nintendos new controller, bold and rightfully desperate

nintendo has made the media headlines big time again.

not with awesome horsepower for the next generation, but actually a new way of looking at the controller that might just work.

the core brick, a sort of baby born by mating the original nes controller and a basic remote control, can be used as a gun, a wand, etc etc. while a plug in joystick like the n64 one allows expansion.

no doubt other controllers such as the gamecube one will be useable to allow fps be played where the lack of a second stick will be a factor. or at least they better have such plans.

the only problem for nintendo, is this innovation has been married to the least powerful and "looks like a thin ps2" next gen player.

it was innovation they needed to carve back a slice of the games machine market. unlike microsoft or sony who have far better in house experts on hardware and software, nintendo cant win a war based on power alone. but bolt ons have to be useful, not just gimmicks.

until we see the games, this has to be seen as a positive step. but if nintendo remains with its totally out of fashion games, however well made, then it may as well give all its cash back to shareholders and stop pissing it down the drain. the software is becoming a huge problem for them. there hasnt been a gt or gta type game from nintendo. instead they have relied on characters that were born because of the limitations of 8bit graphics. the world has moved on, and while the next zelda may well look stunning, the game is flogged to death. worse, nintendo has stayed with "adventure" based gaming for its flagship games such as metroid prime, when what people wanted was a first person shooter. a lot of people bought metroid prime thinking "wow what a shooter" just to play it and find it was nothing of the sort. a quick sequel, insultingly called "echoes" to rub in the quick remake rip off of the original taste in the mouth it left just left buyers cold.

nintendo perhaps should give in, and become the maverick arm of either sony or microsoft. with their hardware and nintendos game and gimmicks, there would be no question who had the better platform.