Nintendo Revolution Controller
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Nintendo's new console will come with a controller that could be mistaken for a chunky remote control.
Nintendo are no longer competing on the cutting edge of technology, that is now left to Microsoft and Sony to throw money at. Nintendo are basically focusing on play and accessability. I suppose that the DS was the start of the experiment, and it paid off big time. Now they are going for the mass market.
End of the day you can spend an increasing amount of effort and advertising spend chasing the same old game consumers, or you can open up the new markets of the famed "casual gamer" and mothers and girlfriends. End of the day 90% of people don't play games regularly, and as such are a pretty lucrative market if you can take away the fear of the new. And what is more known and comfortable than the TV remote.
However, for me playing a game is an immersive experience. A good controller will become invisible and you will simply exist in the game. I think that you will be so conscious of the new controller that you will never have that same suspension of disbelief. I also wonder about playing in bed. I like to play games on the horizontal and all that point at the screen stuff will make that rather difficult. All in all this accounts for why I probably won't be joining the Revolution, but then I was never the target market in the first place!!!
Nintendo's new console will come with a controller that could be mistaken for a chunky remote control.
Nintendo are no longer competing on the cutting edge of technology, that is now left to Microsoft and Sony to throw money at. Nintendo are basically focusing on play and accessability. I suppose that the DS was the start of the experiment, and it paid off big time. Now they are going for the mass market.
End of the day you can spend an increasing amount of effort and advertising spend chasing the same old game consumers, or you can open up the new markets of the famed "casual gamer" and mothers and girlfriends. End of the day 90% of people don't play games regularly, and as such are a pretty lucrative market if you can take away the fear of the new. And what is more known and comfortable than the TV remote.
However, for me playing a game is an immersive experience. A good controller will become invisible and you will simply exist in the game. I think that you will be so conscious of the new controller that you will never have that same suspension of disbelief. I also wonder about playing in bed. I like to play games on the horizontal and all that point at the screen stuff will make that rather difficult. All in all this accounts for why I probably won't be joining the Revolution, but then I was never the target market in the first place!!!
September 17, 2005
