Revolution or Evolution?

Well, I'm just going to respond to the OP.

When I think of an evolution, I consider taking something good and refining and improving on it even more. Where with an Revolution, the results is not as certain. Not all revolutions are better than what they are looking to replace.

I think most people on this board know how I feel about the Nintendo Revolution. Personally I believe the system is sacrificing far too much in the name of simply redefining the controller. I strongly believe that the end result of the new controller is going to actually push gameplay back rather than forward. The reason behind this is the controller is something new and has not had the benefit of 30+ years of evolution and refinement. I think gameplay is actually going to have to be dumbed down in order to accommodate the control scheme since forcing the use of full ranged human motion is far more restrictive than pushing buttons on a control pad.

To explain it better, consider VR. For the most part the only thing really offered by "VR Games" is the ability to look around while offering basic virtual object interaction. This is because direct full motion human input is clumsy and attempting to offer anything too super-human to do simply would not be possible due to the control method. I think the Revolution controller is going to end up the same way, though not quite as drastic.


New console generations just don't bring better graphics, they also offer huge leaps in computational power. Computational power is the key that truly gives developers the tools to create new types of gameplay. Consider things like the massive scale of Shadow of the Colossus, the physics of Half Life 2 and the Radiant AI of Oblivion. These types of new gameplay elements can only be offered via the ever increasing computational abilities of CPUs. I believe this type of stuff is only the beginning and I also believe the evolution of increasing computational ability this generation offers a lot more potential to change gaming than the revolution of the Revolution controller.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Nintendo founded a love hotel? Haha, oh man my childhood has been ruined.

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Originally Posted by Watts

Too get a little more back on subject now that this isn't a flamewar....

Revolution.

I think there's only a certain point you can go with graphics. This generation is only a real slight step up. How much better will it get and still be noticable in the next generation? If Nintendo breaks some new ground with the game industry by doing something different; everybody wins. If not, the game industry might face another crash and everybody loses.

Simple question. Do you think graphics in the only thing that a more powerful console can bring? It seems a lot of people who want 'Revolution' ignore things like AI, physics and complex tracking of systems (mini ecologies, human biology like blood loss in areas effecting player performance, real-time macro-shifts in gaming environments etc.) These are just some of the new ideas developers are playing with by using the increased power some of the new consoles are bringing to the table this generation.

How ya doing, buddy?