Gaming bigwigs queue up to heap praise on Revolution

Bigwigs in the games industry have queued up to heap praise on the Nintendo Revolution, with a release issued by Nintendo of America showing many major players are more than open-minded regarding NCL's planned break from the norm.

In a well-timed move, aimed at fending off escalating claims that the Revolution will be underpowered in the next-generation of games machines, Nintendo official publication Nintendo Power released a batch of quotes from gaming luminaries heaping praise on the console and of course, its controller.

John Schapper
Senior VP/Group Studio General Manager, Electronic Arts Canada
"As a longtime Nintendo fan, I applaud the spirit of innovation and creativity of the Revolution controller. Being wireless and designed similarly to a TV controller, it's an innovative, ergonomic winner right out of the box. The beauty of the controller is that possibilities for new game ideas are limitless... You can build an entire game concept around the controller's features or find ways to intregrate them into existing franchises. Right now at EA, we're exploring both of these paths. Our developers are inspired and excited by the new controller's features."

Steve Pearce
VP of Technology, Activision
"Anyone present at Iwata-san's unveiling of the controller at TGS has imagined what future visions of Nintendo classics will be like. Envisioning Link's spin attack, Mario's triple jump and Samus' gunplay on Revolution is an intriguing exercise. Similarly, the Activision design teams are creatively charged as they determine how the controller can best be used on our titles. How will Spider-Man's Revolution webs be cast, Tony Hawk's deck be flipped and Call of Duty grenades be thrown?"

Rod Cousens
CEO, Codemasters
"The Revolution controller is very intuitive and immersive and should allow the character to become more of an extension of the player... it should also inspire creators to explore innovation and bring back bored consumers to gaming."

Jack Sorenson,
Excecutive VP, Worldwide Studios, THQ
"Think about how many players you know that move controllers upward when pressing the jump button or turn it while steering in a racing game. With Revolution, these movements can be made to affect gameplay. Any genre that's suffered from traditional controller limitations stands to initially benefit the most, particularly ones with too many complex button combinations. Also, mouse-oriented PC genres (RTS, adventure games) could become much more console-friendly with the Revolution controller."

Bill Petro
Senior VP of Product Development, Sega of America
"Role-playing games will be greatly enhanced, due to new control styles. Pointing will make moving in large environments very simple, and twist- and position-senging will allow for dual weapon wielding or gesture-based spell-casting."

Michael Ryder
VP of Worldwide Production, Buena Vista Games
"The Revolution controller is truly innovative and will enable game designers to take advantage of gamers' full range of hand motions. Much as we've seen with the Nintendo DS, the Revolution control interface with lead to gameplay innovations."

Noah Hughes
Director of Design, Crystal Dynamics
"In the landscape of primarily linear evolution, it is refresing to see a product like the Revolution that truly strives to redefine game design. As a game designer, I am always excited to see products...which open the door to so many new possibilities."

Jean-Marcel Nicolai
Senior VP of Worldwide Content, Atari
"Nintendo has created an innovative new controller, fully immersing the gamer with a revolutionary interface. The controller should expand the marketplace by appealing to the mass audience as well as avid gamers. And the development community will have as much fun exploring the power of the Revolution controller as consumers will playing it."

Nicolas Eypert
Creative Director, Ubisoft
"The Revolution controller breaks the 'push button' experience of other platforms, where the player must go through an abstract action--pushing a button--to complete an action. With the Revolution, the action is completely natural and physical. We can propose new types of interactions that are easy and fun, as they rely on a simple gesture. We can translate into video game interactions all the tools you manipulate with your hand: the sculptor's tool, the doctor's scalpel, the fireman's hose...imagine you are a doctor curing patients or an architect who builds his own house! It opens up so many possibilities that we already have too many ideas. All the designers that I've spoken with at Ubisoft are buzzing with amazing ideas."

Bill Gardner
President/CEO Eidos
I can certainly see lots of opportunities for classic-style games like platformers that new and old gamers will really enjoy. We've thought of several titles that we're planning that will fit in well. Any game that has the flow of motion in three dimensions will benefit with Revolution. Flying games will be wild and more fun than ever."

Toshihiro Nagoshi,
Producer of Super Monkey Ball and F-Zero GX/AX, Sega
"I was just as surprised by the look of the controller as I was by playing with it. I was really struck by Nintendo's bold direction. All game creators will be inspired by seeing it in motion."

Koichi Ishii
Producer of the World of Mana project, Square Enix
"It'd be a shame if developers only transferred existing games to this system. They've got to envision a more creative route then buckle up for a wild ride."

Of these quotes, perhaps the input of Toshihiro “Dude, what happened with the tan?” Nagoshi's comments carry the most weight. Remember that it's very likely we'll see a Super Monkey Ball game, complete with Monkey Target, at the Revolution launch. Just think about it for a moment. See, you're smiling aren't you?