Written by John Scalzo  on September 16, 2005

Special: Wouldn't it be great if Nintendo keeps the Revolution name just to piss off Sony and MS?

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After all of the fake mockups and speculation that has run rampant on the Revolution controller since E3, Nintendo has finally revealed the goods. It looks like it's official: video games are going to change.

Continuing to reiterate the point that they want to open up gaming to everyone, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata pointed out how the DS and Nintendogs is changing the way people feel about games. He would go on to say that that is how they want to tackle the console wars as well.

And thus, the Revolution:



The Revolution controller will be a simple device that looks like a TV remote but functions more like a 3D mouse.

The controller features a D-pad on top followed by the familiar Nintendo Big A. Below that are a line of three buttons: Select, Home (which is assumed to call up something similar to the Xbox 360's Guide) and Start. Below that will be two smaller buttons: b and a. The back of the unit includes a trigger labeled B.

Analog control is created by moving the remote in the air. A sensor that hooks into your Revolution console tracks the movement of a similar sensor in the remote and adjusts movement on the screen accordingly. Tilting the remote can cause further movement and depth is achieved by moving the remote closer to the sensor or back towards the holder. Think of it as like a more advanced light gun. Zapper 3.0.

But that's not all. To get a more traditional gaming feel, the bottom of the remote has a port that plugs into an expansion unit. This expansion unit (seen in the picture above) includes a traditional analog stick and two triggers. This "nunchuk" (as Nintendo calls it) functions the same way as a regular controller would. Right analog stick functions would be controlled by moving the remote.

According to Nitnendo, this setup will work almost exactly as we think of traditional controllers for the PS2, Xbox and Cube right now.

But if you're afraid of this setup for gaming on your downloaded NES, SNES and N64 games, don't forget, the system will include four GameCube controller ports.

And even though it's wireless, a rumble feature will be built in to every remote. Oh, and it comes in a ton of colors including black, gray, lime green, red, silver and white.

While all of this explanation is great, how does it work in practice? Both 1UP and IGN got their hands on the controller and gave it a spin through a series of tech demos. The impressions are interesting. And encouraging.

In case you were wondering, the games list hasn't expanded, the release date and pricing were not revealed and we have no idea what the thing will really be called. It's still just the Revolution to us.