REVOLUTION CONTROLLER HAS BEEN REVEALED!!!!!

[A Black Falcon]

Quote from a lengthy and interesting interview linked here...

part 1 - http://www.computerandvideogames.com/new...?id=126342
part 2 - http://www.computerandvideogames.com/new...?id=126763

At E3, you said that the Revolution would include ports for GameCube controllers. However, we've now heard that Nintendo intends to deliver a controller cradle housing the new input device for certain games. Is this true and does it mean you've done away with those GameCube ports since we last saw the console?

Jim Merrick: We'll go both ways. The four ports for the GameCube controllers are still on the top, you can use your Wavebirds controllers and existing wired controllers - and that's great because if you've got GameCube games, you've probably got GameCube controllers too so there's no reason not to use them. Not only for GameCube games either - we have something called the Virtual Console which allows you to download N64 games, Super Famicom games - what am I going to do with those? NES games are obviously easy - you just flip the controller on its side and you're there. For other games, and even for today's games, we're not trying to say that the existing controller designs are not useful, there are many great games that play very well with existing controllers.

We will offer what we call the Classic-style controller which is based on the more traditional controller - or at least as traditional as you can get in an industry that's only twenty years old. Basically, it has a hole that you slot in the free-hand controller so that brings wireless communications, rumble pack and other features and you just slot it right in there. It's an easy and presumably - I don't have any pricing yet - inexpensive way to give you another controller option. So we're really excited about having this expansion port on the controller - you start realizing there's all kinds of things we can do. One of the reasons we didn't show it at TGS though was we haven't completed the design yet - it's not completely signed off.

There's been a lot discussions about what kind of features does it have to have to support N64 games and GameCube games and NES games, and what a third party might expect on a cross-platform controller because, let's face it, every hardware manufacturer wants third parties to write games exclusively for them and take one hundred percent advantage of what's unique on their platform - but, in reality, third parties have to write cross-platform - and there has to be some commonality between them, or at least they'd like it to make their job easier. That said, there are good examples, such as the Sims 2, which really uses the DS' unique features and it certainly is a cross-platform game.

I am very interested to see what the result is, because juggling SNES, N64, GC and X360/PS3 control compatibility (or close enough) all on one controller (shell) seems like an extremely tough task, as he says...

Read the rest too though, there's also some very interesting stuff about DS Online in it.