Nintendo Bringing Back Some Classics

Though Nintendo has not yet announced a release date for their new console, tentatively named the Revolution, the company has promised an exciting new gaming experience. In September of 2005, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unveiled the controller for the console, which is radically different from the two-handed thumb-tiring controllers that have dominated the gaming world for decades. The Revolution controller looks like a TV remote and has a limited number of controls, which breaks from the recent trend of console controllers with a multitude of buttons. According to NIntendo, "the intuitive, pioneering interface allows players to run, jump, spin, slide, shoot, steer, accelerate, bank, dive, kick, throw and score in a way never experienced in the history of gaming".  Personally, I think the design is bizarre.  It seems spreading the controls across a long, 8-inch space may prove hard to handle.  Then again, people were skeptical of the original Playstation controller when it came out, and it has become the paragon.

Possibly even more exciting is the announcement that the Revolution will enable players to download classic Nintendo and Sega games originally designed for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo 64, among other consoles. The selection will include over 1,000 Sega games alone, along with NES classics such as "Super Mario Brothers" and "The Legend of Zelda". At the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California last week, Iwata explained that "this new approach is like stepping onto an unexplored continent for the first time, with all the potential for discovery that suggests. No one else can match the environment we're creating for expanding the game experience to everyone. Our path is not linear, but dynamic". Iwata did not touch on pricing, and information on Revolution's technical specs is limited.

Click here to check out some pictures of the Nintendo Revolution

Check out the Revolution's controller