REVOLUTION UNBUTTONED

"Nintendo President dribbles more info on the Revolution's controller

"Compared to Sony and Microsoft's splurge of next-gen news, info on Nintendo's Revolution console has been more dripping faucet than exploding toilet. Currently though, all indications point toward the controller as being the "revolutionary" aspect of the company's mystery machine.

Saturo Iwata, Nintendo's President, has tossed a few more tantalising morsels in the direction of ravenous fans. In a recent article by the Guardian newspaper, Nintendo's head honcho is quoted as saying: "There are too many buttons and sticks on controllers for novice players, which is likely to discourage them from ever playing games at all". He continues: "We want the Revolution's controller to be relevant to everybody and we really want people to feel like they want to touch and play with it."

Nintendo has made no secret of its belief that modern games are becoming too complicated to appeal to the masses and its ideology of simplification and accessibility has already provided the drive behind the creation of the DS, as well as games like the gyroscopically-enhanced Wario Ware: Twisted and - the widely derided - Kirby's Air Ride.

It makes sense then that the company would at least experiment with a less cluttered input device for its next-gen console. Obviously though, chucking out buttons and sticks that have steadily become the norm over generations of gaming is likely to make long-time fans froth in exasperation. If this is the case however, it's looking increasing likely that the Nintendo "revolution" is about finding entirely new ways for you to interact with your favourite games.

Interestingly, many of the images of mysterious mockups that have found there way onto the internet in recent weeks seem to reflect Iwata's comments - maybe these designs aren't quite so outlandish as they first seemed.

With Nintendo promising firmer details on the Revolution by the end of the year, it's looking like there's still plenty more time for drip-fed info nuggets and frustrated speculation before all is finally revealed.""