Nintendo's Revolutionary Controller

The next-generation Nintendo console, codenamed the Revolution, was said to have a controller that would live up to that name. The rumors swirled for months and months but Nintendo's showing at E3 earlier this year was devoid of any hints about it (which is something I was convinced of only after searching their booth up and down). It turns out they chose this week's Tokyo Game Show to unveil their plans.


There is is, folks. It looks like a remote, doesn't it? Well, it's more than that. For starters, there's a port at the bottom that will allow for connectivity with a number of control units. The first and most obvious one shown is the analog stick unit.


But the real revolution lies in an all-new level of interaction that Nintendo has created by the use of motion sensors. Put simply: you move the controller itself.


Its motion, depth, and positioning are all keys to the way you interact with a game. In a video shown at the Tokyo Game Show, the controller was used to swing as a baseball bat, chop as a kitchen knife, wave as a conductor's baton, cast as a fishing rod, search as a flashlight, flick as a flyswatter, and slash as a sword.

The question: Will this ever amount to anything more than a niche product; is this a catalyst toward a brave, new world in gaming? There are hardly moments when anything lives up to the hype that precedes it, but I could conceivably concede that this will be a true revolution that forever changes the way we play.

Watch Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's keynote address
(Skip to 28:50 for the first real glimpse of the Revolution controller in use)