Broken Saints - Controller Theories

[DarrenMcLeod]

Again, this guy seems like he's in a position to know, and he wrote up a neat article about the Revolution controller, including a picture. Now, I don't believe the picture is reliable AT ALL, because it seems very fake, but this is cool to read nonetheless.

http://brokensaints.com/blog/?p=63

[Null]

i'm amazed at how many people still dont understand how much a big touch screen where it draws the buttons on it would totally SUCK.

if it were another company, i'd hope they'd do it just so ppl would understand. but i dont want nintendo to be the ones to do it.

without buttons that you can feel your going to be constantly looking down at the controller. then you also loose all sense of how much your pressing the button there will NOT be any touch screen controller like that. There may be a controller with a little touch screen panel on it. but not one where it draws the buttons on it like that. will not happen.

[DarrenMcLeod]

Yeah, I agree with you Null. It doesn't make senses at all, but I just figured I'd post this to get some discussion going.

[Jonbo298]

It looks like a big NES controller with a touch screen instead of buttons. It sounds moderately nice on paper but in practice, it wont go over well. Gamers need the feel of buttons. But some ability to customize your controllers buttons would be very good for developers and gamers alike, IMO

[CamFu]

People seem to be a little harsh when it comes to these ideas that have been thrown around by Broken Saints. Do I believe any of them, no. If any of us have learned anything over the years of being on this site, it's not to believe rumors on the internet.

I remember a few of them, one of them was with the Xbox being able to play ever PC game that came out before the Xbox release. Or how the PS2 was supposed to have Toy Story in game graphics. And how the GameCube was supposed to have amazing 3rd party support.

Personally I love the weeks before E3. Rumors are great. It's fun to just think about what could be possible. Even if it's a horrible idea, like this touch screen controller. That is what video games are all about, imagination. And that is what everybody using right now. When I see a rumor, I have my opinion about it. But what really gets under my skin is when people get all pissy about it, saying that we should all what for E3.

As for this touch screen controller, is it a bad idea? Who knows, I've actually seen this persons idea with the touch screen when you can set up your controller any way you want too. You like your Xbox layout, you can have it. PS2, you can have it. Heck, if you like the face buttons of the original NES, you can set it up. No button set up would be impossible. Personally, I love that idea. Pretty cool. Is it going to happen, no. But just the thought of it is pretty cool.

And who knows, maybe these people that want to believe it will do something about it when it doesn't happen. In like 10 years, we will see something like this. And that is what I'm talking about when I talk about imagination. What's in the future. Maybe one of these people will start working for a gaming company and come out with some of the ideas that they thought of from the forums. And they actually make them work.

Null, this isn't a personal attack towards you. And as you saying that the touch screen would suck because we couldn't feel if we were pressing buttons, we have to look down to see what we are doing. How many times have you ever seen somebody that doesn't play video games at all, they still have to look at the buttons they push. And it doesn't matter if you tell them to push the letter button or the color one. They still don't know which one is which. If there where no buttons, that is just something we would have to learn to do. It's a cool idea. Not very pratical right now, but cool idea.

[Null]

Null, this isn't a personal attack towards you. And as you saying that the touch screen would suck because we couldn't feel if we were pressing buttons, we have to look down to see what we are doing. How many times have you ever seen somebody that doesn't play video games at all, they still have to look at the buttons they push. And it doesn't matter if you tell them to push the letter button or the color one. They still don't know which one is which. If there where no buttons, that is just something we would have to learn to do. It's a cool idea. Not very pratical right now, but cool idea.

one major difference tho, with buttons you can feel where they are, and press to see what it does.

without something to feel, you have no sense of where your thumb is lying, which way to move it, and where to press. and how hard to press.

Try it out yourself, i have tried it. Run up an NES or SNES emulator on a PDA. it does that exact thing, draws up the buttons for the controller,
it DOES not or WILL not ever work out the way some people seem to think, one of the main things i find when trying it, is that since you loose the sense of feeling how far you press the buttons in, you lose the ability to rapidly press the button as you do on a actual button.

run up a TV remote on PDA, same thing, you have to look to start off with, On your own remote, you can pick it up. feel the buttons to give yourself a starting point and click every button without looking. of course a tv remote doesnt matter if you look or not, but still. it will never work for gaming.

what IS possible, is a touch pad surface, and have differnet plates with actual buttons that you snap on, and THEY will touch the pad,

[DarrenMcLeod]

Think of how much it would cost for controllers like that though. I am someone who NEEDS four controllers because i buy systems for multiplayer. Purchasing four touch screen controllers would be ridiculously expensive.

[Solid Snake]

Doesn't Nintendo have a patent on force feedback for a touchpad of sorts? If you had a touchpad vibrate or push back on your finger it might make something like a touchpad controller possible. Or like null said, have a set of buttons that snap onto the controller so the game designers could configure the buttons any way they like.