New Nintendo Console Controller

Nintendo’s next-gen console, slated to more-or-less compete against the XBox 360 (lauching in November), and the PS3 (planned for 2006 sometime), is called the Revolution. While Nintendo’s let some info about the Revolution out, they’ve been very cagy about the controller. Until now.

At the Tokyo Game Show, they rolled this trailer for the controller. It can apparently be used to point at a specific location on the screen (Duck Hunt 3000, anyone?), but also tracks motion gyroscopically, and can be used like a baseball (or cricket) bat, sword, drumstick, flashlight, dentist’s drill, etc. As the DS has enabled some interesting sorts of games that nobody else is doing, so also should the Revolution open up some new possibilities. It’s great to see Nintendo carving out their own niche amid the clash of the titans that is console gaming these days.

UPDATE: It appears that the motion tracking may not be gyroscopic, but infrared that relies on an array of sensors around the screen. All things considered, that probably makes more sense, as gyroscopes would need calibration from time to time, and would draw more power from the batteries of the wireless remote. Having a separate sensor array also means that there wouldn’t have to be any of the screen flash you get with Duck Hunt or similar games.

UPDATE 2: Tilt-sensitive? Ok, maybe there are gyroscopes in the dang thing. Who knows. I’m sure someone will take one apart as soon as they’re in the public’s hands.