The Revolution will be blogged

I linked a handful of the “pro” sites with information about the new revolution controller when I first blogged it. Not to discount their contribution as gamers but I wanted to take a look around the gaming blogs and see what gamers are thinking. Here are a smattering of comments I’ve found over the past few days.

Kearns, like a lot of us, wasn’t sure about it at first but concluded, “Hot, hot, hot. No doubt, this is a must by.”

Kieron divides the haters and lovers into two camps – tedious luddites and Good People. Count me in with the Good People

For Tom at G-pinions, this was, “the most important news in gaming [he] can ever remember.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement but Joseph at Space Worlder says “Revolutionary? Depends on how you look at it.”

Alice’s great Wonderland has Iwata’s speech (in note form) and says the controller is “fantastic.”

The patron saint of La Revolution thinks everything will work out just fine: “Motion sensor controllers are actually kind of… obvious. Surprised it hasn’t happened before–and since they’re basically just another way to capture directional information, this should not, as I had worried earlier, make it all that hard to port to/from Revolution… You’ll just use a joystick for the non-Revolution versions.”

From Nintedorks: “after thinking about it more, I realize how incredibly awesome this is.”

Gaming Steve has a bunch of Revolution info, including the slides to Iwata’s speech. Be careful, there’s a lot there and your head may ache afterwards.

Brinstar has good advice for nay sayers: ” We should be welcoming this direction, rather than fearing it.” (and some good links, to boot)

Press the Buttons has a bunch of Revolution stuff. I feel the same way: “All I want is to make Mario run and jump.”

For a needed dose of reality, Hello, Nintendo links to this Ars Technica article asking some questions that will surely be addressed in the coming months but are germain to the discussion notheneless.

Video Game Pundit has a lot. Just go read it.

Astarte at Utopian Hell has Nintendo’s dream scenario. Her thoughts on the Revolution? I feel like the kid I once was, eagerly awaiting the next Zelda to come out.

Everyone and their mother are linking Lost Garden, but it really is something that must be read and digested.

Lots of stuff at Infendo, too.

Wow, that went a lot longer than I originally thought it would. Of course, this isn’t everything. A quick search at Technorati reveals that this something that a lot of people are talking about. If you’ve blogged about the Revolution and I missed ya, don’t hesistate to drop me a link. (I couldn’t possibly get everyone but if you take the time to let me know what you thought, I’ll gladly link it)

Personally, after I read that there will be ports for “regular” Gamecube controllers I felt a little relieved. IGN even has a mockup of what a Revolution Wavebird would look like. Drool. That makes me feel a little better. I was worried about third party support like many others, but this will help the skittish developers ease into the Revolution. Things will get interesting when developers are comfortable with the Revolution and see the possibility of the new controller and we start seeing some really cool stuff. Sounds like the “DS” cycle all over again. The hardware/concept gets poo-poohed, then interest and intrigue grow, and finally new, fun ideas begin to emerge.

The possibility of that cycle repeating itself sounds great to me.

Update: I know there’s a lot of gamers out there who don’t exactly agree with the direction Nintendo is going with the Revolution (as if it’s their call) but it really seems to have a polarizing effect on people. Cody at PixelJunkies seems to think Kieron Gillen’s statement is “moronic. Not I, you, or her have played a single game with this. A few reviewers on the other side of the planet have played several short tech demos in a completely Nintendo controlled environment, the furthest possible thing from playing a real game in your living room, and people are already passing this off as the single most brilliant innovation ever in games.”

Sure, only a few people have used the controller so far but it doesn’t take much imagination to start contemplating the possibilities. I don’t think anyone is calling it the “most brilliant innovation ever” but it has to be one of the more ambitious innovations. Hyperbole aside, Gillen is right, I think. It really comes down to who wants to give it a chance and those who have already made up their mind that it doesn’t fit in their idea of what a video game controller should look like or how it should handle.

The only people who are currently qualified to make any form of educated opinion are those that have used the controller. And they have all been unanimously positive. Let’s leave it at that for now. Let’s see what the big N does. Let’s look at what the developers say once they start putting the Revolution through its paces. Until then, let’s just chill.

More: Of course, we could just look to what Peter Moore, the Xbox VP. He says, “I want to give kudos for Nintendo for its attempt at innovation with the new controller…”

There’s more praise out there. I’ll link to it as I come across it.