Scrow said:
the point i was making is that 3rd parties who have reservations about the controller aren't going to yell from the rooftops that they think Nintendo's idea is a bad one. hence that burning your bridges remark. they might say it's "interesting", "innovative" etc. but that doesn't mean anything till they actually start supporting the platform with software. whether they will truly support the rev can't be determined till sometime after the revolution comes out.
They'll say nice things to keep up appearances and friendly relations with Nintendo, but the real test is yet to come.
You have a point, but be careful to keep in mind that business is business.
Every developer is a real person, with their own personality. Some are polite, some are assholes. But most of them are just pretty honest.
You didn't see Hideo having anything positive to say about the GameCube at all. He said it looked kiddy, and that the MGS series wouldn't be appropriate for it. He was just saying what he felt, and many people agreed with him. Now Nintendo's got him on video saying, "they did it! this is it!" and whatnot. Likewise, you've got people like Wada-san and Peter Molyneux all commenting positively about Nintendo's change of course. And neither of those guys had anything nice to say about Nintendo 5 years ago, either.
The scary truth is that, like the DS, the Revolution is going to be something that the big name developing rock stars are going to want to play with and tinker with, because they're always seeking to explore new avenues for gameplay. Many popular Western developers like Carmack, Newell, and the Factor 5 guy, are far more interested in graphical power than new input opportunities to expand the intrinsic definition of gaming by making it a more immersive experience. Hell, Carmack fought with his team for months as to whether to allow jumping and crouching in Doom 3.
Developer != Publisher 99% of the time, however, so no matter how much genuine interest a lot of these "rockstar" developers have in the Revolution, it doesn't mean there's going to be resources to develop for it until the platform has proven itself. That means that Nintendo's probably on their own to prove themselves with a solid launch. Last time they had to do that for this reason was with the Famicom (before they even allowed licensees). Granted, they'll sell a few publishers on investing heavily in development prior to launch: EA has the resources to devote some time to it, THQ seems to print money with Nintendo platforms, and Nintendo seems to have convinced Square and Capcom to start getting into it.
However, I don't think you can make the argument that just because developers are only responding positively to it means that there are a ton of developers with a seething hatred for what Nintendo's doing and choosing not to say anything. A lot of these people had no problem saying that Nintendo was fucking up huge with the GameCube, and five years later it's pretty clear that Nintendo would just be joining in on an all-out cannabalization of the market by releasing a watered-down version of the PS3/360.
Why build the same thing when you can build something new? I think it's pretty clear why developers would, if nothing else, be intrigued by the new possibilities the Revolution introduces.
In my opinion, the Revolution offers the opportunity for a ton of new genres to be created that couldn't be well simulated before. Additionally, a lot of niche genres can now gain mainstream attention (see: the guy drumming with two controllers, could totally validate the rhythm game genre short of having to buy an arcade set). Older genres could see a complete renewal, too. Light gun games and adventure games would work really well with the controller.
I think suggesting that devs probably don't like it would be to presume that they all want to be developing for three ridiculously similar platforms simultaneously. That sounds REALLY exciting.