Nintendo Reveal Revolution-ary Controller - 15.9.05

Satoru Iwata took to the stage at the Tokyo Games Show to finally unveil the controller for the Nintendo Revolution.

The crowd was completely silent as they got the world's first look at the wireless controller, which resembles a TV remote control more than any games controller seen before. Iwata explained that one of the reasons for the new design was to draw in more and more non-gamers by removing a "psychological barrier" people have when presented with today's game controllers:

Firstly, we face the reality that within one family there are people who are willing to pick up a video game controllers and those who would never touch them. Anyone will pick up a TV remote controller, but not necessarily game controllers.

Why? We thought that it was the notion of moving right and left fingers separately and nimbly which was creating a psychological barrier. To expand the gaming population, it was necessary for us to design the controller so that any family member would like to place it on the living room table and think it is something relevant for them and actually pick it up, just like they do with a TV remote controller.

First of all for the controller to be placed on the table all the time, we made it compact. With this size this is possible, we think. Also just like a TV remote controller, it can be manipulated by one hand.

One of the biggest innovations of the controller is a sensor at the top called the "direct pointing device". The device lets the Revolution detect the controller's distance from the screen, as well as the angle it is facing, and allows players to interact with games by moving the controller around.

Iwata showed a presentational video with possible uses in games for this functionality; in the video an elderly couple conduct an orchestra by waving controllers at the screen, while a father and son pitch and throw their arms as they play an angling game. Another segment shows a man waving the controller as if it was a sword.

The controller will be mainly used with one hand, but Nintendo also will cater to core gamers by including a "nun-chuk" style attachment that allows traditional analog control with the second hand.

Video of Iwata's speech is available to watch over on Gamespot, while images of the controller and Nintendo's press announcement are available here.

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