Computer Games Magazine is
reporting that "the Revolution controller will provide resistance to being tilted."
So, what does that mean? It really doesn't say much. Even if this is true we really can't know for sure how it would work.
As best I can figure, this would mean that there is a gyroscope inside the controller that causes the controller to want to stay at a level plane. This would cause a force feedback type sensation as you tried to tilt the controller. This would only be useful if tilting the controller was used as a controller input, otherwise why would you want to tilt it in the first place? If tilt resistance is in there tilt sensitivity has to be in there too.
Now, I'm going to assume that if this is true, then the controller is seperated into two different parts (right and left hand pieces), as tilting a standard contoller for input is far more effort than it's worth. I'm also going to assume that you hold the controller as you would hold a gun, as holding it as you would a standard controller would be stressful on the wrists if tilt resistance is incorporated.
So, now I'm holding my old NES zapper. I imagine that tilting it causes my character to run around the screen. I am imagining that I can tilt it left, right, forward and backwards and it keeps wanting to spring back up straight. You know what this feels like to me? Exactly like an old Atari joystick. That's all I have here. It doesn't seem revolutionary at all.
Now a thought occurs to me. This
isn't force feedback at all. Force feedback implies that a virtual force in the game can be sent to the player in the form of an actual physical force against your hand (or whatever body part you play with). It's some kind of force that the game has to be able to change. A gyroscope will always try to return the controller to the exact same plane. You could spin the gyroscope slower or faster to increase or decrease the resistance, but the controller would always be applying the same upward force regardless of what's happening in the game.
To be anything revolutionary, or even particularly fun, there has to be something more to it. I would theorize that if you were to put the gyroscope in a ball shaped enclosure, and had a way for the game to tilt the gyroscope itself left, right, forwards and backwards within the controller, you'd have a controller that could actually try to move it's physical position depending on what's going on in a game. As just one example, in a tennis game you could swing your controller as if it were a raquet and you could actually feel the ball bounce off your raquet as your controller "jumped" back slightly.
I have no idea if the "tilt resistant" report is true to begin with, and even if it is true I really don't know exactly what it could mean. We may finally know for sure in just over two weeks, until that time a little more speculation can't hurt.
