Quote Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9
Well if you turn the controller it's identical to an NES controller, so no, the GC controller won't take up all the old games...
Except that judging from it's shape, it doesn't look like it would be comfortable to hold sideways (not that the NES controller was either, but we've come a ways since then). I'm not saying that it won't be able to pull it off for all of the older games, but I honestly dread the thought of some SNES or N64 games on that controller. Especially games that pretty much require all the buttons to be in easy reach, or a Dpad. If you're using it sideways as you said for Dpad games, there just aren't enough buttons for it to work with a lot of SNES games. I do think we'll see either the GC controllers or other plug in peripherals for the controller to fit the bill (here's hoping for the former, I hate paying extra for peripherals after already shelling out a few hundred for the console).

I do have problems with the smaller buttons at the bottom of the main controller portion as well. If you're holding it the way it looks like it should be comfortably held (and the way all the pics show it being held) you can't reach them, or at least I can't see how you could comfortably. You may be right about the NES controller thing, but I've always hated buttons that can't be reached on a controller without some creative hand postioning. If you're going to put buttons on a controller, give us the ability to use them all at once, rather than only in certain games, in some situations. It's a waste of space, and poor controller design if you ask me, especially when you could easily fit more buttons where the big A button is.

Quote Originally Posted by Craig
Nintendo aren't stupid. They wouldn't make what seems like such a dumb idea, unless they were sure it'd be Revolutionary.
I'm sorry, not trying to be rude or anything, but I did almost laugh when I saw this. Nintendo has done a lot of things that were just plain stupid over the years. The entire left side of the N64 controller was pretty much useless (see my above feelings on controllers). They stuck with expensive cartridges, with severely limited space when everyone else was going with CD's. They also decided to use the GC discs which again had far less space than the current standard of using DVD's. They'll tell you that it's to prevent piracy which I can buy, or even that the limited space is to promote creativity from developers (one of their arguments for using cartridges with the DS). One thing developers will almost always agree on is that they like having more storage space. The more the better. I'll give Nintendo credit for trying to put a good spin on some of their weaknesses, but that's about all they do sometimes. I didn't even mention their online policy, but I think I've said enough already. Point is, they've made some pretty sketchy decisions in the past, and in some cases alienated third party developers in the process.

I'll give them credit that this controller looks to be about the most innovative hardware development to come from them or just about any company since the analog stick, but only time and developers are going to be able to tell if it will live up to it's potential.