have been...
That is a really great concept. Sadly whatever Nintendo came up with will probably be nothing like it...

 

[netgrimoire]

This device looks sleek and expensive. Another controller that'll raise the cost of a console; Wii U all over again.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

Look at this:

https://youtu.be/udkU101fFOk?t=33

if you only could see the rectangle and not the complete screen, would that be better?

Ofcourse not, the 3d sticks blocking some parts of the screens doenst matter.


I want to just to have this kind of handheld, it would make me happy

This screen looks better because it's wider in height. It seems of secondary importance, but it is not. The prototype here is too oval and as a result, the portion of screen available to the user decreases. Also, from the picture available so far it doesn't look like the analog stick are transparent. I may be wrong though.

 

[GlamFM]

This device looks sleek and expensive. Another controller that'll raise the cost of a console; Wii U all over again.

WiiU controller never looked sleek or expensive though.

 

[ZombAid82]

I try to really savor threads like these. Sitting down with some nice tea, taking plenty of screenshots. Wild speculation and meltdowns don't happen that often in this intensity - PS4.5 and NX rumors back to back are almost exhausting.

I can't wait until NX is finally revealed, but until then, threads like these are the reason why I even visit this forum.

The only thing what I miss for this thread is popcorn, but I can't get any at work^^

 

[Prisoner KSC2-303]

Nah, the problem is that's a poor attempt at showing how it'll work. They've taken a 16:9 image and cropped it over the entire screen, so information is lost and the screen looks crowded. Actual games running would be a different aspect ratio and games would be have a higher FOV to compensate, example:



The same information and gameplay area is in the centre, but the vertical resolution has increased along with the FOV. Your thumbs would be covering an area that wouldn't be seen playing on a 16:9 TV anyway, so nothing is lost.

I agree in principle. However, assuming it does a good job at simply showing additional information around the periphery / at the sides, when you then switch back to a 16:9 TV you'll be losing that. So, either it's important to the game, in which case it'll be enclosed within a 16:9 AR, or it'll be superfluous, which seems an odd reason to manufacture custom displays.

 

[Trike]

They did with N64

[I say that as a player who spent 200+ hours on Goldeneye. That gamepad was never good in any game I played on that system].

That was 20 years ago and pretty much the only time. Granted it was so bad that they had to give up free gloves for Mario Party, but that was probably a pretty strong lesson in design for them. I have more faith in modern Nintendo for at least controller comfort.

 

[ASIS]

I don't. First of all, Nintendo delivered games which made perfect use of those controls. Hardcore gamers still preferred classic controllers to play Mario Kart or Mario Galaxy. Second, Wii's motion control attracted a whole new audience for video games. It was Wii's ultimate key to success. But here, all I see is a fancy looking new device which doesn't deliver any additional value for games.

On the contrary, the missing buttons concept alienates gamers while "Generation Smartphone" won't give a shit about it anyhow...

Actually most would agree that the Wiimote was best suited for that game. MK I agree though.

 

[KingSnake]

Nah, the problem is that's a poor attempt at showing how it'll work. They've taken a 16:9 image and cropped it over the entire screen, so information is lost and the screen looks crowded. Actual games running would be a different aspect ratio and games would be have a higher FOV to compensate, example:

The same information and gameplay area is in the centre, but the vertical resolution has increased along with the FOV. Your thumbs would be covering an area that wouldn't be seen playing on a 16:9 TV anyway, so nothing is lost.

Yeah, that's the whole point, it doesn't obstruct the gameplay area, it increases the gameplay area plus it clears the main part from HUD elements.

It's like nobody here has gone through the transition from 4:3 to 16:9.

 

[netgrimoire]

WiiU controller never looked sleek or expensive though.

Okay, but it raised the cost of the console. I was saying THIS looks expensive and sleek.

 

[JawzPause]

But i like to push buttons Nintendo

 

[oti]

Was hoping to wake up to new news. Instead all I get are media outlets copying all of this thread and treating as if it's 100% real...


Anyway, still #teamtree

 

[Fawk Nin]

I try to really savor threads like these. Sitting down with some nice tea, taking plenty of screenshots. Wild speculation and meltdowns don't happen that often in this intensity - PS4.5 and NX rumors back to back are almost exhausting.

I can't wait until NX is finally revealed, but until then, threads like these are the reason why I even visit this forum.

This will definitely be a thread that's linked to in the future. Whether to prove that initial reactions mean nothing or everything, depending on how things play out.

 

[KingBroly]

The NX controller is going to be like the Pro Controller, isn't it? And it's going to blow everyone's minds that Nintendo didn't do something completely insane. Like...we keep thinking Nintendo's going to do something insane but they'll surprise us with something ordinary...which for them, would be insane.

 

[Joelstinton14]

Why did I have to click that link? Now I will forever know what could have been...
That is a really great concept. Sadly whatever Nintendo came up with will probably be nothing like it...

Yeah it one of the best concepts i have seen on the internet. Really well articulated and thought out. Nintendo might do well to watch this to reveal the NX (actually pretty sure they probably already have and keep an eye out for such things)

 

[Toadthemushroom]

I still think this is actually the NX handheld, at a push a handheld that doubles as a controller for the console.

It makes great sense if Nintendo also ships the handheld device with the dev kit for the console - one of the big sticking points about NX is it's

1) firstly a platform that encompasses several distinct devices but with a shared software and hardware architecture

and

2) secondly a platform that'll capitalise on making digital downloads across two separate devices "cross-buy" due to developers' ease of targeting several devices under a unified development environment

So it makes great sense that Nintendo would ship both form factors out to developers from day one, to ensure that developers are targeting either both handheld and console for their games, or one or the other, or at least thinking about how their games might scale between the two.

It could be all for nothing if Nintendo introduces one later on in the cycle - unlike Apple they can't guarantee that developers will quickly adapt their apps to a new device (like how iPad quickly received developer attention and apps that specifically made use of the extra real estate of the display).

 

[MrBigBoy]

The same information and gameplay area is in the centre, but the vertical resolution has increased along with the FOV. Your thumbs would be covering an area that wouldn't be seen playing on a 16:9 TV anyway, so nothing is lost.

Thank you for saying this. We need to photoshop games in a 21:9 ratio on this new controller and see how it looks. Can someone do this please?

 

[aza]

Figured this would be a good exercise. Made a quick UI animation concept:

• Contextual actions/buttons
• Click down on left analog stick for weapon wheel

Hear it with sound for that extra OOMPH.

 

[Roussow]

Would anyone have a problem with a controller design that would basically be a Vita?